Royal: Lady Margaret Beaufort, 1443-1509, Part 1

Women dominated the Wars of the Roses.  While they may not have been on the battlefield or, with few exceptions, in the council chamber, they were almost everywhere else.  Their marriages formed alliances between various royal and noble families.  Their children were meant to sit on thrones or form alliances in their own right.  To that end women backed claimants to the crown, managed property and money, forged diplomatic ties and did whatever it took to survive and improve their family prospects.  Whether it was Cersei-esque Margaret of Anjou, who could go over her mentally-ill husband's head to order an execution, or daring Jacquetta of Luxembourg and sexy Elizabeth Woodville, both who married for love below, and then above, their stations in life.  There was avaricious Alice, Duchess of Suffolk and stalwart Lady Margaret Paston. 

And there was Lady Margaret Beaufort, great-great-granddaughter of John of Gaunt and the mother and grandmother of Tudor lions.  Margaret has been portrayed as conniving, imperious, a woman who believed in her own royal blood and smug superiority.  To those who knew her, such as Bishop John Fisher, she was an approachable, kind and courteous woman with a strong pious streak.  Married young like Sansa, ready to make alliance where she had to like Olenna, a benefactor who knew how to keep clear of the men around her like Margaery, Margaret is one of the better things to come out of the Wars of the Roses.

Margaret's father was John Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, one of England's foremost military commanders of his day.  In 1443, as he prepared to return to France, he made provisions for his unborn child.  He requested of King Henry VI that the child should remain under the wardship of the mother should Somerset die on campaign.  This was a huge concession on Henry's part.  The Beauforts were a branch of the Plantagenet family, although technically barred from a claim to the throne.  They were wealthy and well-connected.  Generally, heirs of this type would be the King's prerogative.  Henry, in a generous mood, agreed.  Somerset left for France and Margaret was born.  Then, tragedy struck.  Somerset was accused of treason and summoned back to England to answer charges.  He died soon after, some said it was suicide.  Margaret was her father's sole heir.  Henry took over wardship of her, though he did allow her to remain with her mother at Bletsoe Castle.  Henry granted the wardship of her lands to William de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk.  Suffolk arranged a marriage for Margaret with his son John, when Margaret was only 3.  Of course, they wouldn't live together until later.

Fate took a hand again.  Suffolk was arrested for treason and summarily executed.  Henry VI had the marriage annulled because it was never consummated and turned Margaret's wardship over to his half-brothers, Edmund and Jasper Tudor.  In later life, Margaret never acknowledged a marriage with John de la Pole.  One of the perks of having a wealthy heiress as a ward was a possible marriage to her for her guardian, or the guardian's heir.  In this case, Edmund Tudor arranged Margaret's marriage to himself in 1455.  She was 12 and he was 24, and it was evidently thought that she was up to the responsibilities of being a wife.  Margaret was soon pregnant and tragedy struck again.  Edmund, who had been given the title Earl of Richmond by Henry VI was captured by the Yorkists and died in captivity.  His 13-year-old widow almost died having her only child, a boy, Henry, who would succeed to his father's title as Earl of Richmond.  Margaret never had another child.  She lived with her brother-in-law Jasper Tudor at Pembroke Castle, which is where the future Henry VII was born January 8, 1457. 

Margaret treasured the memory of Edmund Tudor, even requesting at one point to be buried beside him should she die.  Little did she know that would be years in coming and fate would find her another more august resting place.  Though the Tudors were technically not considered heirs to the throne, both the Yorkists and Lancastrians feared them, believing that Jasper Tudor might just try it.  From the age of 2, Henry had to be separated from his mother to take refuge in Wales and later in France.  Meanwhile Margaret had to find another husband or risk the King taking over her extensive personal inheritance as well as the Richmond inheritance of her son.  In 1458, while only 15 years old, she married Sir Henry Stafford, heir to the Duke of Buckingham.  He was, like Margaret, a Plantagenet descendant.  Though they never had children, Henry and Margaret enjoyed a close marriage.  Stafford was killed at Barnet in 1471 and Margaret, needing to ingratiate herself and her family with King Edward IV, married Thomas Stanley, the King's Lord High Constable.  Both she and Thomas recognized that this was a marriage of convenience and weren't particularly close.  Meanwhile, Margaret became friends with Elizabeth Woodville and godmother to one of her daughters.

Margaret's marriage proved to be a smart move.  When Edward IV died and Richard III came to the throne, Margaret carried Queen Anne Neville's train at the coronation.  She remained a lady in waiting to the Queen, but Richard was suspect of her closeness to Elizabeth Woodville.  He stripped Margaret of her vast inheritance, and gave the property to her husband.  Margaret and Elizabeth Woodville put their heads together.  With the death of her two sons, Elizabeth's hopes rested on a marriage between Margaret's son Henry Tudor and Elizabeth's daughter, the eldest York princess.  When Henry crossed the Channel to take the English throne in 1485, Margaret's husband Sir Thomas Stanley was summoned by King Richard.  He remained neutral, though he would fortuitously switch sides at Bosworth in time to place the fallen crown on Henry Tudor's head.  Margaret's fortunes had turned again.  She was now the mother of a King of England.