6C - Medieval |
Lonnie
Colson.com -
Way more than you ever wanted to know about me |
Fall 2008
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Illustration of the heraldry of
Richard Beauchamp.
Source: Handbook to English Heraldry, C. Boutel.l
Drawing of Richard Beauchamp shown
carrying the young King Henry VI
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Under
development
Beauchamp chapel |
When
Richard Beauchamp died in 1439, he had already made very
meticulous plans to have a chantry built in his name at the
Church of St. Mary in Warwick.
Cost of memorial chapel (1439-1463)
£2481
Cost of bronze effigy on guilded tomb £400.
Warwick was very meticulous in plans.
Almost bankrupted his executors.
Cost for his chapel and tomb today would be in the millions.
Actual construction began
in 1443 and continued for 25 years. It had first call
on his estates and almost bankrupted his heirs.
The gilt bronze, or
latten, effigy cost £400 and depicts Richard as a young man,
not the man of 57 that he was when he died. He wears elegant
Milanese armour and appears to be riding in a funeral car,
or hearse. The tournament helmet above his head bears the
swan crest, alluding to his family's connection to the semi-legendary
figure, Guy of Warwick, known as the swan knight, and a coronet,
which signifies that he was a peer of the realm. The bear
and gryphon at his feet are also his heraldric symbols, the
bear representing Warwick and the gryphon is that of his
second wife, Isabel Despenser. The gilt bronze effigy is
the only surviving example in England for someone who was
not a member of the royal family.
The Beauchamp chapel was a pilgrimage destination for
a time. Lead badges were sometime given out. Today, visitors
can purchase a pewter copy.
Source: Standards
of Living in the Later Middle Ages, Christopher Dyer,
Cambridge University Press, 1989. Open University Medieval
podcast.
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Interior of the Beauchamp Chapel in Warwickshire, England. |
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| Museum reproduction of Warwick harness.
(Source: unknown) |
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Richard
de Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick
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| Brief
biography of the man once called 'England's greatest knight' |
Richard
de Beauchamp (1382-1439) was born at Salwarpe in Worcestershire,
the son of Thomas de Beauchamp, 12th Earl of Warwick, and Margaret,
daughter of the 3rd Lord Ferrers of Groby. Soon after reaching
his majority and taking responsibility for the Earldom in 1403,
he had to defend against a Welsh rebellion led by Owain Glyndŵr.
In the summer of 1404 he rode into what is today Monmouthshire
at the head of a force and engaged Welsh forces at the Battle
of Mynydd Cwmdu, near Tretower Castle a few miles northwest
of Crickhowell. There he nearly captured Owain Glyndwr himself.
By capturing Owain's banner, he forced the Welsh to flee
down the valley of the River Usk where the Welsh were able
to regroup and turn the tables on the pursuing English
force, attempting an ambush and chasing them in turn to
the town walls of Monmouth after a skirmish at Craig-y-Dorth,
a conical hill near Mitchel Troy.
He was made a Knight of the Garter in 1403 (or possibly
later, in any case by 1416). Warwick acquired quite a reputation
for chivalry, and when in 1408 he went on pilgrimage to the Holy
Land, he was challenged many times to fight in the sporting combat
which was then popular. On his return trip he went through Russia
and Eastern Europe and did not return to England until 1410.
Upon his return, Warwick performed several royal missions,
including that as chief English lay envoy to the Council
of Constance (1414) and as the Captain of Calais, a position
of high standing and considerable military power.
Richard de Beachamp fought with notable
success in Henry V’s French campaigns during the Hundred
Years War. On Henry’s death in 1422, he became a member
of the council for the infant Henry VI. He served as tutor
to the young king from 1428 to 1437, when he was appointed
lieutenant of France and Normandy. Beauchamp was a man of
piety and courtesy and was famed throughout Europe as a chivalrous
knight. His daughter Anne married and brought the earldom
to Richard Neville who later became known as “the Kingmaker”
during the Wars of the Roses.
Sources: Wikipedia, the Peerage.com.
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