Note 158b — Chapter VIII · THE FIELD OF THE BATTLE OF BOSWORTH. [157a]

Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, was the son of Edmund of Hadham, Earl of Richmond, by his wife Margaret, daughter of John Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, descended from an illegitimate son of John of Gaunt, and was born at the Castle of Pembroke about 1455. His pretensions to the crown of England, were founded upon his descent, through the Beauforts, from John of Gaunt, fourth son of King Edward III. (See Pedigree No. 4 in Chap. IX.) But nothing could be more wild and contrary to the laws and constitution of England, than such a claim; because he claimed through his great-grandfather, John Beaufort, Earl of Somerset, who was the son of John of Gaunt, by Katharine Swinford, but born before their marriage; and, although the issue were declared legitimate for general purposes, by a charter of 20th Richard II. (which was confirmed by an act of Parliament—see Rot. Parl. 20th Richard II. vol. iii. fo. 343; Sandford’s Genealogical History, pp. 313, 314; Coke’s Inst. vol. 4, p. xxxvii.; Blackstone’s Com. by Stephens, 3rd edit. vol. ii. p. 417), it contained an express exception as to the royal dignities; the words in the charter, as given at length by Coke and Sandford, are, “excepta dignitate regali;” and it is remarkable, that these words seem to have been intentionally omitted in the printed copy of the act in Rot. Parl. vol. iii. fo. 243; (Quære—were the words cunningly obliterated from the roll by the order of Henry VII.?); besides which, several personages, amongst whom were the daughters of Edward IV., and after them the son and daughter of George Duke of Clarence, were living, and in the due order of the succession. By the battle of Bosworth, Richmond became King Henry VII.; he was crowned on the 30th of October, 1485; and married the Princess Elizabeth, eldest daughter of King Edward IV. (the marriage gave him his best title to the throne); and he died at Richmond on the 21st of April, 1509, in the fifty-third year of his age, having reigned twenty-three years and about eight months.—See Pedigree No. 4, Chap. IX. There is something remarkable with respect to the number and rank of the personages who were candidates for the hand of the Princess Elizabeth:—1stly, she was intended by her father, King Edward IV., to be the bride of George Neville, Duke of Bedford, the son of John Neville, Marquis Montague (slain at the battle of Barnet); 2ndly, she was affianced to Charles, the Dauphin of France, son of King Louis XI.; 3rdly, she was courted by her uncle, King Richard III., who probably intended, as has been the fashion of royalty in Portugal, to obtain the Pope’s permission to marry a niece; 4thly, she married King Henry VII., and, consequently, became a Queen, on the 19th of January, 1486.