Good Evening To You, My Gentle Friends,

Lady Margaret was herself born of royal lineage being the great, great grand-daughter of Edward III. Her great grandfather was John of Gaunt whose mistress and later third wife was Katherine Swynford. They had a son, John Beaufort, Marquess of Somerset and his son John, Duke of Somerset, was Margaret's father, her mother being Margaret Beauchamp of Bletso.

The name Beaufort was derived from the Gaunt's castle and lordship in the Champagne for the benefit of the three boys and a girl born of his adulterous affair with Katherine, prior to their marriage in 1396. Later in that year the pope declared the offspirng to be legitimate adn in the following year their status was confirmed by Parliament. Notwithstanding these confirmations, the legitimacy of the offspring, and John in particular, was constantly in question up to the end of the 15th century.

Although John Beaufort was one of the poorest of the English earls, his fortunes were transformed when his wife, Margaret Holland, in 1408 became a coheiress of the earldom of Kent, and it is the properties that descended to Margaret that made Margaret Beaufort such a welathy lady and a great heiress.

John Beaufort was the half-brother of Henry IV and this, and the king's preference for Somerset, gave the Beaufort line a strong claim to the throne, which continued through Margaret. However, there was never any real claim to the English crown until Lady Margaret's only son, Henry Tudor, challenged Richard III's right to the throne.

Lady Margaret Beaufort was born on May 31, 1443, at Bletsoe (or Bletso) Castle, in Bedfordshire, England. She was born at a time when her father, John, Duke of Somerset, was falling out of favour with Henry VI due to his conduct in an abortive attempt to bring to a head the hundred years war. John was banished from court and faced treason charges as a result. Shortly after that, on May 27, 1444, John Beaufort died at Wimborne in Dorset, a suspected suicide. On Margaret's first birthday, the king granted William de la Pole, earl of Suffolk, the wardship and marriage of the baby child as reward for services rendered and in the hope of hastening an end to the war.

Suffolk's objective was to marry his son John to a prominent heiress, and to this end his sights had beenset on Anne Beauchamp, sole heir of her father Henry Beauchamp, duke of Warwick. However, in 1450, sentiment strongly turned against Suffolk, and he was charged by a hostile Commons with offences ranging from corruption to treason. His first choice match for his son had died in 1449 at the age of five, and so instead, John de la Pole was married some time between January 28, 1450 and February 07, 1450 to Lady Margaret Beaufort. She was just six years old.

This marriage of convenience was destined not to last, and it was annulled before March 24, 1453. Teh wardship of the Lady Margaret was transferred by the king to his half-brothers, Jasper and Edmund Tudor, their mother being Katherine of Valois, who had been born on October 27, 1401, in Paris, France, as the daughter of King Charles VI of France and Isabeau de Baviere. She was the Queen consort of England from 1420 until 1422, as the wife of King Henry V of England, until his untimely death in 1422. After King Henry V's death, Katherine of Valois married Owen Tudor. Concerned to secure the line of accession through Edmund Tudor, while his queen, Margaret of Anjou had produced no offspring, the king married his half-brother, Edmund Tudor, to Lady Margaret Beaufort. Edmund Tudor was the 1st Earl of Richmond, and he was the son of Sir Owen Tudor and Catherine de France. Edmund and Margaret were married on november 01, 1455 at Bletsoe Castle, in Bedforshire, England.

Edmund Tudor showed little grace or concern for his young wife, and in 1455 they moved to Lamphey, Pembrokeshire, South Wales. At the tender age of twelve, Margaret became pregnant, Edmund's concerns about succession being more important than Margaret's safety. Shortly thereafter in August, 1456, Edmund was captured by Richard duke of York's retainers, Sir William Herbert and Sir Walter Devereux and Edmund was imprisoned in Carmarthen castle. Shortly following his release from prison he succumbed to the plague and die on November 01, 1456, leaving the very young Margaret alone and six months pregnant. She took refuge with her brother-in-law, Jasper, at Pembroke castle, where she gave birth to Henry on January 28, 1457.

There is little doubt that the trauma of conception and birth at such an early age made a lasting impression upon Margaret who was to have no more children. The birth was difficult and physical injuries could not be ruled out as a cause of no further issue despite two later husbands with whom she shared long and caring relationships.

Following Edmund's death, Margaret, despite being not yet fourteen years old, took a strong interest in her future and that of her infant son. Sje set out to secure the protection of Humphrey, duke of Buckingham, the only English magnate as powerful as Richard Duke of York. On April 5, 1457, Reginal Boulers of Coventry and Lichfield granted dispensation for Margaret and Buckingham's second son, Henry Stafford, to marry. The dispensation was required as they were second cousins. Sir Henry Stafford was teh son of Humphrey de Stafford, the 1st Duke of Buckingham and Lady Anne Neville. Margaret and Henry were married within the Coventry and Lichfield diocese on January 03, 1458.

The Duke of Buckingham died at the battle of Northampton in 1460 leaving the couple 400 marks worth of land, but despite this, it was Margaret's property that afforded them an aristocratic lifestyle.

Sir Henry Stafford fought on the side of the Lancastrians at Towton in March 1461, but after Edward IV's victory, he rapidly made peace with the new administration and secured pardons for himself and Margaret. However Margqret was separated from her son when William Lord Herbert captured Pembroke castle on September 20, 1461 and was rewarded with a royal grant of the wardship and marriage of Henry Tudor who spent most of his childhood under the supervision of Herbert's wife, Anne Devereux.

The reconciliation of the king with the Beaufort family continued following Towton, until in November, 1463, Henry Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, Margaret's cousin, defected from Edward IV to the Lancastrians in Scotland. This culminted in the duke's summary execution at the battle of Hexham in May, 1464, almost certainly as a direct order from the king. Following this, the Beauforts had become firmly alienated from the crown with much of their land confiscated by the king, and Margaret became more estranged from her family as her husband and the Stafford kin, became more aligned with the Yorkist cause.

Stafford's position with the king was still somewhat fragile, possibly due to his wife's family connections, and Margaret was aware of the political risks surrounding her and her son. To protect him, in 1465, Nargaret admitted Henry to the confraternity of the Order of the Holy Trinity, near Knaresborough in Yorkshire.

In the summer of 1468 Henry Tudor was witness to the defeat of his uncle, Jasper Tudor on August 14, 1468, at TwT Hill near Caernarfon. Jasper, still loyal to the Lancastrian cause, raided north Wales and the king order Lord Herbert to raise and army to answer the threat. Henry accompanied the Herbert forces.

Stafford, Margaret and Henry were to survive the following turbulent times, including the brief restoration of the Lancastrian king Henry VI. In October, 1470, Henry was reunited with his Uncle Jasper and taken for an audience with the king. This meeting was significant in progressing the young Henry Tudor's claim to the throne as Henry VI had been instrumental in the arrangement of themarriage of his parents. At the end of November Henry rejoined his uncle and departed to South Wales.

On March 14, 1471, after a period of exile in Holland Edward IV landed at Yorshire iwth a small army. Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, Margaret's cousin, was in London deciding whether to attempt to hold the city or to raise further support in the West Country awaiting the arrival of Margaret of Anjou. He took the latter course and attempted to illicit from Stafford support for the Lancastian cause in defense of the king. Somerset wished to avoid conflict if possible, but in due course his hand was forced when Edward marched past Coventry to gain entry to the capital. On April 12, Somerset decided to join the Yorkist army having sent a servant to deliver his will to his wife at Woking, and once again, Margaret and her Beaufort kinsen were on opposing sides.

Edward faced his principal resistance from Warwick, at Barnet. Meanwhile, Somerset attempted to raise forces at Salisbury, but on hearing of the victory of Edward's forces at Barnet, these forces were instead sent in support of the Yorkist cause. Despite the victory at Barnet, Stafford was badly injured and played no further part in the campaign. For the Beaufort family, the defeat was truly calamious.

Despite the defeats, Somerset proceeded to raise further support throught the West Country, until on May 4, 1471 the Lancastrian and Yorkist armies faced each other at Tewkesbury. Division amidst the Lancastrian commanders lead to a disastrous engagement in which the forces of Lord Wenlock were withdran after fierce fighting and a rout in which Somerset's brother, John, marquis of Dorset and the Lacastrian Prince of Wales, Edward, were slain.

Somerset sought sanctuary in Tewkesbury Abbey. Edward granted a pardon to those on consecrated ground, but unsurprisingly failed to keep his word and Somerset was executed on May 6. Henry VI died in the Tower on May 21, almost certainly murdered on Edward's command.

Margaret was able to maintain favour with the new king as a result of her husband's support for the Yorkist cause at Barnet. However things were not so straightforward for her son Henry, who was holding out at Pembroke Castle with his uncle Jasper. Unwilling to risk a "pardon" from the king, they set sail from Tenby for Brittany, thus commencing a long period of exile for Henry.

Stafford died on October 4, 1471, following ill-health and the after effects of wounds suffered at the battle of Barnet. Margaret again survived a very difficult time, and following the minimum customary one year's mourning for her husband, she decided to marry for the fourth time, this time to Thomas, Lord Stanley. Thomas was the 1st Earl of Derby, and he was the son of Thomas Stanley, the 1st Baron Stanley and Jean Goushill. He had been born in 1435 in Of. Lathom, Lancashire, England. Margaret and Thomas were married before October, 1473.

Margaret secured her position of favour with the new king through Stanley who had been a long a loyal servant. Stanley also benefitted through securing an interest in the many properties and estates that Lady Margaret owned at the time. Follwing this, Margaret worked hard to bring an end to her son's exile and to have him return to England.

However, fate overtook her eventually, when on April 9, 1483, Edward IV died. His brother Richard became Protector of hsi young son, Edward V, but this was short lived when Richard declared all Edward's children illegitimate and subsequently proclaimed himself king on June 25, to be crowned on July 6, `483. Both Stanley and Margaret attended the coronation of Richard III.

Margaret sought alliance with Richard in an attempt to safeguard the arrangements made in 1482 for the return to England of her son. However, after sensing teh extent of the current opposition to the new king, Magaret suddnely threw in her lot with the plotters.

A plot was formed with the Woodville family to claim the throne for Henry Tudor through a marriage alliance iwth Elizabeth of York, the daughter of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville. An abortive attempt to rescue the young sons of Edward IV from the tower followed resulting in their deaths adn those of many of the conspirators.

Margaret then encouraged rebellion by the Duke of Buckingham, who knew that making Henry king would not serve his purposese well as Woodville's pre-eminence would be restored in Wales at his expense. It is possible that Margaret duped Buckingham into believing the rebellion was to make him king. However, the attempt on September 24, 1483 failed, the Kentish rebellion was suppressed by the duke of Norfolk.

By the time Henry landed on the Dorset coast, Buckingham was already derfeated and he promptly retreated. Margaret survived solely due to her husband's continued loyalty to the king. However, she forfeited her titles adn estates, the properties regranted to Stanley. However, Stanley's support of the king was more to do with his resentment of Buckingham, and throughout he allowed is wife to continue to communicate with her son in France. When Henry landed in Wales in 1485 the support of the Stanley family was a significant enabling factor in him gaining the throne following defeat of Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field, on August 22, 1485.

It is significant that Margaret Beaufort's role int he War of the Roses, her ability to maintain a balance between the two factions, to protect her own properties and land and ultimately to manage the ascension of her son, Henry Tudor, to King of England, was an act of magnificent political astuteness and true courage. Shhe was a remarkable lady, and her subsequent patronage of academia has left a lasting legacy in Cambridge, and indeed England.

In 1502, she established the Lady Margaret's Professorship of Divinity at the University of Cambridge.

Her portrait, at prayer in her richly furnished private closet behind her chamer, is a rare contemporary glimpse into a late Gothis aristocratic English interior. It rewards a close look. The severe black of her widow's weeds contrasts witht eh spendor or her private apartmnent, where every surface is patterned, even the floor aternating cream-colored and terracotta tiles. The plain desk at which she kneels isdraped with a richly patterned textile that is so densely encursted with embroidery that its corners stand away stiffly. Her lavishly illuminated Book of Hours is open on a richly worked pillow before her. The walls are patterned with oak leaf designs, perhaps in lozenges, perhaps of stamped and part gilded leather. Against it hangs the dosser of her canopy of estate, with the tester above her head (the Tudor rose at its center) supported on cords from the ceiling. The coats-of-arms woven into the tapestry are of England (parted as usual with France) and the portcullis badge of the Beauforts, which the early Tudor kings would use. Small stained glass roundels in the leaded glass of her lancet windows also carry both England (cropped away in the picture) and Beaufort.

In 1505, Margaret founded Christ's College in Cambridge, leaving a substantial legacy in her will when she die on June 29, 1504 (also listed as 1509). Part of that legacy was used to create, from the properties at Malton, a refuge from the plague for the masters, students and staff at the college. Periodically, throughout the 16th century, the entire college decamped to Malton while Cambridge suffered the ravages of the plague.

Nargaret also founded St. John's College in Cambridge in 1511.

Lady Margaret had been invested as a Lady Companion, Order of hte Garter (L.G.) in 1488.

Lady Margaret died on June 29, 1504 (also listed in other sources as 1509), at the age of sixty-one years at Abbott's House, Cheyney Gates, Westminster, London, England. She was buried at Westminster Abbey, in Westminster, London, England.


(Courtesy of "Malton Farm - Lady Margaret Beaufort", from www.collinsfamily.freeserve.co., Six Page Article.)

(Courtesy of "Margaret Beaufort", Wikipedia Encyclopedia, Two Page Article.)

(Courtesy of "The Peerage.com", Concerning Lady Margaret Beaufort's Particular Peerage Details, Eight Page Article.)

(Courtesy of "Lady Margaret Beaufort", From the Catholic Encyclopedia, Three Page Article.)