Friday, June 24, 2011

Question from Em - Margaret Beaufort and John de la Pole

On Wikipedia, it says that Margaret Beaufort was married to John de la Pole before Edmund Tudor. But I have also read that she was only betrothed to him and that it was broken before her marriage to Edmund Tudor.
Which is the truth?

1 comment:

Lara said...

I've seen it referred to both ways too - it's pretty confusing.

Michael K. Jones and Malcolm G. Underwood, who wrote the best academic work on Margaret I've come across (as well as her Oxford Dictionary of National Biography entry) say:

The marriage contract instituted what would now be regarded as a solemn betrothal, for canon law permitted its dissolution while the bride was below the age of twelve, and Margaret herself never subsequently recognized John de la Pole (1442–1492) as her first husband.