m145

r

TABLE B: THE HOUSES OF LANCASTER AND TUDOR

Edward

the Black Prince

i

Richard II

Edward III
1 Lionel	John of Gaunt	Edward	1 Thomas of
Duke of	Duke of	Duke of	Woodstock
Clarence	Lancaster I	York l
	J _,

see Table A

Henry IV    John Beaufort

Earl of Somerset

Owen Tudor . . m(2)

John Beaufort Edmund Beaufort Katherine . . m(i) . . Henry V    ^{Ist Duke of} Duke of Somerset

of France    |    Somerset

Henry VI

m. Margaret of Anjou

Edward

Prince of Wales m. Annę Neville

Jasper    Owen    Edmund . . . m . . . (i) Margaret Beaufort Edmund Beaufort

Earl of Pembroke    Earl of    |    Duke of Somerset

Richmond *

Henry VII m. Elizabeth of York

Henry VIII

V___)

Bedford died at Rouen in 1435. In 1441 the Duchess of Gloucester was successfully accused by Beaufort of practising sorcery against the young king, and sentenced to life imprisonment. Her conviction reduced Gloucester to a minor role in politics; the bishop now controlled the king, aided by his nephew Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, and William de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk. Henry VI married Margaret of Anjou in i444when he came of age, but he allowed the unscrupulous Somerset and Suffolk, both of whom were disliked by the people, to continue to manage his realm. Margaret aligned herself with them and soon shared their unpopularity.

The humiliating defeats in France led to a reaction against this ruling faction, and Gloucester emerged from his ‘retirement’ to lead the oppo-sition. He was arrested and died suddenly in prison, allegedly of a stroke. His estates were distributed among the friends of the queen and her favourite Suffolk. Bishop Beaufort, who had long sińce relinąuished power to Suffolk and Somerset, died six weeks later, in 1447.

The unpopular Suffolk was impeached on many charges and banished: he was murdered while en route to Flanders. Somerset managed to remain in control; but in 1450 Jack Cade’s rebellion expressed morę violently the feelings of the commons, the

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