Henry de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Warwick

Henry was said, by Orderic Vitalis the Norman monk historian, to have been with William the Conqueror on his 1068 campaign in the Midlands when he was supposedly given charge of Warwick Castle, but there is no supporting evidence for this late source.

Henry acquired a much greater land-holding in England when, in reward for help in suppressing the Rebellion of 1088, King William II made him Earl of Warwick in 1088.

When a division took place among the barons who had gathered together in the aftermath of the king's sudden death in 1100 to choose a successor, it was mainly owing to de Beaumont's advice that Henry, the conqueror's fourth son, was selected.

However, in the following year most of the barons were openly or secretly disloyal and favoured the attempt of Henry's elder brother Robert Curthose, now Duke of Normandy, to gain the Crown.

From around this time, Henry became an important figure in the Norman invasion of Wales, gaining the Lordship of Gower from Iestyn ap Gwrgant around 1107.