Henry de Beaumont (c. 1280 – 10 March 1340), jure uxoris 4th Earl of Buchan and suo jure 1st Baron Beaumont, was a French nobleman and a key figure in the Anglo-Scots wars of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, known as the Wars of Scottish Independence.
Taken into service at the English court at a young age, Beaumont was a veteran campaigner who participated in every major engagement, from the Battle of Falkirk in 1298 to the Battle of Halidon Hill in 1333. His long experience in the Scottish wars led him to develop a battle technique later used to great effect at Crécy and Agincourt.
Beaumont was one of the most prominent among Anglo-Scots nobles known as the 'Disinherited', nobles whose Scottish lands had been forfeited over their refusal to serve Robert the Bruce. Beaumont supported Edward Balliol in his bid for thre Scottish throne, which would eventually overturn the peace between England and Scotland established by the Treaty of Northampton and bring about the Second War of Scottish Independence.
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Early life and career
Henry de Beaumont was the son of Louis of Brienne (d. after 1 September 1297) and Agnès de Beaumont, Viscount of Beaumont in Maine, France and Seigneur of Beaumont-le-Vicomte (later Beaumont-sur-Sarthe), Sainte-Suzanne, La Fleche, Fresnay-le-Vicomte, Le Lude. His brother was Lewis de Beaumont, bishop of Durham.
Beaumont was made a household knight of King Edward I in 1297, and took up military service with him in Flanders in 1297 against Philip IV of France shortly thereafter. Beaumont served with Edward the following year when, following the English defeat against the Scots at the Battle of Stirling Bridge, Edward returned to England and led a campaign into Scotland. In the ensuing Battle of Falkirk, Beaumont was one of the young knights who had his horse killed from under him by the spears of William Wallace's schiltrons.
Service under Edward II
Beaumont quickly became a favourite of Edward II, following his ascension as king in 1307. Beaumont was given large grants of manors and lands, including Folkingham, Barton-upon-Humber, and Heckington, Lincolnshire. He was summoned to parliament from 4 March 1309 to 20 October 1332, by Writs directed to Henrico de Bellomonte, whereby he is held to have become Lord Beaumont. More substantially, Edward II granted him the lordship of the Isle of Man on 16 March 1310.
Because of the favour shown to Beaumont and his siblings, the next year he and his sister, Isabel de Vesci, were banished from Court by the Ordainers along with Piers Gaveston, though they soon returned. Among the Ordainers demands was that the Isle of Man ought to be revoked from Beaumont and instead be held by "a good Englishman", a dig at Beaumont's French origin, which was another reason for his unpopularity.
Despite this, Beaumont continued to be a prominent figure at Edward II's court. In 1313 he and his sister acquired the reversion of the manors of Seacourt, Berkshire, and Tackley, Oxfordshire, which, upon her death without issue in 1334, fell to him. In 1312 he received Birthorpe, Lincolnshire, forfeited by Roger de Birthorpe following an attack on nearby Sempringham Priory. Beaumont also purchased the Lordship of Ditchburn, Northumberland, in 1320.
By 14 July 1310, Beaumont had married Alice Comyn, daughter of the niece and heir of John Comyn, Earl of Buchan. Consequently, Beaumont claimed the earldom of Buchan and constableship of Scotland jure uxoris. Alice, however, fled to England around the time of her uncle's defeat by Robert the Bruce in 1308, and she never exercised any control over her lands in Scotland. Between 1317 and 1321, Alice succeeded to the English estates of her sister, Margery Comyn, wife successively of Sir John Ross and Sir William de Lindsay.
Bannockburn and aftermath
Beaumont accompanied Edward II on his campaign into Scotland in 1314, and subsequently fought at the Battle of Bannockburn. On the first day of the battle Henry was in one of the two cavalry forces alongside Robert Clifford and Sir Thomas de Grey of Heaton, father of the chronicler Thomas Grey whose account of events follows;
Robert Lord de Clifford and Henry de Beaumont, with three hundred men-at-arms, made a circuit upon the other side of the wood towards the castle, keeping the open ground. Thomas Randolph, 1st Earl of Moray, King Robert's nephew, who was the leader of the Scottish advanced guard, hearing that his uncle had repulsed the advanced guard of the English on the other side of the wood, thought that he must have his share, and issuing from the wood with his division marched across the open ground towards the two afore-named lords.
Sir Henry de Beaumont called to his men: "Let us wait a little; let them come on; give them room".
"Sir," said Sir Thomas Gray, "I doubt that whatever you give them now, they will have all too soon".
"Very well" exclaimed the said Henry, "if you are afraid, be off".
"Sir," answered the said Thomas, "it is not from fear that I shall fly this day."
So saying, he spurred in between Beaumont and Sir William Deyncourt and charged into the thick of the enemy. William was killed, Thomas was taken prisoner, his horse being killed on the pikes, and he himself carried off with the Scots on foot when they marched off, having utterly routed the squadron of the said two lords. Some of the English fled to the castle, others to the king's army, which having already left the road through the wood had debouched upon a plain near the water of Forth beyond Bannockburn, an evil, deep, wet marsh, where the said English army unharnessed and remained all night, having sadly lost confidence and being too much disaffected by the events of the day.
In the November after Bannockburn, Beaumont and his wife were those affected by the sentence of forfeiture passed by the Scottish parliament against all those with land and title in Scotland who continued to fight with the English. This group of nobles came to be known as "The Disinherited", and included David III Strathbogie, Beaumont's future son-in-law who claimed the Earldom of Atholl. Henceforth, Beaumont would dedicate a large part of his career to recovering his wife's Scottish lands.
Service with Edward Balliol and later career
Following Edward III's overthrow of Mortimer in 1330, Beaumont was allowed to return to England. Edward III, for the time being at least, maintained the peace with Scotland, but he was known to share the views of many of his countrymen that Northampton was a turpis pax—a shameful peace. In 1330, Edward III would make a formal request to the Scottish Crown to restore the lands of Beaumont's earldom to him, which was refused.. Consequently, Beaumont and the other Disinherited sought to take advantage of the minority of Robert the bruce's infant son, David II and began making arrangements for a plan to make Edward Balliol king of Scotland and have their lands restored.
Beaumont persuaded Balliol to come to England in 1331, and played a key role in coordinating the campaign into Scotland the following year which culminated in Balliol's victory at the Battle of Dupplin Moor. Building on this victory, the army advanced on Scone, where Edward Balliol was crowned King of Scots on 24 September. Beaumont attended the coronation and Balliol's first parliament in October, in which the Disinherited were officially restored to their lands. The priors of St. Andrews wrote of the lordship of Edward Balliol and Henry Beaumont, and their inability to collect the dues from their church at Fordun 'for fear of the said Lord Henry.'
Beaumont would spend the next few years campaigning in Scotland. In January 1333 Edward III finally dropped the pretence of neutrality: Edward Balliol was formally recognised as King of Scotland and promised military aid. Subsidies were now paid to Balliol and the others, to help prepare for a fresh invasion. Beaumont was present in the Battle of Halidon Hill, in which the Scots were defeated once again. Following the battle, Balliol granted the earldom of Moray to Beaumont. Afterward, he was able to return to Buchan where, according to Andrew Wyntoun, he repaired the old Comyn stronghold of Dundarg on the Aberdeenshire coast in 1333/4, which had been destroyed by Robert Bruce in 1308:
The Beaumont went intil Buchan;
And there, Dundarg of lime and stane
He made stoutly, and therin lay.
Marriage and children
Shortly before 14 July 1310 Henry married Alice Comyn, Countess of Buchan, the niece and heiress of John Comyn, Earl of Buchan. He was recognised as Earl of Buchan jure uxoris. By Alice Comyn he had children including:
John de Beaumont, 2nd Lord Beaumont (c.25 December 1317 or 30 November 1318), who married Eleanor of Lancaster, great-granddaughter of King Henry III and a sister of Henry of Grosmont.
Elizabeth Beaumont (c. 1320 – 1400) who married Nicholas Audley, 3rd Baron Audley (1328–1391), without children.
Thomas de Beaumont (c.30 November 1324)
Katherine de Beaumont, married David III Strathbogie, titular Earl of Atholl, 1st Lord Strathbogie
Isabel de Beaumont, married Henry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster
Joan de Beaumont, who ("it is said") married Fulk VII FitzWarin, 3rd Baron FitzWarin (died 1349), of Whittington Castle in Shropshire and Alveston in Gloucestershire.