Moments of Royal History - February 2nd

1141 - Forces under King Stephen are defeated at the Battle of Lincoln

Stephen, King of England

     During a period known as the Anarchy, a civil war waged in England between King Stephen and his cousin Matilda, Countess of Anjou. Stephen succeeded his uncle, Henry I, as King of England in 1135 despite Henry's choice of his daughter Matilda (who was his only legitimate child) as his heir. Matilda pressed her claim to the throne, and at Lincoln, her forces under her half-brother, Robert, Earl of Gloucester decisively defeated King Stephen and his armies in and around the city. Stephen was captured and imprisoned at Bristol, and this allowed Matilda the opportunity to become Queen, though she was not officially proclaimed as such, and would be defeated herself within a few months.

1461 - Yorkist victory at the Battle of Mortimer's Cross

The White Rose of the House of York and the Red Rose of The House of Lancaster

     In this battle of the Wars of the Roses, the Yorkist army of Edward Plantagenet, Duke of York faced the Lancastrian forces of Sir Owen Tudor and his son, Jasper Tudor, Earl of Pembroke, who were loyal to King Henry VI. Owen Tudor, a Welsh soldier, was the second husband of Catherine of Valois, the widow of Henry V, and therefore the King's step-father.

     On the day of the battle, the Duke of York and his supporters were said to have seen a meteorological phenomenon known as parhelion at the break of dawn, which three suns appeared to be rising. Duke Edward took this to represent the Holy Trinity, with the implication that God was on their side, and later took the on the image of the Sun in Splendor as a personal emblem. Sure enough, the battle was decisively won by the Yorkists, and it resulted in a rout of the Lancastrian forces and the execution of Owen Tudor. In just over a month, Edward, Duke of York would march into London and be crowned as Edward IV of England.

1901 - Funeral of Queen Victoria

     The late Queen's coffin had been moved by the Royal Yacht Alberta from the Isle of Wight to mainland Britain on February 1st. 

     On February 2nd, it was carried on a horse-drawn gun carriage through the streets of London, baring the Imperial State Crown, orb, scepter, and the Collar of the Order of the Garter. A large crowd lined the streets to pay their final respects to the Queen as the procession went through. Included in it were King Edward VII of the United Kingdom, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, King George I of the Hellenes (Greece), King Carlos of Portugal, King Leopold II of the Belgians, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary, Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovitch of Russia, as well as the Crown Princes of Germany, Romania, Greece, Denmark, Norway and Sweden, and Siam. Indeed, it was one of the last great gatherings of European royalty before World War I would see the toppling of many of these crowned heads.

     At Windsor, the horses became restless and unruly, resulting in sailors pulling the gun carriage to its final destination of St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle, where the funeral was held. Two days later, Victoria was laid to rest next to Prince Albert at the Frogmore Mausoleum in Windsor.

On This Day: January 18

1486 - Henry VII of England marries Elizabeth of York

The Tudor Rose - a symbol of the marriage of Henry and Elizabeth

     This marriage united the rival royal houses of Lancaster and York, symbolized the end of the Wars of the Roses, and marked the birth of the Tudor dynasty.

     More information, including the back story to the marriage can be found at this link.

1903 - King Edward VII of the United Kingdom and President Theodore Roosevelt communicate for the first time via radio

The Marconi station in Poldhu, Cornwall

     
     The message was sent as part of an experiment orchestrated by Guglielmo Marconi, the Italian inventor who pioneered long-distance radio transmission and wireless telegraphy. He had been successful in sending a wireless signal from Poldhu, Cornwall along Britain's southwest coast to St. John's, Newfoundland in Canada, and had sent the first radio message across the Atlantic from Nova Scotia in 1902. This message from the President to the King was tapped out in Morse Code from Marconi's station in Wellfleet, Massachusetts and was the first transatlantic radio message originating from the United States. President Roosevelt's message of greetings read as follows: 

His Majesty, Edward VII,
   London, England.

     In taking advantage of the wonderful triumph of scientific research and ingenuity which has been achieved in perfecting a system of wireless telegraphy, I extend on behalf of the American People most cordial greetings and good wishes to you and to all the people of the British Empire.

                                               THEODORE ROOSEVELT 

     King Edward responded to President Roosevelt in kind from Sandringham via the Pondhu station: 

The President,
  White House, Washington, America.

     I thank you most sincerely for the kind message which I have just received from you, through Marconi's trans-Atlantic wireless telegraphy.  I sincerely reciprocate in the name of the British Empire the cordial greetings and friendly sentiment expressed by you on behalf of the American Nation, I heartily wish you and your country every possible prosperity.

                                               EDWARD R. AND I.*

     In fact, the Pondhu station was having transmission difficulties that night, and the King's reply may have been delivered via the conventional undersea telegraph cable. Nevertheless, it was a momentous occasion in which the practical use of wireless telegraphy had been demonstrated between two heads of state, and the radio age was under way.

1919 - John, the Forgotten Prince, dies at the age of 13

     Prince John was the fifth son and the youngest child of King George V and Queen Mary. Born in 1905 when his parents were the Prince and Princess of Wales, he showed signs of mental retardation or autism by the time of his fourth birthday, and suffered an epileptic seizure that year. He was not attendant at the coronation of his father and mother in 1911, and was sent to live at Sandringham, the Royal family's private estate in Norfolk, where he was cared for by his nanny, Charlotte "Lala" Bill. Members of the family continued to spend time with John whenever possible, and the King and Queen were especially close to him. 

     However, as his condition deteriorated, it was decided to end his formal education, and he was slowly withdrawn from the public eye. With the outbreak of World War I, John saw less of his family since they were either at boarding school, in the military, or conducting other royal duties. In 1917, he was sent to live at Wood Farm, a cottage in a secluded corner of Sandringham, where he was under the sole care of Lala Bill, it was around this time that physicians warned the family that John might not survive to adulthood. Queen Mary brought in local schoolchildren to be playmates for John, and he developed a close companionship with Winifred Thomas, and girl from West Yorkshire who was sent to live with her aunt and uncle (who was in charge of the stables on the estate) in the hopes that the warmer climate would improve her asthma.

     Nevertheless, John's seizures got worse, and though he was able to be with his family for Christmas in 1918, the epilepsy and possible autism were taking its toll, and he died in the following year. It was only then that news about his epilepsy was released to the public. He was buried at St. Mary Magdalene Church on the Sandringham Estate.

     To this day, John's treatment and seclusion has been held as an example of heartlessness on the part of Royal family, but the diary entries of Queen Mary and personal accounts from people around John and the family depict them has having concern for John. His seclusion from the public had more to do with his personal safety and to keep him from large public settings due to his condition. The British Epileptic Association has stated that John's treatment was not different from that of epileptics at the time, and that it would take a generation and further studies of epileptics to conclude that such people need not be secluded or locked away.


*R and I stand for Rex Imperator, which is Latin for King Emperor.


Photo Credit: Sodacan via Wikimedia Commons cc

Royal Marriage and the Birth of the Tudors

This marriage was symbolized by the creation of the Tudor Rose.

     

     The marriage of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York on January 18, 1486 helped to seal a dynastic union between the House of Lancaster and the House of York, the two rival English royal houses that had fought for the throne for around 30 years in an on-and-off conflict known as the Wars of the Roses – so named due to the representative floral emblems: the White Rose of York and Red Rose of Lancaster. Both houses were branches of the Plantagenet dynasty, but they disagreed who had a greater claim to the throne. The war initially resulted in the Yorkists taking the Crown and killing off most of the Lancastrians, but a distant Lancastrian claimant named Henry Tudor – a man of Welsh descent who had lived in exile in France for several years – landed in Pembrokeshire, Wales with a small army to take on Richard III. At the Battle of Bosworth in 1485, Tudor and his army killed Richard and decisively defeated his forces, making Richard III the last Yorkist king and the last of the Plantagenet monarchs, which had ruled in England since 1154.

     Bosworth was a victory for the Lancastrians, and Henry Tudor was soon crowned as Henry VII of England. But in order to place his status on solid footing, the new King had to make good on his promise to marry Elizabeth of York, the eldest daughter of Richard III’s brother, Edward IV. This arrangement was the handiwork of Lady Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII, and Elizabeth Woodville, wife and Queen consort of Edward IV.

     Upon King Edward’s death in 1483, he was succeeded by his son Edward V, who at the age of twelve needed a Lord Protector  (or Regent) to act in his name during his minority. His uncle Richard, Duke of Gloucester was chosen for this role, but Richard eventually had Edward and his younger brother (also named Richard) placed under his custody in the Tower of London – where they have become known through history as the Princes in the Tower. The brothers, who were the only surviving sons of Edward IV, were eventually never seen in public again, and it has been suggested that their uncle Richard had them murdered, which cleared his path to the throne as Richard III.

     With her sons likely dead, Queen Elizabeth made contact with Lady Margaret Beaufort through an intermediary, and the two women made common cause against King Richard. Between them, it was agreed that Elizabeth would support Henry Tudor’s bid for the throne, and that Margaret would consent to the marriage of her son to Elizabeth’s daughter, Elizabeth of York, who was Edward IV’s daughter, had a better claim to the throne than Richard.

     Henry pledged to marry Elizabeth in December 1483, and when he became king, he honored this commitment. With this marriage, the Wars of the Roses came to an end, and the rival houses of Lancaster and York were united into the new House of Tudor. This was symbolized by the creation of the Tudor Rose, a combination of the Red Rose of Lancaster and the White Rose of York, which remains the representative floral emblem of England and is often seen together with the other floral emblems of the United Kingdom – the thistle for Scotland, the shamrock for Northern Ireland, and the leek for Wales. 

     The House of Tudor itself would reign in England for the next 118 years and produced five of its monarchs.