Henry de Beaumont

Henry de Beaumont (c. 1280 – 10 March 1340), jure uxoris 4th Earl of Buchan and suo jure 1st Baron Beaumont, was a French nobleman and a key figure in the Anglo-Scots wars of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, known as the Wars of Scottish Independence.

Taken into service at the English court at a young age, Beaumont was a veteran campaigner who participated in every major engagement, from the Battle of Falkirk in 1298 to the Battle of Halidon Hill in 1333. His long experience in the Scottish wars led him to develop a battle technique later used to great effect at Crécy and Agincourt.^{[citation needed]}

Beaumont was one of the most prominent among a Anglo-Scots nobles known as the 'Disinherited', nobles whose Scottish lands had been forfeited over their refusal to serve Robert the Bruce. Beaumont supported Edward Balliol in his bid for thre Scottish throne, which would eventually overturn the peace between England and Scotland established by the Treaty of Northampton and bring about the Second War of Scottish Independence.

Henry de Beaumont was the son of Louis of Brienne (d. after 1 September 1297) and Agnès de Beaumont, Viscount of Beaumont in Maine, France and Seigneur of Beaumont-le-Vicomte (later Beaumont-sur-Sarthe), Sainte-Suzanne, La Fleche, Fresnay-le-Vicomte, Le Lude. His brother was Lewis de Beaumont, bishop of Durham.

Beaumont was made a household knight of King Edward I in 1297, and took up military service with him in Flanders in 1297 against Philip IV of France shortly thereafter. Beaumont served with Edward the following year when, following the English defeat against the Scots at the Battle of Stirling Bridge, Edward returned to England and led a campaign into Scotland. In the ensuing Battle of Falkirk, Beaumont was one of the young knights who had his horse killed from under him by the spears of William Wallace's schiltrons.^{[citation needed]}

Beaumont quickly became a favourite of Edward II, following his ascension as king in 1307. Beaumont was given large grants of manors and lands, including Folkingham, Barton-upon-Humber, and Heckington, Lincolnshire. He was summoned to parliament from 4 March 1309 to 20 October 1332, by Writs directed to Henrico de Bellomonte, whereby he is held to have become Lord Beaumont. More substantially, Edward II granted him the lordship of the Isle of Man on 16 March 1310.

Because of the favour shown to Beaumont and his siblings, the next year he and his sister, Isabel de Vesci, were banished from Court by the Ordainers along with Piers Gaveston, though they soon returned. Among the Ordainers demands was that the Isle of Man ought to be revoked from Beaumont and instead be held by "a good Englishman", a dig at Beaumont's French origin, which was another reason for his unpopularity.

Despite this, Beaumont continued to be a prominent figure at Edward II's court. In 1313 he and his sister acquired the reversion of the manors of Seacourt, Berkshire, and Tackley, Oxfordshire, which, upon her death without issue in 1334, fell to him. In 1312 he received Birthorpe, Lincolnshire, forfeited by Roger de Birthorpe following an attack on nearby Sempringham Priory. Beaumont also purchased the Lordship of Ditchburn, Northumberland, in 1320.