Elizabeth Luttrell

Primary Sources

1463/4 12 Kal. April. (21 March.) Siena. (f. 153.)
To Humphrey Audeley, nobleman, donsel, and Elisabeth, noblewoman, relict of James Lottrell, of the diocese of Bath and Wells. Absolution from sentence of excommunication incurred by their having formerly, not being ignorant that they were related in the second degree of affinity, contracted marriage per verba legitime de presenti, and consummated it, although they did not have it solemnized before the church; with dispensation to contract the said marriage anew (de novo), have it solemnized before the church and remain therein, decreeing the offspring born, if any, and that to be born of the marriage legitimate for all legal purposes. (fn. 2)Oblate siquidem nobis. (G. de Piccolominibus. | lxxx. A. de Urbino. N. [de] Benzis.) [In the margin: Februarii and Jo. Horn, O. Principis. 2/3 p.]

Source: 'Vatican Regesta 513: 1464', in Calendar of Papal Registers Relating To Great Britain and Ireland: Volume 11, 1455-1464, ed. J A Twemlow (London, 1921), pp. 677-678. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/cal-papal-registers/brit-ie/vol11/... [accessed 2

In 1450, the Bishop at Exeter issued a license for a marriage to be celebrated in the private chapel of Powderham Castle between James Luttrell and Elizabeth daughter of Sir Phillip Courtenay, his late guardian. A large part of the Luttrell estate was settled on her in jointure, some two years later.

In the proceedings of 1475, Lady Luttrell is described as a widow. She had, in point of fact, had two husbands. Sir James Luttrell had, as we have seen, been mortally wounded at the second battle of St. Albans and attainted.

After his death, she had married his cousin, Sir Humphrey Touchet, brother of Lord Audley, but he in turn was taken prisoner at the battle of Tewkesbury and beheaded. Even in those distracted times of civil war, there could not have been many widows who had, within eleven years, lost two husbands fighting on behalf of the unfortunate House of Lancaster.

She eventually married a third husband, Thomas Mallet of Enmore in Somerset, but, according to common medieval custom, she retained the surname of Luttrell until her death in the reign of Henry VII. It was under that name that she, in 1476, stood godmother to Richard, the short-lived son of her patron, George, Duke of Clarence. Her feelings at the christening must have been mixed, for it was performed at Tewkesbury, the very place where her late husband had lost his head.

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