Jane Shore

Portrait of a woman called Jane Shore, wearing a red silk non-boned bodice and a pearl hennin. 1590s details may have been added later to an existing portrait or incorporated into copy created in the 1590s, in the manner of as seen in certain portraits of Anne Boleyn and Jane Seymour. Inscribed: BAKERS WİFE AND MİSTRİS TO A KİNG. The portrait bears a remarkable resemblance to the one undisputed likeness of Jane Shore that exists, that of her parents’ memorial brass in Hinxworth, Hertfordshire.

Elizabeth "Jane" Shore (née Lambert; 1445 – c. 1527) was one of the many mistresses of King Edward IV of England. She became the best known in history by being later accused of conspiracy by the future King Richard III and compelled to do public penance. She was also a sometime mistress of other noblemen, including Edward's stepson, Thomas Grey, 1st Marquess of Dorset, and William Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings, but ended her life in bourgeois respectability.

Early life and first marriage Born in London in about 1445, Elizabeth Lambert was the daughter of a prosperous merchant, John Lambert (d. 1487), and his wife Amy (d. 1488), the daughter of a London grocer named Robert Marshall. The name "Jane", which has sometimes been attached to her, was the invention of a 17th-century playwright (Heywood), because during the course of the sixteenth century, her real first name was omitted, then forgotten by authors.

Spending time in her father's shop at a young age may have brought the young Lambert into contact with ladies of high rank. C. J. S. Thompson's highly romanticised biography, The Witchery of Jane Shore, the Rose of London: The Romance of a Royal Mistress (1933) claimed that she was able to observe their behaviour and gain an understanding of the manners of those higher ranking than herself. She was thought to have been highly intelligent, and as a result, received an education that was not usually associated with a person of her class. Thompson also claimed that her beauty earned her the title of "The Rose of London" – although this is not mentioned in contemporary sources.

Lambert attracted many suitors, among them William Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings, friend and confidant of Edward IV. It is likely Hastings fell in love with Elizabeth Lambert before her marriage; his affection for her is apparent later in life by his continual protection of her.

Such extreme attention made John Lambert desirous of finding his daughter a suitable husband. Such an opportunity presented itself with William Shore (d. 1494), a goldsmith and banker and common visitor to the Lambert home.

Royal mistress According to the Patent Rolls for 4 December 1476, it was during this same year that Lambert began her liaison with Edward IV, after his return from France. Edward remained involved with her until his death.

Open penance and prison Lambert is also known to have two other lovers, Edward IV's eldest stepson, Thomas Grey, 1st Marquess of Dorset, and William Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings. Grey's wife was the wealthy heiress Cecily Bonville, 7th Baroness Harington, who also happened to be Hastings' stepdaughter. There is no evidence for the suggestion that Shore was instrumental in bringing about any alliance between Hastings and the Woodvilles, with whom Hastings was pursuing a vicious feud while Richard, Duke of Gloucester, was Protector. Only in the imagination of Thomas More was she supposedly accused of carrying messages between Hastings and Edward IV's widow, Elizabeth Woodville. It was because of her role in the Hastings plot that Shore was charged with conspiracy, along with Hastings, against the Protector's government.

Lambert's punishment included open penance at Paul's Cross for her promiscuous behaviour by Richard.

Second marriage and later life

While in Ludgate prison, Lambert captivated the King's Solicitor General, Thomas Lynom. After he expressed an interest in Lambert to Richard, the king tried to dissuade him for his own good but if Lynom were determined on the marriage, he agreed to release Lambert from prison and put her in the charge of her father until Richard's next arrival in London when the marriage could and did take place. It is believed that Lambert lived the remainder of her life in bourgeois respectability. Lynom lost his position as King's Solicitor when Henry VII defeated Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth in August 1485, but he was able to stay on as a mid-level bureaucrat in the new reign,

Fiction