Biography of John Beauchamp 1st Baron Beauchamp Warwick 1316-1360

In 1309 [his father] Guy Beauchamp 10th Earl Warwick (age 37) and [his mother] Alice Tosny Countess Warwick (age 24) were married. She by marriage Countess Warwick. He the son of [his grandfather] William Beauchamp 9th Earl Warwick and [his grandmother] Maud Fitzjohn Countess Warwick. They were second cousin twice removed. She a great x 5 granddaughter of King Henry I "Beauclerc" England.

On 12th August 1315 [his father] Guy Beauchamp 10th Earl Warwick (age 43) died. Possibly poisoned - see Thomas Walsingham. He was buried at Bordesley Abbey, Worcestershire [Map]. His son [his brother] Thomas (age 2) succeeded 11th Earl Warwick. Given his young age Thomas Beauchamp 11th Earl Warwick became a ward of King Edward II of England (age 31) until 1326.

Around 1316 John Beauchamp 1st Baron Beauchamp Warwick was born to Guy Beauchamp 10th Earl Warwick and Alice Tosny Countess Warwick (age 31).

Before 15th September 1317 [his step-father] William Zouche 1st Baron Zouche Mortimer (age 52) and [his mother] Alice Tosny Countess Warwick (age 33) were married. They were sixth cousins. She a great x 5 granddaughter of King Henry I "Beauclerc" England.

On 1st January 1325 [his mother] Alice Tosny Countess Warwick (age 40) died at Warwick, Warwickshire [Map].

Chronicle of Geoffrey le Baker of Swinbroke [-1360]. The king then, having returned to Flanders, came to Ghent for the feast of Saint Michael [29th September 1340], where he waited a long time for the confirmation of the truce and the arrival of money, which never came. Later, when all the English who were waiting in Ghent with the king thought that he would remain there until the feast of the Nativity of Christ, the king one day, pretending he wanted to go for a ride, secretly rode off with eight of his men, without informing any of his household. He came to Zeeland, where he found a ship.¹ After sailing for three days and nights, on the night of Saint Andrew's day, around cockcrow, he entered the Tower of London by water. He was accompanied by the Earl of Northampton, Sir Nicholas de Cantilupe, Sir Reginald de Cobham (age 45), Sir Giles de Beauchamp (age 57), Sir John de Beauchamp (age 24), and the clerks William de Kyllesby and Philip de Weston.

Rex igitur ad Flandriam reversus venit Gandavum ad festum sancti Michaelis, ubi diu expectavit treuge confirmacionem et pecuniam adfuturam, que non venit. Postea, putantibus omnibus Anglicis expectantibus in Gandavo cum rege ipsum ibidem ad festum Nativitatis Christi expectaturum, una dierum rex cum octo de suis, fingens se velle spaciari, equitans secreto, nullisque familiaribus premunitis, venit Selandiam, ubi nacto navigio, post trium dierum et totidem noctium havigacionem, in nocte sancti Andree circa gallicantum turrim Londoniarum per aquam intravit, ipsum comitantibus comite Norhamptonie et domino Nicholao de Cantilupo, Reginaldo de Cobham, Egidio de Bello campo, Iohanne de Bello campo, militibus, et Willelmo de Kyllesby et Philippo de Westone, clericis.

Note 1. The Brute Chronicle [Egerton MS. 650].

In 1348 John Beauchamp 1st Baron Beauchamp Warwick (age 32) was appointed Captain of Calais.

In 1350 John Beauchamp 1st Baron Beauchamp Warwick (age 34) was created 1st Baron Beauchamp Warwick.

On 2nd December 1360 John Beauchamp 1st Baron Beauchamp Warwick (age 44) died. Baron Beauchamp Warwick extinct.

Chronicle of Geoffrey le Baker of Swinbroke [-1360]. In the same year,¹ the course of war took a disastrous turn under the command of John de Beauchamp, brother of the [his brother] Earl of Warwick. At that time he was captain of Calais, and having led out nearly his entire garrison, that is, 300 men-at-arms and the same number of archers. He raided the surrounding countryside for three days and brought back an immense amount of plunder. But on their return to Calais, the Lords of Bailleul and Fiennes, with 1,500 men-at-arms, set ambushes for them in three locations. Though the English defeated the first and second ambushes, they then came near the paved causeway leading to Calais, where fresh enemy forces met them. Then the valiant knight Sir John, a man of great courage and noble spirit, disdained to retreat to that nearby paved road, where, had they reached it, the enemy would not have been able to encircle them, at least according to those who were there. Instead, he chose to stand and fight in open ground, even though his men were exhausted from two earlier battles that day, many were seriously wounded, and the archers had expended their arrows. Still, with great bravery, though not with prudence, they faced the enemy again. So a fierce new battle was begun. In it, the enemy leader, the Lord of Bailleul, was killed. But even so, the French forces prevailed, and they captured nearly all the English, except a few who had been wounded in earlier skirmishes, or who had already returned to Calais with the loot before the third engagement, though those were very few. No Englishman was killed, that is, if he chose to surrender, and almost all were later released either through ransom or exchange.

Eodem anno eventus bellicus sub ducatu Iohannis de Bello campo, germani comitis Warewici, in perversum fuerat mutatus, Ipse nempe, capitaneus tunc Calesii, educta fere tota sua custodia, scilicet trecentis viris armorum atque totidem sagittariis, patriam vicinam triduo vastavit et reduxit predam innumeratam; set in reditu versus Kalesiam domini de Bealgin et de Fienes cum mille et quingentis viris armorum illis insidias in tribus locis imboscarunt, qui, devictis prima et secunda imboscacionibus, venerunt prope pavimentum quod est iter ad Calesiam, ubi hostes recentes ipsis occurrerunt. Predictus igitur Iohannes, miles strenuissimus et mire magnanimitatis, indignatus quasi fugiendo in locum tutum et aptum defensioni suos contrahere, sprevit pavimentum eiis vicinum pro refugio captare, quo si devenissent, hostes in illos non prevaluissent, si fuerit credendum illis qui fuerunt ibidem; tunc enim illos non potuissent circumvallasse. Igitur in plano campo illis restiterunt et quantumcunque lassati ex dupplici in eodem die habito conflictu, et multi ex eiis periculose fuissent sauciati, sagittarii eciam suas sagittas expendissent, animose tamen, licet non sapienter, suos hostes receperunt. Sic innovatur acer conflictus, in quo dux adversariorum, prefatus dominus de Bealgin, cecidit peremtus; quo non obstante, sui constanter nostros expugnarunt, atque omnes ceperunt preter paucos, qui, in aliis conflictibus graviter wlnerati, cum illis qui predam ad villam abigebant ante tercium conflictum fuerant Calesiam, set pauci, regressi. Nullus Anglicus fuit ibi occisus, scilicet qui se voluit alicui reddere; unde fere omnes postea fuerunt aut per redempcionem aut commutacionem aliorum pro illis liberati .

Note 1. This combat was fought, according to Froissart near Ardres, on Whitsun Monday, 1352. He is obviously wrong in the year; but he is probably right in the day, which would be the 6th June. The French leaders here named were Edouard, sire de Beaujeu, marshal of France, who was slain, and Robert, called Moreau, de Fiennes, at this time captain of Saint-Omer. The French won the day by the arrival of reinforcements from the garrison of that place, probably led by Fiennes. The English leader, lord Beauchamp, captain of Calais, was made prisoner. He was a younger son of Guy, 9th earl of Warwick, and was a famous soldier in his day; he carried the royal standard at Crecy. He was summoned to parliament as lord Beauchamp in 1350; was afterwards constable of Dover castle; and died in 1360.

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