Margaret of Burgundy
Richard Hughes asks whether the ‘Diabolical Duchess’ was in reality another Tudor victim.
Students of the closing years of the Wars of the Roses will be aware of Margaret of Burgundy. It was she who was intent on spoiling the party for Henry VII when, so the narrative runs, the great first Tudor was frustrated in his fine purpose by the activities of those two historical oddities, the pretenders Lambert Simnel and Perkin Warbeck. It has always seemed strange that such a mighty figure as Henry Tudor should have experienced so much trouble from such preposterous characters. Margaret of Burgundy provides an explanation, for this grand lady, proud scion of the Yorkists, sister of both Edward IV and Richard III, widow of the mighty Charles the Bold, was a frustrated lady with an abundance of time and wealth on her hands and an incurable propensity for dabbling in anti-Tudor intrigue.
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