Sir John Cheyne, Baron Cheyne
,
KG
KB
(
c.
1442
? 30 May 1499) was
Master of the Horse
to King
Edward IV of England
and personal bodyguard to King
Henry VII of England
.
[1]
Biography
[
edit
]
John was the third but second surviving son of John Cheyne (or Cheney) of
Shurland Hall
in Kent, by his wife, Eleanor, daughter and sole heiress of Sir Robert Shottesbrooke of
Faringdon
in Berkshire (now Oxfordshire).
[1]
He was the uncle of
Thomas Cheyne
,
Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports
[1]
and grand-uncle of Tudor soldier and MP
John Cheyne
.
[1]
In the 1460s he was appointed
Esquire of the body
to
Elizabeth Woodville
, Queen of Edward IV. He was MP for
Wiltshire
in 1478,
[2]
and in 1479 was appointed
Master of the Horse
. In the same year he married Margaret Chideock, eldest daughter of Sir John Chideock, and widow of
William Stourton, 2nd Baron Stourton
; some sources say that they had a son who predeceased his father.
[
citation needed
]
He was present when the
Treaty of Picquigny
was signed in 1475, and remained behind as a hostage of King
Louis XI of France
until King Edward IV had gone back to
Calais
and thence to England.
[1]
[3]
Also in that year, he was granted the manor of Faulstone near Salisbury (now in
Bishopstone
parish) which had been confiscated from Sir Robert Baynton for his support of
Henry VI
.
[4]
After the death of Edward, and the seizure of the crown by
Richard III
, Cheyne switched sides to support
Henry Tudor
's claim to the throne, joining him in exile in Brittany. Henry knighted him in 1483 after their return to England. He fought in 1485 at the
Battle of Bosworth Field
. When Richard III launched his last charge directly at Henry, Cheyne was part of Henry's personal bodyguard. Richard unhorsed him with a blow from his broken lance.
[1]
He fought again at the
Battle of Stoke
in 1487.
[1]
[5]
In 1486 he was made a
Knight
of the
Garter
and was called to
parliament
as Baron Cheyne.
[1]
In later life he lived at
Enborne
in Berkshire.
[1]
Nicknamed the "Vigorous Knight" by contemporaries, he was a massive man of redoubtable strength. A 21" thighbone, found in his tomb at
Salisbury Cathedral
in the 18th century, puts his estimated height at 6 feet 8 inches.
[1]
He had no surviving issue and the title died with him. His wife predeceased him, and his estates passed to his brother William or that brother's son Francis.
[2]
References
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External links
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