To know the origin of the Beaufort family we have to start from the figure of the English prince John of Ghent, son of King Edward III and Duke of Lancaster (hence the name of the house to which his descendants belonged). From his marriage in 1359 with Blanca de Lancaster, Henry IV was born, who proclaimed himself king of England in 1399, dethroning his cousin Richard II. Juan de Gante married in second nuptials in 1371 with Constanza de Castilla. From this marriage was born Catalina de Lancaster, first princess of Asturias, queen of Castile and grandmother of Isabel la Católica. What happened to Henry IV and Catherine of Lancaster is not the subject of this entry (those who want more information can see it in the links to the articles dedicated to them).
For what interests us today we have to focus on the link between Juan de Gante and his lover Katherine Swynford (represented in the image that heads the entry). Four children (John, Henry, Thomas and Joan) were born from this union during the 1370s, who adopted the surname Beaufort. The fact that all four were born out of wedlock to a married man made these illegitimate offspring ineligible to inherit their father's family titles and estates.
When his wife Constance of Castile died in 1394, Juan decided to remarry. Although he could have chosen any marriageable young European royal, Juan decided to acknowledge his longtime faithful companion and lover, Katherine Swynford. The couple married in Lincoln on January 13, 1396. Their children were then aged between 24 (John) and 17 (Joan). John of Ghent only had one legitimate heir, Henry Bolingbroke (the future Henry IV) and he decided that it was important for him to have the support of his half-brothers without weighing them down with the stigma of bastardy.
The illegitimacy of a son not only deprived him of the possibility of inheriting the titles and properties of his father, but also of obtaining preferential treatment in the event that they chose to make a career within the church. To solve both obstacles, it was necessary to request recognition of the legitimacy of children born before marriage by civil and canon law.
Juan de Gante addressed both the Pope and the English Parliament to ensure that the four offspring of his union with Katherine Swynford were legitimized. Papal recognition was granted in September 1396. And Parliamentary recognition in January 1397, when a law declared that King Richard II, in the exercise of his power and with the ratification of Parliament, granted the children of John of Ghent and Katherine Swynford are considered legitimate descendants of their father for all purposes. This included the right to access "all honors, dignities, eminences, properties, degrees and public and private offices, both perpetual and temporary, noble and feudal, by whatever name they may be designated, whether Duchies, Principalities, Counties , Baronies or others”.
As we have pointed out above, in 1399 the eldest son of Juan de Gante and Blanca de Lancaster, Enrique IV, half-brother of the Beauforts, had acceded to the throne. When the question of his legitimacy was raised in 1397 it seemed unlikely that descendants of John of Gaunt were in the line of succession to the throne (John was the third son of Edward III). However, when Henry IV usurped the throne in 1399, his (already legitimized) half-siblings were much closer in that line of succession.
In 1407 the eldest of the Beauforts, John, then Earl of Somerset, petitioned Parliament to reconfirm the legitimacy of his family. His request was approved, but a small but very significant variation was made on the original text. They were granted access to "all honors, dignities, except royal dignity , pre-eminence…».
This crucial addition leaves no doubt about the intended goal:to exclude the Beauforts (now much closer in line than in 1397) from accession to the throne. It is not very clear what was the reason that led to adding this prevention to the recognition of the legitimacy of the Beauforts, who had always been loyal to their half-brother Henry IV and his son, the future Henry V, hero of Agincourt. Nor does it seem likely that the Beauforts would have expressed any ambition to succeed to the throne.
However, the reason for this entry is not to discern what caused them to be removed, but rather whether this modification of the initial recognition of the Beaufort's legitimacy was carried out in a legally binding manner. And it is here that Nathen Amin, author of the work that serves as the source for this entry, draws attention to an important aspect:the initial resolution of 1397 had been approved by a law ratified by Parliament. Any modification to its content should have followed the same procedure (either through its repeal and replacement by a new law, or through a regulation that modified the previous one). However, the addition of 1407, although it was sanctioned by Enrique IV, did not go through the process of parliamentary ratification.
For Nathan Amin, this nuance means that the exclusion of the Beaufort line of succession was not validly established and that, therefore, what should prevail was the law of 1397, which recognized their right to access any dignity, including the real. This would make all descendants of the Beauforts (including Henry Tudor as Margaret Beaufort's son) indeed entitled to the English throne.
Regardless of whether or not what Amin pointed out is correct (it has left me with some doubt, especially about who and how the addition of 1407 was promulgated), the truth is that the main objections raised about the right to the crown that could Having Henry Tudor comes not so much from the exclusion of the Beauforts from the line of succession, but from other factors.
In the first place, the expulsion by violence of the previous king appointed by Parliament (when Henry acceded to the throne after the battle of Bosworth and was appointed by Parliament, he made Parliament set the date of his accession on the day before the battle). And secondly, that Margaret Beaufort was neither the only nor the first representative of the Lancaster house (without going any further, in 1470 the last king of the Lancaster dynasty, Henry VI had appointed George of Clarence, who in 1485 had a living son, the Earl of Warwick).
Be that as it may, Henry Tudor acceded to the throne of England in 1485, although that did not prevent him from being subjected to various attempts to dethrone him by those who claimed to have a better right to the throne than him. … But that's another story.