Editing Jasper Tudor (section)

==Marriage and children==
Jasper was married on 7 November 1485 to [[Catherine Woodville, Duchess of Buckingham and Bedford|Catherine Woodville]] (c. 1458–1497).<ref>{{cite book|last=Marius|first=R.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DdAYSzj20t0C|title=Thomas More: A Biography|publisher=Harvard University Press|year=1999|isbn=978-0-674-88525-7|page=119|access-date=21 February 2022}}</ref> She was the daughter of [[Richard Woodville, 1st Earl Rivers]] and [[Jacquetta of Luxembourg]], and was sister to [[Edward IV of England|King Edward IV's]] queen [[Elizabeth Woodville]] and to [[Anthony Woodville, 2nd Earl Rivers]] and [[Richard Woodville, 3rd Earl Rivers]]. She was the [[widow]] of [[Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham]], who had been executed for treason in 1483. There were no children of her marriage with Jasper Tudor.

===Illegitimate issue===
Jasper Tudor acknowledged paternity of no illegitimate children during his lifetime and none are recognised in his will.

The earliest formal source for any illegitimate child of Jasper Tudor appears to be the [[Heraldic Visitation]] of the northern counties in 1530 by Thomas Tonge, [[Norroy and Ulster King of Arms|Norroy King of Arms]] (d. 1534).<ref>The 1530 Heraldic Visitations were carried out by the Kings of Arms under warrants granted by King Henry VIII.</ref> The records of Tonge's Heraldic Visitation were first published in 1836, by the [[Surtees Society]].<ref>Edited by the antiquarian W. Hylton Dyer Longstaffe FSA. At the time of publication in 1836, there were two copies of the records of this Visitation: one, presumed to be Tonge's original notes, was held in the [[College of Arms]]; the other, a more polished copy, was included with the [[Harleian Library|Harleian MSS]] in the British Museum (now in the British Library). The 1836 publication publishes the copy in the Harleian MSS without collation to the College of Arms copy: see the preface to the 1836 publication.</ref> They contain a claim by Prior Gardener, of Tynmouth Monastery in Northumberland, to be the son of Ellen/Helen, a bastard daughter of Jasper Tudor, Duke of Bedford, and her husband William Gardener. The heraldic arms claimed by Prior Gardener include a shield [[Impalement (heraldry)|impaling]] the arms of Jasper Tudor, 'debruised by a [[Bend (heraldry)#Bend sinister and "bar sinister"|bend sinister]]'.<ref>''Heraldic Visitation of the Northern Counties in 1530 by Thomas Tonge, Norroy King of Arms'' (1836); online at [https://archive.org/details/heraldicvisitat00britgoog]; section on 'The Monasterie of Tynmouth' (pp 35–6 in the 1836 publication). This states that the Prior "whose name ys GARDENER ... ys descended of the noble Queen Kateryn, wyfe of Kyng Henry the vith ... For the said Quene Kateryne was after maryed to Owayn Teddur, by whom he had yssue ... Jasper Duc of Bedford. Whiche Jasper begat a bastard doughter called Ellen, maryed Willyam Gardener, who was father to my said Lord Priour". The record adds: "Be it noted that the said PRIOUR OF TYNMOUTH, hath given unto me, Norrey King of Arms of the North parties, this pedigre and armes of his awne reporte, which he woll offerme at all tymes to verefy and approve before the Kynge and his Counsaill, that this pedigre is true and the armes also."</ref>

Thomas Gardyner was appointed prior of Tynmouth in 1528. He was then a monk of Westminster Abbey, and 'familiar to followers of the Tudor household as a grandson of the King's great-uncle, Jasper'. His appointment as prior was actively supported by [[Mary Boleyn]], and it is most likely that [[Thomas Wolsey]] also approved, as the priory was a dependency of St Alban's Abbey, where Wolsey was abbot.<ref>''The Dissolution of the Monasteries'' (2021) James G Clark at pages 149–150, 157, 550 note 85, citing Pearce E.H. ''The Monks of Westminster'' (1916) at p 175, and Smith D.M. ''Heads of Religious Houses III 1377–1540'' (2008) at p 154.</ref>

The next source dates from the late 17th century, nearly two hundred years after Jasper Tudor's death. [[William Dugdale]]'s ''Baronage of England'' (1675–6) states that Jasper Tudor "departed this Life&nbsp;... leaving no other Issue than one Illegitimate Daughter, called Ellen/Helen, who became the Wife of William Gardner, Citizen of London".<ref>"Iasper of Hatfeild Earl of Pembroke and Duke of Bedford", in William Dugdale's ''Baronage of England'' (1675–6) vol iii p. 241 at 242, online at [https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A36794.0001.001/1:14.21?rgn=div2;view=fulltext] retrieved 15 February 2018.</ref> Dugdale (1605–1686), an eminent antiquarian and scholar,<ref>[http://www.college-of-arms.gov.uk/about-us/some-past-heralds College of Arms, 'Some Past Heralds'] retrieved 15 February 2018.</ref> was Norroy King of Arms (1660–1679) and Garter King of Arms (1679–1686). The records of Tonge's 1530 Visitation held by the [[College of Arms]] would have been available to Dugdale.<ref>See [http://www.college-of-arms.gov.uk/about-us/records-and-collections College of Arms, 'Records and Collections'] (retrieved 15 February 2018); and the preface to the 1836 Surtees Society publication of Tonge's 1530 Visitation. As Norroy King of Arms, Dugdale, like Tonge, was the member of the College of Arms with heraldic jurisdiction for the counties of England north of the River Trent.</ref>

In the 19th century the account was embroidered, to make Ellen (or Helen) the mother of [[Stephen Gardiner]], Bishop of Winchester and Lord Chancellor.<ref>See, for example: Burke, ''Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerages of England, Ireland and Scotland'' (1831) at pp 524–5; {{Cite DNB|wstitle= Tudor, Jasper |volume= 57 |last= Archbold |first= W.A.J. |author-link= |pages= 288–290 |year= |short=1}}: "[Jasper Tudor]&nbsp;... left an illegitimate daughter, Helen, who is said to have married William Gardiner, and to have been the mother of Stephen Gardiner [q.v.]"; [[The Complete Peerage|G.E.Cokayne's ''The Complete Peerage'']], First edition (1887–1898), 2nd revised edition ed by V. Gibbs, vol ii (1912) at p. 73 n. (d): "Helen, his illegit. da. m. William Gardiner, citizen of London, and was mother of Stephen, the celebrated Bishop of Winchester".</ref> The account that Gardiner was a descendant of Jasper Tudor is now discredited: it appears that this assertion arose from confusing Stephen Gardiner, the Bishop, with Thomas Gardiner, Prior of Tynmouth.<ref>''Plantagenet Ancestry: A Study in Colonial And Medieval Families'', Douglas Richardson (2nd edn, 2011) at pp. 368–371.</ref>