Elizabeth Craven's Descent from Jacquetta of Luxembourg
Elizabeth Craven's remarkable novel The Witch and the Maid of Honour is concerned with witch-hunting in the reign of King James I. She obviously felt very strongly about the evils of witch-hunting and superstition. And curiously enough, a genealogical chart shows that she was descended from Jacquetta of Luxembourg, Duchess of Bedford, who was arraigned for witchcraft in the reign of Edward IV. Jacquetta is one of the most famous "witches" in English history, although it was undoubtedly because of political rivalry that she faced these charges. Jacquetta was the daughter of Pierre de Luxembourg, Count of St Pol, one of the ancient nobility of Burgundy, whose family was related to the Emperor and descended from monarchs of England too. In the reign of Henry VI, his uncle Prince John, Duke of Bedford was sent to act as Regent of France. On the death of his first wife, he married the young Jacquetta, and two years later died...