HISTORICAL APPENDIX.
I. THE HOUSE OF LANCASTER, AND ITS CONNECTION
WITH THE HOUSE OF TUDOR.
Catherine, sixth and youngest daughter of Charles VI. King of France, and Isabeau of Bavaria, was born at the Hôtel, de St. Pol, Paris, Oct. 27th, 1401; and died at Bermondsey Abbey, London, Jan. 3rd, 1437. She was buried in Westminster Abbey, after many years of neglect, during which her corpse, dried to the appearance of a mummy, had been made a show to strangers. Surnamed The Fair. One historian tells us that she was a most devout woman, perpetually at prayer: but the excessively wayward, impulsive, selfish character of all her actions during her queenly life points to the conclusion that this refers exclusively to her later days: as otherwise we should be impelled to the unwelcome but unavoidable surmise that her prayers were allowed to have very little effect upon her conduct. She married—
(1) King Henry V. of England, eldest son of Henry IV. and Mary Bohun: born at Monmouth, Aug. 9th, 1387: married at Troyes Cathedral, June 3rd, 1420: died at Vincennes, of fever, Aug. 31st, 1432: buried in Westminster Abbey.
(2) Owain, surnamed Twdwr (often contemporaneously spelt Tydier), son of Meredith ap Twdwr and Margaret, daughter of David Vychan: born at Snowdon, date unknown: wardrobe-keeper to Queen Catherine, whom he married in 1428: beheaded, after the battle of Mortimer's Cross, at Hereford, Feb. 2nd, 1461: buried in Grey Friars' Church, Hereford.
ISSUE OF CATHERINE OF FRANCE. (A) By Henry V.:—
1. HENRY VI., surnamed The Holy, born at Windsor (in direct contravention of his father's orders) Dec. 6th, 1421: deposed Mar. 4th, 1461; restored, Oct., 1470; again deposed, Apr. 11th, 1471; died in the Tower, London, May 21 [? 27th—see text], 1471: buried first at Chertsey Abbey, afterwards in St. George's Chapel, Windsor.
Though to some extent weak in intellect, and subject, like his maternal grandfather, to occasional attacks of mental aberration, Henry was, on the testimony even of his enemies, one of the best men that ever lived. His strongest asseveration was "Forsooth," at a time when it was customary for men, and even women, to use profane language in the freest manner. He was "wholly given to prayer, Scriptures, and alms-deeds." A Bishop who was his confessor for ten years, bore witness that he had during that time, "never confessed a mortal sin." In person, Henry was not handsome, having the large, strongly-marked features of his Valois ancestors: but his hands and feet were extraordinarily small; so much so that a pair of his boots (still preserved) can only be worn by a woman of slender proportions. His hair and eyes were dark brown. He married—
MARGUERITE, second daughter of René of Anjou, King of Naples, and Isabelle of Lorraine: born at Pont à Mousson, Mar. 23rd, 1429, and baptized in Toul Cathedral: married by proxy, in St. Martin's Church, Tours, Apr. 10th [?], and in person at Titchfield Abbey, Hants, Apr. 22nd, 1445: died at Château Dampierre, near Saumur, in Normandy, Aug. 25th, 1482: buried in Angers Cathedral. The hope expressed in the text as to the Christian character of Marguerite is not a mere baseless imagination. There is evidence showing that in her later years at least, she possessed and was familiar with a French Bible: and in those days persons did not, as a rule, read the Scriptures in their own language as a mere matter of form or custom.
(B) By Owain Twdwr:—