Walking around Westminster Abbey, I noticed one effigy of a woman with no sign or description that tourists were filing past, ignoring. Drawn in by her high-status clothing and the shields on the base of her tomb, I decided to find out who she was. This is the effigy of Philippa, Duchess of York and Lady of the Isle of Wight, and she lived an interesting life.
Philippa was born Philippa de Mohun (some sources state her surname as Bohun), in around 1367, the daughter of John de Mohun and his wife Joan de Burghersh. Her father was Lord Mohun and Lord of Dunster, a prominent man of power within the realm, and Philippa would have had a good upbringing, expecting one day to make a high-status marriage.
She would eventually marry three times. Her first marriage was to Walter, Lord Fitzwalter, who died in around 1386, when Philippa was just nineteen. Her second husband, Sir John Golofre, died in around 1396 in Langley, Oxfordshire. Very quickly, Philippa entered into a marriage of even higher status. In the same year as Golofre's death, at the age of thirty, she married Edward of Langley, grandson of Edward III and heir to the dukedom of York.
During her marriage to Edward, she would have been responsible for managing the household and co-ordinating servants while her husband served in active roles of state. Edward had been in favour with King Richard II, who knighted him in 1377 when Edward was just four years old. In 1393, when he was twenty years old, his mother, Isabella of Castile, died, but his civic and military career continued, as expected of a grandson of a king. In 1396-1398 he served as Warden of the Cinque Ports, and in 1397 as Warden of the New Forest. He was also created Lord of the Isle of Wight. Further roles were placed under Edward's command, including Constable of the Tower of London, and then, with more responsibility over the justice of the realm, Constable of England. Philippa and Edward would have celebrated each grant, title and promotion as increasing their social, political and financial power.
However, everything changed in 1399. Henry IV (Henry of Bolingbroke) arrived on the coast of Ravenspurn in Yorkshire to lay claim to the kingdom. Richard II was captured, and Henry declared himself king. Because of Edward's loyalty and popularity with Richard II, who it is believed was later quietly murdered at Berkeley Castle, the incoming Henry treated him with some suspicion. Edward was removed from his position at the Tower, and deprived of some of his titles. However he soon managed to win the new king over, and these were reinstated in 1401. He then resumed his position as Constable of the Tower of London in 1406, which continued until his death.
In 1402, the couple's fate changed yet again, with the death of Edward's father, Edmund, first Duke of York. They were now Duke and Duchess of York. Henry IV died in 1415, passing the throne to his son Henry V, and Philippa and Edward continued in their support and service to the new king. In 1415, Edward embarked on a ship at Southampton headed for France, to fight with Henry V at Agincourt. This would have been the last time Philippa would have said goodbye to her husband. They had been married for nineteen years.
It's believed that by the age of forty-two Edward had become overweight, and died at the battle after being smothered in his armour and the press of fighting. His body was returned to England and he was buried at Fotheringhay church. Philippa immediately set about securing her position, and was granted the Lordship of the Isle of Wight, taking over the title held by her husband. She seems now to have moved to the Isle of Wight, and her will was made at Carisbrooke Castle. She died there in 1431.
In 1415, at the age of forty-eight, Philippa had been widowed three times. After Edward's death she never remarried. She did however dedicate part of her will to very specific directions about her body's burial and its journey to its resting place, in St Nicholas' Chapel in Westminster Abbey.
Philippa ordered that every place her body stopped on the way to the abbey, prayers and Mass would be held, and money given to the priests who delivered the these services as well as to be distributed among the people who watched her coffin from the roadside. As her corpse arrived at Westminster Abbey 24 poor men were to don long gowns and black hoods and hold a lighted torch or candle at the services in both the evening and morning. One thousand poor Londoners waited to receive a penny allocated by the duchess, along with russet cloaks and hoods for one hundred of them. She didn't forget those who were too ill to come to the abbey, bequeathing money to be given also to those who were bedridden. She paid for black cloth for her household to wear during her funeral, and in addition, gave money to the monasteries of Christchurch, Canterbury, Chertsey, Barking and Stratford. She also gave funds to the nuns of Brimham and Goring and the College of Fotheringhay. Whatever was left out of her enormous estate after these payments had been made, and gifts to her family and close friends, was allocated for 'Masses, relief of Prisoners and Poor, and for the repair of Roads'.
Philippa's tomb as we see it today is very different from that seen by her contemporaries, or the one that she had planned. Originally it stood in the centre of the chapel with a beautiful arched canopy. The underneath of this was painted blue with golden stars, and paintings of God and the Crucifixion. The Latin inscription 'uxor Edmvndi Ducts Eboracensis' (wife of the Duke of York) was written on the side of her tomb. Now, the canopy is gone, and the tomb and effigy has been pushed towards the inner wall of the chapel, obscuring the coats of arms on her left side. The arms of Mohun, Fitzwalter, Golofre and Plantagenet were all painstakingly created on her tomb, along with her mother's arms of Burghersh and the arms of France and England.
Philippa lived a life so close to the royal court and witnessed the turmoil of the end of her husband's cousin Richard II's reign. The couple worked hard to prove that they were loyal to the incoming Lancastrian king Henry IV, and despite his initial suspicion, they found themselves in his favour. A medieval noblewoman's role was busy and varied, and she would have supported the household and family affairs, running errands while her husband was out of the kingdom. After his death, she ensured she was financially and socially stable, as Lady of the Isle of Wight, and there is evidence that this is where she lived out her final years. I think what is most remarkable is that Philippa had clearly amassed a huge amount of wealth and lived comfortably as a widow, but allocated vast sums towards the poor, remembering also those who were chronically ill. Her money ended up in the hands of the poor in the villages and towns passed by her coffin on its way to London, as well as in the hands of priests, monks, nuns, and Londoners who came to pay their respects on the day of her funeral. They were warmed by cloaks and hoods that she paid for, and coins that were used to feed their families. She enriched the lives of so many of these people, her coffin draped in black cloth receiving a solemn funerary service in the abbey's St Nicholas Chapel. And yet today, her tomb has been pushed to the side of the wall to accommodate more burials, her costly and richly-decorated canopy is gone and there is no visible inscription that tells us who she is. When you come to Westminster Abbey, as well as Edward III, Henry V and Queen Elizabeth I, do pay Philippa a visit, too.
Liked this? You might also like: The Aldworth Giants, Berkshire; The Kings of the Wars of the Roses and Margery de la Beche - Forgotten Woman of the Fourteenth Century
Philippa de Mohun, Duchess of York - Westminster Abbey
George Cokayne, The Complete Peerage, U-Z, 1887 pages 213-214
History and Antiquities of the Abbey Church of St Peter, Westminster Volume 2, Hurst, Robinson and Co, London, 1823. pages 164-165.
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