Date of Award

8-31-2015

Document Type

Campus Access Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

History

First Advisor

Elizabeth McCahill

Second Advisor

Roberta L. Wollons

Third Advisor

Olivia Weisser

Abstract

This research will examine the historiography of the lives of two fifteenth century English noblewomen, Jacquetta of Luxembourg, and her daughter Elizabeth Woodville, wife of Edward IV, by way of the witchcraft accusations against them. The historiography will begin with contemporary chroniclers and range through modern biographers and popular culture depictions, such as the television series “The White Queen.” This research will examine the attitudes of the writers with respect to the time periods in which they were writing, and assert that while chroniclers’ and biographers’ attitudes toward the question of witchcraft as it pertains to Jacquetta and Elizabeth have fluctuated throughout the centuries, they have predominantly dismissed these veracity of these charges. However, modern popular culture has made these accusations into a reality, and a mostly positive one.

Comments

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