Eleanor Cobham: A Royal Tragedy of Blame and Betrayal by Phoebe Joyce

The tragedy of Eleanor Cobham is often times referred to in passing as an unfortunate event in Henry IV’s reign. In reality however, the accusations against her and her relatively swift fall from favour, are a microcosm for the fragility of a woman’s position in the medieval court, and the precarious spinning of the wheel of fortune. Eleanor Cobham was born some time around 1400 at the Neo-gothic Sterborough Castle in Surrey. Whilst relatively little is known about her early life, it is clear that the was on the fringes of 15th century political society through her parents lineage. Her father Sir Reynold Cobham was a knight and through her mother Eleanor Culpeper she was related to the Culpeper family who would be at the centre of medieval society during the coming centuries.

By her early twenties, Eleanor was lady-in-waiting to Jacqueline d’Hainault. How Eleanor came to be in her retinue is unclear, however by 1423 Jacqueline had divorced her first husband and married the man who would catapult Eleanor into the political machinations of Henry IV's court. Becoming Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester’s extramarital mistress in 1425 should, by medieval standards, have been the highest position Eleanor could occupy in the Duke’s life. As the daughter of a Knight, the jumping of the chasm between Eleanor’s and Humphrey’s societal positions undoubtedly played a role in her later downfall and the slander to which she would fall victim. By 1428 Humphrey’s marriage to Jaqueline had been annulled by Pope Martin V upon the belief that her first marriage to John IV, Duke of Brabant was valid and the divorce not recognised. By marrying Eleanor shortly after it suggests that this relationship was built upon a foundation of real love and commitment, and not purely a dalliance between a Duke and his wife’s lady-in-waiting. It is true to say then that Eleanor was Humphrey’s kryptonite, his weakness in a world where he wielded significant political power and thus the perfect scapegoat if a time ever arose when he appeared to get too comfortable with the prospect of being on the throne of England.

Less than a decade after her marriage to Humphrey, Eleanor had been elevated not just to the sister-in-law to the King, but to the wife of the heir to the throne; by 1436 Eleanor Cobham had become Duchess of Gloucester. Could it be that this elevation in status came with no forewarning of the precarious nature of the wheel of fortune upon which Henry IV’s court sat, or simply that The Gloucester’s saw themselves as having the potential to turn the wheel themselves. Regardless of the reasoning, the decision to consult Thomas Southwell and Roger Bolingbroke to draw a horoscope provided all the evidence that was needed to rewrite her as a woman above her station who had positioned herself dangerously close to the seat of power. The drawing of the horoscope and involvement of “The Witch of Eye” Margery Jourdemayne suggests that Eleanor may have acted in the interests of the ambitions of her husband. At the time of the scandal, Humphrey was heir to the throne and by predicting the illness and death of Henry VI, Southwell and Bolingbroke predicted the rise of Eleanor and her husband. Not surprisingly, when news of the astrological predictions caught the attention of the King, his own astrologers predicted there would be no great illness nor imminent death. With hindsight it is apparent that Henry’s astrologers were bound to predict the King to be in good health. At the time it may have also suggested that the horoscope drawn by Southwell, Bolingbroke and Eleanor demonstrated not the truth of events to come but rather their own wishes in regards to the King’s demise. By rejecting their predictions, the King’s astronomer did not simply show them to be incorrect, he showed them to be guilty of treasonable necromancy. Having been accused and found guilty, Eleanor was the only one of the four not to die as a result of imprisonment or execution. Her punishment may have been even harder to bear for a woman who married for love and may well have consulted the astrologers for the same reason. Eleanor was condemned to lifetime imprisonment in castles befitting her status, undertake public penance, and finally divorce her husband Humphrey. She died in July 1452 after 11 years imprisonment. Even the demotion from Eleanor, Duchess of Gloucester to Eleanor Cobham in cultural references shows the gendered edge of her politically orchestrated downfall. Much maligned male figures of the time such as the Richards (Richard II and Richard III) or, those who’s royal rear never sat the throne such as Edward V, still keep their titles and all of the power it suggests. In many ways, Eleanor, Duchess of Gloucester’s elevation to the centre of medieval power is equally responsible for her successes as it is her downfall. The suspicion placed upon those who seemed to rise above their natural status, or rise at a rate so rapid it seems crude, has a distinctly gendered quality; Eleanor’s ability to shift from lady-in-waiting, to nobleman’s mistress, to sister-in-law to the King should not have happened by medieval standards and for the men around her it ensured that she had very far to fall. If we are to assume that Eleanor did have a horoscope drawn, and did enquire into her and her husband’s future, her downfall and the accusations pinned to her seem to be an obvious attack on Humphrey and his position to the throne. As a former mistress, Eleanor could not have been allowed to be Queen and thus Humphrey could never have been King. It is interesting to note that Eleanor denied the accusations of witchcraft, treason and heresy. Having been examined whilst in exile, she admitted only to visiting Margery Jourdemayne to obtain herbal potions and tinctures to assist with the conception of children. It is easy to see how Eleanor could long to see into her future, how asking if there were children in the years to come could take a turn into asking of their security in the royal succession. It is so easy to see how conversations about her husband’s rise, about his longing for an heir could shift into treason. If Eleanor worried for her and her husband’s position, asking for a glimpse into the future when her husband was heir to the throne was always going to end in treason.