John Beaufort, 1st Duke of Somerset

John Beaufort, 1st Duke of Somerset KG (1404 – 27 May 1444) was an English nobleman and military commander during the Hundred Years' War.

John Beaufort
1st Duke of Somerset
John Beaufort, 1st Duke of Somerset, detail from his effigy in Wimborne Minster, Dorset
Earl of Somerset
Predecessor	Henry Beaufort, 2nd Earl of Somerset (elder brother)
Successor	Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset (younger brother)
Born	25 March 1404
Died	30 May 1444 (aged 40)
Buried	Wimborne Minster church
Family	Beaufort
Spouse	Margaret Beauchamp of Bletso
more... Issue Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond and Derby
Father	John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset
Mother	Margaret Holland

Chest tomb and effigies of John Beaufort, 1st Duke of Somerset and his wife in Wimborne Minster, Dorset

Origins

Arms of Beaufort, Earls and Dukes of Somerset: Royal arms of England differenced by a bordure compony argent and azure

Born on 25 March 1404, he was the second son of John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset (1371-1410), the eldest of the four legitimized children of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, by his mistress Katherine Swynford. John of Gaunt was the third surviving son of King Edward III. His mother was Margaret Holland (1385-1439), a daughter of Thomas Holland, 2nd Earl of Kent, the son of Joan "the Fair Maid of Kent", a grand-daughter of King Edward I and wife of Edward the Black Prince (eldest brother of John of Gaunt) and mother of King Richard II

Career

In 1418 he became 3rd Earl of Somerset, having succeeded his elder brother Henry Beaufort, 2nd Earl of Somerset (1401-1418), who died unmarried, aged 17, whilst fighting for the Lancastrian cause at the Siege of Rouen in France, under the command of their uncle Thomas Beaufort, Duke of Exeter (1377-1426).

French Campaign & imprisonment

He fought in the 1419 French campaigns of his cousin King Henry V. In 1421 he accompanied his step-father Thomas of Lancaster, Duke of Clarence (the king's younger brother) on a campaign in Anjou, France. Thomas was killed at the Battle of Baugé (22 March 1421), while Somerset and his younger brother were captured and imprisoned for 17 years. On 25 March 1425 Somerset came into his majority, but his paternal estates had to be managed by his mother for the next thirteen years of his imprisonment. He remained imprisoned until 1438 and having been ransomed, became one of the leading English commanders in France.[1]

Created Duke of Somerset

Heraldic achievement of John Beaufort, 1st Duke of Somerset, KG, detail from his Garter stall plate in St. George's Chapel, Windsor. It is the earliest garter plate with supporters.[2] The badge of an ostrich feather, here shown as a pair, is blazoned: A feather the pen componée argent and azure, as the Beaufort bordure. The sinister supporter is a Beaufort Yale

In 1443 John was created Duke of Somerset and Earl of Kendal, was made a Knight of the Garter and appointed Captain-General of Guyenne. He presided over a period during which England lost much territory in France and proved a poor commander. Humphrey of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Gloucester, regent for the young King Henry VI, was unable to control the administration of justice and finance, which led to widespread lawlessness. At the beginning of the second protectorate of Richard, Duke of York, Gloucester declined the office of Lieutenant-Governor, which was then accepted by Somerset, who drew from it a salary of 600 pounds.

He was appointed Admiral of the Sea to the army commander John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury,[3] who from August 1440 besieged Harfleur, which had been in French hands for five months. King Charles VII of France sent a large army under Richemont. The English dug a double ditch rampart with only 1,000 men, while Somerset's squadron prevented a French landing by sea, using archers to pick off the enemy at short range. Having been thus frustrated the French withdrew to Paris and lifted the siege. The town surrendered to the English and was re-occupied. York was incensed that John's uncle Cardinal Henry Beaufort advised the king to sue for peace. Somerset advised King Henry that peace was humanitarian and that the king of France was determined to seize Pontoise.[4] When York arrived in Normandy in 1441 to the campaign, Somerset had resigned. But the fall of Pontoise to Charles, Duke of Orléans in September 1441 weakened English garrisons and in Gascony the situation was even worse.[5] The Beauforts sent Sir Edward Hull, who arrived at Bordeaux on 22 October 1442 to inform York that a huge army would arrive commanded by Somerset. York was ordered to fortify Rouen; just as the king and Dauphin of France were threatening Bordeaux and Aquitaine and seized the town of Dax Somerset dithered; York was held back as Guyenne was being lost.

Meanwhile, the Duke of York, fighting alongside the tactician Lord Talbot, had been appointed Lieutenant for all France. With the Duke of Gloucester's wife Eleanor charged with treason, Somerset took the opportunity in April 1443 to declare himself Lieutenant of Aquitaine and Captain-General of Guyenne. By then, the negotiations Somerset had started as Captain-General of Calais had failed. These two factors turned York against the Beauforts. But the last straw was the payment of £25,000 to Somerset while York remained heavily in debt. Furthermore, Guyenne was consuming precious resources otherwise destined for Normandy.[6]

Death & burial

In August 1443 Somerset led 7,000 men to Cherbourg and marched south to Gascony; the duke was ill. He blundered into Guerche, a Breton town with which England had signed a peace treaty. But Somerset set all prisoners free, accepting money from the Duke of Brittany. Marching aimlessly through Maine, he returned that winter to England.[7] His death in 1444,[8] possibly by suicide, and that of his uncle the Cardinal, marked the end of Beaufort influence and left the door open for William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk, to dominate the government.[9] The lasting effect of these events was burning resentment between the House of York and the remaining members of the Beaufort family.

Marriage & issue

In 1439 he married Margaret Beauchamp, a daughter of Sir John Beauchamp, de jure 3rd Baron Beauchamp (d.1412/14) of Bletsoe in Bedfordshire, by his second wife Edith Stourton, a daughter of Sir John Stourton of Stourton, Wiltshire. By his wife he had an only daughter and sole heiress:

• Lady Margaret Beaufort (1443-1509), who married Edmund Tudor, 1st Earl of Richmond (1430-1456) by whom she was the mother of King Henry VII, the first of the Tudor dynasty.

Succession

As he died without male issue his dukedom passed to his younger brother Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset (1406-1455).

Illegitimate issue

His illegitimate issue included:

• Tacine of Somerset, who being foreign-born was made a denizen of England 20 June 1443. She married (before 29 Sept. 1447) Reynold (or Reginald) Grey, 7th Lord Grey of Wilton by whom she had one son:
  • John Grey, 8th Lord Grey of Wilton;
• John of Somerset (c.1444–1453)

Titles and styles

• 1st Duke of Somerset (28 August 1443 – 27 May 1444)[10]
• 1st Earl of Kendal (28 August 1443 – 27 May 1444)[10]
• 3rd Earl of Somerset (25 November 1418 – 27 May 1444)[11]

Ancestry

Ancestors of John Beaufort, 1st Duke of Somerset

16. Edward II of England[12] 8. Edward III of England[13] 17. Isabella of France[12] 4. John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster[14] 18. William I, Count of Hainaut[15] 9. Philippa of Hainault[15] 19. Joan of Valois[15] 2. John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset[14] 10. Payne de Roet[16] 5. Katherine Swynford[17] 1. John Beaufort, 1st Duke of Somerset 24. Robert de Holland, 1st Baron Holand[18] 12. Thomas Holland, 1st Earl of Kent[19] 25. Maud la Zouche[18] 6. Thomas Holland, 2nd Earl of Kent[14] 26. Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent[20] 13. Joan of Kent[19] 27. Margaret Wake, 3rd Baroness Wake of Liddell[20] 3. Margaret Holland[14] 28. Edmund Fitzalan, 9th Earl of Arundel[21] 14. Richard Fitzalan, 10th Earl of Arundel[19] 29. Alice de Warenne[21] 7. Alice Fitzalan[22] 30. Henry, 3rd Earl of Lancaster[23] 15. Eleanor of Lancaster[23] 31. Maud Chaworth[23]

Notes

1. Harriss, G.L. (1988). Cardinal Beaufort: A Study of Lancastrian Ascendancy and Decline. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
2. Planché, J.R. (1852). Pursuivant of Arms. p. xx.
3. Burne 2005, p. 422.
4. Burne 2005, p. 426.
5. Jacob 1961, p. 470.
6. Jacob 1961, p. 468.
7. Burne 2005, p. 435–6.
8. Harriss 2004.
9. Burne 2005, p. 438.
10. Cokayne 1953, p. 47.
11. Cokayne 1953, p. 45.
12. Weir 2008, p. 92.
13. Weir 2008, p. 232.
14. Brown 2004.
15. Weir 2008, p. 93.
16. Weir 2007, p. 6.
17. Marshall 2003, p. 50.
18. Browning 1898, p. 288.
19. Weir 2008, p. 125.
20. Weir 2008, pp. 94–95.
21. Weir 2008, pp. 97, 104.
22. Weir 2008, pp. 94, 125.
23. Weir 2008, p. 77.

References

• Brown, M.H. (2004). "Joan (d. 1445)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/14646. Missing or empty |url= (help)
• Browning, Charles H. (1898). The Magna Carta Barons and Their American Descendants. London: Genealogical Publishing Company.
• Burne, A.H. (2005). The Hundred Years War. London: Folio.
• Cokayne, G. (1953). G.H. White (ed.). The Complete Peerage. 12.1 (2nd ed.). London: St. Catherine Press.
• Harriss, G.L. (2004). "Beaufort, John, duke of Somerset (1404–1444), magnate and soldier". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online). doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/1862. Archived from the original on 7 February 2019.
• Jacob, E.F. (31 December 1961). The Fifteenth Century 1399–1485. Oxford History of England. 6. Oxford: Clarendon Press. ISBN 978-0-19-821714-5.
• Marshall, Rosalind (2003). Scottish Queens, 1034–1714. Tuckwell Press.
• Weir, A. (2007). Mistress of the Monarchy: The Life of Katherine Swynford, Duchess of Lancaster. London: Random House. ISBN 978-0-345-45323-5.
• Weir, A. (2008). Britain's Royal Families: The Complete Genealogy. London: Vintage Books. ISBN 978-0-09-953973-5.

Further reading

• Griffiths, R.A. (1981). The Reign of King Henry VI. London: Ernest Benn. ISBN 0-510-26261-9.
• Harriss, G.L. (1988). Cardinal Beaufort: A Study of Lancastrian Ascendancy and Decline. Oxford: Clarendon Press. ISBN 0-19-820135-4.
• Jones, Michael K. (1981). "John Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, and the French Expedition of 1443". In R.A. Griffiths (ed.). Patronage, the Crown and the Provinces in Later Medieval England. Stroud: Sutton Publishing. pp. 79–102. ISBN 0-904387-45-3.
• Jones, Michael K. (1982). The Beaufort family and the war in France, 1421–1450 (PDF) (PhD). University of Bristol. OCLC 71194555.

External links

• "Duke of Somerset". Shakespeareandhistory.com.
• A page in his memory including a picture of his grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/18690