Richard Beauchamp (eBook)

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RICHARD’S EARLY YEARS

It is rare to know anything of the detail of the early life of a person in the middle ages. We do not even know the date of birth of Henry V, and although it was not expected when he was born that he would become king, this does give an indication of the lack of interest in childhood of even the most important families. Inevitably, therefore, we have only a few firm facts relating to Richard Beauchamp’s first seventeen years. We can, however, reach some conclusions about the likely course of his upbringing based on the handful of known details and on deductions from comparisons with other contemporary families of similar rank.

An illustrated biography of Richard, produced some years after his death, survives in the British Library. Generally referred to as The Pageants of Richard Beauchamp, it consists of 53 line drawings on 28 leaves of vellum, measuring 11in by 8in. Each page depicts an episode from Richard’s life, with a brief English text on each. The Pageants end with two genealogical tables showing Richard’s descendants, and these latter both help us to date the document and give some indications as to its likely purpose. Whatever the intention lying behind its production, it has no rivals as a unique work of late medieval biography and illustration.

The Pageants follow Beauchamp from his birth ‘in the Maner of Salwarp in the Counte of Worcester’, through his chivalrous exploits, battles and participation in national affairs, to his death in 1439 and the transportation of his body from Rouen home to Warwick. It places great emphasis on his victories in jousts, and on his loyal service to three kings, portraying him as an ideal model conforming to the code of chivalrous behaviour. Richard is held up as an example of loyalty, bravery and knighthood. His character is praised by the famous and powerful throughout Europe; he ‘ful notably and manly behaved himself’ on many occasions, and his value to the House of Lancaster is stressed. The Pageants emphasize Richard’s role in ensuring the royal succession, particularly in negotiating the marriage of Henry V to Katharine, the daughter of Charles VI of France, and in caring for their infant son, Henry VI.

For the modern reader, however, there are disappointments, for the work gives no clues to Richard as a character. It leaves us unaware of his temperament, his motivation or his individuality. It does not mention his marriages except in the genealogies, and there is nothing about the important trial and execution of Joan of Arc. So why were the Pageants produced? If the document it is not a biography in the modern sense, what precisely is it? The genealogies at the end of the book might give some clues to its purpose, and perhaps also some indication of its level of reliability. The first of these two genealogies shows Richard, his two wives, and his five children – three daughters by his first wife, Elisabeth, and a son and daughter by his second wife, Isabel. The second genealogy shows his daughter Anne’s marriage to Richard Neville (Warwick the Kingmaker). Their daughter, also named Anne, married firstly Prince Edward, son of Henry VI, and then Richard, duke of Gloucester, who became king in 1483. Their son Edward Plantagenet, who died in 1484 is also depicted. This suggests that the Pageant dates from between the mid-1480s and 1493 when Anne died. Writers have generally suggested that it was commissioned by Anne after Richard III’s death at Bosworth to draw attention to the plight of her noble family, now in relative poverty and disgrace because the Kingmaker supported the losing side in the Wars of the Roses.7 The dating is, however, less straightforward than this, for the two genealogies are unfinished. The coats of arms on the first family tree have been started, but only those of Richard and his first wife approach completion; the others are only sketched in outline. In the final page, no attempt has been made to draw the arms, but the blank shields which were to contain them have been drawn. Besides, and most importantly, the style of handwriting on the two genealogies clearly differs from that which is used in the bulk of the Pageants.

Thus, the most plausible explanation is that the genealogies were added some time after the completion of the main document to validate Anne’s claim for the restoration of her inheritance which had been confiscated following the deaths of Richard Neville her husband and Richard III her son-in-law. If this is the case, when might the bulk of the Pageants have been produced? The most likely occasion is the transfer of Richard Beauchamp’s body from its temporary resting place in the south transept of St Mary’s, Warwick, to its permanent home in the completed chantry chapel which had been provided for in his will. This would date the main document fairly precisely to 1475, with the two genealogical pages being added about a decade later.

We must also beware of assuming that the Pageants consistently relate reliable historical detail. At some points it is manifestly mistaken – for example, Richard returns from pilgrimage to the Holy Land to find Henry V on the throne, whereas in reality he came home some three years before Henry succeeded his father. In other places, however, it seems to be remarkably accurate, and the suggestion that the majority of it represents Richard’s own memories as told to his children and related to the chronicler by Anne is not unlikely.

In the opening scene of the Pageants, we see Richard’s mother in a four-poster bed, apparently without clothing, attended by four ladies, one of whom holds the baby. The second scene shows the importance of the child – his godfathers are the king and the future Archbishop of York. From outside the Pageants there is evidence that the young Richard spent some time in the royal court, as was normal for the sons of the higher nobility, and he is mentioned in this context at least twice. We have no details of his education, but we do know that later in life he was fluent in French and was not only a brilliant tactician in war, but was also a very capable manager of one of the most significant land holdings of the middle ages. His contemporaries such as Henry Bolingbroke, also educated in the royal household, were taught Latin, spelling and grammar, and although Richard was sixteen years Henry’s junior, he grew up in the same milieu. Moreover, he certainly came from a family which valued education – his great-grandfather was noted for his learning, his uncle had been to Oxford and the family possessed a library. It was normal for boys such as Richard to learn the skills of jousting and warfare early in life, and Richard’s proficiency at these when he was barely out of his teens suggests that his upbringing did not neglect his physical development.

At the age of ten, in September 1392, Richard was contracted to marry Elisabeth, the daughter of Lord Berkeley. Elisabeth was not yet seven, but was the only child of Lord Berkeley. The intention behind the contract was the alliance of two great families, and the prestige and increase in influence which this would bring to both houses. They were married by 5 October 1397, at the ages of fifteen and twelve. Following the exile of Richard’s father, Thomas II, the young couple were placed in the custody of the duke of Surrey. Richard and Elisabeth were to produce three children, all daughters, and all of whom were to survive infancy. Their eldest child, Margaret, was born at Goodrest Manor, which belonged to Kenilworth Castle and was situated about two miles north of Warwick, ‘the next year after the battle of Shrewsbury’ (i.e. 1404). She died in 1467. The second child, Eleanor, was born at Walthamstow, a Beauchamp family manor east of London, ‘shortly after the feast of our Lady’s nativity’ (8 September) in 1408, and the third, Elisabeth, was born at Warwick Castle, but we have no date for her birth.

The effect of the affair of the Lords Appellant on Richard, and of his father’s subsequent imprisonment and exile, can only be guessed at. Great uncertainty about the family’s future must have been generated and when, shortly after Richard’s marriage, the Beauchamp estates were confiscated, the prospects for the dynasty which had steadily increased its wealth and influence throughout the fourteenth century looked decidedly insecure. Later in life, Richard was to be totally loyal to the crown, and seemed to distance himself from political factions and intrigues; perhaps the experience of watching the stresses of 1387, and his father’s decline a decade later had impressed upon him the danger of quarrelling with the monarch. On the other hand, when Bolingbroke became king in 1399, to belong to a family which had been prominent in the protest against Richard II’s injustices was no bad thing. The Beauchamps were again in favour. The seventeen year old Richard was installed as a Knight of the Bath on the eve of Henry’s coronation – an honour which is illustrated in the third panel of the Pageant. At the ceremony the next day, Richard’s father, restored from imprisonment and disgrace, carried in procession behind the king a sheathed sword, signifying mercy.

The middle ages was a time of great superstition – incidents pointing towards good or ill were taken very seriously – and so when two events happened at the coronation which were taken as bad omens, the future for the reign of Henry IV did not look promising. When the new king was anointed with the holy oil believed to have been blessed by Thomas Beckett, his beard was found to be crawling with lice....