Anne Beauchamp, 15th Countess of Warwick (14 February 1444 – 3 June 1449), was the only child and heiress of the English nobleman
Henry Beauchamp, 1st Duke of Warwick
Henry Beauchamp, 14th Earl and Duke of Warwick (22 March 142511 June 1446) was an English nobleman.
Life
Henry was the son of Richard Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick, and Isabel le Despenser. In 1434, he married Cecily Neville, the eldest dau ...
. She died a child aged 5, after which the
earldom of Warwick was inherited by her
paternal aunt
An aunt is a woman who is a sibling of a parent or married to a sibling of a parent. Aunts who are consanguineous, related by birth are Second-degree relative, second-degree relatives. Known alternate terms include auntie or aunty. Children in ...
. The title then passed
by marriage to Anne's maternal uncle,
Richard Neville, the famous '
Kingmaker
A kingmaker is a person or group that has great influence on a royal or political succession, without themselves being a viable candidate. Kingmakers may use political, monetary, religious and military means to influence the succession. Origina ...
' of the later
Wars of the Roses
The Wars of the Roses (1455–1487), known at the time and for more than a century after as the Civil Wars, were a series of civil wars fought over control of the English throne in the mid-to-late fifteenth century. These wars were fought bet ...
.
Life
Anne Beauchamp was born on 14 February 1444 at
Cardiff
Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...
in Wales. Her father was Henry Beauchamp, Duke of Warwick (1425–1446), the last male of the medieval Beauchamp family to hold the Warwick title. Anne's mother was
Cecily Neville
Cecily Neville (3 May 1415 – 31 May 1495) was an English noblewoman, the wife of Richard, Duke of York (1411–1460), and the mother of two kings of England—Edward IV and Richard III. Cecily Neville was known as "the Rose of Raby", because ...
, sister to Richard Neville, who later played a key role in the Wars of the Roses.
On 11 June 1446, Anne's father died. The dukedom of Warwick, created in 1445, had been originally granted to heirs male only, and so became extinct upon Henry Beauchamp's death, but the earldom (created in 1088) allowed for female succession and was therefore inherited by his daughter. She also inherited from her father the
barony of Burghersh, being the 7th person to hold that title since its creation in 1330. Upon the death of King
Henry VI's uncle
Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester
Humphrey of Lancaster, Duke of Gloucester (3 October 139023 February 1447) was an English prince, soldier, and literary patron. He was (as he styled himself) "son, brother and uncle of kings", being the fourth and youngest son of Henry IV of E ...
, on 23 February 1447, Anne also succeeded to the lordship of the
Channel Islands
The Channel Islands ( nrf, Îles d'la Manche; french: îles Anglo-Normandes or ''îles de la Manche'') are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey, ...
, which had been previously entailed on her father.
The infant Anne was one of the greatest heiresses of her day, alongside the infant
Lady Margaret Beaufort
Lady Margaret Beaufort (usually pronounced: or ; 31 May 1441/43 – 29 June 1509) was a major figure in the Wars of the Roses of the late fifteenth century, and mother of King Henry VII of England, the first Tudor monarch.
A descendant of ...
, the daughter of the
1st Duke of Somerset who had died in 1444. Both girls became wards of Anne's maternal step-great-grandmother,
Alice Chaucer (widow of
Thomas Montagu, 4th Earl of Salisbury
Thomas Montagu, 4th Earl of Salisbury, KG (13 June 13883 November 1428) of Bisham in Berkshire, was an English nobleman and one of the most important English commanders during the Hundred Years' War.
Origins
He was the eldest son of John Monta ...
, and a lady-in-waiting to Queen
Margaret of Anjou
Margaret of Anjou (french: link=no, Marguerite; 23 March 1430 – 25 August 1482) was Queen of England and nominally Queen of France by marriage to King Henry VI from 1445 to 1461 and again from 1470 to 1471. Born in the Duchy of Lorrain ...
) and
William de la Pole
William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...
, shortly to be Duke of Suffolk, who intended Anne to marry his own heir,
John de la Pole (1442–1492).
Anne died on 3 June 1449, aged five, at
Ewelme
Ewelme () is a village and civil parish in the Chiltern Hills in South Oxfordshire, north-east of the market town of Wallingford. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 1,048. To the east of the village is Cow Common and to the ...
(the Chaucer home) in
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...
. She was buried in
Reading Abbey
Reading Abbey is a large, ruined abbey in the centre of the town of Reading, in the English county of Berkshire. It was founded by Henry I in 1121 "for the salvation of my soul, and the souls of King William, my father, and of King William, m ...
church. Reading may have been chosen as her burial site because her great grandmother,
Constance of York
Constance of York, Countess of Gloucester ( – 28 November 1416) was the only daughter of Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, and his wife Isabella of Castile, daughter of King Peter of Castile and his favourite mistress, María de Padilla.
F ...
, had been buried there.
Anne's title ''Countess of Warwick'' was inherited by her paternal aunt, Lady Anne. The barony of Burghersh fell into abeyance between her aunts.
After Anne's death, the Duke of Suffolk instead arranged a 'solemn betrothal' between his son and Lady Margaret, a marriage contract that by law could be, and on the initiative of the king was, dissolved while the bride was below the age of twelve; Margaret herself never subsequently recognized John as her first husband.
[Jones, Michael K. and Underwood, Malcolm G]
"Beaufort,_Margaret_[known_as_Lady_Margaret_Beaufort
/nowiki>,_countess_of_Richmond_and_Derby".html" ;"title="/nowiki>known as Lady Margaret Beaufort">"Beaufort, Margaret [known as Lady Margaret Beaufort
/nowiki>, countess of Richmond and Derby"">/nowiki>known as Lady Margaret Beaufort">"Beaufort, Margaret [known as Lady Margaret Beaufort
/nowiki>, countess of Richmond and Derby" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', 23 September 2004. Accessed 3 February 2019. John went on to marry Elizabeth of York, Duchess of Suffolk, Elizabeth of York, sister to the later kings Edward IV of England, Edward IV and
Richard III
Richard III (2 October 145222 August 1485) was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 26 June 1483 until his death in 1485. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty. His defeat and death at the Battl ...
. Margaret married
Edmund Tudor, 1st Earl of Richmond
Edmund Tudor, 1st Earl of Richmond ( – 3 November 1456, also known as Edmund of Hadham), was the father of King Henry VII of England and a member of the Tudor family of Penmynydd, North Wales. Born to Owen Tudor and the dowager queen Catherin ...
, and became the mother of
King Henry VII
Henry VII (28 January 1457 – 21 April 1509) was King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizure of the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death in 1509. He was the first monarch of the House of Tudor.
Henry's mother, Margaret Beaufo ...
.
Ancestry
Footnotes
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Warwick, Anne de Beauchamp, 15th Countess of
1444 births
1449 deaths
15th-century English nobility
15th-century English women
Anne
Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female given name Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie.
Anne is sometimes used as a male name in the ...
Burials at Reading Abbey
Beauchamp
English countesses
Daughters of English dukes
Hereditary women peers
People from Cardiff
People from South Oxfordshire District
Barons Burghersh
Royalty and nobility who died as children