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John was the son and heir of John St John and his first wife Alice Bradshaw/Bradshagh.[1][2][3][4] His father had lands in several counties and in Wales, and it is not known where he was born. His birth date is also not known, but his father was said to be 40 and more in 1482 when John's paternal grandmother Margaret, Duchess of Somerset died and John was old enough to be knighted in 1497, and to serve as a sheriff in 1501: against that background, his birth year has been estimated as possibly about 1465, but this is very uncertain.
John married Sibyl/Margaret/Margred, daughter of Morgan ap Jenkin[1][2] of Langstone, Monmouthshire and his second wife Margred, daughter of Dafydd Matthew.[3][4] (See Research Notes (below) for discussion of her first name.) The date and place of their marriage are not known, though his son and heir John is thought to have been born by 1495. The marriage year has been estimated as about 1485, but there is no clear evidence. They had the following children:
John was knighted on 17 June 1497 at the Battle of Blackheath, also known as the Battle of Deptford Bridge, in which government forces defeated a rebellion originating in Cornwall.[5]
John was Sheriff of Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire in 1501-2 and 1515-6.[6]
In 1508 John was one of the executors of the 1508 will of his relative Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII. This describes him as her Chamberlain. (Nicholas Harris Nicolas's Testamenta Vetusta suggests this was John's father of the same name, but he died by February 1491 (see his profile).[7] Margaret's mother's first husband was John's grandfather Oliver St John. (Douglas Richardson's Magna Carta Ancestry and Royal Ancestry say it was John's father who is referred to in the will,[3][4] but in a 2014 post in soc.genealogy.medieval Richardson established that John's father was dead before then[8] (see his father's profile for more discussion).
John held lands at Bletsoe[9] and elsewhere in Bedfordshire, and in Dorset, Northamptonshire and other counties.[3][4]
John's will, dated 22 March 1524/5, was proved on 23 May 1525.[3][4] In it he:[10]
Douglas Richardson states that the first name of John's first wife was either Sibyl or Margaret.[3][4] Bartrum's 'Welsh Genealogies' names her Margred, a Welsh version of Margaret.[11]
His wife is called Sibyl in:
It is conceivable that John's wife was called Margred at birth and adopted the name Sibyl following her marriage.
A profile merged into this one said he was lord of Forman Castle, Glamorgan, Wales. A reliable source needs to be found before this can be regarded as accurate.
Fonmon Castle was held by earlier St Johns.[13] The official site of Fonmon Castle states that the family moved to Bletsoe, Bedfordshire towards the end of the 15th century, "never to return", though the castle was leased to minor members of the family.[14]
See also:
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Categories: Bletsoe, Bedfordshire | Knights of the Bath | Battle of Blackheath | Bohun-7 Descendants | Magna Carta
edited by Michael Cayley