Thomas de Beauchamp, 11th Earl of Warwick

Thomas de Beauchamp
Earl of Warwick

Thomas de Beauchamp, 11th Earl of Warwick, KG, third founder knight of the Order of the Garter, shown wearing his garter robes over his tunic showing the arms of Beauchamp quartering Newburgh. Illustration from the 1430 Bruges Garter Book made by William Bruges (1375–1450), first Garter King of Arms
Spouse(s) Katherine Mortimer

Issue

Noble family Beauchamp
Father Guy de Beauchamp, 10th Earl of Warwick
Mother Alice de Toeni

Thomas de Beauchamp, 11th Earl of Warwick, KG (c. 14 February 1313 13 November 1369) was an English nobleman and military commander during the Hundred Years' War. In 1348 he became one of the founders and the third Knight of the Order of the Garter.

Early life

Thomas de Beauchamp, 11th Earl of Warwick depicted in 1347 as one of the 8 mourners attached to the monumental brass of Sir Hugh Hastings (d. 1347) at St Mary's Church, Elsing, Norfolk. He displays the arms of Beauchamp on his tunic

Thomas de Beauchamp was born at Warwick Castle, Warwickshire, England to Guy de Beauchamp, 10th Earl of Warwick and Alice de Toeni. He served in Scotland frequently during the 1330s, being captain of the army against the Scots in 1337. He was hereditary High Sheriff of Worcestershire from 1333 until his death (in 1369). In 1344 he was also made High Sheriff of Warwickshire and Leicestershire for life.

Victor at Crécy and Poitiers

Left:Seal (obverse) of Thomas de Beauchamp, 11th Earl of Warwick, dated 1344: S(IGILLUM) THO(M)E COMITIS WARRWYCHIE ANNO REGNI REGIS E(DWARDII) TE(RT)II...(continued on counter-seal) ("Seal of Thomas, Count (Earl) of Warwick in the year of the reign of King Edward the Third..."). He displays on his surcoat, shield and horse's caparison the arms of Beauchamp, and carries on his helm as crest a swan's head and neck; right: Counter-seal/reverse: (legend continued from face of seal) ...POST CO(N)QUESTU(M) ANGLIE SEPTI(M)O DECIM(0) ET REGNI SUI FRANCIE QUARTO ("...after the Conquest of England the seventeenth and of his reign of the Kingdom of France the fourth"). This dates the seal to 1344. The arms are those of de Newburgh, the family of the Beaumont Earls of Warwick: Checky azure and or, a chevron ermine. This same display of double arms was used on the seal of his father Guy de Beauchamp, 10th Earl of Warwick on his seal affixed to the Barons' Letter, 1301

Warwick was Marshall of England from 1343/4 until 1369, and was one of the commanders at the great English victories at Crécy and Poitiers.

Thomas de Beauchamp fought in all the French wars of King Edward III; he commanded the center at the Battle of Crecy (where many of his relatives were killed including his younger half-brother Alan la Zouche de Mortimer). He was trusted to be guardian of the sixteen-year-old Black Prince. Beauchamp fought at Poitiers in 1356 and at the Siege of Calais (1346).

He began the rebuilding of the Collegiate Church of Saint Mary in Warwick using money received from the ransom of a French Archbishop. He died of plague in Calais on 13 November 1369 and was entombed in the Beauchamp Chapel. The chapel contains the finest example of the use of brisures for cadency in medieval heraldry—seven different Beauchamp coats of arms.

Marriage and children

Left: Arms of Beauchamp: Gules, a fesse between six crosses crosslet or; right: arms of Newburgh Earls of Warwick: Checky azure and or a chevron ermine

He married Katherine Mortimer, daughter of Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March. They had five sons and ten daughters:[1]

Catherine Grandison, Countess of Salisbury was not his daughter, although she is presented as such in William Painter's Palace of Pleasure and in the Elizabethan play Edward III, that may be by William Shakespeare.

Death

Beauchamp's wife Katherine died on 4 August 1369. Beauchamp died three months later, on 13 November 1369, of the Black Death and was buried alongside his wife at St. Mary's Church, Warwick, Warwickshire.

Ancestry

Images

The stained glass at the Beauchamp Chapel at the College Church of St. Marys displays seven different Beauchamp coats of arms. Note the banner with Warwick's arms partially in view on the right.
Left: Thomas de Beauchamp, 11th Earl of Warwick & Katherine Mortimer effigies in Warwick St. Mary’s church; right: Drawing of effigies of Thomas de Beauchamp, 11th Earl of Warwick & Katherine Mortimer in Warwick St. Mary’s church

References

  1. Douglas Richardson, Kimball G. Everingham, Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, p. 56
  2. Cawley, Medieval Lands, Earls of Warwick 1263-1449 (Beauchamp)
  3. the Perage.com

Sources

Peerage of England
Preceded by
Guy de Beauchamp
Earl of Warwick
13291369
Succeeded by
Thomas de Beauchamp
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