Margaret Beaufort (1443-1509) survived the violent conflicts of the Wars of the Roses and went on to become the matriarch of one of England's most prominent royal dynasties. Her son, Henry VII, took the throne in 1485, becoming the first of the Tudor monarchs who would rule England until 1603.

Beaufort lived during one of the most turbulent periods in English history: the age of the Wars of the Roses. Two powerful families, the Yorks (symbolized by a white rose) and the Lancasters (symbolized by a red rose), were immersed in schemes, murders, and battles as they fought for the throne of England. As the great-granddaughter of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, Beaufort was part of this great struggle.

Born in 1443, the only surviving child of John Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, Margaret became a rich heiress at the age of eight, upon her father's death. The Lancastrian king, Henry...