effigy upon it, together with that of his wife, the
Lady Elizabeth, who, though thrice married, preferred to be buried
with him. She retained the manor of Tewkesbury after her marriage to
Sir Guy de Brien, and on her death in 1359 it passed to her nephew,
Edward le Despenser.

This Edward le Despenser took part in the battle of Poitiers, and was
one of the first Knights of the Garter. On his death at Cardiff in
1375 his body was brought to Tewkesbury, and his effigy is to be seen
on the roof of the Trinity Chapel on the south side of the high altar.
He was buried close to the presbytery, and his wife was, in 1409,
buried next to him.

Thomas le Despenser, the third son of Edward, was for two years only
Earl of Gloucester, and being attainted, was executed at Bristol in
1400. No trace remains of his grave at Tewkesbury.

[Illustration: RICHARD BEAUCHAMP, FIRST HUSBAND OF ISABELLE
DESPENSER, AND HIS ARMORIAL CONNECTIONS.
From the _Registrum Theokusburiae._
(_H.J.L.J.M._)]

With the death of his son Richard in 1414, the lordship of the
Despensers in the male line, after ninety-three years, became extinct.

Once again the Manor of Tewkesbury passed by the female line, and into
the distinguished family of the Beauchamps, with whom Richard le
Despenser's sister Isabelle was connected by her marriage with Richard
Beauchamp, or Ricardus de Bello Campo as the Register calls him when
it does not give his name as Becham. He was killed at the siege of
Breaux in France in 1421, and his young widow erected the sumptuous
chantry chapel known as the Warwick Chapel over his remains. She then,
by special papal dispensation, married her cousin, also a Richard
Beauchamp, and from henceforth was generally known by her new title,
the Countess of Warwick. On her husband's death at Rouen in 1439, she
brought his body to England and had it conveyed to the Beauchamp
Chapel at Warwick. The widowed countess died in December of the same
year, but elected to be buried at Tewkesbury.

Her young son Henry was a favourite of Henry VI., who bestowed most
unusual favours upon him, creating him Duke of Warwick and King of the
Isle of Wight, and later King of Jersey and Guernsey. The young Duke,
who was married to Cicely Neville, died at the age of twenty-one, and
was buried in the choir of the Abbey. As he left no children, the
manor passed in 1449 to his sister Anne, the wife of Richard Neville
the "King-maker." All the "King-maker's