Jasper Tudor, Duke of Bedford (c. November 1431 – 21 December 1495) was the uncle of King Henry VII of England and a leading architect of his nephew's successful accession to the throne in 1485.

[1] Jasper was the second son of Sir Owen Tudor and the former queen Catherine of Valois, the widow of King Henry V of England.

Jasper, his brother Edmund, and possibly a sister were put into the care of Katherine de la Pole, abbess of Barking Abbey, in Essex, from July 1437 to March 1442.

[4] She was the sister of William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk, a great favourite of Henry VI, and was able to provide Jasper and his siblings with food, clothing, and lodging.

[10] In turn, Edmund and Jasper swore unwavering loyalty to Henry and fought and promoted him and his Lancastrian family's interests persistently throughout their lives.

Owen and Catherine's marriage was not recognised by the authorities, in large part due to the secrecy under which it was accomplished, and so the legitimacy of Jasper and his two (or three) siblings was questionable.

After 1485, he would describe himself as the "high and mighty Prince Jasper, brother and uncle of Kings, Duke of Bedford and Earl of Pembroke".

[18] Subsequently, he remained in touch with his sister-in-law, Margaret of Anjou, wife of his half-brother Henry VI and he held Denbigh Castle for the House of Lancaster in 1460.

For 11 years, the Château de Suscinio became an armed camp, alert against any attempt to kidnap Jasper and Henry and return them to England, where they were under attainder and would have been promptly executed as threats to the Yorkist rule.

In mid-1484, when the Duke of Brittany was incapacitated with illness, his treasurer, Pierre Landais, who took over the reins of government, reached an agreement with the new Yorkist king, Richard III of England, to send Jasper and his nephew back to England in exchange for a pledge of 3,000 English archers to defend Brittany against a threatened French attack.

Jasper and Henry then managed to escape separately, hours ahead of Landais' soldiers, across the nearby border into France.

[21] Shortly afterwards, when Duke Francis II had recovered, he offered the 400 remaining Lancastrians, still at and around the Château de Suscinio, safe-conduct into France and even paid for their expenses.

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 King of Arms (d.

[30] In the 19th century the account was embroidered, to make Ellen (or Helen) the mother of Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester and Lord Chancellor.

[32] Jasper Tudor died at Thornbury Castle on 21 December 1495, and was buried at Keynsham Abbey in Somerset, which Lady Agnes Cheyne, the incumbent of Chenies Manor House, bequeathed to him in 1494.