John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset

The Earl of Somerset
Early arms of John Beaufort with a band dexter
Earl of Somerset
Successor Henry Beaufort, 2nd Earl
Spouse Margaret Holland, Countess of Somerset
Issue
Henry Beaufort, 2nd Earl of Somerset
John Beaufort, 1st Duke of Somerset
Joan Beaufort, Queen of Scotland
Thomas Beaufort, Count of Perche
Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset
Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Devon
House House of Beaufort
Father John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster
Mother Katherine Swynford
Born Château de Beaufort, Anjou, 1373
Died 16 March 1410(1410-03-16) (aged 36/37)
Hospital of St Katharine's by the Tower
Burial St Michael's Chapel, Canterbury Cathedral

John Beaufort, 1st Marquess of Somerset and 1st Marquess of Dorset, later only 1st Earl of Somerset, KG (1373 – 16 March 1410) was the first of the four illegitimate children of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, and his mistress Katherine Swynford, later his wife. Beaufort was born in about 1371 and his surname probably reflects his father's lordship of Beaufort in Champagne, France.[1][2][3]

The family emblem was the portcullis which is shown on the reverse of a modern British penny. John of Gaunt had his nephew Richard II declare the Beaufort children legitimate in 1390,[4] John of Gaunt married Katherine Swynford in January 1396. Despite being the grandchildren of Edward III, and next in the line of succession after their father's legitimate children, the Lancasters, the Beauforts, including John Beaufort, were barred from succession to the throne.[5]

Contents

Early life

In May to September 1390 Beaufort served in Louis II, Duke of Bourbon's crusade in North Africa. In 1394 he was in Lithuania serving with the Teutonic Knights.[6][7]

In 1396, after his parents' marriage, John and his siblings were legitimated by a papal bull. Early the next year, their legitimation was recognized by an act of Parliament, and then, a few days later, John was created Earl of Somerset (10 February 1397).[8]

That summer the new Earl was one of the noblemen who helped Richard II free himself from the power of the Lords Appellant. As a reward on 29 September he was created Marquess of Somerset and Marquess of Dorset, and sometime later that year he was made a Knight of the Garter and appointed Lieutenant of Ireland. In addition, two days before his elevation as a Marquess he married the King's niece, Margaret Holland, sister of 3rd Earl of Kent, another of the counter-appellants.[8]

He remained in the King's favour even after his half-brother Henry Bolingbroke (later Henry IV) was banished. In February 1397 he was appointed Admiral of the Irish fleet, as well as constable of Dover and Warden of the Cinque Ports. In May his Admiralty was extended to include the northern fleet.

Later career

After Richard II was deposed by Henry Bolingbroke in 1399, the new king rescinded the titles that had been given to the counter-appellants, and thus John Beaufort became merely Earl of Somerset again. Nevertheless, he proved loyal to his half-brother's reign, serving in various military commands and on some important diplomatic missions. It was he who was given the confiscated estates of the Welsh rebel leader Owain Glyndwr in 1400, although Beaufort could not effectively come into these estates until after 1415. In 1404 he was Constable of England.

Family

John Beaufort and his wife Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Somerset (née Holland), the daughter of Thomas Holland, 2nd Earl of Kent and Alice FitzAlan, had six children; his granddaughter Lady Margaret Beaufort married a son, (Edmund Tudor, 1st Earl of Richmond), of dowager queen Catherine of Valois by Owen Tudor — thus creating a powerful branch of the Lancastrian family which enabled the issue of that (Beaufort) marriage, Henry Tudor, ultimately to claim the throne, as Henry VII, in spite of the agreement barring the Beaufort family from the succession.

Somerset died in the Hospital of St Katharine's by the Tower. He was buried in St Michael's Chapel in Canterbury Cathedral.

His children included:

Titles, styles, honours and arms

Arms

As a legitimated grandson of the sovereign, Beaufort bore the arms of the kingdom, differenced by a bordure gobony argent and azure.[9]

Ancestry

Notes

  1. ^ "Beaufort, John (1373?-1410)". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
  2. ^ Armitage-Smith 196-199
  3. ^ Record for John de Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset on www.thepeerage.com
  4. ^ It is thought that this may have been a "private" act (that is, not entered in the public records), because, in January 1397, the Duke had Parliament issue a similar declaration, with the same proviso.
  5. ^ This prohibition was not specified in the original act of 1397, but appears in a 1407 confirmation by Henry IV (Pollard 158), making the ultimate legality of the addition uncertain. While this legal wrangling ultimately caused an enormous amount of bloodshed and destruction, it did result in one of the Beaufort descendants ascending the throne as Henry VII.
  6. ^ G. E. C., ed. Geoffrey F. White. The Complete Peerage. (London: St. Chaterine Press, 1953) Vol. XII, Part 1, p. 40.
  7. ^ Weir, Alison, Mistress of the Monarchy: The Life of Katherine Swynford, Duchess of Lancaster, (Random House Inc., 2007), 240.
  8. ^ a b Pollard 158
  9. ^ Marks of Cadency in the British Royal Family

References

Political offices
Preceded by
The Duke of York		 Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports
1398–1399		 Succeeded by
Sir Thomas Erpynham
Peerage of England
New creation Earl of Somerset
1397–1410		 Succeeded by
Henry Beaufort, 2nd Earl
Marquess of Dorset
1397–1399		 Forfeit
Marquess of Somerset
1397–1399

External links