John Fortescue, of Shepham in the parish of Modbury in Devon, was an English landowner and administrator. He is said in most ancient sources to have been appointed in 1422 by King Henry V as Captain of the captured Castle of Meaux, north-east of Paris, following the Siege of Meaux during the Hundred Years' War, although this appointment is questioned by Ives.
Origins
He was born in the 1370s, the second son of William Fortescue, of Whympston in the parish of Modbury in Devon by his wife Elizabeth Beauchamp, widow of Richard Branscombe and a daughter of Sir John Beauchamp of Ryme in Dorset by his wife Margaret Whalesborough, and a co-heiress of her brother Thomas Beauchamp of Ryme. Elizabeth Beauchamp was of a junior branch of the Beauchamp feudal barons of Hatch Beauchamp in Somerset. Thomas Beauchamp died without issue when his heirs to one moiety each became the descendants of his two sisters, the other of whom was Joane Beauchamp, wife of Sir Robert Challons, from whom the moiety descended to a member of the Carwithan family.
Career
Ives stated that "he was not a soldier, as historians of the family have claimed, but a local administrator and man of affairs, above all in the service of the Courtenay family", the Earls of Devon. However, older sources state that he was at the Battle of Agincourt and that he was appointed after the Siege of Meaux in 1422 as captain of the captured Castle of Meaux, returning to England before 1431 and living at Shepham in South Devon.
Marriage and issue
According to Ives, Fortescue's wife was a certain Clarice, whose family name is lost. However according to traditional sources he married Elinor Norries, daughter and heiress of William Norries of Norreys in the parish of North Huish in Devon, by his wife a daughter of Roger Colaton. By his wife he had the following issue:
Sir Henry Fortescue, of Wood in the parish of Woodleigh, Devon, eldest son and heir, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas in Ireland, who married Jane Bozun, daughter of Edmond Bozun of Wood in the parish of Woodleigh. Wood became the seat of his descendants for several generations.
Sir Richard Fortescue, 3rd son, ancestor of the Fortescues of Punsborne in Hertfordshire, of Falkborne and of Seldon.
Fortescue monument
On the south wall of the south aisle chapel of the parish church of Weare Giffard in Devon, is affixed a mural monument, erected in 1638 by Hugh Fortescue. It is dedicated to three generations of the Fortescue family and mentions the family origins at Whympston and descent from Sir John Fortescue, Captain of Meaux, as follows in Latin:
