Anthony Woodville, 2nd Earl Rivers Anthony Woodville, 2nd Earl Rivers Anthony Woodville, 2nd Earl Rivers (c. 144025 June 1483), Knight of the Garter, was an English nobleman, courtier, bibliophile and writer. He was the brother of Queen Elizabeth Woodville who married King Edward IV. He was one of the leading members of the Woodville family, which came to prominence during the reign of King Edward IV. After Edward's death he was arrested and then executed by the future Richard III as part of a power-struggle between Richard and the Woodvilles. He wrote one of the first books printed in England. He was the eldest son
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