The House of Beaufort

by Nathen Amin

First published 2017

Amazon

4.4(1,163)

The Beaufort family began with the children of John of Gaunt and Katherine Swynford, born outside marriage but later legitimised and drawn into the highest ranks of English politics. Nathen Amin follows John, Henry, Thomas and Joan Beaufort as the family became closely tied to the Lancastrian monarchy, serving at court, in the church and in war during the reigns of Richard II, Henry IV and Henry V.

The later generations were caught in the dynastic violence of the Wars of the Roses. Yorkist victories destroyed much of the Beaufort male line, leaving the family’s political future increasingly concentrated in Margaret Beaufort and her son Henry Tudor. By tracing the family from its controversial origins to Henry’s victory in 1485, Amin explains how questions of legitimacy, kinship and inheritance allowed the Beaufort bloodline to become one of the foundations of the Tudor claim to the crown.

Historical Periods

Wars of the Roses1455–1487 CE Lancastrian England1399–1461 CE

Genres

Political History

Historical people

Henry VII1457–1509 Margaret Beaufort1443–1509 Katherine Swynford1350–1403 John of Gaunt1340–1399 John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset1373–1410 Henry Beaufort1375–1447 Thomas Beaufort, Duke of Exeter1377–1426 Joan Beaufort, Countess of Westmorland1379–1440