History Extra podcast Margaret Tudor: life of the week
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Oct 6, 2025 Dr. Helen Newsome-Chandler, a historical linguist specializing in late medieval queens, discusses the life of Margaret Tudor, a formidable political player. Through her extensive research on Margaret's holograph letters, Helen highlights Margaret’s strategic marriage to James IV of Scotland and her complex role as queen consort. The podcast explores how she balanced loyalties between England and Scotland, the political significance of her letters, and her enduring legacy in Anglo-Scottish relations. Listeners gain insight into the remarkable resilience of this queen.
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Unprecedented Holograph Correspondence
- Margaret Tudor wrote an unusually large archive of letters spanning 38 years that reveal her political role.
- Her correspondence makes her one of the best-documented late medieval queens in English/Scots vernaculars.
Scale And Span Of Her Letters
- About 240 letters survive, with 111 in Margaret's own hand, the largest holograph corpus for a medieval/early-modern queen.
- The archive spans from 1503 to March 1541 and reveals financial, diplomatic and personal struggles.
Letters As Political And Financial Tools
- Margaret frequently petitioned Henry VIII for money because Scottish rents from her dower lands were irregular.
- She used letters to mediate Anglo-Scots diplomacy and to push for peace between the crowns.
