Thomas de Beauchamp, 12th Earl of Warwick

Coat of arms of Thomas de Beauchamp

Thomas de Beauchamp, 12th Earl of Warwick KG (* 16th March 1338 / 1339 ; † April 8 / August 1401 ) was an English nobleman and one of the main opponents of Richard II.

ancestry

He was the son of Thomas de Beauchamp, 11th Earl of Warwick and his wife Katherine Mortimer , a daughter of Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March . He succeeded his father as Earl of Warwick in 1369.

In the service of the king

Thomas de Beauchamp accompanied John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, during his French campaign in 1373 and was accepted into the Order of the Garter at that time . In the parliaments of 1376 and 1377, he and others were tasked with overseeing King Richard II's reforms. When these were not as successful as hoped, Beauchamp was appointed governor of the king. For Richard's campaign in Scotland in 1385, he provided a large contingent of soldiers and archers.

Conflict with Richard II.

In 1387 he was raised to one of the Lords Appellant , whose endeavor was to de facto disempower the king. When Richard was able to regain power, Beauchamp withdrew to his lands, but was charged with high treason in 1397 , probably as part of the alleged conspiracy of Richard FitzAlan, 11th Earl of Arundel . He was arrested in the Tower of London ; he pleaded guilty and at the mercy of the king. His lands and titles were declared forfeit and he was sentenced to life imprisonment in the Isle of Man . The following year, however, he was brought back to the Tower, where he stayed until August 1399, when Henry Bolingbrokes was released after the first victories .

Regaining strength

After Bolingbroke replaced Richard as king, Beauchamp got his lands back and was reinstated in his old title. He was one of those who intervened with Henry IV for the execution of Richard, and he accompanied the new king in the crushing of the uprising of 1400.

Death and succession

Beauchamp died in 1401, but the sources are not clear whether on April 8th or August 8th. His son from his marriage to Margaret Ferrers, Richard de Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick , succeeded him.

literature

• John Horace Round:  Beauchamp, Thomas de . In: Leslie Stephen (Ed.): Dictionary of National Biography . Volume 4:  Beal - Beaver. , MacMillan & Co, Smith, Elder & Co., New York City / London 1885, p. 32 (English).
• Anthony Tuck: Beauchamp, Thomas, twelfth earl of Warwick (1337x9-1401). 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 January 2008 (not viewed).

Web links

• Thomas de Beauchamp, 12th Earl of Warwick on thepeerage.com

predecessor	Office	successor
Thomas de Beauchamp	Earl of Warwick 1369-1401	Richard de Beauchamp