15th-century English noble
Henry Beaufort, 3rd Duke of Somerset
(26 January 1436
[
citation needed
]
– 15 May 1464) was an important
Lancastrian
military commander during the English
Wars of the Roses
. He is sometimes numbered the 2nd
Duke of Somerset
, because the title was re-created for his father after his uncle died. He also held the subsidiary titles of
5th Earl of Somerset
,
2nd Marquess of Dorset
and
2nd Earl of Dorset
.
Biography
[
edit
]
Somerset, born about January 1436, was the son of
Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset
, and
Eleanor
, daughter of
Richard Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick
and widow of Thomas, fourteenth baron Roos of Hamlake.
[a]
From 1443 to 1448 Henry was styled Count of Mortain or Morteign, and from 1448 to 1455 Earl of Dorset. While still a youth he fought at the
First Battle of St Albans
(1455), where he was wounded and his father was killed; thereby he inherited the title of
3rd Duke of Somerset
.
He was regarded as "the hope of the [Lancastrian] party",
[3]
but he also inherited the "enmities entailed upon him by his father's name".
[4]
He was brought to the council at Coventry, where in October 1456 an effort was made to reconcile the two parties; but the meeting was disturbed by quarrels between Somerset and Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, and by a brawl between Somerset's men and the town watch of Coventry. In 1457 Queen
Margaret of Anjou
suggested a marriage between Somerset and his cousin
Joan
, sister of
James II of Scotland
, but the proposal came to nothing. On 14 October of that year Somerset was made lieutenant of the
Isle of Wight
and warden of
Carisbrooke Castle
. Early in 1458 he took part in the council at London which again endeavoured to effect a political reconciliation, and it was agreed that
Richard, Duke of York
should pay the widowed Duchess of Somerset and her children an annual pension of five thousand marks as compensation for the death of the 2nd Duke.
He then participated in
The Love Day
with the King, Queen and other leading nobles.
The truce, however, was hollow; Margaret continued to intrigue against York, and in October 1458 proposed that Somerset should be appointed
captain of Calais
in place of Warwick. War broke out in 1459, and Somerset nearly encountered Warwick at Coleshill just before the
Battle of Blore Heath
. After the defeat of Lancastrians at Blore Heath and before the Lancastrian victory at Ludford Bridge, he was on 9 October nominated captain of Calais. He crossed the Channel and was refused admittance to Calais by Warwick's adherents, but made himself master of the outlying fortress of
Guisnes
(appointing
Andrew Trollope
its bailiff). Somerset fought several skirmishes with the Yorkists between Calais and Guisnes until on 23 April 1460 he suffered a decisive reverse at the Battle of Newnham Bridge (called
Pont de Neullay
by the French).
[5]
During his absence the Yorkists had won the
Battle of Northampton
, but Somerset joined the Lancastrians at Pontefract in December 1460, captured a portion of the Yorkist forces at Worksop on 21 December, and won the Lancastrian victory at the
Battle of Wakefield
on 30 December. He marched south with Margaret and fought at the
Second Battle of St Albans
(17 February 1461). This second victory was not followed up; the Lancastrians retired north, and on 29 March
Edward IV
won the
Battle of Towton
(29 March 1461). Somerset escaped from the battlefield, and in the following July was sent by Margaret to seek aid from
Charles VII of France
. Charles died before their arrival, but
Louis XI
summoned Somerset to
Tours
and sent him back in March 1462 laden with promises of support, but with very little else.
Somerset now began to consider making his peace with Edward IV. He had been
attainted
by parliament on 4 November 1461, and most of his lands had been granted to Edward's brother
Richard, Duke of Gloucester
and other Yorkists.
[6]
On his return from France he took command of the Lancastrian forces in Scotland while Margaret went to France, and in the autumn of 1462 he was holding
Bamburgh Castle
for the Lancastrians. On 24 December, however, he and Sir Ralph Percy, the Governor of Bamburgh Castle, surrendered the castle and submitted to King Edward. The king took him to London, and treated him with marked favour. He received a general pardon on 10 March 1462/1463,
[7]
and was restored to his dignities by act of the parliament which met on 29 April following.
[8]
Somerset, however, soon returned to his old allegiance. Early in 1464 he escaped from
Holt Castle
in North Wales, where he seems to have been kept in some sort of confinement, and after nearly being recaptured made his way to Margaret on the borders. The Lancastrians now made one more effort to recover the crown, but at the
Battle of Hexham
on 15 May 1464 they were utterly defeated by
John Neville, 1st Marquess of Montagu
.
Somerset was captured in a barn at the site of what is now known as Dukes House, and beheaded shortly afterwards that same day. He was buried at
Hexham Abbey
.
[b]
Parliament annulled the act restoring him to his dignities, which again became forfeit and were never restored.
Somerset was unmarried, and his younger brother,
Edmund Beaufort
, was styled 4th Duke of Somerset by the Lancastrians.
In 1485, some twenty-one years after his death, Somerset, along with
Jasper Tudor
, had all acts of attainder against him annulled in the first Parliament of Henry VII, "for their true and faithfull Allegeaunces and Services doune to the said blessed King Herrie [VI]."
[11]
Character
[
edit
]
Somerset was described by Chastellain as "
un tres grand seigneur et un des plus beaulx josnes chevaliers qui fust au royaume anglais
" ("A very great lord and one of the most handsome knights in the English kingdom").
He was probably as competent as any of the Lancastrian leaders, but their military capacity was not great.
Illegitimate progeny
[
edit
]
By his mistress Joan Hill he had an illegitimate son:
Ancestry
[
edit
]
Ancestors of Henry Beaufort, 3rd Duke of Somerset
|
---|
| | | | | | | | | 16.
Edward III of England
| | | | | | | 8.
John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster
| | | | | | | | | | 17.
Philippa of Hainault
| | | | | | | 4.
John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset
| | | | | | | | | | | | 18.
Sir Payne de Roet
| | | | | | | 9.
Katherine Swynford
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 2.
Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | 20.
Thomas Holland, 1st Earl of Kent
| | | | | | | 10.
Thomas Holland, 2nd Earl of Kent
| | | | | | | | | | 21.
Joan, 4th Countess of Kent
| | | | | | | 5.
Margaret Holland
| | | | | | | | | | | | 22.
Richard FitzAlan, 10th Earl of Arundel
| | | | | | | 11.
Alice FitzAlan
| | | | | | | | | | 23.
Eleanor of Lancaster
| | | | | | | 1.
Henry Beaufort, 3rd Duke of Somerset
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 24.
Thomas de Beauchamp, 11th Earl of Warwick
| | | | | | | 12.
Thomas de Beauchamp, 12th Earl of Warwick
| | | | | | | | | | 25.
Katherine Mortimer
| | | | | | | 6.
Richard Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick
| | | | | | | | | | | | 26.
William Ferrers, 3rd Baron Ferrers of Groby
| | | | | | | 13. Margaret Ferrers
| | | | | | | | | | 27. Margaret de Ufford
| | | | | | | 3.
Eleanor Beauchamp
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | 28.
Maurice de Berkeley, 4th Baron Berkeley
| | | | | | | 14.
Thomas de Berkeley, 5th Baron Berkeley
| | | | | | | | | | 29.
Elizabeth le Despenser
| | | | | | | 7.
Elizabeth de Berkeley
| | | | | | | | | | | | 30.
Warine de Lisle, 2nd Baron Lisle
| | | | | | | 15. Margaret de Lisle, 3rd Baroness Lisle
| | | | | | | | | | 31. Margaret Pipard
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
Pollard 1901
, p. 157 cites Ramsay.
- ^
Pollard 1901
, p. 157 cites Stubbs, iii. 171.
- ^
Pollard 1901
, p. 157 cites W. Worcester, p. 479;
Chron
. ed. Davies, p. 84; Hall, p. 206.
- ^
Pollard 1901
, p. 157 cites
Cal. Patent Rolls
, 1461-5, pp. 29, 32; Stubbs, iii. 1960.
- ^
Pollard 1901
, p. 157 cites
Cal. Patent Rolls
. 1461-5, p. 261.
- ^
Pollard 1901
, p. 157 cites
Rot. Parl.
v. 511.
- ^
"Rotuli Parliamentorum A.D. 1485 1 Henry VII"
. Archived from
the original
on 2 September 2013
. Retrieved
10 July
2013
.
References
[
edit
]
Attribution
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
public domain
:
Pollard, Albert Frederick (1901). "
Beaufort, Henry (1436-1464)
". In
Lee, Sidney
(ed.).
Dictionary of National Biography
(1st supplement)
. Vol. I. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 157?158.
Endnotes:
- Cal. Rot. Pat.
- Rymer's
Fœdera
- Rotuli Parl.
- William of Worcester and Stevenson's
Letters
(Rolls Ser.)
- English Chron.,
ed. Davies, Gregory's Collections, Three English Chron., and Warkworth's Chron. (Camden Soc)
- Polydore Vergil
- Hall's
Chronicle
- Paston
Letters
, ed. Gairdner
- Fortcseue's
Governance of England
, ed. Plummer
- Arthur de Richemont, Matthieu D'Eseouchy and Chastellain's Chroniques
(Soc. de l'Hist. de France)
- Beaucourt's
Charles VII
- Stubbs's
Const. Hist.
vol. iii. passim
- Ramsay's
Lancaster and York
- Doyle's
Official Baronage
- G. E. Cokayne's
Complete Peerage
|
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House of Beaufort
(1443?1471)
| |
---|
House of Tudor
(1499?1536)
| |
---|
House of Seymour
(1547?1552, 1660?)
|
- Edward, 1st Duke
(1547?1552)
- William, 2nd Duke
(1660)
- William, 3rd Duke
(1660?1671)
- John, 4th Duke
(1671?1675)
- Francis, 5th Duke
(1675?1678)
- Charles, 6th Duke
(1678?1748)
- Algernon, 7th Duke
(1748?1750)
- Edward, 8th Duke
(1750?1757)
- Edward, 9th Duke
(1757?1792)
- Webb, 10th Duke
(1792?1793)
- Edward, 11th Duke
(1793?1855)
- Edward, 12th Duke
(1855?1885)
- Archibald, 13th Duke
(1885?1891)
- Algernon, 14th Duke
(1891?1894)
- Algernon, 15th Duke
(1894?1923)
- Edward, 16th Duke
(1923?1931)
- Evelyn, 17th Duke
(1931?1954)
- Percy, 18th Duke
(1954?1984)
- John, 19th Duke
(1984?present)
|
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|
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|
Key figures
| Monarchs
| |
---|
Lancaster
Tudor
|
- Margaret of Anjou, Queen of England
- Elizabeth Woodville, Queen of England
4
- Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales
- Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset
- Edmund Beaufort, 4th Duke of Somerset
- John Beaumont, Viscount Beaumont
- Henry Beaufort, Duke of Somerset
- John Sutton, 1st Baron Dudley
- James Butler, Earl of Ormond
- John Butler, Earl of Ormond
- John Clifford, Baron Clifford
- John Courtenay, Earl of Devon
- Henry Holland, Duke of Exeter
- John Neville, Baron Neville
2
- John Neville, Marquess of Montagu
3
- Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick
3
- Thomas Neville, Bastard of Fauconberg
3
- Henry Percy, 2nd Earl of Northumberland
- Henry Percy, 3rd Earl of Northumberland
- Thomas Ros, Baron Ros
- Henry Stafford, Duke of Buckingham
4
- Humphrey Stafford, Duke of Buckingham
- Thomas Stanley, Earl of Derby
- George Stanley, Baron Strange
- William Stanley
4
- George Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury
- John Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury
- Andrew Trollope
- Thomas Clifford, 8th Baron Clifford
- James Tuchet, Baron Audley
- Edmund Tudor, Earl of Richmond
- Jasper Tudor, Earl of Pembroke
5
- Margaret Beaufort
- Owen Tudor
- Edward Woodville, Lord Scales
|
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York
|
- Anne Neville, Queen of England
- John de la Pole, Earl of Lincoln
- Thomas FitzGerald, Earl of Desmond
- William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke
- William Hastings, Baron Hastings
- John Howard, Duke of Norfolk
- Francis Lovell, Viscount Lovell
- John Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk
- Richard Neville, Earl of Salisbury
- Sir Thomas Neville
- William Neville, Earl of Kent
- Sir Richard Herbert
- Edmund Plantagenet, Earl of Rutland
- George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence
1
- Humphrey Stafford, Earl of Devon
- Margaret of York
- Richard of York
|
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|
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Events
| |
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See also
| |
---|
1
Briefly joined the Lancastrians.
2
Briefly joined the Yorkists.
3
Defected from the Yorkist to the Lancastrian cause.
4
Initially a Yorkist who later supported the Tudor claim.
5
Initially a Lancastrian who later supported the Tudor claim.
|