ane Shore (d. 1527), a woman of singular wit and beauty, wife of a London goldsmith, who subsequently became the mistress of Edward IV, enjoying great power through his favor. When he died she became a companion of Thomas Grey, Marquis of Dorset. She was tried for witchcraft by order of the Duke of Gloucester, afterward Richard III, and condemned (1483) to walk in penetential garb, with a taper in her hand and attired only in her kirtle, an incident utilized by Shakespeare in his Richard III. [World Wide Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1935]

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