Education

Elizabeth Woodville and King Edward IV with William Caxton

Stained Glass Window

This stained glass window in the Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers in London, in the north window in the Large Hall, shows William Caxton, printer, presenting a printed page to the King and Queen: Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville. Caxton (1400s) was probably the person who introduced the printing press into England about 1473, and was the first retailer of printed books in England. Caxton may have been a member of the household of Margaret, sister of Edward IV, who married Charles the Bold of Burgundy. The first book Caxton printed is thought to have been Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales. Chaucer married a sister of Katherine Swynford or Roet -- who was first mistress of and then wife of John of Gaunt. Katherine Swynford and John of Gaunt were grandparents of Cecily Neville, mother of Edward IV. Edward was also a male-line descendant of John of Gaunt's brother, Edmund of Langley.