John Shaa

Last updated

Sir John Shaa
Diedc. 1503
BuriedChurch of St Thomas of Acres, London
Spouse(s)Margaret Ilam
IssueEdmund Shaa
Reynold Shaa
Thomas Shaa
Audrey Shaa
Juliana Shaa
FatherJohn Shaa
Motherunknown

Sir John Shaa or Shaw (died c. 1503) was a London goldsmith. He served as engraver and later joint Master of the Mint, and as Sheriff and Lord Mayor of London. While Lord Mayor he entertained ambassadors from Scotland, and was among those who welcomed Catherine of Aragon to England. He is mentioned in a poem by William Dunbar.

Contents

Family

John Shaa was the son of John Shaa of Rochford, Essex, and the nephew and eventual heir of Sir Edmund Shaa, Lord Mayor of London in 1482, whose son, Hugh Shaa, had died without male issue. [1] [2] Shaa was also the nephew of Ralph Shaa (d. 1484), noted for having preached a sermon at Paul's Cross impugning the legitimacy of Edward IV's children, including his heir, Edward V. [1]

Shaa had a sister, Elizabeth (d. 21 August 1503), who married William Poyntz (d. 1504), esquire, of North Ockendon, Essex, by whom she had four sons and two daughters. [3] [4] [5] [6]

Career

James IV of Scotland, whose ambassadors Sir John Shaa entertained as Lord Mayor James IV of Scotland.jpg
James IV of Scotland, whose ambassadors Sir John Shaa entertained as Lord Mayor
Catherine of Aragon, whom Sir John Shaa, as Lord Mayor, welcomed to London Catalina de Aragon, por un artista anonimo.jpg
Catherine of Aragon, whom Sir John Shaa, as Lord Mayor, welcomed to London

Shaa was a London goldsmith. From 1462 until 1483, his uncle, Edmund, also a goldsmith, had been engraver to the Royal Mint. John Shaa succeeded him in the post, and served for several years as engraver until, on 20 November 1492, he and his fellow goldsmith, Sir Bartholomew Rede, were appointed joint Masters of the Mint. [7]

Shaa's sales of silver and gold plate to Henry VII are recorded in the privy purse expenses, and on two occasions he was compensated for furnishing the gold heraldic knots and roses for the Order of the Garter. His financial dealings with Henry VII were considerable. On 13 January 1499, he was reimbursed £667 2s 11d for supplying New Year's gifts and for the 'making of divers jewels and setting and polishing of stones', as well as for funds supplied to 'Master Seymour' for the 'works at Windsor'. [8]

Shaa was elected Member of Parliament for City of London in 1495 and Sheriff of London in 1496-7, [9] [10] and with his fellow Sheriff, Richard Haddon, was among those dubbed knight in June 1497 by Henry VII at the foot of London Bridge after the Battle of Blackheath. [11]

In 1501 Shaa was elected Lord Mayor. During his term of office, ambassadors were sent from Scotland to arrange the marriage of Henry VII's elder daughter, Margaret Tudor, with James IV, King of Scotland. At a banquet hosted by Shaa for the ambassadors in Christmas week in December 1501, the poet William Dunbar declaimed verses in honour of the City of London which included these lines in praise of Shaa: [12]

London, thou art of Townes A per se . . .
Thy famous Maire, by pryncely governaunce,
With swerd of justice, thee rulith prudently.
No Lord of Parys, Venyce, or Floraunce
In dignytie or honoure goeth to hym nye.
He is exempler, loode-ster, and guye;
Principall patrone and roose orygynalle,
Above all Maires as maister moost worthy:
London, thou art the flour of Cities all.

During Shaa's term as Lord Mayor, Catherine of Aragon arrived in London as the bride of Henry VII's eldest son, Arthur, Prince of Wales. Shaa was part of the deputation of London civic authorities and members of the livery companies who were instructed to meet her ship 'in their several barges, after their manner accustomed, at Deptford', and to 'hail and salute her in the best manner they can'. [13]

While he was Lord Mayor, Shaa instituted a 'court of requests' in the City of London to administer justice more equitably. It proved unpopular, as it was said to have favoured the poor more than 'justice and good law required'. [14] [15]

During his term as Lord Mayor, Shaa caused a kitchen to be added to the London Guildhall. He was said to have been 'the first that kept his feast there'. [16] [10] He also instituted another tradition, the procession from the Guildhall to the state barge on which the Lord Mayor travelled to Westminster to be sworn. [10]

Shaa was appointed for a second term as MP in 1503, [9] though as Parliament did not assemble until 25 January 1504 he may have died before attending. He made his will on 26 December 1503, which was proved 14 May 1504, and was buried in the Mercers' chapel in the church of St Thomas of Acres.

Sir John Shaa's arms were Argent, a chevron between three lozenges ermine. [17]

Marriage and issue

In 1479, Shaa married Margaret Ilam, the daughter of a London mercer, Thomas Ilam (d. 1482), and Jane Verdon, [18] by whom he had three sons and several daughters, including: [19]

After the death of Sir John Shaa around 1503, his widow, Margaret (née Ilam), married, as his second wife, Sir John Raynsford of Colchester and Bradfield Hall, Essex, by whom she had a daughter, Julian Raynsford, who married Sir William Waldegrave of Smallbridge, Suffolk. [30]

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 Tucker 2004.
  2. ↑ Middleton 1906, p. 54.
  3. ↑ Metcalfe 1878, p. 91.
  4. ↑ Burke 1836, p. 538.
  5. ↑ Richardson IV 2011, p. 385.
  6. ↑ According to Richardson, she was the sister of Sir Edmund Shaa.
  7. ↑ Craig 1953, pp. 89, 98.
  8. ↑ Laing 1834, p. 300.
  9. 1 2 "Chronological list of aldermen: 1302-1400". British History Online. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
  10. 1 2 3 Beaven, Alfred B., The Aldermen of the City of London, Vol. II (London: Eden Fisher & Co. Ltd., 1913 Archived 12 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 23 June 2013.
  11. ↑ Shaw 1906, p. 30.
  12. ↑ Laing 1834, pp. 272–7.
  13. ↑ State Papers 1778 , pp. 5–6.
  14. ↑ Cavill 2009.
  15. ↑ Justice in the City Retrieved 23 June 2013.
  16. ↑ Wheatley 2011, p. 170.
  17. 1 2 3 Metcalfe 1878, p. 486.
  18. ↑ "Jane Verdon", A Who’s Who of Tudor Women: U-V, compiled by Kathy Lynn Emerson to update and correct Wives and Daughters: The Women of Sixteenth-Century England (1984). Retrieved 23 June 2013. Archived 11 June 2013 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 4 January 2019. See also: The Ancestry of Oliver Mainwaring: Shaa. Retrieved 4 January 2019.
  19. ↑ Wedgwood 1936, p. 758.
  20. ↑ Richardson II 2011, p. 463.
  21. 1 2 3 Howard & Armytage 1869, p. 77.
  22. ↑ Metcalfe 1879, p. 543.
  23. ↑ Howard 1874, pp. 326–327.
  24. ↑ French 1865, p. 60.
  25. ↑ Collinson 2004.
  26. ↑ Harper, George (1503–58), of Sutton Valence, Kent and London, History of Parliament Retrieved 14 December 2013.
  27. ↑ Carleton, George (1529–1590), of Overstone, Northamptonshire, Wisbech and Coldham, Isle of Ely, History of Parliament. Retrieved 10 December 2013.
  28. ↑ David Loades, Mary Tudor: A Life (Oxford, 1992), p. 355.
  29. ↑ John Maclean, Historical and genealogical memoir of the family of Poyntz (Exeter, 1886), pp. 32, 36.
  30. ↑ Richardson I 2011, p. 565.

Related Research Articles

Sir James Tyrrell was an English knight, a trusted servant of king Richard III of England. He is known for allegedly confessing to the murders of the Princes in the Tower under Richard's orders. William Shakespeare portrays Tyrrell as the man who organises the princes' murder in his 1593 play Richard III.

Sir Anthony Cooke, KB was an English humanist scholar. He was a companion and tutor to Edward VI.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Tyrrell (died 1437)</span> English politician (c.1382–1437)

Sir John Tyrrell, of Heron in the Essex parish of East Horndon, was an English landowner, lawyer, administrator, and politician who was chosen three times as Speaker of the House of Commons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edmund Shaa</span>

Sir Edmund Shaa or Shaw was a London goldsmith, Sheriff of London in 1475 and Lord Mayor of London in 1482. Shaa lent money to Edward IV and, as mayor, was extensively involved in the coronation of Edward IV's brother Richard III. He was later knighted and made a member of the Privy Council.

Richard Rich was a London mercer, and Sheriff of that city in 1441.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Mundy (mayor)</span>

Sir John Mundy was a member of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths and was Lord Mayor of London in 1522.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Kingston</span> English courtier, soldier and administrator

Sir William Kingston, KG was an English courtier, soldier and administrator. He was the Constable of the Tower of London during much of the reign of Henry VIII. Among the notable prisoners he was responsible for was Queen Anne Boleyn, as well as the men accused of adultery with her. He was MP for Gloucestershire in 1529 and 1539.

Mary Scrope was an English courtier. She was the granddaughter of Henry Scrope, 4th Baron Scrope of Bolton, and the sister of Elizabeth Scrope, wife of John de Vere, 13th Earl of Oxford, and Margaret Scrope, wife of Edmund de la Pole, 3rd Duke of Suffolk. She is said to have been in the service at court of King Henry VIII's first four wives. As the wife of Sir William Kingston, Constable of the Tower of London, she was in attendance on Anne Boleyn during the Queen's brief imprisonment in the Tower in May 1536, and both she and her husband were among those who walked with the Queen to the scaffold. By her first husband, Edward Jerningham, she was the mother of Sir Henry Jerningham, whose support helped to place Queen Mary I on the throne of England in 1553, and who became one of Queen Mary's most favoured courtiers.

William Ayloffe, was an English justice of the Queen's Bench.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edmund Walsingham</span> Lieutenant of Tower of London

Sir Edmund Walsingham of Scadbury Hall, Chislehurst in Kent, was a soldier, Member of Parliament, and Lieutenant of the Tower of London during the reign of King Henry VIII.

Sir George Harper, JP was an English politician. He was Member of Parliament for Kent.

William Lewin or Lewyn of London and Otterden, Kent, was a college fellow, tutor, ecclesiastical lawyer, and judge. He also served three times as a member of parliament for Rochester.

Henry Barley or Barlee, of Albury, Hertfordshire, was a Member of Parliament during the Tudor period.

Sir Robert Broughton was a landowner, soldier, and Member of Parliament for Suffolk. He was knighted at the Battle of Stoke, where he fought on the Lancastrian side under John de Vere, 13th Earl of Oxford. He was a close associate of the Earl, and is said to have married the Earl's illegitimate daughter, Katherine.

Sir William Browne served as Master of the Worshipful Company of Mercers from 1507 to 1514, and as alderman, auditor, Sheriff and Lord Mayor of London. He died in office on 3 June 1514 while serving his term as Lord Mayor.

Sir Ralph Hastings, third son of Sir Leonard Hastings, was a supporter of the House of York during the Wars of the Roses. He fought at the Battle of Barnet, and was knighted at the Battle of Tewkesbury. He held numerous offices during the reign of Edward IV, including Keeper of the Lions and Leopards in the Tower of London, and Lieutenant of Guisnes and Captain of Calais.

George Carleton was a lawyer, landowner and Member of Parliament with strong Puritan sympathies. It has been suggested that he was the secret author of the Marprelate tracts, and both he and his third wife were prosecuted for their involvement in the Marprelate controversy. Ordered to appear daily before the Privy Council in April 1589, he died in early 1590 before a decision in the proceedings against him had been reached.

Anthony Carleton was a landowner and Member of Parliament, and the father of Dudley Carleton, 1st Viscount Dorchester.

Nicholas Gainsford, also written Gaynesford or Gaynesforde, of Carshalton, Surrey, of an armigerous gentry family established at Crowhurst, was a Justice of the Peace, several times Member of Parliament and High Sheriff of Surrey and Sussex, Constable and Keeper of Odiham Castle and Park, Hampshire, who served in the royal households from around 1461 until his death in 1498. Rising to high office during the reign of Henry VI, he was an Usher to the Chamber of Edward IV and, by 1476, to his queen Elizabeth Woodville. Closely within the sphere of Woodville patronage, he was a favourer of Edward V, and was a leader in the Kentish rising of 1483 against Richard III. He was attainted in 1483, but was soon afterwards pardoned, and fully regained his position and estate as Esquire to Henry VII and Elizabeth of York after the Battle of Bosworth Field. He established the Carshalton branch of the Gainsford family.

Anne Poyntz was an English courtier who owned a significant collection of jewellery.

References

Civic offices
Preceded by Lord Mayor of London
1501-1502		Succeeded by
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.