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Anne
Neville, Richard's queen, died after a prolonged illness (tuberculosis)
on March 16, 1485. The queen was buried with full honors deserving of a
Queen, so recorded the Croyland Chronicles, and Richard wept openly at
her funeral. He then shut himself off from the world for three days
before resuming his kingly duties.
Shortly
before her death, the doctors advised him not to sleep in the same
chamber as her, as they feared he would succumb to the same disease,
the chance of contagion being great. His niece, Elizabeth of York, and
daughter of Edward IV also resided with him and Anne. Apparently, she
was very taken with Richard, and wrote to John Howard, Duke of Norfolk,
and stated her desire to to marry Richard, asking Howard for his
assistance in this matter. Richard was probably aware of
Elizabeth's infatuation and sent her to Sheriff Hutton, where Edward,
Earl of Warwick (his brother George, Duke of Clarence's son) also
resided.
The
rumor Richard intended to marry his niece, and that he wished for
Anne's death spread and continued past her death. Some rumors had
Richard poisoning his queen, which Shakespeare used in his infamous
play, ignoring that Anne had been ill for many months, if not years
before her death. Richard put an end to the rumor by appearing before
the mayor and aldermen of London and declaring publicly he'd no
intention to marry Elizabeth or wished for his wife's death.
From--Mercers’
Company Records, 1485
...
as
there have been long discussions and much uninformed talk among the
people by
evil-disposed persons, who have ... sown these rumours to the very
great displeasure
of the king, showing how the queen was poisoned by consent and will of
the
king, so that he might marry and have to wife the Lady Elizabeth,
eldest
daughter of his brother, late king of England ... the king sent for and
had
before him [the] mayor and aldermen. And in the great hall, in the
presence of
many of his lords and many other people, he showed his grief and
displeasure,
and said it never came into his thought or mind to marry in such
manner, nor
was he pleased or glad at the death of his queen but as sorry and as
heavy in
heart as a man would be ...
…attribution--English
Historical Documents 1327-1485, ed. A.R. Myers, p. 342
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