Biography of Mary of Woodstock 1279-1332

Paternal Family Tree: Anjou aka Plantagenet

Maternal Family Tree: Etienette Countess Provence and Arles

1254 Wedding of Edward I and Eleanor of Castile

1299 Marriage of King Edward I and Margaret of France

1254 Wedding of Edward I and Eleanor of Castile

On 1st November 1254 [her father] King Edward I of England (age 15) and [her mother] Eleanor of Castile Queen Consort England (age 13) were married at Abbey of Santa Maria la Real de Huelgas [Map]. She the daughter of [her grandfather] Ferdinand III King Castile III King Leon and [her grandmother] Joan Dammartin Queen Consort Castile and Leon (age 34). He the son of [her grandfather] King Henry III of England (age 47) and [her grandmother] Eleanor of Provence Queen Consort England (age 31). They were second cousin once removed. She a great x 2 granddaughter of King Henry "Curtmantle" II of England.

On 11th March 1279 Mary of Woodstock was born to King Edward I of England (age 39) and Eleanor of Castile Queen Consort England (age 38) at Woodstock Palace, Oxfordshire [Map].

On 15th August 1285 Mary of Woodstock (age 6) became a Nun at Amesbury Abbey, Wiltshire [Map], alongside thirteen daughters of nobles. She was not formally veiled as a nun until December 1291, when she had reached the age of twelve.

Annals of Dunstable. In the same year [1286], on the feast of Easter, Queen Eleanor¹, mother of King Edward, took the habit of a nun and the sacred veil at Amesbury [Map]; where the daughter¹ of the same lord King Edward had likewise received the sacred veil in the previous year.

Eodem anno, in festo Paschæ, Alienora regina, mater regis Edwardi, suscepit habitum monialem et sacrum velamen apud Hambrisbure; ubi filia ejusdem domini regis Edwardi similiter sacrum velamen acceperat anno præcedenti.

Note 1. [her grandmother] Eleanor of Provence Queen Consort England (age 63) and Mary of Woodstock (age 6).

Death of Eleanor of Castile

On 28th November 1290 [her mother] Eleanor of Castile Queen Consort England (age 49) died at Harby Manor. Her viscera were buried at Lincoln Cathedral [Map].

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Marriage of King Edward I and Margaret of France

On 10th September 1299 [her father] King Edward I of England (age 60) and [her step-mother] Margaret of France Queen Consort England (age 20) were married at Canterbury Cathedral [Map]. She by marriage Queen Consort England. The difference in their ages was 39 years. She the daughter of King Philip III of France and Maria of Brabant Queen Consort France (age 43). He the son of [her grandfather] King Henry III of England and [her grandmother] Eleanor of Provence Queen Consort England. They were first cousin once removed. She a great x 3 granddaughter of King Henry "Curtmantle" II of England.

Guy Beauchamp 10th Earl Warwick (age 27) was present.

Death of King Edward I

On 7th July 1307 [her father] King Edward I of England (age 68) died at Burgh by Sands [Map] whilst on his way north to Scotland. His son [her brother] Edward (age 23) succeeded II King of England. Earl Chester merged with the Crown.

Edward had gathered around him Thomas Plantagenet 2nd Earl of Leicester, 2nd Earl Lancaster, Earl of Salisbury and Lincoln (age 29), Guy Beauchamp 10th Earl Warwick (age 35), Aymer de Valence 2nd Earl Pembroke (age 32) and Robert Clifford 1st Baron Clifford (age 33) and charged them with looking after his son in particular ensuring Piers Gaveston 1st Earl Cornwall (age 23) didn't return from exile.

                    Letters. 1316. Letter XXII. Mary Daughter of Edward I (age 36), a Nun at Amesbury [Map] to her [her brother] Brother Edward II (age 31).
                
                    To the very high and noble prince, her very dear lord and brother, my lord Edward, by the grace of God king of England, his sister Mary sends health and all manner of honour and reverence.
                
                    Very dear sire as a long time has passed since God did his will upon our prioress Dambert, we immediately after her death sent to our very dear cousin, the lady-abbess of Fontevraud, both on my part and on that of the convent, asking for a lady from this our convent, to wit, for the Lady Isabella, whom we understand to be well able and sufficient for the office, that she might be granted to us for our prioress. And we thought, dear sire, that she (the abbess) would have willingly granted us our request, for she is bound to do so since she was brought up and veiled amongst us, and so she should neither wish nor permit that the church should be so long without prelates; but as yet we have had no answer, only we understand from certain people that she intends to send us a prioress from beyond the sea there, and a prior by her counsel out there. And know, certainly, my very dear brother, that should she send any other than one belonging to our own convent, it would prove matter of discord in the convent, and of the destruction of the goods of the church, which I know well, sire, that you would not suffer willingly and wittingly; wherefore I pray you, dearest lord and brother, and require you, both for the love of me and' of our convent, which after God trust surely in you, that you would please to send word to my said lady-abbess, that she do not undertake to burden our church with any prioress out of the convent, nor with prior other than the one we have now, but that she would.
                
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Around 1332 Mary of Woodstock (age 52) died. She was buried at Amesbury Abbey, Wiltshire [Map].

Calendar of Papal Letters 1344. 15th May 1344. 169. Ides of May. Villeneuve by Avignon. (f. 251.)

To the bishop of St. Asaph. Mandate to absolve John de Warenna (age 57), earl of Surrey and Strathearn, lord of Bromfield and Yal, from the excommunication which he has incurred by intermarrying with Joan (age 48), daughter of Henry (age 85), count of Barre, whose [Joan's] mother's [[her sister] Eleanor Plantagenet] sister Mary he had carnally known. A penance is to be enjoined, and as to the marriage, canonical action is to be taken.