Richard Beauchamp

'An avaricious knight errant with a taste for the spectacular' or 'one of the few upright and honest figures in these difficult years'? Contemporary views of the most colourful, wealthy and powerful knight of medieval England varied wildly, and they continue to do so today. Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, was at the centre of power in the first half of the fifteenth century and, as Henry V's closest friend, accompanied the English warrior king to France to pursue the English claim to the Fre