Rivers, Anthony Woodville, 2nd Earl

views updated

Rivers, Anthony Woodville, 2nd Earl (1442–83). The eldest brother of Elizabeth Woodville, he benefited from the marriage of his sister to Edward IV. He fled into exile with Edward IV in 1470, returning in triumph in 1471. He was thereafter entrusted with the upbringing of the prince of Wales and given extensive power in the principality and marches as the president of the prince's council. Shortly after Edward IV's death, he was seized at Stony Stratford by Richard of Gloucester, whom he had taken to be his ally. On 22 June he was summarily executed at Pontefract. Rivers enjoyed a high reputation among his contemporaries for his chivalry, piety, and learning. After his death he was found to have been wearing a hair shirt. But he was no naïve idealist; he was on the contrary a shrewd and alert politician, outwitted by another.

Anthony James Pollard

About this article

Rivers, Anthony Woodville, 2nd Earl

Updated About encyclopedia.com content Print Article