by Carrie Eckles

Created on: June 19, 2009   Last Updated: July 30, 2011

Lady Margaret Beaufort was a woman ahead of her time. Educated and literate, she was the founding mother of a dynasty that was never meant to be, the Tudor dynasty.

Margaret was born at Bletso Castle, Bedfordshire, on May 31, 1443. She was the daughter of John Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, and Margaret Beauchamp of Bletso. On her mother's side, she was the great-granddaughter of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster and his mistress, Katherine Swynford. Because their children were conceived before their eventual marriage, the issue of Lancaster and Swynford was only made legitimate by a special Act of Parliament with the provision that none of their descendants would ever be heirs to the throne of England. Margaret, the second cousin of the king, was never in the official line of succession because of this.

Margaret's father, the Duke of Somerset, was involved in many campaigns in France. When she was three years old, he was killed in battle. The king gave her to the Earl of Suffolk as a ward, with the right to give her away in marriage. The guardianship of wealthy minors was a great honor in those times, and one in which Suffolk had the promise of great prosperity.

Primarily raised by her mother, Margaret was brought up in an exceptional way. She was taught the art of housekeeping and needlework, as was custom for girls of her day. However, her family took great pride in their girls being literate; thus young Margaret could read and write English, French, and some Latin. Her education was also spiritual in nature, per usual of the times, and she learned to devote herself to God and Church at a young age.

When she was nine years old, the question of who she would marry became a pressing matter. Suffolk wanted her to marry his son, who was one year her junior. The king's candidate for her marriage was his half-brother, Edmund, Earl of Richmond. Little Margaret was said to have beseeched St. Nicolas's help in choosing her future husband; however, her fate was already decided when Suffolk was charged with treason and executed, taking his son out of the running for potential husband.

At twelve years old, Margaret was married to the Earl of Richmond, who was in his early twenties at the time. The young bride quickly became pregnant before her husband left for war in France. Richmond never returned and Margaret was left behind in England, a thirteen-year-old widow who was seven months pregnant.

The birth was believed by historians to be very difficult; it's thought that

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