welcome to the ancestral findings podcast she can be considered the ultimate champion
of the wars of the roses she certainly was the last major player standing here is her story
realistically there could only ever be one major wars of the roses player left standing when it
was all over one of them always had to outlast the rest in spite of the many battles involving men in
armor on horses with medieval weapons fighting on battlefields that are still in the united
kingdom today the last major player standing was a woman her name was margaret beaufort and
she was almost a force of nature working both sides of the conflict to promote her own agenda
which really had very little to do with the war in which she played such an important part
here is her story born may 31st 1443 to john beaufort the first duke of somerset and margaret
beauchamp margaret was the only surviving child of her father her parents marriage was the second
for her mother and her mother had children by her first marriage and yet another by her third
but margaret was her father's sole heir since he was a grandson of king edward iii making margaret
the great granddaughter of a king he had quite a large fortune in her youth margaret was the
richest heiress in england and a valuable prize on the nobility marriage market margaret's father
died when she was not quite a year old he had recently fallen out of favor with the current king
henry vi and his death was widely presumed by many to be a suicide though whether that or an
illness like the plague was actual cause depends on which contemporary writer's account you read
either way his death left his infant daughter extremely wealthy she was betrothed when she was
not quite two years old to john de la pole the son of the first duke of suffolk and married to him
when she was eight years old however the marriage was never consummated due to the young ages of the
bride and groom and the whole thing was annulled three years later margaret never even recognized
this as a legitimate marriage in her older years and did not refer to it among her other marriages
after her young marriage was annulled her wardship was transferred to the king who was interested in
rewarding his half-brothers for their service and loyalty on his behalf to this end he transferred
wardship of the 12-year-old margaret to his half-brother edmund tudor who was 25 years
old at the time edmond married margaret who was of the legal age of consent at 12 years old in
medieval law and did so with the king's blessing the wars of the roses were just breaking out
at the time and edmund was taken prisoner by the yorkists less than a year after marrying margaret
he died in captivity of the plague leaving margaret a 13 year old widow who was also heavily
pregnant margaret continued living under the protection of edmonds younger brother jasper tudor
and gave birth to a son henry tudor because she was so young and small and likely not yet
done growing the birth was hard on her in fact it damaged her uterus so much that she was never able
to get pregnant again henry was her one and only child and became the focus of most of her life's
ambitions and their resulting scheming intriguing and involvement in the wars of the roses
margaret eventually remarried to sir henry stafford the next year however conflicts in the
wars of the roses interfered in her being able to raise her son on her own as henry tudor was
technically a lancastrian heir in fact besides the king's own son and only child henry was the
only other legitimate lancastrian heir in england this meant when the yorks took power when harry
was two years old he was taken from margaret and sent to live with his uncle jasper tudor in wales
far away from the throne various battles and transfers of power in the war meant henry
and margaret only saw each other once in a while though he did get to live with her full time again
for six months in 1470-1471 when the lancastrians briefly took power back from the yorks when the
yorks once again retook the throne henry and his uncle jasper were considered enemies of the
throne and had to go into exile on the european continent henry was 14 years old at the time
despite demands from king edward iv the rulers of the countries jasper and henry
stayed in refused to hand them over to him margaret kept in touch with them by letters
meanwhile henry was undergoing military training and margaret had married her third husband after
her second one died of wounds sustained in battle while supporting the yorkist cause
a cause margaret was against margaret chose her third husband herself which was new for her the
king chose her first husband and her mother chose her second margaret chose carefully as
she wanted someone who the yorks trusted but who was not unerringly loyal to them
she chose thomas stanley the lord high constable of england and the king of man with his influence
she got a position in the household of queen elizabeth woodville and began to ingratiate
herself to the yorks as a friend hoping she could convince them to give her son his lands and titles
back and allow him to come home as a free man she maintained her fake friendship with the yorks into
richard third's rule and even carried his queen and neville's train at their joint coronation
it was only when rumors started that henry tudor was planning to invade england to take the crown
from richard and the discovery that margaret had been writing to her son encouraging this that
her friendship with the yorks was ended she was banished from court forbidden to write to henry
and only spared execution because of the loyalty richard iii thought her husband had for the york
dynasty under house arrest margaret still managed to get letters out into the world with the help of
her husband he wouldn't risk letting her write to henry but he did help her right to the dollarder
queen elizabeth woodville her former enemy who was hiding with most of her children in sanctuary in
westminster abbey and had been since her husband died assuming his brother richard would try to
steal the crown from her eldest son by edward and rightful yorkist heir something that proved true
in their letters to each other the former enemies devised the plan that would benefit them both
when henry was sufficiently prepared he would invade england and fight richard if
he was successful and became king by right of the battlefield he would marry elizabeth woodville's
eldest daughter by the late king edward iv elizabeth of york this marriage would not
only legitimize henry's kingship to the people of england by marrying a known and beloved princess
it would end the wars of the roses by uniting both lancaster and york through marriage at the highest
royal level elizabeth woodville's sons by edward iv eventually disappeared into the tower of london
never to be seen again no one knew or would say what happened to them at the time and we still
don't know for sure today her youngest son by her first marriage was executed along with one of her
brothers by richard iii and the only son left to her was her eldest son by her first marriage
thomas gray her daughters by edward iv were eventually permitted to leave sanctuary with a
public declaration of their safety by richard iii and elizabeth of york was sent to live with her
future mother-in-law margaret beaufort henry tudor invaded england after richard iii had been on
the throne for just over two years he was not as experienced in battle as richard and his soldiers
were largely foreign mercenaries rather than loyal native soldiers like they were in richard's army
it was widely assumed richard would win and he certainly seems to have thought so
however margaret's husband was one who was skilled at playing both sides and he always managed to
ingratiate himself to whoever was in power or looked like they might be in power he also had
his own army he took his army to the sidelines of the battle and watched and waited when it looked
like richard might be vulnerable stanley decided to go in for the stepson he'd never met in person
with stanley's experienced army on his side henry won the battle and richard was killed
stanley himself put the crown taken from richard on henry's head and declared him king of the
battlefield margaret's lifelong ambition to not only have her son home with her but on the english
throne came true and henry never forgot all his mother sacrificed and did for him to get him there
even after his marriage to elizabeth of york he gave his mother precedent in all royal things
margaret was known as my lady the king's mother and signed her letters margaret r indicating her
royal status she ruled over the king's household making rules for everyone in it except her son
this included the queen who seemed content to let margaret have her way
elizabeth of york saw firsthand what havoc royal ambitions could bring and she was happy to just
raise her children even if it was under margaret's instruction and supervision
henry became king henry vii in 1485. by 1509 all of the other major players in the wars of
the roses were gone even elizabeth woodville and edward the force mother cecily neville
even the secondary players like elizabeth of york were gone it was just her and henry left
a mother-son duo to be reckoned with powerful together as margaret always wanted them to be in
april of 1509 even henry left the stage margaret was alone the sole surviving major player in the
wars of the roses though the wars were long over her grandson henry viii was not yet 18 years old
when his father died and technically not legally able to rule on his own henry vii left his mother
in charge as regent until the new henry viii came of age which showed henry's total trust in his
mother and his reliance on her advice and guidance in all things as a woman had never been regent of
england henry viii was going to turn 18 in a couple of months when his father died and this
gave margaret just enough time to do three very important things that exerted her considerable
power once more one she planned and organized her son's funeral down to the last detail
two she planned her grandson's coronation with the same fine attention to detail and total control
over the entire affair three she wrote her will with her son gone upon whose success and triumph
she had devoted most of her life she had no real interest in staying around once her three final
important tasks were accomplished she watched as her grandson was officially crowned henry viii
at the lavish coronation ceremony she organized continuing the tudor dynasty her son started
then she went home and quietly left this world in june of 1509 the last major player in the
wars of the roses was gone but she left a lasting legacy that continues to this day
as every english monarch who has sat on the throne since her son has been a direct descendant of hers
as well as a direct descendant of elizabeth woodville and cecily neville margaret lived
through tumultuous times schemed her way into the highest levels of the nobility helped her get her
son on the throne with a marriage that ended the wars and came out the ultimate champion of it all
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