Cobham, Eleanor (d. 1452)

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Cobham, Eleanor (d. 1452)

Duchess of Gloucester. Died on August 7, 1452 (some sources cite 1446); daughter of Reginald Cobham, 2nd baron Cobham; became second wife of Humphrey, duke of Gloucester, 1431 (divorced 1441).

Eleanor Cobham was originally the mistress, then the wife, of Humphrey, duke of Gloucester, who was the son of Mary de Bohun and Henry IV, king of England. After Cobham fell in with Roger Bolingbroke, who dabbled in the black art, she was tried for conspiracy to kill King Henry VI by magic, so that her husband might have the crown. Imprisoned in 1441, she was sentenced to walk the streets for three days while bareheaded and carrying a burning candle. She was afterward confined to Chester Castle, Kenilworth, then the Isle of Man, and is said to have remained in Peel Castle until her death in 1452. Eleanor Cobham figures in Shakespeare's play Henry VI, part 2, when her ears are boxed by the English queen, Margaret of Anjou (1430–1482).

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