House of Beaufort
The House of Beaufort ( BOH-fərt) is an English noble family which originated in the fourteenth century as the legitimated issue of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, by Katherine Swynford. Gaunt and Swynford had four children: John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset (1373–1410); Cardinal Henry Beaufort (1375–1447), Bishop of Winchester; Thomas Beaufort, 1st Duke of Exeter (1377–1426) and Joan Beaufort, Countess of Westmorland (1379–1440).