John Holt (15th-century judge)

Last updated

John Holt (died 1418) was an English judge of the common pleas who was a native and landowner of Northamptonshire. His name occurs in the year-books from 1366, the fortieth year of Edward III, onwards.

Contents

Life

In 1377, the last year of the reign of Edward III, he became a King's Serjeant. He was appointed a judge of the common pleas in 1383 (Cal. Rot. Parl. p. 208), and at Christmas 1384 he was made a Knight banneret. [1] On 25 Aug. 1387 he was summoned to attend the king at Nottingham and concurred with his colleagues in pronouncing illegal the proceedings of the last parliament, which had appointed a permanent council. For this expression of opinion he was on 3 February 1388 arrested while sitting in court, and on 2 March was put on his trial. He pleaded that he had been compelled to give that opinion by the threats of the Archbishop of York and of the Earl of Suffolk, but he was found guilty by parliament. Upon the intercession of the prelates, his life was spared, and his sentence commuted to banishment for life to Ireland, an allowance of forty marks being made him for his residence at Drogheda. In 1391 his manors were granted to his son John, but in January 1397 parliament remitted his banishment, and in the following year his sentence was reversed and his land was restored. The deposition of Richard II prevented him from recovering the lands. In the second year of the following reign he presented a petition for their restoration, which was granted, but many of them having been granted away in the interim he was compelled to allow the grantees such compensation as the council should think reasonable, and on these terms his lands were restored to him, and passed to his son Hugh on his death in 1418. [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]

Holt's dealings with the manor of Whilton in Northamptonshire is discussed by Robert Palmer in his book 'The Whilton Dispute, 1264-1380: A Social-Legal Study of Dispute Settlement in Medieval England'.

Notes

  1. ↑ Dugdale, Orig. Jur. pp.46, 103
  2. ↑ Foss, Lives of the Judges
  3. ↑ Cal. Rot. Parl. iii. 233-44, 346-461
  4. ↑ Abbr. Rot. Orig. ii. 240
  5. ↑ Rot. Pat. p.221
  6. ↑ Cal. Inq. p.m. iv. 37, 52

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Beaufort, 3rd Duke of Somerset</span> 15th-century English noble

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March</span> Early-14th-century English nobleman

Roger Mortimer, 3rd Baron Mortimer of Wigmore, 1st Earl of March, was an English nobleman and powerful Marcher Lord who gained many estates in the Welsh Marches and Ireland following his advantageous marriage to the wealthy heiress Joan de Geneville, 2nd Baroness Geneville. Her mother was of the Royal House of Lusignan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William de Shareshull</span>

Sir William de Shareshull KB (1289/1290–1370) was an English lawyer and Chief Justice of the King's Bench from 26 October 1350 to 5 July 1361. He achieved prominence under the administration of Edward III of England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Knyvet</span> English judge

Sir John Knyvet was an English lawyer and administrator. He was Chief Justice of the King's Bench from 1365 to 1372, and Lord Chancellor of England from 1372 to 1377.

Sir David II Strathbogie was Earl of Atholl, Constable of Scotland, and Chief Warden of Northumberland.

Simon of Pattishall was an English judge and civil servant who is considered the first Chief Justice of the Common Pleas.

Loders Priory was a priory in Loders, Dorset, England.

Sir Guy Fairfax, was an English judge.

Samuel Browne, of Arlesey, Bedfordshire, was Member of Parliament during the English Civil War and the First Commonwealth who supported the Parliamentary cause. However he refused to support the trial and execution of Charles I and, along with five of his colleagues, resigned his seat on the bench. At the Restoration of 1660 this was noted and he was made a judge of the Common Pleas.

Richard de Ferings, was the Archbishop of Dublin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Walerand</span>

Robert Walerand, was Justiciar to King Henry III (1216–1272). He was throughout his reign one of the king's familiares. Among the king's household knights he stands in the same position as his friend John Mansel among the royal clerks. Walerand was most notably employed by the king in the ill-fated scheme of raising money from the barons for his second son Edmund to take up the crown of Sicily, offered by the Pope in 1254. His forceful exactions in that connection were one of the causes of the rebellion of Simon de Montfort and the Barons' War, which ended however with royal victory at the Battle of Evesham in 1265. His principal residence was Siston, Gloucestershire.

Roger de Beaufeu or Bello Fago, judge, was probably of the same family as Nicholas de Beaufo of Beaufo's Manor, Norfolk, a contemporary of the judge.

Ellis Beckingham, named Ellis of Beckingham in some sources, was a parish priest for Warmington, Northamptonshire, which at the time was under the authority of Peterborough Abbey, and with which Beckingham had a close relationship throughout his life. He both assisted the Abbey legally and increased his wealth through their grants. He was also a royal judge, and is possibly best known for being the only English judge to keep his position when most of his colleagues were dismissed. As a result, he has been called "with one exception the only honest judge" of the time. The dates of his birth and death are unknown, but he is thought to have died in around 1307.

William Haute (1390–1462) of Bishopsbourne, Kent, was an English politician.

William de Skipwith was a fourteenth-century English judge, who also served as a judge in Ireland. He held the office of Chief Baron of the Exchequer 1362-5. He suffered temporary disgrace when he was removed from office for corruption, but he was restored to favour, became Lord Chief Justice of Ireland 1370-2, and later returned to the English bench. He appears to have been the only High Court judge to have escaped impeachment by the English Parliament of 1388.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William de Notton</span> Member of the Parliament of England

Sir William de Notton, or Norton was an English landowner and judge, who had a highly successful career in both England and Ireland, culminating in his appointment as Lord Chief Justice of Ireland in 1361.

Thomas Yonge or Young was an English politician and judge.

Sir John Marmion, Baron Marmion of Winteringham was an Anglo-Norman baron who represented Lincolnshire in Parliament and fought in the Wars of Scottish Independence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William la Zouche, 1st Baron Zouche</span> 13th and 14th-century English nobleman

William la Zouche, 1st Baron Zouche (1276/86–1352), lord of the manor of Harringworth in Northamptonshire, was an English baron and soldier who fought in the Wars of Scottish Independence. He is referred to in history as "of Harringworth" to distinguish him from his first cousin Alan la Zouche, 1st Baron la Zouche (1267–1314) of Ashby de la Zouch in Leicestershire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William de Windsor</span> English administrator who worked extensively in Ireland

Sir William de Windsor, Baron Windsor was an English administrator who served as King's Lieutenant in Ireland.

References

Attribution

Wikisource-logo.svg This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : "Holt, John (d.1418)". Dictionary of National Biography . London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.


This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.