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Lifestyle › History

Real-life Game of Thrones: Henry VII's

mother Margaret Beaufort had to become
shrewd and calculating to survive her
troubled era
The story of Henry VII's mother might not be well known, but without
her, the Tudors would never have come to power, says Livi Michael
Wednesday 25 June 2014 19:40 BST |  0 comments

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Mother courage: Margaret Beaufort as portrayed in the BBC’s The White Queen BBC

There are 14 angels in the ceiling of Manchester Cathedral, each

of them playing a different medieval instrument. They are said to
have been donated by Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII.

Seven years ago, I didn't know this. In fact, I had never heard of
Margaret Beaufort. But my curiosity was piqued. I began to
research this mysterious figure. The more I read about her, the
more amazed I was that I'd never heard of her.

Our TV screens seem to be dominated by the protracted

wrangling for power that forged the Tudor dynasty, from Game
of Thrones (inspired by the War of the Roses) to the BBC's
adaptation of Philippa Gregory's The White Queen, in which a
devout and 'Iambitious Margaret
saw paramedics Beaufort appeared. But I believe
rush
to save the life of
it's time for the spotlight to be shone on the woman who could
someone that had just
well be regarded as theto
been trying mother
murderof the Tudors.

Britons'
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3/23/2017 Real­life Game of Thrones: Henry VII's mother Margaret Beaufort had to become shrewd and calculating to survive her troubled era | The Independent

Britons'
Her personal life was more fascinating than any TV drama. She
was marriedLondon
three times
terrorbefore
attack:the age of 15, had her only son at
13, who not only survived and
What we know but what
became King of England on a
we don't know
complete outsider's chance. When he was king, he is said to have
Theon
consulted her morning after so
all matters, a that she was described by the
terror attack on London,
Spanish ambassador as the person of greatest influence in the
this Tube board had an
kingdom. After her son's
important death she was briefly regent, until the
message
coronation Everyone
of her grandson, Henry VIII.
should listen
to what Brendan Cox
Margaret Beaufort (1443-1509) went from a position of
has to say
powerlessness to one of almost total power. The details only
How MPs reacted to the
make senseWestminster
when considered
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lived through happened
a period of intense historical upheaval. In the
course of her life the concept of the world changed – one
example being Sponsored Links
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The Beauforts were the illegitimate offspring of John of Gaunt,
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Margaret Beaufort's father ended his own life around the time of
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her first birthday, after a disastrous campaign in France, and the
infant Margaret became the ward of William de la Pole, later
Duke of Suffolk, and his wife Alice Chaucer, granddaughter of
the poet Geoffrey Chaucer. Before his death, William de la Pole
managed to arrange the marriage of his young ward to his son,
John de la Pole. This was the first of Margaret's four marriages.
She was six and the groom seven years old. Sometime after the
duke's death, as the situation in England deteriorated into civil

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war, the king found it expedient to dissolve this marriage. He

granted custody of Margaret to his two half-brothers, Edmund
and Jasper Tudor. In 1455, when she was 12 years old, she was
married to Edmund.

Margaret went to live with Edmund in Wales, where he was

engaged in managing the king's affairs. By the summer of 1456,
he was "greatly at war" with the Welsh leader Gruffydd ap
Nicolas, who had taken control of a number of royal castles.
Edmund regained control of Carmarthen Castle but was then
attacked by the Duke of York's men, under William Herbert.
VIDEO
William Herbert imprisoned Edmund in Carmarthen Castle, and
there he died, in November 1456, not in battle, but of the plague.
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By this time Margaret was pregnant.

It was not unusual for members of the aristocracy to marry

young. It was slightly more unusual, because of the risk to both
Ryan Gosling explains why he
mother his
giggled and way
child,through
for themthat
to get pregnant before the age of 14.
Oscars gaffe
Margaret Beaufort gave birth to Henry Tudor on 28 January
1457, when she was 13 years and eight months old. There is no
suggestion that he was premature; it is therefore likely that he
 
was conceived before she was 13. Her husband died when she
was six months pregnant, and he was 26 or 27 years old. For
some reason, the marriage was consummated early.
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lives & dies in trailer show of defiance after
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Legacy: Margaret Beaufort went from a position of powerlessness to one of

almost total power (Alamy)

In a sermon given after Margaret's death, Bishop Fisher

commented on her tiny stature, implying that it had been a
difficult birth, in which both mother and son had nearly died.
Certainly she never conceived again, despite future marriages,
and it is possible that she was damaged during the course of the
labour. Infant mortality was so high that Henry's survival seems
to be another exceptional factor in the circumstances

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3/23/2017 Real­life Game of Thrones: Henry VII's mother Margaret Beaufort had to become shrewd and calculating to survive her troubled era | The Independent

surrounding his birth. The Duchess of York, for instance, was

outlived by only two of her 13 children.

But in this case both mother and son survived. By the time her
baby was a few weeks old, Edmund's brother, Jasper Tudor, was
already arranging Margaret's third marriage; to Henry Stafford,
son of the Duke of Buckingham. They were married on 3 January
1458, when Margaret was 14 years and seven months old.

From this time on the emotional core of the story seemed to me

to be the relationship between Margaret and her son, which is
one of separation and loss. She was to see very little of him for
the next 28 years. Aristocratic mothers were not necessarily
close to their children, but there is clear evidence of Margaret's
devotion to Henry. She never stopped campaigning to get him
back.

Custody of Henry seems initially to have been awarded to Jasper.

It is not known how often Margaret saw him in his infancy. But
the first phase of civil war culminated in the Battle of Towton,
1461, which resulted in defeat for the House of Lancaster and
victory for the House of York. Both Jasper Tudor and Henry
Stafford had fought for the losing side. Jasper fled, Henry made
his peace with the new king, Edward IV. However, King Edward
granted custody of Henry Tudor to William Herbert.

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From the age of four, Henry was brought up in the household of

the man responsible for the death of his father. He seems to have
been well treated there, but although his mother remained in
contact with him, there is only one recorded meeting. 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.

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Margaret maintained contact with her son throughout his years

of exile. More than once she put herself at risk on his behalf.
Most dramatically, she orchestrated the series of rebellions
against Richard III in order to aid her son's first attempt to return
to England in 1483. She narrowly escaped being attainted for
treason, but was placed in the custody of her fourth husband,
Thomas Stanley, and forfeited all her titles and estates to him.

There is much speculation about the part she played in the

deaths of Edward IV's sons, the "princes in the Tower". It is
known that soon after their presumed deaths she was negotiating
with their mother for the marriage between her son and Princess
Elizabeth, Edward IV's oldest daughter. At Rennes Cathedral on
Christmas Day 1483, Henry Tudor pledged to marry Elizabeth of
York, who was now heir to the throne.

By this time, given the extraordinary circumstances in England,

the only way Henry Tudor could return was to claim the throne.

This he did in August 1485 after winning the Battle of Bosworth.

Victory was only possible because of the last-minute intervention
of his stepfather, Lord Stanley, who, throughout the War of the
Roses had played an ambivalent role. Certainly it could not have
been clear to Margaret Beaufort which side he would take,
though it seems very likely that she would have tried to persuade
him to support her son. Henry's army was greatly outnumbered
on the day, and without his stepfather's late participation, he
would almost certainly have failed.

Yet he succeeded, and the rest, as they say, is history.

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Henry VII came to the throne in 1485 after defeating Richard III at the Battle of
Bosworth Field (Heritage Images)

We know from Bishop Fisher that Margaret "wept mervaylously"

throughout Henry's coronation. During his first Parliament she
had herself declared "femme sole". This meant that she could sue
in any legal action herself, and have sole possession of all her
titles and property "not covert of anie husband". This was an
unprecedented step because her fourth husband was still alive.

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Throughout his reign, Margaret maintained close contact with

her son, frequently accompanying him on royal visits or
progresses. Royal household ordinances made provision for her
accommodation at all the residences used by the crown. In the
Tower, Margaret's rooms were to be found next to the king's
bedchamber and the council chamber. When they were apart,
they were in frequent contact by letter, and the wording of these
letters attests to their affection. One from Margaret begins: "My
own sweet and dear king and all my worldly joy," while another
refers to him as "My dearest and only desired joy in this world".

In return, Henry writes of his "great and singular affection" and

he entrusted her with many tasks. She was the first woman to be
given her own council, at Collyweston, empowered to settle
disputes as in the Court of Chancery. Here she presided over her
own regional court and adjudicated in cases from the Midlands
and the North. After the death of his wife in 1503, the king's
health deteriorated and he suffered from an illness that may have
been related to TB. His mother increasingly took over the role of
governing the country.

Margaret Beaufort's influence survives today, in the colleges she

founded at Cambridge and Oxford, the professorships she
endowed, and in her patronage of the arts. She commissioned
many books, translated two devotional works herself, the Mirror
of Gold and the fourth book of The Imitation of Christ by
Thomas à Kempis. Both she and her son were famous for their
business acumen and for changing the economy of England. It
can truly be said that by promoting men of ability rather than
birth, by concentrating on education and trade rather than
warfare, she was instrumental in developing the society we know
today.

The Manchester connection is powerful. Margaret Beaufort's

fourth husband, Thomas Stanley, owned most of the land in
Lancashire and Cheshire and the Stanley Chapel in Manchester
Cathedral is dedicated to his family. In the Chethams Library
close by, the wainscoting is preserved from the rebuilding of

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what was then the Collegiate Church by this family, and there is
an ornate chair, given by Margaret as a wedding present to her
son in 1486. Manchester was the focus of her patronage and
many official members of her household came from there. Her
receiver and chancellor, Hugh Oldham, for instance, was
educated in her household as a boy and went on to become one
of the founders of the Manchester Free Grammar School, while
one of the chaplains of the church was her confessor and also
acted as her agent and go-between during the years of her son's
exile in Brittany. She is not buried in Manchester, however.

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Margaret's coat of arms at St John's College, Cambridge (Heritage Images)

Lady Margaret Beaufort died on 29 June 1509, only five days

after the coronation of her grandson. The tomb, which is said to
be Pietro Torrigiano's masterpiece, is in the south aisle of Henry
VII's chapel in Westminster Abbey. It is surmounted by her
effigy which gives a clear indication of the kind of woman she
was. She is depicted in a conventionally pious way, with her
hands together in prayer. The lines of her face are ascetic and
there is a suggestion of determination in the pursed mouth and
protruding jaw. Erasmus composed the inscription in Latin:
"Margaret of Richmond, mother of Henry VII, grandmother of
Henry VIII, who gave a salary to three monks of this convent and
founded a grammar school at Wimborne, and to a preacher
throughout England, and to two interpreters of Scripture, one at
Oxford, the other at Cambridge, where she likewise founded two
colleges, one to Christ, and the other to St John, his disciple.
Died AD 1509, III Kalends of July (29th June)."

History is full of extraordinary stories. It is hard to do justice to

them. Initially I read about Margaret Beaufort in modern works
but these all referred to original sources, and once I started to
read the chronicles I was hooked. Lively, partisan, sometimes
scurrilous, they vividly convey the spirit of their time. I spent
many hours in the Chethams Library or the John Rylands Library
in Manchester, looking up these texts, many of which survive in
collections bound together in the 19th century by, for example,
the Camden Society. Very few have been reprinted since then,
which is a pity, since they tell the story of England as it
happened.

Extracts from these chronicles place Margaret Beaufort in the

dramatic context of her time. From these and other documents
she emerges as strong, indefatigable, intelligent and self-reliant.
She has also been portrayed as manipulative and ruthless. My
own interpretation is that in order to survive this troubled era,
she had to become shrewd, calculating and self-contained.

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Initially a pawn in a game of power, she soon learned to play that

game herself, but at considerable cost.

She was not a beauty like Elizabeth Woodville – whose striking

looks and lack of estates when she married Edward IV caused
widespread fascination – she did not have a strong family backing
her, and she had only one child, with whom she seems to have
formed the most powerful relationship of her life. If Margaret
Beaufort hadn't been so unshakeably committed to finding her
son and keeping him safe, Henry might never have been
crowned and the Tudor dynasty would never have existed. Part
of my work as a novelist is conjecture, based on fact. One thing,
however, is certain: she was a remarkable woman, in a
remarkable period of English history.

'Succession' by Livi Michael (Fig Tree, £14.99), which tells the

first part of the story of Margaret Beaufort, is published today. To
buy it for £13.49 free P&P, call 01326 569444 or go to
independentbooksdirect.co.uk

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3/23/2017 Real­life Game of Thrones: Henry VII's mother Margaret Beaufort had to become shrewd and calculating to survive her troubled era | The Independent

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