SOMERSET, HENRY BEAUFORT, 2ND DUKE OF, 2ND EARL OF DORSET

born 1436 died May 15, 1464, Hexham, Northumberland, Eng. leading Lancastrian in the English Wars of the Roses. He was the eldest son of Edmund Beaufort, the 2nd duke; and, as duke of Somerset, marquess of Dorset, and titular count of Mortain, he was the victorious Lancastrian commander at the battles of Wakefield (1460) and of St. Albans (1461). But he fled to Scotland after the disaster of Towton (1461) and was then attainted and condemned to forfeiture. Failing to get French help, he deserted to the Yorkists in 1463 and was restored to his position; but a further equivocation brought his attainder, forfeiture, and execution on the day of his defeat and capture as Lancastrian commander at the Battle of Hexham. When his brother Edmund, duke of Somerset to the Lancastrians alone, was captured and beheaded at the Battle of Tewkesbury (May 6, 1471), the male line of Beauforts ended.