![]() ![]() Lady Margaret was born at Bletsoe Castle, Bedfordshire, either on or, more likely, on. She was the daughter and sole heiress of John Beaufort, Duke of Somerset (1404–1444), a legitimised grandson of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster (third surviving son of King Edward III), by his mistress Katherine Swynford, whom he married. Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, a nineteenth-century foundation named after her was the first Oxford college to admit women. She is credited with the establishment of two prominent Cambridge colleges, founding Christ's College in 1505 and beginning the development of St John's College, which was completed posthumously by her executors in 1511. ![]() She was also a major patron and cultural benefactor during her son's reign, initiating an era of extensive Tudor patronage. With her son crowned Henry VII, Lady Margaret wielded a considerable degree of political influence and personal autonomy – both now considered unusual for a woman of her time. She was thus instrumental in orchestrating the rise to power of the Tudor dynasty. ![]() Beaufort's efforts ultimately culminated in Henry's decisive victory over King Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field. Capitalising on the political upheaval of the period, she actively manoeuvred to secure the crown for her son. Ī descendant of King Edward III, Lady Margaret passed a disputed claim to the English throne to her son, Henry Tudor. Love her or hate her she was a very strong and determined woman.Lady Margaret Beaufort (usually pronounced: / ˈ b oʊ f ər t/ BOH-fərt or / ˈ b juː f ər t/ BEW-fərt – 29 June 1509) was a major figure in the Wars of the Roses of the late fifteenth century, and mother of King Henry VII of England, the first Tudor monarch. Margaret Beaufort is famous as much for her piety and gifts to churches and collages as she is for being domineering, pushy and intimidating, she was a force to be reckoned with, but her achievements prove that medieval women did not always take the back seat to men. She also disliked the fact that she had to adhere to court protocol and walk behind the queen and was probably responsible for the banishment of Elizabeth Woodville in 1487. Henry was said to have been a devoted son, his death in the June of 1509 was probably the beginning of the end for Margaret as she was dead only two months later. In Henry VII's court, Margaret liked to be referred to as 'My Lady the King's Mother' she intensely disliked the fact that she was of a lower status than both Elizabeth of York, Henry's queen and her mother Elizabeth Woodville, the widow of Edward IV. Margaret's third husband was Humphrey, Duke of Buckingham, their marriage was said to be a happy one. Although Margaret never recognised it as a marriage she was firstly married to John de la Pole, the son of William de la Pole and Alice Chaucer. Thirty years later, Henry was aided at the Battle of Bosworth by Thomas Stanley, her fourth husband whose family famously stood and watched the battle, deciding at the last moment to take the side of the Lancastrian's against Richard III's Yorkist forces. The birth of Henry, while Margaret was just a child herself, did irreparable damage, and this could account for the fact that she never gave birth again. Margaret was soon pregnant and gave birth to the future Henry VII a year later. In 1455, at the age of just twelve years old Margaret had married Edmund Tudor as her second husband. ![]()
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