Henry de Beaumont

Henry de Beaumont
4th Earl of Buchan & 1st Baron Beaumont
Arms of Beaumont: Azure semée of fleurs-de-lis, a lion rampant or[1]
Bornbef. 1280
France
Died10 March 1340
Noble familyde Brienne
Spouse(s)Alice Comyn, Countess of Buchan
FatherLouis de Brienne
MotherAgnès de Beaumont

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

Henry de 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. Although not now a widely known figure, he was, nevertheless, of considerable military and political importance. His long experience in the Scottish wars led him to develop a battle technique later used to great effect at Crécy and Agincourt.

As one of a group of Anglo-Scots nobles later known as the 'disinherited'—Englishmen whose Scottish lands had been forfeited—he was to do much to overturn the peace between England and Scotland established by the Treaty of Northampton and bring about a Second War of Scottish Independence.

By his marriage, shortly before 14 July 1310, to Alice Comyn, Countess of Buchan (died 3 July 1349), the niece and heir of John Comyn, Earl of Buchan, he was recognised as earl in right of his wife.

  1. ^ Debrett's Peerage, 1968, Beaumont baronets, p. 59