Elizabeth de Berkeley, Countess of Warwick

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Elizabeth de Berkeley
Countess of Warwick
Born 1386
Berkeley Castle, Berkeley, Gloucestershire, England
Died 28 December 1422 (aged 35–36)
Buried Kingswood Abbey
Spouse(s) Richard de Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick
Issue
Father Thomas de Berkeley, 5th Baron Berkeley
Mother Margaret de Lisle, 3rd Baroness Lisle

Elizabeth de Berkeley, Countess of Warwick and Baroness Lisle (1386 – 28 December 1422), was an English noblewoman and heiress. She was the only child of Thomas de Berkeley, 5th Baron Berkeley, and Margaret de Lisle, 3rd Baroness Lisle.

Thomas de Berkeley, 5th Baron Berkeley English noble

Thomas de Berkeley, 5th Baron Berkeley, The Magnificent, of Berkeley Castle and of Wotton-under-Edge in Gloucestershire, was an English peer and an admiral. His epithet, and that of each previous and subsequent head of his family, was coined by John Smyth of Nibley (d.1641), steward of the Berkeley estates, the biographer of the family and author of "Lives of the Berkeleys".

Baron Lisle was a title that was created five times in the Peerage of England during the Middle Ages and Tudor period. The earliest creation was for the family of Lisle of Rougemont, which bore arms: Or, a fess between two chevrons sable. The later creation of 1357 was for Lisle of Kingston Lisle, a younger branch of the Lisles of Rougemont. Robert de Lisle of Rougemont married Alice FitzGerold, the heiress of Kingston in the parish of Sparsholt, Berkshire. In 1269 Alice granted the manor of Kingston to her younger son Gerard I de Lisle, whose family adopted the arms of FitzGerold: Gules, a lion statant guardant argent crowned or. Gerard I's grandson was Gerard II de Lisle (1305–1360), created Baron Lisle in 1357.

Contents

With her father's death in 1417, Elizabeth and her husband Richard de Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick, became involved in an inheritance dispute with her cousin James Berkeley, initiating one of the longest lawsuits in English history.

James Berkeley, 1st Baron Berkeley 1st Baron Berkeley

James Berkeley, 1st Baron Berkeley, also known as "James the Just", was an English peer.

Marriage and issue

Elizabeth de Berkeley was the only child born to Thomas de Berkeley, 5th Baron Berkeley, by his wife Margaret de Lisle, 3rd Baroness Lisle. [1] [2] As such, Elizabeth was their sole heir, and was to inherit the baronies of Lisle and Tyes from her mother. Margaret died near 1392, but Elizabeth did not succeed to them until the death of Thomas in 1417, as he held the lands by tenure of courtesy. [1] In September 1392, the Baron Berkeley negotiated Elizabeth's marriage to Richard de Beauchamp, eldest son and heir to Thomas de Beauchamp, 12th Earl of Warwick. Elizabeth married him sometime before 5 October 1397, and became the Countess of Warwick in 1403. [1] The marriage remained unconsummated for at least six years. Elizabeth gave birth to three girls: [1]

Thomas de Beauchamp, 12th Earl of Warwick English Earl

Thomas de Beauchamp, 12th Earl of Warwick, KG was an English medieval nobleman of French descent, and one of the primary opponents of Richard II.

  1. Lady Margaret Beauchamp (1404 – 1467/1468); married John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury [1] [3]
  2. Lady Eleanor Beauchamp (c. 1408 – 1467); married (1) Thomas de Ros, 8th Baron de Ros (2) Edmund Beaufort, 1st Duke of Somerset [1] (3) Walter Rokesley
  3. Lady Elizabeth Beauchamp (c. 1417 [1] – died before 2 October 1480); married (1) George Neville, 1st Baron Latimer [1] (2) Thomas Wake

Inheritance dispute

Berkeley Castle (as seen in present day), part of the dispute between the Countess and her cousin Berkeley Castle - geograph.org.uk - 1440412.jpg
Berkeley Castle (as seen in present day), part of the dispute between the Countess and her cousin

Elizabeth's level of education and literacy is evident from a 1410 commission asking John Walton to translate Boethius' De consolatione philosophiae ; he dedicated it in her name. [2]

Boethius philosopher of the early 6th century

Saint Anicius Manlius Severinus Boëthius, commonly called Boethius, was a Roman senator, consul, magister officiorum, and philosopher of the early 6th century. He was born about a year after Odoacer deposed the last Roman Emperor and declared himself King of Italy. Boethius entered public service under Ostrogothic King Theodoric the Great, who later imprisoned and executed him in 524 on charges of conspiracy to overthrow him. While jailed, Boethius composed his Consolation of Philosophy, a philosophical treatise on fortune, death, and other issues, which became one of the most popular and influential works of the Middle Ages. As the author of numerous handbooks and translator of Aristotle, he became the main intermediary between Classical antiquity and following centuries.

An inheritance dispute erupted with her father's death in 1417. Thomas had named her his heir, but many of his lands and estates, including Berkeley Castle, were entailed through the male line to Elizabeth's cousin James Berkeley. [1] [3] Elizabeth and her husband refused to accept the entail, thus "initiat[ing] one of the longest lawsuits in England," which lasted until 1609. [1]

Berkeley Castle castle in the town of Berkeley, Gloucestershire, UK

Berkeley Castle is a castle in the town of Berkeley, Gloucestershire, UK. The castle's origins date back to the 11th century and it has been designated by English Heritage as a grade I listed building.

After Lord Thomas' death, the Earl and Countess of Warwick quickly took control of the castle and gained the temporary permission of King Henry V to maintain it. James was unable to seize control of the castle, as Warwick and the king were then fighting in France. [4] To gain support in the dispute, Elizabeth sought the help of John, Duke of Bedford while James successfully bribed Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, each one of the king's brothers. By 1425, Elizabeth was dead and James had been given Berkeley Castle along with most of the entailed lands. [1] [4]

Henry V of England 15th-century King of England and Duke of Aquitaine

Henry V, also called Henry of Monmouth, was King of England from 1413 until his early death in 1422. He was the second English monarch of the House of Lancaster. Despite his relatively short reign, Henry's outstanding military successes in the Hundred Years' War against France, most notably in his famous victory at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, made England one of the strongest military powers in Europe. Immortalised in the plays of Shakespeare, Henry is known and celebrated as one of the great warrior kings of medieval England.

Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester 15th-century English noble

Humphrey of Lancaster, Duke of Gloucester was an English prince, soldier, and literary patron. He was "son, brother and uncle of kings", being the fourth and youngest son of Henry IV of England, the brother of Henry V, and the uncle of Henry VI. Gloucester fought in the Hundred Years' War and acted as Lord Protector of England during the minority of his nephew. A controversial figure, he has been characterised as reckless, unprincipled, and fractious, but is also noted for his intellectual activity and for being the first significant English patron of humanism, in the context of the Renaissance.

Elizabeth died on 28 December 1422. She was buried at Kingswood Abbey, and a marble tomb was later placed over her grave through a provision in her husband's will. [1] The following year, the Earl of Warwick remarried to Lady Isabel le Despenser, the widow of his cousin Richard de Beauchamp, 1st Earl of Worcester. [5]

Ancestry

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Ward 2004.
  2. 1 2 Jambeck 1996, p. 233.
  3. 1 2 Jambeck 1996, p. 234.
  4. 1 2 Harriss 2004.
  5. ↑ Carpenter 2004.

Works cited

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