By the time John Beaufort, the first duke of Somerset, grandson of the great John of Gaunt, died on the May 27, 1444, the children with Swinford, and all their descendants, had been declared legitimate by the Pope and English Parliament. The next year, 1377, King Richard II issued “letters patent of legitimation”. Gaunt being a son of Edward III, however, and Richard jealous of the throne, the offspring were expressly excluded in the patent from the royal line of succession.
John Beaufort had no sons when he died and one three year old daughter, Margaret. His brother, Edmund, inherited the dukedom. The various estates and chattels were divided among him, the dowager duchess and Margaret.
Three days after her father's death, Margaret herself was somewhat inherited. King Henry VI gave her to the care of William de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk, as an orphan ward of the state. Suffolk was given control of her, her estates and property, until she should reach her majority.1
By the King.
Right Reverend fader in God Right trusty and Right wel beloved we grete you wel. And for [asmuch] as oure Cousin the Duc of Somerset is nowe late passed to Goddes mercy, the whiche hath a doughter and [heir] to succede after hym of [full] tender age called Margarete, We considering the notable services that oure Cousin [the earl] of Suffolk hath doon unto us and tendering hym therfore the more specially as re[a]son [will], have of oure grace and especialle propre [motion] and mere [deliberation] graunted unto hym to have the warde and mariage of the said Margarete withouten [anything] therfore unto us or oure [heirs] y[i]elding, Wher[e]fore we [will] and charge you that unto oure said Cousin of Suffolk ye do make upon this oure grant our lettres patentes [sufficient] in lawe and in [due] forme, And that ye faille not hereof, As we specially trust you and as ye desire to do unto us singul[a]r [pleasure], And that ye sende unto us oure said lettres patentes seeled by the be[a]rer of [these], [Letting] you [understand] that ye shal hereafter at such tyme as ye come unto our presence have suche warrant for youre discharge in this behalve, As shal be [sufficient] unto you and as the cas[e] requireth. [gi]ven under oure signet at oure Castel of Berkhampstede the laste day of May.
To the Right Reverend fader in God
oure Right trusty and Right welbeloved
tharchebisshop of Caunterbury
oure Chancellour of Englande'.2
Suitors began bidding for Margaret's hand by the time she was nine years old. What records survive from the time suggest that Suffolk married his son, John de la Pole, to young Margaret at some point.
Whatever portion of Margaret's excellent education she had completed to this point, the lessons of another kind of education in which she would also prove to excel were coming toward her at speed. We do not know what precisely were her personal circumstances but her value as property had her very much at the center of English politics. Suffolk expected a great deal from his wardship.
In the articles presented by the commons to the king against the duke of Suffolk in 1450, they charge him with conspiring to induce the king of France to invade England
to [levy, raise] and make open werre a[gai]nst you, Soverayn Lord, with a grete [puissance] and arm[y], to distroy your moost Roiall persone and youre true [subjects] of the same Rea[l]me, to th' entent to make John, sonne of the same Duke, Kyng of this youre seid Rea[l]me, and to depose you of youre high Regalie ther[e]of, the same Duke of Suff[olk] havyng then of youre graunte the warde and mariage of Margarete Doughter and heire to John late Duke of Somers[et], purposyng to marie her to his seid sonne, presumyng and pretendyng her to be next [i]nheritable to the [Crown] of this youre Rea[l]me for lakke of issue of you, Soverayne Lord; in accomplishment of his seid traiterous purpose and entent wher[e]upon the same Duke of Suff[olk] si[nce] the tyme of his areste hath doo the [said] Margarete to be maried to his [said] sonne.3
and in a subsequent article they allege, that the Duke by falsely coloured suggestions obtained
dyvers grete wardes and mariages of [Heirs] and their [inheritances], in speciall of Margarete Doughter and [Heir] of John late Duke of Somerset; by which ye have hadde over grete damage, for it would have suffi[c]ed to a grete part of the dispense of youre Houshold.
Her marriage with John de la Pole was apparently regarded as a nullity, and the duke's right to her wardship ceased of course on his attainder, it being then, or soon afterwards, conferred by the king on his uterine brothers, Edmund[, Earl of Richmond,] and Jasper ap Meredith ap Tudor', the former of whom subsequently became her husband;...
Soon after her marriage the countess of Richmond became a widow, her husband dying on the morrow of All Souls 35th Henry VI, 1456. After the death of her husband she appears to have resided at Pembroke castle, the property of Jasper earl of Pembroke, her brother-in-law. Here on the feast of St Agnes the second (28th January) 1456-7 she gave birth to her only son, on whom was bestowed the baptismal name of Henry and who was destined to become one of the greatest monarchs that ever occupied the throne of England.4
At 15 years of age, Margaret Beaufort was largely through with being the property of powerful noblemen. She was the mother of a royal dynasty. Her talents and her strength would quietly be an essential part of it all.
1 Cooper, Charles Henry. Memoir of Margaret Countess of Richmond and Derby (1874), 4. “...the person and property of Margaret Beaufort, with the right of disposing of her in marriage, were committed to William de la Pole, then earl but afterwards duke of Suffolk...”
2 Cooper, 4-5. citing Excerpta Historica 3, 4.
3 Cooper citing Rot. Parl. and Hall’s Chronicle.
4 Cooper, 7-8.
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