Thomas de Beauchamp, 11th Earl of Warwick ★

Born Abt in Warwick Castle, Warwickshire, England. He died November 13, 1369, at Calais, France.

Early Life and Family Background

Thomas de Beauchamp was born February 14, 1313, at Warwick Castle, son of Guy de Beauchamp, 10th Earl of Warwick, and Alice de Toeni. He held the hereditary post of High Sheriff of Worcestershire from 1333 until his death, and by 1337, at only twenty-four, was already captain of the English army against Scotland.

Military Prominence in the Hundred Years' War

Beauchamp's reputation as a commander became so fearsome that the French nicknamed him "the devil Warwick"; one chronicle records the Duke of Burgundy retreating under cover of darkness simply to avoid meeting him after he landed at Calais. He commanded the centre at the Battle of Crécy in 1346 — a victory that cost him his own younger half-brother — then took part in the siege of Calais through 1347, and commanded again at Poitiers in 1356, reportedly capturing the Archbishop of Sens and using the ransom to fund his rebuilding projects at home.

Edward III trusted him enough to appoint him guardian to the sixteen-year-old Black Prince, and he served as Marshal of England, the realm's highest military office, from 1343/44 until his death.

The Order of the Garter

In 1348 Beauchamp became the third founding Knight of the newly created Order of the Garter, a mark of Edward III's regard for his military record; the 1430 Bruges Garter Book later depicted him in his garter robes bearing the Beauchamp-Newburgh arms.

Marriage, Children, and Family Alliances

Thomas married Katherine Mortimer, daughter of Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March, and the couple had six sons and ten daughters. Their son Thomas succeeded as 12th Earl of Warwick; their daughters married into the Stafford, Clifford, Strange, and Suffolk families, spreading Beauchamp influence widely — a grandson's line would eventually connect the family to Anne Boleyn.

Later Life and Death

Katherine died on August 4, 1369; Thomas followed just three months later, dying at Calais on November 13, 1369, of the Black Death, at fifty-six. The couple were buried together in the Collegiate Church of St. Mary in Warwick, whose rebuilding Thomas had funded during his lifetime, their effigies still surviving there today.