A series where my guests are female writers
talking about their female characters
(and yes, I'll be doing the chaps next!)
Today:
Judith Arnopp talks about her character
Margaret Beaufort
Helen: the character that Judith has selected to 'shine a light on' is not fictional - as you will see below, Margaret Beaufort was a real person of history ... but ... the majority of us who write historical fiction take enormous pains to ensure we get the facts as right as we can, but (most annoyingly) these people of the past did not write intimate, detailed diaries, so to produce an interesting and entertaining novel we have to fill in the (usually enormous) gaps with imagined fiction. So it is an argueable point: are historical figures in novels fictional characters? I'll leave you to ponder that thought... over to Judith:
The characters in my books are
historical figures from English history, mostly of the late medieval and Tudor
period. They have all been written of before, many, many times but I enjoy
adding my own version to the traditional view. Although I wouldn’t call myself
a revisionist, I do like to find a different perspective. Instead of recording
what they did, I like to consider why they did it. This is often difficult to
judge from the outside; I like to hone in on the inner self and reveal the part
of us that we often prefer to keep hidden from the world.
By far my most challenging
protagonist so far has been Margaret Beaufort. Margaret appears in many novels
set around the Wars of the Roses and is usually depicted as a negative
character, a schemer and plotter. She has even been cast as a potential
murderer of the missing princes in the Tower although my research has thrown up
nothing to suggest that was so. My novels that comprise The Beaufort Chronicles
illustrate the events of the Wars of the Roses through Margaret’s eyes, and
trace the changes in her character as she grows from a child of eight to a
woman of mature years, the mother and grandmother of kings and queens.
Before I began writing I had to
consider why Margaret has been depicted so negatively and this research brought
me to her portraits. The only surviving representations of Margaret were taken
in later life, after her son (Henry VII) won his crown. She presents a pious pose, in the
attitude of prayer, or clutching a book, the symbol of great learning. I think
this dour image may explain why she has not been the heroine of many novels but
Margaret clearly wasn’t born old. Even old women have known youth and love. She
was once young, records indicate she possessed a sense of humour, favoured red
gowns, and had a great love of finery both in clothing and furnishings.
Margaret’s resilience is astonishing. She puts me in mind of a beetle that
can’t be crushed. Her journey from the child bride of Edmund Tudor to whom she
bore a son at the age of thirteen, to the mother of the first Tudor king is
really quite incredible.
At the beginning of the wars
between Lancaster and York, Margaret and Henry were relatively insignificant
members of the House of Lancaster. After Henry VI’s demise and the death of the
Prince of Wales, Edward of Lancaster, Margaret and Henry were suddenly thrown
into the spotlight. While Henry was exiled, Margaret began to fight her son’s
battles – and she fought ceaselessly to that end for the rest of her life.
Under the reign of Edward IV she
petitioned the king for her exiled son’s properties and titles to be restored.
She was on the brink of obtaining this when Edward died suddenly in 1483 and
England was cast once again into chaos. Margaret was at the centre of
activities during Richard III’s acquisition of the crown, she served him
loyally at first but at some point midway during his reign, she changed tack
and began to plot with Elizabeth Woodville. Together they raised money and
support for an army to bring Henry Tudor home. But, on the eve of the Battle of
Bosworth Margaret had no idea what the outcome would be. Under house arrest she
could only pray, her nerves in tatters as she waited to discover if her actions
had resulted in triumph for the Tudors or in the death of her only son.
Most women, especially on the
winning side, would be applauded for these actions, hailed as a heroine but
Margaret is always seen rather differently. She has become the archetypal
interfering mother-in-law, the cold-hearted pious busy-body, a critic of the
etiquette of the royal court. To some extent these things are true but there
was also another side. She was loyal, forgiving, careful of the welfare of her
household, and a great benefactress of churches and colleges throughout the
realm. I felt it appropriate that she be given the opportunity to present her
own version of events.
Margaret prays a lot – most
people did in the middle ages. She meditates. She likes to garden and is
interested in healing, her stillroom is well supplied with remedies. She
passed this habit on to her grandson, Henry VIII, who was terrified of
contagion, and also liked to dose his household when they fell ill.
Margaret possessed a dry humour
and I have embellished this in my books. She has a wicked wit, and when she
chooses, she can make the most biting of replies. During her years of struggle
she is often a victim but she plays the long game. She serves Elizabeth
Woodville faithfully, gains her friendship, visits her in sanctuary and comes
to know the royal children, including her future daughter-in-law, Elizabeth of
York and the younger of the princes, Richard of Shrewsbury. After becoming
involved in Buckingham’s rebellion her life was in King Richard’s hands but he
chose leniency and placed her under house arrest, in the custody of her husband,
Thomas Stanley. But she didn’t give up.
Margaret had absolute faith that God was on her side. When the time came
for her to move against Richard III, she financed Henry, risking both her
security and position. Without doubt, Margaret Beaufort is the most heroic
women I have ever written about.
Her insecure environment
sometimes makes her prickly, defensive and seemingly proud. In public she
adopts a confidence that she doesn’t really feel. Each decision she makes, she
makes blindly – the reader and I are privileged by hindsight and know she will
triumph, but when I am writing, I have to remember Margaret was on a knife edge,
in dangerous times and her life was often in peril. Throughout The Beaufort
Chronicles Margaret is isolated, in conflict with the world but she is
possessed of such courage and strength that she achieves all her desires. On
reaching her goal however, she discovers that fate isn’t done with her just
yet.
Because I write in the first
person, I am in a sense, stepping into Margaret’s shoes and moving through the
events of the Wars of the Roses. When I am writing I become Margaret. I don’t
always stick to the traditional motivations because I am writing from the
inside. Her relationships are varied. Her devotion to her son, from whom she is
exiled for fourteen years until the day after Bosworth, is unswerving. Although
she serves Edward IV’s queen her loyalty to Lancaster does not change but
self-preservation is her only way forward. Records indicate that she and
Elizabeth Woodville worked together in Henry’s cause and I have developed the
relationship into a cautious friendship. She wants to trust Elizabeth but she
is wary, never sure. Margaret finds it difficult to trust anyone which is not
surprising when you consider her experience.
After Henry finally made good his
promise to marry Elizabeth of York, Margaret’s relationship with her daughter-in-law develops over time into friendship and admiration. This may not have
been the case had Elizabeth not been so compliant, for there is no doubt that
Margaret liked to be in charge. She ordered how Henry’s court should be run,
how the apartments should be furnished, how the children should be raised – and
Elizabeth seems not to have minded too much, although there are a few instances
when she rebelled, or stood her ground.
In my books it is Margaret’s
innermost thoughts and opinions that flesh her character. For instance when she
encounters someone or something she shares her private opinion with the reader, criticises manners, the style of dress, assesses each man’s loyalty to her son,
their possible usefulness in her quest. In these books Margaret’s opinions are
the only ones that are relevant because she is telling her own story. This way,
Margaret’s experiences (hopefully) become the reader’s and her joys, happiness,
fears and grief are immediate.
Her relationship with her four
husbands took some consideration on my part. Margaret was first married as an
infant to John de la Pole, the seven-year-old son of the Earl of Suffolk. After
the Earl’s disgrace, the marriage was annulled and she was married instead to
Henry VI’s half-brother Edmund Tudor, Earl of Richmond who was in his
mid-twenties.
Her second marriage took place when she was just twelve or
thirteen years old. Usually the marriage would not have been consummated but
Edmund could not take possession of her lands until she bore a son. I could
have taken the route of an unhappy forced union but there are no records of
Margaret ever showing resentment toward Edmund; she spoke gently of him and in
her will she asked to be interred with him at Grey Friars in Carmarthen but the
request was ignored. Had she born him any ill will I don’t think she would have
asked to be laid with him. I chose to develop the relationship. Edmund is her
protector, her husband, the father figure she lacked, and Margaret forms a sort
of teenage crush for a man her senior by around thirteen years. Some authors
have chosen to demonise Edmund Tudor and turn him into a child abuser but it
was the fifteenth century – a different world, we shouldn’t judge by modern day
standards.
Her third husband, Henry
Stafford, was her own choice. Not a love match but chosen for protection and to
prevent her being married off politically. Although her son,
Henry, remained in the custody of his uncle, Jasper Tudor, she and Stafford
visited him several times in Wales and sent regular letters and gifts. Stafford
died from wounds sustained at the Battle of Barnet where he fought for York.
Their marriage seems to have been content, with a slight breach when he
declined to fight for Lancaster but supported Edward IV. During this period I
allowed Margaret to become stronger, more headstrong and determined to be
accepted at the Yorkist court so she could win back her son’s lands.
Stafford’s death after the Battle
of Barnet left her vulnerable and, once more at the mercy of fortune hunters,
she made the tactical choice of allying herself with Thomas Stanley, a powerful
baron, high in the king’s favour. This opened the way for Margaret at court and
all that came after. There is very little about her relationship with Stanley
but it seems they were tolerant of each other. They lived apart for much of the
time but visited and remained on good terms.
I had some fun with this
relationship. Margaret took control of my pen and showed a Thomas who was a bit
of a likeable fool with an abrasive manner and little patient with the niceties
of court. He reveals to Margaret a sensuous side of her nature she had
previously ignored, a complexity that she wrestles to come to terms with. At
the time of their marriage they needed each other, once Henry became king and
Margaret was no longer in need of Stanley’s influence or protection, their
relationship settles into one of irritated tolerance.
Each step Margaret takes along
the path to her destiny is littered with difficulties. Even after her son has
won his crown and she has the highest position at his court, she is still beset
with doubt. She and Henry find it hard to trust – little wonder at the mire of
treason and betrayal they have negotiated. Henry Tudor’s reign, particularly
the early part, is beset with uprisings, pretenders to his throne, traitors in
his court. Neither he nor his mother can rest easy. Every curtain conceals a
dagger, and every closed door hides another plot against them.
At one point Henry finds some
consolation. He has three sons to follow him and he has just secured the longed
for alliance with Spain by marrying his heir to the Infanta, Catherine of
Aragon. The Tudor dynasty is at last secure, their bloodline stretching
endlessly ahead. But, one by one, the children begin to die.
Child mortality was commonplace
in the middle ages but devastating nonetheless. Having already lost a daughter,
Elizabeth, in 1495, tragedy struck again. First, sixteen month old baby Edmund
died in 1500. The royal couple would scarcely have recovered when their pride
and joy, the royal heir, Prince Arthur of Wales died at Ludlow in 1502. Henry
and Elizabeth with just one son to follow them, immediately began to try for
another. A daughter was born to Elizabeth in 1503 but tragically Elizabeth
herself did not survive. She was taken ill a few days later and died suddenly,
her newborn daughter followed soon after. Henry Tudor was left with just one
son, his heir who was later crowned King Henry VIII.
The king died in 1509. Seemingly,
at the age of sixty-six, Margaret’s reason for living had ended and she
survived him by just two months.
Judith lives on the coast of
Wales in the UK with her husband John. She studied creative writing and
Literature at university and went on to study for a master’s degree in medieval
studies. She now combines those skills to craft historical novels, short
stories and essays.
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