Beaumont Palace

{{Use British English|date=September 2025}} {{Short description|Former palace in Oxford, England}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2019}} [[Image:Beaumont palace 1785.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|right|Beaumont Palace in 1785]] [[File:Beaumont palace jewitt.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|right|1800 sketch of the ruins, showing the inside of the forebuilding above]] [[Image:Beaumont Palace plaque.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|right|The plaque on [[Beaumont Street]] near the site of Beaumont Palace]] '''Beaumont Palace''', built outside the north gate of [[Oxford]], was intended by [[Henry I of England|Henry I]] about 1130 to serve as a royal [[palace]] conveniently close to the royal hunting-lodge at [[Woodstock, Oxfordshire|Woodstock]] (now part of the park of [[Blenheim Palace]]). Its former presence is recorded in [[Beaumont Street]], Oxford. Set into a pillar on the north side of the street, near [[Walton Street, Oxford|Walton Street]], is a stone with the inscription: "Near to this site stood the King's Houses later known as Beaumont Palace. [[Richard I of England|King Richard I]] was born here in 1157 and [[John, King of England|King John]] in 1167." The "King's House" was the range of the palace that contained the king's lodgings.

Henry spent Easter 1133 in the ''nova aula'' – his "new hall" at Beaumont – in great pomp, celebrating the birth of his grandson, the future [[Henry II of England|Henry II]].<ref>[[Henry of Huntington]] (Thomas Arnold, ed.) ''Historia Anglorum'' 1879:259; H. Hughes, ''Gladstone, Christ Church, and Oxford, an historic local retrospect'', 1898:5.</ref> [[Edward I of England|Edward I]] was the last king to sojourn in Beaumont officially as a palace, and in 1275 he granted it to an Italian lawyer, [[Franciscus Accursius|Francesco Accorsi]], who had undertaken diplomatic missions for him.<ref>[http://www.oxfordhistory.org.uk/streets/inscriptions/central/beaumont_palace.html Oxford Streets: Inscriptions, Beaumont Palace Site]: accessed 9 October 2013.</ref> When [[Edward II]] was put to flight at the [[Battle of Bannockburn]] in 1314, he is said to have invoked the Virgin Mary and vowed to found a monastery for the [[Carmelites]] (the White Friars) if he might escape safely. In fulfilment of his vow he remanded Beaumont Palace to the Carmelites in 1318.

In 1318, the Palace was the scene for the beginnings of the [[John Deydras]] affair, in which a royal pretender, arguing that he was the rightful king of England, claimed the Palace for his own. John Deydras was ultimately executed for [[sedition]].<ref>Weir, Alison. (2006) ''Isabella: She-Wolf of France, Queen of England.'' London: Pimlico, p.117.</ref>

When the White Friars were [[Dissolution of the Monasteries|disbanded at the Reformation]], most of the structure was dismantled and the building stone reused in [[Christ Church, Oxford|Christ Church]] and [[St John's College, Oxford|St John's College]].<ref>"The ruins were rifled by St John's College in the sixteenth century to build its library" observes David Horan, ''Oxford: a cultural and literary companion'' :2000:186.</ref> An engraving of 1785<ref>Published by S. Hooper, engraved by Sparrow.</ref> shows the remains of Beaumont Palace, the last of which were destroyed in the laying out of Beaumont Street in 1829.<ref>Hughes 1898:18.</ref>

== References == {{reflist}}

==External links== {{Commons category|Beaumont Palace}} * {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20051108012321/http://www.oxfordinscriptions.com/the_royal_connection.htm Oxford inscriptions]}}

[[Category:1130 establishments in England]] [[Category:Palaces in England]] [[Category:Former buildings and structures in Oxford]] [[Category:Former palaces in England]] [[Category:Country houses in Oxfordshire]]