John Beaufort, Duke of Somerset and Earl of Kendal, KG^[1]

1403 - 1444  (~ 41 years)

• Name	John Beaufort
  		Arms of Beaufort, Earls and Dukes of Somerset The Royal Arms of England within a bordure compony argent and azure
  Suffix	Duke of Somerset and Earl of Kendal, KG
  Born	ca. 1403
  Christened	25 Mar 1404
  Gender	Male
  Title	1443
  	Duke of Somerset, earl of Kendal and Captain-General of Guyenne.
  	"Somerset's expedition, undertaken in the late summer of 1443, was an aimless fiasco, which looked like a shallow attempt by the Beaufort family to endow themselves with booty seized and lands conquered in central France. It annoyed Richard, duke of York, who succeeded Bedford as lieutenant of France only to find his authority undercut by Beaufort's independent commission. And it wasted a vast amount of money. Somerset died shortly after his return, humiliated by his failure and very possibly driven to suicide. Cardinal Beaufrot now joined his rival Gloucester in being forced into effective political retirement." [2]
  Title	1443	St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, Windsor, Berkshire, England
  	Knight, Order of the Garter.
  		Knights of the Order of St. George of the Garter "The Order of the Garter is the most senior and the oldest British Order of Chivalry and was founded by Edward III in 1348." The official website of the British Monarchy.
  Died	27 May 1444  [3, 4, 5]
  Buried	Wimborne Minster, Dorset
  		Tomb of John Beaufort, 1st Duke of Somerset and his wife Margaret, in Wimborne Minster, Dorset
  		Wimborne Minster, Church of St Cuthburga
  Notes	Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 04, "Beaufort, John" by Henry Avray Tipping. BEAUFORT, JOHN (1403-1444), first Duke of Somerset, military commander, was the son of John Beaufort, eldest son of John of Gaunt, by Catherine Swynford, who was created Earl of Somerset and died in 1409. John the younger succeeded to the earldom on the death of his brother Henry in 1419. He was early inured to arms, and fought at the age of seventeen with Henry V in France. In 1421 the Duke of Clarence, the king's brother, being sent against the dauphin in Anjou, advanced rashly against him with his vanguard, and being surprised as he crossed a marsh was killed, and Somerset, who was with him, was taken prisoner. Speedily ransomed, the latter continued fighting in France under Henry VI, his nearness to the throne insuring him high command. But though made duke in 1443 and captain general in Aquitaine and Normandy, the Duke of York was preferred to him as regent of France. Somerset returned home in disgust and died the next year - by his own hand it is said, being unable to brook the disgrace of banishment from court which his quarrel with the government had brought upon him. [Dugdale's Baronage; Chronicles of Walsingham and Croyland.] [6]
  Person ID	I10766	Dickinson
  Last Modified	11 Jun 2016

  
  

  Father	John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset, KG,   b. ca. 1373,   d. 16 Mar 1410, St Katherine-by-the-Tower, London  (Age ~ 37 years)
  Relationship	Birth
  Mother	Margaret de Holand,   b. ca. 1381,   d. 30 Dec 1439, St Saviour’s Abbey, Bermondsey, London  (Age ~ 58 years)
  Relationship	Birth
  Family ID	F3587	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Margaret Beauchamp of Bletsoe,   b. ca. 1410, Bletsoe Castle, Bedfordshire ,   d. 3 Jun 1482  (Age ~ 72 years)
  Married	2 Aug 1441  [7]
  Children	+ 1. Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond and Derby,   b. 31 May 1443, Bletsoe Castle, Bedfordshire ,   d. 29 Jun 1509, Westminster Abbey, Westminster, London, England  (Age 66 years)  [Birth]
  Last Modified	2 Sep 2014
  Family ID	F2951	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Event Map		Title - Knight, Order of the Garter. - 1443 - St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, Windsor, Berkshire, England Buried - - Wimborne Minster, Dorset  = Link to Google Earth
  Pin Legend	: Address       : Location       : City/Town       : County/Shire       : State/Province       : Country       : Not Set

  
  

• Sources

  [S336463] Medieval Lands: A prosopography of medieval European noble and royal families, Charles Cawley, (Online: The Foundation for Medieval Genealogy at http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/, 20XX), http://bit.ly/1JOZMVn. [S165] The Wars of the Roses: The Fall of the Plantagenets and the Rise of the Tudors, Dan Jones, (New York: Viking, 2014), 86. [S34] The History of the Noble House of Stourton, Charles Boltoph Joseph, (Chicago: The Institute of American Genealogy, 1899), vol. 1, 93. [S37] Blood Sisters: The Women Behind the Wars of the Roses, Sarah Gristwood, (New York: Basic Books, 2013), 19. [S240] The Wars of the Roses, Alison Weir, (New York: Random House iBooks, 1995), 167. [S336351] Dictionary of National Biography, 63 volumes, Sir Sidney Lee, ed., (New York: McMillan and Company, 1885-1900), Public Domain., 4:48. [S37] Blood Sisters: The Women Behind the Wars of the Roses, Sarah Gristwood, (New York: Basic Books, 2013), 18.