[54c] Henry Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, was the son of Edmund Beaufort (grandson of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster), who, after the death of his eldest brother, John Beaufort, first Duke of Somerset, without issue male, was created first Marquis of Dorset, and in the twenty-fifth year of Henry VI. was made Duke of Somerset, and was slain at the first battle of St. Alban’s, on the 22nd of May, [54d] 1455, fighting on the part of Henry VI., and had issue by his wife Eleanor, daughter of Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, four sons and several daughters. The eldest son, Henry was, after his father’s death, Duke of Somerset, Marquis of Dorset, and Lord of Chirk and Chirkland, in the marches of Wales. He was one of the Lancastrian commanders at the battle of Wakefield, and, as there is every reason to believe, also at the second battle of St. Alban’s, although that circumstance is not distinctly mentioned by historians. He was also a principal commander and fought at the battle of Towton; and after the defeat there, escaped into Scotland, and was afterwards pardoned by Edward IV.; but having revolted from Edward to the Lancastrians, and having, with the Lords Roos, Molyns, and Hungerford, Sir Henry Neville, Sir Thomas Wentworth, and Sir Richard Tunstal, fought at the battle of Hexham, he was taken prisoner by John Marquis Montague, and was beheaded in 1463. Edmund, the second son, was also Duke of Somerset after his brother, and was beheaded after the battle of Tewkesbury, in 1471; John, the third son was slain in that battle; and Thomas, the fourth son, died without issue. The family was noted for its strong attachment and exertions in the cause of the House of Lancaster.
[54d] The 22nd of May, according to Dugdale, vol. i. pp. 166 and 342; and Sandford, p. 321; but the 23rd of May, according to Hall, Holinshed, and Grafton.
[55] Thomas Courtenay, Earl of Devonshire, a strong supporter of the House of Lancaster, fought at the battle of Wakefield. He afterwards fought at the battle of Towton, on the 29th of March, 1461, was taken prisoner, and beheaded at York. Some degree of confusion seems to exist, respecting the Earl of Devonshire who fought at Wakefield and at Towton, and the Earl of Devonshire who afterwards fought at Tewkesbury. The old historians state, that the former, being taken prisoner, was beheaded after the battle of Towton; and that seems to be in no small degree confirmed by the act of attainder against him and the other Lancastrian leaders, of the 1st of Edward IV., in which he is called “Thomas Courtenay, late Earl of Devonshire;” the word “late” being also used with reference to other noblemen, and persons who were dead, and were attainted for having been engaged in that battle. In the Catalogue of Nobility, by Ralph Brooke, p. 61, it is stated that Thomas Courtenay, Earl of Devonshire, son of Hugh Courtenay, Earl of Devonshire, being at the battle of Towton, “was taken prisoner, and beheaded at York;” that he married Margaret, daughter of John Beaufort, Earl of Somerset and Marquis of Dorset, by whom he had issue three sons and two daughters; that “Thomas, the eldest sonne, being at the battle of Towton with King Henry VI. against King Edward IV., was there taken prisoner, and his head smitten off;” that Henry, the second son, was also beheaded at Salisbury, in the 8th of Edward IV.; and that John, the third son, was slain at the battle of Tewkesbury. It seems probable, that that account is correct; and it is rather corroborated by the act of attainder of 1st Edward IV., in which “Thomas Courteney, late Earl of Devonshire,” and also “Sir John Courtney,” were attainted for having been engaged at the battle of Towton.
But the account given by Sandford in his Genealogical History, page 313, differs in some respects from it. He states that Thomas Courtenay, seventh Earl of Devon, married Margaret, second daughter of John Earl of Somerset, and, siding with King Henry VI. against the Yorkists, was by King Edward IV. taken prisoner at the battle of Towton, and beheaded at York, the 3rd of April (an. 1 Edward IV.), in the year 1461; and that their children were, Thomas Earl of Devon, made prisoner at the same battle, and being attainted in a Parliament at Westminster, the 4th of November, an. 1 Edward IV., soon after lost his head; that Henry Courtenay, the second son, had his head cut off in the same quarrel at Salisbury; and that John Courtenay, the third son, fell in the battle of Tewkesbury. Dugdale, in his Baronage, vol. i. p. 641, however, states, that Thomas Earl of Devonshire was, for being at the battle of Towton with his father, attainted by the act of 1st Edward IV., but did not suffer death, as it seems, for it appears that he was slain at the battle of Tewkesbury, fighting on behalf of Henry VI., and there buried. Leland, in his Itinerary, vol. vi. fo. 93 [p. 82], also states that Thomas Earl of Devonshire was slain at Tewkesbury, and buried there. It is stated in Banks’ Dormant and Extinct Baronage, vol. iii, p. 249, that Thomas Earl of Devon, a firm Lancastrian, died just before the accession of Edward IV. to the throne, and had by his wife Margaret, daughter of John Beaufort, Earl of Somerset, five daughters and three sons: Thomas, his successor; Henry, beheaded for his attachment to the House of Lancaster; and John, slain on the same side, at the battle of Tewkesbury. Is it not probable, that the personage who fought at Tewkesbury, called the Earl of Devonshire, was only the nominal earl of that title, and that he was the same person who, as Sir John Courteney, fought at Towton, and was attainted in the 1st of Edward IV., and who was afterwards called by the Lancastrians, the Earl of Devonshire?
[56a] James Boteler or Butler, the son and heir of James, fourth Earl of Ormond, was created Earl of Wiltshire in the 27th of Henry VI. In the 30th of Henry VI., by the death of his father, he also became Earl of Ormond. He was a staunch Lancastrian, and fought for that party at the first battle of St. Alban’s, in 1455; also at the battle of Wakefield, and again at the battle of Mortimer’s Cross. He appears also to have been at the battle of Towton. (See Dugdale’s Baronage, vol. iii. p. 235.) After that battle he was captured by the Yorkists, and was beheaded upon the 1st of May, 1461, at Newcastle. It is very remarkable, that although historians state that he fought on the Lancastrian side at the battle of Wakefield, and although he was attainted by the act 1st Edward IV. (1461), his name is not included amongst those of the noblemen and others, who were attainted for taking a part in the battle of Wakefield. His attainder was, ostensibly at least, for a different offence; viz., for inducing the enemies of the King to enter the realm, and make war against him. [56d] The fact of the Earl of Wiltshire having fought at the battle of Mortimer’s Cross, is mentioned not only by the old historians, but also in Rot. Parl. 1 Edward IV. vol. v. p. 462; but that is not alleged in the act, as the reason for his attainder. It does not seem easy to understand how he could be engaged at the battle of Wakefield, and be so soon afterwards at the head of forces fighting at Mortimer’s Cross. See, however, Dugdale’s Baronage, vol. ii. p. 235; Stow’s Annals, fo. 412; and Speed’s History, fo. 847.
[56b] John Lord Clifford (son of Thomas Clifford, Lord Clifford, by Joan his wife, daughter of Thomas Lord Dacre of Gillesland, who took part with Henry VI., and was slain at the first battle of St. Alban’s, on the 22nd [56e] of May, 1455) fought at the battle of Wakefield for the Lancastrian party, and was slain at the engagement at Dintingdale (between Ferrybridge and Towton, and near the latter place), on the 28th of March, 1461, being the day before the battle of Towton. He left by Margaret his wife, daughter and heiress of Henry Bromflete Lord Vesci, Henry his son and heir, who, when a little child, was placed with a shepherd in the north of England, and brought up as a poor boy, in careful concealment, for fear of the enemies of his family, and could not read or write; he remained in obscurity, until the first year of Henry VII., when he was restored to his rank and possessions.
[56c] Thomas Lord Roos, or Ros, or Ross (it has been occasionally spelt each way), of Hamlake, son of Thomas Lord Roos, by his wife Eleanor, daughter of Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, was a supporter of the House of Lancaster; and was at the battle of Wakefield, and was also with Henry VI. at York, when tidings came of the complete defeat of the Lancastrians at the battle of Towton; and then escaped with him into Scotland. He returned again into England, and died at Newcastle in the first year of King Edward IV. He was attainted in the first year of that King’s reign, and his possessions of Belvoir Castle, &c., were bestowed upon Lord Hastings; who, on first going to view the latter, was repelled by a gentleman named Harrington, a person of some power in those parts, a friend of Lord Roos; but Lord Hastings went there again with some forces, and greatly injured the castle and roofs, and took away the lead to his house at Ashby-de-la-Zouch, which he was building at considerable cost; and Belvoir Castle remained in a state of ruin, and uninhabitable, until the Earl of Rutland [in Henry VIII.’s time] repaired it. (See Leland’s Itinerary, vol. i. fo. 114 [107].) Thomas Lord Roos married Philippa, daughter of John Lord Tiptoft and Powis, and Joyce his wife (daughter of Edward Charlton, Lord Powis, and sister of John Earl of Worcester), by whom he had several children: the eldest son, Edmund, from his fidelity to the House of Lancaster, was constrained to flee beyond the sea. It seems that Edmund afterwards got privately into England, and joined the Duke of Somerset, Sir Ralph Percy, and others, in the insurrection in the North, in the fourth year of Edward IV. Little more seems to be known of him, except that he was not within the realm in the first year of Henry VII., when he petitioned for, and obtained, an act of Parliament for the reversal of the attainder, and he died at Enfield in the year 1508.
[56d] 1 Rot. Parl. 1 Edward IV. (1461), vol. v. fo. 478.
[56e] Called the 23rd of May by some writers.
[57] Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland. See Chap. VI.