'At the King's Pleasure': The Testament of Cecily Neville

Abstract

Cecily Neville was the mother of kings, matriarch of the house of York and ancestress of the Tudor dynasty. A daughter of Ralph Neville by his second wife, Joan Beaufort, Cecily's childhood had been spent in the north, yet it was Fotheringhay in Northamptonshire, the midlands seat of her husband's family, that seems to have been closest to her heart. It was at Fotheringhay castle that she had given birth to the future King Richard III, her husband and eldest son were buried in the collegiate church nearby, and this was where Cecily herself wished to be buried. The testament she signed as the end of her life approached makes her wishes clear and hints at the life she had lived, her preoccupations and the unique position she occupied. It also provides considerable insight into the life of an elite lady of the fifteenth century and is a valuable resource for historians, particularly in connection with book bequests, costume and textiles, and the literate practices and material culture of the high aristocracy. A transcription of the testament is appended in its entirety together with a glossary.