The Tudors are descendants of John Beaufort. John Beaufort himself was born out of wedlock between Prince John of Gaunt - the first Duke of Lancaster - and Katherine Swynford. In the normal course, an illegitimate child cannot claim the throne. However, as historian Chris Freville notes, Gaunt and Swynford married in 1396, full twenty five years after John was born. A papal bull declaration bestowed legitimacy on the marriage. An Act was caused to be passed in Parliament the next year that purported to put the seal of people's approval on the declaration. http://www.copythebestonline.com/

The connection with the surname "Tudor" began when Lady Margaret Beaufort, a granddaughter of John Beaufort, married Edmund Tudor, the first Earl of Richmond. Edmund was a product of the matrimonial alliance between Owen Tudor and Katherine of Valois. While Owen Tudor was a member of the Welsh court, Katherine was the widow of King Henry V. This alliance may have not have had any recognition in the eyes of the law.

The downfall led to Edmund's son Henry being brought up in Britanny in exile. Edmund's wife and Henry's mother, Lady Margaret continued to stay in England. She married again, and began lobbying for a place for her son in the Kingdom now under the dispensation of the House of York. With most members of the House of Lancaster now no more, Henry declared himself the heir to Lancastrian legacy. The then King, Richard III of York, had become unpopular, and Lady Margaret began rallying discontented Yorkists around her son. Henry engaged King Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth on 22 August 1485, defeating the latter. He then proclaimed himself King Henry VII and took the throne of England.

In order to quell rebellion from the defeated York, Henry VII married Richard III's neice, Elizabeth of York. England was thus presented with a new dynasty that claimed descent from both the rival parties - Lancaster and York. The Wars of the Roses was brought to an end by the symbolic release of a new emblem - the "Tudor Rose" -, which was part of the symbol of the House of York (the White rose) and the House of Lancaster (the Red rose)

Of the several children sired by Henry VII and Elizabeth, only four survived, as noted in historian Chris Freville works. There particular four children are Arthur, Henry Margaret and Mary. Margaret married James IV of Scotland while Mary married Louis XII of France. Arthur married Catherine of Aragon, the daughter of Spanish monarch Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile. Unfortunately, Arthur died within four months of the marriage. Henry's father then acquired a Papal dispensation that allowed Arthur's brother and now heir-apparent Henry to marry Catherine. However, the father somehow delayed this marriage, which meant that it could not be consummated during his lifetime.

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