![]() Henry VI ended up choosing Margaret as a bride for his half-brother, reasoning that Margaret’s royal blood (from Edward III) would help strengthen Edmund’s claim to the throne should Henry VI die without an heir. Though the Tudor line had royal blood in it, it came from Catherine’s side, which was seen as less legitimate than if it had come from a male ancestor. After Henry V’s death, she secretly married Owen Tudor, a Welsh courtier. He was a son of Catherine de Valois, the wife of Henry V and mother to Henry VI. She did recognize her next marriage, to Edmund Tudor, Earl of Richmond. This marriage was more of an official arrangement between the families for the sake of land rights, and it was dissolved by 1453, when the children were no more than about ten years old. It would also allow a slightly older Margaret to become a player in her own right.īy the time she was three (or perhaps six, the records disagree), Margaret had been married to John de La Pole, 2nd Duke of Somerset, who was perhaps a year older than she was. Martin used this time period as the foundation for his Song of Ice and Fire series). This heritage made young Margaret a pawn in the game of thrones that was English politics during the Wars of the Roses (there’s a reason George R.R. John of Gaunt was the third surviving son of Edward III. She was the great-granddaughter of John of Gaunt and his mistress, Katherine Swynford (who he married in the end, and so his children with her were legitimized). Margaret Beaufort was born in Bletsoe Castle in Bedfordshire, England on May 31 in either 1441 or 1443 (most historians agree on the 1443 date, but it’s still up in the air). Though she started playing the great game of thrones young, Margaret Beaufort learned quickly and she learned well. ![]() where women did not have official power in English politics, women could actually wrest a good deal of power for themselves, whether it was obvious (Eleanor of Aquitane, Margaret of Anjou) or not so obvious (Elizabeth Woodville, Elizabeth of York). But if you have to pick a person, then it seems like a good idea to start with the woman who A) gave birth to the first Tudor king and B) spent the rest of her life promoting and politicking to keep her son’s lands and titles intact and then help put him on the path that led to the English throne. That’s not to say that Margaret Beaufort was the very first person ever in the Tudor line. ![]() If you’re going to start a series about a particular dynasty, it’s a good idea to start at the beginning. ![]() Married: Edmund Tudor, Earl of Richmond Sir Henry Stafford Thomas Stanley, 1st Earl of Derby Lady Margaret Beaufort, by Unidentified painter from Wikimedia Commons ![]()
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