Richard de Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick
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Richard de Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick (23 January 1382 – 30 April 1439) was an English nobleman and military commander.
He was born at Salwarpe in Worcestershire, the son of Thomas de Beauchamp, 12th Earl of Warwick, and Margaret, daughter of the 3rd Lord Ferrers of Groby. Soon after reaching his majority and taking responsibility for the earldom in 1403, he had to defend against a Welsh invasion led by Owain Glyndŵr, which he drove off.
Warwick acquired quite a reputation for chivalry, and when in 1408 he went on pilgrimage to the Holy Land, he was challenged many times to fight in the sporting combat which was then popular. On the return trip he went through Russia and Eastern Europe, not returning to England until 1410.
Once back he was asked to serve in the retinue of the Prince of Wales, and in 1413 was lord high steward at the prince's coronation as Henry V. The next year he helped put down the Lollard uprising, and then went to Normandy. He spent much of the next decade fighting the French in the Hundred Years' War. In 1419 he was created Count of Aumale, part of the king's policy of giving out Norman titles to his nobles.
Henry V's will gave Warwick the responsibility for the education of the infant Henry VI. This duty required him to travel back and forth between England and Normandy many times. In 1437 the royal council deemed his duty complete, and he was appointed lieutenant of France and Normandy. He remained in France for the remaining two years of his life.
Warwick first married Elizabeth Berkeley, by whom he had 3 daughters:
- Margaret Beauchamp (d. 1468), who married John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury, and whose great-grandson John Dudley was created Earl of Warwick and subsequently Duke of Northumberland;
- Eleanor Beauchamp, who married Thomas de Ros, 9th Baron de Ros and then married Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset;
- Elizabeth Beauchamp, who married George Neville, 1st Lord Latimer.
Warwick then married Isabel le Despenser, daughter of Thomas le Despenser and Constance of York. She was also the widow of his cousin Richard de Beauchamp, Earl of Worcester, by whom he had:
- Henry, who succeeded his father as Earl of Warwick, and later became Duke of Warwick;
- Anne Beauchamp, who was theoretically Countess of Warwick in her own right after the death of her infant niece and namesake, and who married Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick.
Warwick's will was made at Caversham Castle in Oxfordshire (now Berkshire), one of his favoured residences, and he died in Rouen two years later, on 30 April 1439. He was eventually buried in the Collegiate Church of St Mary in Warwick, where his magnificent gilt-bronze monumental effify may still be seen.
| Peerage of England | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Thomas de Beauchamp |
Earl of Warwick 1401–1439 |
Succeeded by Henry de Beauchamp |
