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'Anne de Mowbray, 8th Countess of Norfolk', later 'Duchess of York and Duchess of Norfolk' (10 December 1472 - 19 November (?) 1481) was the child bride of Richard of Shrewsbury, 1st Duke of York, one of the Princes in the Tower, and died at the age of 9.
She was born at Framlingham Castle in Suffolk, the only (surviving) child of John de Mowbray, 4th Duke of Norfolk and Elizabeth Talbot. Her maternal grandparents were John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury and his second wife Lady Margaret Beauchamp.
The death of her father in 1476 left Anne a wealthy heiress. On 15 January 1478, she was married in St. Stephen's Chapel, Westminster, to Richard of Shrewsbury, 1st Duke of York, the 4-year-old son of Edward IV of England and Queen consort Elizabeth Woodville. They were married rather than betrothed — as would have been the custom for children of their ages — so that the king could get control of her vast estates.
Anne died at Greenwich in London, nearly two years before her husband disappeared into the Tower of London with his older brother Edward V of England, and she was entombed in a lead coffin in the Chapel of St. Erasmus of Formiae in Westminster Abbey. When that chapel was demolished in about 1502 to make way for the Henry VII Lady Chapel, Anne's coffin was moved to a vault under the Abbey of the Minoresses, run by nuns of the Order of Poor Ladies, which eventually disappeared.
In December 1964, construction workers in Stepney accidentally dug into the vault and found Anne's coffin. It was opened, and her remains were analyzed by scientists and then entombed in Westminster Abbey in May 1965. Her red hair was still on her skull and her shroud still wrapped around her. Westminister Abbey is also the alleged resting place of her husband Richard Duke of York.

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References

External Links

References

★ P. M. Kendall, The World of Anne Mowbray, Observer Colour Magazine, issued May 23, 1965

★ M. A. Rushton, The Teeth of Anne Mowbray, British Dental Journal, issued October 19, 1965

★ Stepney Child Burial, Joint press release from the London Museum and Westminster Abbey, issued January 15, 1965

★ Roger Warwick, Skeletal Remains of a Medieval Child, London Archaelogist, Vol. 5 No. 7, issued summer 1986

External Links

★ Spring 2005, 'Ricardian Bulletin' Article detailing the 1964 discovery of her coffin.