Margaret Beaufort: Mother of the Tudor Dynasty

Product Information

leverage to the Stanleys, since Margaret could use any wealth granted to her for her own purposes, thereby circumventing the prevailing idea of coverture. [50] After her son's victory at the Battle of Bosworth Field, the Countess was referred to in court as "My Lady the King's Mother". Her son's first Parliament reversed the attainder against her and declared her a feme sole. This status granted Beaufort considerable legal and social independence from men. She was allowed to own property separately from her husband (as though she were unmarried) and sue in court – two rights denied to contemporary married women. [39] Coat of arms of Lady Margaret Beaufort [40] The college owes its foundation to the generosity of an extraordinary woman – Lady Margaret Beaufort. She was, variously, a scholar, an astute manager of resources, a shrewd politician and a generous philanthropist. She had by the age of thirteen given birth to Henry Tudor, who was to become King Henry VII in 1485 with the assistance of her third husband, Lord Stanley. The intervention of Stanley’s forces at the Battle of Bosworth was critical in securing Henry’s victory over Richard III. In August 1485, with an army of mercenaries at his side, Henry sailed to England and met Richard at the Battle of Bosworth. Keen to rally morale, Richard entered the battle on foot, determined to quash this rebellion as he had done many times before. Alas, the “turn of fortune’s wheel,” as Norton puts it, was not on Richard’s side, and he fell in battle. There are tactical reasons for his defeat, but it is important to note that Stanley’s force did not enter the fray until the middle of the clash. It was their involvement on the side of Henry’s army that won the day. Margaret’s influence over her husband, while not absolute, must have been strong, swaying his decision to support her son’s claim to the throne. Richard’s defeat and Henry’s ascension began a new, earned chapter in Margaret’s life: her role as My Lady, the King’s Mother. It is not known whether Margaret ever considered herself as a realistic claimant to the throne. Although the principle of female inheritance was accepted, it is unlikely that people would have fought for a female claimant when a man was available. Nevertheless, Margaret almost immediately adopted semi-regal status. She was referred to throughout Henry’s reign as ‘ my lady, the King’s mother’ as well as by her titles of Countess of Richmond and Derby. Around the end of the century, she even took to signing her documents Margaret R, rather than the more usual noble style which would have been M Richmond. The ‘ R’ being ambiguous as it could have stood for Richmond or for Regina.

Jessica Brain is a freelance writer specialising in history. Based in Kent and a lover of all things historical. A Lancastrian, Edmund would not live to see his child with Margaret as he was subsequently captured by the Yorkists and died of the plague in captivity in Carmarthen whilst Margaret, now thirteen, was seven months pregnant. Before her death Beaufort also left her mark on the early reign of Henry VIII; when her eighteen-year-old grandson chose members of his privy council, it was Margaret's suggestions he took. [64] Death [ edit ]Ward, Jennifer C. (1992). English Noblewomen in the Later Middle Ages. University of California: Longman. p.102. In 1471, Henry and his uncle Jasper were besieged at Pembroke Castle. Fleeing to Brittany, they were provided sanctuary from England. Margaret’s son and closest friend lived in a precarious state of exile for the next 14 years, leaving her as the de facto emissary for her son’s lands and wealth. Seriously wounded at the decisive Battle of Barnet, Stafford died too, leaving Margaret alone, exposed and out of political favor. Gristwood, Sarah (2013). Blood Sisters: The Women Behind the Wars of the Roses. New York: Basic Books. p.226.

Gristwood, Sarah (2013). Blood Sisters: The Women Behind the Wars of the Roses. New York: Basic Books. p.48.Vergil, Polydore (2018). The Anglica Historia of Polydore Vergil, A. D. 1485–1537, edited by D. Hay. University of Toronto: University of Toronto Press. p.411. Wyatt, Michael, The Italian Encounter with Tudor England: A Cultural Politics of Translation, Cambridge University Press, 2005, p. 47. Gristwood, Sarah (2013). Blood Sisters: The Women Behind the Wars of the Roses. New York: Basic Books. pp.195–6. Margaret was married to Suffolk's son, John de la Pole. The wedding may have been held between 28 January and 7 February 1444, when she was perhaps a year old but certainly no more than three. [ citation needed] However, there is more evidence to suggest they were married in January 1450, after Suffolk had been arrested and was looking to secure his son's future by betrothing him to a conveniently wealthy ward whose children could be potential claimants to the throne. [9] Papal dispensation was granted on 18 August 1450, necessary because the spouses were closely related (Lady Margaret and de la Pole being the great-grandchildren of two sisters, Katherine Swynford and Philippa Chaucer, respectively), and this concurs with the later date of marriage. [10] Three years later, her marriage to de la Pole was dissolved, and King Henry VI granted Margaret's wardship to his own half-brothers, Jasper and Edmund Tudor. [11] [12] [13]

So I think the prayers in English are likely to be the ones she would have been most attached to, but her piousness meant the Latin, as the language of the church, was very important and her chaplain would doubtless have steered her through them.At the time of her birth, John Beaufort was in the middle of military preparations on behalf of King Henry VI. Rebecca Gablé, Das Spiel der Könige (translated: The Game of Kings) (2007), the third installment (1455–1485) of the Waringham series by the German author; Margaret ("Megan") Beaufort is one of the characters