Richard Beauchamp

Book excerpt: ‘An avaricious knight errant with a taste for the spectacular’ or ‘one of the few upright and honest figures in these difficult years’? Contemporary views of the most colourful, wealthy and powerful knight of medieval England varied wildly, and they continue to do so today. Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, was at the centre of power in the first half of the fifteenth century and, as Henry V’s closest friend, accompanied the English warrior king to France to pursue the English claim to the French Crown in the Hundred Years War. Richard Beauchamp had an unrivalled reputation for his skills in the strategy of war and diplomacy, and secured Normandy in 1420. He arranged Henry V’s marriage and, following the king’s death, was appointed as Henry VI’s tutor and guardian. In 1431 he encouraged the ecclesiastical court of the Inquisition to try to burn Joan of Arc at the stake for heresy. In Richard Beauchamp, David Brindley pens a fascinating biography of this medieval chivalric hero.