This study of Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII and the founder of two Cambridge colleges is the first biography to explore the full range of archival sources and one of the best-documented studies of any late-medieval woman.
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Editorial Reviews
Review
"Jones and Underwood have improved considerably on the previous biographies in two major respects: the care with which they situate their subject within the political and cultural context of her time and the assiduity with which they have drawn on a wide range of primary and secondary sources to supplement the household accounts still preserved at St John's. The diligence has paid handsome dividends, allowing them to draw a rounded and unusually intimate portrait of their subject." Simon Walker, Times Literary Supplement
"Unlike other studies of Margaret, Countess of Richmond and Derby, this excellent biography is the first to draw upon the wide range of manuscripts at Cambridge University, Westminster Abbey, and other archives. A remarkable woman of the pre-modern period, her life is much better documented than most of her female contemporaries." Albion
"This is an unusually readable book, careful in its scholarship, cautious in its judgements...well-produced, and with some excellent plates to enhance the text. It is much to be recommended and not only to the scholarly fraternity." Canadian Journal of History
"The great merit of The King's Mother is to bring together a large amount of material on a woman who impinged on many aspects of fifteenth-century history....The authors, one of them an authority on the Beauforts, the other the archivist of one of Lady Margaret's foundations, are particularly well placed to deal with this remarkable woman and have done her and their readers proud. Particularly welcome is the treatment of her generally unknown political role under her son....a substantial contribution to the still neglected subject of the internal politics of this reign." Christine Carpenter, Journal of British Studies
"This fine work of scholarly collaboration between a historian and an archivist illuminates the character of the pragmatic, unsentimental individual revered by those who worked with her, cursed by those she took advantage of, and underestimated only by the ignorant....[T]he authors deserve praise for clarifying how the countess used a crafty combination of marriages, patronage, political connections, and her own relentless vigilance to secure landed wealth for personal advantage and dynastic benefit....Underwood's previous writings on Margaret's endowments of two Cambridge colleges are well integrated into the biography....[T]heir meticulous and balanced work will stand among the best of the genre." Lorraine Attreed, Speculum
"Unlike other studies of Margaret, Countess of Richmond and Derby, this excellent biography is the first to draw upon the wide range of manuscripts at Cambridge University, Westminster Abbey, and other archives. A remarkable woman of the pre-modern period, her life is much better documented than most of her female contemporaries." Albion
"This is an unusually readable book, careful in its scholarship, cautious in its judgements...well-produced, and with some excellent plates to enhance the text. It is much to be recommended and not only to the scholarly fraternity." Canadian Journal of History
"The great merit of The King's Mother is to bring together a large amount of material on a woman who impinged on many aspects of fifteenth-century history....The authors, one of them an authority on the Beauforts, the other the archivist of one of Lady Margaret's foundations, are particularly well placed to deal with this remarkable woman and have done her and their readers proud. Particularly welcome is the treatment of her generally unknown political role under her son....a substantial contribution to the still neglected subject of the internal politics of this reign." Christine Carpenter, Journal of British Studies
"This fine work of scholarly collaboration between a historian and an archivist illuminates the character of the pragmatic, unsentimental individual revered by those who worked with her, cursed by those she took advantage of, and underestimated only by the ignorant....[T]he authors deserve praise for clarifying how the countess used a crafty combination of marriages, patronage, political connections, and her own relentless vigilance to secure landed wealth for personal advantage and dynastic benefit....Underwood's previous writings on Margaret's endowments of two Cambridge colleges are well integrated into the biography....[T]heir meticulous and balanced work will stand among the best of the genre." Lorraine Attreed, Speculum
Book Description
This study of Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII and the founder of two Cambridge colleges, is the first biography to explore the full range of archival sources and one of the best-documented studies of any late-medieval woman.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Thorough, Scholary and Very Detailed,
By
This review is from: The King's Mother: Lady Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond and Derby (Paperback)
Lady Margaret Beaufort was the Countess of Richmond and Derby and the mother of a king, Henry VII, whose coronation put the finishing touches on the War of the Roses. Looking at her life is a wonderful way to examine this pivotal period in English history as she was a pivotal person, herself, during this period. Sometimes she was a pawn in the plans of others but often she created her own destiny, while all the time remaining a creature of politics and a survivor at a time when very many did not. The authors have done their research well and provide a very detailed account. Often the financial details can be very revealing and occasionally monotonous to the casual historian but always important. This is a very good study of an important woman.
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A great bio,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: The King's Mother: Lady Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond and Derby (Paperback)
Let's face it, women of the medieval times aren't too well known, and those that are, such Eleanor of Aquitaine, are hidden behind shadows and are really only noticed through the male figure(s) in her life.
That being said, Jones and Underwood did a great job in illustrating just who Margaret Beaufort really was. Not only do they capture the influence that she had and the political maneuvering that she had to do, but they also capture her life after her son became king, showing her role in religious houses and orders as well as the universities. A great bio for a great woman. Anyone studying the Tudors should read this book. Anyone, for that matter, interested in England in the fifteenth century must read this book. Margaret Beaufort's role was just too important.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Thorough, Reliable Academic History,
By Judith Loriente (Melbourne, Australia) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The King's Mother: Lady Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond and Derby (Paperback)
This is a thorough and competent study of Lady Margaret Beaufort. Study - not biography. At times it's almost too thorough; it presents a huge amount of information, but doesn't always do so in a lively manner, so that it occasionally reads like a dense catalogue of names, dates and events.
If you're after an easy-to-read biography that rushes along like a riveting novel, this is probably not what you want (Desmond Seward's The Wars of the Roses: Through the Lives of Five Men and Women of the Fifteenth Century might be a better option). But if you're already familiar with the woman and her era and want to read a detailed academic study, or if you're studying fifteenth century England and want reliable academic history instead of popular history of doubtful accuracy, you couldn't ask for more.
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
The Beaufort family was the offspring of an adulterous liaison between John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, and his mistress Katherine Swynford, who later became his last duches. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
riding household, foundation deed, femme sole, landed income, royal licence Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Christ's College, Henry Tudor, Margaret Beaufort, God's House, Edmund Tudor, Henry Stafford, Reginald Bray, Henry Parker, John St John, Westminster Abbey, Lord Stanley, Lord Welles, Margaret of Anjou, Cardinal Beaufort, Elizabeth of York, Sir Robert, Thomas Stanley, Edmund Beaufort, Henry Hornby, Hugh Ashton, Margaret Beauchamp, Early Statutes, Elizabeth Woodville, Hugh Oldham, Oliver St John New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
The Beaufort family was the offspring of an adulterous liaison between John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, and his mistress Katherine Swynford, who later became his last duches. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
riding household, foundation deed, femme sole, landed income, royal licence Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Christ's College, Henry Tudor, Margaret Beaufort, God's House, Edmund Tudor, Henry Stafford, Reginald Bray, Henry Parker, John St John, Westminster Abbey, Lord Stanley, Lord Welles, Margaret of Anjou, Cardinal Beaufort, Elizabeth of York, Sir Robert, Thomas Stanley, Edmund Beaufort, Henry Hornby, Hugh Ashton, Margaret Beauchamp, Early Statutes, Elizabeth Woodville, Hugh Oldham, Oliver St John New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 71
books:
See all 71 books this book cites
18
books
cite this book:
See all 18 books citing this book
- The Lady Margaret by Betty King on 24 pages
- A History of the University of Cambridge: Volume 2, 1546-1750 by Victor Morgan on 4 pages
- England in the Fifteenth Century Proceedings of the 1986 Harlaxton Symposium by Daniel Williams on 4 pages
- Humanism, Reform and the Reformation: The Career of Bishop John Fisher by Brendan Bradshaw on page 215, Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- The Church, Politics and Patronage in the Fifteenth Century (Vol 1) by Barrie Dobson on page 172, page 174, and Back Matter
See all 71 books this book cites
- Preaching during the English Reformation (Cambridge Studies in Early Modern British History) by Susan Wabuda on 4 pages
- Gender and Architecture by Louise Durning on page 55, page 56, and page 57
- Sermons at Court: Politics and Religion in Elizabethan and Jacobean Preaching (Cambridge Studies in Early Modern British History) by Peter McCullough on page 53, and Back Matter
- Medieval England: An Encyclopedia (Routledge Encyclopedias of the Middle Ages) by Paul E. Szarmach on page 112
- The Monstrous Regiment of Women: Female Rulers in Early Modern Europe by Sharon L. Jansen in Back Matter
See all 18 books citing this book
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