1509 Death of the Mother of Tudors
Margaret Beaufort (1441-1509) was the daughter and heiress of John Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, grandson of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster. Being very beautiful, as well as the heiress of great possessions, she was at the early age of fifteen years anxiously sought in marriage by two persons of high rank and influence. One was a son of the Duke of Suffolk, then chief advisor to the king; the other was Edmund, Earl of Richmond, half-brother to the reigning monarch, Henry the Sixth. Wavering between these two proposals [she was only 9 years old], Margaret, in her perplexity, requested advice from an elderly gentlewoman, her confidential friend. The matron recommended her not to consult her own inclinations, but to take an early opportunity of submitting the question to St. Nicholas, the patron saint of undecided maidens. She did so, and the saint appeared to her in a vision, dressed in great episcopal splendour, and advised her to marry Edmund. Following this advice, she became the mother of Henry Tudor, who afterwards became King Henry VII. Edmund died soon after the birth of his son, and Margaret married twice afterwards: first, Humphrey Stafford, son of the Duke of Buckingham; and, secondly, Thomas Lord Stanley, subsequently Earl of Derby. We are not told if she consulted St. Nicholas in the choice of her second and third husbands.
Margaret founded several colleges, and employed herself in acts of real charity and pure devotion not common at the period. After a useful and exemplary life, she died at the age of sixty-eight years; having just lived to see her grandson Henry VIII seated on the throne of England. She is included among the royal authors as a translator of some religious works from the French, one of which, entitled The Soul’s Perfection, was printed by Wynkyn de Worde. At the end of this work are the following verses:
‘This heavenly book, more precious than gold,
Was late direct, with great humility,
For godly pleasure therein to behold,
Unto the right noble Margaret, as ye see,
The King’s mother of excellent bounty,
Harry the Seventh; that Jesu him preserve,
This mighty Princess hath commanded me
T’ imprint this book, her grace for to deserve.’