In 1485 the life of LADY MARGARET BEAUFORT, mother of Henry VII, took a dramatic turn as her son won the Battle of Bosworth and by extension, the Wars of the Roses and she became the most powerful woman in England. It was the culmination of a decades long struggle and Margaret was so overwhelmed she was seen to be crying at Henry’s coronation. Now known as My Lady the King’s Mother, she was made one of the wealthiest people in the kingdom and assumed an important role as the matriarch of the Tudor dynasty. In this week’s Plantagenet documentary from History Calling we’ll look at the later life of this famous medieval woman who had risked her very life to help her only child take the throne and was now able to reap the benefits of their joint success. I’ll talk you through her relationships with her son and her husband, Thomas Lord Stanley (including her famous vow of chastity), the unusual legal position Henry granted her, her dealings with her one-time ally, the former Queen, Elizabeth Woodville and with her new daughter-in-law, Princess Elizabeth of York, who married Henry VII in January 1486. We’ll look at Margaret’s role in government, her charitable efforts, her piety and at how involved she was in the major events of her son’s reign, from the births of his children, to the threat to the throne from pretenders to the crown such as Perkin Warbeck and Lambert Simnel. We’ll also consider the arrangements to have her oldest grandson, Prince Arthur, marry the Spanish Princess, Catherine of Aragon, Arthur’s death in 1502 and the death of Elizabeth of York the following year. This video will take you right up to Margaret’s own death, which came just 10 weeks after that of her son in 1509, but not before she guided her 17-year-old grandson, Henry VIII, in the early days of his reign and saw him crowned and married to Catherine. We’ll also look at the grave of Lady Margaret Beaufort in Westminster Abbey, with its incredible effigy.
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