Margaret Beauchamp (1404 – 14 June 1467) was the eldest daughter of
Richard Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick
Richard Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick (25 or 28 January 138230 April 1439) was an English medieval nobleman and military commander.
Early life
Beauchamp was born at Salwarpe CourtRichard Gough, ''Description of the Beauchamp chapel, adjoin ...
and his first wife,
Elizabeth de Berkeley. As the eldest child of a family without male issue, Margaret was expected to inherit from her father until her stepmother,
Isabel le Despenser, gave him a son.
Ancestry
She was the granddaughter and heir-general of
Thomas de Berkeley, 5th Baron Berkeley
Thomas de Berkeley, 5th Baron Berkeley (5 January 1352/53 – 13 July 1417), ''The Magnificent'', of Berkeley Castle and of Wotton-under-Edge in Gloucestershire, was an English peer and an admiral. His epithet, and that of each previous and su ...
; however, the Barony and
castle of Berkeley had passed to his nephew
James Berkeley, 1st Baron Berkeley
James Berkeley, 1st Baron Berkeley (c. 1394 – 22 OctoberBurke, Bernard. ''A Genealogical History of the Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited, and Extinct Peerages of the British Empire.'' London: Harrison, 1866. (p. 44googlebooks.comAccessed 7 July 20 ...
on his death in 1417. These lands were also claimed by her mother, to whom she and her two sisters were coheirs.
Her paternal grandfather was
Thomas de Beauchamp, 12th Earl of Warwick, who fought for
John of Gaunt
John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster (6 March 1340 – 3 February 1399) was an English royal prince, military leader, and statesman. He was the fourth son (third to survive infancy as William of Hatfield died shortly after birth) of King Edward ...
in Spain and imprisoned in the
Tower of London
The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is separa ...
by
Richard II
Richard II (6 January 1367 – ), also known as Richard of Bordeaux, was King of England from 1377 until he was deposed in 1399. He was the son of Edward the Black Prince, Prince of Wales, and Joan, Countess of Kent. Richard's father die ...
and pardoned by
Henry IV. However he died 3 years before Margaret was born.
Marriage
On 6 September 1425 she had married
John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Second E ...
; he and her two brothers-in-law, the
Duke of Somerset
Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ranke ...
and the
Baron Latimer
The title Baron Latimer or Latymer has been created, by the definitions of modern peerage law, four times in the Peerage of England. Of these, one (of Snape) was restored from abeyance in 1913; one (of Braybrook) is forfeit; the other two (both ...
, vigorously maintained the claim to the Berkeley lands. However, Latimer's claim was possessed by his brother, the
Earl of Salisbury
Earl of Salisbury is a title that has been created several times in English and British history. It has a complex history, and is now a subsidiary title to the marquessate of Salisbury.
Background
The title was first created for Patrick de S ...
, as Latimer had been declared insane.
By Talbot, she had five children:
*
John Talbot, 1st Viscount Lisle
John Talbot, 1st Baron Lisle and 1st Viscount Lisle ( 1426 – 17 July 1453), English nobleman and medieval soldier, was the son of John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury, and his second wife Margaret Beauchamp.
Titles
Talbot was already a ...
(1426 – 17 July 1453)
*Sir Louis Talbot (c. 1429)
*Sir Humphrey Talbot (before 1434 – c. 1492)
*
Lady Eleanor Talbot
Lady Eleanor Talbot ( – June 1468), also known by her married name Eleanor Butler (or Boteler), was an English noblewoman. She was a daughter of John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury. After the death of Edward IV of England in 1483 it was cla ...
(c. February/March 1436 – 30 June 1468), married to Sir Thomas Butler and alleged mistress to
King Edward IV
Edward IV (28 April 1442 – 9 April 1483) was King of England from 4 March 1461 to 3 October 1470, then again from 11 April 1471 until his death in 1483. He was a central figure in the Wars of the Roses, a series of civil wars in England ...
.
*
Lady Elizabeth Talbot (c. December 1442/January 1443 – 6 November 1506/10 May 1507), married to
John de Mowbray, 4th Duke of Norfolk
John de Mowbray, 4th Duke of Norfolk, (18 October 144414 January 1476), known as 1st Earl of Surrey between 1451 and 1461, was the only son of John de Mowbray, 3rd Duke of Norfolk and Eleanor Bourchier. His maternal grandparents were William ...
.
Lord and Lady Talbot were distantly related to each other, having a shared ancestor in
King Edward I
Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he ruled the duchies of Aquitaine and Gascony as a vassa ...
and both being descendants of the houses of Clare and Despenser. She received the title of Countess of Clermont through the bravery of her husband during the wars with
France.
Wars of the Roses
During the troubled years of the
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 throne of England, English throne in the mid-to-late fifteenth century. These w ...
, the dispute frequently passed from litigation to actual violence.
Lord Berkeley sacked Margaret's manor at
Wotton-under-Edge
Wotton-under-Edge is a market town within the Stroud district of Gloucestershire, England. Located near the southern fringe of the Cotswolds, the Cotswold Way long-distance footpath passes through the town. Standing on the B4058, Wotton is abo ...
in
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean.
The county town is the city of Glo ...
, in return for which her son, the Viscount Lisle, stormed
Berkeley Castle
Berkeley Castle ( ; historically sometimes spelled as ''Berkley Castle'' or ''Barkley Castle'') is a castle in the town of Berkeley, Gloucestershire, United Kingdom. The castle's origins date back to the 11th century, and it has been desi ...
(1452) and took him prisoner.
Margaret also succeeded in having Lord Berkeley's wife, Lady Isabel Mowbray, committed to prison, where she died that year.
Litigation from her deathbed
Lord Berkeley married Lady Joan Talbot, Margaret's stepdaughter, in 1457, temporarily quelling the feud. It broke out again in 1463, when
William Berkeley, 2nd Baron Berkeley, acceded. Litigation continued, and on her death in 1467, she left her claims to her grandson
Thomas Talbot, 2nd Viscount Lisle
Thomas Talbot, 2nd Baron Lisle and 2nd Viscount Lisle (''c''. 1449 – 20 March 1470), English nobleman, was the son of John Talbot, 1st Viscount Lisle and Joan Cheddar.
He married Margaret Herbert, the daughter of William Herbert, 1st Earl of P ...
. She was buried in
St Faith under St Paul's
St Faith under St Paul's in Castle Baynard Ward was an unusual parish within the City of London. It originally had its own building to the east of St Paul's Cathedral, serving as a parish church for the residents of St Paul's Churchyard ...
at London.
[Camden, p. 335]
Ancestry
Notes
References
* Camden, William. "Of the Antiquity of Epitaphs in England." ''A Collection of Curious Discourses.'' Vol. 1, Ed. Thomas Hearne, Benjamin White, at Horace's Head, London, 1775.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beauchamp, Margaret
1404 births
1467 deaths
15th-century English women
15th-century English people
Shrewsbury
Shrewsbury ( , also ) is a market town, civil parish, and the county town of Shropshire, England, on the River Severn, north-west of London; at the 2021 census, it had a population of 76,782. The town's name can be pronounced as either 'Shr ...
Daughters of British earls
Wives of knights
Margaret
Margaret is a female first name, derived via French () and Latin () from grc, μαργαρίτης () meaning "pearl". The Greek is borrowed from Persian.
Margaret has been an English name since the 11th century, and remained popular througho ...