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Chapter 9 Biography Activity

Although women could not attend the new universities that were springing up through- out medieval Europe (textbook pages 224–226), some still managed to take part in scholarship and learning, often focusing on religious work. Margaret Beaufort’s family connections put her at the center of political intrigue in England, but she also had a last- ing impact on education. ◆ As you read, imagine daily life in a period of civil wars. Then, on a separate sheet of paper, answer the questions that follow.

Lady Margaret Beaufort (1443–1509) he were raging in England In 1485, Margaret’s son Henry Tudor returned Twhen Margaret Beaufort was a young woman. from France and ended the war by defeating and Two branches of the English royal family—the killing King Richard III at the battle of Bosworth houses of York and Lancaster—fought a bloody civil Field. Marrying , Henry became war on and off for some thirty years. Their king as Henry VII, beginning the Tudor symbols—a red rose for Lancaster, a white dynasty that would last through the reign C rose for York—gave the wars their name. of . H The wars deeply involved Margaret and With the end of the war, Margaret A her influential family, who were part left politics and concentrated on P of the . They also scholarship and religion. She gave her a claim to the English encouraged the growth of printing T throne. and publishing in England. She E The Lady Margaret (as she was translated several religious books R known) was well educated by her into English and helped the pio- mother. Like many noblewomen, neer printers and 9 she was married young. She was 12 . Though she when her family arranged a mar- had never gone to a university, the riage with Edmund Tudor Lady Margaret established profes- (1430–1456), the half-brother of the sorships at both Oxford and current king, Henry VI. Tudor died Cambridge universities. Her son, now the following year, three months before king, founded a new college, Christ’s their son Henry was born in January College, at Cambridge, in 1505, and she 1457. Margaret married twice more. Her added to the funds that supported it. Late in third husband, Lord Stanley, as well as the Tudor life she turned even more to religion, leaving her family, worked actively to make young Henry Tudor husband and taking vows as a nun. Shortly before the king. For safety during the civil wars, the boy her death she gave most of her remaining fortune to had to flee to France when he was a teenager. start still another college at Cambridge. ILLUSTRATION/PHOTO CREDIT: BETTMANN.

Questions to Think About 1. How was Lady Margaret Beaufort involved in 3. Predicting Consequences If Lady Margaret English royal politics? Beaufort had lived in a different period of 2. How did the Lady Margaret influence educa- time—such as the 20th century—what kind of tion in England? career might she have had? © Prentice-Hall, Inc.

30 • Biography Activity Chapter 9