Part VI
33
The ascension of a little-known English exile named Henry Tudor to the throne of England is one of the most improbable underdog stories in the history of medieval Europe. Henry spent most of his life exiled in France before he became king, making him a virtual stranger to the people in England. Even his mother, the rich heiress Margaret Beaufort, had only seen him a few times in the first twenty-eight years of his life. Henry’s claim to the throne of England wasn’t ironclad by any means.1 Although he had old royal blood from his mother’s side of the family, Henry’s grandfather was a minor Welshman who had managed to charm his way into the bed of Queen Catherine de Valois, queen consort and widow of King Henry V. It is from their secret marriage that the House of Tudor was founded.
Catherine de Valois was a young, beautiful French princess, and youngest daughter of the mad king, Charles VI. At the age of 18, Catherine was married to the great warrior king Henry V, making her queen of England. When Henry V died suddenly of dysentery on the battlefields of France in 1422, Catherine was left a widow at only 20 years of age. Their 9-month-old son Henry was suddenly the new king of England, even though he was still a babe in arms. For the first few years of his life, Henry was raised at court with his mother but around the age of 4 he was moved out of her house so he could begin his kingly training.2
Naturally, a young, beautiful dowager queen might be interested in pursuing a romantic life of her own, especially now that she had fulfilled her duty by marrying a man of her father’s choosing and siring a male heir on her first try. In fact, rumours were ripe around court that Catherine was having an affair with Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset,3 which really ruffled the feathers of Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester. Humphrey was the brother of Henry V and held the highest position in government next to his brother John, the duke of Bedford. Humphrey feared that a marriage between the dowager queen and Edmund Beaufort would tip the balance of power too far in the Beaufort’s direction so he laboured to put an end to that relationship.
With Humphrey’s encouragement, parliament passed a law in 1427 declaring that a dowager queen must have the permission of the king before she could remarry. On top of that, the law stated that the king could not give such permission until he had reached his majority, somewhere between 16 and 18 years of age.4 If a dowager queen became married without the king’s approval, her new husband would be stripped of all his lands and titles, plus he would be put to death as a traitor. Since Catherine’s son, Henry VI, was only 6 years old at the time, she would have had to wait at least ten years before she could marry. Catherine was unwilling to wait that long. Instead, she began a secret relationship with a member of her household: Owen Tudor.
Owen Tudor came from the Welsh Tewdwrs, one of the most rich and powerful families in Wales during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The Tewdwrs claimed direct descent from Ednyfed Fychan, the seneschal of Llywelyn ap Iorwerth and his son and successor, Dafydd ab Iorwerth, princes of the kingdom of Gwynedd in the early and mid-thirteenth century and were eventually considered Welsh royalty.5 Owen was born around 1400 and by 1407 he was living in London at the court of King Henry IV where he served as a page to the king’s steward.6 In 1415, Owen sailed to France and fought for King Henry V at the battles of Alençon and Agincourt when he was only 15 years old. As a reward for his faithful service, he was raised to squire which allowed him to carry arms and shields for knights.
Owen became keeper of the queen’s wardrobe sometime after the 1427 which gave him intimate access to the young and beautiful dowager Catherine.7 Sparks flew between the two and a romantic relationship blossomed. At first, they kept the relationship under cover to avoid trouble for themselves since Catherine’s actions were in defiance of parliament. Although there is no record of the union, the couple were probably married in secret.8 Soon it became difficult to keep the relationship a secret because Catherine became pregnant. She gave birth to their first child, Edmund Tudor, in 1430 at the royal manor of Hadham in Hertfordshire, followed shortly thereafter by the birth of another son, Jasper, in 1431 at a manor house in Hatfield.
For the most part, the queen stayed away from court except when she was needed to attend important occasions with her son Henry, but only when she was not pregnant. Catherine became pregnant at least two more times between 1431 and 1436, making it quite impossible for people to deny that she had a defied parliament’s order. King Henry VI tolerated their secret relationship and even bestowed lands and titles upon Owen, probably more due to his allegiance to his mother than Owen himself. In 1432, King Henry even granted Owen ‘English rights’ which meant he was exempt from the 1402 law forbidding Welshmen to own property or hold any royal office in England.9
The marriage of Owen and Catherine came to full light in January 1437, when the dowager queen died after a ‘long, grievous malady’.10 Soon after Catherine’s death, Owen was summoned to appear before the Privy Council to explain himself and his relationship with the dowager queen. Now that his wife was no longer there to protect him, Owen felt his life was in danger so he packed what he could and quickly fled to Wales. When Humphrey found out that Owen was on the run, he sent a servant to intercept Owen and haul him back to London. Once in London, Owen slipped into sanctuary at Westminster where he would be safe from arrest. After three days, he was coaxed out of sanctuary and appeared before the king at the Privy Council on 15 July 1437. The 16-year-old Henry VI was kind-hearted and decided to fully pardon his stepfather on the condition that he appear whenever summoned by the king or the privy council to which Owen agreed. Henry in return promised Owen a safe conduct back to his native Wales.11
Humphrey was not at all pleased with King Henry’s pardon and felt justified in breaking the king’s promise of a safe conduct. Humphrey dispatched his men to arrest Owen before he could reach Wales and confiscated Owen’s considerable possessions. Owen, along with his priest and servant, were taken to Newgate Prison in London and locked up. About six months into their captivity, they attempted to escape but were captured and thrown back in prison. In July 1438, Owen was transferred to Windsor Castle where he could be better watched by the constable, Edmund Beaufort.12 After one year of imprisonment at Windsor, King Henry VI granted Owen a full pardon. Henry felt that Owen was very badly treated by Humphrey and sought to correct the situation since he was now 18 years old and assuming more responsibility in his government. From that point on, Owen was an accepted member of the court and lived the life of a nobleman.13 He served King Henry on various occasions, including the escort of Henry’s future bride, Margaret of Anjou, from France to England in 1445.
Edmund and Jasper were only 6 and 7 years old when their mother died and their father was imprisoned. King Henry sent his young half-brothers to Barking Abbey and placed them under the care of the abbess, Katherine de la Pole.14 It was quite normal for well-to-do boys to be educated at a monastery and it was there that the Tudor brothers were taught religion, Latin, French, English, philosophy, and classic literature from the abbey’s expansive library. Their education and lodging was funded by King Henry who is said to have taken great pains to see that Edmund and Jasper received not only a top-notch education but also protection, both physically and morally.
Edmund and Jasper spent five years at Barking Abbey and then were called to London by the king in 1442 to live at court.15 Now aged 12 and 11 years old, the boys had never even met their half-brother. One of Henry VI’s greatest virtues was his charity and he felt sympathy for his half-brothers who had lost their mother and been separated from their father at such an early age. Henry could probably sympathise since he never even met his own father and was separated from his mother at an early age himself. Most of all, Edmund and Jasper were his only close relatives and he probably craved the familial atmosphere he had always been missing.
Unfortunately, there are no records as to the exact whereabouts or activities of the Tudor boys from the time they moved to court in 1442 until their rise to prominence ten years later in 1452. We can only assume that their education continued, probably with more of an emphasis placed on military training since the boys were approaching their teenage years and would be expected to serve the king who had so generously paid for their upbringing. There is no evidence of a personal relationship between King Henry and the Tudor boys, but it is possible that their paths crossed many times at court over those ten years.
The first few years at court would have been an exciting place for young Edmund and Jasper, a time of peace, hope, and gratitude that the infant king had lived to reach his majority. The peace and stability wouldn’t last long though. Things started going downhill for Henry VI not long after his majority began. His choice of a French bride, Margaret of Anjou, turned out to be highly unpopular.16 There were high hopes that she could bring peace between France and England but the war dragged on and England lost more French territories in the late 1440s and early 1450s. This combined with rebellions from the Yorkist faction in the early 1450s all led to Henry VI’s mental collapse in August 1453. Edmund and Jasper were too young to be intimately involved in government during this time, but they certainly would have been aware of the current state of affairs and that their half-brother, the king, was in serious danger of losing his crown. Living in London during this period meant they would have witnessed more than one attempt at a coup, including Jack Cade’s Rebellion and the duke of York’s panic-inducing visit in the fall of 1450. If there was one lesson to take away it was that over-empowered noblemen and a weak king did not mix. In fact, it was a recipe for disaster.
From 1452 onwards, Edmund and Jasper appeared more frequently in the records as they started to take on more of an official role in their half-brother’s fragile government. At this time, King Henry VI had been married to Margaret of Anjou for over seven years but had failed to produce an heir. It was absolutely imperative that the king have an heir, not only to secure the peaceful succession for the kingdom, but to also to ward off possible rivals to the throne. The Tudor brothers were King Henry’s nearest relatives and since Edmund was older than Jasper, he would naturally be first in line to the throne if Henry VI should die without fathering an heir. It was at this time Henry started taking legal steps to set up Edmund up as his heir. On 23 November 1452, he declared Edmund and Jasper to be his legitimate half-brothers and raised them both to the peerage by making Edmund, the earl of Richmond, one of the most valuable duchies in England, and Jasper was made Earl of Pembroke.17 Both Tudor brothers would spend a considerable amount of time in Wales working to quell rebellions and establish law and order in the king’s name.
Wales had been a trouble spot for English kings over the years because of its isolated nature and the people’s fierce sense of independence. King Henry IV rarely showed himself in Wales and didn’t even bother trying to keep law and order. The Welsh resented this lack of authority and rebelled against King Henry IV in the early 1400s. The rebellion was led by Owain Glyndŵr and among his prominent partners were Owen Tudor’s father, Maredudd ap Tudur and his uncles Rhys ap Tudur and Gwilym ap Tudur. Their rebellion failed and most of their lands were confiscated by the king. Rhys was captured and executed. The other Tudurs presented themselves at Henry IV’s court, pledged their obedience to the king, and were mercifully forgiven. Their rebellion may have failed but the Tudors would always be remembered in the hearts of Welshman and Henry was right to place Jasper in Wales to keep law and order. Jasper showed himself a strong but fair leader who did much to fortify the castles and towns in his realm. He earned the respect of the Welsh through his hard work and fairness in business and personal dealings.18 Jasper’s relationship with the people of Wales was enduring. It was one of the key components in Henry Tudor’s victory over Richard III, in 1485.
With Edmund and Jasper Tudor legitimised and raised to the peerage, the next natural step for King Henry would be to secure his half-brothers with prestigious marriages, bringing them more lands, titles, power, and money. If Edmund were to be king someday, he must have a bride with a strong Lancastrian bloodline to help legitimise his own claim. King Henry had the perfect candidate: 10-year-old Margaret Beaufort, the richest heiress in England.19
On 24 March 1453, 10-year-old Margaret Beaufort and her mother were summoned to appear before King Henry VI in London. During the visit, Henry dissolved young Margaret’s previous marriage contract to John de la Pole and granted her wardship to Edmund and Jasper. Even though Margaret was already wealthy, King Henry showed his generosity by providing 100 marks for new clothes befitting her new status as the future Duchess of Richmond.20 Beyond that, she could hope to become queen consort one day if she were to marry Edmund Tudor and King Henry VI was to die childless. Henry made similar grants of money to Edmund and Jasper shortly after they were raised to the peerage. Clothing was extremely important in displaying rank so Edmund’s and Jasper’s new clothing would have included velvet, cloth of gold, furs, and even elaborate saddles and trappings for their horses.
As Margaret Beaufort’s new wardens, Edmund and Jasper were responsible for overseeing her territories and finances, as well as her upbringing and well-being, until she became old enough to be married off. Wardships may sound harsh to us today but they were typical for noble children in the middle ages. They were so incredibly profitable that many noblemen paid for the right to possess a ward, not only to reap the profits of their inherited lands but also to marry these wealthy wards to their own children. Other nobles received wards as a thank you for faithful service or for an exceptional deed performed for the crown.
It was not typical, however, for a young ward to remain in his or her parents’ care during a wardship but that’s exactly what Margaret Beaufort did. Perhaps due to her young age, Margaret Beaufort was allowed to remain in the care of her mother, Margaret Beauchamp.21 Mother and daughter split their time between two manors owned by Beauchamp, Bletsoe Castle in Bedfordshire and Maxey Castle in Cambridgeshire, both about eighty kilometres north of London. Young Margaret was given an excellent education. Margaret was a great student, she was especially good at French, and later in life involved herself in the printing of books once the printing press reached England.22 She also learned from her mother’s example that a woman was perfectly capable of handling her own household affairs and she grew to be a very shrewd businesswoman because of it.
While the duke of York and Queen Margaret of Anjou wrestled for power, Margaret Beaufort was preparing for her wedding. To no one’s surprise, she was to marry the keeper of her wardship, Edmund Tudor. The wedding ceremony took place on 1 November 1455, at Bletsoe Castle, the childhood home of Margaret Beaufort. Edmund was 25 years old and Margaret was only 12 years old, young even by medieval standards.23 This was a very advantageous marriage for Edmund because at that time Margaret Beaufort was the richest heiress in England. She was the only legitimate child of the first Duke of Somerset, John Beaufort, who traced his lineage to King Edward III through his third son, John of Gaunt. John was made Duke of Lancaster in 1362, making him one of the preeminent landowners in England and therefore very wealthy and powerful.
Not only was John of Gaunt rich and powerful, was very successful at producing heirs. He had a total of twelve children: eight by his first and second wives, and four children through his mistress, Catherine Swynford. His four illegitimate children were known as the Beaufort line, named after his castle in Champagne, France, which was called the Château de Beaufort.24 Interestingly, Champagne was the location where Chrétien de Troyes wrote Arthurian romances and created the character of Lancelot, knight of the Round Table. Whether John chose the name Beaufort to create parallels between the legend of King Arthur and his heirs is not known but it is a possibility. Many years later Henry Tudor did just that, going so far as to name is first son Arthur instead of the traditional practice of naming the first-born son after the father.
After John of Gaunt’s second wife died, he married his mistress, Catherine Swynford. The couple’s four children, including Margaret Beaufort’s grandfather John, Duke of Somerset, were legitimised by Richard II in 1397 and again by Henry IV in 1407.25 Slightly unusual, yes, but John of Gaunt was no ordinary man. He was the father of the current king of England, Henry IV, and had held great sway in government and council matters during the preceding reign of his young nephew Richard II. Although he was successful in getting his children legitimised, meaning they could inherit his estates and titles, there was one crucial stipulation. The Beaufort line was legitimised ‘except to the royal dignity’ meaning neither they could not claim the throne.26 But that didn’t stop them from holding great wealth and power.
Throughout the years, Margaret Beaufort’s ancestors had loyally served the House of Lancaster. Margaret’s great-uncle, Cardinal Henry Beaufort, was one of the chief rulers during Henry VI’s minority. Her aunt, Joan Beaufort, was the queen of Scotland through her marriage to King James I. Her father John was a trusted soldier to his cousin Henry V and was later raised to the dukedom of Somerset by Henry VI.
Margaret’s father John had a disastrous military career. His first military engagement came at the young age of 16. He sailed to France to fight for England in the Hundred Years’ War but ended up being captured in the Battle of Baugé in March 1421 and held prisoner by France for seventeen years.27 The enormous ransom cost him most of his inheritance and land holdings in Holland which nearly ruined him. At this point he was desperate to improve his situation. Upon his return to England he arranged a marriage with the Beauchamp family in 1442 and conceived Margaret shortly thereafter. Margaret’s mother was Margaret Beauchamp, who was also her family’s sole heiress and as such inherited Bletsoe Castle in Bedfordshire, among other manors in Wiltshire and Dorset, giving John Beaufort land holdings that he so desperately needed.
John Beaufort knew he had to redeem himself on the military field to regain the respect of his fellow noblemen and recoup his losses from the ransom he paid for his freedom so he accepted the leading role in a new expedition to France. This expedition was even more disastrous than the first. He overstepped his bounds by levying illegal taxes on the people for his own personal gain and accomplished nothing for England. Upon his return the king was so angry he stripped him of his property and banished him from court. He died shortly after from an apparent suicide on 27 May 1444.28
Shortly after Edmund’s and Margaret’s November 1455 nuptials, Edmund was called to Wales on the king’s business to repress Welsh leader Gruffydd ap Nicolas who had taken possession of several castles in Wales. Edmund made his headquarters at Lamphey Bishop’s Palace which was very close to Jasper’s own home base of Pembroke Castle in southwest Wales. Margaret’s whereabouts during this time are unknown. In the spring of 1456, there is a record of husband and wife lodging together briefly at Jasper’s Caldicot Castle, located 150 kilometres from Lamphey in southeast Wales.29 Edmund returned to his duties soon thereafter and is noted as being ‘greatly at war’ with Gruffydd ap Nicolas during the summer of 1456.30
When Edmund left Margaret to fight Gruffydd ap Nicolas, he was probably unaware that he had successfully made his young bride pregnant. Marriages usually weren’t consummated until the bride was 14 years old but Edmund may have been anxious to have a child by Margaret as soon as possible. Doing so would have granted him lifetime rights to her estates upon her death, even if it meant endangering his young bride’s health. Margaret was small and underdeveloped for her age so a pregnancy was a very dangerous situation for her.
In August 1456, Gruffydd surrendered Carmarthen Castle to Edmund Tudor and pledged obedience to his new overlord. But Edmund’s job was not over. Since he was ordered to uphold the king’s authority in Wales, he also had to deal with an insurgence of Yorkist rebels, led by William Herbert, Walter Devereux, and Roger Vaughan. The three men were trying to get a foothold in Wales for Richard, Duke of York, who had been serving as England’s protectorate until he was ousted by Queen Margaret of Anjou.
On 10 August 1456, the Yorkists seized Carmarthen Castle and imprisoned Edmund Tudor. At some point over the next few months they did release him, perhaps because of his declining health, but apparently he didn’t make it far. He died at Carmarthen Castle on 1 November 1456, which happened to be his first wedding anniversary. There is no record of his cause of death but it is widely believed he was a victim of the plague.31
At the time of Edmund’s death, Margaret was 13 years old, seven months pregnant, and alone in Wales, far from her English home. As if being young, widowed, pregnant, and in danger of contracting the plague wasn’t enough, she had even bigger worries on her hands. Her husband, a loyalist to Henry VI and the Lancastrians, had just met his end at the hands of the duke of York. It was absolutely inevitable that the Yorkists would go after Jasper next in their attempt to eliminate all of Henry VI’s heirs. Margaret Beaufort’s unborn child would be next in line after Jasper. She was understandably terrified and decided to flee to Pembroke Castle where Jasper took her under his protection.32
On a cold January night just two months later, Margaret gave birth to her first and only child, a son, on 28 January 1457. Jasper wanted to name the baby Owen after the child’s grandfather, but Margaret insisted on naming her son Henry after the king. The birth was exceedingly difficult and would scar her for life. For a time during Margaret’s labour, her attendants believed that she and her unborn child would perish. Not only was she very young but she was also slight of stature and undeveloped for her age so it’s a wonder she even survived childbirth. It was so difficult for her that she never became pregnant again despite marrying two more times. It is widely believed that she was physically damaged during childbirth and was unable to conceive again, but it’s also possible she was too traumatised to ever put herself in that situation again.33 Either way, Margaret devoted herself to her son, calling him ‘my dearest and only desired joy in this world’.34 Henry inherited his late father’s title, Earl of Richmond, and Margaret was determined to see that he got what was due to him.
As a young widow, Margaret would be obliged to observe one year of mourning for her husband, as was customary, and during this time she remained at Pembroke under the protection of her brother-in-law Jasper. This was the only period in her life that she was able to spend significant time with her son before he became king. As soon as her mourning period was over, Margaret and Jasper knew that she must find a new husband and they would rather do it on their own terms than have the crown, or in this case the protector Richard of York choose it for her.
Although she was a young, widowed mother, her wealth and royal blood still made her a very desirable bride. Only two months after Henry’s birth, Jasper and Margaret were already planning her next marriage. Together they travelled 350 kilometres from Pembroke Castle in Wales to Greenfield in central England to meet and negotiate a marriage to Sir Henry Stafford, the son of the duke of Buckingham.35 The Staffords, like the Beauforts, were descendants of Edward III and they were loyal Lancastrians. The Staffords held great swaths of land in the Midlands in central England. Margaret agreed to marry Stafford not for money but for the safety his dukedom could provide her and her son. During their visit, they reached an agreement on the marriage, then Jasper and Margaret returned to Pembroke Castle so Margaret could finish her obligatory year of mourning.
Margaret married 32-year-old Henry Stafford on 3 January 1458 at Maxstoke, an enormous castle in Warwickshire that still stands today. Margaret and her new husband went on to live the life of the rich and powerful, setting up homes at Bourne Castle in Lincolnshire and the Woking manor in Surrey, both Margaret’s inheritances. Margaret’s wealth allowed them to live magnificently and entertain lavishly. They enjoyed each other’s company and travelled together regularly, making progresses through their English lands and frequent trips to London. It must have been bittersweet for Margaret because she had achieved an enviable life, but she longed for the one thing she didn’t have, her son.
Five days after Margaret’s marriage to Henry Stafford, Henry VI granted the wardship of her 1-year-old son, Henry Tudor, to his uncle Jasper Tudor. Young Henry was obviously very valuable to the Lancastrians and King Henry wanted him in the care of his trusted ‘uterine brother’ Jasper Tudor at the fortified Pembroke Castle in Wales. It was common for people of rank to be raised away from their parents when they were high-born and Margaret Beaufort had to be content that her trusted brother-in-law Jasper would look after her son.
Little is known of the first few years of Henry Tudor’s childhood other than a mention that he was educated by the Benedictine monks at Monkton Priory, very near to Pembroke Castle.36 His peaceful life at Pembroke Castle wouldn’t last for long as Henry would be jolted from everything he knew when he was only 4 years old. That’s when the Yorkists gained the upper hand and sent the Lancastrians on the run.