First of the Tudors

by Joanna Hickson

  ferch: daughter of

  Fychan: Welsh spelling of the English surname Vaughan and pronounced much the same.

  Evan: pron. Evin A form of the English name John

  Emrys: a form of the English name Ambrose

  Glyn Dŵr: pron. Glyn Dour. Welsh hero of a failed rebellion against the English at the beginning of 15thC. The English called him Glendower. By tradition he was Owen Tudor’s godfather and namesake, related through his mother.

  Gwyladus: Welsh spelling of English name Gladys and pronounced the same.

  Hywel: pronounced Howell in English.

  Maredudd: a man’s name, pronounced Meredith in English.

  mab: son

  merch: daughter

  Merlin: legendary bard or wiseman who taught King Arthur.

  Sian: equivalent to the English girl’s name Jane or Joan. Pronounced Shaan.

  Tudur: sometimes spelled Tudŵr. A form of the English name Theodore and the basis of the Tudor surname. The Welsh did not use surnames but were known by the name of their fathers and grandfathers. So Owen Tudor was originally Owain ap (son of) Maredudd, which was his father’s name, but he was also recorded as Owen ap Maredudd ap Tudŵr (his grandfather’s name) and it was this name that stuck, with an English spelling. Otherwise the dynasty would have been the Meredith and not the Tudor dynasty.

  Tŷ Cerrig: House of Stone.

  Ynys Mon: The Isle of Anglesey.

  Yr Wyddfa: The Great Mountain, now known as Snowdon.

  Y mab daragon: ‘The son of prophecy’ in bardic ode, destined to restore Wales to true British rule.

  AUTHOR’S NOTES

  Jasper has been occupying my thoughts – and often my dreams – ever since I wrote his birth in The Tudor Bride back in January 2013, so I’m delighted to be bringing him to prominence at last, believing as I do that he has been sadly neglected as a principal founder of the Tudor dynasty. The name Jasper was given to him by his parents but history does not reveal the reason why it was chosen. It was not a name generally in use in England during the fifteenth century but when I discovered that medieval midwives believed the gemstone jasper could relieve the pain of labour and bring about a safe delivery it seemed a perfect choice for Queen Catherine to make. Her second son by Owen Tudor is on record as having been a redhead and the gem called ‘bloodstone’, which was popular at the time, is a form of jasper. The fact that I myself was born with bright red hair may also have something to do with my warm affection for my new hero! A minor brush with genetics at university told me that a child with red hair was often the result of a fair-haired mother and a dark-haired father

  However, much though I like it, his name and hair-colour were far from being the primary reasons for choosing to write Jasper’s story. Sketchy references made to him by historians as Henry VII’s uncle and guardian were enough to whet my appetite but extensive further research revealed a hero of the old school, a man who emerged from the shadows of obscurity to become a character honed by adversity, courage, determination and a strong sense of loyalty.

  I think of him as the lead in a twentieth century Hollywood blockbuster, to be played by Errol Flynn, Cary Grant or Harrison Ford – so unlike the all-swearing, computer-graphicked anti-heroes of today! Of course in order to give his story authenticity it needed romantic interest but unfortunately in his first forty years history does not give Jasper any kind of female co-star so I have had to extrapolate from a single mention of a name, just as I did in creating Queen Catherine’s lifelong companion, Mette, in the Bride books. That he had two illegitimate daughters is documented but their mother is unknown. However, when Henry Tudor’s second son Henry (later King Henry VIII) was born, Margaret Beaufort brought in a woman called Jane Hywel to be the governess of his nursery. I thought it unlikely that the redoubtable Lady Margaret would have introduced a stranger for such a job and concluded that she must have been very familiar with this woman’s skill with children. The rest of Jane Hywel’s life, as related in First of the Tudors, is entirely fictional, although a Hywel Fychan was one of the relatives brought to England from Wales by Owen Tudor during his marriage to Queen Catherine and appears as a minor character in The Tudor Bride.

  Owen Tudor’s illegitimate son, Sir David (Davy) Owen, lived a real and well-documented life but his mother is unknown, as is the woman who lit candles around Owen’s severed head in the Hereford marketplace but I have always liked the name Myfanwy, ever since reading John Betjeman’s poem of that name! Except for Jane’s family and the farm at Tŷ Cerrig and Jasper’s ‘secret’ sister Meg, her house and family, all other locations and people are drawn directly from historical sources, although their characters are fleshed out from the skimpy recorded detail and some of their actions are fictional, just as ruined buildings are restored and empty rooms refurnished in order to bring history to life. Such is the nature of historical fiction!

  Queen Marguerite of Anjou has been well and variously depicted in fiction but I have chosen to use her French name throughout in order to differentiate her from Margaret Beaufort, another essential element of this story and a character who will have plenty more to offer in my next novel. I have also had Marguerite insist that her son be called by the French version of his name so that he is not confused with (King) Edward of York. Besides, I think Marguerite was a stroppy enough character to fly in the face of English bias against the French!

  The Earl of Warwick is believed to have revelled in his sobriquet ‘The Kingmaker’ but I’m afraid I hold to the belief that Jasper performed that task just as ably as Warwick and also, although faced with far greater trials and set-backs, remained steadfastly loyal to the king he served. It was hardly his fault that in combat he was saddled with two notoriously self-serving Lancastrians; Harry Holland, Duke of Exeter and James Butler, the ‘Fleeing Earl’ of Wiltshire. Readers of my next novel may be happy to discover that Jasper was not always defeated in battle!

  Finally, dear reader, if I have omitted to explain any further fictions or anomalies please feel free to tax me with them via my Facebook Page (Joanna Hickson), my Twitter account (@joannahickson) or on Goodreads, where I will endeavour to respond as soon as possible. Meanwhile if you have enjoyed First of the Tudors I hope you will consider reading young Harri Tudor’s story in my next novel which, while being very much Harri’s story, will pick up where this one finishes; so you will discover more of Jasper, Jane, Elin, Sian, Davvy and Margaret Beaufort, as well as many ‘new’ historical characters.

  Thank you for reading!

  Joanna

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  When launching into a new writing venture it can be galling if the subject you have been brooding for years suddenly becomes flavour of the moment and other books and articles emerge which cover the same person and period as yours. However I was lucky in that Welsh historian Sara Elin Roberts published her definitive biography Jasper, The Tudor Kingmaker a few months before my novel and was kind enough to share with me some of her insight into his life and character over a very convivial lunch in Anglesey, while I was researching in the Tudor heartland where she lives, and in subsequent exchanges of emails. So warmest thanks to her and to Nathan Amin, who writes copiously on the Tudors, in print and on his very informative online blog. Among many others, two research books I found particularly helpful were the recently revised edition of The Making of the Tudor Dynasty by Welsh academics Ralph A Griffiths and Roger S Thomas and the definitive biography of Henry VII by the late and celebrated Welsh historian, Professor Stanley B Chrimes. These are highly recommended as future reading if you are interested in taking your knowledge of Jasper and the emergence of the Tudors further. And should you wish to go back to (almost) contemporary sources you cannot do better than consult (in translation unless you speak Latin!) the history commissioned by King Henry VII from Polydore Vergil, an Italian historian who became a naturalized Englishman in 1510 and first published his Anglia Historia in print in 1534, during the reign of Henry VIII. Obviously it is biased towards its c
ommissioner’s dynasty but nevertheless remains the account that gets nearest to the facts of what brought the Tudors to prominence.

  A good deal of Jasper’s story is set in Wales and several enjoyable research trips were made there, including one very wild sortie into Snowdonia to view Tŷ Mawr Wybrnant, the 15th Century farmhouse where Bishop William Morgan was born, who first translated the bible into Welsh. It is currently run by the National Trust and well worth a visit, being the building on which I based the fictional Tŷ Cerrig farmhouse. But I advise you to choose fair weather and a full tank of petrol, because on our exit from its remote location in the depths of winter my husband and I found ourselves lost in a snowbound wilderness without a mobile signal and no sign of life for many icy miles. It gave me a very good idea of how lonely and stark was the landscape in which Jasper spent his outcast days in the high mountains. The location of Tŷ Cerrig was based on another place rooted in the 15thC – Cors y Gedol, a house and estate a few miles north of Barmouth (Abermaw), which is privately owned but used for weddings etc. Thanks are due to the owners for not complaining when I lurked around the policies taking notes and photographs. Other fruitful research locations were the castles of Caernarfon, Harlech and Pembroke and Lamphey Palace, all open to the public through Cadw, the Welsh government department responsible for preserving its history. I visited Lamphey on a wildlife evening and was privileged to hold a tame tawny owl throughout the expert’s talk, an experience I thoroughly enjoyed. Apart from that it is a beautiful place, full of atmosphere and interest with reference to First of the Tudors.

  And now to the people who are truly crucial to this book. There would be no meticulously-edited, beautifully-presented, dauntlessly-marketed and purposefully-publicised Joanna Hickson novels without the skilful and friendly team I am so lucky to have behind me at Harper Fiction: my champion and publisher Kimberley Young, fearless and fabulous editor Kate Bradley, charming and capable editorial assistant Charlotte Brabbin and faithful copy editor Joy Chamberlain. All deserve my heartfelt thanks and a special mention should go to Holly Macdonald, who designed the new look for the jacket, which I absolutely love and I am sure readers will too. Katie Moss is still with me on the digital side of publicity – thanks, Katie – and the lovely Jaime Frost continues to handle publicity and public relations without which words do not reach readers.

  Penultimate and huge thanks to Jenny Brown, my Scottish friend and literary agent – a doyenne of her ilk and the enthusiastic, well-connected, knowledgeable and stylish lady by whom it is my privilege to be represented.

  And finally I am delighted to be publishing a book with HarperCollins in the same year that my friend and mentor Barbara Erskine celebrates the thirtieth anniversary of her ground-breaking dual-period debut novel Lady of Hay, which is still very much in print, as are all her sixteen subsequent books. So I congratulate her on a fantastic achievement and thank her for reading the manuscript of The Agincourt Bride six years ago and thinking it worth mentioning to her editor over a convivial lunch. The latest result of that serendipity is in your hands, dear reader, and if you haven’t read Barbara’s books, start now – you will love them!

  Joanna

  If you enjoyed First of the Tudors, look out for Joanna Hickson’s compelling Tudor Trilogy, out now

  Click here to buy now

  [The Agincourt Bride [ePub edition] 978-0-00-744698-8

  [The Tudor bride [ePub edition] 978-0-00-744700-8

  [RED ROSE, WHITE ROSE [ePub edition] 978-0-00-744702-2

  About the Author

  Joanna Hickson spent twenty five years presenting and producing News and Arts programmes for the BBC. Her first published book was a children’s historical novel Rebellion at Orford Castle but more recently she has turned to adult fiction, concentrating on bringing fifteenth century English history and some of its fascinating principal characters to life.

  She is married with a large family and gets inspiration from her Wiltshire farmhouse home, which dates back to her chosen period.

  Twitter @joannahickson

  Also by Joanna Hickson

  The Agincourt Bride

  The Tudor Bride

  Red Rose, White Rose

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