Beauchamp Tower was beautiful, albeit sobering. A very medieval tower, it was built in 1281 during the reign of Edward I to serve as a royal residence but a century later it became a place to lodge high-ranking prisoners. Thomas Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick in 1397. was charged with high treason under King Richard II and, throwing himself on the mercy of his king, was stripped of his lands and titles and sentenced to life in prison (that whole "throwing himself on the king's mercy" didn't seem to work out so well for him.) Briefly incarcerated on the Isle of Man, he was soon returned to London to become the first prisoner in the tower that bears his name.
What did he do to rate a life sentence? I am glad you asked. (and even if you didn't ask...because I care, I will share. Caring is sharing) Sir Thomas was among a group of men who sought to limit the power of King Richard II by first limiting the power of the king's advisers and favorites at court by legal means which is why they were called the Lords Appellant (an appellant is one who appeals through the courts or legal systems). There were five Lords, one of whom was Henry Bolingbroke,the future King Henry IV (the importance of this will soon become clear) They initially achieved some success but ultimately King Richard reasserted his power and most of the Lords Appellant were either imprisoned, executed or exiled. Henry wasn't exiled or imprisoned, for whatever reason, maybe because he was related to Richard. This turned out to be a bad move on Richard's part because after a time Henry was able to gather enough support and armies to overthrow Richard and have him imprisoned where he was later to die under slightly suspicious circumstances. Henry was declared king, bypassing Richard's son, who was only seven years old.
Meanwhile, Sir Thomas was still sitting around the tower, carving his name in the wall and biting his fingernails. Well, that might not be exactly correct. I don't think his name was carved on the wall and he probably had very nice fingernails. For a thirteenth century man, that is. Anyway, several years after his imprisonment, Sir Thomas regained his liberty and his former high rank when Henry Bolingbroke ascended to the throne to become King Henry IV. (this is the part where it becomes important to know that this particular Henry was one of Thomas' fellow Lords Appellant) One of the titles restored to Sir Thomas was Knight of the Garter which sounds rather sketchy but is actually quite a prestigious honor. My favorite story of how the order came to be so named: a certain countess was dancing at a court ball when her garter slipped down and completely off her leg. As the garter lay in the middle of the dance floor, some of the lords and ladies began to laugh at the sight. The king gallantly retrieved the garter and restored it to its owner, with the comment, "Shamed be the person who thinks evil of it" and that phrase became the motto of the Order of the Garter.
"Sir Thomas de Beauchamp, 12th Earl of Warwick, KG" by Rs-nourse Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sir_Thomas_de_Beauchamp,_12th_Earl_of_Warwick,_KG.png#mediaviewer /File:Sir_Thomas_de_Beauchamp,_12th_Earl_of_Warwick,_KG.png
An interesting side note to this story is that the Tudors trace their lineage through Thomas Beauchamp. I would explain just exactly how but I fear I have shared quite enough English history in this post.
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