She funded the restoration of Church of All Saints, Martock in Somerset, and the construction of the church tower. Beaufort, Margaret [known as Lady Margaret Beaufort], countess of Richmond and Derby (1443–1509), royal matriarch". She is there to act as the godmother for Elizabeth Woodville’s first son, the future King Edward V, at the request of King Henry VI. This was England’s triumph, this was her son’s triumph, but far more than that, this was her triumph – to have dragged this base-born bastard family back from disaster, to challenge the power of York, to defeat a reigning king, to capture the very throne of England against all the odds.

Wyatt, Michael, The Italian Encounter with Tudor England: A Cultural Politics of Translation, Cambridge University Press, 2005, p. 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 later used in their arms. Forasmoch as Margaret Countesse of Richmond, Mother to the Kyngs greate Rebell and Traytour, Herry Erle of Richemond, hath of late conspired, consedered, and comitted high Treason ayenst oure Soveraigne Lorde the King Richard the Third, in dyvers and sundry wyses, and in especiall in sendyng messages, writyngs and tokens to the said Henry… Also the said Countesse made chevisancez of greate somes of Money… and also the said Countesse conspired, consedered, and imagyned the destruction of oure said Soveraign Lorde.Indeed, in his biography of Richard III, historian Paul Murray Kendall describes Beaufort as the "Athena of the rebellion". Life looks like it is going Margaret’s way, but then her husband Henry dies and she must make a difficult choice. Lady Margaret was portrayed by Marigold Sharman in eight of the thirteen episodes of the BBC's Shadow of the Tower (1972) with James Maxwell as her son Henry VII. A daring plan was crafted to unite the houses of York and Lancaster through marriage; Elizabeth of York was to marry a young man in exile, Henry Tudor. Elizabeth's biographer, Amy Licence, states that this "would have been the correct courtly protocol", adding that "only one person knew how Elizabeth really felt about Margaret and she did not commit it to paper.

They may be based on a lost original, or be derived from the sculpture on her tomb in Westminster Abbey, in which she wears the same headdress.Her brothers disappeared when they were in the Tower of London awaiting the coronation of Edward V, which never occurred. This was the day after her grandson Henry VIII's 18th birthday, 5 days after his coronation and just over two months after the death of her son. Lady Margaret's wardship of brothers, Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham, and Henry Stafford, 1st Earl of Wiltshire, is one of many examples of how her unique position allowed her in varying aspects to operate beyond the scope of any queen, a position which, instead of hindering or irritating her at all, proved advantageous to the state of the Crown and delineated her as a helpful and happy agent of its course, as she refused monetary recompense for her stewardship in this arena and successfully secured the allegiance of the Duke of Buckingham to King Henry Tudor, a loyalty that would fade away from the Crown once she and her son were gone.

I thoroughly enjoyed the Six Tudor Queens series, so when I heard that there would be a new book series with the story of Elizabeth of York being the first novel, I knew I wanted to read it. She was not vengeable ne cruell, but redy anone to forgete and to forgyve injuryes done unto her, at the least desyre or mocyon made unto her for the same. I also wish Hillbom gave her readers more detailed descriptions of locations to give us a fully immersive experience. As the eldest daughter of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville, it was her destiny to be married to a king or a prince to strengthen England through a foreign alliance.

The author, who has previously written about Queen Elizabeth and Lady Jane Grey, presents a fully fleshed portrait of a justly celebrated w This should be a happy time for Elysabeth, John, and the new King Edward V, but a sermon and a coup caused everything to come crashing down. This is a must-read for anyone curious about the Wars of the Roses, the beginning of the Tudor dynasty, and this strong mother caught in the middle.