Home » History » Tudor England » The Dawning of the Tudor Sun I

The Dawning of the Tudor Sun I

© Wendy J. Dunn

A very brief description of the War of Roses:

Beginning after the captivity and death of Richard II, the War of Roses was essentially sporadic, bloody faction fighting between the noble families of York and Lancaster, both of them believing they possessed better right than the other to the ultimate prize: the English crown. Bosworth Field was the last battle between these two families.

On an English summer's day, in 1485, two young men, with their respective armies, gazed across at each other on a place known to history as Bosworth Field- so named because it was situated near the town of Market Bosworth. One man, 32 years old, was an experienced leader. From from his teenage years he had successfully campaigned in forays against his family's or country's enemies. For the last two years he had been England's King, the third one to bear the name of Richard; the army he commanded here was the stronger one.

The other man was 28. His claim to the English crown could be considered tenuous at the best. Indeed, if ever a claim shifted upon foundations of sand it was that of Henry Tudor. A descendent of John Beaufort, a by-blow (later made legitimate by an act of parliament) of Katherine Swynford and John of Gaunt , fourth son of Edward III, Henry Tudor was also the grandson of a French princess who became Henry V's Queen and mother of the tragic Henry VI.

Catherine of Valois, daughter of the mad CharlesVI of France, had been widowed in her early twenties. But in her household Owen Tudor, a handsome Welsh squire with duties in her wardrobe, caught her glance, and very soon given other duties. In a relationship spanning something like ten years Catherine bore Owen Tudor five children. It is still debated whether or not they were truly married*. As this was a Catholic age, and Catherine would have had her own household priest, my own feeling is that they were.

Catherine herself grew up in family steeped with scandal, with a father suffering periods of 'madness', and a mother who wasn't too sure who fathered some of her children. With a background like that for her own past history, I doubt she would have wanted any uncertainty for her own children. As well, even in our own times, a woman is unlikely to bear a man five children without being in some kind of permanent relationship with him - in the fifteenth century that generally meant marriage. Catherine's grandson Henry was the posthumous son of the first of these children, Edmund Tudor who married Margaret Beaufort, a twelve-year bride who became a thirteen-year old mother.

The copyright of the article The Dawning of the Tudor Sun I in Tudor England is owned by . Permission to republish The Dawning of the Tudor Sun I in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.