Editing Jane Shore (section)

== Early life and first marriage ==
Born in London in about 1445, Elizabeth Lambert was the daughter of a prosperous merchant, John Lambert (d. 1487), and his wife Amy (d. 1488), the daughter of a London grocer named Robert Marshall. The name "Jane", which has sometimes been attached to her, was the invention of a 17th-century playwright ([[Thomas Heywood|Heywood]]),<ref name=ODNB>{{Cite ODNB|id=25451|title=Shore [née Lambert], Elizabeth [Jane]}}</ref> because during the course of the sixteenth century, her real first name was omitted, then forgotten by authors.

Spending time in her father's shop at a young age may have brought the young Lambert into contact with ladies of high rank. C. J. S. Thompson's highly romanticised biography, ''The Witchery of Jane Shore, the Rose of London: The Romance of a Royal Mistress'' (1933) claimed that she was able to observe their behaviour and gain an understanding of the manners of those higher ranking than herself.<ref name="Thompson, C.J.S. 1933">Thompson (1933), p. 34.</ref> She was thought to have been highly intelligent, and as a result, received an education that was not usually associated with a person of her class.<ref>Thompson (1933), p. 32.</ref> Thompson also claimed that her beauty earned her the title of "The Rose of London" – although this is not mentioned in contemporary sources.<ref name="Thompson, C.J.S. 1933"/> According to [[Thomas More]], writing when Shore was elderly, she had been fair of body though not tall; she was attractive to men more through her personality than her physical beauty, being intelligent, literate, merry and playful.<ref name="Moor p54">[https://archive.org/stream/historykingrich00moregoog#page/n68/mode/2up More, Thomas. ''The History of King Richard III''. Cambridge University Press, 1883, p. 54.]</ref><ref name="Scofield162">Scofield, p. 162.</ref>

Lambert attracted many suitors, among them [[William Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings]], friend and confidant of [[Edward IV]]. It is likely Hastings fell in love with Elizabeth Lambert before her marriage; his affection for her is apparent later in life by his continual protection of her.<ref>Thompson (1933), p. 48.</ref>

Such extreme attention made John Lambert desirous of finding his daughter a suitable husband.<ref name="Thompson52">Thompson (2003), p. 52.</ref> Such an opportunity presented itself with William Shore (d. 1494), a goldsmith and banker and common visitor to the Lambert home.<ref name="Thompson52"/> He was approximately 14 or 15 years older than Jane.<ref name="Thompson52"/> Though handsome and well-to-do, he never really won her affections. Their marriage was annulled in March 1476 after she petitioned for the annulment of her marriage on the grounds that her husband was impotent, which prevented her from fulfilling her desire to have children. [[Pope Sixtus IV]] commissioned three bishops to decide the case, and they granted the annulment.<ref name="Clive, Mary 1973">Clive, p. 241.</ref>