# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Beauchamp, Guy de

​BEAUCHAMP, GUY de, Earl of Warwick (d. 1315), a lord ordainer, succeeded his father, William, earl of Warwick, the grandson of Walter de Beauchamp [see Beauchamp, Walter de, d. 1236], in 1298. He distinguished himself at once by his bravery at Falkirk (22 July 1298), for which he received grants of estates in Scotland, and he did homage for his lands 15 Sept. (Rot Fin. 26 Ed. I. m. 1). He was one of the seven earls who signed the famous letter to the pope (12 Feb. 1301), rejecting his authority in the Scottish question. He also took part in the next Scotch campaign (1303-4), including the siege of Stirling; and, attending King Edward to his last campaign, was present at his death (7 July 1307), when he was warned by him against Piers Gaveston. On the accession of Edward II Gaveston returned to England, and dubbed Warwick, in insult, from his swarthy complexion, 'the black cur of Arden' (T. Wals. i. 115). Warwick took part in procuring his banishment (18 May 1308), and alone refused to be reconciled to his recall in the summer of 1309 (Chronicles, ii. 160).
With Thomas of Lancaster, who now headed the opposition, and the Earls of Lincoln, Oxford, and Arundel, he declined (Hemingb. ii. 275) to attend the council at York (26 Oct. 1309), and presented himself in arms, against the king's orders, at the council of Westminster (March 1310). Here he joined in the petition for the appointment of 'ordainers,' and was himself chosen (Chron. i. 170, 172) to act as one (20 March 1310). He refused the royal summons to the Scottish campaign (June 1310), busied himself in the preparation of the 'ordinances,' and attended their publication in St. Paul's Churchyard 27 Sept. 1310 (Chron, i. 270, ii. 164). On the return of Gaveston (who had been banished by the ordinances) in January 1312, Lancaster and his four confederates took up arms, seized him, and committed him to the custody of Pembroke, by whom he was left in charge for a time at Deddington Rectory, near Warwick. At daybreak, on Sunday, 10 June, the Earl of Warwick, with 100 footmen and forty men-at-arms, surprised him and carried him off to Warwick Castle (Trokelowe, 76, Chron. i. 206). On the arrival of Lancaster, with Hereford and Arundel, Gaveston was handed over to them and beheaded by them on Blacklow Hill, outside Warwick's fief (19 June 1312), the earl himself declining to be present, and refusing to take charge of the corpse (Chron. i. 210). Edward instantly threatened vengeance, and Warwick and his confederates met at Worcester to concert measures for their mutual defence (ib. ii. 182). At the head of his foresters of Arden (ib. ii. 184) he joined their forces at Ware in September, and remained there during the negotiations of the autumn, till peace was proclaimed on 22 December (ib. i. 221, 225). On 16 Oct. 1313 the confederates were finally pardoned, but refused the following year to serve in the Scotch campaign, on the plea that the 'ordinances' had been disregarded (Trokelowe, 83, Chron. ii. 201). A year later the Earl of Warwick fell ill and died (10 Aug. 1315), not without suspicions of poison (T. Wals. i. 137). His untimely death, at forty-three, was lamented by the chroniclers as that of a 'discreet and well-informed man' (Chron. i. 236), whose wise advice had been invaluble to the ordainers, and who had been unanimously supported by the country (ib. ii. 212 ). So highly was his sagacity esteemed, that the Earl of Lincoln, the counsellor of Edward I, urged his son-in-law, Thomas of Lancaster, on his death-bed (Februaiy 1311) to be guided by him in all things (Trokelowe, 63).
J. H. R.