Henry Tudor and the King Arthur Claim

Legend blends seamlessly with history in Mary Anne Yarde's Du Lac Chronicles. To celebrate her most recent book release, I have invited Mary Anne here to discuss an interesting intersection between King Arthur and another king frequently discussed on this blog, Henry Tudor. You may remember her from her post on digging up the historical King Arthur back in December 2016. Welcome back, Mary Anne, and congratulations on the publication of The Du Lac Prophesy!

~ Samantha

Guest Post by Mary Anne Yarde

Britain has always been a land of myths and legends. From St George and the Dragon to Robin Hood. Dick Whittington and his Cat to the Loch Ness Monster. But nothing has captured the imagination of the populous quite like King Arthur and his Knights.

Let’s take a trip back in time…

Henry Tudor is handed the
crown of the defeated king.

For thirty years, England had suffered a terrible civil war. It was the ultimate family argument. And that argument was all about legitimacy. The House of York argued that the Lancastrian King, Henry VI, had no right to the throne. The House of Lancaster disagreed.

In the year of our Lord, 1485, Henry Tudor marched from Wales, under the battle standard of King Arthur — the famous red dragon — and met King Richard III at Bosworth Field. This battle changed the course of history and while the last of the Plantagenets screamed:

“Traitor! Traitor! Traitor!”

Henry VII

Henry Tudor seized the throne of England for himself.

But, being victorious does not make one King. For Henry to be crowned King he had to provide a legitimate claim.

Henry Tudor was a Lancastrian, but he had a problem. It was argued, that Henry had not an ounce of English Blood. Henry’s Father, Edmund Tudor, was the son of the French Queen Dowager Katherine of Valois. Edmund’s father, Owen Tudor, was a Welsh groom. Their marriage was a scandal that had rocked the nation. Henry’s mother, Margaret Beaufort, was a direct descendant of Edward III, but the Beaufort’s had been barred from the throne, so her blood did not count.

Stained glass commemorating
Battle of Bosworth
St James Church, Sutton Cheney

Henry had to prove his claim and to do that he employed genealogists who traced his family back to Cadwaladr, a Welsh King, who in turn was a direct descendant of King Arthur. You couldn’t get more English than King Arthur. Henry presented his pedigree to the court.

With King Arthur as an ancestor, the nobles could not argue Henry’s claim to the throne.

Long Live King Henry…

Elizabeth of York

Henry then married Elizabeth of York, the daughter of Edward IV of England — thus uniting the House of York and Lancaster and bringing an end to the Cousins War. But, like Edward III before him, Henry had fallen for the romance of King Arthur.

It is worth mentioning that Bosworth was not the only noteworthy event to happen in the year 1485. Sir Thomas Malory, who was at the time languishing in prison, penned his great work, Le Morte d’Arthur. Arthur fever once more took hold of the nation, and now they had a king who claimed to be a direct descendant of Arthur. The future looked promising.

Arthur Prince of Wales

Henry’s firstborn child was born at Winchester — which, at the time, was widely believed to be the place where Camelot had once stood tall and proud. His firstborn child was a son, and he named that son Arthur.

But Henry’s dream of an Arthurian future took a fatal blow when his son, Arthur, became ill and died at the age of 16. It was said that Henry and Elizabeth were devastated by his death. Elizabeth died the following year.

In the subsequent reigns of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I, Arthurian legend and Arthurian prophecy continued to play its part in the monarchy’s dynamics. But from this day forward there has never been another King Arthur. We are still waiting for the Once and Future King to reclaim his throne…

(Blog images in the public domain through Wikipedia.)

New Release!

The Du Lac Prophecy
(Book 4 of The Du Lac Chronicles)
By Mary Anne Yarde

Two Prophesies. Two Noble Households. One Throne.

Distrust and greed threaten to destroy the House of du Lac. Mordred Pendragon strengthens his hold on Brittany and the surrounding kingdoms while Alan, Mordred’s cousin, embarks on a desperate quest to find Arthur’s lost knights. Without the knights and the relics they hold in trust, they cannot defeat Arthur’s only son – but finding the knights is only half of the battle. Convincing them to fight on the side of the Du Lac’s, their sworn enemy, will not be easy.

If Alden, King of Cerniw, cannot bring unity there will be no need for Arthur’s knights. With Budic threatening to invade Alden’s Kingdom, Merton putting love before duty, and Garren disappearing to goodness knows where, what hope does Alden have? If Alden cannot get his House in order, Mordred will destroy them all.

An Excerpt!

They won’t help you,” Bastian stated and Philippe turned to look at him. “The dead. They won’t help you.”

“I thought I was alone,” Philippe said as he looked back at Tristan’s tombstone.

“In Benwick Castle?” Bastian scoffed. “There is always someone watching. You know that as well as I do. Why are you here?”

“I came looking for answers.”

“Did you find any?” Bastian asked with cynicism.

“No.”

“I didn’t think so.”

“Lancelot was a brave man, wasn’t he?” Philippe mumbled the question more to himself than anything else.

“As was Tristan,” Bastian agreed.

“Did you know him? Tristan, I mean.”

“A little. He kept himself to himself for the most part. He was wounded you see, during the battle of Benwick. He lost the use of his legs. He couldn’t walk. But he…” Bastian smiled as he remembered. “He was very wise. And he was happy to share that wisdom. I liked him. Although not everyone did. After Tristan died, there was talk. Some said he was a liar.”

“What did Lancelot say?” Philippe asked.

“I cannot imagine Lancelot being friends with someone who lied to him. But he neither condemned nor defended Tristan. He kept his own counsel. What are you going to do, Philippe?”

Philippe looked up at the sky. The lavender hue had changed to a blue one. He never appreciated how beautiful the sky was, until now. The day promised to be a warm one, but Philippe felt chilled.

“What would you do?” Philippe asked, as he rose to his feet and looked at his general.

“You have two choices. You can abdicate. Hand him the throne. Or...”

“Or...” Philippe encouraged.

“You could kill him,” Bastian said with a shrug.

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Connect with the Author

Mary Anne Yarde is the multi award-winning author of the International Bestselling series — The Du Lac Chronicles.

Yarde grew up in the southwest of England, surrounded and influenced by centuries of history and mythology. Glastonbury — the fabled Isle of Avalon — was a mere fifteen-minute drive from her home, and tales of King Arthur and his knights were a part of her childhood.

Connect with Mary Anne through her blog, Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, or her Amazon author page.

Defying Henry VIII: Elizabeth Barton

Elizabeth Barton became a nun at St Sepulchre at approximately age 19. What did a holy servant of the Catholic Church do to defy the Tudor king? She shared the visions sent to her by God.

Elizabeth Barton prophesying
19th century woodcut
by Edward Bocking

An average country girl working as a servant, Elizabeth would have likely lived and died in obscurity had it not been for an illness that occurred during Lent 1526. After surviving this fateful illness, Barton began falling into trances and seeing visions that she and others were convinced were direct communications from God Himself. Her first prophecy predicted the death of the ill child sharing her sickroom. Was she an epileptic or a fraud? We have no way of knowing, but her contemporaries began calling her the Holy Maid of Kent. (Even if she did suffer from epilepsy, it was believed at this time that such disabilities could help one have heavenly visions. The stories of medieval prophetesses Margery Kempe and Juilian of Norwich both also begin with illness.)

For years, Sister Elizabeth prophesied and shared her visions without incident. She lived an exemplary life and, with the help of her visions, rebuked those who had failed to repent of their sin and change their ways. She became well-known and popular. The chapel where she had made one of her first prophesies, the Chapel of Our Lady in the Kent village of Court-at-Street, became a pilgrimage site. A printed compilation of her miracles and prophesies was published in 1527 as A Marueilous Woorke. She even had the opportunity to share her visions with Cardinal Wolsey, Thomas More, and King Henry VIII.

Then (you probably already guessed it), Henry decided to set aside his pious Catholic queen, Katherine of Aragon.

Chapel of Our Lady, Court-at-Street
courtesy of  historyfish.net

Barton unhesitatingly wrote letters to Wolsey and Pope Clement VII informing them that they risked divine retribution if he continued to support Henry in his plan to divorce Katherine. She also cautioned Henry, in person, that his soul and his realm were at risk if he stayed the course. Sister Elizabeth believed that Wolsey's fall and death were the consequences of ignoring her warnings. She claimed to have been given visions of Wolsey in purgatory and the place saved in hell for Henry.

As you can imagine, this did not set well with the King. And Sister Elizabeth did not stop there.

Henry was in Calais in 1532 for peace talks with King Francis. Barton claimed that she was spiritually present as the two kings took communion at the Church of Our Lady. She went on to insist that an angel had held back the sacrament from Henry and given it to Sister Elizabeth instead. In a singularly correct prophesy, Barton stated that Princess Mary would not be denied her birthright. In another, more provocative but less accurate, she insisted that Henry's reign would end within a month should he insist on marrying Anne Boleyn.

For the crime of predicting the death of the king, charges of treason were brought up against Elizabeth Barton. Traditionally, female traitors were burned at the stake, but in an effort to further humiliate and discredit Barton, she was ordered hanged. Sister Elizabeth Barton was executed on April 20, 1534. That same day, Henry's Oath of Succession was required of every London citizen.

New Release! Plantagenet Embers Novellas Paperback

Some of you have been very patiently waiting, but now it is here! Novellas featuring Margaret Beaufort, Elizabeth Woodville, and Reginald Pole had previously only been released on Kindle. Now, you can get all three in one paperback volume!

I really enjoyed having the chance to explore the stories and emotions of these characters from the Plantagenet Embers full length novels. I hope you enjoy them too. Happy reading!

Available now on Amazon worldwide.

This paperback volume includes the following ebook novellas:

New Release! Prince of York: A Story of Reginald Pole

Today is the day! Prince of York: A Story of Reginald Pole is available now on Kindle for only 99c!

This is my favorite novella yet, and I hope it will be yours as well. Reginald was a fascinating person to write about, and he has some pretty amazing friends, too!

After his elderly mother is executed for treason, Reginald Pole must outsmart the assassins of Henry VIII. Through the political and spiritual upheaval of the Reformation, Reginald strives for peace and compromise. Is it possible? With royal blood running through his veins, Reginald Pole could have been a Tudor king. His position as a respected Cardinal of the Catholic Church could have earned him the position of Supreme Pontiff. Reginald chose neither.

Instead, he chose to be a faithful friend to artists and churchmen alike, a man of God who could not be corrupted but was open to hearing opposing views, and a man who stood up to Henry VIII when others capitulated to the king's demands. However, he may have underestimated the Tudor tyrant's capacity for vengeance.

Get Reginald's story today on Amazon.

Defying Henry VIII: Evil May Day Rioters

No, it was not necessarily that the rioters were evil, but the festival day in 1517 became known as Evil May Day because of the atrocities that occurred. It is interesting to consider that we often think of Henry VIII as a tyrant only in his later years, after too many years without an heir and injuries and ailments that left him tempestuous. At the time of the Evil May Day Riots, Henry had been king only 8 years and was a healthy, athletic 25 year-old.

Medieval May Day was an exuberant festival, filled with food, drink, and dancing. The end of a long, cold winter and dawn of a new summer was even more exciting for those who lived off the land than it is for us today. However, tensions brewed throughout the spring of 1517, leading to a deadly riot in London on a day that should have been filled with celebrations.

King Henry had decided to go to war against France, an action that often leaves those at home overtaxed and underfed. Englishmen were displeased with an influx of immigration that occurred at the same time. Some of these foreign craftsmen and merchants fell outside normal rules of taxation, which inevitably angered their native competitors. Add to this economic downturn the religious unrest that would lead to Martin Luther's 95 Theses later that year, and London was ripe for conflict.

In a sermon that proves some things never change, a Dr Bell of London preached that immigrants, "eat bread from poor, fatherless children," before encouraging men to, "cherish and defend themselves, and to hurt and grieve aliens for the common weal." A fortnight later, the riots began.

British Museum Woodcutting
from "London Apprentice" 1852

After curfew on the evening of April 30, a group of over 1000 men prepared for a very different kind of May Day. They freed some comrades who had been jailed for harassing foreigners and marched to St Martin le Grand, a London precinct heavily settled with immigrants. Thomas More, who served London as under-sheriff at this time, dared to stand before them and encourage them to disperse. His efforts were in vain, for local residents started raining bricks, debris, and boiling water upon those gathered. A fight broke out between the two groups that lasted through the new May Day until it was brought under control. Shockingly, no one had been killed. Yet.

Within just a few days, King Henry had more than three hundred rioters (men, women, and children) arrested and charged with treason. John Lincoln, who was charged with inciting Dr Bell's sermon, was hanged, drawn, and quartered. Thirteen rioters were also executed, and Henry intended for the rest of them to suffer the same fate. Were it not for Katherine of Aragon begging the king to show mercy to those who remained, even more would have endured the ultimate penalty for protesting the king's policies.