Jasper Tudor, duke of Bedford

Welsh noble

Also known as: Earl of Pembroke, Jasper of Hatfield

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Byname:: Jasper Of Hatfield

Born:: c. 1430

Died:: December 21/26, 1495

Role In:: Battle of Bosworth Field; Wars of the Roses

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Jasper Tudor, duke of Bedford (born c. 1430—died December 21/26, 1495) was the leader of the Lancastrians in Wales, uncle and guardian of Henry, earl of Richmond, afterward Henry VII of England.

The second son of Owen Tudor, founder of the family’s fortunes, he was knighted in 1449 and created earl of Pembroke about 1452. Between 1456 and 1459 he worked hard to increase his influence in West Wales. He was with Henry VI when the Yorkists were forced to flee at Ludford (Shropshire) in 1459, and in 1460 he besieged and captured the Duke of York’s North Welsh stronghold of Denbigh Castle. He shared in the Lancastrian defeat at Mortimer’s Cross (February 1461), where his father was taken and beheaded, but he made his escape to Ireland and later to Scotland.

In 1468 he landed in North Wales in an attempt to relieve Harlech Castle, which held out for King Henry VI; he was able to capture Denbigh Castle but was then defeated by William, lord Herbert, who was rewarded with his forfeited earldom of Pembroke. Landing with the Earl of Warwick in 1470, he was sent to Wales and arrived too late for the defeat of the Lancastrians at Tewkesbury (1471).

With his young nephew, Henry of Richmond, he escaped to Brittany, where Henry grew up under his guidance. He attempted a further invasion of England during the rebellion of 1483 but was prevented from landing. In August 1485 he landed with Henry in South Wales and fought at Bosworth Field. His unflinching loyalty was rewarded by Henry VII with the dukedom of Bedford (1485) and a grant of the lordship of Glamorgan (1486), and he was afterward lord lieutenant of Ireland (1486–94). Jasper played a leading part in the suppression of the rebellions of 1486 and 1487 and lived into an honoured old age. He had issue by his wife, Catherine Woodville, sister of Edward IV’s queen, but the dukedom became extinct upon his death.

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House of Tudor

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House of Tudor

English dynasty

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House of Tudor, an English royal dynasty of Welsh origin, which gave five sovereigns to England: Henry VII (reigned 1485–1509); his son, Henry VIII (1509–47); followed by Henry VIII’s three children, Edward VI (1547–53), Mary I (1553–58), and Elizabeth I (1558–1603).

The origins of the Tudors can be traced to the 13th century, but the family’s dynastic fortunes were established by Owen Tudor (c. 1400–61), a Welsh adventurer who took service with Kings Henry V and Henry VI and fought on the Lancastrian side in the Wars of the Roses; he was beheaded after the Yorkist victory at Mortimer’s Cross (1461). Owen had married Henry V’s Lancastrian widow, Catherine of Valois; and their eldest son, Edmund (c. 1430–56), was created Earl of Richmond by Henry VI and married Margaret Beaufort, the Lady Margaret, who, as great-granddaughter of Edward III’s son John of Gaunt, held a distant claim to the throne, as a Lancastrian. Their only child, Henry Tudor, was born after Edmund’s death. In 1485 Henry led an invasion against the Yorkist king Richard III and defeated him at Bosworth Field. As Henry VII, he claimed the throne by just title of inheritance and by the judgment of God given in battle, and he cemented his claim by marrying Elizabeth, the daughter of Edward IV and heiress of the House of York. The Tudor rose symbolized the union by representing the red rose of the Lancastrians superimposed upon the white rose of the Yorkists.

The Tudor dynasty was marked by Henry VIII’s break with the papacy in Rome (1534) and the beginning of the English Reformation, which, after turns and trials, culminated in the establishment of the Anglican church under Elizabeth I. The period witnessed the high point of the English Renaissance. During Elizabeth’s reign, too, through a generation of wars, Spain and the Irish rebels were beaten, the independence of France and of the Dutch was secure, and the unity of England was assured.

Britain's Queen Elizabeth II smiles to the crowd from Buckingham Palace (London, England) balcony at the end of the Platinum Pageant in London on June 5, 2022 as part of Queen Elizabeth II's platinum jubilee celebrations. The curtain comes down on four days of momentous nationwide celebrations to honor Queen Elizabeth II's historic Platinum Jubilee with a day-long pageant lauding the 96 year old monarch's record seven decades on the throne. (British royalty)

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By act of Parliament (1544) and his own will and testament, Henry VIII left the crown to his three children in turn—Edward VI, Mary I, and Elizabeth I—and provided that, in the event that they died without issue, the crown would pass to the descendants of his younger sister, Mary, before those of his elder sister, Margaret, widow of James IV of Scotland. During her reign, Elizabeth refused to choose between Edward Seymour, Lord Beauchamp (descendant of Mary) and King James VI of Scotland (descendant of Margaret)—the former being the heir under Henry VIII’s will and act of succession and the latter being the heir by strict hereditary succession. On her deathbed, however, she selected the king of Scotland—who became James I of Great Britain, first of the English House of Stuart.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia BritannicaThis article was most recently revised and updated by Adam Augustyn.