Today we mark the birth of the founder of the Tudor Dynasty, Henry Tudor, the future Henry VII, born at Pembroke Castle today in 1457.
He was the son of Edmund Tudor (who himself was the son of Owen Tudor and the Dowager English Queen Catherine of Valois) and Lady Margaret Beaufort, a descendent of John of Gaunt through Gaunt’s line with his mistress Katherine Swynford. The lineage through that Beaufort line, who had been recognized as legitimate but heretofore banned from inheriting the throne, is where Henry got his claim to the throne.
Ironically, today is also the day when Henry Tudor’s son, Henry VIII, died at Whitehall palace – bookends to almost a century of continuous change and upheaval in England from these two Tudor men.
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.
Suggested links:
Episode 42: Lady Margaret Beaufort
Episode 067: Henry VII and his foreign policy
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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 20 years ago, and subsequently moved to London after college to spend her time immersed in Tudor history.