Richard Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick

Richard Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick KG (25 or 28 January 1382 – 30 April 1439) was an English medieval nobleman and military commander.

Richard Beauchamp
13th Earl of Warwick
Arms of Sir Richard Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick, KG, as depicted on his stall plate at St. George's Chapel. With inescutcheon of pretence of de Clare quartering Despencer.
Tenure	8 April 1401 – 30 April 1439
Other titles	Count of Aumale
Born	25 or 28 January 1382[1] Salwarpe Court, Worcestershire, England
Died	30 April 1439 (aged 57) Rouen, Normandy, France
Nationality	English
Residence	Warwick Castle
Spouse(s)	Elizabeth de Berkeley Isabel le Despenser
Issue With Elizabeth de Berkeley Margaret, Countess of Shrewsbury Eleanor, Duchess of Somerset Elizabeth, Baroness Latimer With Isabel le Despenser Henry, Duke of Warwick Anne, 16th Countess of Warwick
Parents	Thomas de Beauchamp, 12th Earl of Warwick Margeret Ferrers

Stained glass depiction of Richard Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick (with original hands and head missing, replaced by head of a woman), St Mary's Church, Warwick. Arms on his tabard: Beauchamp quartering Newburgh with inescutcheon of pretence of Despencer. Fragments of a bear from the Bear and Ragged Staff badge of the Earls of Warwick is visible

Early life

Beauchamp was born at Salwarpe Court[2] in Salwarpe, Worcestershire, the son of Thomas de Beauchamp, 12th Earl of Warwick and Margaret Ferrers, a daughter of William Ferrers, 3rd Baron Ferrers of Groby.[1] His godfather was King Richard II of England.[2]

He was knighted at the coronation of King Henry IV, and succeeded as Earl of Warwick in 1401.[3]

Welsh rebellion

Soon after reaching his majority and taking responsibility for the Earldom, he saw military action in Wales, defending against a Welsh rebellion led by Owain Glyndŵr. On 22 July 1403, the day after the Battle of Shrewsbury, he was made a Knight of the Garter.

In the summer of 1404, he rode into what is today Monmouthshire at the head of an English force. Warwick engaged Welsh forces at the Battle of Mynydd Cwmdu, near Tretower Castle a few miles northwest of Crickhowell, nearly capturing Owain Glyndwr himself, taking Owain's banner, and forcing the Welsh to flee. The Welsh were chased down the valley of the River Usk where they regrouped and turned the tables on the pursuing English force, attempting an ambush. They chased the English in turn to the town walls of Monmouth after a skirmish at Craig-y-Dorth, a conical hill near Mitchel Troy.[4]

Chivalry and Pilgrimage

Seal of Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick

Warwick acquired quite a reputation for chivalry, when in 1408 he went on pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and was challenged many times to fight in the sporting combat which was then popular. On the return trip he went through Russia and Eastern Europe; in 1410 he tried to join Teutonic Order after the battle of Grunwald,[5] not returning to England until later the same year.[6]

Soldier of the King

In 1410, he was appointed a member of the royal council, and two years later he was fighting in command at Calais. Up to this time Warwick's career had been that of the typical knight-errant, but in 1413 he was Lord High Steward at the Prince's coronation as Henry V of England, and became a trusted counsellor to the king.[6] The following year he helped put down the Lollard uprising, and then went to Normandy as Captain of Calais, and represented England at the coronation of Sigismund as King of Germany[6] and the Council of Constance.[7]

Warwick spent much of the next decade fighting the French in the Hundred Years' War. He took a prominent part in the campaigns of 1417–18. Then he joined the king before Rouen, and in October 1418 had charge of the negotiations with the dauphin Louis and with the duke of Burgundy. Next year he was again the chief English spokesman in the conference at Meulan, and afterwards was Henry's representative in arranging the Treaty of Troyes. He held high command at sieges of French towns between 1420 and 1422.[6]

In 1419, he was created Count of Aumale, as part of the King's policy of giving out Norman titles to his nobles. He was appointed Master of the Horse.

Responsibilities

Henry V's will gave Warwick the responsibility for the education of the infant Henry VI of England. This duty required him to travel back and forth between England and Normandy many times, and during these travels he acted as superintendent of the trial of Joan of Arc.[6] In 1437, when the king's minority ended, the Royal Council deemed his duty complete. Despite his age (then 55), he loyally accepted an appointment as lieutenant of France and Normandy. Arriving in Normandy on 8 November, he ruled with vigour[6] and remained in France for the remaining two years of his life.

Marriages and children

Warwick first married Elizabeth de Berkeley (c. 1386 – 28 December 1422), before 5 October 1397, the daughter of Thomas de Berkeley, 5th Baron Berkeley and Margaret de Lisle, 3rd Baroness de Lisle. Together they had 3 daughters:

• Lady Margaret de Beauchamp (1404–1468), who married John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury, and whose great-great-grandson, John Dudley, was created Earl of Warwick and subsequently, Duke of Northumberland.
• Lady Eleanor de Beauchamp, (1407–1467) who first married Thomas de Ros, 8th Baron de Ros, and then married Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset.
• Lady Elizabeth de Beauchamp (1417–1480), who first married George Neville, 1st Baron Latimer, and then married Thomas VI Wake of Blisworth (1435–1476).

Warwick then married Lady Isabel le Despenser (26 July 1400 – 1439), the daughter of Thomas le Despenser, 1st Earl of Gloucester and Constance of York. With Isabel, who was also the widow of his first cousin, Richard de Beauchamp, 1st Earl of Worcester, his children were:

• Henry de Beauchamp (born March 1425), who succeeded his father as Earl of Warwick, and later became Duke of Warwick.
• Lady Anne de Beauchamp (born September 1426), who succeeded as the 16th Countess of Warwick in her own right, after the death of her niece. She married Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, famously known as the "Kingmaker".

Death and Burial

Effigy of Richard de Beauchamp in the Beauchamp Chapel of St Mary's Church, Warwick. The finest piece of English 15th-century bronze sculpture, modelled and cast by William Austen of London, and gilded and engraved by Bartholomew Lambespring, a Dutch goldsmith.[8]

Richard de Beauchamp's will was made at Caversham Castle in Oxfordshire (now in Berkshire), one of his favoured residences, in 1437. Most of his property was entailed, but with a portion of the rest the will established a substantial trust. After his debts were paid, the trust endowed the Collegiate Church of St Mary in Warwick, and called for the construction of a new chapel there. It also enlarged the endowment of the chantries at Elmley Castle and Guy's Cliffe, and gave a gift to Tewkesbury Abbey.[9] Beauchamp died in Rouen, Normandy, two years later, on 30 April 1439.[10] After the completion of the chapel, his body was in 1475 transferred there,[9] where his magnificent gilt-bronze monumental effigy may still be seen.

Ancestors

Ancestors of Richard Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick

16. William de Beauchamp, 9th Earl of Warwick 8. Guy de Beauchamp, 10th Earl of Warwick 17. Maud FitzJohn 4. Thomas de Beauchamp, 11th Earl of Warwick 18. Ralph VII de Toeni, Lord Toeni of Flamsted 9. Alice de Toeni 19. Mary ?? 2. Thomas de Beauchamp, 12th Earl of Warwick 20. Edmund Mortimer, 2nd Baron Mortimer 10. Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March 21. Margaret de Fiennes 5. Lady Katherine Mortimer 22. Sir Piers de Genevelle 11. Joan de Geneville, 2nd Baroness Geneville 23. Jeanne of Lusignan 1. Richard de Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick 24. William Ferrers, 1st Baron Ferrers of Groby 12. Henry Ferrers, 2nd Baron Ferrers of Groby 25. Margaret Segrave 6. William Ferrers, 3rd Baron Ferrers of Groby 26. Theobold Verdon, 2nd Baron Verdun 13. Isabel Verdon 27. 3. Margaret Ferrers 28. Robert d'Ufford 14. Robert d'Ufford, 1st Earl of Suffolk 29. Cecily de Valiones 7. Margaret Ufford 30. Sir Walter Norwich 15. Margaret Norwich 31. Catherine Hedersete

Notes

1. Carpenter, C. (2004). "Beauchamp, Richard, thirteenth earl of Warwick (1382–1439)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online). doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/1838.
2. Richard Gough, Description of the Beauchamp chapel, adjoining to the church of St. Mary, at Warwick. And the monuments of the earls of Warwick, in the said church and elsewhere (Warwick Town, St Mary, 1803), p. 17
3. John Ashdown-Hill, "Eleanor the Secret Queen", (The History Press, 2009, ISBN 978-0-7524-5669-0), p. 23
4. Ian Mortimer, "Henry IV: The Self-made King"
5. Richard Barber, The knight and chivalry [Polish edition].
6. Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Warwick, Richard Beauchamp, Earl of" . Encyclopædia Britannica. 28 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 339.
7. John Ashdown-Hill, "Eleanor The Secret Queen", Page 24 The History Press, 2009 ISBN 978-0-7524-5669-0
8. Encyclopaedia Britannica, 9th.ed., vol 21, p.559-60, Sculpture
9. Hicks, Michael (November 1981). "The Beauchamp Trust, 1439–87". Historical Research. 54 (130): 135–149. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2281.1981.tb01223.x.
10. Tompsett, Brian. "de Beauchamp, Richard of Warwick, Earl of Warwick 13th". Royal Genealogical Data. Retrieved 6 November 2011.

References

• Gairdner, J. (1885). "Beauchamp, Richard de, Earl of Warwick (1382–1439)" . In Stephen, Leslie (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. 4. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
• Hicks, Michael (1981). "The Beauchamp Trust, 1439–87". Historical Research. 54 (130): 135–149. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2281.1981.tb01223.x. reprinted in Richard III and His Rivals.

External links

• Sir Richard de Beauchamp Knight, 13th Earl of Warwick at Ancestral Trails Genealogy.