Margaret Beaufort - the unusual life of the mother of the Tudor dynasty

Margaret Beaufort was born a healthy and strong child on May 31, 1443. As the daughter of the most powerful people in England, she was to marry a titled aristocrat who would have been given an heir.

She had to live in very difficult times - during the War of the Roses and the White Rose, the consequences of which Margaret experienced personally. She lost many close people, but she did not succumb to despair. All the energy the woman directed to ensure a bright future for her only son. Thanks to her efforts, Henry VII Tudor was proclaimed King of England.

Origins and childhood

Margaret de Beaufort was the only child of John Beaufort, who was the 1st Duke of Somerset. Mom - Margaret Beauchamp from Bletso. Beaufort comes from the son of the English King Edward III. The royal origin of the Beaufort was confirmed by a special act of Parliament, but King Henry IV of Lancaster introduced into the document an amendment that forbade members of this kind to claim the English crown on a par with other princes of the blood.

Father Margaret died before the very birth of his daughter. The title of the Duke of Somerset passed to his brother Edmund, and all wealth and land - Margaret as his only child. She was brought up by the mother until she was transferred to the royal favorite, the Duke of Suffolk, in 1450, who wished to extradite her for her son and heir, John.

Marriage history

Margaret's first marriage to her guardian's son took place probably in 1444, February 7, but the exact date is unknown. Soon, however, it was annulled in February 1453 by King Henry VI.

Margaret Beaufort was then engaged to the half-brother of the king, Edmund Tudor, the first Earl of Richmond (about 1430 - 1 November 1456). The wedding of Margaret and Edmund took place on November 1, 1455. The spouse died exactly one year later, and two months later the 14-year-old widow gave birth to her only child, Henry, the future King of England.

After the death of her husband, the girl entrusted custody of her brother's brother to Jasper. She herself married Sir Henry Stafford. This marriage was childless. Staffords belonged to the followers of the Lancaster, so the triumph of the York house in 1461 forced Margaret Beaufort and her husband to distance themselves from the court.

Serious consequences for the woman and her son were the events of 1471, when, due to the outcome of the Battle of Tewkesbury, Henry Tudor, the son of Margaret Beaufort, was considered the only legitimate heir to the royal throne. In the same year, Margaret was widowed, her next husband became Thomas Stanley, but this marriage was childless.

Social activity

Margaret was involved in a conspiracy against King Richard III. She supported, in particular, the uprising of the Duke of Buckingham in the fall of 1483. In 1485, Henry Tudor defeated Richard III at Bosworth and became King Henry VII. He was very attached to his mother, but she did not take an active part in public royal life.

In 1499 she decided to reside separately from her legal wife and took a vow of chastity with his permission. She supported education, built more than one school, is revered as the founder of Cambridge College. Lived for those days a long life, died a couple of months after the death of her son, the king.