His commanders managed to talk him out of the idea-they pointed out that Edward was only a few miles distant and closing fast. Somerset was furious over this totally unexpected setback and announced he intended to take the city by force. When Margaret and Somerset reached Gloucester they found the city gates locked and the garrison in arms against them. After discussing the situation and the Lancastrian army’s position with his senior commanders, Edward sent word to the commander of the Gloucester garrison, Sir Richard Beauchamp: “Hold up the Queen’s progress for as long as possible.” Sir Richard did as he was told. At three o’clock in the morning on May 3, a patrol reported that Margaret and Somerset were moving toward Gloucester. It was vitally important that they cross the Severn before Edward overtook them.Įdward’s scouts did their best to stay in contact with the Lancastrian force. They began driving their own men up the Severn River valley toward Gloucester, the nearest bridge across the Severn. The speed of this advance took Margaret and Somerset by surprise. Six days later, Edward and his troops were in the vicinity of Cirencester, in Gloucestershire, about 60 miles from Margaret. He began his pursuit on the following day, driving his army northwest from Windsor to the Welsh border. On April 23, Edward learned that Margaret had arrived in England and that she was on her way to Wales to join forces with Jasper Tudor. The queen began moving northward toward the Welsh border, gathering recruits along the way. (He was also the uncle of Henry Tudor, who would become Henry VII.) During this “royal progress,” Margaret and Somerset would also be able to pick up as much support as possible for their army, which would be indispensable in the coming battle with Edward. First, Somerset advised, it would be necessary to travel to Wales and join forces with Jasper Tudor, the Earl of Pembroke, an enemy of Edward and an almost legendary figure in Welsh history. But Somerset realized that he did not have enough men to march on London and face the king. Somerset advised Margaret to fight Edward, who was keeping her husband prisoner in the Tower of London. She was met by supporters of her husband, the feeble-minded Henry VI, including Edward Beaufort, Duke of Somerset. The queen had returned to England on April 14, landing at Weymouth in Dorset after eight years of exile in France. On the evening of May 3, 1471, his scouts reported that the army of his Lancastrian archrival, Queen Margaret of Anjou, was camped a few miles south of the abbey town of Tewkesbury with its back to the River Severn.Įdward, the former Earl of March and son of the Duke of York, had been hunting Queen Margaret’s force for over a week. ‘It is the son you will bear.King Edward IV could not have asked for better news. There are two Tudor brothers, both great favourites of the king, Edmund and Jasper. The Tudor boys are the sons of the king’s own mother, Queen Catherine of Valois, by her second marriage to Owen Tudor. You are first going to be the ward, and then the wife of Edmund Tudor, the king’s half-brother. ‘Did you not hear, Margaret? I wish you would pay attention. Edmund's wife Margaret gave birth to his son, Henry Tudor (who went on to be Henry VII) after his death. Furthermore, the king gave Edmund large grants and it was through the king's influence that Edmund was married to the young heiress Lady Margaret Beaufort.Įdmund fought for King Henry VI and the Lancastrians in the early stages of the Wars of The Roses, but his life was cut short when he was imprisoned by the Yorkists at Carmarthen Castle where he contracted plague and died. The king appears to have been fond of him: in 1449 he knighted Edmund and in 1452/3 assigned him the title of Earl of Richmond. The boys stayed in the care of Catherine de la Pole until 1442 when their half-brother King Henry VI took over the care and education of the boys.Įdmund remained at the court. When her son’s regents, John of Bedford and Humphrey of Gloucester (brothers of Henry V) denied her permission to marry John Beaufort Duke of Somerset, she conceived her child with Owen and may have married him in secret.Ī resolution was passed in 1428 which forbade dowager queens to marry without permission, which brought Catherine and Owen’s relationship into question, but later Henry VI recognised their ranks and legitimised their line.Įdmund and his younger brother, Jasper, were cared for by Catherine de la Pole after their mother retired to the abbey of Bermondsey in 1436 where she died soon after. Edmund’s father Owen was a squire at the court of Henry V and was a keeper of the queen’s wardrobe. Edmund Tudor was the first son of Owen Tudor by Catherine of Valois, the widow of King Henry V and mother of Henry VI.
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