Owen Tudor

Tudor, Owen, d. 1461, founder of the Tudor dynasty. He belonged to an ancient Welsh family. He was a squire at the court of Henry V, and, probably in 1429, he married Henry's widow, Catherine of Valois, by whom he had five children. Twice imprisoned by Humphrey, duke of Gloucester, during Henry VI's minority, he finally escaped to Wales, although Henry later made provision for him in England. Owen, a faithful Lancastrian in the Wars of the Roses (see Roses, Wars of the), was beheaded by the Yorkists after their victory at Mortimer's Cross.