Beaufort is believed to have initiated discussions with Woodville, via mutual physician, Lewis Caerleon, who conveyed secret correspondences between the two women. The first book she commissioned from Caxton in 1483 was the 13th-century French romance Blanchardin et Eglantine, which mirrored fairly closely the match she was forging in secret between her son Henry and Elizabeth of York, with the aid of Elizabeth Woodville, then in sanctuary from Richard III in Westminster Abbey. At least, that is the image that the Tudors wanted the world to see, and for centuries, that story has often been told.

England is on the brink of civil war with a young heiress struggling to find where she belongs and to survive.John's College, Cambridge was founded by her estate, either at her direct behest or at the suggestion of her chaplain, John Fisher. This wouldn’t have been a problem if Henry VI was as strong as his father, but alas, as king was very weak, which meant that he needed help to rule his kingdoms.

Her brothers disappeared when they were in the Tower of London awaiting the coronation of Edward V, which never occurred. Before Jones and Underwood, there was no consensus within the scholarly community regarding Margaret's role or character: historiographical opinions ranged from celebrating her to demonizing her.

She was also a major patron and cultural benefactor during her son's reign, initiating an era of extensive Tudor patronage. The Tudors believed they were building on the past to create something different- and better- even if they differed on how.

She certainly had a motive: if the York boys were dead then her son would be the next heir, from the Lancaster side of the family. The coats-of-arms woven into the tapestry are of England (parted as usual with France) and the portcullis badge of the Beauforts, which the early Tudor kings later used in their arms. Alison Weir, My lady the king's mother: images of Margaret Beaufort 16 September 2020; accessed 28 January 2022.Jones begins his book with the horrific execution of the elderly Margaret Pole, the last white rose of York. Tallis takes the time to explore this relationship and to debunk the myth that she had something to do with the Princes in the Tower and their disappearances. They wrote jointly of the necessary instruction for Catherine of Aragon, who was to marry Elizabeth's son Prince Arthur. I think the way that Arnopp describes this relationship is thoughtful, considerate, and full of love. Her son's birth may have done permanent physical injury to Margaret; despite two later marriages, she never had another child.

The Tudors queens had to navigate not only their traumas through the most public lens, but they had to balance their own beliefs with the shifting political landscape of Europe.It was her battle plan which left the usurper Richard to despair on the field at Bosworth, and it was her victory that she celebrated every day of her life. Alison Weir has brought the tragic yet triumphant story of the first Tudor queen to life through excellent prose and captivating details. Through this superb revisionist biography, Margaret Beaufort emerges as a fascinating and often surprisingly sympathetic matriarch. In English it reads: "Margaret, Countess of Richmond, mother of Henry VII, grandmother of Henry VIII, who donated funds for three monks of this abbey, a grammar school in Wimborne, a preacher in the whole of England, two lecturers in Scripture, one at Oxford, the other at Cambridge, where she also founded two colleges, one dedicated to Christ, and the other to St John, the Evangelist. As the battle for royal supremacy raged between the houses of Lancaster and York, Margaret Beaufort, who was descended from Edward III and proved to be a critical threat to the Yorkist cause, was forced to give up her son - she would be separated from him for fourteen years.