Antony Woodville, Lord Scales of Neuselles and the Isle of Wight,
 2nd Earl Rivers,
English nobleman, courtier and writer
1442-1483
A short summary of an outstanding life

Antony Woodville, Lord Scales, Earl Rivers, are names that appears regularly throughout all the books written on the 15th century but few people know who he is or what contribution he made to history.  It is as if he was a blazing star who did not leave a trail.  Maybe he wished it to be that way, maybe being a quiet more unobtrusive person made him less likely, until the end, to draw unwanted attention to himself. Other, bolder people had already lost their lives, many by execution.  The 15th century was a time of political power play and paranoia, it was easy to lose your life if you upset the wrong person, found yourself in the wrong place at the wrong time.  Ultimately that is what happened to Antony Woodville, but before then he managed to make an impression on quite a few people, including William Caxton.

Antony was born to Sir Richard Woodville and Jacquetta of Luxemburg, Duchess of Bedford, in Grafton, Northamptonshire, in 1442. He was the eldest son of a family of thirteen living children. For that time, it was quite an exceptional number of children to survive into adulthood.  The Woodville family was ambitious and power-hungry, and the alliances made through the marriages of their offspring helped boost their fortunes quite considerably.  At first they were Lancastrian supporters, only changing to the Yorkist standard when it was expedient to do so, very likely when they realised the Lancastrian cause was over.  He was destined for high office due to his noble birth and he fulfilled all expectations.  He was highly educated, extremely intelligent, pious and a fine swordsman.  He also excelled at jousting.

Antony Woodville's first real mention in the history books is when he was captured, along with his father, at Sandwich in January of 1460. His father, by then Earl Rivers, had been commanded to go there to put together a fleet of ships and 'rescue' Calais from the grip of the Yorkist earls, the earl of March, (later Edward IV) the earl of Warwick (later to be known as 'the Kingmaker') and the earl of Salisbury, who had taken it as their own.  The earl of Warwick heard of the plans for the fleet and set out on his own mission.  Sandwich was invaded early in the morning; the earl, Antony and the Duchess were captured and taken to Calais. It was the first recorded meeting between Antony Woodville and the person who would later become his brother-in-law, Edward, earl of March.  At that time they were both just 18 years old.  Edward had already shown his skills in battle and was a natural leader.  Antony Woodville was relatively inexperienced.  There are stories of what happened when they confronted each other, that the Woodvilles were ranted at as traitors but none of this is known as a fact.  No doubt harsh words were exchanged.  It is known that they were held prisoner for five months.

Battles in what we now know as the Wars of the Roses were flaring up everywhere but no battle was as bloody, as terrible, as that of Towton on Palm Sunday, 1461.  For ten hours Lancastrian and Yorkist knights and men fought in driving snow and appalling conditions, until the Yorkist army drove the Lancastrians from the field. It is said some 28,000 men died that day. Antony Woodville and his father, Earl Rivers, were part of the Lancastrian army. It was after this horrendous battle when they were, for a time, captives of the Yorkists again, that they began to consider changing their allegiance.

After the battle, Antony Woodville obtained permission to marry Elizabeth Scales, a baroness in her own right, which elevated his status even further.  He was known as Lord Scales due to this fortunate marriage.  They had a home at Newselles in Hertfordshire and he inherited the title to many estates in Norfolk.

The fortunate meeting of the new Lord Scales' beautiful sister Elizabeth, then a widow with two young children, and the young King Edward IV led to a secret marriage which shocked the court and when it was revealed, it upset a good many plans, including those being made by the earl of Warwick.   The Woodvilles had high standing in court after that, even if they were universally disliked because of it, with many of the new Queen's siblings being given honours and having good marriages arranged for them.  Lord Scales, already a knight through his marriage, acquired more honours. He became a Knight of the Garter and was given the honour of Lordship of the Isle of Wight, a position he held for sixteen years.  He was promoted to Lieutenant of Calais and became captain of the king's armada, among many other honorary positions. He seemed to have enjoyed his time on the Isle of Wight, taking a considerable interest in Carisbrooke Castle and arranging for new building work to be done. He created the two towers which now form the Entrance Gate but which was known as the Woodville Gate until at least 1900.  He added the building containing the present hall and staircase and had building work done on the detached offices under the angle of the south and east faces of the curtain wall, probably for the use of the knights and squires or men-at-arms.

Lord Scales displayed his considerable jousting skills when his sister the Queen set him an 'emprise', a chivalric adventure.  The giving of the emprise was very much a story-teller's dream.  As he left chapel one morning, he saw the Queen and, snatching his bonnet from his head, he made a courtly bow.  Her ladies fluttered around him and fastened a gold collar set with gems around his thigh. It had a 'souvenance', a remembrance, attached to it.  When he stood up, he found a scroll in his bonnet, bound with gold thread.  He took this to the King who opened it and read the instructions: that he was to fight a duel with a noble knight.  It was a delightful and elaborate way of setting her brother on an emprise and no doubt gave the Queen a good deal of pleasure to prepare.

After much discussion, it was agreed he would fight Antoine, the Bastard of Burgundy.  Elaborate plans were drawn up for the duel, with specific clauses as to what would be considered as a 'win', for example, if a knight were knocked to the ground, what arms each knight would use to fight, and so on.  The clauses in the letter were very detailed, everything was covered, nothing excluded.  Both men knew precisely what they were being asked to do.  The arrangements for the duel itself were equally elaborate, occupying a good deal of time and energy.

Due to commitments, the Bastard of Burgundy could not come to England to fight the duel for some time after he was invited, but in June 1467 the honourable knight arrived with a huge entourage of men and horses.  The tournament had been set up in Smithfield, a favourite jousting place at that time.  Both had their own pavilions, the King had his own place from which to view the joust and there were seats for all the noted dignitaries in London and from around London, too.

When the day arrived, Lord Scales, rode into the enclosure with nine horses, all elaborately caparisoned with expensive fabrics and gold trims.  The Bastard of Burgundy arrived with twelve horses, all equally elaborately caparisoned.  This was just the start of the spectacle!

The heavily armoured men left their pavilions and were assisted onto their horses. They thundered down the lists at one another but, due to some misjudgement on the part of the Bastard of Burgundy, his horse crashed into Lord Scales's saddle and dropped down dead, throwing the honourable knight to the ground.  He immediately cried 'foul' but it was proved that Lord Scales had done nothing wrong, his saddle was not adapted in any way for such an event.  The knight was led away and it is said he told his squires 'Today he fought an animal, tomorrow he will fight a man!'

The next day the two men met again. Whether through anger or resentment at the previous day's activities or just a determination to win, the two men fought one another on foot, with battle-axes.  The fight was tremendous, with gashes opening up in their suits of armour. It actually got so serious that King Edward threw down his baton to stop the fight before one or other of them was killed.  The duel was said to have gone to Lord Scales on both days.  It was an event talked about in London for many years afterwards.  It certainly increased his standing in the eyes of Edward's court and brought more honour to the Woodville name.

Politically this was not a good time, with divided loyalties and seething ambitions from the Earl of Warwick and the king's brother, George, Duke of Clarence.  One outcome of this was the battle of Edgecote in July 1469 when 5000 men were killed. Lord Scales's father and brother John Woodville were captured during this battle and later beheaded, without trial.  Lord Scales succeeded to his father's title and became the 2nd Earl Rivers.

This is perhaps the one major point in history when the Earl of Warwick truly held the title of Kingmaker.  Due to his machinations, he had Henry VI imprisoned in the Tower and Edward IV in his castle at Warwick.  But it all fell apart and he had to let Edward IV go.  Antony Woodville returned to Edward's court as Earl Rivers.  For a time it seemed as if Edward would hold things together, but they quickly went wrong again, and the king fled into exile.  The new Earl Rivers went with him, as did the king's younger brother, Richard Duke of Gloucester and a small gathering of knights.  Whilst Edward was in exile, his Queen gave birth to their first son, Edward, in the sanctuary at Westminster.

Edward waited for the spring and then, with his loyal brother and knights with him, he returned to England.  After a slow start, when people rejected him, he began to draw an army about him.  He entered Warwick and declared himself king once more.

Inevitably this led to another battle, this one at Barnet, where the Earl of Warwick was killed. Earl Rivers was wounded during this battle.  It may be only coincidence but after the battle of Barnet, Antony began to go on pilgrimages to holy shrines in Europe. It is possible that his wound was serious and that gave him a new insight into his spiritual life, his faith and his mortality.  Certainly he went on many pilgrimages, even incurring the King's wrath on one occasion, being called a coward for going abroad rather than fighting.  It is doubtful that the king ever went on a pilgrimage, it was dangerous, with many footpads and robbers waiting for wealthy aristocrats to go there.  In fact, Antony was robbed of plate and money on one of his journeys.

Edward actually thought highly of him and appointed him councillor to the young Edward, Prince of Wales, essentially putting his son into Earl Rivers' care and keeping.  This was pivotal in his future, although at the time it was a highly lucrative and important position to hold.  Later he was actually made a guardian of the young prince.  The Prince's household was Ludlow Castle, the Yorks' original home, regained by them after Edward became king.

Earl Rivers' first known pilgrimage was to St James de Compostela. Whilst on his journey there he met quite a few people, one of them was a much-read gentleman who said he had a book the Earl might well enjoy.  The book was The Dictes and Sayinges of the Philosophres. This had been translated from Greek into Latin and then into French.  He found the book to be full of wisdom and when he returned to England, he began to translate it into English.

William Caxton had set up his printing press in London at that time and was looking for customers.  Earl Rivers sent him the book, with the instruction that he could amend and edit it as he saw fit.  Caxton only added the words of Socrates who had written about women, something 'the noble Earl' had for whatever reason seen fit to exclude.  It is known that his first wife had died by this time, maybe he did not wish to write about women.  Whatever the reason, Caxton added it as an Epilogue and printed the book, the first to be published in English in this country.  It was a great success and went to three editions.  The Earl followed it with several other books, one, The Cordyal, is a religious treatise, the others, on equally religious topics, do not appear to have survived.

He continued his pilgrimages and displayed such piety and devotion to the Holy Roman Church that Pope Sextus IV invested him with the title of Defender and Director of Papal Causes in England.

He led a busy life, supervising and running the Prince of Wales' household in Ludlow, translating his books, going on pilgrimages and attending Court.  It is known that on several occasions the records show he was 'excused Court' when possibly his itinerary did not allow for him to be in two places at once.

Life was reasonably comfortable for the Earl.  He had remarried and seemed content with the lifestyle he had.  Then, suddenly, Edward IV died, after only three weeks of illness.  His instructions were that his brother, Richard, duke of Gloucester, would take on the role of Lord Protector for his young son, now officially Edward V.

The news of his brother's death was taken to Richard, who was in his usual location, the North of England, where he was Lord of the North and had several homes.  At the same time, instructions were sent by the newly widowed Queen to Earl Rivers in Ludlow to bring the young King to London as soon as possible, with an army of some 2000 men, for his coronation.  Earl Rivers delayed, setting out for London some days after the instruction arrived.

The two men met at Stony Stratford, near Grafton.  Richard, now Lord Protector, greeted the new king with great deference and ensured that he was properly taken care of.  He invited Earl Rivers to dine with him, which they did, in great style.  When the earl woke the next morning, the inn where he was staying was ringed with armed men.  He was under arrest, as were Sir Richard Grey and Sir Thomas Vaughan, knights who had ridden with him.  They were accused of being traitors, of bringing cartloads of arms to London to cause an uprising.  They were hustled away to different prisons.  The earl was held in Sheriff Hutton for 57 days, until he was taken to Pontefract Castle, there to be executed by beheading, together with the other two knights.  There was no trial.  There was no formal burial, the bodies were stripped and thrown into a communal grave.  When the earl's body was stripped, they found he was wearing a hair shirt under his elaborate clothes.


Before his removal to Pontefract, he wrote a sad ballad:

Somewhat musing
And more mourning,
In remembering
Th'unsteadfness;
This world being
Of such wheeling,
Me contrarying,
What may I guess?

I fear, doubtless,
Remediless,
Is now to seize
My woeful chance;
For unkindness,
Withoutenless,
And no redress,
Me doth advance.

With displeasure,
To my grievance,
And no surance
Of remedy;
Lo, in this trance,
Now in substance,
Such is my dance,
Willing to die.

Methinks truly
Bounden am I,
And that greatly,
To be content;
Seeing plainly
Fortune doth wry
All contrary
From mine intent.

My life was lent
Me to one intent.
It is nigh spent.
Welcome, Fortune!
But I ne went [neer thought]
Thus to be shent [ruined]
But she it meant;
Such is her won [custom].

It seems hard to believe he was indeed 'willing to die'; he was only in his early 40s, an intellectual, intelligent man with much to live for.  It must also be said he must have realised that he had come up against a powerful man in Richard of Gloucester and that his death was inevitable.

Richard was later petitioned by Parliament to take the crown as his brother's pre-contract of marriage had rendered the Princes illegitimate and therefore Edward V was not entitled to be king. History holds differing views of Richard III's reign, most modern historians now agree he was a good king, much maligned by the later Tudor historians and his life completely misinterpreted by Shakespeare, who was writing a play, not a history book.  None of the deaths attributed to him were done by his hand or at his command: his brother George, duke of Clarence, Henry VI, his wife, his son, all these were wrongly attributed to him. Nor can the fate of the Princes in the Tower be laid at his feet, as there is no evidence he had anything to do with that, either.

But the death of Antony Woodville, Lord Scales, 2nd Earl Rivers and that of Sir Thomas Vaughan and Sir Richard Grey certainly was at his direct command.  Unlike the swift and shocking execution of Lord Hastings, these three deaths went almost unremarked at the time.

Antony Woodville, Lord Scales of Neucelles and the Isle of Wight has a place in history.  He left a lasting legacy with his books and his work on Carisbrooke Castle, as well as being a major player in the life and times of Edward IV.