Editing Thomas Beaufort, Duke of Exeter

{{Short description|English military commander}}
{{Infobox noble
| name         = Thomas Beaufort
| title        = [[Duke of Exeter]]
| image        = Arms of Thomas Beaufort, 1st Duke of Exeter.svg
| caption      = Coat of arms of Thomas Beaufort, Duke of Exeter
| alt          = 
| spouse       = Margaret Neville of Hornby
| issue        = 
| issue-link   = 
| titles       = 
| noble family = [[House of Beaufort|Beaufort]]
| house-type   = Dynasty
| father       = [[John of Gaunt]]
| mother       = [[Katherine Swynford]]
| birth_date   = {{circa|January 1377}}<ref>{{cite book |last=Richardson |year=2011 |first=D. |title=Magna Carta Ancestry |volume=2 |edition=2nd |editor=Kimball G. Everingham |place=Salt Lake City |page=542 |isbn=978-1-4499-6638-6 |author-link=Douglas Richardson }}</ref><ref name=weir>{{cite book |last=Weir |first=A. |title=Britain's Royal Families: The Complete Genealogy |author-link=Alison Weir }} ch. 3</ref>
| birth_place  = [[Château de Beaufort]], [[Duchy of Anjou|Anjou]], France
| death_date   = 31 December 1426<ref>{{cite ODNB |last=Harriss |date=2008-01-03 |first=G.L. |title=Beaufort, Thomas, duke of Exeter (1377?–1426) |type=online |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/1864 |author-link=G. L. Harriss }}</ref> (aged c. 49)
| death_place  = [[Greenwich#Manor of East Greenwich|Greenwich manor]], [[Kent]], England
| burial_date  = 
| burial_place = [[Bury St Edmunds Abbey]], [[Suffolk]], England
| occupation   = [[Lord Chancellor]]<br/>[[Lord High Admiral of England|Lord High Admiral]]<br/>[[Admiral of the North and West]]<br/>[[Admiral of the North]]<br/>[[Captain of Calais]]
}}

'''Thomas Beaufort, Duke of Exeter''' (c. January 1377{{snd}}31 December 1426) was an [[England|English]] military commander during the [[Hundred Years' War]], and briefly [[Chancellor of England]]. He was the third of the four children born to [[John of Gaunt]], [[Duke of Lancaster]], and his mistress [[Katherine Swynford]]. To overcome their problematic parentage, his parents were married in 1396, and he and his siblings were legitimated in 1390 and again in 1397. He married the daughter of Sir Thomas Neville (died 1387)<ref>Douglas Richardson, ''Royal Ancestry: A Study In Colonial And Medieval Families'', 2013, Vol. III, p. 318</ref> of Hornby, Margaret Neville (born c. 1384),{{sfn|Richardson|2011|p=542}} who bore him one son, Henry Beaufort. However, the child died young.

==Under Henry IV==
After the accession of his half-brother [[Henry IV of England|Henry IV]], Beaufort was made a [[Knight of the Garter]]. In the following years he held various military posts: constable of [[Ludlow]] (1402), appointed [[Admiral of the North]] (1403), appointed [[captain of Calais]] (1407), and [[Admiral of the North and West]] (1408–1413) he retained the title for life. His most notable action during this decade was commanding the forces against the northern rebellion of 1405.

He became Chancellor of England on 31 January 1410, an office he held until 5 January 1412<ref>{{cite book |last1=Powicke |date=1961 |first1=F. M. |last2=Fryde |first2=E.B. |title=Handbook of British Chronology |edition=2nd |publisher=Royal Historical Society |place=London |page=85 |author-link=F. M. Powicke }}</ref> during a time when King Henry was having trouble with the clergy, and then returned to military matters. Later in 1412 he was created [[Earl of Dorset]].<ref>[http://aalt.law.uh.edu/AALT4/H5/CP40no609/aCP40no609fronts/IMG_0152.htm 8th entry, plaintiff]; 1413</ref>

==Under Henry V==
On the accession of [[Henry V of England|Henry V]], Beaufort was appointed [[Lieutenant of Aquitaine]] in 1413 and then captain of [[Harfleur]] in 1415. He spent the next few years in [[Normandy]], serving as lieutenant of that duchy from 1416. He was created [[Duke of Exeter]] for life that same year.

Beaufort returned to England in 1417 while the king was still in Normandy in order to deal with problems in Scotland. In 1418, he went back to Normandy with a large force, taking part in the sieges of [[Évreux]], [[Ivry-la-Bataille|Ivry]], and [[Rouen]]. After the fall of Rouen in 1419, he was made captain of the city and conquered several more of the smaller Norman cities. Finally, in 1419, he took the great fortress of [[Château Gaillard]], midway between [[Rouen]] and [[Paris]], after a six-month siege.

During this time, Henry V began a policy of creating Norman titles for his aristocrats, with Beaufort being made Count of Harcourt in 1418.

In 1420, Beaufort helped negotiate the [[treaty of Troyes]]. The next year he was captured at the [[Battle of Baugé]], where his nephew, [[Thomas of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Clarence]], was killed.

Beaufort was one of the executors of Henry V's will, and so returned to England in 1422 after the latter's death. He served on the governing council for the infant King [[Henry VI of England|Henry VI]], though it is likely he spent some time in France as well.

The character of Exeter in Shakespeare's play ''[[Henry V (play)|Henry V]]'' is based on Beaufort, although Beaufort was not actually created duke of Exeter until after the [[Battle of Agincourt]]; in 1415 he was still earl of Dorset. He also appears in ''[[Henry VI (play)|Henry VI, Part 1]]''.

He is reported to have died on 31 December 1426,<ref>{{cite book |last=Cokayne |date=1926 |first=G. |title=[[The Complete Peerage]] |volume=5 |edition=2nd |editor=V. Gibbs |editor2=H.A. Doubleday |publisher=St. Catherine Press |place=London |page=[https://archive.org/stream/CokayneG.E.TheCompletePeerageSecondEditionVolume5EAGO/Cokayne%2C%20G.%20E.%20-%20The%20Complete%20Peerage%2C%20Second%20Edition%2C%20Volume%205%20%28EA-GO%29#page/n107/mode/2up 204] |author-link=George Edward Cokayne |editor-link=Vicary Gibbs (St Albans MP) }}</ref>{{sfn|Richardson|2011|p=542}} although 27 December 1426 or 1 January 1427<ref name=weir/><ref>{{cite DNB |last=Round |first=J. |display=Beaufort, Sir Thomas (d. 1427), Duke of Exeter |volume=4 |wstitle=Beaufort, Thomas |author-link=J. Horace Round }}</ref> have been suggested as alternative dates. All of his titles ([[Duke of Exeter]], [[Earl of Dorset]] and [[Lords and Counts of Harcourt|Count of Harcourt]]) became extinct. The Duchy of Exeter was restored to the [[Holland family]]; the Earldom of Dorset was recreated for [[Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset|Edmund, Count of Mortain]], his nephew.

==Arms==
As a legitimated grandson of the sovereign, Beaufort bore the arms of the kingdom, differenced by a ''bordure gobony azure and ermine''.<ref>[http://www.heraldica.org/topics/britain/cadency.htm Marks of Cadency in the British Royal Family]</ref><ref>{{Cite EB1911|wstitle= Beaufort |volume= 3 | pages = 585&ndash;586 }}</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of lord chancellors and lord keepers]]

==Footnotes==
{{Reflist}}

{{S-start}}
{{S-off}}
{{S-bef|before=[[Thomas Arundel]]}}
{{S-ttl|title=[[Lord Chancellor]]|years=31 January 1410{{snd}}5 January 1412}}
{{S-aft|after=[[Thomas Arundel]]}}
{{S-bef|before=[[Edward of Norwich, 2nd Duke of York|Edward of Norwich]]}}
{{S-ttl|title=[[Lord High Admiral of England|Lord High Admiral]]|years=1413{{snd}}26 July 1426}}
{{S-aft|after=[[John of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Bedford|The Duke of Bedford]]}}
{{S-reg|en}}
{{S-new|rows=2|creation}}
{{S-ttl|title=[[Duke of Exeter]]|years=18 November 1416{{snd}}1426}}
{{S-non|rows=2|reason=Extinct}}
|-
{{S-ttl|title=[[Earl of Dorset]]|years=5 July 1411<!-- <ref>See [[List of Earldoms]] and [[Earl of Dorset]] for this</ref> -->{{snd}}1426}}
{{S-reg|fr}}
{{S-new|creation}}
{{S-ttl|title=[[Lords and Counts of Harcourt|Count of Harcourt]]<br>Lord of [[Lillebonne]]|years=1 July 1418{{snd}}1426}}
{{S-non|reason=Extinct}}
{{s-end}}

{{House of Lancaster Lord Chancellors}}
{{Authority control}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2017}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Exeter, Thomas Beaufort, 1st Duke Of}}
[[Category:1370s births]]
[[Category:1426 deaths]]
[[Category:14th-century English Navy personnel]]
[[Category:15th-century English Navy personnel]]
[[Category:Dukes of Exeter|201]]
[[Category:Younger sons of dukes]]
[[Category:Lord chancellors of England]]
[[Category:Lord high admirals of England]]
[[Category:People of the Hundred Years' War]]
[[Category:Life peers created by Henry V]]
[[Category:Peers created by Henry IV of England]]
[[Category:Knights of the Garter]]
[[Category:Beaufort family|Thomas Beaufort, Duke of Exeter]]
[[Category:Counts of Harcourt|Thomas Beaufort]]
[[Category:Illegitimate children of English royalty]]