Charlie Fenton’s Reviews > Owen Tudor: Founding Father of the Tudor Dynasty > Status Update

'Around this time, on 1 November 1455, the marriage of Margaret Beaufort to Edmund Tudor took place. It had been almost definitely arranged by Henry VI. As Margaret was the deceased John Beaufort's only child, her marriage to Edmund would easily solve the financial problem of how he could live in the style of an earl. Edmund and Margaret wed at Bletsoe Castle, Margaret's birthplace.'

'It was now necessary to find a suitable (i.e. wealthy and well-connected) bride for each of the new earls, and as a first step, on 24 March 1453 they were jointly granted the wardship and marriage of one of England's richest heiresses, the Lady Margaret Beaufort, only surviving daughter and heiress of John Beaufort, Duke of Somerset.'

'Owen had little to do with his sons' upbringing, which was being supervised by the king. While the brothers grew up Henry kept them close to him at court and, according to Blacman, personally protected them from any sexual temptation by keeping 'careful watch through hidden windows of his chamber'. Very few accounts survive of these early years of Edmund and Jasper's lives or of their father's life at this time.'

That's several times now that this book has said the Regency Council met in 1537, when it was actually 1437. A good editor should have picked this up, Owen was dead in 1537 and his great-grandson was on the throne. One mistake I could accept, but this same mistake is at least three times over three pages.

'Owen was handed a summons to the royal palace of Westminster to appear before the Regency Council, with Gloucester's assurance, delivered by Sculle, that he should 'freely come and freely goo' (as recorded in the council's proceedings of 15 July 1437). However, Owen refused to accept the validity of this verbal promise of safe conduct from Gloucester's servant.'

'Owen and Catherine still stayed away from Henry's court, and probably had two more children. Their youngest son, Owen, was born at Westminster Abbey in 1432. Catherine was visiting the king at Westminster when her waters broke prematurely, forcing her to seek the help of the monks at the abbey. It may be this event that brought her marriage and children to the young king's knowledge.'

'We simply do not know for certain when Owen Tudor married Catherine of Valois, but the marriage seems always to have been accepted as legal. The Act passed early in 1428 had made it a serious offence to marry a dowager-queen without the consent of the king, and the lack of any reaction at this time is evidence that nothing was then known of the marriage, at least publicly.'

'Back in England, while Henry V was falling ill, Catherine gave birth at Windsor to Prince Henry on 6 December 1421. The birth was assisted by a precious relic renowned for aiding barren women and women in labour. This was 'Our Lord's foreskin', brought on Henry V's orders under armed guard from Coulombs Abbey, later returned to Sainte Chapelle in Paris and then to the Abbey of St Magloire.'

'With a small household including Bedford and Warwick, they arrived at Dover on 1 February 1421 and spent a few days in Canterbury. (Around this time, before her English coronation, the queen must have become pregnant - Prince Henry was to be born on 6 December 1421.) The new queen received a rapturous welcome in London.'

'Strickland informs us that 'before two years had elapsed, the family of Katherine were forced by dire distress to sue for the renewal of the marriage treaty... Isabeau saw a match between Catherine and Henry as the only way for her family to stay in power. She sent her ambassadors to Henry with a portrait of the attractive 'Catherine the Fair''