On 29th June 1509, just two months after the death of her son, Henry VII, and the accession of her grandson, Henry VIII, Lady Margaret Beaufort died at the age of sixty-six. Her good friend, John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, attended the dying Margaret and was able to perform last rites. Fisher also preached the sermon at Margaret’s funeral, where he likened her to the Biblical “blessyd woman Martha” in four ways:
- “In nobleness of Person”
- “In discypline of their Bodys”
- “In orderyng of their Souls to God
- “In Hospytalytyes kepying, and charytable dealyng to their Neighbours.”
According to Fisher, as Margaret was dying she “confessed assuredly that in that Sacrament was conteyned Chryst Jhesu, the Sone of God, that dyed for wretched Synners upon the Crosse, in whome holly she putte her truste and confidence. These same wordes almoost, that Martha confessed in the end of thys Gospell. Ego credidi, quia tu es Christus films Dei, qui in mundum venisti, that is to save, I have byleved that thou art Cryste the Son of God which came into thys worlde” and then she passed away. It was the end of the matriarch of the Tudor dynasty and a formidable woman. You can read more about her in my article “Lady Margaret Beaufort”.
Fisher’s funeral sermon can be read online at http://archive.org/stream/funeralsermonofm00fishuoft#page/106/mode/2up
Not related to the post but I really love the “authorgraph”. I think it’s fantastic, thank you.
Hi Sarah,
That’s ok, I’m glad you got it ok and thanks for reading my book.
Have recently read a new book on Margaret Beaufort, the feisty mother of Henry Tudor and what a battle that lady had. Ultimately she saw her son as King of England, as per phrophesies about him, and she lived to see the coronation of her grand-child. She must have died content.
The book I prefare, however is A Rare and Beautiful Life, an early life of Margaret as I love the letters and the illustrations in this old book, and I just love the beautiful cover and old book smell. Margaret was a remarkable lady. Married at 12 to Edmund Tudor, widowed a few months later, most likely raped as a bide under age, and gave birth at 13 to her only son. Protected by her brother in law Jasper, a few years later she stood up to everyone and to further protect herself, she negotiated a marriage with Henry Stafford, and left her son with Jasper to raise. The events of the Wars of the Roses, Margaret being on the Lancastrian side was to be forced to seperate from her son when he went into exile and forbidden to leave London, she was almost a prisoner of the York Kings.
Margaret did not see her son again until he became King. 13 years apart from him, she must have missed out on his becoming a man and the mature person, the warrior that Henry Tudor was. After the death of Edward IV Margaret had the forsight and the courage to take a step that would ensure her son’s return and his gathering of support. She formed an alliance with the Queen Dowager Elizabeth Woodville, arranging for her son to marry the eldest York daughter, Elizabeth and formerly end the contest between the two Houses. This promise was honoured by Henry after he became King on 21st August 1485, the day before Bosworth. He needed a permission from the Pope and married her soon after. His sons Author 1486 and Henry 1491 were to play vital rolls in the Tudor dynastic ambitions.
Margaret proved herself to be pious, spending much of her time in prayer and in the habit of a nun, was a scholar and the patroness of scholars and colleges; an astute negotiator and educated her grandson to some extent. A book belonging to her was also passed down to Pricne Henry. She was honoured by him, she married four times, ending up with Henry, Lord Stanley and it was his army that made the difference at Bosworth. When he saw who was Richard and Henry Tudor going at it, he charged and crashed into the elite forces of Richard and forced a crush that wiped them out. Henry Stanley was very much the Kingmaker that day. Margaret was supportive of her son’s rule and he sought her advice at imprtant times during his reign. It is a pity that she did not live a few years longer to guide her grandson more, but she was enough of an influence for him to honour her by putting her coat of arms above his own, on every important place he lived in, every document to do with the reformation and every school that he founded.
Margaret was a remarkable woman that had fought long and hard to protect the rights of her son and won that battle ultimately living to see all of her dreams for him fulfilled. She was a woman who against the odds stood her ground and refused to be cowed. She stood out as a scholar in an age when such an acolade was rare. There have been unfounded accusations aimed at Margaget concerning the Princes in the Tower, but I doubt that she either covered up or had anything to do with their murders or disappearences. Her enemies had to find something to use against her, but ultimately they failed and Margaret’s genunine piety and reputation remains in tact.
Thank you for the book information … I just put it on my list of books to read. I’m curious, though, … what do you consider to be the “unfounded accusations” that Margaret Beaufort was involved concerning the Princes in the Tower? I understand that writer Philippa Gregory accuses her, but Ms. Gregory routinely makes unfounded accusations — for example, no historical evidence supports the idea that Elizabeth ordered the killing of Amy Robsart Dudley without Robert’s knowledge, as Gregory suggests in her book “The Virgin’s Lover”. Are there any others?
Esther Sorkin
The first writer to suggest that Lady Margaret had anything to do with the murder of the Princes seems to have been the Elizabethan writer Sir George Buck. He was descended from a supporter of Richard III and was one of the first to deny Richard’s guilt.
He claimed to have seen ‘an old manuscript book’ which contained information that ‘Dr. Morton (Bishop of Ely and a keen Lancastrian) and a certain Countess contriving the death of Edward V and others, resolved it by poison’ (Alison Weir, ‘The Princes in the Tower’). As Ms. Weir points out, this is highly unlikely, as Morton was in prison at the time and neither he nor Lady Margaret could have gained access to the Tower of London. There is no contemporary evidence or even rumour to link Lady Margaret to the deaths of the Princes.
Rather more usefully, Buck found the only surviving copy of Titulus Regius, the Act by which Richard had declared the Princes illegitimate,. He was therefore able to show that the lady to whom Edward IV had allegedly been pre-contracted was Eleanor Butler, not Elizabeth Lucy as previous writers such as Thomas More had assumed.
P.S Book is actually called Rare and Beautiful Virtue: the Life of Margaret Beaufort.
I can’t find this book on amazon.com. Could I ask, who’s the writer?
try the Library of Congress