Was He A Usurper? King Richard III. Conclusion

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Earl of Richmond, Edward IV of England, Elizabeth Woodville, Henry Tudor, King Richard III of England, King Richard III Society, Lady Eleanor Butler Talbot, Titulus Regius

From The Emperor’s Desk: Prior to the Coronation of King Charles III of the United Kingdom I had been working on my series “Are They A Usurper?” aand my topic had been King Richard III of England. I would like to conclude my evaluation of King Richard III.

My verdict, quite simply, is yes I believe King Richard III usurped the throne from his nephew, and the rightful King, Edward V.

As previously mentioned the case hinged on the legality of the marriage of King Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville. It is alleged that Edward IV had a pre-contracted betrothal to Lady Eleanor Butler. There is no evidence of such a pre-contract.

The Richard III Society has an excellent article online addressing this topic.

“The fact of the pre-contract cannot now be proved, although it could have been known to many persons in 1483, but there is no doubt that Edward’s marriage to Elizabeth was clandestine.”

The author of the article admits that there is no historical evidence that the pre-contract existed. The author of the article even states the pre-contract “could have been known to many persons in 1483” with emphasis on the words “could have” which demonstrates that there was no evidence in 1483 for the pre-contract. The article goes on to justify Richard III taking the throne based on the clandestine nature of Edward IV’s marriage to Elizabeth Woodville.

Another point is the entire questioning of Edward IV’s marriage to Elizabeth Woodville suddenly after all these years. It’s too convenient: we have the young under aged and helpless Edward V, with Richard, Duke of Gloucester in control – who had a long history of tension and animosity toward Elizabeth Woodville, and suddenly along comes information that makes Richard the rightful king. As I said there had not been a sniff of this before. Sorry, it’s just too easy.

In conclusion. Although I do see Richard III as a usurper I don’t go as far to demonize him and to suggest that he was a bad King. As I mentioned at the beginning of the series on Richard III, I was not going to address whether or not he was the one who had his nephews, the Princess in the Tower, murdered. If they were even murdered at all. Those are topics for another day.

There was a lot of Tudor propaganda aimed to demonize Richard III. That’s understandable given that Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, defeated King Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field to take the throne.

I think we need to see Richard III in light of his contemporaries and the times in which he lived. From the Wars of the Roses to his defeat at Bosworth Field, the fact that Richard may have been ambitious and power-hungry towards the throne does not make him unique to the times whatsoever. History of the era shows that lusting for power and lusting for the throne was pretty common place.

Also, his short rain and defeat and with the possible association with the mysterious disappearance of the Princes in the Tower, overshadow the fact that while he was king, Richard III did do some good.

I will examine the reign of Richard III more closely.

Was He A Usurper? King Richard III. Part V.

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Canon Law, Duke of Gloucester, Elizabeth Woodville, King Edward IV of England and Lord of Ireland, King Richard III of England and Lord of Ireland, Lady Eleanor Butler Talbot, Parliament, Prince Richard, Richard III Society, Titulus Regius, Usurper

When I began examining whether or not King Richard III was a usurper it seemed pretty cut and dried given the fact that Richard’s reputation as a usurper is well known. I’d even go as far to say that Richard III is the best known super in history.

As I’ve researched this topic I’ve realized that it’s isn’t as cut and dried as generally thought. I actually could drag this topic out over many more entries. In this entry I will examine the “pro-Richard III” stance. Then in the following entry next week I will examine the “anti-Richard III” stance. After that I will give you my assessment.

As I said in previous entries the legality of Richard III’s reign, as mentioned in the Titulus Regius document, rests on the core claim that when Edward IV married Elizabeth Woodville, he was already promised in marriage to Lady Eleanor Butler. This pre-contract, according to the laws of the day, would make his marriage to Elizabeth Woodville null and void.

However, the issues that Titulus Regius outlines which make King Edward IV’s reign illegal stretch beyond the pre-contract with Lady Eleanor Butler (Talbot). The issues which Titulus Regius claims makes Edward IV’s reign illegitimate are:

1) The kingdom was badly ruled and the laws and customs of the land flouted
2) The Queen (Elizabeth Woodville) was guilty of witchcraft
3) Edward got married secretly against the customs of the church
4) Edward was already bethrothed – so the marriage and its offspring were illegitimate
5) George, Duke of Clarence was attainted by parliament- so his son is also illegitimate
And so in conclusion, Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester and his line has the only rightful claim to the throne.

Were these claims valid? If based on fact, the petition had a case to be answered.

In my research I’ve read a considerable amount of information from the Richard III Society.

The Richard III Society was founded in 1924 by Liverpool surgeon Samuel Saxon Barton (1892-1957) as The Fellowship of the White Boar, Richard’s badge and a symbol of the Yorkist army in the Wars of the Roses. Its membership was originally a small group of interested amateur historians whose aim was to bring about a re-assessment of the reputation of Richard III.

The Fellowship of the White Boar was renamed The Richard III Society in 1959.

In 1980, Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester, became the society’s Patron. (Richard III was Duke of Gloucester before ascending the throne, therefore he was before his accession (Prince) Richard, Duke of Gloucester).

In 1986, the society established the Richard III and Yorkist History Trust, a registered charity, to advance research and publication related to the history of late medieval England.

The society publishes a scholarly journal, The Ricardian.

The Richard III Society supports the Titulus Regius document along with validity of the pre-contract. However, the Society does admit that the historical accuracy of the pre-contract cannot be proven:

“The fact of the pre-contract cannot now be proved, although it could have been known to many persons in 1483, but there is no doubt that Edward’s marriage to Elizabeth was clandestine.”

Marriage and betrothal was easy in the middle ages – no need for priests, banns all the rest of it – you just had to tell each other you married each other. So, secret or not, a pre-contract was valid. However, the process of banns being proclaimed did work in favor of those that supported Richard III.

Despite that, Edward’s secret marriage to Elizabeth Woodville was held against them; because it suggested bad faith by the king and/or Queen – they went ahead and got married without the light of publicity that might have exposed the existence of an impediment, namely, the pre-contract.

Although Lady Eleanor Butler was dead by the time the Queen Elizabeth gave birth, that didn’t matter back then; for if Edward IV was in fact a bigamist, this stain on his marriage to Elizabeth Woodville could have been cleared and forgiven if reviewed in some way by an ecclesiastical court, which hadn’t happened.

The fact that an ecclesiastical court did not address the marriage could help the pro-Richard III” stance with their claim that the pre-contract remained was valid. The fact that an ecclesiastical court did not address the marriage could help the pro-Richard III” stance by claiming there was no need for the examination of the Royal marriage because the pre-contract was a work of fiction.

The Richard III Society also states that the fact that the marriage between King Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville was Clandestine is another factor in the establishment of the illegality of the union.

Although a clandestine marriage (a marriage conducted in secret) was deemed legal in many cases and the children born of such a marriage were considered legitimate; what made a clandestine union like the marriage between King Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville suspect was because it blocked the legal repercussions in case there were pre-existing impediments such as the aforementioned pre-contract which would mean any such marriage was made in error and would be considered fraudulent.

If such a clandestine union that covered up legal impediments occurred any children produced by the union would be illegitimate.

Back in the day pre-contractual unions had the ritual of the “calling of banns” which aimed to publicise a proposed marriage and prevent such misfortunes, and to proclaim the good faith of the contracting parties. Edward’s hasty and secret marriage to Elizabeth proclaimed his bad faith: if the banns had been called and his councillors informed, the impediment of the pre contract might have been revealed and circumvented.

It is theorized that had their marriage obeyed the church’s laws and had not been clandestine, their many years which Edward IV and Elizabeth lived together openly as man and wife would have been in favour of the legitimacy of the children of their union.

But because of the Clandestine nature of their union, Canon Law allowed questions of legitimacy to be raised after the parent’s deaths. Immoral or wrong behavior, such as adultery or bigamy, was not excused by the passage of time. Medieval Canon Law allowed Richard, Duke of Gloucester to raise the question of the children’s legitimacy as late as 1483.

Was He A Usurper? King Richard III. Part III

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Bishop of Bath, Bishop of Bath and Wells, Bishop Robert Stillington, Eleanor Butler, Elizabeth Woodville, King Edward V of England, King Richard III of England, Lady Eleanor Talbot, Lord Protector of England, Titulus Regis

Shortly after the death of King Edward IV, Bishop Robert Stillington, the Bishop of Bath and Wells, is said to have informed Richard that Edward IV’s marriage to Elizabeth Woodville was invalid because of Edward’s earlier union with Eleanor Butler, making Edward V and his siblings illegitimate.

Bishop Stillington asserted Eleanor Butler had had a legal precontract of marriage to Edward, which invalidated the king’s later marriage to Elizabeth Woodville. According to Richard Duke of Gloucester, this meant that he, rather than Edward’s sons, was the true heir to the throne.

A precontract is a legal contract that precedes another; in particular it can refer to an existing promise of marriage with another. Such a precontract would legally nullify any later marriages into which either party entered. The practice was common in the Middle Ages, and the allegation of a precontract was the most common means of dissolving a marriage by the medieval ecclesiastical courts.

The identity of Stillington was known only through the memoirs of French diplomat Philippe de Commines. On June 22, a sermon was preached outside Old St. Paul’s Cathedral by Ralph Shaa, declaring Edward IV’s children bastards and Richard the rightful king. Shortly after, the citizens of London, both nobles and commons, convened and drew up a petition asking Richard to assume the throne.

Richard accepted the throne on June 26 and was crowned at Westminster Abbey on July 6. Richard then persuaded Parliament to pass an act, Titulus Regius, which debarred Edward V from the throne and proclaimed him as King Richard III. The Titulus Regius was confirmed by Parliament in January. Also at a meeting held on January 23, 1484 the former king’s marriage was declared illegal.

The princes, who were still lodged in the royal residence of the Tower of London at the time of Richard’s coronation, disappeared from sight after the summer of 1483. Although after his death Richard III was accused of having Edward and his brother killed, notably by More and in Shakespeare’s play, the facts surrounding their disappearance remain unknown. Other culprits have been suggested, including Buckingham and even Henry VII, although Richard remains a suspect.

After the coronation ceremony, Richard and Anne set out on a royal progress to meet their subjects. During this journey through the country, the king and queen endowed King’s College and Queens’ College at Cambridge University, and made grants to the church. Still feeling a strong bond with his northern estates, Richard later planned the establishment of a large chantry chapel in York Minster with over 100 priests. He also founded the College of Arms.

Was He A Usurper? King Richard III. Part II.

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2nd Duke of Buckingham, Anthony Woodville, Dowager Queen Elizabeth, Earl Rivers, Elizabeth Woodville, Execution, Henry Stafford, King Edward V of England, King Richard III of England, Lord Protector

Lord Protector

On the death of King Edward IV on April 9, 1483, his 12-year-old son, Edward V, succeeded him. Richard was named Lord Protector of the Realm and at Baron Hastings’ urging, Richard assumed his role and left his base in Yorkshire for London. This was in response to the Woodvilles’ attempt to monopolise power, Richard quickly moved to take control of the young king

On April 29, as previously agreed, Richard and his cousin, Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, met Queen Elizabeth’s (Elizabeth Woodville) brother, Anthony Woodville, Earl Rivers, at Northampton. At the queen’s request, Earl Rivers was escorting the young King Edward V to London with an armed escort of 2,000 men, while Richard and Buckingham’s joint escort was 600 men.

King Edward V had been sent further south to Stony Stratford. Richard had Earl Rivers, his nephew Richard Grey and his associate, Thomas Vaughan, arrested and charged with treason against the Lord Protector after appearing before a tribunal led by Henry Percy, 4th Earl of Northumberland. Rivers had appointed Richard as executor of his will.

Richard, Duke of Gloucester, Lord Protector of England

The result of the tribunal was Earl Rivers, Richard Grey and Thomas Vaughan were imprisoned and then beheaded at Pontefract Castle on June 25, 1483 as part of the duke’s path towards kingship (as Richard III).

What made Earl Rivers and his associates actions treasonous was that by following the orders of Queen Elizabeth they had set themselves up, or more precisely, we’re set up, to challenge the authority and wishes of Richard as Lord Protector. Their actions were an example of the bitter rivalry between Richard and Queen Elizabeth and the rest of the Woodville clan.

Another reason for the arrest and execution of Earl Rivers and associates was the plot that had been uncovered against Richard as Lord Protector where the Woodville family wanted to remove Richard from his position as Lord Protector. After the perpetrators had been executed Richard and Buckingham moved to Stony Stratford, where Richard informed his nephew Edward V of the plot aimed at denying him his role as Lord Protector.

King Edward V of England and Lord of Ireland

Richard proceeded to escort the king to London. They entered the city on May 4,displaying the carriages of weapons Rivers had taken with his 2,000-man army. Richard first accommodated Edward in the Bishop’s apartments; then, on Buckingham’s suggestion, the king was moved to the royal apartments of the Tower of London, where kings customarily awaited their coronation.

With her younger son and daughters, Elizabeth again sought sanctuary. Lord Hastings, the late king’s leading supporter in London, initially endorsed Gloucester’s actions, but Gloucester then accused him of conspiring with Elizabeth Woodville against him. Hastings was summarily executed. Whether any such conspiracy really occurred is not known. Richard accused Elizabeth of plotting to “murder and utterly destroy” him.

Dowager Queen Elizabeth

On hearing the news of her brother’s April 30 arrest, the dowager queen fled to sanctuary in Westminster Abbey. Joining her were her son by her first marriage, Thomas Grey, 1st Marquess of Dorset; her five daughters; and her youngest son, Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York.

On June 10/11, Richard wrote to Ralph, Lord Neville, the City of York and others asking for their support against “the Queen, her blood adherents and affinity” whom he suspected of plotting his murder. At a council meeting on 13 June at the Tower of London, Richard accused Hastings and others of having conspired against him with the Woodvilles and accusing Jane Shore, lover to both Hastings and Thomas Grey, of acting as a go-between.

According to Thomas More, Hastings was taken out of the council chambers and summarily executed in the courtyard, while others, like Lord Thomas Stanley and John Morton, Bishop of Ely, were arrested. Hastings was not attainted and Richard sealed an indenture that placed Hastings’ widow, Katherine, under his protection. Bishop Morton was released into the custody of Buckingham. On June 16, the dowager queen agreed to hand over the Duke of York to the Archbishop of Canterbury so that he might attend his brother Edward’s coronation, still planned for June 22.

June 26, 1483: The Duke of Gloucester is Proclaimed Richard III, King of England and Lord of Ireland

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2nd Duke of Buckingham, Anthony Woodville, Bishop Robert Stillington, Earl Rivers, Edward IV of England and Lord of Ireland, Edward V of England, Eleanor Butler, Elizabeth Woodville, Henry Stafford, Princes in the Tower, Richard Grey, Richard III of England and Lord of Ireland, Richard of York, Tower of London

Richard III (October 2, 1452 – August 22, 1485) was King of England and Lord of Ireland from June 26, 1483 until his death on August 22, 1485. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty. His defeat and death at the Battle of Bosworth Field, the last decisive battle of the Wars of the Roses, marked the end of the Middle Ages in England.

Richard was born on October 2, 1452, at Fotheringhay Castle in Northamptonshire, the eleventh of the twelve children of Richard, 3rd Duke of York, and Cecily Neville, and the youngest to survive infancy.

His childhood coincided with the beginning of what has traditionally been labelled the ‘Wars of the Roses’, a period of political instability and periodic open civil war in England during the second half of the fifteenth century, between the House of York, who supported Richard’s father (a potential claimant to the throne of King Henry VI from birth), and opposed the regime of Henry VI and his wife, Margaret of Anjou, and the House of Lancaster, who were loyal to the crown.

In 1459, his father and the Yorkists were forced to flee England, whereupon Richard and his older brother George were placed in the custody of their aunt Anne Neville, Duchess of Buckingham, and possibly of Cardinal Thomas Bourchier, Archbishop of Canterbury.

Richard was created Duke of Gloucester in 1461 after the accession of his brother King Edward IV. In 1472, he married Anne Neville, daughter of Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick (The King Maker). He governed northern England during Edward’s reign, and played a role in the invasion of Scotland in 1482.

Lord Protector

On the death of Edward IV on April 9, 1483, his 12-year-old son succeeded him as King Edward V. Richard was named Lord Protector of the Realm and at Baron Hastings’ urging, Richard assumed his role and left his base in Yorkshire for London.

On April 29 as previously agreed, Richard and his cousin, Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, met Queen Elizabeth’s brother, Anthony Woodville, Earl Rivers, at Northampton.

At the queen’s request, Earl Rivers was escorting the young king to London with an armed escort of 2000 men, while Richard and Buckingham’s joint escort was 600 men. Edward V himself had been sent further south to Stony Stratford.

At first convivial, Richard had Earl Rivers, his nephew Richard Grey and his associate, Thomas Vaughan, arrested. They were taken to Pontefract Castle, where they were executed on June 25 on the charge of treason against the Lord Protector after appearing before a tribunal led by Henry Percy, 4th Earl of Northumberland. Rivers had appointed Richard as executor of his will.

After having Rivers arrested, Richard and Buckingham moved to Stony Stratford, where Richard informed Edward V of a plot aimed at denying him his role as protector and whose perpetrators had been dealt with.

Richard proceeded to escort the king to London. They entered the city on May 4, displaying the carriages of weapons Rivers had taken with his 2000-man army. Richard first accommodated Edward in the Bishop’s apartments; then, on Buckingham’s suggestion, the king was moved to the royal apartments of the Tower of London, where kings customarily awaited their coronation.

Within the year 1483, Richard had moved himself to the grandeur of Crosby Hall, London, then in Bishopsgate in the City of London. Robert Fabyan, in his ‘The new chronicles of England and of France’, writes that “the Duke caused the King (Edward V) to be removed unto the Tower and his broder with hym, and the Duke lodged himselfe in Crosbyes Place in Bisshoppesgate Strete.”

In Holinshed’s Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland, he accounts that “little by little all folke withdrew from the Tower, and drew unto Crosbies in Bishops gates Street, where the Protector kept his houshold. The Protector had the resort; the King in maner desolate.”

On hearing the news of her brother’s April 30 arrest, the dowager Queen Elizabeth fled to sanctuary in Westminster Abbey. Joining her were her son by her first marriage, Thomas Grey, 1st Marquess of Dorset; her five daughters; and her youngest son, Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York.

On 10/11 June, Richard wrote to Ralph, Lord Neville, the City of York and others asking for their support against “the Queen, her blood adherents and affinity,” whom he suspected of plotting his murder. At a council meeting on Friday June 13, at the Tower of London, Richard accused Hastings and others of having conspired against him with the Woodvilles and accusing Jane Shore, lover to both Hastings and Thomas Grey, of acting as a go-between.

According to Thomas More, Hastings was taken out of the council chambers and summarily executed in the courtyard, while others, like Lord Thomas Stanley and John Morton, Bishop of Ely, were arrested. Hastings was not attainted and Richard sealed an indenture that placed Hastings’ widow, Katherine, directly under his own protection.

Bishop Morton was released into the custody of Buckingham. On June 16, the dowager Queen Elizabeth agreed to hand over the Duke of York to the Archbishop of Canterbury so that he might attend his brother Edward’s coronation, still planned for June 22.

King of England

A clergyman (Bishop Robert Stillington) is said to have informed Richard that Edward IV’s marriage to Elizabeth Woodville was invalid because of Edward’s earlier union with Eleanor Butler, making Edward V and his siblings illegitimate.

The identity of the informant, known only through the memoirs of French diplomat Philippe de Commines, was Robert Stillington, the Bishop of Bath and Wells.

On Sunday June 22, a sermon was preached outside Old St. Paul’s Cathedral by Ralph Shaa, declaring Edward IV’s children bastards and Richard the rightful king.

Shortly after, the citizens of London, both nobles and commons, convened and drew up a petition asking Richard to assume the throne. Richard accepted on 26 June 26 and was crowned at Westminster Abbey on 6 July 6. His title to the throne was confirmed by Parliament in January 1484 by the document Titulus Regius.

The princes, who were still lodged in the royal residence of the Tower of London at the time of Richard’s coronation, disappeared from sight after the summer of 1483.

Although after his death Richard III was accused of having Edward and his brother killed, notably by More and in Shakespeare’s play, the facts surrounding their disappearance remain unknown. Other culprits have been suggested, including the Duke of Buckingham and even Henry VII, although Richard remains a suspect.

After the coronation ceremony, Richard III and Anne set out on a royal progress to meet their subjects. During this journey through the country, the king and queen endowed King’s College and Queens’ College at Cambridge University, and made grants to the church.

Still feeling a strong bond with his northern estates, Richard later planned the establishment of a large chantry chapel in York Minster with over 100 priests. He also founded the College of Arms.

Lady Margaret Beaufort. Conclusion

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Catherine of Aragon, Elizabeth of York, Elizabeth Woodville, House of Tudor, King Henry VII of England, King Henry VIII of England, Lady Margaret Beaufort, Prince Arthur

After her son’s victory at the Battle of Bosworth Field, the Countess was referred to in court of Henry VII as “My Lady the King’s Mother”. Her son’s first Parliament reversed the attainder against her and declared her a feme sole. This status granted Beaufort considerable legal and social independence from men. She was allowed to own property separately from her husband (as though she were unmarried) and sue in court – two rights denied her contemporary married women.

As arranged by their mothers, Henry VII married Elizabeth of York the daughter of Edward IV. The Countess was reluctant to accept a lower status than the dowager Queen Elizabeth (Woodville) or even her daughter-in-law, Elizabeth of York the Queen Consort.

She wore robes of the same quality as the queen consort and walked only half a pace behind her. Elizabeth’s biographer, Amy Licence, states that this “would have been the correct courtly protocol”, adding that “only one person knew how Elizabeth really felt about Margaret and she did not commit it to paper.”

Margaret had written her signature as M. Richmond for years, since the 1460s. In 1499, she changed her signature to Margaret R., perhaps to signify her royal authority (R standing either for regina – queen in Latin as customarily employed by female monarchs – or for Richmond). Furthermore, she included the Tudor crown and the caption et mater Henrici septimi regis Angliæ et Hiberniæ (“and mother of Henry VII, King of England and Lord of Ireland”).

Many historians believe the departure from court of Dowager Queen Elizabeth Woodville in 1487 was partly at the behest of Henry’s influential mother, though this is uncertain.

Beaufort exerted considerable political influence within the Tudor court. The power she exercised was evidently obvious; a report from Spanish envoy Pedro de Ayala dating to 1498 claimed Henry VII was “much influenced by his mother and his followers in affairs or personal interest and in others.” In the earlier years of her son’s reign, records indicate Margaret usually accompanied the royal couple when they traveled.

While Margaret’s position in the royal court was, to some extent, an expression of gratitude by her son, she was likely far less the passive recipient of Henry’s favor one might expect.

Later in her marriage, the Countess preferred living alone. In 1499, with her husband’s permission, she took a vow of chastity in the presence of Richard FitzJames, Bishop of London. Taking a vow of chastity while being married was unusual but not unprecedented.

The Countess moved away from her husband and lived alone at Collyweston, Northamptonshire (near Stamford). She was regularly visited by her husband, who had rooms reserved for him. Margaret renewed her vows in 1504. From her principal residence at Collyweston she was given a special commission to administer justice over the Midlands and the North.

Margaret was also actively involved in the domestic life of the royal family. She created a proper protocol regarding the birth and upbringing of royal heirs. Though their relationship is often portrayed as antagonistic, Margaret and her daughter-in-law Elizabeth worked together when planning the marriages of the royal children.

They wrote jointly of the necessary instruction for Catherine of Aragon, who was to marry Elizabeth’s son Prince Arthur. Both women also conspired to prevent Elizabeth and Henry’s daughter Margaret from being married to the Scottish king, James IV, at too young an age; in this matter, Gristwood writes, Margaret was undoubtedly resolved that her granddaughter “should not share her fate”.

Henry VII, King of England and Lord of Ireland

After Queen Elizabeth’s death in 1503, Margaret became the principal female presence at court. When Prince Arthur died, Margaret played a part in ensuring her grandson Prince Henry, Duke of York, the new heir apparent, was raised appropriately by selecting some members of his new household.

The Countess was known for her education and her piety. Biographers Jones and Underwood claim the entirety of Beaufort’s life can be understood in the context of her “deeply-felt love and loyalty to her son”. Henry is said to have been likewise devoted.

Henry VII died on April 21, 1509, aged 52, having designated his mother chief executrix of his will. For two days after the death of her son, Margaret scrambled to secure the smooth succession of her grandson, Henry VIII. She arranged her son’s funeral and her grandson’s coronation. At her son’s funeral she was given precedence over all the other women of the royal family.

Before her death Margaret also left her mark on the early reign of Henry VIII; when her eighteen-year-old grandson chose members of his privy council, it was Margaret’s suggestions he took.

Death

The Countess Margaret died in the Deanery of Westminster Abbey on June 29, 1509, (probably aged 66). This was the day after her grandson Henry VIII’s 18th birthday, 5 days after his coronation and just over two months after the death of her son Henry VII. She is buried in the Henry VII Chapel of the Abbey. Her tomb is now situated between the later graves of William III and Mary II and the tomb of her great-great-granddaughter Mary I, Queen of Scots.

Lady Margaret Beaufort. Part II.

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1st Duke of Buckingham, Edward IV of England, Elizabeth Woodville, Henry Tudor, Humphrey Stafford, Jasper Tudor, Lady Margaret Beaufort

While in the care of her brother-in-law Jasper Tudor, on 28 January 1457, the Countess gave birth to a son, Henry Tudor, at Pembroke Castle. She was thirteen years old at the time and not yet physically mature, so the birth was extremely difficult. In a sermon delivered after her death, Margaret’s confessor, John Fisher, deemed it a miracle that a baby could be born “of so little a personage”. Her son’s birth may have done permanent physical injury to Margaret; despite two later marriages, she never had another child. Years later, she enumerated a set of proper procedures concerning the delivery of potential heirs, perhaps informed by the difficulty of her own experience.

Shortly after her re-entry into society after the birth, Jasper helped arrange another marriage for her to ensure her son’s security. She married Sir Henry Stafford (c. 1425–1471), the second son of Humphrey Stafford, 1st Duke of Buckingham, on 3 January 1458, at the age of fourteen. A dispensation for the marriage was necessary because Margaret and Stafford were second cousins; it was granted on 6 April 1457.

They enjoyed a fairly long and harmonious marital relationship and were given Woking Palace, to which Margaret sometimes retreated and which she restored. Margaret and her husband were given 400 marks’ worth of land by Buckingham, but her own estates were still their main source of income. For a time the Staffords were able to visit Margaret’s son, who had been entrusted to Jasper Tudor’s care at Pembroke Castle in Wales.

Years of York forces fighting Lancastrian for power culminated in the Battle of Towton in 1461, where the Yorkists were victorious. Edward IV was King of England. The fighting had taken the life of Margaret’s father-in-law and forced Jasper Tudor to flee to Scotland and France to muster support for the Lancastrian cause. Edward IV gave the lands belonging to Margaret’s son to his own brother, the Duke of Clarence. Henry became the ward of Sir William Herbert. Again, Beaufort was allowed some visits to her son.

In 1469 the discontented Duke of Clarence and Earl of Warwick incited a rebellion against Edward IV, capturing him after a defeat of his forces. Beaufort used this opportunity to attempt to negotiate with Clarence, hoping to regain custody of her son and his holdings. Soon, however, Edward was back in power.

Warwick’s continued insurrection resulted in the brief reinstallation of the Lancastrian Henry VI in 1470–71, which was effectively ended with the Yorkist victory at the Battle of Barnet. Faced with York rule once again, Margaret allegedly begged Jasper Tudor, forced to flee abroad once more, to take thirteen-year-old Henry with him. It would be fourteen years before Beaufort saw her son again.

In 1471, Margaret’s husband, Lord Stafford, died of wounds suffered at the Battle of Barnet, fighting for the Yorkists. At 28 years old, Margaret became a widow again.

The Countess always respected the name and memory of Edmund as the father of her only child. In 1472, sixteen years after his death, Margaret specified in her will that she wanted to be buried alongside Edmund, even though she had enjoyed a long, stable and close relationship with her third husband.

In June 1472, Margaret married Thomas Stanley, the Lord High Constable and King of the Isle of Mann.

Their marriage was primarily one of convenience; marrying Stanley enabled Margaret to return to the court of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville. Indeed, Gristwood speculates Beaufort organized the marriage with the sole aim of rehabilitating her image and securing herself a prime position from which to advocate for her son. Evidently her efforts were successful; Margaret was chosen by Queen Elizabeth to be godmother to one of her daughters.

Holinshed, a Tudor chronicler, claims King Edward IV later proposed a marriage between Beaufort’s son and his own daughter, Elizabeth of York, intending to force Henry Tudor out of his safe haven on the continent.

Poet Bernard Andre seems to corroborate this, writing of Tudor’s miraculous escape from the clutches of Edward’s envoys, allegedly warned of the deception by none other than his mother.

April 28, 1442: Birth of Edward IV, King of England and Lord of Ireland

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Duke of Clarence, Duke of Gloucester, Earl of Warwick, Elizabeth Woodville, King Edward IV of England, King Henry VI, King Richard III, Lord of Ireland, Richard Neville, Wars of the Roses

Edward IV (April 28, 1442 – April 9, 1483) was King of England and Lord of Ireland from March 4, 1461 to October 3, 1470, then again from April 11, 1471 until his death in 1483. He was a central figure in the Wars of the Roses, a series of civil wars in England fought between the Yorkist and Lancastrian factions between 1455 and 1487.

Edward was born on April 28, 1442 at Rouen in Normandy, eldest surviving son of Richard, 3rd Duke of York, and Cecily Neville. Until his father’s death, he was known as the Earl of March. Both his parents were direct descendants of King Edward III, giving Edward a potential claim to the throne. This was strengthened in 1447, when York became heir to the childless King Henry VI on the death of Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester.

Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester was the fourth and youngest son of Henry IV of England and his first wife Mary de Bohun. Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester was the brother of Henry V, and the uncle of Henry VI. The Duke of Gloucester fought in the Hundred Years’ War and acted as Lord Protector of England during the minority of his nephew.

Allegations of illegitimacy toward Edward of York were discounted at the time as politically inspired, and by later historians. Edward and his siblings George, Duke of Clarence, and Margaret, Duchess of Burgundy, were physically very similar, all three being tall and blonde, in contrast to Richard, 3rd Duke of York who was short and dark. His youngest brother, who later became King Richard III, closely resembled their father.

Edward inherited the Yorkist claim when his father, Richard, 3rd Duke of York, died at the Battle of Wakefield in December 1460. Yorkist armies went on defeating Lancastrian armies at Mortimer’s Cross and Towton in early 1461.

On February 2, 1461, Edward won a hard-fought victory at the Battle of Mortimer’s Cross in Herefordshire. The battle was preceded by a meteorological phenomenon known as parhelion, or three suns, which he took as his emblem, the “Sun in splendour”. However, this was offset by Warwick’s defeat at the Second Battle of St Albans on February 17, the Lancastrians regaining custody of Henry VI.

On March 4, Edward, 4th Duke of York deposed King Henry VI and took the throne. Edward was hastily crowned as King Edward IV, before marching north, where the two sides met at the Battle of Towton. Fought on March 29, in the middle of a snowstorm, it was the bloodiest battle ever to take place on English soil, and ended in a decisive Yorkist victory.

Estimates of the dead range from 9,000 to 20,000; figures are uncertain, as most of the mass graves were emptied or moved over the centuries, while corpses were generally stripped of clothing or armour before burial.

Margaret fled to Scotland with Edward of Westminster, while the new king returned to London for his coronation. Henry VI remained at large for over a year, but was caught and imprisoned in the Tower of London. There was little point in killing him while his son remained alive, since this would have transferred the Lancastrian claim from a frail captive to one who was young and free.

Although Edward preferred Burgundy as an alliance partner, he allowed Warwick to negotiate a treaty with Louis XI of France, which included a suggested marriage between Edward and Anne of France or Bona of Savoy, respectively daughter and sister-in-law of the French king.

In October 1464, Richard Neville 16th Earl of Warwick known as the “Kingmaker” was enraged to discover that on May 1, Edward IV had secretly married Elizabeth Woodville, a widow with two sons, whose Lancastrian husband, John Grey of Groby, died at Towton.

If nothing else, it was a clear demonstration that Warwick was not in control of the king, despite suggestions to the contrary. Edward’s motives have been widely discussed by contemporaries and historians alike.

Although Elizabeth’s mother, Jacquetta of Luxembourg, came from the upper nobility, her father, Richard Woodville, was a middle ranking provincial knight. The Privy Council told Edward with unusual frankness that “she was no wife for a prince such as himself, for she was not the daughter of a Duke or an Earl.”

The marriage was certainly unwise and unusual, although not unheard of; Henry VI’s mother, Catherine of Valois, married her chamberlain, Owen Tudor, while Edward IV’s grandson Henry VIII created the Church of England to marry Anne Boleyn.

By all accounts, Elizabeth possessed considerable charm of person and intellect, while Edward was used to getting what he wanted.

Historians generally accept the marriage was an impulsive decision, but differ on whether it was also a “calculated political move”. One view is the low status of the Woodvilles was part of the attraction, since unlike the Nevilles, they were reliant on Edward and thus more likely to remain loyal.

Others argue if this was his purpose, there were far better options available; all agree it had significant political implications that impacted the rest of Edward’s reign.

In 1470, with the Earl of Warwick still an enemy of Edward IV, he led a revolt against the King along with Edward’s brother, George, Duke of Clarence. After a failed plot to crown Edward’s brother, George, Duke of Clarence as King and there by deposing his brother, Edward IV, Warwick instead restored Henry VI to the throne.

The triumph was short-lived. Edward IV fled to Flanders, where he gathered support and invaded England in March 1471. On April 14, 1471, Warwick was defeated by Edward IV at the Battle of Barnet in which Warwick was killed and Edward IV resumed the throne.

Edward IV entered London unopposed and took Henry VI prisoner. A second army defeated the Lancastrian army at Tewkesbury on May 4. 17-year-old Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales the heir to the throne and the only son of King Henry VI of England and Margaret of Anjou, was killed at the Battle of Tewkesbury.

Shortly afterwards, Henry VI was found dead in the Tower of London. Despite a continuing threat from Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond (later Henry VII, the last Lancastrian claimant) Edward reigned in relative peace for the next twelve years.

However, The tumultuous relationship between Edward IV and his brother George, Duke of Clarence came to a head when Clarence was imprisoned in the Tower of London and put on trial for treason against his brother Edward IV. The accusations of Treason of George towards his brother are complex and will be the subject of a future blog entry.

Edward himself prosecuted his brother, and demanded that Parliament pass a bill of attainder against him declaring that he was guilty of “unnatural, loathly treasons.” Following his conviction and attainder, he was “privately executed” at the Bowyer Tower on February 18, 1478.

Edward IV died suddenly in April 1483, and was succeeded by his minor son as King Edward V, but Edward IV’s brother, the Duke of Gloucester, sized the throne as King Richard III citing that Edward V was illegitimate due to his parents marriage being unlawful.

February 11: Birth and Death Anniversary of Elizabeth of York, Queen of England (1466-1503).

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Edward V of England, Elizabeth of York, Elizabeth Woodville, Henry VII of England, House of Tudor, House of York, King Edward IV of England, King Henry VIII of England, Kings and Queens of England, Queen of England

Elizabeth of York (February 11, 1466 – February 11, 1503) was Queen of England from her marriage to King Henry VII on 18 January 1486 until her death. Elizabeth married Henry after his victory at the Battle of Bosworth Field, which marked the end of the Wars of the Roses. Together, they had seven children.

Elizabeth’s younger brothers, the “Princes in the Tower”, mysteriously disappeared shortly after the death of her father, King Edward IV. Although the 1484 act of Parliament Titulus Regius declared the marriage of her parents, Edward and Elizabeth Woodville, invalid, she and her sisters were subsequently welcomed back to court by Edward’s brother, King Richard III. As a Yorkist princess, the final victory of the Lancastrian faction in the Wars of the Roses may have seemed a further disaster, but Henry Tudor knew the importance of Yorkist support for his invasion and promised to marry Elizabeth before he arrived in England. This may well have contributed to the haemorrhaging of Yorkist support for Richard.

Although Elizabeth seems to have played little part in politics, her marriage appears to have been a successful and happy one. Her eldest son Arthur, Prince of Wales, died at age 15 in 1502, and three other children died young. Her second, and only surviving, son became King Henry VIII of England, while her daughters Mary and Margaret became queens of France and of Scotland, respectively; many modern royals, including Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom trace their line through Margaret.

In 1469, aged three, she was briefly betrothed to George Neville. His father John later supported George’s uncle, the Earl of Warwick, in rebellion against King Edward IV, and the betrothal was called off. In 1475, Louis XI agreed to the marriage of nine-year-old Elizabeth of York to his son Charles, the Dauphin of France. In 1482, however, Louis XI reneged on his promise. She was named a Lady of the Garter in 1477, at age eleven, along with her mother and her paternal aunt Elizabeth of York, Duchess of Suffolk.

Wife of the king

As the eldest daughter of Edward IV with no surviving brothers, Elizabeth of York had a strong claim to the throne in her own right, but she did not assume the throne as queen regnant. There was no queen regnant until 1553, when her granddaughter, Mary I, acceded to the throne; the last attempt a female had made at ruling in her own right resulted in disaster when the mother and first cousin once removed of Henry II of England fought bitterly for the throne in the 12th century. Though initially slow to keep his promise, Henry VII acknowledged the necessity of marrying Elizabeth of York to ensure the stability of his rule and weaken the claims of other surviving members of the House of York. It seems Henry wished to be seen as ruling in his own right, having claimed the throne by right of conquest and not by his marriage to the de facto heiress of the House of York. He had no intention of sharing power. He consequently chose to be crowned on 30 October 1485, before his marriage.

Henry VII had the Act of Titulus Regius repealed, thereby legitimising anew the children of Edward IV, and acknowledging Edward V as his predecessor. Though Richard III was regarded as a usurper, his reign was not ignored. Henry and Elizabeth required a papal dispensation to wed because of Canon Law frowning upon ‘affinity”: Both were descended from John of Gaunt or his older brother Lionel in the 4th degree, an issue that had caused much dispute and bloodshed as to which claim was superior. Two applications were sent, the first more locally, and the second one was slow in reaching Rome and slow to return with the response of the Pope. Ultimately, however, the marriage was approved by papal bull of Pope Innocent VIII dated March 1486 (one month after the wedding) stating that the Pope and his advisors “approveth confirmyth and stablishyth the matrimonye and coniuncion made betwene our sou[er]ayn lord King Henre the seuenth of the house of Lancastre of that one party And the noble Princesse Elyzabeth of the house of Yorke.

Because the journey to Rome and back took many months, and because Henry as king wanted to be certain that nobody could claim that his wedding to Elizabeth was unlawful or sinful, the more local application was obeyed first – it was sent to the papal legate for England and Scotland, which returned in January 1486. Cardinal Bourchier, Archbishop of Canterbury, officiated at the wedding of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York on 18 January 1486 in Westminster Abbey. Their first son, Arthur, was born on 20 September 1486, eight months after their marriage. Elizabeth of York was crowned queen on 25 November 1487. She gave birth to several more children, but only four survived infancy: Arthur, Margaret, Henry and Mary.

Despite being a political arrangement at first, the marriage proved successful and both partners appear to have slowly fallen in love with each other. Thomas Penn, in his biography of Henry VII writes that “[t]hough founded on pragmatism, Henry and Elizabeth’s marriage had nevertheless blossomed throughout the uncertainty and upheaval of the previous eighteen years. This was a marriage of ‘faithful love’, of mutual attraction, affection and respect, from which the king seems to have drawn great strength.”

Death

In 1502, Elizabeth of York became pregnant once more and spent her confinement period in the Tower of London. On 2 February 1503, she gave birth to a daughter, Katherine, but the child died a few days afterwards. Succumbing to a post partum infection, Elizabeth of York died on 11 February, her 37th birthday. Her family seems to have been devastated by her death and mourned her deeply. According to one biographer, the death of Elizabeth “broke the heart” of her husband and “shattered him.” Another account says that Henry Tudor “privily departed to a solitary place and would no man should resort unto him.” This is notable considering that, shortly after Elizabeth’s death, records show he became deathly ill himself and would not allow any except his mother Margaret Beaufort near him, including doctors. For Henry Tudor to show his emotions, let alone any sign of infirmity, was highly unusual and alarming to members of his court. Within a little over two years, King Henry VII lost his oldest son, his wife, his baby daughter, and found himself having to honour the Treaty of Perpetual Peace.

Henry VII entertained thoughts of remarriage to renew the alliance with Spain — Joanna, Dowager Queen of Naples (daughter of Ferdinand I of Naples), Joanna, Queen of Castile (daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella), and Margaret, Dowager Duchess of Savoy (sister-in-law of Joanna of Castile), were all considered — but he died a widower in 1509. The specifications that Henry gave to his ambassadors outlining what he wanted in a second wife described Elizabeth. On each anniversary of her death, he decreed that a requiem mass be sung, the bells be tolled, and 100 candles be lit in her honour. Henry also continued to employ her minstrels each New Year.

The Tower of London was abandoned as a royal residence, as evidenced by the lack of records of its being used by the royal family after 1503. Royal births in the reign of Elizabeth’s son, Henry VIII, took place in various other palaces.

Henry VII’s reputation for miserliness became worse after Elizabeth’s death.

He was buried with Elizabeth of York under their effigies in his Westminster Abbey chapel. Her tomb was opened in the 19th century and the wood casing of her lead coffin was found to have been removed to create space for the interment of her great-great-grandson James VI-I of England and Scotland.

June 28, 1491: Birth of Henry VIII, King of England and Ireland.

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Anne Boleyn, Anne of Cleves, Carlos I of Spain, Catherine Howard, Catherine of Aragon, Catherine Parr, Elizabeth of York, Elizabeth Woodville, Henry VII of England, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, Jane Seymour, King Edward IV of England, King Edward VI of England, King François I of France, King Henry VIII of England, King James V of Scotland

Henry VIII (June 28, 1491 – January 28, 1547) was King of England from 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry was the third child and second son of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York, the eldest child of King Edward IV and his wife, Elizabeth Woodville.

Henry is best known for his six marriages, and, in particular, his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disagreement with Pope Clement VII on the question of such an annulment led Henry to initiate the English Reformation, separating the Church of England from papal authority. He appointed himself the Supreme Head of the Church of England and dissolved convents and monasteries, for which he was excommunicated. Henry is also known as “the father of the Royal Navy,” as he invested heavily in the navy, increasing its size from a few to more than 50 ships, and established the Navy Board.

Henry VIII, King of England and Ireland.

Domestically, Henry VIII is known for his radical changes to the English Constitution, ushering in the theory of the divine right of kings. He also greatly expanded royal power during his reign. He frequently used charges of treason and heresy to quell dissent, and those accused were often executed without a formal trial by means of bills of attainder.

King Henry VIII achieved many of his political aims through the work of his chief ministers, some of whom were banished or executed when they fell out of his favour. Thomas Wolsey, Thomas More, Thomas Cromwell, Richard Rich, and Thomas Cranmer all figured prominently in his administration.

King Henry VIII was an extravagant spender, using the proceeds from the dissolution of the monasteries and acts of the Reformation Parliament. He also converted the money that was formerly paid to Rome into royal revenue. Despite the money from these sources, he was continually on the verge of financial ruin due to his personal extravagance, as well as his numerous costly and largely unsuccessful wars, particularly with King François I of France, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, James V of Scotland and the Scottish regency under the Earl of Arran and Mary of Guise.

King François I of France.

Charles V (Carlos I), Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain.

James V, King of Scots.

At home, he oversaw the legal union of England and Wales with the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542, and he was the first English monarch to rule as King of Ireland following the Crown of Ireland Act 1542.

Henry’s contemporaries considered him an attractive, educated, and accomplished king. He has been described as “one of the most charismatic rulers to sit on the English throne”. He was an author and composer. As he aged, however, he became severely overweight and his health suffered, causing his death in 1547. He is frequently characterised in his later life as a lustful, egotistical, harsh and insecure king. He was succeeded by his son Edward VI.