Sir Walter Le Blount
b. 1349 Elvaston, Derbyshire, England
Parents:
John Le Blount Sir Knight 1297 – 1357
Eleanore Beauchamp 1306-1391
Spouse:
Sancha de Ayala 1359 – 1417
Children:
Walter Blount 1375 – 1382
Thomas Blount, 1377 – 1455
Constance Blount 1379 – 1432
James Blount, Sir 1382 –
Peter Blount 1384 –
John Blount, Sir 1389 – 1414
Anne Blount 1396 –
Sancha Blount 1416 –
from ancestry.com
Thomas Blount, 1377 – 1455
Constance Blount 1379 – 1432
James Blount, Sir 1382 –
Peter Blount 1384 –
John Blount, Sir 1389 – 1414
Anne Blount 1396 –
Sancha Blount 1416 –
from ancestry.com
BLOUNT, Sir WALTER
(d. 1403), soldier and supporter of John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, was almost certainly the son of Sir John Blount of Sodington, by his second wife, Eleanor Beauchamp, widow of Sir John Meriet. In 1367 he accompanied the Black Prince and John of Gaunt in their expedition to Spain to restore Don Pedro the Cruel to the throne of Leon and Castile. After the return of the expedition, which was successfully terminated by the battle of Navarette (1367), Blount married Donna Sancha de Ayála, the daughter of Don Diego Gomez, who held high office in Toledo, by his wife (of very high family), Donna Inez de Ayála. Donna Sancha appears to have first come to England in attendance on Constantia, the elder daughter of King Pedro, whom John of Gaunt married in 1372. In 1374 John Blount, Sir Walter's half-brother, who had succeeded his mother, Isolda Mountjoy, in the Mountjoy property, made over to Walter the Mountjoy estates in Derbyshire, and to them Walter added by purchase, in 1381, the great estates of the Bakepuiz family in Derbyshire, Leicestershire, and Hertfordshire. Permission was granted Blount in 1377 to proceed with Duke John of Gaunt to Castile in order to assert the duke's right by virtue of his marriage to the throne of Leon and Castile; but the expedition did not start till 1386, when Blount probably accompanied it. On 17 April 1393 he, with Henry Bowet [q. v.] and another, was appointed to negotiate a permanent peace with the king of Castile. In 1398 Duke John granted to Blount and his wife, with the king's approval, an annuity of 100 marks in consideration of their labours in his service. Blount was an executor of John of Gaunt, who died early in 1399, and received a small legacy. He represented Derbyshire in Henry IV's first parliament, which met on 6 Oct. 1399. At the battle of Shrewsbury (23 July 1403) he was the king's standard-bearer, and was killed by Archibald, fourth earl of Douglas, one of the bravest followers of Henry Percy (Hotspur). Blount was dressed in armour resembling that worn by Henry IV, and was mistaken by Douglas for the king (Walsingham, Hist. Anglicana, ed. Riley, ii. 258; Annales Henrici Quarti, 367, 369). Shakespeare gives Blount, whom he calls Sir Walter Blunt, a prominent place in the first part of his ‘Henry IV,’ and represents both Hotspur and Henry IV as eulogising his military prowess and manly character. He was buried in the church St. Mary ‘of Newark,’ Leicester. His widow Donna Sancha lived till 1418. In 1406 she founded the hospital of St. Leonards, situate between Alkmonton and Hungry-Bentley, Derbyshire. Sir Walter had two sons: 1. Sir John, who was at one time governor of Calais; was in 1482 besieged in a castle of Aquitaine by a great French army, which he defeated with a small force (Walsingham, Ypodigma Neustriæ, Rolls Ser., p. 437); was created knight of the Garter in 1413; and was present at the siege of Rouen in 1418: 2. Sir Thomas, who was treasurer of Calais during Henry VI's wars in France (Stevenson's Letters, c., illustrating the wars in France temp. Henry VI, Rolls Ser., ii. passim), and founded a chantry at Newark in 1422 (at the expense of the Duke of Exeter) in memory of his father and mother. Sir John died without male issue. Sir Thomas was the father (by Margaret, daughter of Sir Thomas Gresley of Gresley, Derbyshire) of Sir Walter Blount, first Baron Mountjoy
from ancestry.com
Notes on the life of
Sir Walter Blount
Early life
Walter Blount was almost certainly the son of Sir John Blount of Sodington, by his second wife, Eleanor Beauchamp, widow of Sir John Meriet.
In 1367 Blount participated in Edward, the Black Prince's expedition to restore Peter of Castile to the throne of Leon and Castile. This expedition was successfully terminated by the Battle of Nájera in 1367. Blount returned to England.
As a result of his role in the campaign, Blount married Donna Sancha de Ayála, the daughter of Don Diego Gomez, who held high office in Toledo, by his wife, Donna Inez de Ayála. Blount's new wife was also a niece of Pero López de Ayala.
Donna Sancha appears to have first come to England in attendance on Constantia, the elder daughter of Peter of Castile, whom John of Gaunt married in 1372.
Estate
In 1374 John Blount, Sir Walter's half-brother, who had succeeded his mother, Isolda Mountjoy, in the Mountjoy property, made over to Walter the Mountjoy estates in Derbyshire, and to them Walter added by purchase, in 1381, the great estates of the Bakepuiz family in Derbyshire, Leicestershire, and Hertfordshire.
Return to Castile
Blount probably returned to Castile in 1386. Permission had been granted Blount in 1377 to proceed with Duke John of Gaunt to Castile in order to assert the duke's right by virtue of his marriage to the throne of Leon and Castile; but the expedition did not start till 1386. On 17 April 1393 he, with Henry Bowet and another, was appointed to negotiate a permanent peace with the king of Castile.
In 1398 Duke John granted to Blount and his wife, with the king's approval, an annuity of 100 marks in consideration of their labours in his service. Blount was an executor of John of Gaunt, who died early in 1399, and received a small legacy.
Later career and death
He represented Derbyshire in Henry IV's first parliament, which met on 6 Oct 1399. When the rebellion of the Percys broke out, Blount supported the King. At the Battle of Shrewsbury (23 July 1403) he was the king's standard-bearer. In the decisive struggle of the battle, the rebel leader Henry Percy attempted to break the royal army by a direct attack on the King. In the struggle Blount was killed byArchibald, fourth earl of Douglas, one of the bravest followers of Percy. According to later chronicles, Blount was dressed in armour resembling that worn by Henry IV, and was mistaken by Douglas for the king.[1]
He was buried in the church St. Mary ‘of Newark,’ Leicester. His widow Donna Sancha lived till 1418. In 1406 she founded the hospital of St. Leonards, situated between Alkmonton and Hungry-Bentley, Derbyshire.
Eulogised in Shakespeare's Henry IV
Shakespeare gives Blount, whom he calls Sir Walter Blunt, a prominent place in the first part of his Henry IV, and represents both Hotspur and Henry IV as eulogising his military prowess and manly character. In the play he deliberately misidentifies himself as the King in order to draw the attack onto himself. Falstaff, finding his body, undercuts the eulogies by presenting his death as proof of the uselessness of "honour".
Descendants
Sir Walter had two sons:
1. Sir John, who was at one time governor of Calais; was besieged in a castle of Aquitaine by a great French army, which he defeated with a small force (Walsingham, Ypodigma Neustriæ, Rolls Ser., p. 437); was created knight of the Garter in 1413; and was present at the siege of Rouen in 1418: Sir John died without male issue.
2. Sir Thomas, who was Treasurer of Calais during Henry VI's wars in France (Stevenson's Letters, &c., illustrating the wars in France temp. Henry VI, Rolls Ser., ii. passim), and founded a chantry at Newark in 1422 (at the expense of the Duke of Exeter) in memory of his father and mother. Sir Thomas was the father (by Margaret, daughter of Sir Thomas Gresley of Gresley, Derbyshire) of Sir Walter Blount, 1st Baron Mountjoy.
Also a daughter, Constance, who married John de Sutton V. They were the parents of
John Sutton, VII Baron Dudley.
from ancestry.com
More notes on life of Sir Walter Bount:
He was a soldier and diplomat, of Barton Blount, Derbyshire, was the 3rd son of Sir John Blount (d. 1358) of Sodington, Worcestershire, and of his 1st wife, Iseult (or Isolda), daughter and heir of Thomas Mountjoy of Gayton, Staffordshire. Immortalized by Shakespeare as one of the three knights who gave their lives by impersonating Henry IV at the battle of Shrewsbury, Sir Walter was indeed a devoted supporter of the house of Lancaster, to which he owed his advancement, wealth, and influence. He was still a young man when, in 1367, he accompanied John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, on the first of six military expeditions overseas. Five years later he joined the ducal household (of which he became chamberlain in 1392), while also assuming a prominent place in the management of his patron's north midland estates, as constable of Tutbury Castle, Staffordshire, and master forester of Needwood Chase in the same county. So highly did Gaunt value his services that his income as a Lancastrian retainer eventually exceeded 176pounds a year, thereby enabling Blount to purchase the Bakepus family's extensive Derbyshire and Leicestershire estates. These gave him a strong territorial base, and augmented the relatively modest possessions which, as a younger son, were all he could hope to inherit.
Blount's marriage, by 1374, to Sancha de Ayala, a daughter of Diego Gomez, principal secretary of the province of Toledo, and his wife, Inez de Ayala, a favorite lady in waiting of Gaunt's second duchess (herself the eldest daughter of Pedro the Cruel, King of Castile), cemented the bond between Blount and the duke. It also gave Blount a vested interest in Gaunt's claim to the throne of Castile, and made him and obvious choice as diplomatic envoy to the Iberian peninsula. He undertook two long missions to Castile, in 1378 and 1393, evidently aquitting himself well despite the overwhelming odds against success; and he later serves as ambassador to Portugal and Aragon for Gaunt's son, the newly crowned Henry IV, in 1400.
Further evidence in Blount's negotiating skills may be found in his presence, in 1383, as ducal representative at peace talks on the Scottish border. Blount had to draw upon his military and diplomatic experience nearer home, for the gentry of the north midlands resented Gaunt's intervention in local issues. His position as the duke's leading retainer in Derbyshire and Staffordshire, where he also sat on the bench in the 1380's, was fraught with difficulties, but he continued to enjoy every mark of confidence from his patron.
Gaunt made Blount an executor of his will, and left him a personal bequest of 100 marks. His trust was not misplaced: when Henry Bolingbroke (Henry IV) landed at Ravenspur, in July 1399, to recover the confiscated duchy of Lancaster from Richard II, Blount welcomed him with one of the largest private retinues then marshalled by his supporters.
A mainstay of the new regime, Blount represented Derbyshire in the first parliament of Henry IV's reign. He was entrusted with the care and tutelage of the young Prince Thomas, who, in 1402, became lieutenant of Ireland. In death, as in life, Blount honored the ties of good lordship, asking in his will of 1401 to be burried at the Lancastrian foundation of St. Mary in the Newarke, Leicester. This wish was fulfilled after the battle of Shrewsbury, where he was killed. Sanch Blount survived until 1418 or 1419 as a pensioner of the crown, and was burried beside him. They had five sons, the most celebrated of whom, Sir John Blount (d. 1418), became a knight of the garter and fell at the Siege of Rouen. His younger brother was Sir Thomas Blount (c. 1383 - 1456). In recognition of two generations of unstinting loyalty, Prince Thomas set aside 1,000 marks for the erection of a splendid Blount family chantry at St Mary's.
The casualties at the battle of Shrewsbury in 1403 included not only the earl of Stafford but also the leading Derbyshire Lancastrians, Walter Blount and Hugh Shirley. Sancha Blount, his widow, retained possesion of the Duchy manor of Hartington in the Peak district, worth more than 100 pounds, which Henry IV had granted to her and her husband in 1399.
from ancestry.com
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| Solemn Military Order of the Byzantine Eagle Sir Walter Blount |
Battle of Shrewsbury - wikipedia
The Battle of Shrewsbury was a battle fought on 21 July 1403, waged between an army led by the Lancastrian King, Henry IV, and a rebel army led by Henry "Hotspur" Percy from Northumberland.[1]The battle, the first in which English archers fought each other on English soil, demonstrated "the deadliness of the longbow" and ended the Percy challenge to Henry IV.[1] At least part of the fighting is believed to have taken place at what is now Battlefield in Shropshire, England, some three miles north of the centre of Shrewsbury.[1] It is marked today by Battlefield Church.
Background
The Percys had previously supported Henry IV in a war against Richard II, which ended when Henry took the throne in 1399. They subsequently supported him in Wales, early in the rebellion of Owain Glyndŵr, and in Scotland, in both negotiations and conflict against the Scots. King Henry IV had been supported by a number of wealthy landowners to whom he had promised land, money and royal favour in return for their continued support. However, when the war ended, lands in and around Cumberland promised to the Percys were instead given to a rival. This was enough to spark them into private revolt, which may have been increased when monies promised by the King never materialised. The Earls of Northumberland and Worcester therefore publicly renounced their allegiance to King Henry. They charged him with perjury based on his claiming the throne instead of just his old lands and titles; his taxing the clergy despite having promised not to without the consent of Parliament; imprisoning and murdering King Richard II, and not permitting a free Parliamentary election and refusing to pay a just ransom, requested by Owain Glyndŵr, who was then holding Edmund Mortimer.
Henry Percy raised a small group of retainers initially (probably about 200) in early July 1403 and started the long march south to meet his uncle, Thomas Percy, 1st Earl of Worcester. Although some nobles, such as Lord Bardolf, joined him, he recruited most of his army in Cheshire, an area hostile to Henry IV, and which provided many experienced soldiers, notably its Cheshire archers, some of whom had served as Richard II's bodyguard. It appears that he may have hoped to be reinforced by a Welsh force under the self-proclaimed Prince of Wales, Owain Glyndŵr. This didn't happen, and it appears that Glyndŵr, at the time fighting in Carmarthenshire, was unaware that Hotspur had acted. Nevertheless it appears some Welsh forces from the Cheshire borders may have joined him. The rebels then marched towards Shrewsbury, the heavily defended county town of Shropshire.
King Henry IV himself only became aware of these developments on July 12, apparently while he was marching an army north to assist the Percys against the Scots and received the news at Burton-on-Trent. He may well have anticipated the Percys' change of heart but nevertheless instantly switched plans to meet the immediate threat posed by the Percys. He changed direction and marched west towards Shrewsbury with his army. Estimates of the sizes of the two armies vary widely, and the medieval chronicles are subject to the usual exaggerations. Annales Henrici Quarti states 14,000 Royal troops, far fewer than Waurin's estimate of 60,000.[1] Although Henry's army is generally agreed to have been larger, John Capgrave writing in the Chronicle of England quotes Percy's army as 14000.[1]
Both forces arrived near the town on July 20, 1403 and set up camp to the north and south of the Severn River, which loops around the town. Hotspur based himself initially at the house of a William Betton, his army camping close to the town. The next day the King's forces crossed the River Severn at Uffington, about a mile to the east of Shrewsbury endeavouring to cut Percy's line of retreat on Chester. This they failed to do and the armies took up position in a field that is variously named: "Haytleyfield", "Husefeld", "Berwykfeld", "Bolefeld" etc. What is certain is that the battle commenced in the manor of Harlescott about a mile south west of where Battlefield church now stands. (The owner of this manor, Richard Hussey swore to this fact under oath in the escheator's court in January 1416). The battle took place in a large field of growing peas.
For much of the morning the two forces parleyed. Thomas Prestbury, the Abbot of Shrewsbury was used by King Henry to offer terms. Hotspur declined any terms and Thomas Percy spoke to the King, trading insults. It appears that Henry Percy was somewhat inclined towards accepting the King's position, while his uncle Thomas Percy was not. Whatever the case, negotiations ended near noon, and the two forces advanced closer for the fight.
Battle
King Henry raised his sword. The battle opened with a massive archery barrage, arrows killing or wounding many of the men before they could meet hand to hand in the field. Of the two forces, the Percys' Cheshire bowmen proved generally superior. Thomas Walsingham recorded how the King's men "fell like leaves in Autumn, every one [arrow] struck a mortal man". According to the Dieulacres Chronicle the King's right wing under the command of the Earl of Stafford (who was killed) fled from the field. It is not impossible that far more than this wing fled as well, as there is evidence that some baggage was looted and after the battle the Cheshire rebels were "prosecuted" for taking some 7,000 horses with them. Prince Henry was hit in the face with an arrow during the fighting, sustaining a terrible wound. He later recovered due to the skilled treatment of the Physician General using honey, alcohol and a specially designed surgical instrument. He was left with a permanent scar.
However, enough of the King's men remained on the field, particularly those on the left wing under the command of the Prince of Wales. Perhaps in desperation Hotspur attempted to address this imbalance with a charge aimed at killing the King himself, the Royal Standard was overthrown and Sir Walter Blount, its carrier, hacked down by Archibald Douglas, 4th Earl of Douglas. However Hotspur was killed in the attempt, apparently being shot in the face when he opened his visor. His death was initially not realised, and some point soon afterwards the Northumbria knights hailed the death of Henry IV and acclaimed 'Henry Percy King!'. Henry IV was of course very much alive and retaliated by shouting 'Henry Percy is dead', the absence of a reply confirmed that Henry Percy was indeed dead. At this point the battle came to an end. It is recorded that many did not know who had won. The King's forces sustained greater losses than the rebels, in fact Henry IV very nearly lost both his life and his throne.
Aftermath
Henry Percy was initially buried by his nephew Thomas Nevill, 5th Baron Furnivall at Whitchurch, Shropshire with honours, but rumours soon spread that he was not really dead. In response the King had him disinterred. His body was salted, set up in Shrewsbury impaled on a spear between two millstones in the pillory in the marketplace, with an armed guard and was later quartered and put on show in the four corners of the country. His head was sent to York and impaled on the north gate, looking towards his own lands. His quarters were sent to Chester, London, Bristol and Newcastle upon Tyne. In November his grisly remains were returned to his widow Elizabeth. She interred them in York Minster at the right hand side of the altar.
Thomas Percy, 1st Earl of Worcester, Sir Richard Venables, Sir Richard Vernon and Sir Henry Boynton were publicly hanged, drawn and quartered in Shrewsbury on 23 July and their heads publicly displayed, Thomas Percy's on London Bridge.
Battlefield Church is said to have been erected over the site of the mass burial pit dug immediately after the battle. It was built initially as a memorial chapel, on the orders of King Henry IV and paid for by him, with prayers and masses being said continually for the dead on both sides. The chapel was replaced in 1460 by a church, which was further restored in 1862. A drain being dug in a corner of the churchyard inadvertently may have opened part of the burial pit. Workmen were surprised by the mass of bones which they thought showed the hurried nature of the burials. It is not impossible however that they had merely unearthed a charnel pit containing bones of a variety of different ages.
In 2006, the BBC show 'Two Men in a Trench' established virtually nothing at all except to prove that an area to the west of the church was not in fact a graveyard.
It is worth noting that there were two other 15th century churches associated with battles. The one at Towton no longer exists, while that at Wakefield does. Neither were built close to centre of fighting of the battles they commemorated.
The battle itself and many of the key people involved appear in Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 1.
References:
Barker, Juliet; Agincourt: The King, the Campaign, the Battle, UK: Little, Brown, 2005; ISBN 0-349-11918-X
Morgan,, Philip J.; The Battle of Shrewsbury 1403 ISBN 0-7524-2563-3
Prestwich, Michael; Armies and Warfare in the Middle Ages: the English Experience Yale University Press, 1996; ISBN 0-300-06452-7
Maxfield, Stephen; The Battlefield of Shrewsbury ISBN 0-947805-36-2
Online:
Alastair Dunn, A kingdom in crisis: Henry IV and the battle of Shrewsbury: Alastair Dunn discusses the battle and its repercussions in its 600th anniversary year, History Today, August 2003
Notes:
a b c d e f g h i English Heritage (1995). "English Heritage Battlefield Report: Shrewsbury 1403". Retrieved 22-Aug-2011.
External links:
BBC Battle Bulletins -- An experiment in which the BBC produced "Battle Bulletins," providing updates and commentary on the Battle of Shrewsbury as if it were reporting on the actual event as it unfolded.
Battlefield 1403 -- The battle of Shrewsbury exhibition centre.
Battle of Shrewsbury
Part of the Glyndŵr Rising and the Hundred Years' War
Death of Henry "Hotspur" Percy
from ancestry.com
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| Sir Walter Blount and Henry Percy (Hotspur) at Battle of Shrewsbury at which both were killed |
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| Death of Sir Walter Blount (Mistaken as King Henry IV) |
Sir Walter and Shakespeare
Sir Walter Blount , so celebrated for his martial prowess in the warlike times of Edward III. Richard II. and Henry IV. and immortalized by the muse of Shakspeare for his devotion, even unto death, to King Henry . Sir Walter fell at the battle of Shrewsbury on the 22 Jun 1403 , wherein, being standard-bearer, he was arrayed in the same armour as his royal master, and was slain, according to the poet, in single combat by the Earl of Douglas , who had supposed he was contending with the king himself. Having thus rehearsed the dramatic version of the valiant soldier's death, we retrace our course, to detail some passages in his eventful life. In 1367 , we find Sir Walter accompanying the Black Prince , and his brother the Duke of Lancaster (John of Gaunt ), upon the expedition into Spain , to aid Peter the Cruel, King of Castille , and assisting on the 03 Apr in that year at the battle of Najara , which restored Peter to his throne. Thenceforward for a series of years, indeed until the prince's decease, he appears to have been immediately and confidentially attached to the Duke, having chosen his wife, whom he married about the year 1372 , from amongst the ladies in the suite of Constantia of Castille (eldest daughter of Peter , and his successor on the throne, who became the royal consort of John of Gaunt ), when the princess visited England in 1369 . In 1398 , the duke granted one hundred marks a-year to Sir Walter for the good services which had been rendered to him by the knight and his wife, the Lady Sancia . The Lady Sancia 's maiden designation was Donna Sancha de Ayala . She was the daughter of Don Diego Gomez de Toledo , alcalde mayor, and chief justice of Toledo , and notario mayor, or principal secretary of the kingdom of Castille , by his wife, Inez Alfon de Avala , one of the most ancient and illustrious houses in Spain . John of Gaunt at his decease appointed Sir Walter one of his executors, and bequeathed him a legacy of one hundred marks, £66. 6s. 8d.
from ancestry.com
from ancestry.com
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| Sir Walter Blount was immortalized by Wm. Shalespear in his "Henry IV" as SirWalter 'Blunt' |
He appears as a character in Shakespeare's play Henry IV, part 1, in which he epitomises selfless loyalty and chivalry.
from ancestry.com
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| Tutsbury Castle |
He was apparently in the Duke's service in 1369, and was already a knight in March 1371/2. In January 1372/3 the Duke appointed him constable of Tutsbury Castle for life and the following May he entered into a contract to serve the Duke, in peace and in war, for the term of his life
from ancestry.com
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| Tutsbury Castle |
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| Chapel at Tutsbury Castle |
Property
In 1374 , Sir Walter 's half brother, Sir John Blount , of Sodington , conveyed to him numerous manors, which he had inherited from his mother, Isolda , heiress of the Mountjoy family. In 1381 he became proprietor, by purchase, of the large estates of the Bakepuiz family, in the counties of Derby , Stafford , Leicester , and Hertford . In 1385 he obtained a charter for a fair and free warren in his demesne lands at Barton , and other manors in Derbyshire . In 1399 he was ranger of Needwood forest, and knight of the shire for the county of Derby . By his wife, Donna Sancha , who survived him, and lived until 1418 , he left issue, I. John (Sir), his heir, one of the great warriors who have immortalized the reign
from ancestry.com
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| St Mary Magdeline Church Sir Walter Blount and Sancha De Ayala Burial place |
Burial of Sir Walter Blount at St Mary Magdalene Church Newark-on-Trent Nottinghamshire, England Plot: with Sancha De Ayala his spouse.
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