The Controversial Matriarch of the Tudor Dynasty | Margaret Beaufort | Part 3

it was now 1483 and Edward IV was dead for Margaret Beaufort a committed lancastrian who had integrated herself successfully into the Royal yorkist Court it made events ahead uncertain Margaret's driving Focus was for her son Henry Tudor who was still in Exile in Brittany and now his future looked uncertain as Richard dukel Gloucester became Regent for his nephew the twelve-year-old Edward V since the execution of his older brother George Duke of parents Richard had been a nearly invisible figure at court he had instead busied himself with his lands in the north working from his base at Midland Castle in wensleydale this had earned him the respect and popular opinion from the people in the north of the country and everyone pretty much thought that Richard was a safe Pair of Hands as well as an experienced Soldier however he was not without enemies Queen Elizabeth Woodville and her family recognized that unless they held custody of her young son Edward their power could easily be diminished Edward IV hadn't managed to create a bond between his immediate family and his wife's family and now it became glaringly obvious to all on the 11th of April 1483 Prince Edward was declared Edward V of England the woodvilles were worried that their parting clearances downfall and death would spur Richard once he was Regent with the Crown's power in his hands to cast them out from court in fact they made the situation much worse Edward was at Ludlow castle at the time and Elizabeth sent word that he was to be brought to London at once while simultaneously not telling Richard that his brother was dead William Hastings first Baron Hastings and a close friend of Edward IV was disgusted at the Queen's Behavior as he was completely loyal to the dead King's wishes William also did not get on with many members of Elizabeth's family but he was friendly with Richard and so wasted no time in informing him both of his brother's passing and the Queen's plans he urged him to come to London with an armed Force apparently Richard first wrote letters to the queen assuring her of his loyalty to her son before journeying south on the 29th of April he reached Northampton and met up with someone Margaret was very familiar with Henry Stafford Jr the Duke of Buckingham he was the grandson of her late father-in-law from her second marriage also named Henry Stafford and she had known him since he was a small boy Henry Stafford had his own reasons for hating the woodville's in his youth he proclaimed he had been forced to marry a younger sister of the Queen Catherine Woodville who he believed was beneath him as she was a mere commoner now Henry decided despite the family ties to the royal family that he was going to throw his lot in with Richard the pair were joined at Northampton by Earl Rivers the uncle of Edward V and brother of the queen and later Sir Richard Gray son of the queen from her first marriage they had turned up only to offer their condolences to the Duke of Gloucester and would have had no suspicions about what was planned but the next morning when they woke they found themselves locked in their rooms at the Inn where they had stayed the young king had been left behind in Stoney Stratford for safety and was shocked when Uncle Richard rode up and told him that rivers and gray were bad advisors who had been plotting his death and so he needed to arrest them for the safety of Edward V not long after on the 25th of June the two men would be executed in pontefract Richard now had control of his nephew and the crown when Elizabeth Woodville heard the news she fled with her youngest son Richard of Shrewsbury and her five daughters to the sanctuary of Westminster Abbey on the 4th of May intended to be Edward V's Coronation Day the Duke of Gloucester arrived in London with Edward by his side already many were suspicious of his motives and guessed he wanted power for himself a council met to discuss where Edward should stay while waiting to be crowned and Richard suggested the Tower of London which was still just a luxurious Palace and not the terrifying prison it would become for the Judas it's not known exactly where Margaret was during all of these shocking events that she was likely to have been close to the action after all as a lady in waiting to Elizabeth she was close to the queen and her daughters and her husband had been the steward of Edward IV's household Margaret didn't commit her thoughts to paper on how she felt about Richard taking power for himself and shutting out the woodvilles but it's far more likely her immediate concern was for her son Henry with the death of Edward IV his drafted out pardon for Henry to return to England from his Exile in Brittany unharmed was now useless and it left a question mark over Henry Tudor's future throughout May 1483 Margaret's husband Thomas Stanley would have been part of the many Council meetings that took place given that he was a member of the king's Council Margaret would have been highly aware of what was being discussed given she was likely in London with her husband and Thomas probably spoke to her about the day's events both would have been aware of Richard's complete control and the Duke of Buckingham's rise alongside him being created Constable of England as well as the Chief Justice Thomas would shortly be involved in a horrifying attack on the council having gained control of the council Richard set about removing those who had been completely loyal to his brother Edward Lord Hastings despite the fact he had helped Richard was viewed as a threat because of his loyalty to the previous King on the 13th of June Richard arrived to a meeting of the council before crying out that an ambush was waiting for him and the perpetrators had hidden weapons with them armed guards rushed the room attacking the council members but mainly targeting Hastings Richard then accused Hastings of plotting against him an unceremoniously had him dragged outside and summarily executed by beheading with no trial it was terrifying proof both of Richard's desire for power and his ruthlessness One Source even States Thomas was even briefly imprisoned by Richard perhaps simply to prove that he could be the shock of these events was enough for Stanley along with many others present that day to declare his allegiance to Richard it's clear that Margaret would have deeply disliked Richard and would have probably been as fearful as her husband was of what might happen next however Richard did also quickly make Thomas Stanley his Steward of the royal household not long after being imprisoned perhaps because he was afraid of repercussions from Stanley's adult sons or simply because he recognized the change of tactics would win over those who valued their safety over their allegiances Elizabeth Woodville still had her younger son Richard Duke of York with her at Westminster Abbey Gloucester sent word that he wished for Richard to join his brother Edward ahead of his coronation in order for them both to prepare and also because Edward would be pleased to see his sibling it was suggested that Gloucester understood that even if something happened to Edward his younger brother would take the throne instead and this was why he had him taken as well but it is difficult to know if these assumptions are true even if likely the fact remains that although she probably had no desire to do so Elizabeth Woodville had no choice but to hand over her second son as Richard surrounded Westminster Abbey with troops approved by the council this can be seen in one of two ways one is that Richard was being heavy-handed and basically threatening Elizabeth the other is that due to her underhandedness in not telling Richard about his brother's death and attempting to take her son into her own custody to maintain power Richard didn't fully trust her both could also be true at the same time Elizabeth was also assured by the Cardinal of Canterbury that Richard would take good care of her sons from this point on although at first the two boys were seen together playing in The Gardens of the palace they were seen less and less outside and then less and less inside until they appeared to have been withdrawed into the inner Apartments of the Tower altogether Edward V seemed convinced as time went on that he was ill and was seen by Dr Argentine his physician who worried about the young boy's lingering thoughts which seemed to focus on the idea he would soon die Edward's coronation had originally been rescheduled for the 22nd of June 1483 but little preparations seemed to be done for it and as the date approached Dr Ralph Shah made his way to Saint Paul's to preach a sermon he claimed that as he had been Edward IV's chaplain he was privy to some disturbing information namely that Prince Edward and Richard of Shrewsbury his brother were illegitimate along with their sisters he claimed that Edward had already been pre-contracted to marry a noble woman called Elena Butler and therefore he had not been free to marry Elizabeth Woodville making their marriage void and their children illegitimate it was convenient that Eleanor Butler had died a few years previously and so could not confirm or deny the rumor however few believed him even if his marriage to Elizabeth had been unpopular there was no reason to believe the story of Edward marrying Eleanor Butler which even if it was true could not be viewed as a legally binding marriage a few days later the Duke of Buckingham summoned Nobles to Westminster and repeated the story pressing that as the two princes were illegitimate they should not be king neither could Edward plantagenet the son of the Juco Clarence be considered for the throne either due to his father's attender in what must have been a spectacular show of theater Buckingham then advised that the only eligible claimant for the throne was surprise surprise Richard himself but that he would apparently need some convincing the Lord's present declared Edward illegitimate that same day and on the 26th of June they petitioned Richard to take up the crown of England after a show of reluctance that possibly convinced no one he agreed becoming King Richard III while later events can be debated as to how involved Richard was it cannot be denied that he planned to usurp the throne for himself there is still debate over whether this was forced by the actions of the woodville's while this is often viewed as a decision that was made by him alone the truth is that there were enough other people involved that they could have rejected his claims his sister Margarita burgundy seemed not to have been phased by his taking of the crown although she may well have been perturbed at the idea her nephews were illegitimate it's possible she saw it as nothing more than a transfer of power within her family and didn't consider anything violent would happen to the two boys Margaret Beaufort and her husband Thomas Stanley also didn't argue against it although of course both understood the dangers of going against the winning side and Margaret had to consider Henry's safety but what about the king's Council and various other Nobles all of them seem to have accepted the change in Monarch fairly quickly after all Edward V while being the son of Edward IV was still only a boy and one with no military experience experience of being a leader or much knowledge beyond the classroom Richard by contrast had proven himself in battle was respected and popular in the difficult to hold north of the country and was a grown man who could lead without needing a regent on the 6th of July Richard and his wife and Neville were crowned in a lavish ceremony at Westminster Abbey and the noble woman chosen to carry the new Queen's Crimson velvet train was none other than Margaret Beaufort she had already begun to sow the seeds for Henry's safe return under the regime of the new king and the best way to do that was to get on the good side of both Richard and Anne in June Margaret and Stanley had already met with the Duke of Buckingham to discuss resuming the pardon that Edward IV had drafted while still alive when the idea of Henry marrying one of Edward's daughters especially now they were considered illegitimate and therefore no threat was once again mooted Margaret was told by Buckingham that this could happen but only with nothing offered or taken for it it was entirely on the king's favor whether this could still go ahead then in July there was a rescue attempt of the Two Princes in the tower while Richard and Anne made their progress in the north staying in the city of York for three weeks rumors began to abound that the two young boys were now shut away entirely for an outside world and the princesses their sisters should disguise themselves and go abroad in case anything fatal happened to Edward and Richard of Shrewsbury a lot of our knowledge around this time is blurred by later commentators polidor Virgil provided much of the popular ideas of Richard planning to do away with his nephews but he was an apologist for the Tudor monarchy and wrote a long time after the events Dominic Mancini's reports are somewhat more reliable as he was an Italian Friar actually present in London in the summer of 1483 but he still wasn't close enough to the Royal caught to know intimate details the kroyland chronicle another contemporary source is again more reliable but sadly lacking in many details in Late July several men were arrested under the accusation they had set fires around London the purpose of these fires it was claimed were to keep the authorities busy while they snuck Edward and his brother Richard out of the Tower of London and this is where events get even stickier no one saw anything of the boys after the summer of 1483 and this it is suggested is when the two boys were killed at the time rumors abounded of Richard III being the murderer of the boy still being alive but kept in a dark cell and even of their escape to the continent putting aside theories of the time in modern times several possible suspects are clear Richard the third is the most obvious candidate for the murderer but it is difficult to be clear about the evidence for this after years of Tudor propaganda and Shakespeare's retelling of his story having the boys out of the way was useful for him but they had already been declared illegitimate more than enough for any Monarch including many before Richard to succeed to the throne nevertheless he had the main control over them in the tower and was the only one who could decide who came in or out to see them even if Richard was not their murderer he certainly would have become aware of their deaths before anyone else and didn't publicly announce it this could have been because he was afraid of the Public's reaction or because he had something to hide the next possible suspect is Henry Stafford the Duke of Buckingham he was Richard's right hand and man while the new King was away on his progress in the north could have been given the responsibility of taking care of the Two Princes he had also started to become somewhat disaffected with Richard which seemed to coincide at the same time as he remembered his own possible claim through the Beaufort line however this is unlikely as Margaret's claim and therefore Henry Tudors was stronger than Buckinghams a document written a few decades after the prince's disappearance claimed they were starved to death on the advice of Henry Stafford when Richard III returned he and Buckingham also had a blazing route about an unknown subject and fell out irrevocably was it possible Richard had found out Buckingham had killed his nephews and knowing the blame would be placed on himself felt he had to cover up their deaths in October Buckingham open openly led a rebellion against Richard and was subsequently executed without trial on the 2nd of November 1483. one final more flimsy option remains one which has been taken up in modern historical dramas with little basis that of Henry VII and his mother Margaret Henry VII certainly would have had more reason to remove the boys than Richard III as declaring them illegitimate once a marriage to a daughter of Edward IV was arranged would render his wife the same declaring the daughter's legitimate would mean Prince Edward was once again the main Heir for the throne and so killing off both Edward and his brother would solve the problem but as Henry wasn't anywhere near England at that point and had no authority to order anyone to do it for him it leaves only one agent on his behalf Margaret this Theory suggests that with her son Margaret planned the deaths of the princes to clear the way for Henry claiming the throne gave the order to do it and had the access to do so the main problems with this are mainly that Margaret had no access to the boys and was incredibly Pious it's highly unlikely a woman so certain of God and her own place in events would have considered murdering two young boys that were in reality the rightful claimants to England's throne but there is a possibility that Margaret had discussed the matter with Henry in terms of how the two boys not being around would make his life easier once back in England and married to one of Edward IV's daughters after all Margaret was an intelligent astute woman who knew her son's life had been in danger so many times due to the threat of his potential claim to the throne but these discussions if they ever existed at all may simply have been along the lines of the princes being taken to Europe and hidden away not murdered however Henry remains an interesting subject especially as he did execute some of his rival claimants after becoming King a Margaret Wood however Pious have likely done anything to protect her son even covering up murder equally there are those who suggested Margaret was behind the attempted Rescue of the two boys in July of that year in order to help boost The Prestige of Henry's future bride but again there is little evidence for either of these scenarios but whoever the real suspect was it was true that by the automa 1483 it was widely known that the boys had likely died in the tower Elizabeth Woodville was died herself when she heard the news that her sons were probably dead cursing herself for allowing Little Richard to be taken screaming and pulling her hair but for Margaret however she truly felt about the tragedy it did present an opportunity using her position Louis carleon as a go-between Margaret posited the idea to Elizabeth of Henry marrying her oldest daughter Elizabeth of your in exchange for support from Edward IV's followers whether or not the idea of Henry taking the throne had come to her when Richard did the same Margaret certainly took hold of it now determined to crush Richard III Elizabeth was very taken with the idea and promised to raise support if Henry swore to marry her daughter upon taking the realm it was around this time that Margaret learned of the Duke of Buckingham's planned Rebellion which failed due to bad weather conditions editions Henry Tudor had also planned to cross the channel in a ship borrowed from duke Francis II but the same weather meant he had to turn back upon reaching England the consequences of the failed Rebellion however LED Richard to penalize Margaret as he could not reach his intended target Henry Tudor instead Margaret was attended her lands and properties were forfeit but as with many noble women the full punishment wasn't really carried out Margaret's lands and goods were instead handed over to her husband Thomas Richard could not risk raising the ire of a powerful nobleman like Thomas who was also capable of flipping sides on a whim he had proven to be a good choice of husband for Margaret however she was also not supposed to be able to write messages to anyone including her son but Thomas Stanley was somewhat lenient in this undertaking and Henry was now taking charge of his Destiny on Christmas Day 1483 he announced publicly in Brittany his betrothal to the princess Elizabeth ensuring not only support from lancastrians but also disaffected yorkists it worked well enough that on the 23rd of January 1484 Richard oversaw a parliament that declared the marriage was a load of nonsense and reported that Elizabeth of York was still illegitimate so she couldn't inherit anything anyway including a claim to the throne it then went further to suggest the marriage had been brought about by witchcraft cast by Elizabeth Woodville and her mother jacquetta of Luxembourg with absolutely no evidence to back this claimer in light of the uncertainty to come most of the Lords according to the croyland chronicle swore allegiance to Richard's young son the Prince of Wales also named Edward and Elizabeth Woodville was running out of her limited income the longer she remained in sanctuary but on the 1st of March in front of spiritual and political contemporaries Richard swore that if Elizabeth and her daughters left Westminster Abbey and agreed to be ruled by Richard as their Sovereign Not only would he ensure they were safe but he would arrange good marriages to gentlemen for the princesses better than nothing Elizabeth Woodville had little choice and she relented but on the 9th of April 1484 they came yet another tragic twist Richard and Anne's son Prince Edward died suddenly after a short illness at just 10 years old not only were his parents grief stricken but once again it cast the matter the succession into chaos suddenly the only two real options for the throne were Henry Tudor still waiting across the English Channel and Edward plantagenet Earl of Warwick who wasn't allowed to inherit the throne after his fathers attained her things were going sour for Richard as well as more people listened to The Whispers that he might have been responsible for the death of his nephews by June 1484 Richard had sent Messengers to negotiate with Brittany for the return of Henry Tudor to England where he wouldn't last be under his control Duke Francis II was Ill at the time suffering from an unknown mental illness and so it was his much more willing Treasurer who agreed to hand Henry over thankfully before it actually happened wood was sent to Henry about the Handover letters were quickly taken to France to ensure Henry and his fellow Exiles amongst them Elizabeth woodville's brother Edward would be safe there when the answer came in the affirmative they escaped dramatically fled to France and Duke Francis even came back to sanity long enough to help pay for the safe passage of the Exiles on the 11th of October the young Charles VII of France was informed that Henry had crossed over into France while it was likely Henry could be used as a pawn in their struggles against England and negotiations with Richard Henry himself hoped he could use the French sympathies for his position to mount another Invasion by this time Henry was sending letters to England in November of that year to gather supporters signing them with the initials h r for henrika's Rex King Henry but Margaret things became tighter as Richard reacted to Henry's interference by proclaiming Henry had no right to expect the English crown and so he took away Margaret's alliances as much as possible he did this by offering pardons to those in Exile trying to ensure they would be loyal to him instead of Margaret she can only have grown more furious at how she was being treated but it would seem that Richard had forgotten a very important Ally of Margaret's her own husband Lord Stanley those affiliated with Stanley but also in Exile began to join Henry in France including the Earl of Oxford who was an experienced military commander Henry asked Bishop Morton to obtain a dispensation for his marriage to Elizabeth of York and it was clear something was going to change soon Richard III's World changed yet again when Queen Anne died on the 16th of March after a lingering illness as with all deathly events at this time rumors flew about that Richard had now killed his wife perhaps with poison he had complained for a long time about unseeming inability to Bear more children and there were Whispers that he wished to marry his niece Elizabeth of York in order to stop her marriage to Henry Tudor and gain control once more of an unbroken yorkist faction just a few weeks later he was forced to publicly announce embarrassingly that he had no intention of marrying his niece but it was too late and the general populace now believed the very worst things about Richard Margaret must have realized it was time for Henry to make a triumphant return home by the spring of 1485 she was sending her most committed and trusted servants to collect funds to help prepare Henry for invading England and Henry himself was certain of support from France in the form of Anna Bijou Regent of France for her Young Brother Charles VII even Thomas Stanley Margaret's husband was cautiously beginning to believe his stepson could succeed considering the unpopularity of Richard Stanley's belief in Margaret's son most likely through the influence of Margaret herself was one of the most important factors for what was to come by late June Richard had shut himself in Nottingham Castle a central stronghold rallying an army around him he also had to issue yet another Proclamation damning Henry Tudor this time omitting any of the woodvilles from the list of traitors in an effort to get them on side and stating that both Henry and Margaret beaufort's Legacy was illegitimate through John of gaunt and Catherine swinford Margaret may have felt the sting of these insults but judging by her character it's also more likely she was pleased her enemy was feeling so vulnerable he had to insult her publicly on the 1st of August 1485 Henry set out from half Fleur with the Earl of Oxford and the priest Richard Fox whom he immediately committed to his Council once he was King there was no Looking Back Now on the 7th of August he landed on Welsh soil in pembrokeshire for the first time in 15 years but while Henry was well known and liked in Wales and rallied men to His Banner it was not in the numbers he wanted to those in England Henry was a virtual stranger and so he looked to his devoted representative to Aid him his mother Margaret this time however she would also have help in the form of Thomas Stanley Margaret had evidently persuaded her husband that her son would succeed in the coming in battle and he asked Richard III for leave from Court just before Henry arrived in Wales apparently to see his family in Lancashire and rest and recuperate Richard wasn't stupid though he agreed that Stanley could leave court but only if he left behind his eldest son George Lord strange at Nottingham Castle as Assurance of Stanley's allegiance to the king Thomas had little choice but to do as he was asked which was about to make things very difficult for him Margaret had spent the last two decades quietly living with a monarchy made up of her enemies she had befriended some of these enemies and had even endured house arrest all in order to keep her son alive and get him home safely now he was close to the culmination of their efforts Heading an army and marching towards the current King Margaret was now full 32 years old and had seen enough of the wars of the Roses to know that lancastrians could easily fall either on the battlefield or the chopping block and Henry's failure would mean certain death for them both but not for the first time in her life Margaret would hold fast to her belief that God had set this path for her and her son however when her husband returned home it became clear that due to Richard holding his son George Lord Stanley was unable to openly declare his Allegiance for Henry even if that was his wish things were going to be trickier than that on the 11th of August when King Richard received word Henry Tudor had arrived he apparently rejoiced at the opportunity to Vanquish his enemy uncalled for his men to join him this included Stanley who he demanded appear immediately but Thomas Stanley in in a desperate bid to gain time sent backward that he was unfortunately violently ill with a sweating sickness and therefore couldn't come an unlikely story but difficult to prove as a lie as Henry came further east through Shrewsbury he still had difficulty gaining men for his cause but his letters to Margaret and Lord Stanley and Stanley's brother William had not been for nothing near Stafford Gilbert Talbot wrote to meet him with a small Force as did Sir William Stanley in town whether Thomas Stanley really had been ill or not he declared himself recovered on the 15th of August and left his home and Margaret behind while nothing is known of what conversation passed between husband and wife before Stanley left it's highly probable they discussed the strategy Stanley was to follow unable to follow to the battlefield all Margaret could now now do was hoped she had played her cards in the right order hope her husband would support her son and pray for Henry's life around the 20th of August Stanley met secretly at atherstone with his stepson and brother it was a joyful reunion and no doubt Thomas will have passed on messages from Margaret to Henry whatever the battle plans were will remain unknown but no doubt they were discussed and agreed upon Henry would have left with the assurance that his stepfather was committed to aiding him along with his five thousand strong Army but the question remained of how this would be done without endangering the life of Lord strange Stanley's son Henry returned to his camp near mirvale Abbey alongside those now firmly on his side including the Earl of Oxford Richard Fox his uncle Jasper Tudor although only one source places him there and Margaret half-brother John Wells Richard wasn't sitting still of course on the 21st of August he moved his army towards Leicester marching with great Pomp and ceremony wearing his diadem on his head he must have felt confident as he was an experienced Soldier whereas Henry had never fought in a battle before and his men outnumbered Henry's three to one but one very crucial Noble with a large force was missing Thomas Stanley Richard was Furious and he sent a letter that evening before the battle to Stanley demanding his presence and Army on the field beside his King otherwise he would execute his son George while this was a horrific threat with a Lord Stanley believed it wouldn't really happen his son could look after himself or simply that this was bigger than all of them he allegedly sent back the cool response sire I have more Sons on the 22nd of August for all his earlier confidence the king arose from a broken night of sleep he had been plagued by a nightmare in which a multitude of demons surrounded him and Richard awoke so early that his chaplains were not ready to do Mass there also wasn't any breakfast ready to provide the king with any energy if ever a day was filled with poor tenso Doom this was it for what came next however there are few sources as surprisingly no eyewitness accounts have survived both sides were drawn upon a field near Market Bosworth with Lord Stanley and his forces holding off to the north and not joining either side just yet Henry must have been more than annoyed at the uncertainty of his stepfather's moves but he had to look to his own men and face the battle regardless Henry moved first forcing Richard to commit to the fight it was eight o'clock in the morning but the fighting would be over in two hours time while little is known of the actual battle the generally accepted view is that Richard's forces had the higher ground while Henry with knowledge of Marshland to his right steered his men around it to protect them while also keeping the Sun at their backs and in their enemies eyes but when Richard saw Henry surrounded only by a small guard he decided to finish the battle quickly and end his sworn enemy once and for all he came down the slope on Horseback followed by as many as a Thousand Nights behind him the last time a king of England would ever lead a charge of armed Cavalry the battlefield would have thundered with noise from early canons the screen themes of the dying the sound of horses falling and The Clash of metal the smell of blood and sweat would only have been exacerbated by the hot day Richard's Lance went through Henry's standard Bearer and the King jumped down from his horse with his ax to get to his Target at this point the Stanley Brothers finally made their move Richard was too far away to give the order for George Thomas's son to be killed and so they moved their army swiftly down into the battle to fight crucially for Henry Henry himself fought valiantly against Richard's Onslaught which is impressive given his lack of experience perhaps it was his mother's belief in him perhaps it was simply the desire to stay alive but something spurred Henry on against the man determined to end him it was then Richard realized the stanleys were against him and he must have known the battle was lost but contrary to popular misconception he did not flee the battlefield but resolved to remain and end the battle or his life at last his horse trapped in the marshes Richard III was stabbed fatally by an unknown Welsh Soldier the Battle of Bosworth had ended with the death of the last plantagenet king or would be considered by some the end of the Middle Ages of all the Legends told from the end of the battle one tizing Margaret once again according to Poetic Legend Reginald Bray Margaret Steward was the man who found Richard's Crown hanging from a thorn bush somehow Once Again Margaret was still present in the important events of her son's life even if she wasn't there in person sources stated it was also Thomas Stanley who placed the crown on his stepson's head as they come combined forces cried out God save King Henry Henry rode in Triumph through the city of Leicester proclaiming Richard dead and disbanding his men Richard's corpse as proven by his discovered remains was subjected to the insult of being stripped naked and paraded through the city over the back of a horse until he was later to be buried unceremoniously at greyfriars church Henry also rather coldly stated that all Richard's men who had survived should be executed as a final reward for excellent service for Margaret when she heard the news it must have been overwhelming the day she had fought so hard for had finally come her enemy was dead her son was alive and home and on top of this he was King of England while the men had fought valiantly on the battlefield it was everything Margaret had done behind the scenes that had ensured victory for her son every careful marriage every letter sent every Royal she had served without worrying about her own Allegiance had been for Henry her political intelligence and sharpness had ensured she knew when to push and when to hold back and went to offer advice to her son punishments from Richard III and the threat of death had not stopped her showing just how courageous and strong a woman Margaret really was but this wasn't the end no one not even Margaret could be certain of Henry holding his new Throne she had helped her son gain the crown of England now she would Aid him in retaining it and creating a dynasty and in doing so Margaret would also make herself the most powerful woman in England [Music] if you enjoyed this video don't forget to like And subscribe so you don't miss any new documentaries [Music] thank you [Music]

Channel: History's Forgotten People

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Keywords: margaret beaufort, war of the roses, henry vii, henry VI, edward iv, elizabeth woodville, the cousins war, elizabeth of york, richard iii, richard duke of gloucester, margaret of york, margaret beaufort documentary, wars of the roses, baron thomas stanley, lord thomas stanley, battle of bosworth

Id: XERa5fEO8F8

Length: 43min 24sec (2604 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 02 2023