Elizabeth Lucy, also known as Lady Lucy, Lady Elizabeth, and Elizabeth Wayte, daughter of Thomas Wayte of Hamptonshire, (born ca. 1445) was the possible mistress of King

Edward IV of England Edward IV (28 April 1442 – 9 April 1483) was King of England from 4 March 1461 to 3 October 1470, then again from 11 April 1471 until his death in 1483. He was a central figure in the Wars of the Roses, a series of civil wars in England ...

, and possible mother of several children by him, including

Arthur Plantagenet, 1st Viscount Lisle Arthur Plantagenet, 1st Viscount Lisle, KG (died 3 March 1542) was an illegitimate son of the English king Edward IV, half-brother-in-law of Henry VII, and an uncle of Henry VIII, at whose court he was a prominent figure and by whom he was appo ...

. Arthur was known in his youth as Arthur Wayte. He was elevated to the title, Viscount Lisle, by Henry VII.

Accounts of her life

Lucy's family background is not known. The Victorian historian

James Gairdner James Gairdner (22 March 1828 – 4 November 1912) was a British historian. He specialised in 15th-century and early Tudor history, and among other tasks edited the '' Letters and Papers of the Reign of Henry VIII'' series. Son of John Gairdne ...

refers to her as a "courtesan of obscure birth". However,

Thomas More Sir Thomas More (7 February 1478 – 6 July 1535), venerated in the Catholic Church as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, judge, social philosopher, author, statesman, theologian, and noted Renaissance humanist. He also served Henry VII ...

calls her "dame" Elizabeth, portraying her as a naive girl seduced by Edward. He states that Edward's mother, enraged by her son's marriage to

Elizabeth Woodville Elizabeth Woodville (also spelt Wydville, Wydeville, or Widvile; c. 1437Karen Lindsey, ''Divorced, Beheaded, Survived'', p. xviii, Perseus Books, 1995. – 8 June 1492), known as Dame Elizabeth Grey during her first marriage, was Queen of Engla ...

after he had already made Lucy pregnant, had stated that Lucy was legally engaged to him ("precontracted"). Lucy denied they had been officially engaged but said,

"his grace spoke such loving words to her, she verily hoped he would have married her, and if it had not been for such kind words she would never have shown such kindness to let him to kindly get her with child."

More goes on to assert that

Richard III Richard III (2 October 1452 – 22 August 1485) was King of England from 26 June 1483 until his death in 1485. He was the last king of the Plantagenet dynasty and its cadet branch the House of York. His defeat and death at the Battle of Boswor ...

later revived the claim in order to declare Edward's children by Elizabeth illegitimate, and thereby take the throne for himself. However, it was later discovered that Richard had in fact named

Eleanor Butler Eleanor Butler (also known as Nell Butler or Irish Nell; born 1665) was an indentured white woman who married an enslaved African man in colonial Maryland in 1681. Biography Butler, who was of Irish origin, was an indentured servant to Charles ...

as Edward's precontracted wife. Butler was already dead, and could not therefore be questioned about the claim. The 17th century historian

George Buck Sir George Buck (or Buc) (October 1622) was an English antiquarian, historian, scholar and author, who served as a Member of Parliament, government envoy to Queen Elizabeth I and Master of the Revels to King James I of England. He served in th ...

portrays Lucy differently from More, depicting her as a sexually uninhibited young woman. Edward "loved her well, and she was his witty concubine, for she was a wanton wench and willing and ready to yield herself to the king and his pleasures without conditions."

Elizabeth Wayte

The 18th century antiquarian

John Anstis John Anstis (29 August 1669 – 4 March 1744) was an English officer of arms, antiquarian and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1702 and 1722. He rose to the highest heraldic office in England and became Garter King of Arms in ...

in ''The Register of the Most Noble Order of the Garter'' (London, 1724) identified her with "Elizabeth Wayte", the daughter of Thomas Wayte of Southampton, saying she was the mother of Arthur Plantagenet.Bridget Boland, ''The Lisle Letters: An Abridgement'', University of Chicago Press, 1983, p. 2.

Bridget Boland Bridget Boland (13 March 1913 – 19 January 1988) was a British screenwriter, playwright and novelist. Life Bridget Boland was born in London on 13 March 1913 to Irish politician John Pius Boland and Eileen Querin Boland ( Moloney). Boland ...

suggests that Edward may have met her while travelling in the south of England in 1461. Chris Given Wilson and Alice Curteis also equate her with Wayte, saying that her son was probably born sometime between 1461 and 1464. The name "Lucy" is presumed to derive from a later marriage, though Michael Hicks suggests she was a "young widow" when she met Edward. While it remains unclear whether or not Wayte and Lucy are identical, it is widely believed Lucy was also the mother of Elizabeth Plantagenet (born circa 1464), who married Sir Thomas Lumley in 1477. She may also have been the mother of other children by the king.C. Ross, Edward IV (1974), pg. 316, footnote 2 (citing BM Arundel MS. 26, ff. 29v-30v); C. Given-Wilson & A. Curteis, Royal Bastards of Medieval England (1984), pp. 158,161–174.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lucy, Elizabeth Elizabeth Lucy Mistresses of Edward IV Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown 15th-century English women