Margaret Beaufort: Mother of the Tudor Dynasty (20 page)

Her Highnes Pleasure beinge understoode in what Chamber she will be delivered in, the same must be hanged with riche Clothe of Arras, Sydes, rowffe, Windowes and all, excepte one Windowe, which must be hanged so as she may have light when it pleasethe her. Then must there be set a Royall Bedde, and the Flore layed all over and over with Carpets, and a Cupboard covered with the same Suyte that the Chamber is hanged withall. Also there must be ordayned a faier Pallet, and all Things appertayninge therunto, and a riche Sparner hanginge over the same. And that Daye that the Queene (in good Tyme) will take her Chamber, the Chappell where her Highnes will receave and heare Devine Service, must be well and worshipfully arrayed. Also the greate Chamber must be hanged with riche Arras, with a Clothe and Chaire of Estate, and Quishins [cushions] thereto belonginge, the Place under and aboute the same beinge well encarped. Where the Queene (comminge from the Chappell with her Lords and Ladyes of Estate) may, either standinge or sittinge, at her Pleasure, receave spices and wyne. And the next Chamber betwixt the greate Chamber and the Queenes Chamber to be well and worshipfully hanged; which done, Two of the greatest Estats shall leade her to her Chamber, where they shall take their leave of her. Then all the Ladyes and Gentilwomen to goe in with her, and none to come unto the greate Chamber but Women; and Women to be made all Manner of Officers, as Butlers, Panters, sewers, &c. and all Manner of Officers shall bringe them all neadfull Thinges unto the greate Chamber Dore, and the Women Officers shall receave it there of them.

Margaret decreed that the Queen, a month before the birth, should retire to an entirely female and candlelit world. Although no account survives of the birth of her first grandchild, it is certain that the ordinances were followed and that both Margaret and the Queen’s mother, Elizabeth Woodville, would have been present, in all likelihood, vying for influence. Elizabeth of York herself may have felt somewhat lost in the well-ordered world, and Margaret’s specifications extended even so far as the materials to be used in making the bed sheets and their exact sizes. She also specified the stuffing for the mattresses and the colour of the cushions. It is possible that, as she grew older and more experienced, Elizabeth found ways to rebel, and her accounts for July 1502, a few months into her last pregnancy, record payments made for twenty-seven cushions ‘vi with blewe cloth of gold with cheverons the oon half of the said quysshons of satyn figure the other six with crymysn velvet and six of crymsyn dammaske and six of satyn figure two of purple velvet and oon quysshon of cloth of gold’. The Queen, perhaps, intended to pre-empt her overbearing mother-in-law by at least choosing her own cushions to be used in her confinement. An account of the birth of Elizabeth’s second child in 1489 also shows that the Queen, on occasion, was able to rebel against the confines of Margaret’s protocol. According to a contemporary manuscript, after Elizabeth had taken to her chamber,

Thier came a great Ambassade oute of Frannce, among the whiche ther was a kynsman of the Quenes called Francois Monsieur de Luxemburg, the Prior of Saint Mattelyns, and Sir William de Zaintes, Bailly of Senlis, and Montjoie, King of Armes of Frenshemen, whiche desired to se the Quene, and so they dide, and in her awne Chambre. Ther was with her hir Moder Quene Elisabeth, and my Lady the Kinges Moder; but ther entred no more then ben affore rehersed, savyng my Lord the Quenes Chamberlayn, and Garter Principal King of Armes.

Margaret’s thoughts on Elizabeth’s breach of protocol in admitting men to her presence is not recorded, but given that the ambassador was kin to Elizabeth through her mother, Elizabeth Woodville’s own maternal family, it is possible that Margaret blamed the Queen Dowager. Margaret undoubtedly meant well in the care that she took over her ordinances, and she looked towards her daughterin- law’s comfort, but to Elizabeth, the attention may well have seemed overbearing. Margaret also laid down specifications for the decoration of the church for the christening of her grandson, Prince Arthur, who was born in September 1486. It cannot have pleased her that the baby’s maternal grandmother, Elizabeth Woodville, who outranked her, was named the prince’s godmother, although, as a compliment to his mother, Henry appointed Lord Stanley as Arthur’s godfather. Margaret was given a great deal of input into the prince’s upbringing, and her ordinances decreed the furnishings for the nursery, what servants should be appointed and the precautions to be taken in the appointment and management of the wet nurse, who was to be observed by a doctor at every meal to ensure that ‘she geveth the Childe seasonable Meate and Drinke’. Margaret was present at the birth of her second grandchild in November 1489, a girl who was named Margaret in her honour, and she was named godmother to the princess, making her a gift at her christening of ‘a chest of silver and gilt, full of gold’. Elizabeth of York would eventually bear eight children, and they provided a common interest between the pair, as they found themselves almost constantly in each other’s company.

Henry VII’s early biographer Francis Bacon claimed that the relationship between the King and his wife was poor. Bacon suggested that, whilst Elizabeth had greatly desired the marriage, Henry had preferred to marry Anne of Brittany, the heiress of his former protector, Duke Francis II. These rumours ‘bred some doubt and suspicion amongst divers that he was not sincere; or at least not fixed in going on with the match of England so much desired: which conceit also, though it were but talk and discourse, did much afflict the poor Lady Elizabeth herself’. Elizabeth may well have spent an anxious few months before her marriage with her mother, but Henry would always have been aware that a marriage with the Yorkist heiress was in his best interests, and as Bacon also pointed out, whilst his ‘victory [at Bosworth] gave him the knee [of his subjects], so his purpose of marriage with the Lady Elizabeth gave him the heart; so that both knee and heart did truly bow before him’. The limited evidence that survives for the relationship between Henry and Elizabeth suggests that the marriage was happy and that the couple, who would only have met for the first time in the autumn of 1485, were fond of each other. Henry’s grief at Elizabeth’s early death, which ‘was heveye and dolorous to the kings heighness’, certainly devastated Margaret’s son, and even before her funeral, he ‘departed to a solitary place to passe his sorrows and would no man should resort to him but such his grace appointed’. The couple’s shared grief at the loss of their eldest son is also a testament to the affection in the marriage, and whilst it appears that, by 1502, they had ceased to consummate their marriage, this was quickly resumed when they desired a further child to replace their son, with Elizabeth almost immediately falling pregnant for an eighth time. Henry gave regular gifts to Elizabeth and made payments for her debts. The couple were often together, although the relationship may well have been coloured, in its early days, by the position of their respective mothers.

On Henry’s accession, Margaret took on something of the role of Queen Dowager, and this led to friction with the actual Queen Dowager, Elizabeth Woodville, the Queen’s mother. Henry had restored Elizabeth Woodville to her titles and possessions, and the christening of Prince Arthur was intended to glorify the Woodville and Yorkist families and demonstrate their close links to the Tudor dynasty, with Elizabeth Woodville, her daughters and her eldest son, the Marquess of Dorset, playing prominent roles. Margaret had had links with the Woodville family during the reigns of Edward IV and Richard III, and it is clear that she had no indiscriminate dislike of the Queen’s family. Her brother-in-law, Jasper Tudor, with whom she had always been associated, was married to Elizabeth Woodville’s sister, Catherine, the widow of Margaret’s own nephew by marriage, the Duke of Buckingham. Margaret also had a particular liking for Elizabeth Woodville’s second surviving daughter, Cecily of York, who had become Margaret’s sister-in-law through her marriage to John Welles. Cecily had been lodged with Margaret shortly after Henry’s victory at Bosworth as a means of ensuring that she did not fall into the hands of the King’s enemies, and Margaret became fond of her. When John Welles, who was considerably older than Cecily, died in 1499, leaving his widow childless, Margaret ensured that Cecily retained a large portion of his estates rather than allowing them to pass to her half-brother’s paternal kin. At the same time, Margaret also received a special dispensation permitting the Yorkist princess to worship regularly in her household, and it is likely that the pair were often together. Three years later, when Cecily secretly married Thomas Kyme, a man considerably below her in rank, Margaret helped to protect her from the King’s anger. Cecily and her husband were forced to retire to the Isle of Wight, but Margaret remained in contact with her sister-in-law and, in 1506, reserved a room for her use at her manor in Croydon. She met some of her funeral expenses in August 1507, something that again attests to Margaret’s fondness for her sister-in-law and Elizabeth of York’s sister.

With, essentially, two competing Queen Dowagers at court, as well as a Queen Consort, there was always going to be friction, and Henry, who naturally favoured his own mother, first attempted to solve the problem of Elizabeth Woodville by suggesting that she marry James III of Scotland and that two of her younger daughters marry the Scottish king’s sons. Elizabeth Woodville’s own thoughts on such a scheme are not recorded, but in any event, the proposed marriages came to nothing. From the first, Henry’s reign was plagued by rebellions and pretenders. The most important early pretender was a boy named Lambert Simnel, who emerged in 1487, claiming to be Edward IV’s nephew, the Earl of Warwick. According to Francis Bacon, Simnel had been well-schooled:

So that it cannot be, but that some great person that knew particularly and familiarly Edward Plantagenet [Warwick], had a hand in the business, from whom the priest might take his aim. That which is most probable, out of precedent and subsequent acts, is, that it was the Queen Dowager, from whom this action had the principal source and motion. For certain it is, she was a busy negotiating woman, and in her withdrawing-chamber had the fortunate conspiracy for the king against King Richard the third been hatched; which the king knew, and remembered perhaps but too well; and was at this time extremely discontent with the king, thinking her daughter, as the king handled the matter, not advanced but displeased: and none could hold the book so well to prompt and instruct this stage-play as she could.

Although no action was officially taken against Elizabeth Woodville for any part in the Simnel plot, the timing of Henry’s attack on her is telling, and it is indeed possible that the Queen Dowager, resentful of her marginalisation at court, sought to depose her sonin- law, perhaps intending to replace him with her grandson, Prince Arthur. Henry VII seized Elizabeth Woodville’s goods and forced her to retire to Bermondsey Abbey from where, apart from a visit to court in 1489 to witness the birth of her second grandchild, it appears she did not emerge again. By her Will, dated 10 April 1492, Elizabeth Woodville rather pointedly made no mention of her son-in-law, the King, and referred to her lack of goods to bequeath:

Whereas I have no worldly goods to do the Queen’s Grace, my dearest daughter, a pleasure with, neither to reward any of my children according to my heart and mind, I beseech Almighty God to bless her Grace, with all her noble issue; and, with as good heart and mind as is to me possible, I give her Grace my blessing, and all the aforesaid my children.

Elizabeth Woodville died at Bermondsey Abbey on 8 June 1492, although, for the previous five years, with the Queen Dowager’s forced retirement, Margaret had already been able to emerge as the dominant female force at court.

The relationship between Margaret and Elizabeth of York was a complex one, as the pair were often thrown into each other’s company. Throughout Elizabeth of York’s marriage, Margaret was a near-constant presence at her side by virtue of her position as the King’s mother. She remained with Elizabeth after the birth of Prince Arthur and attended her churching before travelling with the King and Queen and the court to Greenwich, where they kept the feast of All Hallows in 1486. Henry required that his court was magnificent, and a contemporary document records that he wore a furred gown of cloth of gold. The court remained at Greenwich until after Christmas, with Margaret remaining with her son and daughter-in-law. By May 1487, Henry had left his wife and mother and was staying at Kenilworth Castle when word reached him that Lambert Simnel, who was supported by Edward IV’s sister, Margaret of York, Dowager Duchess of Burgundy, and his nephew, John de la Pole, Earl of Lincoln, (the son of Margaret Beaufort’s divorced first husband by Elizabeth, the sister of Edward IV) had landed with an army in England. Touchingly, Henry’s first thought was for the safety of his wife and mother, who had remained in each other’s company, and he wrote to Elizabeth’s chamberlain, the Earl of Ormond, on 13 May:

Right trusty and right well-beloved cousin, we greet you well, and have tidings that our rebels landed the fifth day of this month in our land of Ireland. Wherefore, and forasmuch as we have sent for our dearest wife and for our dearest mother to come unto us, and that we would have your advice and counsel also in such matters as we have to do for the subduing of our said rebels, we pray you that, giving your due attendance upon our said dearest wife and lady mother, ye come with them unto us, not failing hereof as ye purpose to do us pleasure.

Margaret and Elizabeth moved to Kenilworth, doubtless anxious to be with the King as he faced the first great crisis of his reign. Henry, as Richard III had done before him, decided to lead his troops personally, and he travelled on to Coventry, sending the Bishop of Winchester to Elizabeth and Prince Arthur, who was left in nominal control of affairs. The King continued to move, gathering men, and no doubt to Margaret’s gratification, at Loughborough, he was joined by her stepson, Lord Strange, with an army of both his and his father’s men. Henry’s army met the pretender’s army in battle at Stoke on 16 June 1487, where the King won a decisive victory. The Earl of Lincoln, who had almost certainly intended to dispose of the Yorkist pretender if the battle was won, was killed in the field, and Simnel, who was recognised by everyone as a mere puppet, was mockingly put to work by Henry in the royal kitchens. For both Margaret and Elizabeth, news of the victory must have been a great relief, and they quickly rejoined Henry.