Place: Beaumont Palace, Oxford, England

Very few castles or palaces associated with the early Plantagenet dynasty survive.  This also holds true for Beaumont Palace, the birthplace of two Plantagenet kings, Richard I and John.  Beaumont Palace was built by Norman King Henry I in 1130.  He built the palace at the gates of the town of Oxford to give easy access to his hunting park at Woodstock, now part of the grounds of Blenheim Palace.  By 1133, the building was far enough along for Henry I to give a banquet, celebrating the birth of his grandson, Henry II, who had been born in Le Mans, France.  Later, Henry II and his wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine, frequently used the palace.  Two of their sons were born there, Richard I in 1157 and John in 1166.

The last Plantagenet king to use the Palace was Edward I.  He later granted the Palace to an Italian banker, Francisco Accorsi, who had undertaken diplomatic missions for him.  Edward II, during his flight from Bannockburn, vowed to found an abbey for the Carmelite White Friars if he made it out of Scotland alive.  He later gave Beaumont to the Carmelites.  They used the buildings until the 1530's, during the Dissolution of the Monasteries.  At that point, the Palace was taken over by the Oxford colleges of Christ Church and St. Johns.  However, by the 18th century it was a ruin.  Today the buildings no longer exist.  Beaumont Street in Oxford commemorates the Palace, as does a plaque which indicates that Richard and John were born there.