The Beauchamp Tomb at St Mary's Warwick

The Church of St Mary in Warwick is hugely underestimated. Inside, it's bigger than it looks from the outside, it has a stunningly beautiful crypt which you can venture on down to, and some real gems in medieval and Tudor monuments. Like this one, the tomb and effigy of Richard Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick. 


The craftsmanship on the tomb is ahead of its time, having been created shortly after 1439 when Richard died. Viewers in the early sixteenth century thought the effigies of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York in Westminster were a wonder of the world - this one, complete with veined hands and soft facial features dates to over sixty years before and deserves more attention from historians than it receives, I think. 


Richard Beauchamp succeeded to the title of Earl of Warwick in 1402 during the reign of Henry IV. Serving the Lancastrian kings, he fought in France with Henry V and commissioned the building of the Beauchamp Chapel which now houses the remains of the earl and his descendants. He married twice. First to Elizabeth Berkeley, who bore three daughters; Margaret, Eleanor and Elizabeth. His second wife was Isabel Despenser, with whom he fathered two children - a son, Henry, and a daughter, Anne. Henry died as a teenager and so Anne inherited the Warwick title and estates, marrying Richard Neville, who was titled Earl of Warwick in her name. Richard Beauchamp died on 30 April 1439.

Richard's effigy is made from gilded brass, with a marble tomb below on which are depicted men and women from the earl's life as his 'weepers'. The bear rests at his feet, a symbol of the earls of Warwick, along with a griffin and a swan. The 'cage' structure seen over the top of Richard's effigy is believed to have once supported a covering of crimson velvet - something that William Dugdale in the eighteenth century reported had long been removed by his time. To walk around the tomb and examine the 'weepers' is to look into the faces of key men and women of the Wars of the Roses, the civil war that gripped England (and had consequences for Wales, Ireland and Scotland) in the fifteenth century.


The identities of the figures on the earl's lower tomb are given by their respective shields, showing their individual arms. They include Margaret Countess of Shrewsbury and her husband John Talbot Earl of Shrewsbury; Richard Neville and Alice Montacute, Earl and Countess of Salisbury and Richard Neville and Anne Beauchamp, later Earl and Countess of Warwick. 


The inscription on the tomb, and recorded by Dugdale, gives the date of Richard's death and states that he was 'visited with a long sickness in the Castle of Rouen' while he was serving as Lieutenant General and Governor of the Realms of France and Normandy under Henry VI. His body was sent from France to England and arrived at Warwick for burial on 4 October 1439.

If you'd like to see the Beauchamp tomb for yourself, St Mary's is a short walk from Warwick railway station and is definitely worth a visit. In the same chapel lie the tombs of Robert Dudley Earl of Leicester and his wife Lettice Knollys along with their infant son - and also Ambrose, Robert Dudley's brother who was created Earl of Warwick in the mid-1500s. Robert and Ambrose were descended from Margaret Countess of Shrewsbury, the daughter of Richard Beauchamp. 


Interested in the Wars of the Roses? My first book explores the roles of women from all sectors of fifteenth century society and the impact they had on the Wars of the Roses conflict. Order your copy here. 


My second book, Power Couples of the Tudor Era, published by Pen and Sword Books, explores the contributions sixteenth century couples made to their own times as well as how they influenced our own. Robert Dudley and Elizabeth I have their own dedicated chapter. Order your copy here. 



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Source:  The Antiquities of Warwick and Warwick Castle, Sir William Dugdale. 1786. On archive.org.

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