Editing Cecily Neville, Duchess of York (section)

==Mother of two kings, great-aunt of a queen, and grandmother of a queen==
Cecily's eldest son Edward successfully continued the fight against the Lancastrians. When Cecily moved to [[Baynard's Castle]] in London, it became the Yorkist headquarters, and after Edward defeated the Lancastrians at the Battle of Towton and ascended the throne, she was honoured as the mother of the king.

During the beginning of Edward's reign, Cecily appeared beside him and maintained her influence. In 1461, she revised her coat of arms to include the [[royal arms of England]], hinting that her husband had been a rightful king. When Edward married [[Elizabeth Woodville]], he built new queen's quarters for her and let his mother remain in the queen's quarters in which she had been living.

In 1469, her nephew [[Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick]], father-in-law of her sons [[George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence|George]] and [[Richard III of England|Richard]], rebelled against Edward IV. She visited [[Sandwich, Kent|Sandwich]], possibly trying to reconcile the parties. When the rebellion failed the first time, she invited Edward and George to London to reconcile them. Peace did not last long, and in the forthcoming war, she still tried to make peace between her sons.

Edward IV was briefly overthrown by Warwick and Margaret of Anjou, and for about six months (October 1470 – April 1471), [[Readeption of Henry VI|Henry VI was restored to the throne]]. The breach between Edward and his brother George was apparently never really healed; indeed, George was executed for treason in the [[Tower of London]] on 18 February 1478. Edward IV died suddenly on 9 April 1483, leaving two sons aged 12 and 9, the elder one known to history as King [[Edward V]]. Cecily Neville's youngest son Richard, their uncle, was appointed their protector by Edward's will, but he had them placed in the Tower of London, as it was custom for Kings awaiting their coronation; their fate is still a matter of dispute. A subsequent enquiry found that Edward IV's marriage to [[Elizabeth Woodville]] had been invalid. The so-called [[Princes in the Tower]] were thus declared illegitimate by Act of Parliament in 1484 and their uncle Richard crowned [[Richard III]] on 6 July 1483.

Duchess Cecily was on good terms with Richard's wife Lady [[Anne Neville]] (her grandniece in addition to being her daughter-in-law), with whom she discussed religious works such as the writings of [[Mechtilde of Hackeborn]].{{sfn|Hilton|2008|p=456}}

Richard's reign was brief; he was defeated and killed on 22 August 1485 at the [[Battle of Bosworth]] by the leader of the Lancastrian party, [[Henry VII of England|Henry Tudor]], who immediately assumed the throne as King Henry VII. Thus Cecily's husband and four sons had all died by 1485, although two of her daughters, [[Elizabeth of York, Duchess of Suffolk|Elizabeth]] and [[Margaret of York|Margaret]], still lived. On 18 January 1486, Cecily's granddaughter, [[Elizabeth of York]], eldest daughter of Edward IV, married Henry VII and became Queen of England. Her great-grandson [[Arthur, Prince of Wales|Arthur]] was born that same year, whereas her great-granddaughter [[Margaret Tudor|Margaret]] was born in 1489 and great-grandson [[Henry VIII|Henry]] in 1491, all before she died. Duchess Cecily devoted herself to religious duties and her reputation for piety comes from this period.