John Fortescue (aft. 1400 - bef. 1479)

Born after 1400 in Devon

Ancestors

Descendants

Died before 18 Dec 1479 before age 79 in Ebrington, Gloucestershire, England

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Biography

John Fortescue is Notable.

Sir John Fortescue was a member of the aristocracy in England.

Sir John Fortescue was born around 1394 at Norries, in the parish of North Huish near South Brent in Devon, England. ^[1]

Education

John was educated at Exeter College, Oxford. ^[1]

Career

Appointed a governor of Lincoln's Inn three times.

King's sergeant at law (1441)

Lord Chief Justice of the King's bench (1442) ^[1]

See the History of Parliament for a full list of offices held. ^[2]

Fortescue Monument at Weare Giffard

The exact date of John Fortescue's death is not known, probably around 1480. He was buried in St Eadburgha’s Church, Ebrington Gloucestershire. The effigy portrays him as Lord Chief Justice in a full robe and Official cloak fastened on the left shoulder beneath the ermine tippet and hood. The feet, in pointed shoes, rest on a lion – a symbol of the British Constitution. ^{[3] [1]}

Research Notes

Encyclopedia Britannica and History of Parliament give 1479 as date of death of Sir John Fortescue. He bought the reversion of the manor of Ebrington in 1456. The Keyte family leased the manor house and home farm of Ebrington, from the late 1470s until ? Canning-229 18:25, 30 December 2014 (EST)

In Burke's A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Commoners of Great Britain and Ireland, Sir John's wife is misidentified as Elizabeth Stapleton, daughter of Sir Miles Stapleton. The date of her marriage to a John Fortescue would have to have been after the death of her first husband Sir William Calthorpe, KB, which was in 1494. Since the son of John Fortescue, Sir John Fortescue, Lord Chief Justice, died in 1479, and Sir John was already married prior to her marriage with Sir William, this marriage would have been impossible.^[4] Douglas Richardson has another John Fortescue, knight of Ponsbourne, Hertfordshire, Chief Butler of England, who died 28 July 1500 as her husband, which is correct.^[5]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3} Wikipedia contributors, "John Fortescue (judge)," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Fortescue_(judge)&oldid=901494098 (accessed September 2, 2019).
2. ↑ “FORTESCUE, John (d.1479), of Devon. | History of Parliament Online.” Accessed September 2, 2019. https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1386-1421/member/fortescue-john-1479.
3. ↑ https://www.ebringtonchurch.org.uk/thesinkingchancellor.htm
4. ↑ John Burke. A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Commoners of Great Britain and Ireland, Enjoying Territorial Possessions Or High Official Rank: But Uninvested with Heritable Honours, (London: 1835), vol. 2, p. 545.
5. ↑ Richardson,Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 4 vols, ed. Kimball G. Everingham, 2nd edition (Salt Lake City: the author, 2011), Vol. II, p. 111.

• Vivian, John Lambrick. “The Visitations of the County of Devon : Comprising the Herald’s Visitations of 1531, 1564, & 1620 / With Additions by Lieutenant-Colonel J. L. Vivian.” HathiTrust. Accessed September 2, 2019. Fortescue pedigree
• The Oxford Companion to British History | 2002 | JOHN CANNON | Copyright