Beaumont

The Beaumonts of this line were a branch of the House of Brienne, descended from John of Brienne, King of Jerusalem. In France they held the viscounty of Beaumont in Maine, and later married into the viscounts of Ventadour.

The English branch began when Louis of Brienne married Agnes de Beaumont, heiress of the viscounty; their younger son Henry de Beaumont entered Edward I's service in 1297. Summoned as the first Baron Beaumont in 1309, he married Alice Comyn, heiress of Buchan, and became Earl of Buchan jure uxoris.

As one of the Disinherited, he was the chief organizer of Edward Balliol's bid for the Scottish crown, planning the 1332 invasion that won Dupplin Moor and attending Balliol's coronation at Scone. His brother Lewis was Bishop of Durham from 1317 to 1333. Henry died on Edward III's Flemish campaign in 1340; his son John never pressed the lost Buchan claim, while the French line kept the Beaumont viscounty in Maine.