Henry Beaufort, 2nd Earl of Somerset
A teenage Lancastrian noble whose death on a French battlefield shifted the line of succession, altering the course of the Beaufort family's power.
1401–1418 (age 17)·English nobleman·Birthday: November 26
Biography
Born into the powerful and politically tangled Beaufort family, Henry was thrust into the brutal theater of the Hundred Years' War while still a boy. His life was defined by the Lancastrian crown's claim to France, a cause for which he would become a martyr. At just seventeen, he was present at the protracted and grueling Siege of Rouen, a key English campaign. His death there in 1418 was a quiet dynastic earthquake. With no wife or children, his title and lands passed to his younger brother John, a transfer that would shape the family's involvement in the coming Wars of the Roses. His story is a brief, sharp lesson in how the fate of a single young man on a foreign wall could ripple through the corridors of English power.
#1 When Henry Was Born
The biggest hits of 1401
Henry's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1401Born
1406Started school
1414Became a teenager
1417Could drive
1418Died at 17
Key Achievements
- Served as the 2nd Earl of Somerset, a key title in the English peerage, from 1418 until his death.
- Fought for the English crown at the Siege of Rouen during the Hundred Years' War.
- His childless death directly led to his brother John inheriting the earldom and its considerable influence.
Did You Know?
He was the grandson of John of Gaunt, a son of King Edward III, giving him royal Plantagenet blood.
His death at the Siege of Rouen occurred during a major, year-long blockade that ultimately returned the city to English control.
He is sometimes confused with his uncle, Cardinal Henry Beaufort, a towering figure in English politics.
“I will wear my father's colors at Agincourt.”
