The Portraiture of Lady Margaret Beaufort

Lady Margaret Beaufort (1443–1509), Countess of Richmond and Derby, was one of the most remarkable women of her time. A wealthy heiress, she was married early, and was already widowed at the age of thirteen, shortly before the birth of her son, who was to become King Henry VII. During the Wars of the Roses she learned to survive through political astuteness, though she showed that she was willing to risk all for her son when, during Richard III's reign, she conspired to bring Henry to the throne. Her devotion to Henry, together with her outstanding personal qualities, meant that when he became king in 1485, Lady Margaret remained his most trusted supporter and adviser. Accorded semi-regal status, she administered her vast estates with exemplary efficiency and fairness, showing a concern for individuals which sprang from her own religious humility. She is best known today for her patronage of learning, particularly at Cambridge, where in addition to providing endowments for individual religious scholars, she was the foundress of Christ's and St John's Colleges. In view of Lady Margaret's achievements it seems entirely appropriate, not only that she is buried in Henry VII's Chapel in Westminster Abbey, but also that her epitaph was written by Erasmus and that her splendid gilt bronze tomb-effigy (fig. 1) is the masterpiece of another man of the Renaissance, the Florentine sculptor Pietro Torrigiano.