Stillington was no obscure country priest, as some people like to think, but a member of the King's Council who had been Edward IV's Chancellor from 1467 - 1470. If he had secretly married Edward IV to Eleanor Butler, why didn't he come forward with news of this when Edward made public his marriage to Elizabeth Woodville in September 1464? Why would Edward ask a very public man like Stillington to secretly marry him to a woman whom he had no intention of honoring as his wife, especially a woman as important as she, kinswoman to the Earl of Shrewsbury. When Council and Warwick in particular expressed outrage over the news of his marriage to Elizabeth, seeking ways to invalidate it, why didn't Stillington come forward, since it was his moral obligation to disclose the impediment to this marriage? Why had he allowed Warwick to attempt to negotiate a French marriage for Edward? Why didn't the Lady Eleanor Butler come forward during the days following Edward's disclosure? Why didn't she seek out Stillington, Warwick, and other members of the Council to press her case? Why didn't her kin the Talbots step forward on her behalf? Edward IV died in April, so why did Stillington wait until June to drop this bombshell? Was it because by that time Edward V's strongest friends and supporters were dead, in prison, in sanctuary, or in exile? If the precontract was true, why wasn't the matter taken before a tribunal of clergymen, as was required by the Church. It was not up to Richard and Stillington alone to decide the legality of Edward IV's marriage. Nor was it up to Richard's Parliament. They had no authority to decide the matter of a holy sacrament. They said that they could offer proof, but they never bothered to do so. In a Catholic context, the accuser regarding the validity of a marriage has the burden of proof, and even if Edward had entered into marriage in bigamy, Elizabeth entered into good faith. The Church considers the children of a putative marriage legitimate. Further, Edward and Elizabeth had been universally recognized as man and wife for 19 years. How could this be refuted? In 1478, Stillington had been arrested by Edward, so how objective was he anyway?