Bridget of York

Bridget of York
Born	10 November 1480 Eltham Palace, London
Died	1517 (aged 37) Dartford Priory, Kent
House	York
Father	Edward IV of England
Mother	Elizabeth Woodville

Bridget of York (10 November 1480 – 1517) was an English princess, the tenth child and seventh daughter of Edward IV of England and Queen Elizabeth Woodville.

She was a younger sister of Elizabeth of York, Mary of York, Cecily of York, Edward V, Margaret of York, Richard of Shrewsbury, 1st Duke of York, Anne of York, George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Bedford, and Catherine of York. She was also an aunt of Henry VIII of England.

Princess Bridget Plantagenet, Dedicated to the Nunnery at Dartford by James Northcote (1822)

She was born in Eltham, London on 10 November 1480, and was baptised by Edward Story, Bishop of Chichester on 11 November 1480. Her godmothers at the baptismal fount were her paternal grandmother, Cecily Neville, Duchess of York, and her oldest sister, Elizabeth of York. Her godfather was William Waynflete, Bishop of Winchester. Bridget's aunt Margaret, Lady Maltravers, served as her godmother at her confirmation.^[1] Bridget was likely named after St. Bridget of Sweden.^[2]

Her parents may have decided at the time of her birth that this daughter would be dedicated to a religious life, and Princess Bridget was entrusted to Dartford Priory, Dartford, Kent sometime between 1486 and 1492. She became a nun.^[3]

Bridget maintained correspondence throughout her life with her sister the queen, who also paid for her various minor expenses, as well as minor expenses of the orphaned Agnes of Eltham.^[4] After Bridget's sister, Elizabeth of York, married Henry VII, Elizabeth paid some of Bridget's expenses and kept in touch with her via messengers.^[5] Bridget is known to have left Dartford on at least one occasion, when she attended the funeral of her mother, Elizabeth Woodville, in 1492.^[6] She died about 1517.^[7]

Ancestry

Ancestors of Bridget of York

16. Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York               8. Richard of Conisburgh, 3rd Earl of Cambridge                       17. Isabella of Castile, Duchess of York               4. Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York                             18. Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March               9. Lady Anne de Mortimer                       19. Lady Alianore de Holland               2. Edward IV of England                                   20. John Neville, 3rd Baron Neville de Raby               10. Ralph de Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland                       21. Maud Percy               5. Lady Cecily Neville                             22. John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster               11. Lady Joan Beaufort                       23. Katherine Swynford               1. Bridget of York                                         24. Richard Wydeville               12. Sir Richard Wydevill                       25. Elizabeth Lyons               6. Richard Woodville, 1st Earl Rivers                             26. John Bodulgate               13. Elizabeth Bodulgate                       27. Joan Beauchamp               3. Elizabeth Woodville                                   28. Jean I de Luxembourg, Comte de Brienne               14. Peter of Luxembourg, Count of Saint-Pol                       29. Marguerite d'Enghien, Comtesse de Brienne               7. Jacquetta of Luxembourg                             30. Francesco del Balzo, 1st Duke of Andria               15. Margherita del Balzo                       31. Sueva Orsini

References

1. Routh, "Princess Bridget," in The Ricardian, June 1975, p. 13
2. Anne F. Sutton and Livia Visser-Fuchs, The Royal Funerals of the House of York at Windsor, Richard III Society, 2005, p. 110.
3. Mary Anne Everett Green, Lives of the Princesses of England. London: Longman, Brown, Green, Longman and Robers, 1857. Vol. 4, p. 46.
4. Weir, Alison (November 7, 2013). Elizabeth of York: The First Tudor Queen. Random House. pp. 489–. ISBN 978-1-4481-9138-3.
5. Green, p. 47.
6. Sutton and Visser-Fuchs, p. 73.
7. Routh, p. 14.