Jane Shore was an actual historical personage before she became immortalized in the pages of literature for being the most famous and favoured of King Edward IV’s mistresses. Born in London around 1445 to John and Amy Lambert, her official christened name was Elizabeth “Jane” Lambert. Her father was a successful mercer, or merchant, with a shop in Cheapside. Merchants like Jane’s father had quite a bit of power in that they also served as bankers to the King. The relative wealth of Jane’s family would have afforded her an education typical for girls with her social standing, an education which, according to Margaret Crosland’s

The Mysterious Mistress: The Life and Legend of Jane Shore,

would have mostly been oral, including, “counting songs, nursery rhymes, fairy tales,…

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Citation: Sturgeon, Elizabeth M.. "Jane Shore". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 15 March 2019 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=13329, accessed 21 November 2024.]

13329 Jane Shore 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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