Tudor Times is the online repository for all things Tudor and Stewart (1485–1625)

On 27th October 1485, Jasper Tudor, uncle of the new king, Henry VII, was created Duke of Bedford, and Henry’s step-father, Thomas Stanley, was given the title of Earl of Derby. The two men had been instrumental in Henry’s victory at Bosworth. Jasper, in particular, had devoted his whole life to Henry’s welfare and had shared his exile in Brittany. Jasper was the second son of Owain Tudor and Catherine de Valois (whose relationship had created a furore in the 1420s – more on that here). He had been created Earl of Pembroke by his half-brother, Henry VI, and on the death of his brother, Edmund, had stepped into the role of protector of Edmund’s widow and child.

Preoccupied with the intermittent warfare of the Wars of the Roses, Jasper had not married, but, not long after being elevated to a Dukedom, he was given the hand of Katherine Woodville, sister of Queen Elizabeth Woodville. This was all part of Henry VII’s plan to bind the Yorkists to his new Tudor dynasty. Katherine had previously been married (very unhappily) to the Duke of Buckingham, whose rebellion against Richard III had cost him his life. Jasper and Katherine had no children, and Jasper died in 1495.

Picture shows Jasper Tudor and Katherine Woodville

On 26th October 1538, Sir Geoffrey Pole was interrogated. Son of Margaret Plantagenet, Countess of Salisbury and Sir Richard Pole, Geoffrey was second cousin to Henry VIII, and had, with his siblings, received favour at the King’s hands. Their mother’s hereditary lands had been restored, two of Geoffrey’s brothers, Henry, Baron Montague, and Sir Arthur Pole, had places in the King’s household and his other brother, Reginald, had been educated in Italy at Henry’s expense. In the 1530s, however, everything went sour and the whole family fell under suspicion, culminating in investigations into the 'Exeter Conspiracy'.

On 25th October 1519, the marriage of Henry Courtenay, Earl of Devon and Gertrude Blount took place. Courtenay was Henry VIII’s first cousin, son of Katherine of York. The two men had been companions, Courtenay having ‘been brought up of a child with his Grace in his chamber’. Gertrude was the daughter of William, 4th Lord Mountjoy, Chamberlain to Katharine of Aragon. Gertrude was amongst the Queen’s ladies, and husband and wife both attended the King and Queen at the Field of Cloth of Gold. Nevertheless, when Henry began annulment proceedings against Katharine, the spouses were not of the same mind. Courtenay (who had been promoted to the Marquessate of Exeter) assisted Henry as far as possible, whilst Gertrude remained a vocal supporter of the Queen. Gertrude fell under suspicion for having communicated with Elizabeth Barton, hanged for treason, and was obliged to act as godmother at the confirmation of the baby Elizabeth. Despite this long history of close friendship, Courtenay aroused Henry’s suspicions, and was executed in the wake of the ‘Exeter Conspiracy’.

Picture shows Henry Courtenay second from left in this Garter Procession