Okay, y'all....I know I said that we would talk about another Plantagenet princess the next time but with all the brouhaha about Ryan Lochte and the Rio Olympics in the news (as well as the heartwarming and cool stories) I thought it might be appropriate to talk about some lesser known Olympic athletes with very inspirational stories.  

My favorite Olympic sport is artistic gymnastics.  I am aging myself by saying this but I remember Mary Lou Retton in the 1984 Olympic Games and wanting to be just like her. There may or may not have been an incident outside a local department store where I saw the jungle gyms displayed outside and before my Daddy could stop me I took off running as fast as my little legs would take me, jumped full force on the rings......and the WHOLE THING fell over.  I am sure my Daddy was absolutely mortified and my siblings got in trouble for laughing.  Anyway, back to my Mary Lou aspirations-I took ballet for a bit through a school program and can still do positions 1-5.  I also did cheerleading but alas, puberty reared its ugly head and I went from tiny to tank fairly quickly.  Even still, I always made a point to watch gymnastics for every Olympics and every time I saw it on TV (before the YouTube/DVR/OnDemand era, kids....it was hell).  My personal "glory days" of gymnastics were the late 90's and early 2000's- Khorkina and Amanar, Produnova and Raducan, Olaru and Zamo- elegance and athleticism.  I still like to watch (and man, is that Simone Biles amazing) but I miss the theatrical element that seems to have passed on in favor of power and might.  Tempus fugit. 

Anyway, for two weeks I was enthralled and I had at least one conversation per day about gymnastics, which led to watching and then to YouTubing elements that I didn't understand.  Y'all know YouTube is a wormhole, click on one video and twelve hours later you're starving and exhausted but you can spot the difference between a Tsukahara and a Cuervo with one minute glance. That's also where I found out about the two ladies I am going to talk about today- Larisa Latynina and Vera Caslavska.  Not that others weren't important- these are the two who were most intriguing to me.

Let me caveat this to say that gymnastics during the careers of these two ladies (the 50's and 60's) was a lot different than it is now- vaults, balance beam and floor exercise elements were simpler, and the uneven bars were much closer together.  Also, women gymnasts were far more developed than they are now- with the breasts and hips that make modern gymnastics more physically difficult. And the hair.....oh just wait.  

    

Larisa Latynina was a gymnast for the Soviet Union in the midst of the Cold War.  She was born in Soviet Ukraine and her father was killed at the Battle of Stalingrad.  She first practiced ballet, but her choreographer left the area so she switched to gymnastics.  She graduated high school and moved to Kiev, and made her international debut at the World Championships in Rome in 1954. From that point on she proceeded to take the gymnastics world by storm, winning gold in both World and Olympic events.  She won five out of six titles at the 1958 World Championships.....whilst FIVE MONTHS PREGNANT.  With child. Enceinte.  There's a video on YouTube of her performing at the 1958 event.....she does the splits, y'all. I don't know about y'all but when I was pregnant I thought I deserved a gold medal for waddling up two flights of stairs twice a day and keeping myself from throwing up when someone at work microwaved Chef Boyardee.  Her career lasted until 1966 and after retirement she became a gymnastics coach for the Soviet team- who won gold the 1968,1972 and 1976 Olympic Games.  During her career she participated in three Olympic Games and won 14 individual Olympic medals and 4 team medals for a total of 18- a record only broken by Michael Phelps in 2012.  

Vera Caslavska was a gymnast from Czechoslovakia (now known as the Czech Republic).  Her talent and medal count is just as impressive as Latynina's, with 11 Olympic medals. In fact, the two women competed at the same time and in many of the same competitions.  Caslavska won the silver in the 1962 Worlds and then the gold (over Latynina) in the 1964 Olympics.  She is still the record holder for most individual titles than any other gymnast and has won gold on every individual event.  Vera was born in Prague, and was originally a figure skater.  She debuted internationally at the 1958 Worlds and won silver in the team event, and medals in the 1960, 1964 and 1968 Olympic Games. Her career was impressive, but it was a simple act of respectful defiance that made her legendary (and the beehive hairdo that stayed perfect throughout).  

In August, the political situation in Czechoslovakia became precarious due to the Soviet Union's (along with Bulgaria, Hungary and Poland) invasion of Czechoslovakia.  Vera was pretty vocal about her support of the anti Communist Prague Spring, and this outspoken decision would come to a head later.  In addition, Vera lost her training facility as a result of the invasion, and had to use improvised equipment made from potato sacks and wooden beams.  But this setback didn't stop Vera.  She dominated the 1968 Olympics, winning medals in all six events.  However, after her performance on beam, the judges made a controversial decision to give the gold to Soviet Natalia Kuchinskaya, and upgraded the preliminary scores of Larisa Petrik on floor to share the gold medal with Vera.  Vera was rightfully pissed, but instead of making a big scene, she chose to protest in the quietest manner possible.  When the anthem for the USSR was played, Vera simply bowed her head down and away.  This simple act of defiance in defense of her country did not go unnoticed.  Her fellow countrymen revered her, but her federation ostracized her, depriving her of the right to travel abroad and participate in public sports events- both in Czechoslovakia and abroad.  She was effectively forced to retire and was considered a pariah in her country for many years.  She was eventually allowed to leave Czechoslovakia and go to Mexico as a coach, but it wasn't until the late 1980's (and with considerable pressure from the IOC) that she was allowed to become a coach and judge in Czechoslovakia.  She married shortly after the 1968 Olympics but divorced in 1987 and suffered from depression.  However, her life improved greatly after the fall of communism in late 1989 and was eventually named as President of the Czech Olympic Committee.  She lives quietly now and largely out of the public eye in Prague.  

That's it for this week, folks- I promise next week I'll go back to our regularly scheduled program with Margaret Plantagenet Pole, Countess of Salisbury.  Y'all have a great week...and never stop learning!

The Wars of the Roses- Margaret Beaufort, My Lady the King's Mother

The Wars of the Roses is probably one of my favorite periods in history.  The period has risen in popularity somewhat in the past few years due to television shows like Game of Thrones (yeah!) and The Tudors (booooo).   Basically, the Plantagenets (whose symbol was the white rose) and the Tudors (whose symbol was the red rose) fought for the throne of England.  The Plantagenets were known as a lusty bunch, and the stage for the Wars of the Roses and the Yorks and Lancasters came from two of the sons of Edward III. Edward and his wife, Philippa of Hainault had nine children, including the"Black Prince", Edward, who predeceased his father and whose son Richard II, became King of England. (We will talk about Edward's wife, Joan, on a separate post.) The two sons in question are John, Duke of Lancaster and Edmund, Duke of York.  


John was often called "John of Gaunt" as he was born in Ghent, Belgium. He married three times-Blanche of Lancaster, Infanta Constance of Castile and Katherine Swynford.  Blanche was the daughter of the Duke of Lancaster.  When the Duke of Lancaster died, his two daughters inherited equal portions of the estate; the older, Maud, inherited the Earldom of Leicester while her sister Blanche inherited the Earldom of Lancaster,which was part of Blanche's dowry.  When Maud died about a year later, John inherited her portion as well.  Edward III made John the Duke of Lancaster in 1362.


Blanche died at the young age of 22-23.  The children of John and Blanche had a governess named Katherine de Roet Swynford.  Y'all see where this is going. John and Katherine had an affair that began sometime after Blanche's death and lasted throughout his subsequent marriage to Constance of Castile and finally culminated in their marriage in 1396.  This affair produced four children.  Those children were born out of wedlock .   The children- surnamed Beaufort- were legitimized on the occasion of their parents' marriage but the legitimization had conditions.  Henry IV barred the Beauforts from the line of succession, so they could not inherit the throne. The stain of bastardy and subsequent legitimacy didn't affect the children too much, the children and grandchildren became dukes, earls/countesses, cardinals and a queen (Joan Beaufort, Queen of Scotland).  One of the Beaufort great grandchildren (and the most significant one to the Wars of the Roses) was a little girl named Margaret Beaufort.  More on Margaret Beaufort in a bit.  


The York line came from Edward III's fourth son, Edmund of Langley.  Edmund was a soldier who accompanied his father on numerous military campaigns.  Edmund married Isabella of Castile (sister of his brother John's second wife Constance....confused yet?) and their marriage produced three children:  Edward of Norwich (2nd Duke of York), Constance of York and Richard of Coinsburgh. Edward was killed at the battle of Agincourt. Constance married and became the great grandmother of Anne Neville. Richard became the father of the 3rd Duke of York and grandfather of both Edward IV and Richard III.  


Now that we have the major players and understand the lines of descent (more or less) we can talk about Margaret Beaufort, one of the most famous women of the Wars of the Roses.  I will caveat this by saying that Margaret is NOT one of my favorite women in history.  I believe her to be calculating, ruthless, zealous to the point of fanaticism and overly haughty, and I personally believe that she was the person responsible for the deaths of the Princes in the Tower as she (and Henry VI)  had everything to gain and nothing to lose from their deaths.  In fairness, though, if you look at her life you may understand why she became this way.  So let's look into Margaret's life a bit. 


Margaret was the daughter of John Beaufort, Duke of Somerset and Margaret Beauchamp of Bletsoe.  John was the grandson of John of Gaunt.  Somerset was planning a military expedition to France on behalf of Henry IV and negotiated with Henry IV that should he die that the wardship and marriage rights of his daughter Margaret would be given only to his wife.  This is more significant than many realize as daughters,particularly wealthy ones, were used to cement alliances with other powerful families.  Somerset went on his military campaign but when he returned he fell out with Henry VI and died soon thereafter.  At the time of his death Somerset was facing banishment from court and charges of treason. Some say that he died of an illness(fever), but others believe he committed suicide.  This left Margaret as the sole heir to his estate. Despite the arrangement made with Somerset, Henry VI arranged for Margaret's marriage to John de la Pole, the son of the first Duke of Suffolk.  John was only a year or so older than Margaret.  It was fairly common in this time for marriages between children of powerful and wealthy families to be made while the prospective spouses were still in the cradle.  However, this marriage was annulled a few years later and Margaret herself never recognized this marriage. 


Margaret's wardship was given to the two half brothers of Henry VI- Jasper and Edmund Tudor. These men were the children of the former queen Catherine of Valois, who scandalously married her husband's squire, Owen Tudor.  When Margaret was about 12, she was married to the 24 year old Edmund Tudor.  Though marriage between a girl of such tender years to a grown man twice her age is abhorrent to our modern sensitivities it was a fairly common age for girls to be married in the time, though such marriages were not usually consummated until the young lady was a bit more mature and able to physically withstand the rigors of pregnancy and childbirth.  This marriage, however, was obviously consummated as Margaret became pregnant at the age of about 13 with the child we know as Henry VII.  The war between the Lancasters and Yorks had just begun and Edmund was captured and died of the plague while in captivity, leaving the seven months pregnant Margaret a widow.  The pregnancy and birth was extremely traumatic for Margaret- she was unable to carry or birth any subsequent children and one cannot help but speculate that the cause was her young age. 


When Margaret was 14 she was married for the third time to Sir Henry Stafford. The guardianship of Margaret and Henry had been given to the powerful Herbert family after Jasper went into exile upon the ascension of Edward IV to the throne.  When Margaret married, however, Henry did not go with her.  He stayed with the Herberts.  The relationship between mother and son was mainly through letters-visits were few and far between.  This practice was also common for the time- children of nobles often "fostered" with other noble families rather than be raised by their own parents.  Fostering commonly started around the age of 6 or 7. Though this was common, one can only imagine how hard it was for Margaret to be separated from her child.  

Margaret zealously protected her child's birthright and fervently prayed for his protection and the opportunity for him to claim the right to the throne.  Margaret's fourth marriage at about 28 to Thomas Stanley,a Yorkist lord, took her to the court of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville.  Margaret ingratiated herself into the royal circle and was even chosen as godmother to one of the royal daughters.  Edward IV died and left his 11 year old son, Edward V as heir to the throne.  However, the young two sons of Edward IV, Edward V and Richard, Duke of York were declared bastards as their father had been precontracted to another woman before he married Elizabeth Woodville.  In those days, a betrothal was a legal union and contract and promising to marry was as good as the actual deed.  Richard III, therefore became king and the "Princes in the Tower" were never seen again.  

Richard was married to Anne Neville.  Anne was the dowager Princess of Wales as she had been married to Henry VI's son Edward of Middleham.  Margaret became a lady in waiting to Anne, carrying her train at the coronation.  However, she still had her son's best interests at heart- she was involved in a plot to overthrow Richard and her considerable wealth was transferred to her husband, thus preventing her from aiding the Tudors or any other anti Yorkist plot.  It was during this time that Margaret plotted with Elizabeth Woodville to betroth Henry to the eldest daughter of Edward IV, Elizabeth of York.  This marriage would unite the York and Lancaster lines and any children would carry the blood of both families.  

Most of us know what happened next- Richard III was defeated at the Battle of Bosworth Field and Henry Tudor became Henry VII of England. What a lot of people don't know is that one of the main reasons why Richard was defeated is because of Margaret's husband Thomas Stanley.  Thomas prided himself on always being on the winning side and decided to delay his troops from coming to Richard's assistance.  Richard was defeated and Stanley himself placed the crown on Henry's head.  

After Henry became king, his mother's status elevated much higher than her rank of Countess of Richmond and Derby.  She gave herself the title of "My Lady, The King's Mother" and as such only walked  one half a pace behind the Queen, Elizabeth of York. She signed her name in the style of queen regnants- "Margaret R" instead of Countess of Richmond or M. Richmond. Her son did not forget his mother- one of the first things he did was to recognize her right to hold property on her own and separate from that of her husband.  She took a vow of chastity whilst still married and lived separately from her husband for the rest of her life. Margaret was involved in many aspects of her son's life and that of the royal household, and many of the decisions that the Queen would traditionally make were made by Margaret rather than Elizabeth.  Margaret decided on the marriages of her grandchildren, their education and even the protocol for "confinement" when a royal lady was preparing to give birth.

Margaret outlived her daughter in law, Elizabeth and her beloved son Henry. Henry made her the executrix of his will and she was given the highest precedence of all the ladies in his funeral procession.  When her grandson Henry VIII ascended the throne, Margaret was known as "My Lady the King's Grandmother" but passed away shortly after Henry VIII's coronation, which she planned.  

Like her or not, there is no argument that Henry VII's ascension to the throne was largely due to the continual machinations and undying loyalty of his mother.  It was through her that he was able to make a claim to the throne and she always put him and his interests first, suffering many times financially and personally.  This single minded dedication led to one of the most famous English royal dynasties- the Tudors.  

Hope y'all enjoyed this first post.....next time we will explore another royal lady, this time a Plantagenet princess, who like so many of her relatives met a violent end.  

Hi all, and welcome to my page!  

I began this blog to share my thoughts and knowledge on women throughout history. This all started from a Facebook post I made on Juana la Loca and I had several people comment on how much they enjoyed my writing style and knowledge.  I received several friend requests but as I use Facebook primarily for personal use I thought this would be a better medium.

I can't tell you why I am so fascinated with history- it seems that it has been a part of my life since I can remember.  My parents always encouraged me to read and never stop learning. I'm a nerd and I wear that label proudly.  I don't think of these historical figures as people long dead.  We too often forget that these people had rich, full and fascinating lives.  Women, however, tend to be grossly underrepresented in history, though they are usually involved in significant portions of historical events in significant ways.  Women have been warriors, monarchs, trail blazers, and political powerhouses while simultaneously being wives, mothers, daughters, sisters and friends.  Their stories deserve to be told by someone who will do their best to do them justice.  

I will try to post at least once a week and I would be happy to hear any suggestions on topics.  Happy reading!