Shore
2 of the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Shore. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
Jane, a mistress of Edward IV. She left her husband, William Shore. She was a woman or remarkable beauty and wit. She exercised unbounded influence over the king and used it for good purposes. She was a favorite with the populace of London. Richard III, noted for ferocity and want of conscience, accused "that witch Shore" of having withered his arm, though it had been shrunken from birth. He endeavored to have her burnt as a witch, but failing, had her convicted of adultery and condemned to sit wrapped only in a white sheet at St. Paul's in the presence of the rabble. Shoreditch, London, appears to have been named for her. She outlived Edward thirty years and died in poverty in a religious house about 1527. In literature she is one of the characters of Shakespeare's play of Richard III. Her good heart and sorrows are the theme of many an English ballad.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
JANE, the famous mistress of Edward dward IV.; born in London, was well brought and married at an early ; to William Shore, traditionally a goldsmith. After her intrigue with the king began her husband abandoned her, but " she lived till Edward's death in the greatest ; luxury, enjoying great power through his favor. Her beauty was more that of expression than of features. Her greatest charm was her bright " wit. After the king's death, King Richand playful ard III., out of a pretended zeal for virtue, plundered her house of more than 2,000 merks, and caused the Bishop of London to make her walk in open penance, taper in hand, dressed only in her kirtle. Jane Shore survived her penance more than 40 years, dying in 1527.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Both entries call her "Jane," but archival work published in 1972 by Nicolas Barker and Robert Birley showed her name was Elizabeth: Elizabeth Lambert, daughter of a London mercer, the "Jane" being an Elizabethan invention. The records also correct the marriage story told here — she did not simply leave William Shore (a mercer rather than Aiton's goldsmith); the marriage was annulled by papal authority in 1476 on the grounds of his impotence, and she later married Thomas Lynom, Richard III's own solicitor, which sits oddly with Aiton's picture of a woman hounded to die in poverty. Aiton's claim that Shoreditch "appears to have been named for her" is now firmly rejected: the name is recorded well before her birth. The 1527 death date both give, and the famous penance at St Paul's, still rest largely on Thomas More's account and remain accepted in outline.
Written for this edition, 2026.