| Mary of Woodstock | |
|---|---|
| Father | Edward I of England |
| Mother | Eleanor of Castile |
| Born | March 1278 Woodstock Palace, Oxfordshire |
| Died | c.1332 |
| Burial | Amesbury, Wiltshire |
Mary of Woodstock (11 or 12 March 1278 – c.1332), also known as Mary Plantagenet, was the seventh named daughter of Edward I of England and Eleanor of Castile.
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Mary's grandmother, Eleanor of Provence, had agreed to retire to Amesbury Priory in Wiltshire, a daughter house of Fontevrault. She successfully lobbied for Mary and another granddaughter, Eleanor of Brittany, to become Benedictine nuns at the priory. Despite resistance from Eleanor of Castile,[1] Mary took the veil on Assumption Day 1285, at the age of seven, alongside thirteen daughters of nobles.[2] Eleanor of Brittany had been veiled in March, while Eleanor of Provence did not arrive until June 1286.[3]
Mary's parents granted her £100 per year for life (approximately £48,000 as of 2010);[1][4] she also received double the usual allowance for clothing and a special entitlement to wine from the stores,[5] and lived in comfort in private quarters.[6] Her father visited her and Eleanor at the priory repeatedly: twice in 1286 and in 1289, and again in 1290 and 1291.[7] Eleanor of Provence died in 1291, and it was expected that Mary would move to Fontevrault. However, probably on the orders of Edward I, Mary remained at Amesbury, while her allowance was doubled to £200 per year. In 1292, she was also given the right to forty oaks per year from royal forests and twenty tuns of wine per year from Southampton.[1]
Despite being resident at the priory, Mary began to travel the country. She visited her brother Edward in 1293, and regularly attended court, spending five weeks there in 1297, in the run-up to her sister Elizabeth's departure to Holland.[1] By the end of the century, she held the post of viceregent and visitatrix for the abbess, with the right to authorise the transfer of nuns between establishments.[8] In 1302, her £200 per year was replaced by the rights to several manors and the borough of Wilton, all held on condition that she remain in England. However, she ran up considerable dice gambling debts while travelling, and in 1305 was given £200 to pay them off.[1] She was also given Grove Priory in Bedfordshire to manage, holding this until her death.[9]
Mary was unsuccessful in obtaining high office in the order,[1] whereas Eleanor of Brittany became abbess in 1304.[8] The papal bull Periculoso was read at Amesbury in 1303, requiring nuns to remain within their religious establishments, but Mary's travels do not appear to have been affected. She went on numerous pilgrimages, including one to Canterbury, and continued to visit court,[5] with a retinue of up to twenty-four horses,[1] sometimes with fellow nuns.[5] Soon after 1313, her role as visitor was removed. In 1317, Mary's brother Edward, by now King Edward II, asked Eleanor to restore her to the post, but this request was refused. However, Mary persevered, obtaining a papal mandate requiring her reinstatement, which Eleanor appears to have obeyed.[8]
Despite her apparent conflict with Eleanor, Mary continued to live comfortably. In 1316, she was able to borrow more than £2 from abbey funds (approximately £300 as of 2010),[4] and sent the clerk to London on personal errands, at the priory's expense.[5] Dominican monk and lecturer Nicholas Trevet dedicated his Cronicles to her.[10] Intended as an amusing history of the world, it later becoming an important source for several popular works of the period. Additionally, several nobles who wished their daughters to take vows placed them into her custody.[1]
Mary died in about 1332, and was probably buried in Amesbury. After her death, John de Warenne, 8th Earl of Surrey, attempting to divorce Jeanne of Bar, claimed to have had an affair with Mary.[1]
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