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Lady Margaret Beaufort : The power of the king’s mother and the emergence of the early modern state in England

University of British Columbia

In my thesis, I set out to assess Margaret’s impact and to put it in the foreground of historical discourse on the early Tudor regime. To consider the base of Margaret’s power and the extent of her authority and influence, I rely on biographical and historical scholarship about her, as well as research from primary sources from her archives and governmental archives. In the context of scholarship on the rise of the modern English state, I argue that Margaret increased the sovereign power of the monarch in three ways: by aiding in the expansion of the royal demesne; by expanding royal administration over regional institutions; and by changing the makeup of the king’s council. She was the brilliant and powerful matriarch of the Tudor family, who devoted herself to empowering her son and his heirs. In doing so, she helped set in motion the rise of the modern English state.

Text

University of British Columbia. HIST 449

Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library

10.14288/1.0387431

Arts, Faculty of; History, Department of

Undergraduate

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