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Thomas Bourchier was an English cardinal and Archbishop of Canterbury. He was the son of William Bourchier and Anne of Gloucester, and the half-brother of Humphrey Stafford, 1st Duke of Buckingham (father of Lady Margaret Beaufort’s third husband, Sir Henry Stafford). Educated at Oxford University, Thomas was appointed Chancellor of the University in 1434. In the same year, he was made Bishop of Worcester and in 1443, consecrated as Bishop of Ely. In 1454, Thomas was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury and also served briefly as Lord Chancellor of England from 1455. He was made a cardinal in 1467 and died in 1486 at Knole House, Kent. He was buried at Canterbury Cathedral.

The father of Lady Margaret Beaufort, John Beaufort was the second son of John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset, and Margaret Holland, and a descendant of John of Gaunt. He was an English nobleman and a military commander during the Hundred Years’ War, accompanying his cousin, Henry V of England, on campaigns in France. In 1425, he was captured while fighting and imprisoned until his release in 1438. He married Margaret Beauchamp of Bletso in 1439. In 1443, he was created 1st Duke of Somerset and made a Knight of the Garter. Following his death in 1444, the dukedom passed to his brother, Edmund Beaufort.

Edmund Beaufort was an English nobleman and a key protagonist in the English Wars of the Roses. A descendant of John of Gaunt, Edmund was the son of John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset, and Margaret Holland. He married Eleanor Beauchamp between 1431 and 1433, and the couple had ten surviving children. He was also the cousin of Henry VI of England and Richard, Duke of York, with whom he bitterly contested control of the crown following the deterioration in the health of Henry VI and his ability to rule. Tensions between Edmund and Richard culminated in a confrontation known as the First Battle of St Albans in 1455, in which Edmund was killed. The battle marked the beginning of a series of bloody conflicts between the Houses of York and Lancaster.

Born at Rouen in Normandy, the second son of Richard, 3rd Duke of York, and Cecily Neville, Edward IV was the first Yorkist king of England and a key protagonist in the English Wars of the Roses. He became king in March 1461, after the defeat of the Lancastrian army at the Battle of Towton, and reigned until 1470, when he was overthrown. In 1471, Edward regained control of the crown and reigned again until his death in 1483. He was wedded to Elizabeth Woodville and the couple had ten children, including Elizabeth of York, the wife and Queen of Henry VII of England.

Roger Lupton was an English lawyer, Provost of Eton College, and chaplain to both Henry VII and Henry VIII of England. He was born in Sedbergh, Yorkshire and studied at Cambridge University. He was elected Fellow and Provost of Eton College in 1503/4, a position he retained until 1535. Lupton financed the foundation of Sedbergh School from 1525 and in 1527, established six scholarships at St. John’s College, Cambridge, to be awarded to students of Sedbergh School. He was an executor of Henry VII’s will. After his death in 1539/40, Lupton was buried at Eton College, in a side chapel commissioned by him.

Thomas Grey was an English landowner, courtier and peer. He was the son of Thomas Grey, 1st Marquess of Dorset, and Cecily Bonville, and the grandson of Queen Elizabeth Woodville. The wife of Henry VII of England, Elizabeth of York, was the half-sister of the 1st Marquess, and the younger Thomas became a ward of the king in 1492. He was made a knight of the Bath in 1494 and a knight of the Garter in 1501. As a prominent courtier, Thomas took part in a number of diplomaticmissions overseas and fulfilled various duties at court. He was also an active soldier and was present at the siege of Tournai and the Battle of the Spurs in 1513. He was married to (1) Eleanor St John and (2) Margaret Wotton. On his death in 1530, Thomas Grey was one of the wealthiest men in England, the owner of multiple large estates. He was buried at Astley in Warwickshire.

Lady Elizabeth Talbot was a daughter of John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury, and Lady Margaret Beauchamp. She was married to John de Mowbray, 4th Duke of Norfolk.

Henry Beaufort was an important military figure in the English Wars of the Roses. The son of Edmund Beaufort and Eleanor Beauchamp, Henry was born c.1436 and first fought alongside his father on the Lancastrian side at the First Battle of St Albans in 1455. In the nine years that followed, Henry continued to engage in a number of military campaigns against the Yorkists, culminating in his capture and execution at the Battle of Hexham in 1464. Henry died unmarried and without issue. He was buried at Hexham Abbey.

Lady Eleanor Beauchamp was the second daughter of Richard de Beauchamp and Elizabeth de Berkeley. She married Thomas de Ros, 8th Baron de Ros, in 1423. After the death of her first husband in 1430, Eleanor married Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset. Her final marriage was to Walter Rokesley. She died in 1467 at Baynard’s Castle in London.

Meynnart Wewcyck was a Flemish painter. He was responsible for drawing the design for Lady Margaret's tomb, a copy of which was then given to the sculptor in charge of producing the gilt-bronze tomb effigy, Pietro Torrigiano.

Born in 1430 to Owen Tudor and the dowager queen Catherine of Valois at Much Hadham Palace in Hertfordshire, Edmund Tudor was the half-brother of Henry VI of England and father to Henry VII. After the death of his mother in 1437, Edmund and his brother Jasper were raised in the care of Katherine de la Pole, the eldest daughter of the 2nd Earl of Suffolk, Michael de la Pole. He became a prominent member of the royal court of Henry VI and was ennobled as Earl of Richmond in 1449.

In 1453, Edmund was given the wardship of the then nine-year old Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond and Derby. The two were married two years later at Bletsoe Castle on 1st November 1455 and the marriage was subsequently consummated. However, Edmund died before the birth of their son, Henry.

As half-brother to the King, Edmund was inevitably implicated in the bloody power struggles of the Wars of the Roses. In late 1455, he was sent to Wales to enforce the authority of the King and remained there until August 1456 in order to suppress a rebellion led by Gruffydd ap Nicholas. During this time, however, Henry VI was incarcerated by Richard, Duke of York, who resumed the office of Protector and sent troops under William Herbert in August 1456 to seize South Wales. On reaching Carmarthen Castle, Herbert’s forces captured Edmund and imprisoned him in the Castle. He died in captivity in November 1456.

Henry Stafford was the second son of Humphrey Stafford, 1st Duke of Buckingham, and the third husband of Lady Margaret Beaufort, his second cousin. They were wedded in January 1458 and enjoyed a long and ostensibly amicable marriage until Stafford’s death in 1471. Like Lady Margaret, Stafford backed the House of Lancaster during the early years of the Wars of the Roses and fought alongside the Lancastrians at the battle of Towton in March 1461. However, following his pardon by Edward IV of England in June 1461, Stafford retained a cautious allegiance to the Yorkist King in subsequent challenges to his sovereignty. Stafford supported Edward at the Battle of Losecoat Field in 1470 and again at Barnet in 1471, where he was wounded during the conflict and later died from his injuries.

Henry VIII was King of England from 1509 until his death in 1547. He was the second son of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York, and grandson of Lady Margaret Beaufort. Born Henry Tudor in June 1491, he was raised with his sisters and received a first-class education under the supervision of his grandmother, who helped to ensure that Henry was tutored by some of the finest scholars of the day. After the death of his older brother, Arthur, in 1502, he became the new heir to the throne and was crowned King of England following the death of his father on 23rd June 1509, shortly before Henry’s eighteenth birthday. By this time, he had married his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, his brother’s widow. The couple had only daughter who survived infancy, Mary, born in 1516.

Henry is often noted for having had six successive wives during the course of his life. His second marriage to Anne Boleyn in 1533 followed the annulment of his marriage to Catherine and, in the face of papal opposition, a break with the Church of Rome that led in turn to the English Reformation and the appointment of Henry as Supreme Head of the Church of England. His marriage to Anne, and subsequent marriages to Jane Seymour (m.1536), Anne of Cleves (m.1540), Catherine Howard (m.1540), and Catherine Parr (m.1543), resulted in two further children: a daughter, Elizabeth, born to Anne Boleyn in 1533, and a son, Edward, born to Jane Seymour in 1537.

Henry’s reign saw important changes not only to the formation of the church, but to the legal union of England and Wales, with the Laws in Wales Acts of 1535 and 1542, and to England’s relationship with Ireland, following the Crown of Ireland Act of 1542. Henry also introduced significant measures to expand and develop the Royal Navy and engaged in an active, albeit expensive and often unsuccessful, foreign policy of wars against King Francis I of France and the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. While as a young man he was highly-respected for his learning, athleticism and handsome appearance, the latter years of Henry’s life were characterised by periods of ill health and increased paranoia. He died in 1547 and was interred in St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle.

Lady Margaret Beaufort was mother to King Henry VII of England and foundress of St. John’s College. Born on 31st May 1443 at Bletsoe Castle in Bedfordshire, she was the daughter of Margaret Beauchamp of Bletsoe and John Beaufort, 1st Duke of Somerset, and a descendant of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster. Margaret’s first marriage to John de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk, took place c.1450, although this marriage was never recognised by Margaret herself and was dissolved in 1453. Her second marriage to Edmund Tudor, half-brother of King Henry VI of England, took place on 1st November 1455, when Margaret was twelve years of age. Soon after, Margaret fell pregnant with Edmund’s child. In November 1456, she was widowed when Edmund, fighting on the Lancastrian side of the Wars of the Roses, was captured by Yorkist forces and died in captivity at Carmarthen. A few months later, Margaret gave birth to her only son, the future Henry VII of England, at Pembroke Castle in Wales, where she was protected by her brother-in-law, Jasper Tudor.

In 1458, Margaret married Sir Henry Stafford, the son of Humphrey Stafford, 1st Duke of Buckingham. While the couple bore no children, Margaret enjoyed a long and close relationship with her husband until his death in 1471. Margaret’s fourth and final marriage to Thomas Stanley, the Lord High Constable and King of Mann, took place in June 1472.

After the success of her son, Henry, in securing the crown at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485, Margaret benefited significantly from her newfound authority as the King’s mother and wielded considerable power within the royal court. She was highly influential and a wealthy landowner and patron, generously donating money for the foundation of schools and colleges, including God’s House, Cambridge, which was refounded in 1505 as Christ’s College, and St. John’s College, founded in 1511 after her death with money from her estate. The Lady Margaret Professorship in Divinity, held respectively at Oxford and Cambridge universities, was established in her name in 1502.

Margaret died on 29th June 1509 and was buried in the Henry VII Chapel at Westminster Abbey, in a tomb created by the Florentine sculptor, Pietro Torrigiano. She remains a central figure in the history of the early Tudor dynasty and in the foundation of St. John’s College.

Daughter of John Flygh, yeoman of the wardrobe to Henry VII. Alice was married to Edmund Stanhope, son of Henry Stanhope.

Likely to be Henry Stanhope, son of Sir John Stanhope (1412-1493) and Elizabeth Talbot. Henry Stanhope married Joan Rochford of Stoke Rochford around 1476. Their son, Edmund Stanhope, was buried in the chapel at Houghton.

Likely to be Edward Stanhope, born at Rampton in or around the early 1470s, son of Sir Thomas Stanhope, and a member of the prominent Nottinghamshire Stanhope family. Edward fought both at the Battle of Stoke in 1487 and at the Battle of Blackheath in 1497, whereupon he was knighted for his valour. He served as Sheriff of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire; Steward of Wakefield; and Constable of Sandale Castle, West Yorkshire. He was married first to Avelina Clifton, daughter of Sir Gervas Clifton, and second, to Elizabeth Bourchier, daughter of Foulk Bourchier, Lord Fitz-Waren.

Chamberer and companion to Lady Margaret Beaufort.

Henry VII, born Henry Tudor, was King of England from August 1485 to April 1509. He was the only son of Lady Margaret Beaufort and Edmund Tudor, 1st Earl of Richmond, born at Pembroke Castle in Wales in 1457.

Henry never met his father, who died several months prior to Henry’s birth. Henry and his newly-widowed mother, thirteen years old at the time, were therefore initially protected by Henry’s uncle, Jasper Tudor, Earl of Pembroke. In 1561, guardianship of Lady Margaret and Henry passed to William Herbert, who assumed the Earldom of Pembroke after Jasper’s exile abroad. Henry lived in the Herbert household until Herbert’s death in 1469.

When Edward IV of England regained control of the crown in 1471, Henry was one of a number of Lancastrians who fled to Brittany. Henry’s main claim to the English crown and challenge to the Yorkist king was through Lady Margaret, who was the great-granddaughter of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster. During most of the next fourteen years, Henry was protected by Francis II, Duke of Brittany. By 1483, he held the strongest claim to sovereignty on the Lancastrian side.

In August 1485, Henry finally defeated the incumbent Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth in order to become King of England. His coronation was held in Westminster Abbey on 30 October 1485. When Henry married Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV, in early 1486, he not only reinforced his existing claim to the English throne, but also brought an end to the long-standing conflict known as the Wars of the Roses, fought between the two rival branches of the royal House of Plantagenet.

Henry’s reign of almost twenty-four years was characterised by relative stability and fiscal prudence. He was father to four children by Elizabeth: Arthur, Margaret, Henry and Mary. In April 1509, Henry died of tuberculosis at Richmond Palace. He is buried alongside his wife, Elizabeth, in a specially-commissioned chapel at Westminster Abbey.

Richard Howland was admitted as a pensioner at Christ's College on 18 March 1558 but migrated to SJC. He graduated B.A. in 1561. He was elected to the felllowship of Peterhouse in 1562 and proceeded to M.A. in 1564. In 1569, he was presented to the rectory of Stathern, Leicestershire by the Master and fellows of Peterhouse. He was appointed Master of Magdalene College by Lord Burghley in 1576. Howland was tipped to replace John Whitgift as master of Trinity upon Whitgift's resignation but the crown had already selected John Still to replace Whitgift. Howland was chosen to take Still's place as the head of St John's.

He was admitted Master 20 July 1577, finding a college full of religious dissensions but with new statutes. The choice of a successor threatened to involve the college in a fierce internal struggle and it was arranged that Howland should continue to hold the mastership with his bishopric (Peterborough); he resigned in February 1586.