Person Page - 1326

     Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset (1406 – 22 May 1455), sometimes styled 1st Duke of Somerset, was an English nobleman and an important figure in the Wars of the Roses and in the Hundred Years' War.

Edmund Beaufort was the fourth son of John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset and Margaret Holland. His paternal grandparents were John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, and Katherine Swynford. His maternal grandparents were Thomas Holland, 2nd Earl of Kent and Alice Fitzalan. Alice was a daughter of Richard FitzAlan, 10th Earl of Arundel and Eleanor of Lancaster.

Unlike his brothers who were taken captive at the Battle of Baugé in 1421, Edmund was too young at the time to fight and was able to build up much military experience while his brothers were imprisoned in France. He became a commander in the English army in 1431. After his re-capture of Harfleur he was named a Knight of the Garter in 1436. After subsequent successes he was created Earl of Dorset (1442) and the next year Marquess of Dorset. The following year, (1444) he succeeded his brother John as 4th Earl of Somerset in 1444. During the five year truce from 1444 to 1449 he served as Lieutenant of France.

Although head of one of the greatest families in the land, his inheritance was worth only 300 pounds. By contrast his rival, Richard, Duke of York, had a net worth of 5,800 pounds. King Henry's efforts to compensate Somerset with offices worth 3,000 pounds only served to offend many and as his quarrel with York grew more personal, the dynastic situation got worse. Another quarrel with Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, over his right to enter the lordships of Glamorgan and Morgannwg, may have forced the leader of the younger Nevilles into York's camp.

Somerset's military failures left him vulnerable to criticism from the party led by the Duke of York, and after hostilities began again in 1449 Somerset lost even more territory. By the summer of 1450 the bulk of the English possessions in northern France were in French hands and the focus of the war now turned to Gascony, in the south of France. Here the English were no more successful, losing all by 1453. The loss of Castillon in 1453 ended the Hundred Years War.

Power had rested with Somerset from 1451 and was virtually monopolized by him until the king went insane and York was named Lord Protector. He imprisoned Somerset in the Tower of London and his life was probably saved only by the king's seeming recovery late in the 1454, which forced York to surrender his office.

By now York was determined to depose Somerset by one means or another, and in May 1455 raised an army. He confronted Somerset and the king in an engagement known as the First Battle of St Albans which marked the beginning of the Wars of the Roses. Somerset was killed in a last wild charge from the house where he had been sheltering. His son, Henry, never forgave Warwick and York for their treachery at St Albans, and he spent the next nine years attempting to restore his family's honour.

Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset married before 1436, Lady Eleanor Beauchamp, widow of Thomas, 8th Lord Ros, daughter of Richard de Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick and his first wife, Elizabeth, daughter and heir of Thomas, Lord Berkeley. Eleanor was an older half-sister of Henry de Beauchamp, 1st Duke of Warwick and Anne Neville, Countess of Warwick.

Their unlicensed marriage was later pardoned on 7 March 1438.¹

     Thomas de Morley, 4th Lord Morley KG (c1354 - September 24, 1416) was a baron in the Peerage of England, Lord of Morley, Hingham, Hockering, &c., in Norfolk, de jure Lord Marshall, hereditary Marshal of Ireland, and a Privy Councillor. He was summoned to parliament from October 20, 1379 to September 3, 1416.

Thomas Morley was the second but eldest surviving son and heir of Sir William de Morley, 3rd Lord Morley (d. April 30, 1379) by his spouse Lady Cecily (d. November 23, 1386), daughter of Thomas Bardolf, 2nd Lord Bardolf.

In 1375 he was a knight serving in Brittany in the expedition of the Duke of Brittany and Earl of Cambridge. In 1386, upon rumours of an intended invasion, he was, as Lord Morley, the Chief Commissioner ordered to survey Great Yarmouth and make provisions for its defence.

In 1391 Lord Morley received permission to go on crusade in Prussia.

In 1399 he accompanied King Richard on his disastrous journey to Ireland. In July 1415 he set out with the King on the expedition which culminated in the great victory of the Battle of Agincourt, but it does not appear, however, that he fought in the battle. In 1416 he was Captain-General of forces assembled to proceed to France.

Lord Morley died at Calais and his body was returned to England and buried in the Austin Friars Church at Norwich, Norfolk.

Lord Morley married thrice:

(1) before April 3, 1374, Joan, daughter of Sir Hugh de Hastings, Knt., by Margaret, daughter of Adam de Everingham, 2nd Lord Everingham, by whom Lord Morley had one son, Robert, Knt.,(d.v.p.]] She is buried in the Church of the White Friars, Norwich, Norfolk.
(2) before June 10, 1380, Elizabeth (surname unknown).
(3) before October 21, 1390 (date of Papal Dispensation), Anne, daughter of Edward le Despencer, 4th Lord Despencer, and widow of Sir Hugh de Hastings, Knt., (d.1386, of Elsing, Norfolk. She died October 30, 1426, and was buried in the Church of the Austin friars, Norwich. By Lord Morley she had no issue.¹

     John Cherleton, (or Charlton) (1362-1401) [1], 4th Lord Cherleton, was born on 25 April 1362. He married Alice FitzAlan, daughter of Richard FitzAlan, 11th Earl of Arundel and Elizabeth de Bohun, before March 1392. He succeeded to the title of 4th Lord Cherleton on 13 July 1374 on the death of his father John Charleton, 3rd Baron Cherleton . He held the office of Justice of North Wales from 20 March 1387. He died on 19 October 1401, aged 39 at Castle of Pool, Poole, Dorset, England, without issue. His last will was dated 1395.¹

     4th Countess of Ulster.