William Dugdale, The Baronage of England, vol.3 (London, 1676)īetty King, The Lord Jasper (Leicester: Ulverscroft, 2001) It appears probable that this relationship and Mevanvy were invented by a novelist trying to romanticise the life of the man who seems to have lived a life of service to others rather than indulging in his own pleasures. There is, however, a novel by Betty King called The Lord Jasper, first published in the 1970s, where the relationship of Jasper and Mevanvy was given clear field (as well as that with Margaret Beaufort). I have been unsuccessful in finding out where this Mevanvy was first mentioned. Dugdale simply reports Jasper as ‘leaving no other issue than one illegitimate Daughter, called Ellen, who became the Wife of William Gardner, Citizen of London’, a statement based on a book of a contemporary of Dugdale’s. The earliest known reference is in William Dugdale’s Baronage of England dating to 1676, but this gives only Ellen as Jasper’s illegitimate daughter and again does not mention Mevanvy. In fact, there is no official or contemporary mention at all of his daughters – not even Jasper’s will refers to the girls or Mevanvy – and there is no evidence for their existence in any remaining contemporary source. There is, of course, a possibility that she was his mistress until around the early 1460s but there is no mention of any other children he had with her. In spite of this, there is no actual proof whatsoever that Jasper’s relationship with Mevanvy ever took place. Lately it has been questioned whether or not this Stephen Gardiner was in fact their son and another individual, Thomas Gardiner, has also been suggested. Helen/Ellen and William Gardiner had at least one son, Stephen Gardiner, who became a well-known figure under the Tudor monarchy during Henry VIII’s reign, and four daughters. As a blood relation of the winning side Sir William’s trade as a clothier was much enhanced by the custom of aristocratic and even royal buyers. Jasper’s alleged second daughter, Helen or Ellen, is said to have been born in 1459 and married, after 1485, to William Gardiner (son to Thomas Gardiner and Anna de la Grove), a cloth merchant who became a spearman for the Lancastrians at the Battle of Bosworth. It is believed that Joan herself died while giving birth, but Morgan, in 1499, married Thomas Cromwell’s sister Katherine Cromwell in Putney Church, Norwell, Nottinghamshire, and so became fourth-generation ancestor to Oliver Cromwell. Joan, supposed to have been born in 1453, is said to have married William ap Yevan (son of Yevan ap William and Margaret Kemoys) by whom she had twin sons called Morgan and John ap William(s) born in Lanishen, Wales, in 1479. It is alleged that, sometime in the 1450s, Jasper had a love affair with a certain Welshwoman named Mevanvy ferch Daffydd from Gwynedd and by her had two illegitimate daughters, Helen or Ellen and Joan, both said to have been born in Snowdonia. I hope that the following explanation will make the position clear. I need hardly say that this is certainly not the case at all. It is entirely understandable that someone would be pleased and proud to think themselves to be related to such an heroic person, but it does, however, surprise me that, when I try to explain that the chance of being an actual ‘relative’ of Jasper is very slight, people react as if I’m deliberately offending them or trying to undermine their castles in the air. They claim to be his 17th great-great-grand daughter or his 18th great-grand niece, sometimes even a few times removed – something which would be lovely if only it were true. Very often I receive messages and comments on my posts from people, mostly women, saying they are descended from Jasper Tudor, Earl of Pembroke and later Duke of Bedford, through his daughters Helen/Ellen or Joan. I’m pleased to be part of a blog tour for Debra Bayani, author of a new biography: Jasper Tudor: Godfather of the Tudor Dynasty! Jasper Tudor has always intrigued me, and I’m eager to learn more about him.
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