Thomas Beaufort, Duke of Exeter (c. January 1377 – 30/31 December 1426) was an English military commander during the Hundred Years' War, and briefly Chancellor of England. He was the third of the four children born to John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, and his mistress Katherine Swynford. To overcome their problematic parentage, his parents were married in 1396, and he and his siblings were legitimated in 1390 and again in 1397. He married the daughter of Sir Thomas Neville (died 1387)[7] of Hornby, Margaret Neville (born c. 1384).[6] They had one son, Henry Beaufort, who died young.
Thomas Beaufort | |
|---|---|
| Duke of Exeter | |
 Arms of Thomas Beaufort, Duke of Exeter | |
| Born | c. January 1377[1][2] Château de Beaufort, Anjou, France |
| Died | 30[3] or 31 December 1426[4][5][6] (age 49 or 50) Greenwich manor, Kent, England |
| Buried | Bury St Edmunds Abbey, Suffolk |
| Family | Beaufort |
| Spouse | Margaret Neville of Hornby |
Issue | Henry Beaufort (died in infancy) |
| Father | John of Gaunt |
| Mother | Katherine Swynford |
| Occupation | Lord Chancellor Lord High Admiral Admiral of the North and West Admiral of the North Captain of Calais |
Under Henry IV
editAfter the accession of his half-brother Henry IV, Beaufort was made a Knight of the Garter. In the following years he held various military posts: constable of Ludlow (1402), appointed Admiral of the North (1403), appointed captain of Calais (1407), and Admiral of the North and West (1408–1413) he retained the title for life. His most notable action during this decade was commanding the forces against the northern rebellion of 1405.
He became Chancellor of England on 31 January 1410, an office he held until 5 January 1412[8] during a time when King Henry was having trouble with the clergy, and then returned to military matters. Later in 1412 he was created Earl of Dorset.[9]
Under Henry V
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On the accession of Henry V, Beaufort was appointed Lieutenant of Aquitaine in 1413 and then captain of Harfleur in 1415. He spent the next few years in Normandy, serving as lieutenant of that duchy from 1416. He was created Duke of Exeter for life that same year.
Beaufort returned to England in 1417 while the king was still in Normandy in order to deal with problems in Scotland. In 1418, he went back to Normandy with a large force, taking part in the sieges of Évreux, Ivry, and Rouen. After the fall of Rouen in 1419, he was made captain of the city and conquered several more of the smaller Norman cities. Finally, in 1419, he took the great fortress of Château Gaillard, midway between Rouen and Paris, after a six-month siege.
During this time, Henry V began a policy of creating Norman titles for his aristocrats, with Beaufort being made Count of Harcourt in 1418.
In 1420, Beaufort helped negotiate the treaty of Troyes, but was not present the following year at the Battle of Baugé, where his nephew Clarence was killed and his two Beaufort nephews, John of Somerset and Edmund Beaufort were captured.
Beaufort was one of the executors of Henry V's will, and so returned to England in 1422 after the latter's death. He served on the governing council for the infant King Henry VI, though it is likely he spent some time in France as well.
The character of Exeter in Shakespeare's play Henry V is based on Beaufort, although Beaufort was not actually created duke of Exeter until after the Battle of Agincourt; in 1415 he was still earl of Dorset. He also appears in Henry VI, Part 1.
He died at the end of December 1426 and was buried the following week. All of his titles (Duke of Exeter, Earl of Dorset and Count of Harcourt) became extinct. The Duchy of Exeter was restored to the Holland family; the Earldom of Dorset was recreated for Edmund, Count of Mortain, his nephew.
Arms
editSee also
editFootnotes
edit- ↑ Richardson, D. (2011). Kimball G. Everingham (ed.). Magna Carta Ancestry. Vol. 2 (2nd ed.). Salt Lake City. p. 542. ISBN 978-1-4499-6638-6.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ↑ Weir, A. Britain's Royal Families: The Complete Genealogy. ch. 3
- ↑ Chronicum Rerum Gestarum in Monasterio Sancti Albani
- ↑ Harriss, G.L. (3 January 2008). "Beaufort, Thomas, duke of Exeter (1377?–1426)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online) (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/1864. (Subscription, Wikipedia Library access or UK public library membership required.)
- ↑ Cokayne, G. (1926). V. Gibbs; H.A. Doubleday (eds.). The Complete Peerage. Vol. 5 (2nd ed.). London: St. Catherine Press. p. 204.
- 1 2 Richardson 2011, p. 542.
- ↑ Douglas Richardson, Royal Ancestry: A Study In Colonial And Medieval Families, 2013, Vol. III, p. 318
- ↑ Powicke, F. M.; Fryde, E.B. (1961). Handbook of British Chronology (2nd ed.). London: Royal Historical Society. p. 85.
- ↑ 8th entry, plaintiff; 1413
- ↑ Marks of Cadency in the British Royal Family
- ↑ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 3 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 585–586.