How a Duchess survived the Wars of the Roses and beat a witchcraft trial
Jacquetta of Luxembourg navigated the treacherous English civil wars by switching sides at the perfect moment. From a royal marriage to a secret romance and a scandalous accusation of sorcery, her life was defined by shifting loyalties, immense influence, and the rise of her daughter to the English throne.
Born into the House of Luxembourg, Jacquetta’s political journey began with her 1433 marriage to John of Lancaster, the Duke of Bedford and brother to Henry V. Following the Duke’s death in 1435, she defied royal protocol by secretly marrying Sir Richard Woodville. Though this union initially drew the ire of Henry VI, the couple eventually secured their position at court. By the mid-1440s, Jacquetta had become a powerful figure, outranking all ladies except the queen, and she leveraged this status to secure advantageous marriages for her fourteen children.
The Wars of the Roses forced Jacquetta to adapt quickly. Initially a Lancastrian partisan, she and her husband defected to the House of York following the decisive Battle of Towton in 1461. This pivot proved monumental when her eldest daughter, Elizabeth Woodville, married Edward IV in 1464. The Woodvilles’ sudden ascent to power sparked deep resentment among established Yorkist nobles, most notably Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick. This hostility culminated in 1469 when Warwick briefly deposed Edward IV and executed Jacquetta’s husband and son, John.
In the wake of these executions, Jacquetta faced a grave threat: an accusation of witchcraft. Thomas Wake, a supporter of Warwick, presented a lead figurine to the court, claiming Jacquetta had used it to bewitch the king’s family. The case, however, lacked substance and collapsed once Edward IV regained control; she was officially exonerated by the king’s great council in January 1470. Despite this, the stigma persisted, and in 1484, Richard III attempted to revive the charges in his Titulus Regius to delegitimize Elizabeth’s marriage. Jacquetta died in 1472, leaving behind a legacy that has since been heavily fictionalized in modern literature, often emphasizing the very witchcraft allegations that failed to destroy her in life.
Source: Jacquetta of Luxembourg
