JASPER TUDOR

JASPER TUDOR

Jasper Tudor was born either on the 21st or 26th December 1431, at the Bishop of Ely’s manor at Hatfield in Hertfordshire.

His parents were the Dowager Queen Catherine of Valois, widow of Henry V, and Owen Tudor.

It’s not known with certainty whether Jasper was born legitimately after his parents were secretly married, as no documentation has survived of Catherine’s marriage to Owen Tudor.

In 1436, when Catherine was pregnant with her fifth child by Owen Tudor, their secret marriage were revealed.
Catherine was ‘retired’ to Bermondsey Abbey, shortly after giving birth to their daughter Margaret, on 3rd January 1437.

Distressed and traumatised at the forced separation from her husband and children, Catherine fell gravely ill.

Catherine died in disgrace on 3rd January 1437.
She was buried in the Lady Chapel of Westminster Abbey.
Her son Henry VI, provided an altar tomb and included an inscription describing her as his father’s widow, with no reference to her second marriage to Owen Tudor.

On 2nd February 1461, Jasper’s father Owen Tudor, fought at the Battle of Mortimer’s Cross against Edward, Earl of March, the Yorkist claimant to the throne.

The Lancastrian’s were defeated in battle and Owen Tudor was subsequently b~headed at Hereford.

Owen’s head was set on the market cross, where a madwoman combed his hair and washed his face, setting lighted wax torches round about it.

Before his death, Owen is alleged to have said ~

“the head which used to lie in Queen Catherine’s lap
would now lie in the exEcutioner’s basket”.

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Now orphan’s, Jasper and his brother Edmund Tudor went to live with Katherine de la Pole, sister of the Duke of Suffolk.

Sometime after 1442, their half brother King Henry VI, took a role in their upbringing,
Edmund was knighted and both the brothers were given Earldoms by Henry VI.

Edmund became Earl of Richmond, while Jasper Tudor was created Earl of Pembroke.
Their younger brother, Owen became a monk at Westminster Abbey.

Edmund Tudor’s wife Margaret Beaufort gave birth to his son Henry, after Edmunds death.
Henry was born at Jasper’s castle of Pembroke.

On the accession of the Yorkist King Edward IV in 1461, Jasper was attainted and his lands confiscated by the crown.

Although Jasper brought up his nephew Henry Tudor,
William Herbert then took custody of Henry, when he captured Pembroke Castle.

Jasper continued to try to raise support for the Lancastrians in Wales, but was eventually forced to flee to Scotland.

During the short-lived restoration of Henry VI, Jasper briefly regained his earldom, and custody of his nephew, Henry Tudor.

On the return to England of Edward IV in 1471, Jasper was again forced into flight.
Escaping with the young Henry Tudor, fierce storms in the Channel forced them to land at Le Conquet in Brittany, where they obtained refuge from Duke Francis II.

On the death of Edward IV in 1483, his thirteen-year-old heir, Edward V was deposed by his uncle, who took the throne as Richard III.

Henry Tudor then made his move to take the throne of England.
Jasper and Henry landed at Milford Haven in South Wales on the 7th August 1485, accompanied by a few die-hard Lancastrian lords, and about 2,000 French mercenaries.

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Henry Tudor defeated Richard III in battle at Bosworth field and ascended the throne as Henry VII, the first king of the new Tudor dynasty.

The new king restored Jasper’s former titles and additionally created him Duke of Bedford.

On 7th November 1485, Jasper was married to Catherine Woodville.
Catherine was the daughter of Richard Woodville and Jacquetta of Luxembourg, and the sister of Queen Elizabeth Woodville, and aunt of Henry Tudor’s bride, Elizabeth of York.

Although there were no children of the marriage, Jasper did have two illegitimate daughters:-
Helen and Joan Tudor.

On 21st December 1495, Jasper Tudor, 1st Duke of Bedford and 1st Earl of Pembroke, died at his manor of Thornbury, at the age of around sixty-four.

His entrails were buried at the parish church at Thornbury and the rest of his remains were laid to rest at Keynsham Abbey.

Sadly, the abbey and Jasper’s tomb did not survive the dissolution of the monasteries in 1539.

Jasper was really one of the unsung heroes of the Wars of the Roses.
He never gave up on fighting for the cause he believed in and he did his best to keep his nephew Henry Tudor safe.

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