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Historical person

Margaret Tudor

1489–1541

Margaret Tudor was the eldest daughter of Henry VII and became queen of Scots by marrying James IV. Widowed after Flodden, she served as regent for the young James V but lost authority after marrying Archibald Douglas.

Margaret’s political position repeatedly depended on marriage and control of her son James V. Her union with Archibald Douglas weakened her regency and drew her into a long struggle over custody of the young king; after obtaining a divorce she married Henry Stewart, later Lord Methven. She eventually reconciled with James V and remained an important dynastic link between the Tudor and Stuart houses.

Jean Plaidy’s The Thistle and the Rose follows Margaret Tudor from Henry VII’s marriage diplomacy into her queenship beside James IV and the crisis created by his death at Flodden. Philippa Gregory’s Three Sisters, Three Queens tells much of the same life through Margaret’s own competitive relationship with Catherine of Aragon and Mary Tudor. Paul Doherty’s The White Rose Murders finds the widowed Margaret back in England after Flodden, where her household becomes the setting for espionage and murder. Alison Weir’s The Princess of Scotland shows the consequences of Margaret’s turbulent second marriage through the childhood and dynastic position of her daughter Margaret Douglas. Nigel Tranter’s Rough Wooing carries the Tudor-Stewart inheritance into the reign of Margaret’s son James V, when Henry VIII’s ambitions towards Scotland reopen the dynastic conflict created by her marriage.

Series

Historical novels and book series featuring Margaret Tudor (5 series)

The Plantagenet and Tudor Novels in Order

by Philippa Gregory 16 books 4.4(140,052)

The Plantagenet and Tudor novels form a chronological sequence of connected but independently readable stories about women near the English throne. They move from the Lancastrian court and the Wars of the Roses through the rise of the Tudors, Henry VIII’s marriages, the mid-Tudor religious crisis and the…

All books in this series

James V Trilogy in Order

by Nigel Tranter 3 books 4.5(121)

Opening with the catastrophe of Flodden in 1513, the James V Trilogy follows Scotland through the long minority, personal rule and final crisis of James V. A seventeen-month-old king becomes the prize of competing noble factions, while England, France, the Holy Roman Empire and the papacy all attempt…

All books in this series

Sir Roger Shallot Tudor Mysteries in Order

by Paul Doherty 6 books 4.3(5,148)

The Sir Roger Shallot Tudor Mysteries are presented as the recollections of an elderly rogue who once served Benjamin Daunbey, nephew of Cardinal Wolsey. During the early reign of Henry VIII, Roger and Benjamin are sent to investigate murders, stolen relics, espionage and threats to the Tudor dynasty.…

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Tudor Saga in Order

by Jean Plaidy 11 books 4.0(23,392)

The Tudor Saga follows the dynasty from Henry VII’s insecure victory through the marriages of Henry VIII and the reigns of his children. The novels place queens, courtiers and claimants at the centre of religious change, diplomatic marriage and the succession crises that transformed sixteenth-century England.

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Six Tudor Queens in Order

by Alison Weir 21 books 4.2(79,643)

The Six Tudor Queens sequence retells the lives of Henry VIII’s wives through six full-length novels. Twelve companion stories shift attention to relatives, servants, artists and courtiers affected by the same events, while Six Tudor Queens: Writing a New Story explains the project’s historical method. In the Shadow…

All books in this series

Non Fiction

Non Fiction featuring Margaret Tudor (3 books)

Biographies, histories and other non-fiction are listed separately from the historical novels above.