Little Malvern Priory possesses one of only three surviving stained glass windows depicting Edward V in the country; it can be dated to 1480-1482. The other Edward V windows of the time are to be found at Canterbury Cathedral, and at St. Matthew’s church, Coldridge, in Devon.
Professor Richard Marks, International President of the Corpus Vitearum Medii Aevi, in a letter to us, states:
“The glazing of the east window of Little Malvern Priory is an outstanding monument of English late medieval glass painting in both its imagery and craftsmanship. Depicted are the family of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville, including the future Edward V, one of ‘the Princes in the Tower.’ It is one of the few surviving monumental representations of the key Yorkist personalities in English 15th-century history. The patron, Bishop William Alcock, was Chancellor of England and President of the Royal Council, so the window can be located in the highest circles. The glass is rich in colour and exhibits a standard of technical virtuosity appropriate for its regal subject matter. It represents the top level of English glass-painting. The window can be firmly dated (itself a rarity) to 1480-1482 and it is by a Malvern workshop headed by Richard Twygge and Thomas Woodshawe, which executed some of the most important glazing commissions carried out between the 1480s and the early 16th-century, including the Great Malvern Priory ‘Magnificat’ window, Tattershall College (Lincs.) and Westminster Abbey nave.
The Little Malvern glass is of sufficient national importance to have been included in the ‘Glory of Gothic Art in England c1400-1547’, held in the Victoria and Albert Museum in 2004.”
