Today in 1495 Jasper Tudor died. He was the uncle of Henry Tudor, Henry VII, and it was largely due to his work protecting his nephew that Henry survived and was able to become King.
He and Edmund were the sons of Owen Tudor and his secret marriage to Katherine of Valois, who had been Queen to Henry V, and was the mother of King Henry VI. That made Edmund and Jasper step-brothers to the king.
Jasper lived an exciting life as a deep defender of the House of Lancaster. He escaped sieges, he raided Yorkist castles, and he remained deeply loyal to his stepbrother, often having to choose to live to fight another day. It was down to his planning and work that Henry Tudor survived, and became King.
After the Battle of Bosworth, Jasper stayed involved in government, but he finally settled down and got married, and had a few quiet years before his death.
That’s your Tudor Minute for today. Remember you can dive deeper into life in 16th-century England through the Renaissance English History Podcast at englandcast.com where there is an episode on Jasper Tudor.
Suggested link:
Episode 045: Jasper Tudor: A Joint Episode with Tudor Times
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Heather Teysko is the creator, writer, and producer of The Renaissance English History Podcast,  the original Tudor history podcast, started in 2009. She's been writing about history online for over 25 years, since her first site on Colonial American history became number one in history on Yahoo in 1998. In 2019 she created Tudorcon, which is now a yearly event, in addition to writing books, and running TudorFair.com - a whimsical Tudor Merch shop.
She has been passionate about Tudor England since she first read Alison Weir's The Six Wives of Henry VIII 30 years ago, and subsequently moved to London after college to spend her time immersed in Tudor history (how exciting when she got to interview Alison for the first time!). In addition to history, she is passionate about travel, and has lived in 3 countries and 4 states (not counting her perpetual state of confusion), and her family (who help her host her YouTube channel occasionally).
