Henry FitzRoy, Duke of Richmond and Somerset

Chapter 2.

Henry of Richmond, Bosworth Field, The Coronation, The Sweating Sickness, 1485-1486, Part 1.

It is desirable first to sketch the early life and the accession of the sovereign who was in so many ways to influence the history of England.

Henry of Richmond could claim a twofold royal or quasi-royal descent.

His father, Edmund Tudor, by creation Earl of Richmond, was son to Catherine of France, the widow of Henry V.

Obviously no original title to the throne could be thus derived, even if it were certain that Catherine was ever married to Owen Tudor, of which unfortunately no evidence is known to exist.

As, however, his vengeance only lighted upon Catesby, the minister of Richard III, and two of his agents, he was considered to have been strangely merciful.

The distribution of due honours and rewards was deferred, with some exceptions, till the meeting of Parliament in November.

See, in 1519 when Mary was about 3, one of Henry's mistresses gave birth to a healthy baby boy.

His name was Henry FitzRoy, and Henry-

Ooh

... was very publicly like, "Yep.

"That's my boy."

That's him.

I was actually thinking maybe Henry FitzRoy and his mom, Bessie Blount, uh, Henry, Henry VIII's, uh, mistress, might be a good Patreon topic.

Oh, that would be.

He was thinking up another act of succession.

Henry Fitzroy died, so everything, you know, was in confusion.

And he wasn't really thinking about Elizabeth.

And Lady Brian, in that same letter which you referenced, she also says that she doesn't know anything about Elizabeth's new status.

No, it's incredibly dangerous, and they come against that every time he falls ill. [laughs]

So as 1536 goes on, another terrible thing that happens for Henry personally is the death of his illegitimate son, Henry FitzRoy.

Now, it seems to me, as you set it up in a previous episode, that Henry had been thinking about making Henry FitzRoy his legitimate heir, and it even feels like in 1536, further moves have been made in that direction-

Mm-hmm

... before the, the child dies.

Yeah, so he's, he's married.

You know, I, I think there's hope that he will start having his own children soon, um, and that Henry will have a dynasty through him.

Now, he's still slightly on the back burner, um, because I think Henry hopes that Jane Will produce a son that is legitimate fully, but it wouldn't be outside the realm of possibility, um, for Henry to have made Henry FitzRoy his heir.

This practice allowed him to secure loyalty from powerful lords while keeping succession lines clear.

The practice continued into the Tudor era with Henry V's son, Henry FitzRoy.

He was born in fifteen nineteen to Elizabeth Blount, a courtier of royal favor, and raised as an acknowledged child but not named heir.

In the fifteen thirties, Henry elevated FitzRoy to the Duke of Richmond and Somerset, bestowing military commands and court positions upon him.

He belonged to the House of Lancaster and had fought for the Red Rose.

Henry of Richmond was at this time living in France, but he now gathered an army and came over to England.

But before he came, Richard had already fought the Duke of Buckingham.

He defeated him, took him prisoner, and then cut off his head.

Yes.

It's, it's his mistress, Elizabeth Blount, who gives birth to Henry FitzRoy, which of course means bastard son of the king, uh, and named for the king.

And this is, is sort of kept secret for a little while.

At first, we don't know a lot about the circumstances of the birth or his early years.

Yeah, we get the elevation of a number of, of peers in the summer of 1525.

Some of these are elevations of members of the Boleyn-Carey-Howard faction, and for reasons that I think [laughs] we'll talk about in a moment.

Um, but a lot have to do with those young men in particular who are in some ways related to the Crown, Henry Courtenay, for instance, and as well, a very young man, Henry FitzRoy, becomes Duke of Richmond and Somerset and is given a series of other titles as well.

And he's six.

This LibriVox recording is in the public domain, read by Pamela Nagami.

Chapter two, Henry of Richmond, Bosworth Field, The Coronation, The Sweating Sickness, 1485-1486, part one.

It is desirable first to sketch the early life and the accession of the sovereign who was in so many ways to influence the history of England.

Henry of Richmond could claim a twofold royal or quasi-royal descent.

His father, Edmund Tudor, by creation Earl of Richmond, was son to Catherine of France, the widow of Henry V.

Obviously no original title to the throne could be thus derived, even if it were certain that Catherine was ever married to Owen Tudor, of which unfortunately no evidence is known to exist.

This LibriVox recording is in the public domain, read by Pamela Nagami.

Chapter 2.

He belonged to the House of Lancaster and had fought for the Red Rose.

Henry of Richmond was at this time living in France, but he now gathered an army and came over to England.

But before he came, Richard had already fought the Duke of Buckingham.

He defeated him, took him prisoner, and then cut off his head.