Margaret Beaufort

Lady Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond and Derby (1443-1509).

Margaret Beaufort was the only child and consequently the only heiress of John Beaufort, 1st Duke of Somerset and his wife Margaret Beauchamp of Bletsoe. Margaret´s father was a grandson of King Edward III and the son of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, therefore Margaret was a relative to the King and had Lancastrian roots. Lady Margaret Beaufort was married four times in her life, but is most mentioned with regard to her marriage with Edmund Tudor and being the mother of Henry VII.

Margaret´s first husband was John de la Pole. But the marriage was annulled in 1453 by Henry VI, so that his half-brother, Edmund Tudor, Earl of Richmond, was able to marry Margaret (Jones & Underwood 25). Hence, Margaret was married to her second husband, Edmund Tudor, in 1455 at the age of 12. It is likely that the King wanted Edmund Tudor as his heir, in the right of Margaret, due to her Lancastrian roots (qtd. in Jansen 28) [name of author that is qtd. in Jansen?]. But the marriage did not last long, since Edmund already died in November 1456. He left behind his wife and his unborn son. Margaret´s only child, Henry VII was born on the 28th of January 1457 (ibid. 28f). From this point on Margaret´s main interest was to keep her son safe. In order to do so she took an active role in arranging her following marriages (Jones & Underwood 40).

As Margaret wanted protection for herself and her son by Humphrey, Duke of Buckingham [source?], she married his second son Henry Stafford. Since Margaret and Henry were second cousins, a bishop had to grant dispensation, before the marriage could finally be contracted in 1450 (ibid. 40f). The marriage lasted for 14 years and turned out to be a good decision, since Stafford was reconciled to the Yorkist King, Edward IV, and lived a prosperous life as they were given a great amount of land by Buckingham and could additionally profit from Margaret´s heritage (Jansen 29; Jones & Underwood 41). Their marriage ended as Stafford died in 1471 in the Battle of Barnet, fighting for the Yorkists.

In 1472 Margaret married her fourth and last husband, Lord Thomas Stanley. Stanley was a Yorkist supporter and so Margaret could return to King Edward IV´s court. As Stanley´s wife, the Lancastrian Margaret was involved in the Yorkist court, despite her ancestry. Nevertheless it is her who is said to have initiated the rebellion of Henry Stafford, Duke of Buckingham, against Richard III. But the rebellion failed and Richard III wanted to pass an Act of Attainder in parliament against her. He accused her of treason, by having sent messages to her son that aimed to overthrow the King by supporting the rebellion. Although her husband´s good and trustworthy services at Richard´s court saved her from the Act of Attainder, she was no longer allowed to communicate with her son and all her belongings as well as Margaret herself should be controlled by her husband (Ross qtd. in Jansen 29f).

After the failed rebellion Margaret tried to defeat Richard III by arranging a marriage between her son and a daughter of Edward IV. So Margaret and King Edward IV ´s widow arranged the marriage between their children and Henry, Earl of Richmond and Elizabeth of York married in 1483 (Jansen 30).

In 1485, Henry defeated Richard III in the Battle of Bosworth Field and became King Henry VII. Thus Lady Margaret of Richmond and Derby became “the King´s mother” (Jones & Underwood [page?]).

Margaret had a lot of influence in the King´s household as well as in the kingdom. In the household she had an influence on e.g. her grandchildren´s education and their marriages. With regard to the kingdom she influenced and advised her son, took care of foreign affairs (e.g. with France) and presided in the Royal Court. In addition she maintained her own household (Collyweston). Margaret lived independently at Collyweston, since she had been declared a femme sole by parliament. This meant that she could keep and administer all her belongings without her husband, but Lord Stanley was welcomed to visit her (Jansen 33). Through the years of her son´s kingship the relationship between mother and son was a strong one. She had also been the right hand the queen consort [?] and used to travel everywhere with the couple (Jansen 31f).

After King Henry VII´s death in 1509 Margaret was “the chief executor of his will” (ibid. 32). Therefore she arranged his funeral and her grandson´s (Henry VIII) coronation, before she passed away in June 1509 (ibid; Jones & Underwood 251).

Sources

Jansen, Sharon L. The Monstrous Regiment of Women. Female Rulers in Early Modern Europe. Palgrave Macmillan, 2010.

Jonse, Michael K. & Underwood, Malcolm G. The King´s Mother: Lady Margaret Beaufort, Coutness of Richmond and Derby. Cambridge University Press, 1999.