by Teresa Cole
John’s second wife, Constance of Castile, brought him a disputed claim to the throne of the Spanish kingdom which he failed to turn into reality. In 1388 he renounced his and his wife’s claim in a treaty which provided for the daughter of their marriage, Catherine, to marry Henry, the heir to the Castilian throne. In 1390 she became Queen of Castile and Léon.
John’s third wife was Katherine Swynford. She entered his household as governess for his younger children, Philippa and Elizabeth, while his first wife was still alive. She was already married and had three children, her younger daughter being named Blanche after the duchess, who had her brought up with her own children. After the death of the duchess in 1369 Katherine became the mistress of John of Gaunt, her own husband dying some two years later. This relationship continued for more than a quarter of a century, producing four children who were given the surname Beaufort. In 1396, both their former spouses being dead, Richard II gave permission for them to marry and the children were later legitimated, though with a bar to them inheriting the crown. Katherine’s son Thomas, from her first marriage, was the constable of Pontefract Castle when Richard II was imprisoned there and is accused of deliberately starving the king to death. Katherine’s sister Philippa married the poet Geoffrey Chaucer. The Beaufort children were therefore the nephews and niece of the poet, and the cousins of his son Thomas Chaucer who was Speaker of the Commons on several occasions and later served Henry V in France, including at the Battle of Agincourt.
The eldest Beaufort son was John Beaufort (b. c. 1371, d. 1410). He became 1st Earl of Somerset in February 1397 and later that year Marquis of Somerset and Marquis of Dorset. In 1397 he married Margaret Holland, daughter of the Earl of Kent. Following the usurpation of his half-brother Henry IV the marquisates were revoked and he became again Earl of Somerset. Nevertheless he did not join in the rebellion of the other disgruntled nobles (including his father-in-law) who had had honours revoked, instead remaining loyal to the new king. He was given the confiscated estates of Owen Glendower, and served Henry in various ways, including being Admiral of England in 1407. Following his death in 1410, his widow Margaret married Henry V’s brother Thomas.
John Beaufort had a number of children who made their mark on the history of the times. The eldest son, Henry, became Earl of Somerset in 1410 but died without issue in 1418. His brother John (b. c. 1403, d. 1444) then became 3rd Earl of Somerset. He fought in France in 1419 and later accompanied the Duke of Clarence on campaign. He was captured at the Battle of Baugé aged around eighteen years and spent seventeen years as a prisoner before being ransomed in 1438. He was created Duke of Somerset in 1443.
Edmund Beaufort (b. 1406, d. 1455) became 4th Earl of Somerset on the death of his brother John, but did not inherit the title Duke of Somerset. He was lieutenant of France from 1444 to 1449 and was created Duke of Somerset in 1448. Taking over from the Duke of York as military commander in 1449, his failures led to the loss of Normandy and then to the loss of the rest of English possessions in France with the exception of Calais. Despite this Henry VI favoured him as adviser over the Duke of York and the bitter division between these men led ultimately to the Wars of the Roses. Edmund was killed at the First Battle of St Albans in 1455.
Edmund’s sister Joan Beaufort married King James of Scotland and accompanied him when he was finally returned to his kingdom.
Henry Beaufort (b. 1374, d. 1447) was the second son of John of Gaunt and Katherine Swynford and was educated for a career in the Church. He became Bishop of Lincoln in 1398 and Lord Chancellor of England for the first time in 1403. He resigned the chancellorship in November of the following year, when he became Bishop of Winchester. He was a long-time friend and advisor to Henry V, first serving him in the royal council when he was Prince of Wales, and as chancellor from 1413 to 1417. He was instrumental in the election of Pope Martin V but was not allowed to accept appointment as cardinal and papal legate in 1418. He eventually became cardinal in 1426. Following the death of Henry V he was an executor of his will and served as chancellor again from 1424 to 1426, clashing with Humphrey of Gloucester. In 1427 he supported a crusade against the Hussites in Bohemia, though without success. Later he raised troops which were used against Joan of Arc in France and was involved in her trial. In 1430 he accompanied Henry VI to Paris and crowned him King of France, but thereafter he pursued the aim of peace with France, being consistently opposed by the Duke of Gloucester.
The third Beaufort son was Thomas Beaufort (b. c. 1377, d. 1426) who made a major military contribution to the wars of his nephew Henry V. He was made a Knight of the Garter in 1399, probably fought at the Battle of Shrewsbury and commanded forces in 1405 against the rebellion of Archbishop Scrope, taking part in the irregular commission which condemned the leaders of that rebellion to death. In 1408 he became Admiral of England, having already proved his ability in patrolling the seas around the south and east coast. He was Lord Chancellor of England from 1410 to 1412, accompanied Clarence’s expedition to France and in the same year became Earl of Dorset. On the accession of Henry V he was appointed lieutenant of Aquitaine, though the following year he was gathering forces in preparation for the first campaign in France. Taking part in the siege of Harfleur he was afterwards appointed captain of that town and held it in the face of French blockade and opposition until relieved in the summer of 1416. He was then created Duke of Exeter. In 1417 he was in England and took part in the repulse of the Foul Raid in the north. Next year taking reinforcements to France he received the keys of Rouen following the surrender of that town and then conducted operations in Normandy, including the long and successful siege of Chateau Gaillard. He took part in the negotiations for the Treaty of Troyes and was left as Governor of Paris when Henry V returned to England with his wife. He was at the bedside of the dying king and was appointed executor of his will, being given a share in the education of the young Henry VI. He married Margaret Neville in 1397 but their only son, Henry, died young.
Joan Beaufort (b. c. 1379, d. 1440) was the fourth child and only daughter of John of Gaunt and Katherine Swynford. Her second marriage in 1397, at the age of eighteen, was to Ralph de Neville, 1st Earl of Westmoreland. Their daughter Eleanor married Hotspur’s son, Henry Percy, 2nd Earl of Northumberland (see below). Their first son (the tenth child of Ralph) was Richard Neville, who married Alice Montacute and through her became 5th Earl of Salisbury. Another daughter, Cecily, born at Raby Castle, was so beautiful she was called the ‘Rose of Raby’, though allegedly she had pride and a temper to match. She married Richard, 3rd Duke of York (see below), and was the mother of Edward IV and Richard III.
Edmund (b. 1341, d. 1402) was the fourth surviving son of Edward III. He was created Earl of Cambridge in 1362 and Duke of York in 1385. He was left in charge of the kingdom when Richard II left England to campaign in Ireland in 1399, but when Henry Bolingbroke returned from exile swiftly surrendered to him at Berkeley Castle.
His eldest son was Edward (b. c. 1373, d. 1415) who became Earl of Rutland in 1390 and held various posts under Richard II. He assisted in the removal of the Duke of Gloucester in 1397, received a large grant of his lands and was created Duke of Aumale in the same year. He was also given lands confiscated from Henry Bolingbroke on the death of John of Gaunt. He accompanied Richard II to Ireland in 1399 and some have claimed it was his advice that led Richard to divide his army on his return to Wales. After hearing of his father’s surrender he quickly joined Bolingbroke. After the usurpation he was briefly imprisoned at Windsor and lost the dukedom but retained his other titles. He was implicated in the plot of January 1400 but revealed it to his father and to the king. In 1402 he inherited the title Duke of York. He was again implicated in a plot to abduct Edmund, Earl of March, and make him king in 1405 and was imprisoned in Pevensey Castle for seventeen weeks but quickly forgiven. He accompanied Clarence on his expedition to France in 1412 and took part in the negotiations between England and France between 1413 and 1415. He accompanied Henry V to France in 1415 a
nd took part in the siege of Harfleur. Commanding the vanguard of the army on the march to Calais, he also commanded the right wing at the Battle of Agincourt, where he was killed in the thickest of the fighting.
Edmund’s second son was Richard (b. 1375, d. 1415) who received no inheritance from his father, raising a suggestion that he might have been illegitimate. He served in Wales in the early 1400s and became acquainted with the Mortimer family. Despite having no money of his own he secretly married Ann Mortimer, sister of Edmund, earl of March, in 1408. This marriage which was subsequently approved brought him no financial gain so we must suppose it was a love match. Richard was created Earl of Cambridge in 1414 but was ‘the poorest of the earls’. While preparing to accompany Henry V to France in 1415 he was secretly plotting to overthrow him in favour of his brother-in-law the Earl of March. The plot was betrayed by the earl who refused to take any part in it. Richard was found guilty of treason and beheaded at Southampton in August 1415.
Richard’s son, also called Richard (b. 1411, d. 1460), was descended through both father and mother from Edward III, his mother’s claim possibly being stronger than that of the Lancastrian kings. His mother died when he was born and he was four when his father was beheaded. He became the ward of Ralph, 1st Earl of Westmoreland, and at the age of thirteen was betrothed to Neville’s nine-year-old daughter Cecily. On the death of Edward, Duke of York, at Agincourt Richard inherited his estates and title, and in 1425 when Edmund, Earl of March, died he inherited the Mortimer estates as well. He succeeded John, Duke of Bedford, as lieutenant in France in 1436 and had some success before being replaced by Somerset (above) in 1443. He was an opponent of the peace party led by Suffolk and Somerset and out of favour with Henry VI, whose wife disliked and distrusted him. He became Protector of the Realm during Henry’s bout of madness and was the leader of the Yorkist faction in the Wars of the Roses. Though he was killed at the Battle of Wakefield in 1460, his son was proclaimed King Edward IV soon after. His younger son, Richard, became King Richard III after the children of Edward IV were declared illegitimate.
Thomas (b. 1355, d. 1397) was the fifth surviving son of Edward III. He became Earl of Buckingham in 1377 and Duke of Aumale and Duke of Gloucester in 1385. He married Eleanor Bohun, elder sister of the wife of Henry Bolingbroke. He is chiefly famous for his persistent opposition to Richard II. Along with Richard, Earl of Arundel, he was leader of the Lords Appellant in 1388. He was arrested by the king personally in 1397 and imprisoned at Calais awaiting trial for treason. Probably on the king’s orders he was murdered there, by or with the connivance of Thomas Mowbray, Earl of Norfolk, who was Captain of Calais at the time and who was shortly after created Duke of Norfolk.
Descendants of Henry IV
Henry Bolingbroke married Mary Bohun, probably in 1381, and had four sons and two daughters. Following her death and his accession as Henry IV he married Joan of Navarre, widow of the Duke of Brittany, in 1403. They had no children.
Henry V (b. 1386, d. 1422) was the eldest son of Henry IV. He married Katherine of Valois in 1420. They had one child, Henry.
Henry VI (b. 1421, d.1471) inherited the crown of England at the age of eight months on his father’s death in August 1422. Two months later, under the terms of the Treaty of Troyes, he inherited the crown of France. A number of guardians and educators were appointed for him under his father’s will. He was crowned King of England by Henry Chichele, Archbishop of Canterbury, on 6 November 1429, and crowned King of France by Cardinal Henry Beaufort in Paris on 16 December 1431. Declared of age in 1437, his marriage was arranged with Margaret of Anjou as part of a peace settlement with France. They married in 1445. His first bout of madness lasted from August 1453 to December 1454 and thereafter he suffered repeated bouts of this illness. Henry was deposed and imprisoned by Edward IV in 1461, but Margaret and Prince Edward (b. 1453, d. 1471) fled to Scotland to keep the war going. When Edward IV fell out with his major supporter the Earl of Warwick, a marriage was arranged between Warwick’s daughter Anne and Prince Edward. Edward IV was briefly overthrown in 1470 and Henry VI returned to the throne. The following year Edward IV returned and won a decisive victory at the Battle of Tewkesbury and Prince Edward was killed. Within a month Henry VI died (probably murdered) in the Wakefield Tower at the Tower of London, ending the direct line of Lancastrian kings.
Thomas of Lancaster (b. 1387, d. 1421) was the second son of Henry IV and possibly his father’s favourite. He was appointed Governor of Ireland in 1401 though he does not appear to have lived there all the time. He sided with his father in the division of 1410 and was created Duke of Clarence in 1412, leading a fruitless expedition to France in that year. Accompanying Henry V to France in 1415, he guarded the opposite side of Harfleur to his brother during the siege, and it was to him that the burgesses notified their intent to surrender on the morning of the final assault. He missed Agincourt but fought in later campaigns. He was killed after a rash cavalry charge at the Battle of Baugé in 1421. In 1411 he had married Margaret Holland, the widow of John Beaufort, but had no legitimate issue. His illegitimate son John, called the Bastard of Clarence, fought with him in France and brought his father’s body home for burial in Canterbury Cathedral.
John of Lancaster (b. 1389, d. 1435) was the third surviving son of Henry IV. Knighted at his father’s coronation, he was appointed in 1403 as Warden of the East March on the Scottish borders, a post he held until 1414. He was created Duke of Bedford by his brother in that year. In 1415 he was appointed lieutenant of England when Henry V departed on his first campaign in France, an appointment repeated in 1417. In between he took part in the visit of Sigismund and commanded the fleet at the Battle of the Seine which relieved the blockade of Harfleur. Joining the king in France in 1420, he was present at the signing of the Treaty of Troyes and at his brother’s marriage. Returning to England, he was also present at Queen Katherine’s coronation. He was briefly heir to the throne following the death of his brother Thomas in 1421, was present at Henry’s deathbed and arranged the funeral cortège that returned the king’s body to England. Appointed regent of France for Henry VI, he spent the rest of his life trying to carry out the policies of Henry V in France while keeping the peace between the rival factions in England. He arranged, but took no part in, the trial of Joan of Arc, and arranged the coronation of Henry VI in Paris in 1431. He was a notable patron of the arts and some of his illuminated manuscripts are preserved in the British Library. He married Anne of Burgundy in 1423, and following her death married Jacquetta of Luxembourg in 1434. He died at Rouen in September 1435 and left no children.
Humphrey of Lancaster (b. 1390, d. 1447) was the youngest son of Henry IV and instead of being given military responsibilities was brought up as a scholar. He was created Duke of Gloucester in 1414 by Henry V, to whom he was closely attached. He accompanied him to France in 1415 and fought and was wounded at Agincourt. In 1416 he was held as a hostage for the safe return of John the Fearless during the meeting at Calais. Following the death of Henry V he was appointed Lord Protector of Henry VI but the council would not give him the title of regent even after the death of his brother John. He was popular with the people but carried on a bitter feud with Cardinal Henry Beaufort. In 1422 his marriage to Jacqueline of Hainault threatened the Burgundian alliance. He tried and failed to recover her lands and then abandoned her. The marriage was annulled in 1428. He then married his mistress Eleanor Cobham, who was convicted of witchcraft in 1441 and forced to do public penance before being imprisoned for life. Following this Humphrey retreated from public life. He was arrested on a charge of treason in 1447 and died a few days later. Many of his collection of manuscripts were donated to Oxford University, where his name lives on in Duke Humphrey Library, in the Bodleian. He left no children.
Henry IV had two daughters, Blanche (b. 1392, d. 1409) and Philippa (b. 1394, d. 1430) and each was used to forge useful alliances. Blanche married Louis of Bavaria in 1402 at the age of ten and died seven years later while pregnant w
ith her second child. Philippa married Eric of Denmark in 1406 when aged twelve. Her husband was ruler of Denmark, Sweden and Norway. Philippa lived mostly in Sweden and acted as regent on many occasions when her husband was absent. She had no living children.
The Warriors
Arundel – Thomas FitzAlan (b. 1381, d. 1415) was the son of the Earl of Arundel executed by Richard II. He was sixteen at the time of his father’s death and was made a ward of John Holland, 1st Duke of Exeter (see above), who, it is claimed, treated him badly. Escaping to the Continent, the boy joined his fellow exiles, his uncle Thomas Arundel, former Archbishop of Canterbury, and Henry Bolingbroke. He returned to England with Henry and shortly afterwards was restored to his estates and titles, becoming Earl of Arundel and Earl of Surrey. Following the January 1400 rebellion he was present when the Duke of Exeter was apprehended at Pleshey Castle in Essex and it is claimed he got his revenge by demanding his execution. Having estates in the Welsh Marches, he fought in the Welsh campaigns against Glendower, coming to know the Prince of Wales, whom he later supported in the royal council. He was a commander in Henry’s army in 1415, fell ill at the siege of Harfleur, returned to England and died soon after, leaving no legitimate children.
Warwick – Richard de Beauchamp (b. 1382, d. 1439) was the son of Thomas, Earl of Warwick, who had appeared as a Lord Appellant against Richard II and was later charged with treason. Thomas was first imprisoned on the Isle of Man and then in the Tower of London (in the Beauchamp Tower) before being released by Henry Bolingbroke on his return to England and restored to his estates and titles. On his death in 1401, the nineteen-year-old Richard became 13th Earl of Warwick, and he was to become the closest friend and most reliable military commander of Henry V. He fought at the Battle of Shrewsbury and in Wales against Glendower. In 1408 he went on pilgrimage to the Holy Land, making a long tour of Europe in the course of his travels. Returning in 1410, he was again indentured to serve in Wales and in 1413 he was a steward at the coronation of Henry V. In 1414 he was appointed Captain of Calais and also sent as a representative to the Council of Constance. Some accounts suggest he was with Henry at Harfleur but he was certainly back in Calais to welcome him after the Battle of Agincourt. There he also received the Emperor Sigismund before and after his visit to England, and he escorted John the Fearless to the tripartite meeting there in 1416. From 1417 on he was one of the chief commanders of Henry’s army in France and also took part in the negotiations leading to the Treaty of Troyes. Sent with the army to Cosne, in 1422 he was recalled to the dying king’s side and accompanied his body back to England. In Henry’s will he was given special responsibility for the education of Henry VI and spent the next fifteen years travelling between England and France to discharge his duties in each country. In 1437, when the king was deemed to be of age, Warwick was appointed Lieutenant of France and Normandy where he remained until his death in 1439.