Eleanor de Cobham, Duchess of Gloucester

Eleanor Cobham
Duchess of Gloucester
Eleanor and her husband Humphrey
Born	c. 1400 Sterborough Castle, Kent
Died	7 July 1452 (aged c. 52). Beaumaris Castle, Anglesey.
Spouse	Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester (m. bet. 1428–1431; ann. c. 1441)
Father	Reynold Cobham, 3rd Baron Cobham
Mother	Eleanor Culpeper

Eleanor, Duchess of Gloucester (née Cobham; c.1400 – 7 July 1452), was a mistress and the second wife of Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester. A convicted sorceress, her imprisonment for treasonable necromancy in 1441 was a cause célèbre.

Eleanor was daughter of Reginald Cobham, 3rd Baron Sterborough, 3rd Lord Cobham, and his first wife, Eleanor Culpeper (d. 1422), daughter of Sir Thomas Culpeper, of Rayal.

In about 1422 Eleanor became a lady-in-waiting to Jacqueline d'Hainault, who, on divorcing John IV, Duke of Brabant, had fled to England in 1421. In 1423, Jacqueline married Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, the youngest son of King Henry IV, who since the death of his elder brother King Henry V was Lord Protector of the child king Henry VI and a leading member of his council.

Gloucester went to France to wrest control of his wife's estates in Hainault. On his return to England in 1425 Eleanor became his mistress. In January 1428, the Duke had his marriage to Jacqueline annulled and married Eleanor. According to Harrison "Eleanor was beautiful, intelligent, and ambitious and Humphrey was cultivated, pleasure-loving, and famous" (Harris 2008). Over the next few years they were the centre of a small but flamboyant court based at La Plesaunce in Greenwich, surrounded by poets, musicians, scholars, physicians, friends and acolytes. In November 1435, Gloucester placed his whole estate in a jointure with Eleanor and six months later, in April 1436, she was granted the robes of a duchess for the Garter ceremony.

In 1435, Gloucester's elder brother, John, Duke of Bedford died, making Humphrey heir presumptive to the English throne. Gloucester also claimed the role of regent, hitherto occupied by his brother, but was opposed in that endeavour by the council. His wife Eleanor had some influence at court and seems to have been liked by Henry VI.