Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.
|
Loading... Margaret Beaufort: Mother of the Tudor Dynastyby Elizabeth Norton
   None No current Talk conversations about this book.  Medievalgirl | Oct 4, 2016 |    ) Desilu42 | Aug 1, 2013 | no reviews | add a review
The extraordinary true story of the 'Red Queen'. Born in the midst of the Wars of the Roses, Margaret Beaufort became the greatest heiress of her time. She survived a turbulent life, marrying four times and enduring imprisonment before passing her claim to the crown of England to her son, Henry VII, the first of the Tudor monarchs. Margaret's royal blood placed her on the fringes of the Lancastrian royal dynasty. After divorcing her first husband at the age of ten, she married the king's half-brother, Edmund Tudor, becoming a widow and bearing her only child, the future Henry VII, before her fourteenth birthday. Margaret was always passionately devoted to the interests of her son who claimed the throne through her. She embroiled herself in both treason and conspiracy as she sought to promote his claims, allying herself with the Yorkist Queen, Elizabeth Woodville, in an attempt to depose Richard III. She was imprisoned by Richard and her lands confiscated, but she continued to work on her son's behalf, ultimately persuading her fourth husband, the powerful Lord Stanley, to abandon the king in favour of Henry on the eve of the decisive Battle of Bosworth. It was Lord Stanley himself who placed the crown on Henry's head on the battlefield. Henry VII gave his mother unparalleled prominence during his reign. She established herself as an independent woman and ended her life as regent of England, ruling on behalf of her seventeen-year-old grandson, Henry VIII. No library descriptions found. |
Current DiscussionsNonePopular covers
 Google Books — Loading...GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)942.051092History and Geography Europe England and Wales England 1485-1603, Tudors Henry VII 1485-1509LC ClassificationRatingAverage: (3.9)
Is this you?Become a LibraryThing Author. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Wikipedia in English (1)
1
Beaufort does not equal evil, or mother of Henry Tudor, super evil. Margeret was actually known as being a pious Lady- and does not seem to have been a natural schemer. During most of the period of the Wars of the Roses she seems to have kept her head down, and genuinely cared for her second, husband Henry Stafford.
Certainly she was dedicated to looking after the interests of her only son- whom she gave birth to at barely 14, but it is, in some sense, hard to condemn a woman for being a dedicated mother in such circumstances. Even in the midst of civil war, when her son, as rival claimant, was seen as an enemy of the state.
She does seem to have made some attempt at rehabilitation, negotiating a marriage to Elizabeth of York even before her father Edward IV's death.
Most of all, this was an interesting apprisal of a life and career of a fascinating woman- a woman subject to many extreme and unenviable circumstances, who usually seems to have come out fighting. Also a useful counter to the popular 'Tudor evil, Yorkists good' conception of the period, providing a more nuanced view.
I am very tempted to purchase the Kindle or Paperback edition to add to my library. (