Henry de Beaumont, 1st Baron Beaumont

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Henry de Beaumont coat of arms

Henry de Beaumont, 1st Baron Beaumont (* around 1280; † March 10, 1340 ) was an Anglo-French nobleman who made a career in England as a military and diplomat. As an adventurer, he played a significant role at the beginning of the Second Scottish War of Independence .

Origin and contacts in England

Henry de Beaumont came from the old French noble family Brienne . He was a younger son of Louis de Brienne and his wife Agnes, the daughter and heiress of Richard II of Beaumont. Through the marriage, his father, who was only a younger son, had acquired the French title Viscount de Beaumont . Henry was through his great-grandfather Alfons IX. from Léon related to Eleanor of Castile , the first wife of King Edward I of England . Henry's sister Isabel married the English baron John de Vescy , a confidante of Edward I, in 1279 or 1280 , and it was through these contacts that Henry became knight of the household of Edward I in 1297.

Advancement as a military and diplomat under Edward II.

Beaumont regularly took part in the campaigns of Edward I in Scotland and quickly won the trust of the king and his son Edward of the same name . When he ascended the throne in 1307, Beaumont quickly became one of the king's closest confidants. The king appointed him one of the administrators of the English-occupied territories in Scotland in 1308, and in 1309 Beaumont was appointed to Parliament , making him Baron Beaumont . By the favor of the king he was allowed to marry Alicia Comyn around 1310 . She was a daughter of Sir Alexander Comyn and Joan Latimer and, as the niece of John Comyn, 7th Earl of Buchan, had inherited the Scottish title of Earl of Buchan and extensive estates in Scotland . However, these possessions were threatened by the increasingly successful Scottish resistance to English supremacy. As one of the so-called disinherited , as the English with claims to Scottish property called themselves, Beaumont was a staunch opponent of an understanding with Scotland. In England he received from the king extensive land holdings in Lincolnshire as well as the administration of the Isle of Man , whose possession was also claimed by Scotland. As a royal favorite, who also came from abroad, Beaumont quickly made numerous English barons opponents. The Lords Ordainer , who worked out a reform program for the king's government, demanded in 1311 that both Beaumont and his sister Isabel, who also enjoyed the king's favor, should leave the court. To this end, they demanded that Beaumont must return his goods loaned by the king and that the administration of the Isle of Man should be given to an Englishman. However, the king ignored these demands and Beaumont continued to enjoy his favor. In early 1312, when the crisis over the royal favorite Piers Gaveston , who had returned from exile without permission , came to a head, Beaumont was part of the king's entourage in York and Newcastle . After Gaveston was executed by a group of opposition barons, Beaumont was to travel to France in August 1312 with the Earl of Pembroke and Thomas Cobham to ask the French king for assistance in negotiations with the opposition barons. During the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314, on the first day of the battle, together with Robert de Clifford, he led the advance guard of the English army, which tried in vain to relieve the besieged Stirling Castle . On the second day of the battle, he led the king from the battlefield as the English defeat loomed.

Courtier during the conflict between Edward II and the Earl of Lancaster

The powerful Earl of Lancaster , the king's leading domestic political opponent, continued to demand that Beaumont leave the royal court. When Lancaster dominated the government from 1315 to 1316, Beaumont had to give up various possessions obtained through the favor of the king and his claim to the Isle of Man. After Lancaster withdrew from the government, Beaumont belonged to the court party, although he did not have as much influence as Hugh de Audley , Roger Damory , William Montagu and especially Hugh le Despenser the elder and his son of the same name . But he played a major role in ensuring that the king gave his brother Louis the office of Bishop of Durham. Together with his brother, Beaumont traveled to Durham in 1317 for his consecration, when the two brothers were kidnapped by Gilbert Middleton . They were only released in mid-October 1317 after paying a ransom. The attack possibly happened at the instigation of Lancaster, which could never be proven to be involved in the act. In March 1322, Beaumont was a member of the royal army that defeated the rebelling Lancaster at the Battle of Boroughbridge . Lancaster was captured shortly after the battle, sentenced as a traitor, and executed.

Break with Edward II and supporters of Roger Mortimer

In October 1322 Beaumont belonged to the small retinue with which the king narrowly escaped capture by the Scots during his unsuccessful campaign against Scotland at Byland Abbey . As one of the disinherited, he was a bitter opponent of the armistice that the king concluded with Scotland in May 1323. He left the English court and withdrew to his estates. Allegedly he belonged to the chronicler John Capgrave of the crusader army , which in Italy against the opponents of Pope John XXII. fought. Before 1325 he reconciled with the king. That year Edward, Prince of Wales , the son and heir of Edward II, was to travel to France in place of his father to pay homage to the French king for the English possessions there. Edward II commissioned Beaumont in September 1325 to look after the minor heir to the throne in France, and on September 25, Beaumont arrived in Paris with the heir to the throne and the bishops of Exeter and Winchester . In France, Beaumont apparently came into contact with Queen Isabelle and Roger Mortimer , who were planning the overthrow of Edward II. When the Queen and Mortimer landed in England with a small mercenary army in September 1326, Beaumont, along with other Northern English barons such as Thomas Wake and Henry Percy, raised an impressive contingent to support them. In October, Beaumont was one of the barons, who in Bristol the heir Edward instead of the king fled to Regent proclaimed. The new rulers rewarded Beaumont's support by granting large estates in Leicestershire , including Whitwick and Loughborough , which had previously belonged to the elder Despenser.

Support for the rebellions against the Mortimer regime

In the summer of 1327 Beaumont took part in the unsuccessful Weardale Campaign against a Scottish army in northern England. After the Treaty of Northampton concluded in 1328 , which ended the war with Scotland, Beaumont and a few other so-called disinherited people were to get their possessions back, but this did not happen in practice. Disappointed in Mortimer, Beaumont supported the rebellion of Henry of Lancaster against Mortimer in late 1328 , but it quickly failed. As a former confidante of Mortimer, Beaumont contracted his hatred, so that he, along with William Trussell and Thomas Roscelyn, was one of the few supporters of Lancaster who were not pardoned after the failure of the rebellion. Beaumont's possessions in England were confiscated and he himself fled to France, from where he supported the Edmund of Woodstock conspiracy against Mortimer. But this was badly planned. It was exposed in 1330 and ended with Woodstock's execution.

Role in the Second Scottish War of Independence and death

After the coup d'état by Edward III, who ousted Mortimer and had him executed in October 1330, Beaumont was able to return to England and his possessions were returned. After the death of his sister Isabel in 1334 he inherited her property in Leicestershire. Beaumont now became the leader of the disinherited. A little later, Beaumont escorted the Scottish heir to the throne Edward Balliol from his exile in France to England. He pawned part of his property and provided a contingent for the army of the disinherited, with which he invaded Scotland in 1332. As an experienced military man, he was the actual military leader of the disinherited. When their ships landed, he presumably led the vanguard, which on August 6, 1332 put a Scottish contingent to flight when they landed near Kinghorn . Shortly thereafter, Beaumont was one of the leaders of the Army of the Disinherited, who defeated a Scottish army at the Battle of Dupplin Moor . Balliol was crowned King of Scotland, but Scottish forces drove the disinherited away in December 1332. In December 1332 Beaumont probably took part in the English Parliament in York. In the summer of 1333 Beaumont belonged to Edward III. led English army, which defeated the Scots again at the Battle of Halidon Hill and thus secured the Scottish crown for Balliol. The grateful Balliol probably elevated Beaumont to Earl of Moray after the battle and made him Constable of Scotland . The Scottish resistance to English rule was not yet broken. Although Beaumont took part in a Parliament convened by Balliol in Edinburgh in February 1334, but because of a dispute over the distribution of confiscated goods, he withdrew to Dundarg Castle in Aberdeenshire at the end of August 1334 , with the expansion of which he had begun. There he was trapped by Andrew Moray and Alexander Mowbray , two leaders of the Scottish revolt against English domination. Without hope of relief, he had to hand over the castle on December 23 and was captured by the Scottish people. With financial support from Edward II, he was able to quickly raise the requested ransom and returned to England. He returned to England and from July 1335 took part again in the king's great summer campaign against Scotland. The English could not put the Scots into battle and had to withdraw again. This made it clear that the English could not hold Scotland forever. Beaumont lost its Scottish possessions for good and his Scottish titles became irrelevant. At the beginning of the Hundred Years War he took part in the campaign of Edward III from July 1338. to the Netherlands, where he died. According to the chronicler Capgrave, he was buried in the Cistercian monastery of Vaudey Abbey in Lincolnshire.

Family and offspring

Henry de Beaumont had several children with his wife, Alicia Comyn, including:

His son John inherited the title of Baron Beaumont and most of his possessions.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ John Robert Maddicott: Thomas of Lancaster, 1307-1322. A Study in the Reign of Edward II. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1970, p. 112
  2. ^ Ranald Nicholson: Edward III and the Scots. The formative Years of a Military Career . Oxford University Press, Oxford 1965, p. 10
  3. ↑ John Robert Maddicott: Thomas of Lancaster, 1307-1322. A Study in the Reign of Edward II. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1970, p. 122
  4. ↑ John Roland Seymour Phillips: Aymer de Valence, earl of Pembroke, 1307-1324. Baronial politics in the reign of Edward II. Clarendon, Oxford 1972, ISBN 0-19-822359-5 , p. 40
  5. ↑ John Robert Maddicott: Thomas of Lancaster, 1307-1322. A Study in the Reign of Edward II. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1970, p. 133
  6. ^ Andy King: The English and the battle of Bannockburn (act. 1314). In: Henry Colin Gray Matthew, Brian Harrison (Eds.): Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , from the earliest times to the year 2000 (ODNB). Oxford University Press, Oxford 2004, ISBN 0-19-861411-X , ( oxforddnb.com license required ), as of 2004
  7. ↑ John Robert Maddicott: Thomas of Lancaster, 1307-1322. A Study in the Reign of Edward II. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1970, p. 165
  8. ↑ John Robert Maddicott: Thomas of Lancaster, 1307-1322. A Study in the Reign of Edward II. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1970, p. 179
  9. ↑ John Robert Maddicott: Thomas of Lancaster, 1307-1322. A Study in the Reign of Edward II. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1970, p. 193
  10. ↑ John Robert Maddicott: Thomas of Lancaster, 1307-1322. A Study in the Reign of Edward II. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1970, p. 205
  11. ^ Michael Prestwich: Gilbert de Middleton and the attack on the cardinals, 1317 . In: Timothy Reuter: Warriors and churchmen in the high middle ages . Hambledon, London 1992, ISBN 1-85285-063-9 , p. 189
  12. ^ Natalie Fryde: The tyranny and fall of Edward II, 1321-1326 . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2003. ISBN 0-521-54806-3 , p. 131
  13. ^ Natalie Fryde: The tyranny and fall of Edward II, 1321-1326 . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2003. ISBN 0-521-54806-3 , p. 159
  14. ^ Ian Mortimer: The greatest traitor. The Life of Sir Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March, Ruler of England, 1327-1330. Pimlico, London 2003, ISBN 0-7126-9715-2 , p. 142
  15. ^ Natalie Fryde: The tyranny and fall of Edward II, 1321-1326 . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2003. ISBN 0-521-54806-3 , p. 159
  16. ^ Ian Mortimer: The greatest traitor. The Life of Sir Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March, Ruler of England, 1327-1330. Pimlico, London 2003, ISBN 0-7126-9715-2 , p. 158
  17. ^ Ranald Nicholson: Edward III and the Scots. The formative Years of a Military Career . Oxford University Press, Oxford 1965, p. 41
  18. ^ Ranald Nicholson: Edward III and the Scots. The formative Years of a Military Career . Oxford University Press, Oxford 1965, p. 58
  19. ^ Ian Mortimer: The greatest traitor. The Life of Sir Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March, Ruler of England, 1327-1330. Pimlico, London 2003, ISBN 0-7126-9715-2 , p. 220
  20. ^ Ian Mortimer: The greatest traitor. The Life of Sir Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March, Ruler of England, 1327-1330. Pimlico, London 2003, ISBN 0-7126-9715-2 , p. 225
  21. ^ Ranald Nicholson: Edward III and the Scots. The formative Years of a Military Career . Oxford University Press, Oxford 1965, p. 70.
  22. ^ Ranald Nicholson: Edward III and the Scots. The formative Years of a Military Career . Oxford University Press, Oxford 1965, p. 78
  23. ^ Ranald Nicholson: Edward III and the Scots. The formative Years of a Military Career . Oxford University Press, Oxford 1965, p. 78.
  24. ^ Ranald Nicholson: Edward III and the Scots. The formative Years of a Military Career . Oxford University Press, Oxford 1965, p. 85
  25. ^ Ranald Nicholson: Edward III and the Scots. The formative Years of a Military Career . Oxford University Press, Oxford 1965, p. 103.
  26. ^ Ranald Nicholson: Edward III and the Scots. The formative Years of a Military Career . Oxford University Press, Oxford 1965, p. 172.
  27. ^ Ranald Nicholson: Edward III and the Scots. The formative Years of a Military Career . Oxford University Press, Oxford 1965, p. 185
  28. ^ Ranald Nicholson: Edward III and the Scots. The formative Years of a Military Career . Oxford University Press, Oxford 1965, p. 186.
  29. ^ Natalie Fryde: The tyranny and fall of Edward II, 1321-1326 . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2003. ISBN 0-521-54806-3 , p. 160
predecessor Office successor
New title created Baron Beaumont
1309-1340 		John de Beaumont
personal data
SURNAME Beaumont, Henry de, 1st Baron Beaumont
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Beaumont, Sir Henry de
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Anglo-French nobleman and diplomat
DATE OF BIRTH around 1280
DATE OF DEATH March 10, 1340