John Talbot KG KB (abt. 1413 - 1460)

Born about 1413 in England [uncertain]

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 10 Jul 1460 at about age 47 in Northamptonshire, England

Problems/Questions Profile managers: John Hunter [send private message], Magna Carta Project WikiTree [send private message], and Terry Wright [send private message]

Magna Carta Surety Baron Descendant (see text). Join: Magna Carta Project Discuss: magna_carta

Biography

Birth and Parents

John Talbot, son and heir of John Talbot, KG, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury, and his first wife, Maud Neville,^[1] Lady Furnival, was born about 1413^[2][3] (he was aged 40 or more in 1453, at his father's death).^[4]

John is noted in the Talbot Pedigrees in the Visitation of Shropshire^[5] and the Visitation of Worcester.^[6]

Childhood Engagement

When John was a small child, he was contracted to marry Katherine Burnell,^[1] second daughter and co-heiress of Sir Edward Burnell^[4] and Aline Lestrange,^[2] by settlement dated 22 June 1416.^[7][8] It is uncertain whether the couple ever married and there are many differing opinions on the matter. According to Richardson, "the couple were either married or still contracted to marry on 2 October 1422, when John Talbot presented to the church of Holdgate, Shropshire (a Burnell family holding)".^[9][10] Katherine was married to Sir John Radcliffe before June 1426,^[11] so John Talbot's marriage to Katherine either never took place or was annulled by that date.^[9] John Radcliffe's biography in History of Parliament infers that the the Talbots withdrew from the arranged marriage after learning that Katherine's dowry was misrepresented in the marriage contract.^[9][11] According to Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, John later received a property in Tasley, Shropshire, in compensation for the broken engagement.^[1] This Shropshire property is one of several noted in the 1420 Inquisition Post Mortem of Hugh Burnell, Katherine's grandfather.^[12]

Life and Titles

John served in the army in France in 1434 and 1442.^[2][4]

John succeeded his father in 1453 as 2nd Earl of Shrewsbury (2nd creation, or 5th Earl Shrewsbury per Complete Peerage), Lord Talbot, 2nd Earl of Waterford (Ireland)^[4] and Lord Furnival, (succeeding his mother when he came of age).^[1]

He was made a Knight of the Bath on 19 May 1426 at Leicester, when Henry VI was knighted, and was made Knight of the Garter 14 May 1457.^[4]

John was appointed Chancellor of Ireland on 12 August 1446^[4] by his father. He went to Ireland in 1446 and returned probably in summer 1447. In 1448, he was replaced by Thomas Fitzgerald, Earl of Kildare. John petitioned parliament for restoration to the post in February 1449 and his office there was being run by his deputy in November 1451.^[1]

He was Privy Councillor before November 1453; Lord High Treasurer of England from 5 October 1456 to October 1458; Joint Keeper of the King's Mews and Falcons, 20 October 1457; Chief Butler of England, for life, 6 May 1458; Chief Justice of Chester, 24 February 1458/9; Steward of Wakefield 1459; and Steward of the Town and Lordship of Ludlow, 20 June 1460.^[4]

Lands

John's father remarried to Margaret Beauchamp in 1424 and had children with her. This marriage eventually caused relations between John and his father to become strained, particularly when his father began to partition his estates between his two families. In 1435/6, when John came of age, his father granted to him Worksop and other properties from his mother's inheritance. While all Furnival properties were to go to John, his father earmarked some of the Talbot and Lestrange inheritance for his eldest son from his second marriage, also named John Talbot, including the lordship of Blackmere in 1434, Painswick in 1442 and, before 1452, other estates in Shropshire.^[1]

In 1446, John resided at Sheffield, Yorkshire, where he made his first will.^[1]

By charter dated 14 November 1447, "John Talbot kt, lord of Furnyvale, son and heir apparent of John earl of Shrewsbury" quit-claimed his possession of the manor of Munden Furnyvale and the priory of Rownehay, Hertfordshire.^[13]

John's father and step-brother John were killed by the French in 1453 at Castillon and, soon after, his stepmother's supporter and brother-in-law, the Duke of Somerset, fell from power. John quickly took over all his fathers lands without opposition. By 20 September 1453, John had possession of Blakemere and had full seisin of the remaining Shropshire estates by November.^[1]

In 1458 John purchased Wingfield and Crich from the executors of Lord Cromwell.^[1]

Marriage and Children

Before March 1444/5, John married Elizabeth Butler, daughter of James Butler, 4th Earl of Ormond^[1] and Joan Beauchamp.^[2][4] The couple may have had their marriage arranged to reconcile the two families, who had been enemies in Ireland for decades.^[1] They had five sons and two daughters:

• John, Knt., 3rd Earl of Shrewsbury,^[2] married Katherine Stafford, daughter of the Duke of Buckingham;^[1] John was born 12 December 1448 and died 28 June 1473^[4][13]
• James,^[1] Knt.,^[2] died 1471^[13]
• Christopher,^[1] Archdeacon of Chester,^[2] died after 1474^[13]
• Gilbert,^[1] K.G., born 1452, died 16 August 1517, married first to Elizabeth Greystoke and second to Audrey Cotton and had issue with both wives^[2][13]
• George^[2][13]
• Anne,^[13] wife of Henry Vernon of Haddon, Derbyshire^[1][2]
• Margaret, wife of Thomas Chaworth, Esq.^[1][2]

Death, Will and Burial

John was killed 10 July 1460 at the Battle of Northampton fighting for the Lancastrian side.^[1][2][4] It was once believed that he fell with his brother, Christopher, but Christopher "was killed at 'Cawce', Shropshire on 10 August 1443, by his man Griffin Vachan of Treflidian, being struck to the heart and slain with a lance [Calendar of Patent Rolls, 1441-1446, pp. 397, 398]."^[14]

At Sheffield, John made his will dated 8 September 1446. It was proved 24 November 1461 at York by his widow.^[4][15] An Inquisition Post Mortem was held 26 September 1460.^[4]

He was buried at Worksop Priory, Nottinghamshire,^[1][2] with his mother, as directed in his will.^[4] The inscription on his tomb read: "Sepulchrum magnanimi atque praepotentis Domini, Domini Johannis de Talbot comitus Salopiae secundi, ex regio sanguine ducentis originem..." (The tomb of the great and powerful Lord, Lord John de Talbot, second Earl of Shropshire, originating from the royal blood).^[4]

His widow, Elizabeth, Countess of Shrewsbury, died on 8 September 1473^[1] and was buried 11 September 1473 at Shrewsbury Abbey.^[4]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19} A. Pollard. "Talbot, John, second earl of Shrewsbury and second earl of Waterford (c. 1413–1460), magnate" in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. 2008. Online at ODNB.
2. ↑ ^{2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12} Douglas Richardson. Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 5 vols., ed. Kimball G. Everingham. (Salt Lake City, UT: the author, 2013), vol. V, pages 125-126, TALBOT 15.
3. ↑ Douglas Richardson. Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 4 vols., ed. Kimball G. Everingham. 2nd edition. (Salt Lake City, UT: the author, 2011), vol. IV, pages 172-173, TALBOT 10. Google Books.
4. ↑ ^{4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 4.12 4.13 4.14} George Edward Cokayne and Geoffrey White ed. Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Vol. XI: Rickerton to Sisonby, 2nd edition. London, 1949. "Shrewsbury", pages 704-706. Online at FamilySearch.
5. ↑ G. Grazebrook and JP Rylands, eds. Visitation of Shropshire Taken in the Year 1623. Vol. 29, part II. The Harleian Society, 1889. pp. 451. Online at Google Books: Talbot Pedigree.
6. ↑ Visitation of the County of Worcester 1569. Vol. XXVII. The Harleian Society, 1888. Page 133. Online at Archive.org: Talbot Pedigree.
7. ↑ Douglas Richardson. Royal Ancestry, vol. II, pages 40-41, BURNELL 14.
8. ↑ Descriptive Catalogue of Ancient Deeds. Vol. 2. 1894. Pages 515-516. Online at Google Books: C.2398.
9. ↑ ^{9.0 9.1 9.2} "CP? Was he or wasn't he married twice?" posts in soc.genealogy.medieval. See Richardson 2014 post
10. ↑ Melocki.org: Holdgate.
11. ↑ ^{11.0 11.1} J.S. Roskell, et al. The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1386-1421. 1993. Online at History of Parliament Online: bio of Sir John Radcliffe
12. ↑ Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem and Other Analogous Documents Preserved in the Public Record Office. Vol. 21. H.M. Stationery Office, 1904. Pages 219-220. Online at Google Books.
13. ↑ ^{13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 13.5 13.6} Charles Cawley. Medieval Lands: A prosopography of medieval European noble and royal families, hosted by Foundation for Medieval Genealogy (FMG). Online at MedLands, entry for John Talbot.
14. ↑ Some Corrections and Additions to the Complete Peerage, Volume 11: Shrewsbury. Online at MedievalGenealogy.org.
15. ↑ Testamenta Eboracensia, vol. XXX. Surtees Society. Pages 252-254. Online at Google Books (page 252 missing).

See also:

• Wikipedia: John Talbot, 2nd Earl of Shrewsbury
• Jacobus, Donald Lines. The Bulkeley Genealogy New Haven, CT: Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor Co., 1933. Page 84. Online at Google Books.
• Duffy, Seán (ed.). "James the Usurper and the Origins of the Talbot–Ormond feud" in Princes, Prelates and Poets in Medieval Ireland: Essays in Honour of Katharine Simms, pp. 159–84. Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2013, p. 178.

Acknowledgements

Magna Carta Project

This profile was developed for the Magna Carta Project by Thiessen-117 on 30 March 2022 and reviewed for the Project by Michael Cayley on 31 March 2022.

John Talbot KG KB appears in a trail from Gateway Ancestor Agnes Mackworth to Magna Carta Surety Baron Robert FitzWalter. This trail is set out in the Magna Carta Trails section of the Gateway's profile.

John Talbot KG KB is also in a trail from Gateway Ancestor Grace Chetwode to Magna Carta Surety Baron Robert FitzWalter. This trail was badged in January 2023. See the Magna Carta Trails on Dorothy Needham's profile.

See Base Camp for more information about identified Magna Carta trails and their status. See the project's glossary for project-specific terms, such as a "badged trail".