Editing Anne Neville (section)

==Princess of Wales==
The Earl of Warwick had been at odds with Edward IV for some time, resenting his clandestine marriage to [[Elizabeth Woodville]] and the subsequent rise in the king's favour of the new queen's family, the Woodvilles. In 1469, the earl tried to put his son-in-law George on the throne, but met resistance from Parliament. After a second rebellion against King Edward failed in early 1470, he was forced to flee to France, where he allied himself with the ousted [[House of Lancaster]] in 1470.<ref name=":0" /> With [[Henry VI of England|King Henry VI]] imprisoned in the [[Tower of London]], the ''de facto'' Lancastrian leader was his consort, [[Margaret of Anjou]], who was suspicious of Warwick's motives. To quell these suspicions, Anne Neville was formally betrothed to the son of Henry VI and Margaret of Anjou, [[Edward of Westminster]], at the [[Château d'Amboise]] in France. They were married in [[Angers Cathedral]], probably on 13 December 1470, to make Anne Neville the Princess of Wales.

[[File:NevilleAndHusbands.jpg|thumb|right|Drawing of Anne and her two husbands from the Beauchamp Pageant, c. 1483-1494]]
Warwick restored Henry VI to the throne in October 1470; Edward IV however returned to the country in March 1471 and quickly captured London and the person of Henry VI. The mentally challenged Henry VI was taken by Edward IV as a prisoner to the [[Battle of Barnet]], where Warwick was killed on 14 April 1471. Edward IV then incarcerated Henry VI in the Tower of London. Following the decisive Yorkist victory at the [[Battle of Tewkesbury]] on 4 May, Henry was reported to have died of "pure displeasure and melancholy," although "The Great Chronicle of London" reported that Richard, Duke of Gloucester, was responsible for his death. As Constable of England, he probably delivered King Edward's order to kill Henry to the Constable of the Tower.<ref name=kendall1955 />

Margaret of Anjou had returned to England with Anne Neville and Prince Edward in April, bringing additional troops. At the Battle of Tewkesbury, Edward IV crushed this last Lancastrian army. Prince Edward was killed in or shortly after the battle, and Anne Neville was taken prisoner. She was taken first to [[Coventry]] and then to the house of her brother-in-law the Duke of Clarence in London, while her mother [[Anne Beauchamp, 16th Countess of Warwick|Anne Beauchamp]], Warwick's wife, sought sanctuary in [[Beaulieu Abbey]]. When the crisis settled down and the Countess wished to be restored to her estates, Edward IV refused her safe conduct to plead her case; she wrote to [[Elizabeth Woodville|Queen Elizabeth]] and several others to no avail.<ref>{{cite book | title=Queens Consort, England's Medieval Queens | last=Hilton | first=Lisa | author-link=Lisa Hilton (writer) | page=444 | year=2008 | publisher=Weidenfeld & Nichelson | location=Great Britain | isbn=978-0753826119 }}</ref>

Anne, now widowed, became the subject of some dispute between George of Clarence and his brother Richard of Gloucester, who still wanted to marry her. Anne Neville and her sister, the Duchess of Clarence, were heiresses to their parents' vast estates. Clarence, anxious to secure the entire inheritance, treated her as his ward and opposed her getting married, which would strengthen her position to claim a share.

There are various accounts of what happened subsequently, including the story that Clarence hid her in a London cookshop, disguised as a servant, so that his brother would not know where she was. Gloucester is said to have tracked her down and escorted her to sanctuary at the Church of [[St Martin's le Grand]].<ref>Croyland Chronicle (pp. 469–70) Clarence "caused the damsel (Anne) to be concealed in order that it might not be known by his Brother where she was; as he was afraid of a division of the Earl's property, which he wished to come to himself alone in right of his wife, and not be obliged to share it with any other person." Richard however, "discovered the Young lady in the city of London disguised in the habit of a cookmaid; upon which he had her removed to the sanctuary of St. Martin's", as reported in Paul Murray Kendall, Richard III, 1955.</ref> In order to win the final consent of his brother George to the marriage, Richard of Gloucester renounced most of Warwick's land and property, including the earldoms of Warwick (which the earl had held in his wife's right) and Salisbury and surrendered to Clarence the office of Great Chamberlain of England.<ref name=kendall1955 />