Remember before God

Richard III

King of England

and those who fell at Bosworth Field

having kept faith.

22 August 1485

Loyaulte me lie.

(Text:  Richard III memorial plaque in the Church of St James, Sutton Cheney

Illustration on the left:  King Richard III,  © Andrew Jamieson, http://www.jamiesongallery.com/ (used with permission)

On the right:  The Church of St James, Sutton Cheney, where the Richard III Society commemorates King Richard III in its annual memorial service in August. It is said that Richard III heard his last Mass at this church.)

Tags: Battles, Bosworth, Henry Tudor, Richard III

Death of Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry Tudor (Henry VII), just two months after her son’s death on 21 April 1509.  On 24 June 1509, she had still witnessed the coronation of her grandson, Henry VIII, and Katherine of Aragon.

Source: Michael K. Jones and Malcolm G. Underwood, ‘Beaufort, Margaret , countess of Richmond and Derby (1443–1509)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 (online version)

Tags: Henry Tudor, Margaret Beaufort

Birth of Henry (later Henry VIII) at Greenwich Palace, sixth child of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York (daughter of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville).  He became heir to the throne after the death of his brother Arthur in 1502, and became king on his father’s death on 21 April 1509.

Illustration:  Henry VIII, 1509, by an unknown artist. The Denver Art Museum.

Tags: Elizabeth of York, Henry Tudor, Henry VIII

Birth of Margaret Beaufort, daughter and heir of John Beaufort, duke of Somerset (1404–1444), and Margaret (d. 1482), daughter of Sir John Beauchamp of Bletsoe, Bedfordshire.

She was an influential supporter of her son Henry Tudor, who became Henry VII after defeating Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth.

Tags: Henry Tudor, Margaret Beaufort

Death of Henry VII (Tudor) at Richmond Palace.  Buried in Westminster Abbey.

Tags: Henry Tudor

Death of Arthur, Prince of Wales, first son of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York (daughter of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville) at Ludlow Castle, Shropshire, buried in Worcester Cathedral.

Tags: Elizabeth of York, Henry Tudor

John Cabot (Giovanni Caboto) is issued with letters patent by Henry VII to explore unknown lands.

Tags: Henry Tudor

Henry Tudor (portrait at National Portrait Gallery, London)

Birth of Henry Tudor

On 28 January 1457, Henry Tudor was born at Pembroke Castle in Wales, the son of Edmund Tudor, 1st Earl of Richmond, and Margaret Beaufort.  Edmund Tudor was the son of Owen Tudor and Henry V’s widow Catherine of Valois.  Margaret Beaufort, was a great-granddaughter of John of Gaunt (third son of Edward III) and his third wife and previous mistress Katherine Swynford.   The children of this relationship, the Beauforts, were disinherited by Letters Patent of King Henry IV from any claim to the throne. After defeating Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth on 22 August 1485, he took the throne as Henry VII.

Read the History Today article on ‘The Birth of Henry Tudor”.

Tags: Henry Tudor, Margaret Beaufort

Margaret Beaufort

Marriage of Margaret Beaufort and Henry Stafford

On 3 January 1462, Margaret Beaufort married Henry Stafford, son of Humphrey, duke of Buckingham.

She had been married as a child to John de la Pole, though the marriage was soon dissolved.

She married in 1455 Edmund Tudor, but he died on 1 November 1456 from the plague.  She gave birth to Edmund’s son Henry on 28 January 1457, who would later defeat King Richard III at the battle of Bosworth and take the crown as Henry VII.

Margaret had no further children.  However, her marriage to Henry Stafford seems to have been happy.  He died on 4 October 1471.

In June 1472 she married Thomas Stanley, surviving him for five years until her own death on 29 June 1509, just two months after her son had died.

Reference:

Michael K. Jones and Malcolm G. Underwood, ‘Beaufort, Margaret , countess of Richmond and Derby (1443–1509)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [last accessed online 2 Jan 2020]

Michael Jones, ‘Lady Margaret Beaufort’, History Today, Volume 35, Issue 8 (August 1985).  URL: http://www.historytoday.com/michael-jones/lady-margaret-beaufort  [last accessed 2 Jan. 2020]

Dorothea Preis

Tags: Henry Tudor, Margaret Beaufort, Richard III