That Sir William de Beauchamp was a friend to Chaucer has been
recognized for some time. In May 1888 Mr. W. D. Selby called attention
to this connection with Chaucer in a short article in The Athenaeum. In
this article Mr. Selby gave a few facts about him, gathered professedly
from Dugdale, but omitted all mention of the curious connection Sir
William de Beauchamp had with the property of the Earl of Pembroke, for
his custodianship of which Chaucer was one of the sureties.
William de Beauchamp was a younger son of Thomas, Earl of Warwick.
[Footnote: Cf. Dugdale's Baronage I, 238 ff, Dugdale Antiquities of
Warwickshire II, 1029 ff.] In 40 Edward III he attended John of Gaunt in
his expedition into Spain. In 44 Edward III he served as a Knight in
France, in the retinue of John of Gaunt, and again in 47 Edward III. In
47 Edward III de Beauchamp signed an indenture to serve John of Gaunt in
peace and in war during his life in consideration of one hundred marks
yearly and wages for six horses and four boys. [Footnote: Register of
John, duke of Lancaster, vol. 13. Misc. Books-Rec. Off.] He had been
connected with John of Gaunt's household even earlier, in 1340 and
1346. [Footnote: Same book.] In 1 Richard II he served with Edmund de
Langley, Earl of Cambridge, in Spain with 200 men-at-arms and 200
archers, and in the King's navy at sea under John of Gaunt. In 13
Richard II he served again in France.
In 1377 he was granted for life the custody of Feckanham forest and park
at a farm of L37, 14s. 4-1/2d. From the beginning of his reign, Richard
II granted many pardons at the supplication of William de Beauchamp. In
1379 he was chamberlain of the King's household; in 1380 he was granted
an annuity of 200m. [Footnote: Not L200 as Mr. Selby says. See Pat. Roll
1380, pp. 561, 600.] He was regularly on commissions of the peace in
Warwick, in company with his brother, the Earl of Warwick. In 1379 he
and Lewis de Clifford aided Robert de Ferrers in acquiring the manor of
Wemme in fee. [Footnote: Cal. Pat. Roll, p, 332.] In 1383 he was
appointed on a commission to treat with Flanders. In 1384 he was
appointed Captain of Calais--a position he held until 1392.
To return now to one matter in which Chaucer is closely connected with
William de Beauchamp. In 1378 the King granted William de Beauchamp the
custody of the Castle and estates of Pembroke, in his hands by reason of
the minority of the Earl of Pembroke. The father of the last Earl of
Pembroke, John de Hastings, had, by license from the crown, settled all
his possessions, in the event of failure of his own issue, except the
Castle and town of Pembroke, upon his cousin William de Beauchamp (his
mother's sister's son) [Footnote: Surrey Arch. Coll. XVH, 29, 30.] These
lands were in the hands of the King in 1378 because John de Hastings had
died and his son was still a minor; naturally he appointed the next heir
custodian of them. But William de Beauchamp's management of the estates
was certainly not satisfactory and, if the suretyship of Chaucer was
anything but a form, the poet stood a good chance of losing by it. The
first notice we find of Beauchamp's unsatisfactory management is in
1386, when a commission was appointed to enquire touching the waste in
the possessions of John de Hastyngs by William de Beauchamp, to whom the
King had committed the custody of the land. In the same year we find
record of an indenture made between Margaret Mareschall, countess of
Norfolk, guardian of John de Hastyngs, and the said John, on the one
side, and William de Beauchamp on the other, whereby the latter agreed
to surrender his custody of the estates, and the former in return to
free him of liability for the "waste." [Footnote: Cal. Pat. Roll, p.
257.] In 1389 the King appointed a commission to enquire touching the
waste in the lands of the alien priory of Kirkeby Monachorum, county
Warwick, in the time of William de Beauchamp, Knight, farmer thereof.
[Footnote: idem, p. 350. i idem, p. 208.]
In 1390 we find a "Revocation for reasons declared before the King and
council in the present parliament, with the assent of the nobles,
magnates, etc., of recent letters granting during pleasure to William de
Beauchamp the custody of the lands, tenements, etc. of John de
Hastyngs." [Footnote: Whether these were part of the Pembroke holdings
or not, I do not know.] In the same year the custody was regranted to
John Golafre, Knight of the King's chamber, at a farm of L600 (Beauchamp
had paid L500). [Footnote: Gal. Pat. Roll, p. 180.] In 1390, however,
the young Earl of Pembroke was killed in a tournament, and according to
the provisions made by his father, the estates devolved upon William de
Beauchamp. Other heirs contested his rights to them, but he won. A
curious story told about his claim, is as follows: "Beauchamp invited
his learned counsel to his house in Paternoster Row in the city of
London; amongst whom were Robert Charlton (then a judge), William
Pinchbek, William Brenchesley, and John Catesby (all learned lawyers);
and after dinner, coming out of his chapel in an angry mood, threw to
each of them a piece of gold and said: 'Sirs, I desire you forthwith to
tell me, whether I have any right and title to Hasting's lordships and
lands!' Whereupon Pinchbek stood up (the rest being silent, fearing that
he suspected them) and said: 'No man here, nor in England, dare say that
you have any right in them, except Hastings [Footnote: Evidently Edward
Hastings, a contesting heir.] quit his claim therein; and should he do
it 'being now under age, it would be of no validity.'" (Dugdale).
In 1387 [Footnote: According to Beltz, p. 229]when Richard II was
preparing for his assault upon the Gloucester faction with which William
de Beauchamp was evidently, as his brother the Earl of Warwick was
certainly, connected, he tried to remove Beauchamp from the office of
Captain of Calais, by messenger. Beauchamp refused to leave the office,
"saying that he received that charge and trust publicly from the King,
in the presence of his nobles, and therefore would not quit it in a
private manner" (Dugdale). When his successor arrived, Beauchamp
arrested him, and took him to England. There Beauchamp himself was
arrested but was soon released. In 1393 he was summoned to Parliament as
Baron Bergavenny (a title received in connection with the Pembroke
estates). From 1390-96 I find reference to grants of land made by him to
religious bodies. He seems to have been rather in disfavour in these
closing years of Richard II's reign, but under Henry IV he received new
grants, of the manor of Feckenham, rent-free, and of the custody of the
Castle and county of Pembroke. He died 12 Henry IV and was buried in
Black Friars, Hereford.
He married Joan, second sister and coheir of Thomas Fitz Alen, Earl of
Arundel. He was a Knight of the Garter. Dugdale prints (in his
Warwickshire) the wills of William de Beauchamp and his wife, remarkable
medieval documents.