Elizabeth Woodville a medieval queen consort. Her acts included making pilgrimages, obtaining a papal indulgence for those who knelt and said the Angelus three times per day, and founding the chapel of St. Erasmus in Westminster Abbey. Following Edward IV's sudden death, possibly from pneumonia, in April 1483, Elizabeth Woodville became queen dowager. Her young son, Edward V, became king, with his uncle, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, acting as Lord Protector. In response to the Woodvilles' attempt to monopolise power, Gloucester quickly moved to take control of the young king and had Anthony Woodville, 2nd Earl Rivers, and Richard Grey, brother and
Elizabeth Woodville, Countess Rivers Mary, but remained without legitimate issue. He was later beheaded by order of Richard III due to the threat he posed to Richard usurping from the crown from Anthony's nephew, Edward V, at Pontefract on 24 June 1483, but did leave a will. The lands attached to the Rivers title were inherited by Anthony's brother, Richard Woodville, 3rd Earl Rivers. The Barony of Scales went to his youngest brother, Edward Woodville, but Richard III ignored this provision and the title fell into abeyance. In 1485, John de Vere and William Tynedale became heirs to the Scales' estate. Elizabeth Woodville, Countess