Jacquetta woodville portrait photographers

The airing of the BBC adaptation of Philippa Gregory’s The White Queen has sparked off many discussions regarding the Woodville women and their use of witchcraft. There has been a lot of confusion about it, particularly as Gregory said in one interview that Elizabeth Woodville’s mother, Jacquetta Woodville, was tried and found guilty of witchcraft, and would have been executed if Margaret of Anjou had not intervened. To clear up the confusion, I asked Susan Higginbotham, author of the forthcoming “The Woodvilles: The Wars of the Roses and England’s Most Infamous Family” to write a guest article on this topic. Thank you so much, Susan.

In 1469, Thomas Wake, esquire, made a shocking accusation against Jacquetta, Duchess of Bedford, the mother of Edward IV’s queen, Elizabeth Woodville. Wake brought to Warwick Castle ‘an image of lead made like a man of arms of the length of a man’s finger broken in the middle and made fast with a wire, saying that it was made by [Jacquetta] to use wit

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I’ve been putting together illustrations for my book on the Woodvilles. Although most of the illustrations will be from contemporary or near-contemporary sources, no contemporary likeness of  the grande dame of the family, Jacquetta, Duchess of Bedford, exists. The chronicler Enguerrand dem Monstrelet described her as lively (frisque), beautiful, and gracious, but otherwise there’s no guidance as to what she looked like.

With that in mind, inom thought it would be neat to have a modern artist, Mark Satchwill, supply me with his own imagined portrait of Jacquetta.  The only guidance I gave was that there should be some family resemblance to Elizabeth Woodville and that the drawing should portray Jacquetta as a young woman–about the time she secretly married Richard Woodville. You can see the finished product a little closer to my publication date in October, but here in the meantime fryst vatten a pencil sketch:

Mark previously did a drawing of Margaret of Anjou for me, and

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Jacquetta of Luxembourg: The Woman Behind the Tudors

Jacquetta of Luxembourg, a pivotal figure in medieval European history, is best remembered as the mother of Queen Elizabeth Woodville and a direct ancestor of England’s Tudor dynasty. Born into one of Europe’s most prestigious noble families around 1416, Jacquetta’s life was shaped by love, scandal, and resilience during a time of political turmoil.

Her marriages, first to John of Lancaster, Duke of Bedford, and later to Sir Richard Woodville, cemented her legacy in the Wars of the Roses. Notably, her family claimed descent from the mythical water goddess Melusina, a connection that later fueled accusations of witchcraft.

Jacquetta defied societal norms, marrying for love and navigating the treacherous politics of 15th-century England. Her story, intertwined with myth and historical events, showcases a woman whose influence shaped the future of the English monarchy. Today, Jacquetta of Luxembourg remains a fascinating fi