Elizabeth Woodville (also spelled Wydeville or Widvile; c. 1437 – 8 June 1492) was Queen consort of England as the spouse of King Edward IV from 1464 until his death in 1483. Elizabeth was a key figure in the series of dynastic civil wars known as the Wars of the Roses. As Lady Grey (nee Woodville), Elizabeth had two sons by her first husband, Sir John Grey of Groby who was killed at the Second Battle of St Albans. As the daughter of Sir Richard Woodville, she was the first commoner (ie non royal) to marry an English sovereign. It was because of this that Edward's former staunch ally Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, known to history as "The Kingmaker" switched his allegiance to the House of Lancaster. Her children included the Princes in the Tower and Elizabeth of York; the latter made her the maternal grandmother of Henry VIII and great grandmother of Queen Elizabeth I. Tradition holds that she served as a Maid of Honour to Margaret of Anjou, but the evidence of this is uncertain.
The will can be read here.
