The origins of the Tudor: The Mother who conquered the throne of England

Hi everyone and welcome back to my blog.

This is the first post I write and I'm feeling very nervous, but also excited to start this whole new journey with you. So, as you can read, the first step of our journey into the 16th century starts with a mother and her only son, the boy that one day will be King of England, a new conqueror, the second of the English history.

But how this boy became King? Long is the way to the throne, and a little help is always very welcomed. Now, since I started to study about Tudor, the first name that came out every time was the one of Margaret Beaufort. Not every historians have a same opinion about her - some of them portrayed her as a vile woman, other as the most pious creature the world had ever knew - but all of them agrees that she was the matriarch a new royal dynasty, the one that stopped forever the civil war between Lancaster and York, the dynasty that generated the most powerful monarchs of all times: the Tudor.

In today's post we're going to try to find everything useful to give to this woman a realistic portrait, let's start.

Early years

Born in 1443, she was the only child of John Beaufort, duke of Somerset and Margaret Beauchamp, so she was raised in a Lancaster family. When her father died in mysterious circumstances (some of his contemporaries believed he committed suicide) in 1444 she was one of the most influent and wanted girl on the marriage market: she was John of Gaunt's niece. In 1450 she was contracted to John de la Pole, a de futuro arrangement for a marriage that was easily annulled three years later when she was married de facto to Edmund Tudor, the half brother of king Henry VI of Lancaster, recently made earl of Richmond. The wedding took place at the Bletsoe Castle on 1st November 1455, he was 24 and she was almost 13 years old. Their union was tactical plan to assure to their children the crown of England through her Plantagenet blood.

In 1453 the Lancaster king fell in a seventeen months lasting sleep and Richard, duke of York became the Protector of the Realm. The Queen, Margaret of Anjou, was furious and when the king finally woke up, he got rid of the protector causing a new break in the country. On 22nd May 1455 the first battle of St. Albans was fought between the two sides and the king was take as prisoner. 

Gryffydd made war with the troops under Edmund, capturing the castles at Aberystwyth, Carmarthen and Carreg Cennen by June 1456. The rebellion didn't last long, and by early August, Edmund's forces had retaken those castles although minor skirmishes continued for several months longer. While Edmund was in Wales, the King had deposed York. In retaliation, York sent 2,000 men under William Herbert on 10th August to take South Wales. When they arrived at Carmarthen Castle, they took the stronghold and captured Edmund Tudor. On 3rd November 1456, Edmund became infected with the bubonic plague and died leaving on this world a pregnant widow. 

A Mother's Love

Margaret gave birth to a son on the 28th January 1457, Henry, like the Lancastrian King. It is believed that Henry's birth caused such

physical damage to Margaret that it was impossible for her to conceive another child. In fact, no further pregnancies are recorded.

By the time her baby was a few weeks old, Edmund's brother, Jasper Tudor, was already arranging Margaret's second marriage; to Henry Stafford, son of the Duke of Buckingham. They were married on 3rd January 1458, when Margaret was 14 years and seven months old. Custody of Henry seems initially to have been awarded to Jasper Tudor and it is not known how often Margaret was able to see him. In 1461 was the year of the victory for the House of York. Both Jasper Tudor and Henry Stafford had fought for the losing side. The first fled while Margaret's husband made his peace with the new king, Edward IV, who granted custody of Henry Tudor to William Herbert. From the age of four, Henry was brought up in the household of the man responsible for the death of his father. After the execution of William Herbert in 1469, Henry was reclaimed by his uncle, Jasper Tudor. But after the fateful Battle of Tewkesbury both uncle and nephew were forced to flee to Brittany, where they remained for the next 14 years. 

The victory

Henry Strafford died in 1471. Margaret’s final marriage was to the northern magnate Thomas Stanley, Baron Stanley and king of Mann in 1472. In 1483 she schemed for the overthrow of the Yorkist Richard III and in 1485 her son Henry returned from exile in Brittany and France, defeated Richard in battle, and became King Henry VII, the implication being that Margaret had renounced her own claim to the throne in order to secure his. She actively supported her son Henry Tudor’s claim to the throne and was able to persuade her then husband, Thomas Stanley, and his brother to swap sides and support Henry at the Battle of Bosworth Field. Henry defeated Richard III and became Henry VII of England. 

I will not talk about the Princes in the Tower, but if you're interested I recommend to you my latest episode of the podcast featuring Helga, from the instagram account elizabethanlady.

How did Margaret conquer the throne for her son?

If you're imagining her on the battlefield with a long sword in her hand, that's funny but you're totally get this wrong. I'm joking. Margaret played a very important role of the political side of his

son campaign against Richard III. The first thing she did to make her son's claim stronger was to make a deal with the Dowager Yorkist Queen, Elizabeth Woodville. The White Queen gave her eldest daughter as bride to Henry Tudor, at least the queen consort would have been a York. 

This alliance meant everything for England: it was the only way to stop bloodshed and thousands of lives and Margaret Beaufort was the woman behind all of this. 
I personally believe she was one of the most intelligent and good woman in history, even greater that her daughter in law Elizabeth of York... and I also think that some novels are making her appearing like the monster, the terrible mother in law... that's not the truth.

So guys for today's post that's all but do not worry: we are going to talk about Tudor very soon. We haven't done with Margaret yet, there's so much to say and to write about her, but we'll do that in the next post. Let me know in a quick comment here if you enjoyed this read. Have a good week! See you on my instagram account for daily post!