Elizabeth Woodville, Countess Rivers Elizabeth Woodville, Countess Rivers Elizabeth Woodville, Countess Rivers and 8th Baroness Scales (died 2 September 1473), born Elizabeth de Scales, was the sole heir of Thomas Scales, 7th Baron Scales. Elizabeth first married Henry Bourchier (d. 1462), second son of Henry Bourchier, 1st Earl of Essex. Her second marriage to Anthony Woodville, 2nd Earl Rivers produced no children. The earl was a sibling of Elizabeth Woodville, queen consort of Edward IV. He became Lord Scales in his wife's right, and was summoned to Parliament by that title. After Elizabeth died in 1473, Anthony married a daughter of Henry FitzLewis named
Elizabeth Woodville to the throne with any degree of validity. To strengthen his claim and unite the two feuding noble houses, Elizabeth Woodville and Margaret Beaufort agreed that the latter's son should marry the former's eldest daughter, Elizabeth of York, who upon the death of her brothers became the heiress of the House of York. Henry Tudor agreed to this plan and in December 1483 publicly swore an oath to that effect in the cathedral in Rennes, France. A month earlier, an uprising in his favour, led by Buckingham, had been crushed. Richard III's first Parliament of January 1484 stripped Elizabeth of