Sir James Blount (died 1493) (sometimes spelt Blunt) was commander of the English fortress of Hammes, near Calais. [1]
Blount was the son of Walter Blount, 1st Baron Mountjoy, and uncle of William Blount, 4th Baron Mountjoy. [2] In 1473, he sat in Parliament as the MP for Derbyshire. [3]
He was appointed governor of Hammes jointly with his elder brother John Blount, 3rd Baron Mountjoy in 1476. [4] When, in 1484, the Earl of Oxford and William, 2nd Viscount Beaumont, were imprisoned at Hammes, Blount was apparently persuaded to switch to the Lancastrian side. Blount, Oxford, and Beaumont fled to join Henry Tudor, (the future Henry VII of England who was then living in exile in France).Blount remained with the Lancastrian forces and landed with Henry Tudor's forces in 1485 at Milford Haven, where he was knighted. [3]
Blount appears as a minor character in William Shakespeare's play Richard III.
The Battle of Bosworth or Bosworth Field was the last significant battle of the Wars of the Roses, the civil war between the houses of Lancaster and York that extended across England in the latter half of the 15th century. Fought on 22 August 1485, the battle was won by an alliance of Lancastrians and disaffected Yorkists. Their leader Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, became the first English monarch of the Tudor dynasty by his victory and subsequent marriage to a Yorkist princess. His opponent Richard III, the last king of the House of York, was killed during the battle, the last English monarch to die in combat. Historians consider Bosworth Field to mark the end of the Plantagenet dynasty, making it one of the defining moments of English history.
The House of York was a cadet branch of the English royal House of Plantagenet. Three of its members became kings of England in the late 15th century. The House of York descended in the male line from Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, the fourth surviving son of Edward III. In time, it also represented Edward III's senior line, when an heir of York married the heiress-descendant of Lionel, Duke of Clarence, Edward III's second surviving son. It is based on these descents that they claimed the English crown. Compared with its rival, the House of Lancaster, it had a superior claim to the throne of England according to cognatic primogeniture, but an inferior claim according to agnatic primogeniture. The reign of this dynasty ended with the death of Richard III of England at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485. It became extinct in the male line with the death of Edward Plantagenet, 17th Earl of Warwick, in 1499.
Edmund Beaufort, styled 4th Duke of Somerset, 6th Earl of Somerset, 3rd Marquess of Dorset, 3rd Earl of Dorset, was an English nobleman, and a military commander during the Wars of the Roses, in which he supported the Lancastrian king Henry VI.
Thomas Grey, 1st Marquess of Dorset, 1st Earl of Huntingdon, 7th Baron Ferrers of Groby, was an English nobleman, courtier and the eldest son of Elizabeth Woodville and her first husband Sir John Grey of Groby. Her second marriage to King Edward IV made her Queen of England, thus elevating Grey's status at court and in the realm as the stepson of the King. Through his mother's endeavours, he made two materially advantageous marriages to wealthy heiresses, the King's niece Anne Holland and the King’s cousin, Cecily Bonville, 7th Baroness Harington. By the latter, he had 14 children.
Henry Beaufort, 3rd Duke of Somerset was an important Lancastrian military commander during the English Wars of the Roses. He is sometimes numbered the 2nd Duke of Somerset, because the title was re-created for his father after his uncle died. He also held the subsidiary titles of 5th Earl of Somerset, 2nd Marquess of Dorset and 2nd Earl of Dorset.
John de Vere, 13th Earl of Oxford, the second son of John de Vere, 12th Earl of Oxford, and Elizabeth Howard, a first cousin of John Howard, 1st Duke of Norfolk, was one of the principal Lancastrian commanders during the English Wars of the Roses.
Earl of Devon is a title that has been created several times in the Peerage of England. It was possessed first by the Redvers family, and later by the Courtenay family. It is not to be confused with the title of Earl of Devonshire, which is held by the Duke of Devonshire, although the letters patent for the creation of the latter peerages used the same Latin words, Comes Devon(iae). It was a re-invention, if not an actual continuation, of the pre-Conquest office of Ealdorman of Devon.
William Blount, 4th Baron Mountjoy, KG, of Barton Blount, Derbyshire, was an extremely influential English courtier, a respected humanistic scholar and patron of learning. He was one of the most influential and perhaps the wealthiest English noble courtier of his time. Mountjoy was known internationally as a humanist writer and scholar and patron of the arts.
Edmund Grey, 1st Earl of Kent, KB, English administrator, nobleman and magnate, was the son of Sir John Grey, KG and Constance Holland. His main residence was at Wrest near Silsoe, Bedfordshire.
The titles of Baron Mountjoy and Viscount Mountjoy have been created several times for members of various families, including the Blounts and their descendants and the Stewarts of Ramelton and their descendants.
Sir William StanleyKG was an English soldier and the younger brother of Thomas Stanley, 1st Earl of Derby. Stanley fought with his troops in several battles of the Wars of the Roses.
William Beaumont, 2nd Viscount Beaumont was an English nobleman, soldier and landowner who was a leading supporter of the Lancastrian faction during the Wars of the Roses.
Peter Courtenay was Bishop of Exeter (1478–87) and Bishop of Winchester (1487-92), and also had a successful political career during the tumultuous years of the Wars of the Roses.
Thomas Butler, 7th Earl of Ormond PC was the youngest son of James Butler, 4th Earl of Ormond. He was attainted, but restored by Henry VII's first Parliament in November 1485, and the statutes made at Westminster, by Edward IV, which declared him and his brothers traitors, were abrogated.
Sir Thomas Lovell, KG was an English soldier and administrator, Speaker of the House of Commons, Secretary to the Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer.
John Blount, 3rd Baron Mountjoy was an English peer and soldier.
Walter Blount, 1st Baron Mountjoy, KG was an English politician.
The Wars of the Roses, known at the time and in following centuries as the Civil Wars, were a series of civil wars fought over control of the English throne from 1455 to 1487. The wars were fought between supporters of the House of Lancaster and House of York, two rival cadet branches of the royal House of Plantagenet. The conflict resulted in the end of Lancaster's male line in 1471, leaving the Tudor family to inherit their claim to the throne through the female line. Conflict was largely brought to an end upon the union of the two houses through marriage, creating the Tudor dynasty that would subsequently rule England.
Sir Walter Blount, was a soldier and supporter of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster. He later supported John's son and heir Henry Bolingbroke in his bid to become King Henry IV and in later battles against his enemies. At the Battle of Shrewsbury he served as the royal standard-bearer, was mistaken for the king and killed in combat.
Buckingham's rebellion was a failed but significant uprising, or collection of uprisings, of October 1483 in England and parts of Wales against Richard III of England.