Moments in Time

Owen Tudor

From a minor Welsh noble to the consort of a Queen and Grandfather to an English King, this is the tale of a man who found himself in the right place at the right time and founded a powerful dynasty.

Owen ap Mereddydd was born around 1400 AD , a descendant of the Welsh Prince Rhys ap Gruffudd. At an early age he became a ward of his second cousin Lord Rhys when his father fled from Wales to escape a murder charge.   At the age of seven he was sent to the English court as a Page to the King's Steward and it was then that his name was anglicised to Owen Tudor.

 He travelled to France with the army of King Henry V and fought at the Battle of Agincourt where his valour earned him promotion to Squire and was granted "English Rights" enabling him to use his Welsh coat of arms in England, a right that had been banned by the King's father, Henry IV, following the Welsh rebellion under Owen Glendower.

Owen entered the service of Queen Catherine as Keeper of the Queen's Wardrobe and, following the death of King Henry V in August 1422, moved with her and the infant King Henry to Windsor and later to Wasllingford Castle. The widowed Queen formed a relationship with Edmund Beaufort,Count of Mortain and cousin of the late King and wished to marry, but the dead king's brothers John and Humphrey , acting as Regents,refused permission. She clearly grew closer to Owen and it became generally known that they were living together as man and wife. They are believed to have entered into a marriage in 1429, although no written evidence now exists. It is known however, that Parliament passed a law in 1428 forbidding Dowager Queens to remarry without the King's permission and the marriage could therefore be considered illegal. Interestingly, this law was later deleted from the statute books, probably by supporters of the Tudors wishing to confirm the legitimacy of their reign. The couple had six children who were obviously recognised at the time as legitimate as their two sons, Edmund and Jasper were later given the rank of Earls by their half brother King Henry VI.

Henry later knighted Owen,made him Warden of Forestry and appointed him Deputy Lord Lieutenant, plus raising him to the rank of Knight Bachelor.

In 1436, Catherine, now gravely ill, was taken into Bermondsy Abbey where she died in childbirth in the following January. Her children were taken from her,and Owen, "which dwellled with said Queen", was ordered to report to the King. He refused without the assurance of safe conduct, knowing that his enemies wanted to charge him for his illegal marriage. Safe conduct being granted, he arrived in London and successfully argued his case and was allowed to leave. Travelling back to Wales however, he was again arrested and out in Newgate jail from where he escaped in 1438. Records from the London's sheriff's office show that a pardon was issued to the goalers for the escape of Owen ap Tudor esq. He retrurned to his native Wales and remained there until returning to offer King Henry VI his support during the Yorkist/Lancastrian War of the Roses.

On the 2nd of February 1461, Owen led a force of some 8,000  men from South Wales to join up with a larger Lancastrian force, but was intercepted by the Yorkist contender, Edward, Earl of March, who blocked the road from Hereford at Mortimer's Cross. Owen's forces attacked in three divisions, the lefty being composed mainly of lightly armed Irish, Breton and French mercenaries who were quickly overrun, leaving the other two divisions outflanked and then destroyed with the loss of over 4,000 men on the banks of the River Ludd. On the day of the battle, and due to  the freak atmospheric conditions, three suns were said to be visible in the sky. The Earl of March took this as a good omen of Godly support and thereafter, added the symbol of a sun to his banner.

Owen was arrested and taken to Hereford, where he was condemned to death. He believed to the last that, due to his royal connections, he would be reprieved. It is said that right up to the moment his executioner ripped the collar from his doublet, he believed he would be spared. His l;ast words were "this head, which used to lie in Queen Catherine's lap will now lie in the executioner's basket".

Owen's legacy lived on however, his son Edmund married Lady Margaret Beaufort and fathered the future King Henry VII, founder of the Tudor dynasty.

Queen Catherine de Valois', daughter of a French King, once Queen of England, and once within weeks of becoming Queen of both England and France, was buried in Westminster Abbey where her  wooden effigy which was carried at her funeral can still seen at the Undercroft Museum. The alabaster memorial above her tomb wass destroyed during some extension work during the reign of Henry VII. At this time her coffin lid was accidentally raised and her corpse revealed, which became a tourist attraction for generations. The diarist Samuel Pepys, noted in 1669, that he kissed the long dead Queen on his birthday.