The House of Beaufort
House Allegience - Lancastrian throughout.
House Titles - The Duke and Earls of Somerset.
House Battles - The 1st Battle of St. Albans, The Battle of Wakefield, the 2nd Battle of St. Albans, The Battle of Towton, The Battle of Hexham, The Battle of Barnet, The Battle of Tewkesbury
The History of the Beaufort Family
John Beaufort, 1st Duke of Somerset, was an English noble and military commander. He fought for King Henry V in the France during the Hundred Years War as a young man, in 1421 he accompanied the king’s younger brother, Thomas of Lancaster, to the fighting in Anjou. Thomas, however, was slain in the Battle of Baugé and John was captured. He remained imprisoned by the French until he was ransomed some 17 years later where he went on to be one of the leading English commanders in France. In 1443 John was created the Duke of Somerset and Earl of Kendal, made a Knight of the Garter, and appointed General-Captain of Guyenne. However, John proved to be a poor commander and later reputedly committed suicide in 1444, leaving behind a wife, Margaret Beauchamp of Blesto who he married in 1439 and four children, Jacinda, Thomasine, John and Margaret, who would later be the mother of Henry Tudor.
The original Dukedom of Somerset died with John, but the Earldom of Somerset passed to his brother Edmund Beaufort and later, when it was recreated in 1448, the new Duke of Somerset, commonly known as the 2nd Duke of Somerset. Edmund too was present at the Battle of Baugé and captured, released in 1427 after a lengthy spell in captivity, much like his brother. He became a commander in the English army in 1431, but he was a much more successful than his brother John, becoming an outstanding soldier and statesman. After he captured Harfleur he was titled Knight of the Garter in 1436 and after further success he was created Earl of Dorset in 1442 and the Marquees of Dorset the following year. In 1444 he succeeded his brother as the 4th Earl of Somerset after his apparent suicide, also acting as the Lieutenant of France during the five year truce.
Although Edmund was the head of the greatest family in the land outside the royal family, his inheritance was only worth 300 pounds, a stark contrast to his rival Richard, Duke of York, who was worth around 5800 pounds. Henry VI’s effort to compensate Edmund with offices worth around 3000 pounds only served to offend many nobles and as his personal quarrel with York grew more personal. A further quarrel with Richard Neville, the Earl of Warwick, over lordships in Glamorgan and Morgannwg is likely to have forced the younger Neville into Richard’s camp. Edmund came to realise that only through military success could he protect himself from his now numerous rivals, he was not get his wish as when hostilities with France continued in 1449 English power began to fade, and with it, military victories. By 1450 the majority of English lands in Northern France, attention then turned to Gascony in the South. The English proved no more successful here, losing the entirety of Gascony in the final defeat as the Battle of Castillon. Power had rested with Somerset from 1451, but the King’s madness in 1453 saw Edmund imprisoned in the Tower of London after Richard of York was named Lord Protector, his life however was, most probably, saved by the Kings recovery which forced Richard to lose his power over the King.
By now relations between York and the King were at an all time low, the King’s wife Margaret of Anjou was rallying nobles against him and hostilities eventually begun, starting with the 1st Battle of St. Albans. Edmund fell during a wild charge from the house he had found himself sheltering in, passing the Dukedom and Earldom of Somerset to his son, Henry Beaufort.
Henry was known as the 3rd Duke of Somerset, though more accurately he was the 2nd since the title was recreated for his late father, Edmund. He was the cousin of Margaret Beaufort and Richard Neville and the uncle of Henry Stafford, the 2nd Duke of Buckingham. At the 1st Battle of St. Albans he was seriously injured, but survived and went onto be the leading commander in the Battle of Wakefield and then the 2nd Battle of St. Albans which the Lancastrians won and then the Battle of Towton which the Lancastrians lost, the blow being so great that Henry was forced to flee to Scotland along with many other nobles, including the King and Queen themselves. Henry went to France to attempt to negotiate for help but was held as a prisoner for a time before being sent to Flanders to return to Scotland, then England. Upon his return he garrisoned several castle in Northumberland, where he eventually surrendered after a siege, indicating a willingness to negotiate with Edward, the son of Richard of York. He was pardoned on 10th March 1462 where all his forfeited lands were returned to him, for the following year Somerset stuck close to Edward, attending his court and giving him military advice. At the end of 1463 he, however, slipped back to the Lancastrian side, recruiting men in the North of England before finally being defeated at the Battle of Hexham, after which he was beheaded and buried at Hexham Abbey.
Henry left no legitimate heirs to his Dukedom and Earldom, so his title passed to his brother, Edmund Beaufort who became the 3rd Duke of Somerset since its re-issue to his father of the same name. Edmund was unenthusiastic over the reconciliation of Warwick and Margaret, after the formers falling out with Edward, and did not make any effort to co-operate, later failing to hold London against Edward, a decisive moment in the upcoming campaign. He commanded the centre of the Lancastrian forces at the Battle of Barnet, which resulted in a Lancastrian defeat before commanding the right of the Lancastrian forces at the Battle of Tewkesbury where he lead a charge against Lord Hastings as Red Pierce Meadow. This attack failed as neither the Earl of Devon or Lord Wenlock supported him in his attack, after the defeat that followed he fled to Tewkesbury Abbey before being forced from sanctuary, tried and then executed immediately. With him died the House of Beaufort and following the death of Henry VI shortly afterwards, his cousin Margaret Beaufort and her son Henry Tudor becoming the leading representative of the House of Lancaster.
The Beaufort Livery and Emblem
The House of Beaufort’s livery incorporates the royal coat of arms but with a border compony. The first of the Earl of Somerset was John Beaufort, the illegitimate child of John of Gaunt. Despite being the grandchildren of Edward III and next in line after the Lancasters, they were barred from succession by agreement, this however did allow Henry Tudor to make a loose claim to the throne some hundred or so years later. The family name came from John’s birthplace, Beaufort Castle in Champagne, and their family emblem was the portcullis (as shown in the image above) which is shown on the reverse of the modern 1p coin.
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