Margaret Beaufort, Mother of Henry VII, at prayer, by an anonymous artist, about 1500

Margaret Beaufort (May 31, 1443 – June 29, 1509) was the daughter of John Beaufort, 1st Duke of Somerset, granddaughter of John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset and great-granddaughter of John of Gaunt and his mistress Katherine Swynford; following Gaunt's marriage to Katherine, their children (the Beauforts) were legitimized, but their descendants were barred from ever inheriting the throne, though Edward IV of England and every monarch after him is descended from Gaunt and Swynford. portrait of Margaret Beaufort I have cropped the bottom of this picture of a 15th-century painting of Margaret Beaufort, the mother of King Henry VII, kneeling at prayer. ... portrait of Margaret Beaufort I have cropped the bottom of this picture of a 15th-century painting of Margaret Beaufort, the mother of King Henry VII, kneeling at prayer. ... May 31 is the 151st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (152nd in leap years), with 214 days remaining. ... Events Albanians, under Skanderbeg, defeat the Turks John Hunyadi defeats Turks at the Battle of Nis Vlad II Dracul begins his second term as ruler of Wallachia, succeeding Basarab II. Births January 27 - Albert, Duke of Saxony (died 1500) February 23 - Matthias Corvinus of Hungary (died 1490) May 17 - Edmund... June 29 is the 180th day of the year (181st in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 185 days remaining. ... 1509 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... John Beaufort, 1st Duke of Somerset (baptised March 25, 1404 – May 27, 1444), was an English noble and military commander. ... John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset (c. ... John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster (June 24, 1340 - February 3, 1399), the third surviving son of King Edward III of England, gained his name because he was born at Ghent in 1340. ... Coat of arms designed for Katherine Swynford: three gold Catherine wheels (roet means wheel) on a red background. ... Edward IV (April 28, 1442 – April 9, 1483) was King of England from March 4, 1461 to April 9, 1483, with a break of a few months in the period 1470–1471. ...

Edward and his younger brother Richard III of England were sons of Cecily Neville, grandsons to Joan Beaufort, great-grandsons to John of Gaunt and Katherine Swynford. Richard III (2 October 1452 – 22 August 1485) was King of England from 1483 until his death and the last king from the House of York. ... Cecily Neville (3 May 1415 – 31 May 1495), Duchess of York, was called the Rose of Raby (because she was born at Raby Castle in Durham, England) and Proud Cis (because of her pride and a temper that went with it). ... Joan Beaufort, Countess of Westmorland, (c. ...

Margaret married four times, but had only one child, Henry VII of England. The effect of Henry's birth on her 13-year-old body rendered her infertile for life. Henry VII (January 28, 1457 – April 21, 1509), King of England, Lord of Ireland (August 22, 1485 – April 21, 1509), was the founder and first patriarch of the Tudor dynasty. ...

Margaret's first marriage, to John de la Pole, took place in 1450, when she was still a child, but was annulled after a short time. Her second cousin Henry VI had as yet no children, and considered naming her his heir. He married her to his half-brother, Edmund Tudor, Earl of Richmond. Edmund was the eldest son of the king's mother, dowager Queen Catherine (the widow of Henry V) by her second marriage to a Welsh squire in her household, Owain ap Maredudd ap Tudur (Owen Tudor); the legality of this marriage was questioned by others later, but it appears to have been valid. Thus, in one of the great ironies of history, Margaret's son Henry, the Lancastrian claimant to the throne at the end of the Wars of the Roses — the one who won it all and united the two houses by marrying the Yorkist princess Elizabeth of York — had plenty of royal blood but no legal claim to the throne; in fact, were it not for the Salic Law barring women from inheriting the French throne, he would have had a greater claim to the throne of France than to that of England. In addition, as Henry derived his claim to the throne from Margaret, it is arguably she and not her son who should have claimed the crown, although Margaret was content to let Henry reign instead of her. John de la Pole, 2nd Duke of Suffolk (27 September 1442 - 1491) was the son of William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk, who was executed in 1450. ... Events March - French troops under Guy de Richemont besiege the English commander in France, Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, in Caen April 15 - Battle of Formigny. ... Henry VI (December 6, 1421 – May 21/22, 1471) was King of England from 1422 to 1461 (though with a Regent until 1437) and then from 1470 to 1471. ... Edmund Tudor, 1st Earl of Richmond (~1430-November 1, 1456) was the father of King Henry VII of England. ... The town of Richmond as seen from the top of the keep of Richmond Castle Richmond is a market town on the River Swale in North Yorkshire, UK. Situated on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales National Park, it is a popular tourist destination. ... Catherine of Valois (27 October 1401 – 3 January 1437) was the Queen consort of England from 1420 till 1422. ... Henry V, (August 9 or September 16, 1387 – August 31, 1422), King of England (1413-1422), son of Henry IV by Mary de Bohun, was born at Monmouth, Wales, in August or September 1386 or 1387. ... Owen (or Owain) Tudor (c. ... York Lancaster For other uses see Wars of the Roses (disambiguation) The Wars of the Roses (1455–1485) is the name generally given to the intermittent civil war fought over the throne of England between adherents of the House of Lancaster and the House of York. ... Elizabeth of York (February 11, 1466–February 11, 1503) was the Queen Consort of King Henry VII of England, who she married in 1486, and the mother of King Henry VIII. She was born at Westminster, the eldest child of King Edward IV and his own Queen Consort Elizabeth Woodville...

Lady Margaret was thirteen and pregnant when Edmund died.

She soon married her third husband, Sir Henry Stafford, son of the 1st Duke of Buckingham. Following his death in 1471, she took a vow of chastity, but this did not prevent her from marrying Thomas, Lord Stanley, some time between 1473 and 1482. Stanley, who had switched sides during the Wars of the Roses (this was due to Richard III holding his eldest son Lord Strange, captive). However, at the end of the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485, it was Stanley who placed the crown on Henry VII's head. Stanley was later made Earl of Derby, which made Margaret Countess of Derby, but she was styled "The Countess of Richmond and Derby". She was known for her education and her piety, and her son is said to have been devoted to her. Humphrey Stafford, 1st Duke of Buckingham (1402 – July 10, 1460) was best-known as a military commander in the Hundred Years War and in the Wars of the Roses. ... This article is about the year 1471, not the BT caller ID service accessible by dialling 1-4-7-1. ... Chastity, in many religious and cultural contexts, is a virtue concerning the state of the mind and body. ... Thomas Stanley, 1st Earl of Derby Thomas Stanley, 1st Earl of Derby (1435 - 1504), an English nobleman, inherited his fathers titles, including that of king of the Isle of Man, in 1459. ... Events Ottoman sultan Mehmed II defeats the White Sheep Turkmens lead by Uzun Hasan at Otlukbeli Axayacatl, Aztec ruler of Tenochtitlan invades the territory of neighboring Aztec city of Tlatelolco. ... Events Portuguese fortify Fort Elmina on the Gold Coast Tizoc rules the Aztecs Diogo Cão, a Portuguese navigator, becomes the first European to sail up the Congo. ... York Lancaster For other uses see Wars of the Roses (disambiguation) The Wars of the Roses (1455–1485) is the name generally given to the intermittent civil war fought over the throne of England between adherents of the House of Lancaster and the House of York. ... The Earl of Derby is a title in the peerage of England. ...

Once her son Henry became king, she was the mother of the reigning King but had never been Queen Consort, so she could not claim the title of Queen Mother; instead she was referred to in court as My Lady the King's Mother. Look up monarch in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... King George V of the United Kingdom and his consort, Queen Mary A queen consort is the wife and consort of a reigning king. ... The term Queen Mother is a title often held by the mother of a reigning monarch. ...

In 1502 she established the Lady Margaret's Professorship of Divinity at the University of Cambridge. 1502 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Lady Margarets Professor of Divinity is the oldest professorship or chair in the University of Cambridge. ... The University of Cambridge (often called Cambridge University), located in Cambridge, England, is the second-oldest university in the English-speaking world. ...

Following the death of her third husband and the accession of her son Henry VII to the throne, she refounded and enlarged God's House as Christ's College, Cambridge with a royal charter from the King. She has been honoured ever since as the Foundress of the College. Her signature can be found on one of the buildings (4 staircase, 1994) within the College. Full name Christs College Motto Souvent me Souvient I Often Remember Named after Christ Previous names Gods-house (1437), Christs College (1505) Established 1505 Sister College(s) Wadham College Master Prof. ...

Her portrait, at prayer in her richly furnished private closet behind her chamber, is a rare contemporary glimpse into a late Gothic aristocratic English interior. It rewards a close look. The severe black of her widow's weeds contrasts with the splendour of her private apartment, where every surface is patterned, even the floor alternating cream-colored and terracotta tiles. The plain desk at which she kneels is draped with a richly patterned textile that is so densely encrusted 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 centre) 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 here) and Beaufort. In the strictest definition of illuminated manuscript, only manuscripts decorated with gold or silver, like this miniature of Christ in Majesty from the Aberdeen Bestiary (folio 4v), would be considered illuminated. ... A illuminated page from the Très Riches Heures showing the day for exchanging gifts from the month of January A Book of Hours is the most common type of surviving medieval illuminated manuscript. ... Strictly speaking, stained glass is glass that has been painted with silver stain and then fired. ...

Lady Margaret Hall, the first women's college at the University of Oxford, was named in honour of Margaret Beaufort. College name Lady Margaret Hall Named after Lady Margaret Beaufort Established 1878 Sister College Newnham College Principal Dr Frances Lannon JCR President Joe Collenette Undergraduates 424 Graduates 148 Homepage Lady Margaret Hall is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. ... In higher education, particularly in the United States, a womens college is a college (that is, a primarily undergraduate, bachelors degree-granting institution) whose students are exclusively women. ... The University of Oxford, located in the city of Oxford, England, is the oldest university in the English-speaking world. ...

External links

• A short profile of Margaret alongside other influential women of her time
• E.M.G. Routh, Lady Margaret: A Memoir of Lady Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond & Derby, Mother of Henry VII, 1924: e-text
• Catholic Encyclopedia article