Owen Tudor | |
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 Arms of Owen Tudor | |
| Full name | Owen ap Maredudd ap Tudur |
| Born | c. 1400 (1400) Anglesey, Wales |
| Died | (1461-02-02)2 February 1461 |
| Buried | Greyfriars Church,Hereford,Herefordshire |
| Noble family | Tudor |
| Spouse | |
| Issue |
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| Father | Maredudd ap Tudur |
| Mother | Margaret ferch Dafydd |
Sir Owen Tudor (Welsh:Owain ap Maredudd ap Tudur,[a]c. 1400 – 2 February 1461) was a Welsh courtier and the second husband of QueenCatherine of Valois (1401–1437), widow of KingHenry V of England. He was the grandfather ofHenry VII, founder of theTudor dynasty.
Owen was a descendant of a prominentfamily fromPenmynydd on theIsle of Anglesey, which traces its lineage back toEdnyfed Fychan (d. 1246), a Welsh official andseneschal to the Kingdom of Gwynedd. Tudor's grandfather,Tudur ap Goronwy, married Margaret, daughter of Thomas ap Llywelyn ab Owain of Cardiganshire, the last male of the senior branch of the princely house ofDeheubarth. Margaret's elder sister married Gruffudd Fychan of Glyndyfrdwy, whose son wasOwain Glyndŵr. Owen's father,Maredudd ap Tudur, and his uncles were prominent in Owain Glyndŵr's revolt against English rule, theGlyndŵr Rising.[1]
Historians consider the descendants of Ednyfed Fychan, including Owen Tudor, one of the most powerful families in 13th to 14th-century Wales. The descendants of his many sons would form a wealthy 'ministerial aristocracy',[2] acting as leading servants to theprinces of Gwynedd, and play a key role in the attempts to create a single Welsh principality. This privilege endured after theConquest of Wales by Edward I with the family continuing to exercise power in the name of the king of England, within Wales. However, there remained an awareness of the family's Welsh heritage and the accompanying loyalties led them to take part in the suppressedGlyndŵr Rising.[3]
The fact that little is known about Tudor's early life and that it has instead become largely mythologized is attributed to his family's part in the Glyndŵr Rising. At various times, it has been said that he was the bastard son of an alehouse keeper, that his father was a fugitive murderer, that he fought atAgincourt, that he was keeper of Queen Catherine's household or wardrobe, that he was an esquire of Henry V, and that his relationship with Catherine began when he fell into the queen's lap while dancing or caught the queen's eye when swimming.
The sixteenth-century Welsh chroniclerElis Gruffydd noted that he was her sewer (someone who places dishes on the table and tastes them[4]) and servant. However, it is known that after the Glyndŵr Rising, several Welshmen secured positions at court, and in May 1421, an 'Owen Meredith' joined the retinue of SirWalter Hungerford, 1st Baron Hungerford, the steward of the king's household from 1415 until 1421.[1]
Henry V of England died on 31 August 1422, leaving his wife, QueenCatherine, widowed.[5] The dowager queen initially lived with her infant son, KingHenry VI, before moving toWallingford Castle early in his reign.
Catherine was rumoured to have had an affair withEdmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset. The rumours, though based on questionable evidence, prompted a response from her son's regents, who objected to Somerset as a possible husband as he was a second cousin of Henry V through the legitimised Beaufort line sired by John of Gaunt. A parliamentary statute regulating the remarriage of widowed queens was passed by the conciliary government. She subsequently married Owen Tudor[1] and gave birth to at least two sons: Edmund and Jasper (see below).[6][7]
The historianG. L. Harriss suggested that the affair with Beaufort resulted in the birth ofEdmund Tudor. Harriss wrote, "By its very nature the evidence for Edmund Tudor's parentage is less than conclusive, but such facts, as can be assembled, permit an agreeable possibility that Edmund 'Tudor' andMargaret Beaufort were first cousins and that the royal house of 'Tudor' sprang in fact from Beauforts on both sides."[8]
Following Queen Catherine's death, Owen Tudor lost the protection from the statute on dowager queens' remarriage and was imprisoned inNewgate Prison.[9] In 1438, he escaped but was later recaptured and held in the custody of the constable ofWindsor Castle.[10]
In 1439,Henry VI of England granted him a general pardon, restoring his goods and lands.[11] In addition, Henry VI granted him a pension of £40 per annum, provided him with a position in court, and appointed him the Keeper of the King's Parks inDenbigh. In 1442, Henry VI welcomed his two half-brothers, Edmund and Jasper, to court. In November 1452, they were created Earls of Richmond and Pembroke respectively with the acknowledgement that they were the king's half-brothers.[12]
In 1459, Tudor's pension was increased to £100 per annum.[13] Owen and his son Jasper (Edmund having died in 1456) were commissioned to arrest a servant of John Dwnn of Kidwelly, a Yorkist,[14] and later that year, Tudor acquired an interest in the forfeited estates of another Yorkist, John, Lord Clinton. On 5 February 1460, Tudor and Jasper were granted life offices in the Duke of York's lordship of Denbigh, a prelude to them later seizing the lordship.[1]
Owen Tudor was an early casualty of theWars of the Roses (1455–1487) between theHouse of Lancaster and theHouse of York. He joined his son Jasper's army as Lancastrian relations and partisans in Wales in January 1461, a force that was defeated at theBattle of Mortimer's Cross byEdward of York. On 2 February, Owen Tudor was captured and beheaded at Hereford. His head was placed on the market cross there, "and a madde woman kembyd hys here and wysche a way the blode of hys face"[15] ("and a mad woman combed his hair and washed away the blood of his face") and set 100 candles about him.
Owen Tudor had expected to be imprisoned, rather than executed.[16] Moments before his execution, he realised that he was to die and murmured "that hede shalle ly on the stocke that wass wonte to ly on Quene Katheryns lappe"[17] ("that head shall lie on the stock that was wont to lie on Queen Catherine's lap"). His body was buried in a chapel on the north side of the Greyfriars' Church in Hereford. He had no memorial until his illegitimate son, David, paid for a tomb before the friary was dissolved.[1]
Owen and Catherine had two certain sons, plus a third son and a daughter whose existences are disputed:
Owen Tudor had at least one illegitimate child, by an unknown mistress:
Owen was a descendant ofRhys ap Gruffydd (1132–1197), ruler of the kingdom ofDeheubarth, via the lineages that follow:
Rhys had a daughter, Gwenllian ferch (daughter of) Rhys, who marriedEdnyfed Fychan,Seneschal of theKingdom of Gwynedd (d. 1246).
Ednyfed Fychan andGwenllian ferch Rhys were the parents ofGoronwy ab Ednyfed, Lord of Tref-gastell (d. 1268). Goronwy was married to Morfydd ferch Meurig, daughter of Meurig ofGwent. Meurig was the son of Ithel, grandson of Rhydd and great-grandson ofIestyn ap Gwrgant, the last king ofMorgannwg (reigned 1081–1091) before its conquest by theNormans.
Goronwy and Morfydd were parents ofTudur Hen, Lord ofPenmynydd (d. 1311). Tudur Hen marriedAngharad ferch Ithel Fychan, daughter ofIthel Fychan ap Ithel Gan, Lord ofEnglefield. They were the parents ofGoronwy ap Tudur Hen, Lord ofPenmynydd (d. 1331).
Goronwy ap Tudur was married toGwerfyl ferch Madog, daughter of Madog ap Dafydd,Baron of Hendwr. They were the parents ofTudur ap Goronwy, also known asTudur Fychan ("Tudur the Little") to distinguish him from his grandfather Tudur Hen ("Tudur the Old"), Lord of Penmynydd (d. 1367).
Tudur Fychan married Margaret ferch Thomas of Is Coed, of the native and Ancient Royal Houses of Wales. Margaret and her sisters, Ellen and Eleanor, were descended fromAngharad ferch Llywelyn, daughter ofLlywelyn the Great.
Tudur and Margaret were parents toMaredudd ap Tudur (died 1406). Maredudd marriedMargaret ferch Dafydd, the daughter of Dafydd Fychan, Lord of Anglesey, and his wife, Nest ferch Ieuan.
Maredudd ap Tudur and Margaret ferch Dafydd were the parents of Owen Tudor.
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and a madde woman kembyd hys here and wysche a way the blode of hys face.
that hede shalle ly on the stocke that was wonte to ly on Quene Kateryns lappe.
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