Lady Margaret Beaufort Wreath Laying
Tuesday, 31st May 2005
In 1505, the Lady Margaret Beaufort, mother of King Henry VII, and founder of the Tudor dynasty, re-founded the college of God's House (first established in 1437 for the training of grammar school masters) naming it Christ's College.
This years' wreath laying on 31st May by representatives of Christ's College, Cambridge, was led by Canon Robert Wright and celebrates their founding. The Chaplain of Christ's College introduced the prayers and the Master of the College laid the wreath at her tomb.
The date, 31st May, is the anniversary of Lady Margaret's birth at Bletsoe, near Bedford, in 1443.
Lady Margaret was a woman of great piety and learning and established not only Christ's College at Cambridge, but St John's College too. Her friend and confessor Bishop John Fisher said of her at her funeral:
Every one that knew her loved her, and everything that she said or did became her.
She died on 29th June 1509 in Cheyneygates, at what was the Abbot's House.
