A branch of the house of LANCASTER, the Beaufort family transmitted the Lancastrian claim to the Crown to the house of TUDOR. The family sprang from the 1396 marriage of John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster (1340– 1399), to his longtime mistress Katherine Swynford (d. 1403). Gaunt was the third son of Edward III (r. 1327–1377) and the uncle of Richard II (r. 1377–1399). Although Gaunt’s four children by Swynford were all adults when their parents married, Richard II legitimized them in 1397 under the name Beaufort, which was drawn from the French castle in which they were born. The Beauforts were thus half siblings of Henry IV (r. 1399–1413), Gaunt’s eldest son by his first marriage,who became the first king of the house of Lancaster in 1399 when he usurped the throne of his childless cousin Richard (see Richard II, Deposition of). Although Henry confirmed the Beauforts’ legitimation in 1407, he added a proviso barring the family from the succession. The Beauforts prospered under Lancastrian rule. One of Gaunt’s sons, Henry Beaufort, cardinal-bishop of Winchester (c.1376–1447), was chancellor under both Henry IV and Henry V (r. 1413–1422), and a prominent member of the minority COUNCIL of HENRY VI. In the 1420s, Beaufort served as chancellor again and fell frequently at odds with the nominal leader of Henry VI’s council, Humphrey, duke of Gloucester (1390–1447), the king’s uncle. During the royal minority, the hostility between the two men was mainly personal, but in the 1440s they began to disagree over French policy, with Beaufort advocating peace and Gloucester preferring more vigorous prosecution of the war (see Hundred Years War). By his death in 1447, Beaufort, who held one of the wealthiest bishoprics in England, had lent the Crown over £200,000.
During the WARS OF THE ROSES, the Beauforts were represented by the cardinal’s nephew, Edmund BEAUFORT, second duke of Somerset; by Somerset’s two sons, Henry and Edmund (see both under BEAUFORT); and by their cousin, Margaret BEAUFORT, daughter of John Beaufort (1404–1444), first duke of Somerset.The rivalry between Edmund, the second duke, and Richard PLANTAGENET, duke of York, was a major cause of the civil wars. Edmund was killed at the Battle of ST. ALBANS in 1455. Henry, the third duke, commanded the Lancastrian army at the Battle of TOWTON in 1461 and was executed by EDWARD IV in 1464. Edmund, considered the fourth duke by the Lancastrians, commanded the Lancastrian army at the Battle of TEWKESBURY in 1471. His execution after the battle ended the direct male line of Beaufort only weeks before the murder of Henry VI ended the direct male line of Lancaster (see HENRY VI, MURDER OF). The Lancastrian claim therefore devolved on Margaret Beaufort, who in 1455 had married Edmund TUDOR, earl of Richmond, half brother of Henry VI. Margaret transmitted the claim to her only child, Henry Tudor, earl of Richmond, who in 1485 overthrew RICHARD III and the house of YORK at the Battle of BOSWORTH FIELD. Thanks to the Beaufort blood inherited from his mother, Richmond became HENRY VII, first king of the house of Tudor.
Further Reading: Griffiths, Ralph A., and Roger S. Thomas, The Making of the Tudor Dynasty (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1985); Harriss, G. L., Cardinal Beaufort (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1988); Jones, Michael K., and Malcolm G. Underwood, The King’s Mother: Lady Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond and Derby (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992); Simon, Linda, Of Virtue Rare: Margaret Beaufort, Matriarch of the House of Tudor (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1982).