Margaret Beaufort: Mother of the Tudor Dynasty (18 page)

Although Henry had pledged to marry Elizabeth of York before mounting his invasion of England, the couple were too closely related to marry without a papal dispensation, which did not arrive until early 1486. In spite of this, Henry was determined to formalise his kingship as soon as possible, and he arranged his coronation for 30 October 1485. Henry’s early biographer, Sir Francis Bacon, stated that the King claimed the throne through three separate titles: marriage, descent and conquest:

The first of these was fairest, and most like to give contentment to the people, who by two and twenty years reign of King Edward the fourth had been fully made capable of the clearness of the title of the white rose or house of York; and, by the mild and plausible reign of the same king toward his latter time, were become affectionate to that line. But then it lay plain before his eyes, that if he relied upon that title, he could be but a king at courtesy, and have rather a matrimonial than a regal power; the right remaining in his queen, upon whose decease, either with issue, or without issue, he was to give place and be removed. And though he should obtain by parliament to be continued, yet he knew there was a very great difference between a king that holdeth his crown by a civil act of estates, and one that holdeth it originally by the law of nature and descent of blood.

A claim by conquest was fraught with danger, and it opened up the possibility of a rival claimant vanquishing the King in battle in his turn. Henry therefore always chose to prioritise his claim as the heir to the House of Lancaster, making good use of Margaret’s Beaufort portcullis badge and the Lancastrian symbol of the red rose (which he particularly appears to have adopted as a contrast to the more common Yorkist white rose). He also stressed his links to Henry VI, referring to his murdered uncle’s saintliness in a number of documents.

As a further demonstration of his claims, Henry planned a magnificent coronation. In August 1485, Margaret’s son was virtually unknown in England, and it is likely that he had only previously visited London on one occasion, during the restoration of Henry VI. Henry’s kingdom in 1485 was, after years of civil war, impoverished, and whilst one contemporary Italian visitor in 1497 was able to praise the position of Henry’s capital city, noting that ‘it would be hard to find one more convenient and attractive’, the infrastructure of London itself was in a poor state:

All the streets are so badly paved that they get wet at the slightest quantity of water, and this happens very frequently owing to the large numbers of cattle carrying water, as well as on account of the rain, of which there is a great deal in this island. Then a vast amount of evil-smelling mud is formed, which does not disappear quickly but lasts a long time, in fact nearly the whole year round. The citizens, therefore, in order to remove this mud and filth from their boots, are accustomed to spread fresh rushes on the floors of all houses, on which they clean the soles of their shoes when they come in. This system is widely practised not only by Londoners but also by all the rest of the islands’ inhabitants, who, it seems, suffer from similar troubles from mud.

Henry’s rather unsophisticated subjects were renowned for their fierce tempers and dislike of foreigners, something that further drove the new king, who could claim English blood only through his mother, to emphasise his claims to be the heir to Henry VI. Henry was able to impress at his coronation, which Margaret attended, and he required so much scarlet cloth that his officers were forced to scour the city for supplies. The King spared no expense in his own wardrobe for the ceremony, purchasing powdered ermine and also black furs to augment his black velvet jacket. He ordered a surcoat of fine blue cloth and crimson cloth of gold for a long gown. Further robes of crimson velvet and crimson satin were also made, as well as fine Holland cloth used to line the King’s doublets. The Abbey itself was decorated with red Lancastrian roses, red dragons to emphasise Henry’s claim of descent from the mythical ancient kings of Britain, and 105 portcullis badges made of silver and gilt. Without a queen to share his coronation, the role of women at the ceremony was naturally limited, but as John Fisher recalled, Margaret was prominent in the congregation and wept at her moment of greatest triumph, fearful of another sudden turn of Fortune’s Wheel.

Henry VII has a somewhat poor personal reputation and is remembered both as a miser and for his suspicious and joyless reign. This is, however, in many respects, very far from the truth, for Margaret’s son, whilst he was determined to replenish the depleted English coffers, was also ready to spend money. At the time of his accession, Henry had still not reached thirty, and he was a tall and striking young man. His privy purse expenses, which survive for the years between 1492 and 1505, show a lively and pleasure-loving king. In January 1492, for example, the King lost £5 at ‘pley at cards’. A further £4 were expended in July of that year ‘to the king which he lost at cardes’. Henry appears from his expenses to have been an enthusiastic, if often unsuccessful, gambler. In January 1494, he lost £2 at cards, with further sums lost in August 1494 and March 1495. He upped the stakes in May 1496 when payments were recorded ‘to the kinges grace to play at the cardes, in gold, £20, in grotts, 100s. in grotts, £19, and in grotes, 60s.’ By 1502, he had started to gamble, and lose, at dice. Henry employed a number of fools, making grants to Patch the fool in February 1492, Diego, the Spanish fool, in October 1492 and Dick the fool in January 1494. He loved music and rewarded minstrels belonging to Cecily Neville, the old Duchess of York, as well as, in February 1494, making a payment to Margaret’s own troupe. His expenses for 14 August 1494 at Windsor record that he gave £2 ‘to my Lady the Kinges moder for the wages of Sir John Bracy, singing before our Lady of the pewe for a quarter wages’. On a more personal level, he purchased a lute for his youngest daughter, Mary, in 1505. He made a payment to a troupe of morris dancers in 1494 and a number of rewards paid to players testify to his love of the theatre. On 3 December 1497, he paid over £3 ‘to my Lady the kinges moder poete’, demonstrating, once again, Margaret’s own love of literature. Payments for ‘disguisings’ demonstrate that Henry’s court saw lavish entertainments, with masques staged at important occasions. He loved finery and purchased a gold ring from his brother-in-law, the Marquess of Dorset, in July 1492, as well as making gifts of gold wire, furs and a quantity of jewels to Elizabeth of York and using his privy purse to purchase a further three gold rings and a diamond. March 1504 saw the payment of the vast sum of £30,000 ‘for diverse precious stones and other juells that com from beyonde the see’. Henry was very far from the joyless character of popular repute, at least in the first two decades of his reign, and he shared many of his interests with his mother. Henry’s expenses record a number of visits made to Margaret’s household, and it is clear that, when she was not at court, she and Henry remained in regular and close contact.

Although Margaret was happy to pass her claim to the throne to her son and actively supported him in his kingship, she was not prepared to be simply a background figure and expected a great degree of prominence. As a married woman, Margaret would ordinarily be able to do very little legally without her husband’s consent, for example, in relation to the management of her property. Wives were not legally allowed to leave a Will at their death and were generally considered to be subservient to their husbands. Whilst Henry was prepared to follow convention and address Stanley as his father and was grateful for what his stepfather had done in helping him win the throne, it is clear that he did not have the personal relationship with him that he had had with his first stepfather, Henry Stafford, who had left him a personal bequest in his Will. As the mother of the King, Margaret outranked Stanley, and whilst it is likely that there was some affection in the marriage, her main interests were firmly focused on her son. Shortly after he came to the throne, Henry passed a remarkable Act of Parliament that was made in consultation with Margaret and was likely to have been made at her request:

And furthermore hit be ordeined, enacted and stablisshed by the same auctoritee, that the same countesse, in her name sole, by the name of Margaret countesse of Richmond, modre of the most Christian prince King Herrie the VIIth, King of England and of France, maie fro’ henceforth terme of her lyfe sue all manner of actions reals and personalls and also all actions mixtes, and plede and be ympleded for all manner of causes in all manner of courts spirituells and temporells, ayenst all persons, as any other persone or persones may or shall more doe, in as good, large and beneficiall manner, as any other sole persone not wyfe ne covert of any husband, att anie tyme might or maie do. And that she, as well o as with other persones, att her pleasure may from henceforth, dueringe her lyfe, as well make, as take and receive, all manner of feoffments, states, leases, releases, confirmations, presentations, bargains, sales, yefts, deeds, wills and writeings, as well of landes and tennements and all manner of hereditaments, as of all manner goods, cattells and other thinges, to her owne use oonly, or to the use of such as shall please her.

The Act made Margaret a ‘sole person’ and effectively gave her the autonomy to act as a widow, in spite of the fact that her husband was still alive. This was an unprecedented position for a married woman to be in and demonstrates the superior position in which Henry’s accession to the throne placed his mother. As a further testament to her autonomy, during Stanley’s lifetime, Margaret secured his consent to her taking a vow of chastity, which she later restated once she was widowed:

In the presence of my Lord God Jesu Christ & his blessed Mother the glorious Virgin St Mary & of all the whole company of Heaven & of you also my Ghostly Father I Margaret of Richmond with full Purpose & good Deliberation for the Weale of my sinfull Soule with all my Hearte promise from henceforth the Chastity of my Bodye. That is never to use my Bodye having actuall knowledge of manne after the common usuage in Matrimonye the which Thing I had before purposed in my Lord my Husbands Dayes then being my Ghostly father the Byshop of Rochester Mr Richard Fitz James & now eftsence I fully confirm it as far as in me lyeth beseeching m Lord God that He will this my poor wyll accept to the Remedye of my wretched Lyfe & Relief of my sinfull soule and that He will give me his Grace to perform the same. And also for my more Meryte & quietness of my Soule in doubtful things perteyning to the same I avowe to you my Lord of Rochester to whom I am & have been sence the first time I see you admitted verely determined (as to my chiefe trusty Councellour) to owe my Obedience in all things concerning the weale and profyte of my Soule.

Stanley’s consent was probably easily obtained, and whilst he remained in high favour with the King, Margaret had the superior influence. She both legally and spiritually obtained her independence from her husband, but it is clear that she retained a fondness for him and did not cut her ties from him completely, retaining rooms for him at her residences and visiting him at his own houses. However, the accession of Henry VII meant that, for the first time in her life, Margaret was able to act entirely independently of any kind of male control.

Shortly after his accession, Henry provided Margaret with a fine London residence, Coldharbour. Coldharbour was palatial and commanded fine views over the River Thames. This easy access to the river, when the main travel around the city was by boat, was essential and allowed Margaret direct contact with her son even when she was not with him. During Henry’s reign, she acquired a house at Collyweston in Bedfordshire, which was to become her favourite home. Collyweston had been built in the fifteenth century by Lord Cromwell, and whilst it was already a substantial house, Margaret set about turning it into a palace. By the time of her death, the house had a chapel, library, countinghouse, great parlour, guest chambers and a jewel house. Perhaps as an indication of what Margaret felt her true status to be, the main room was called the ‘Queen’s Chamber’. Margaret ensured that her house was furnished as befitted her rank and wealth. She had a bed with a counterpane and curtains of fine white damask, as well as a chair upholstered in red velvet and another of russet cloth of gold with a blue fringe. One tablecloth was decorated with Tudor roses and Margaret’s own Beaufort portcullis badge. She had cushions of silk, velvet and cloth of gold. It is likely that much of Margaret’s collection of gold plate was kept there, some of which was used to augment her chapel. For Margaret, part of the attraction of Collyweston may have been that, with the exception of Coldharbour, it was the only house that she had been able to build and use totally independently of any of her husbands.

During Henry’s reign, Margaret was often at court. When she was in her own home, however, she was able to follow an orderly and homely routine, with, as had always been the case for her, her daily activities focusing on her religious devotions. Henry Parker, who would later become Lord Morley, arrived in Margaret’s household towards the end of the fifteenth century to serve her as her carver or cupbearer, and more than forty years after his employer’s death, he set down an account of her household for her great-granddaughter, Mary I. This provides a brief view of Margaret’s daily life at Collyweston, or Coldharbour, or any of the other residences in which she stayed during the reign of her son:

Thus did she use her life, her grace was every mornyng in the chapple betwixt five and sevyn of the clock, and dayly sayde matyns off the day with one off her chaplyns, and that sayde from sevyn tyll yt was eleven off the clocke, as sone as one preist had s masse in her syght another beganne, one tyme in a day she was confessyd, then going to her dynner how honorably she was seruyd I think fewe kings better, her condityon alwaies of the begynnyng of her dyner was to be joyous, and to heare those tales that were honest to make her mery, the myddes of her dynner either her amner or I redde some vertuous tale unto her of the life of chryst, or such like, the latter ende off hir dinner agayne she was disposed to talk with the bishop [John Fisher, her chaplain] or with her chauncelour which satt at her bordis ende of some goldly matter.