Editing House of Tudor (section)

== Ascent to the throne ==
The Tudors descended from [[King Edward III]] on [[Henry VII of England|Henry VII]]'s mother's side from [[John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset]], one of the illegitimate children of the 14th century English prince [[John of Gaunt]], the third surviving son of Edward III. Beaufort's mother was Gaunt's long-term mistress, [[Katherine Swynford]].

The descendants of an illegitimate child of English royalty would normally have no claim on the throne, although Gaunt and Swynford eventually married in 1396, when John Beaufort was 25. The church then retroactively declared the Beauforts legitimate by way of a [[papal bull]] the same year, confirmed by an [[Act of Parliament]] in 1397. A subsequent proclamation by John of Gaunt's son by his first wife [[Blanche of Lancaster]], King [[Henry IV of England|Henry IV]], also recognised the Beauforts' legitimacy but declared the line ineligible for the throne.

Nevertheless, the Beauforts remained closely allied with Gaunt's descendants from his first marriage, the [[House of Lancaster]], during the civil wars known as the [[Wars of the Roses]]. However the descent from the Beauforts did not necessarily render Henry Tudor (Henry VII) heir to the throne, nor did the fact that his paternal grandmother, [[Catherine of Valois]], had been Queen of England due to her first marriage to [[Henry V of England|Henry V]] (although, this did make Henry VII a nephew of Henry VI).

The legitimate claim was that of Henry Tudor's wife, [[Elizabeth of York]], as daughter to Edward IV, and descendant of the second son of Edward III, [[Lionel, Duke of Clarence]], and also his fourth son, [[Edmund, Duke of York]]. As she had [[Princes in the Tower|no surviving brothers]], Elizabeth had the strongest claim to the crown as de facto heiress of the [[House of York]], but while she became [[queen consort]], she did not rule as [[queen regnant]]; for the last attempt a female made at ruling in her own right had resulted in disaster when [[Henry II of England|Henry II's]] mother, [[Empress Matilda]], and her cousin, [[Stephen of Blois]], fought bitterly for the throne in the 12th century.<ref>{{Cite web |title=History explorer: Stephen and Matilda's fight for the throne |url=https://www.historyextra.com/period/medieval/history-explorer-stephen-and-matildas-fight-for-the-throne |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200423231858/https://www.historyextra.com/period/medieval/history-explorer-stephen-and-matildas-fight-for-the-throne |archive-date=23 April 2020 |access-date=15 May 2020 |website=HistoryExtra}}</ref>

===Family connections and the Wars of the Roses===
{{Wars of the Roses family tree}}

Sources:<ref name="lordsandladies.org">{{Cite web |last=Alchin |first=Linda |title=Lords and Ladies |series=King Henry II. Lords and Ladies |date=6 February 2014 |url=http://www.lordsandladies.org/king-henry-ii.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170507084649/http://www.lordsandladies.org/king-henry-ii.htm |archive-date=7 May 2017 |access-date=22 December 2020}}</ref><ref name="projectbritain.com">{{Cite web |last=Barrow |first=Mandy |title=Timeline of the Kings and Queens of England: The Plantagenets |series=Project Britain: British Life and Culture |date=6 February 2014 |url=http://projectbritain.com/monarchy/angevins.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170315005114/http://www.projectbritain.com/monarchy/angevins.html |archive-date=15 March 2017 |access-date=22 December 2020}}</ref><ref name="timeref.com">{{Cite web |last=Needham |first=Mark |title=Family tree of Henry (II, King of England 1154–1189) |publisher=TimeRef.com |date=6 February 2014 |url=http://www.timeref.com/tree68.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140305103302/http://www.timeref.com/tree68.htm |archive-date=5 March 2014 |access-date=22 December 2020}}</ref>

Henry Tudor had, however, something that the others did not. He had an army which defeated the last Yorkist king, [[Richard III]], in the field of battle and the support of powerful nobles to take the crown by [[right of conquest]]. Richard III's accession to the throne had proved controversial, even among the Yorkists.

Henry Tudor, as Henry VII, and his son by Elizabeth of York, [[Henry VIII]] eliminated other claimants to the throne, including his first cousin once removed, [[Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury |url=https://spartacus-educational.com/Margaret_Pole.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200127045348/https://spartacus-educational.com/Margaret_Pole.htm |archive-date=27 January 2020 |access-date=27 January 2020 |website=Spartacus Educational}}</ref> and her son [[Henry Pole, 1st Baron Montagu]], as well as [[Henry Courtenay, 1st Marquess of Exeter]].

On 1 November 1455, John Beaufort's granddaughter, [[Margaret Beaufort]], married [[Henry VI of England|Henry VI]]'s maternal half-brother [[Edmund Tudor, 1st Earl of Richmond]]. It was his father, [[Owen Tudor]] ({{Langx|cy|Owain ap Maredudd ap Tudur ap Goronwy ap Tudur ap Goronwy ap Ednyfed Fychan}}), who abandoned the Welsh [[patronymic]] naming practice and adopted a fixed surname. When he did, he did not choose, as was generally the custom, his father's name, Maredudd, but chose that of his grandfather, [[Tudur ap Goronwy]], instead.

This name is sometimes given as ''Tewdwr'', the Welsh form of [[Theodore (name)|Theodore]], but Modern Welsh ''Tudur'', Old Welsh ''Tutir'' is originally not a variant but a different and completely unrelated name, etymologically identical with [[Gaulish]] ''Toutorix'',<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Zimmer |first=Stefan |date=2006 |title=Some Names and Epithets in "Culhwch ac Olwen" |url=https://www.academia.edu/4135527 |url-status=live |journal=Studi Celtici |volume=3 |pages=163–179 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221101122652/https://www.academia.edu/4135527 |archive-date=1 November 2022 |access-date=13 January 2016}} (See p. 11, n. 34 in the online version.)</ref> from [[Proto-Celtic]] ''*toutā'' "people, tribe" and ''*rīxs'' "king" (compare Modern Welsh ''tud'' "territory" and ''rhi'' "king"<ref name="bbc.co.uk">{{Cite web |last=Davies |first=John |date=17 February 2011 |title=Wales under the Tudors |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/tudors/wales_tudors_01.shtml |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120207145836/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/tudors/wales_tudors_01.shtml |archive-date=7 February 2012 |access-date=17 October 2013 |website=History |publisher=BBC}}</ref> respectively), corresponding to Germanic [[Theodoric]].

Owen Tudor was one of the bodyguards for the [[queen dowager]] [[Catherine of Valois]], whose husband, [[Henry V of England|Henry V]], had died in 1422. Evidence suggests that the two were secretly married in 1428. Two sons born of the marriage, [[Edmund Tudor, 1st Earl of Richmond|Edmund]] and [[Jasper Tudor, Duke of Bedford|Jasper]], were among the most loyal supporters of the House of Lancaster in its struggle against the House of York.

Henry VI ennobled his half-brothers: Edmund became [[Earl of Richmond]] on 15 December 1449<ref name="Griffith 1985">{{Cite book |last=Griffith |first=Ralph A. |title=The Making of the Tudor Dynasty |last2=Thomas |first2=Roger |publisher=St. Martin's Press |date=1985 |location=New York |page=33}}</ref> and was married to [[Lady Margaret Beaufort]], the great-granddaughter of John of Gaunt, the progenitor of the house of Lancaster; Jasper became [[Earl of Pembroke]] on 23 November 1452.<ref name="Griffith 1985"/> [[Edmund Tudor, 1st Earl of Richmond|Edmund]] died on 3 November 1456. On 28 January 1457, his widow Margaret, who was only 13 at the time, gave birth to a son, Henry Tudor, at her brother-in-law's residence at [[Pembroke Castle]].

Henry Tudor, the future Henry VII, spent his childhood at [[Raglan Castle]], the home of [[William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke (died 1469)|Lord Herbert]], a leading Yorkist. Following the murder of Henry VI and death of his son, [[Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales|Edward]], at the [[Battle of Tewkesbury]] in 1471, Henry became the person upon whom the Lancastrian cause rested. Concerned for his young nephew's life, Jasper Tudor took Henry to [[Brittany]] for safety.

Lady Margaret remained in England and remarried, living quietly while advancing the Lancastrian (and her son's) cause. Capitalizing on the growing unpopularity of Richard III (King of England from 1483), she was able to forge an alliance with discontented Yorkists in support of her son. Two years after Richard III was crowned, Henry and Jasper sailed from the mouth of the Seine to the [[Milford Haven Waterway]] and defeated Richard III at the [[Battle of Bosworth Field]] on 22 August 1485.<ref name="bbc.co.uk"/> Upon this victory, Henry Tudor proclaimed himself King Henry VII.

{{Chart top|min-width=45em|width=100%; max-width:1024px|Family tree of the principal members of the house of Tudor<br/>{{Red|Red text indicates [[Monarch of England]].}} {{Blue|Blue text indicates [[Monarch of Scotland]].}}}}
{{Wide image|House of Tudor.png|1024px}}
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