Anne Mowbray, 8th Countess of Norfolk

English noblewoman (1472–1481)

Anne de Mowbray, Baroness Mowbray[1] (10 December 1472 - 19 November 1481) was the daughter of John Mowbray, 4th Duke of Norfolk and Elizabeth Talbot.[2] She was born in 1472 in Framlingham Castle,[1] Suffolk, England. She also became Baroness Segrave.[1]

When Anne's father died in 1476 Anne became very rich. She also became Countess of Norfolk.[1] Anne was married to Richard of York on 15 January, 1478 in Westminster Abbey.[3] Richard was the son of King Edward IV of England and Elizabeth Woodville. Richard's father had married him to Anne so that he could have control of her fortune. When he married Anne became known as the Duchess of York

Anne died when she was 8 years old at Greenwich,[2] London, England in 1481. Her body was placed in a lead coffin in the Chapel of St Erasmus of Formiae in Westminster Abbey. However, when this chapel was knocked down around 1502 to make room for the Henry VII Lady Chapel, Anne's coffin became lost.

In December 1964, construction workers in Stepney, London, accidentally found Anne's coffin. It was opened and Anne's remains were looked at by scientists. Anne's body still had a shroud wrapped around her and there was still red hair on her skull. Her body was later reburied in Westminster Abbey.

A facial reconstruction of the duchess, commissioned by the late John Ashdown-Hill and executed by Amy Thornton of Dundee University, was completed in 2016.[4]

References change

From The Peerage.com

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 G.E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed., 13 volumes in 14 (1910-1959; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000), volume XII/2, page 913
  2. 2.0 2.1 Alison Weir, Britain's Royal Family: A Complete Genealogy (London, U.K.: The Bodley Head, 1999), page 139.
  3. Cokayne, and others, The Complete Peerage, volume XII/2, page 912
  4. Ashdown-Hill, John (2016). The private life of Edward IV. Stroud, Gloucestershire: Amberley. ISBN 978-1-4456-5246-7.