Edmund Beaufort, 2nd duke of Somerset, also called (1444–48) 4th earl of Somerset, in full Edmund Beaufort, 2nd duke of Somerset, 1st earl of Dorset, (born c. 1406—died May 22, 1455, St. Albans, Hertfordshire, England), an English nobleman and Lancastrian leader whose quarrel with Richard, Duke of York, helped precipitate the Wars of the Roses (1455–85) between the houses of Lancaster and York. In the 1430s obtained control—with William de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk— of the government of the weak King Henry VI. But he was later imprisoned when Richard, Duke of York became ‘Lord Protector’, before dying at the Battle of St Albans.
