Two years later, Princess Margaret spent her last night with a member of her family before her departure for Scotland with her grandmother. There is evidence that Elizabeth and Margaret worked together in deciding who should attend the queen and Catherine during the celebrations for Catherine’s arrival and for refurbishing Margaret’s home at Coldharbour in order to entertain Catherine and Arthur for the post-wedding festivities. Elizabeth and Margaret also both wrote to the Spanish court asking that Catherine of Aragon learn French so they could communicate with her upon her arrival to marry Prince Arthur.

Margaret Beaufort knew all too well the consequences of intercourse and childbirth for a teenage woman. They feared James would not wait to consummate the union and injure Margaret and endanger her health. Elizabeth and Margaret pleaded with Henry VII not to send Princess Margaret to Scotland for her marriage to James IV too early. Laynesmith brings up the tendency for queens to solicit the aid of her husband’s family in moderating the king’s policies by representing human needs and practicalities, a recognized role for a medieval queen. There is a deep-seated tradition of jealous royal mothers repressing and destroying their daughters-in-law in folk tales and romances throughout the centuries. Laynesmith also attributes the Spaniard’s comments to the strong convention of assumed conflict between wives and their mothers-in-law. Or, Hewyk was among the crowd that greeted the king and queen in Nottingham when the incident occurred. Perhaps Hewyk was seeking a position in the queen’s service and Margaret intervened to rescue Elizabeth. Laynesmith cites two other historians’ interpretation of Hewyk’s comments. Another writer, John Hewyk of Nottingham was accused of reporting in 1500 “that he had spoken with the Queen’s Grace, and should have spoken more with her said Grace had not been for that strong whore the King’s mother”. It is impossible to tell what event, if any, influenced Ayala’s judgement in this case. She is kept in subjection by the mother of the king’. Cooper says the diplomat Don Pedro de Ayala wrote a letter to Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain in July 1498 that says this: “The king is much influenced by his mother….The queen, as is generally the case, does not like it.” This quote has dominated the assessment of Elizabeth of York’s relationship with her mother-in-law.Ī few days before, Ayala had written another letter to the sub-prior of Santa Cruz stating: ‘the queen is a “very noble woman” and much beloved. Cooper’s “Memoir of Margaret, Countess of Richmond and Derby” which was published in 1874. Laynesmith’s book was the joint winner of the Longman-History Today Book of the Year Prize in 2005. Laynesmith and her book “The Last Medieval Queens”. What kind of mother-in-law was Margaret Beaufort? The job of an historian is to read and interpret the sources and give an informed opinion on what actually happened. It is the purpose of this article to look into what some of these historians have to say about Margaret Beaufort and her conduct and actions during her life and the reign of her son. But does the historical record support these assumptions?īecause of the recent popularity and increased interest in the Tudor dynasty, there has been a lot of important historical research and scholarly writing by prominent historians. And it is largely believed that Margaret wrote the ordinances for court functions and etiquette. Another frequent comment revolves around the postulation that Margaret worked her whole life to make her son Henry Tudor King of England.

In Tudor circles, discussions surrounding Margaret Beaufort usually solicit the customary comment that she was the mother-in-law from hell. There is nothing to substantiate that claim.With a few exceptions, it seems most people have some kind of trouble with their mother-in-law. Suggestions that Edmund was in fact the bastard child of Edmund Beaufort and Tudor stepped in to save her reputation when marriage to Beaufort was denied but Union between Owen and the queen dowager was a love match, perhaps not. Owen,Ī groom in Katherine’s household is a surprising choice for a woman of her status and there have been many theories to explain it. Even the king’s consent could not be given until he reached his majority a clever move by parliament to disempower a prominent woman. Preventing Katherine from marrying without the consent of her son, the six year old King Henry The Protector, Humphrey of Gloucester disliked an attraction she formed for the ambitious Edmund Beaufort and, i n 1427-28 an act was passed in parliament Katherine was rich and powerful, and a very desirable prize. Edmund was the eldest son of Owen Tudor and

Margaret and jasper tudor romance