BIH All Chapters
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
"The glory of children are their Fathers." Proverbs XVII. 6. The Beaumonts in History A.D. a50 - m60 W Edward T. Beaumont, J.P., 1, Staverton Road, OXFORD. Author of Ancient Memorial Brasses, Academical Kabit illustrated by Memorial Brasses and Three Interesting Hampehire Brasses. Member of the OxEord Architectural and Historical Society. "Pur remernbrer des ancessoura Li fez B li diz B li mours .. , .. Li felonies des felons B li barnages des barons" (1) Le Roman de Rou L.I., Wace, 1100-1184. (1) To commemorate the deeds, the sayings, ,md manners of our ancestor3 and to tell of the evil acts oI" felons and the feats of arms of the barom. i. ~ONT~NT~. Rage Introductory ii Chapter I The Norsemen 1 W I1 The Norman Family - TheEarls of Leicester 9 111 W - The Earls of Warwick 36 W IV n - The Earls of Worcester 49 n V The Devonshire Beaumonts 56 W VI TheLincolnshire - The CarltonTowers Bzmily 73 VI1 The Laicestershire - The Cole Orton Family 118 VI11 N - The Grace Dieu 148 1) IX W - The Stoughton Qrange 174 W x n - The Barrow on Trent 190 W XI W - The BucklandCourt and Hackney 196 " XI1 W - The Wednesbury 201 XI11 n - The Elarrow on Soar W 204 " XIV The Suf.folkBeaumonts - The Hadleigh 206 W xv W n - The Coggeshall 248 " XVI n W - The Dunwich 263 XVII The Yorkshire Whitley- The 257 XVIII W W - The Bretton ana Hexham Abbey 'I 297 " XIX l1 W - The Bridgford Hill 310 n M[ n W - The Lascells Hall and Mirfield 315 XXI W W - The Caltor, Family It 322 Conolusion 324 THE BIGAUMDNTS IN HISTORY INTRODUCTORY. "Speak boldly and speak truly." WIT WITHOUT MONEY, IV. 4. ISABELLA, Beaumont and Fletaher. 'This booke containes the names of mortal1 men Bat thear's a booke with characters of golde Not writ with incke, with pensill or with pen Wheare Godes elect for euar are inrolde The booke of life, wheare labor thou to bee Beefore this booke hath once registered thee", REGISTEEt OF S. PEIT'EJR'S, Cornhill, London, B.C. 1638. It has been well said that "family history is a subject of surpassing interest, now that men ha7e come to know that genealogy is a branch of science which, if rationally pursued will be productive of important knowledge. It is ceasing to be degraded by being a mere slave to those who possess rank and title." THE ATZBNAEIJM September 29t,h, 1888, g. 413. Grosart writes (Poems, Sir John Beaumont, Buller's Worthies Library, XVIIi! - "It is much to be wished that living Beaumont8 would do for their family history what has been done so admirably for theLindsays by Lord Lindsay, and for the Manchesters by the Duke of Manchester." In fear and trembling and realizing fully the numerous difficLlties ahead, we have taken up this work, craving the indulgence of friends for the errors which are sure to have arept in, for the path of the genealogist is always strewn with thorns andbeset by pitfalls. We undertake these pains however not so much for the present generstion, as forthe future; rnmythings whichwere known to our grandsires are now forgotten and our st;ccessors will search in vain for details with uhich we are probably familiar. For the sake then of coming generations, it seems desirable to commit to print suchfacts 8s can be obtained from the living, combining therewithmuch interesting and valuable information discovered amongst ancient racords. Some, no doubt, will not value our efforts, for however much we fight against the thought, we fear there is much truth in the lines taken from SherB;oodts PEDIGREE REGISTER (September 1909, p, 300 ) which says "'Tis sad to think, that when our course is run, Inhericed our workmay be by one Who, caring not for pedigrees a jot, Sells to the local butterman the lot. He to wrap butter, candles, cheese doth take Each priceless sheet, whichp'r'aps took years to make Then greasy, stinking, torn, our work at last In fire, or dustbin, ruthlessly is cast." We however believe that information respecting our progenitors interests us to some degree, our knowledge may be of the slightest, depending on 0u.r personal remembrance, or it may be, that we possess the fuller information which can only be acquired by patient and diligent research. During the last seven hundred years therehave been two mttin families of Bsaumonts - the Carlton Toffera and the Whitley branches; these two parent stems undoubtedly sprang from the same Norman ancestry,wh1.1st numerous and important off-shoots have come from each. In every great crisis in English history from the days of the Norman Conquest up to the GreatWar of' 1914-1918, the family hss always been in the forefront RE leaders of men; Irish and Teuton,Welsh and Scotch, Frenchand Spaniard, Turk and Inaian, savzge andbarbarim have in turn been compelled to own its prowess; and on many E battle field it6 members have freely mRde the supreme sacrifice .for (308, King and Country. Carlyle tells us that (VII. 329) "The Crusades which took their rise in religion appealed to these men, (the Norm.a.ns) it vias the boundlesa invisible world that WRB laid bare in their imaginations, and in its burning light the visible shrunk as a scroll". In each of the seven Crusade6 the Beaumonta are found doing their part, at lemt one being slain anb another died when retnrning therefrom. Three fell on the fatal Towtan Field, the battle whizh stabilises the Yorkist regime; another 2% Edgehill, 1642 amd others were killed at the Siegesof Paris, 1436, Gloucestsr and Leeds 1643; one was drowned at se8 with Prince William in 1120, Admiral Basil Beaumont was lost on the Goodwin Sandsin 1703 in that terrible storm which swept away the Eddystone Lighthouse, whilst another was blown up in The Downs on H.M.S. Carlisle, 1740, all hands being drowned. Many have been captured in battle, imprisoned and their estates sequestered, as the reault of the various English Ci-Jil Wars. iv . prom the days of Henry I, when the first great aharter of English liberties was granted, right down to modern times the Beaumont8 have held seats In Parliament, first ss Barons, and then as statesmen elected by the constituenaies have served their country as Bishops, Judges, Ambassadors, Privy Councillors, Admirals and QeneraLs, and also as head8 of Colleges and Schools. They have producedmen of science, Patrons of art Poets and n Dramstist of' no mean order. They have founded, built and endowed, Abbeys, Priories, Churehe8, Almshouses and Sahools, and built bridges and made roads at their own expense. They havebeen generous wizh their property and have bequeathed money to f'eed, clothe and warm the poor. Through marriage they are desoended from and were progenitors various royal families. The sncientgings of Naples and Sicily, Castile and Leon, and Jerusalem were their sires. The fleur de lys in their coat of arm3 bespeaks their descent from the Royal House of France. The lion thereon is derived from John of Brienne, King of Jerusalem. They took wives from and gave their daughters jn marriageto the Royal Houses of England and Elcotland. Henry IV was a great grandson of Sir Henry de Beaumont, first Baron and Elarl of Buchan - see p. 65 Henry V and VI had therefore Beaumont blood in their veins.- Sir Henry was also through his grand daughter Blanche, a progenitor of the present Royal House of Spain and of the ex-King of Portugal; whilst William the Lyon of Suotland married Ermingarda, daughter of Viscount Riahard de Beaumont - (see p. 60) - the latter thereby becamethe mother of a line of Scottish kinga, which died out in the fourth generation in the person of "The Maid of Norway." 1. CBAPTER I. THE NORSEMEN. "Let us now praise famous men, and our fvthers that begat us .l' Ecclesiasticus, xliv. 1. 5ENEALOGICAL CHART. Bernard, a descendant of one nf the Kings of Denmark, joined I under Rollo in the raid into France A.D. 876, Turfus (klanchb, I. 204). i I I I Turof Turche t il William de Tourville I I I I I I l I AnchitilWalter Lessiline 1 ancestor de Turve- 1 of the ville. I Harcourt I Family. I I I I I I I Humfreg adopted Herbrand. Gilbert. Richard. Ralph. Joseline. I the surname l of de Bellomonte . I I I I I Robert Maud . d.6.p. Bo$er I I I I Robert Henry de Newburg, William Albreda. Is t 1st Earl of 1 Earl of Warwick. William Leicester. see p. 36. I see p. 9. ---1_--- I I Robert Waleran. John Waleran. I Robert Waleran. e. In the last half of the ninth century, tl tribe of Scandinavians cameforth from their native wilds on a marauding: expedition and with T,he view of finding a more congenial climate, thus following in the footsteps of' the aothic and Vandalic tribes who had preceded them. These menwere known as Norsemen. They gradually wended their way along the Danish and Flemish coast until they rettchad in about the year 876 the mouth of Lhe Seine, they built R fortress at Rouen and settled down for a time but the old Norse spiritof adventure was EO strong within them that they could not live at peaoe with their neighbours, and during the following forty years they carried out tj. number of raids in the surrounding country (CHRCWICLES HENRY OF HUNTING)D3N, 135, Pld. Thomas Forester.) In 912 Charles 11, surnamed the Simple, Kingof Frsnce, made a treaty with Rollo, their leader S.