Arthur, Prince of Wales
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This article is about the son of Henry VII of England. For the third son of Queen Victoria, see Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn.
English Royalty |
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House of Tudor |
Henry VII |
Arthur, Prince of Wales |
Margaret, Queen of Scots |
Henry VIII |
Elizabeth Tudor |
Mary, Queen of France |
Edmund, Duke of Somerset |
Arthur Tudor (20 September 1486 St Swithin's Priory, Winchester– 2 April 1502 Ludlow Castle) was the eldest son of Henry VII of England. Henry named his eldest son Arthur after the hero of Arthurian legend, partly as a sign of his hopes for a rebirth of English greatness, and partly to emphasise the Tudor family's links to Wales.
Arthur was born to Henry and his queen, Elizabeth of York, at Winchester on September 19 or 20, 1486, but was never a robust child. The hopes of the newly-established Tudor dynasty were nevertheless pinned on him. He was Duke of Cornwall from birth, and was created Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester on November 29, 1489.
At the age of two, a marriage was arranged for Arthur, to the Spanish princess Catherine of Aragon through the Treaty of Medina del Campo. They were married in November, 1501, and departed for Ludlow on the Welsh border, where Arthur normally resided in his capacity as Prince of Wales and President of the Council of Wales and the Marches. The following spring, he died of a fever, possibly caused by the damp weather conditions. Medical researchers recently speculated that Arthur's death was due to an outbreak of hantavirus among rodents in Wales. The question of whether his marriage to Catherine was ever consummated would have a powerful effect on the subsequent history of Britain.
Arthur was buried in Worcester Cathedral; the memorial to him, "Prince Arthur's Chantry", was erected in the cathedral in 1504. His younger brother, Henry, inherited his titles, eventually acceding to the throne as King Henry VIII of England. In due course, a papal dispensation was obtained, enabling Henry to marry his brother's widow, Catherine. The grounds cited for their eventual divorce were the circumstances of her previous marriage to Arthur.
Arthur bore a marked resemblance to his father and brother, the future Henry VIII, with red hair, small eyes, and the Tudor high-bridged nose.
[edit] Additional reading
- Fraser, Antonia, The Six Wives of Henry VIII, ISBN 0-7493-1409-5
- "Royal Tutors in the Reign of Henry VII", David Carlson, Sixteenth Century Journal Vol. 22, No. 2 (Summer, 1991), pp. 253-279
[edit] External links
- Prince Arthur biographical sketch on Find-A-Grave
Preceded by Edward of Middleham, Prince of Wales |
Prince of Wales | Succeeded by Henry VIII of England |
Edward VIII (1910-1936) · George V (1901-1910)· Edward VII (1841-1901) · George IV (1762-1820) · Prince Frederick (1727-1751) · George II (1714-1727) · The Old Pretender (1688-1689) · Charles II (1630-1649) · Charles James (1629) · Charles I (1612-1625) · Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales (1603-1612) · Edward VI (1537-1547) · Edward Tudor (1536) · Henry Tudor (1534) · Henry Tudor (1514) · Henry Tudor (1511) · Henry VIII (1502-1509) · Arthur, Prince of Wales (1486-1502) · Edward of Middleham (1483-1484) · Edward V (1470-1483) · Edward of Westminster (1453-1471) · Henry VI (1421-1422) · Henry V (1399-1413) · Richard II (1376-1377) · Edward, the Black Prince (1337-1376)