John Charlton, 1st Baron Charlton

Window of St Mary's Church in Shrewsbury, believed to represent John Charlton

John Charlton, 1st Baron Charlton (also John Cherleton, 1st Baron Cherleton ; * 1268 , † 1353 ) was an Anglo-Welsh Marcher Lord and military, and at times justiciar of Ireland .

Origin and advancement in the service of Edward II.

John Charlton came from a family of the lower gentry from Shropshire , his father was called Robert and owned property in Cherelton in what is now Wrockwardine near Wellington . His brother Alan became the progenitor of the Cherleton family of Apley Castle , Shropshire, and another brother, Thomas , became Bishop of Hereford. John served as the commandant of 59 Staffordshire archers during the First Scottish War of Independence in 1301 . Before June 1305 he had entered the service of the heir to the throne Edward , the Prince of Wales, and when he became king in 1307 he became a member of the royal household. In September 1307 he served as a guard, shortly afterwards he was knighted. In January 1308 he accompanied the king to his wedding in France while serving in Ireland in 1309. In March 1309 he received the Pontesbury estate in Shropshire. When Gruffudd ab Owain , the Welsh Lord of Powys, died on June 25, 1309 , Charlton was allowed to marry his sister and possible heir Hawise de la Pole before August 26 . So he came into the possession of Welshpool Castle and the possessions of Gruffudd from Owain. In 1310 Charlton raised 400 men to take part in the unsuccessful campaign of the king in Scotland. In 1311 at the latest he became King's Chamberlain . Charlton was considered aggressive and greedy, but he was a loyal supporter of the king, which is why the Lords Ordainers repeatedly demanded his dismissal. The king ignored this request and kept him in office. In 1313 Charlton accompanied the king and queen to France.

Violent inheritance dispute over Powys

In 1311 he began a bitter inheritance dispute when he denied Gruffudd de la Pole , an uncle of his wife, the right to the small lords of Dinas and Mechain Iscoed . Gruffudd de la Pole then claimed the rule of Powys himself, since under Welsh law, unlike under English law, his niece Hawise was not entitled to inheritance as a woman, so that he was the next male heir. Gruffudd finally wanted to resolve the dispute by force and besieged Charlton and Hawise in Welshpool Castle with a large number of Welshmen. It was not until September 1312 that Roger Mortimer of Wigmore was able to relieve the castle and lift the siege. Thanks to the favor of the king, who confirmed Charlton's claims, he remained in the possession of Powys, whereupon Gruffudd de la Pole entered the service of Thomas of Lancaster , leader of the aristocratic opposition to the king. The king attempted to resolve the dispute by pardoning both Charlton and Gruffudd in November 1313, but the conflict continued to smolder. To secure its position, Charlton Welshpool Castle further expanded, including through the still-preserved twin-tower gatehouse.

The gate towers of Powis Castle, originally built by Cherleton, which was originally called Welshpool Castle

Served as military and expanded position in Wales

On July 26, 1313, Charlton was called to Parliament by the Writ of Summons . This made him Baron Charlton . On January 25, 1314, the king turned over the administration of Builth Castle to him , and in the summer he took part with 2,263 Welsh foot soldiers in the king's campaign to Scotland, which ended in the catastrophic defeat of Bannockburn . In May 1315, citizens of Builth complained about Cherleton who was exploiting them, but the king still had the favor of the king and the complaint was unsuccessful. In February 1316, Charlton helped put down the Llywelyn Bren rebellion in Glamorgan , and in July 1316 he helped put down a revolt by the citizens of Bristol against the Royal Constable Baron Badlesmere . In the meantime, Gruffudd de la Pole renewed his claim to Powy's rule, whereupon the king summoned the two conflicting parties to a hearing. However, Gruffudd did not appear on that date, so that Charlton could explain his point of view and accused Gruffudd of again trying to enforce his claims by force. Gruffudd was pardoned by the king in October, but Charlton was given administration of Edgmond , Ford and Newport in Shropshire in 1317 , thus expanding his position in the Welsh Marches . Gruffudd's claim to Dinas was confirmed by the king in October 1318, but Charlton remained in the possession of Powys and granted other members of his family land.

Change to the nobility opposition to the king

In 1318 Charlton was replaced as King's Chamberlain by Hugh le Despenser . This had risen to the leading favorite of the king and was trying to establish his own territory in South Wales. This brought him further into conflict with Charlton, whose previous loyalty to the king was now wavering. In 1321 Charlton struggled with the King over the patronage of the Church of Welshpool , and after the Despenser War , a revolt of the Marcher Lords against Hugh le Despenser, Charlton attended a meeting of oppositional nobles in Doncaster on November 29, 1321 , to the Thomas of Lancaster had loaded. Presumably he subsequently supported the Lancaster rebellion, but was surprised and captured by supporters of the king, presumably at Welshpool Castle, in early 1322 before he could join the rebel forces. However, unlike many other rebels, he was not expropriated and executed, but served to repel Scottish raids at the end of March, shortly after the royal troops' decisive victory in the battle of Boroughbridge on the border with Scotland. On September 11, 1322 he was officially pardoned by the king. It is unclear whether the king forgave him out of old friendship or considered him indispensable for maintaining rule in Central Wales. Charlton's opponent Hugh le Despenser, however, gained even greater influence over the king, so that Charlton secretly made contact with the king's most important remaining opponent, his former ally Roger Mortimer of Wigmore, who had fled to France. His daughter Maud was also married to Charlton's son John . When Mortimer landed in England in September 1326 together with Queen Isabelle, who had also gone into exile, and an army and the rule of Edward II and the Despensers collapsed, Charlton supported the overthrow. He was able to capture Edmund FitzAlan, 9th Earl of Arundel , a partisan of the king and also patron of Gruffudd de la Pole, who was subsequently executed.

Continuation of the inheritance dispute and later life

Charlton took advantage of the turmoil of the change of throne to drive his opponent Gruffudd de la Pole from his possessions. The attempts of the new government under Roger Mortimer to restore order in Powys failed, and in November 1330 Charlton and Gruffudd are said to have again been on the verge of armed conflict. Before May 1332 Gruffudd had died, but his heir, Thomas ap Rhodri, the brother of Gruffudd's wife and father of Owain Lawgoch , took over his claims and continued the conflict. Even Richard Fitzalan , the son of the executed Earl of Arundel, plotted revenge against Charlton. Charlton was also contentious in dealing with the Church. Even before 1318 the Cistercian monks of Cwmhir Abbey complained that they were being oppressed by Charlton, and he also appeared haughty towards the monks of Strata Marcella Abbey , whom he was supposed to support in reforming the monastery.

Perhaps to ease the situation in Wales, Charlton was appointed Justiciar of Ireland on June 29, 1337 . He crossed to Ireland with his family and 200 Welsh soldiers, and his brother Thomas was appointed Chancellor of Ireland. In Ireland, however, Charlton achieved little. He got into a dispute with his brother about the use of the 1000 marks made available to him , and in June 1338 he returned to England. There there was another dispute with Thomas ap Rhodri over the rule of Dina in 1339. Old and sick, however, he withdrew to his possessions for the next few years. In 1343 he arranged the marriage of his grandson John with a daughter of Ralph Stafford, 1st Earl Stafford . He did not die of old age until 1353 and was buried next to his wife in Shrewsbury Franciscan Church. A 14th-century stained glass window originally in the Franciscan Church and now in St Mary the Virgin Church in Shrewsbury depicts a knight with the Powys coat of arms and is believed to represent Charlton.

Descendants and inheritance

He had several children with his wife, including:

• John Cherleton, 2nd Baron Cherleton
• Lewis Cherleton , Bishop of Hereford

His heir became his eldest son, John.

Web links

• JFA Mason: Charlton, John, first Lord Charlton of Powys (d.1353). In: Henry Colin Gray Matthew, Brian Harrison (Eds.): Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , from the earliest times to the year 2000 (ODNB). Oxford University Press, Oxford 2004, ISBN 0-19-861411-X , ( oxforddnb.com license required ), as of 2004
• Ivor John Sanders: CHERLETON, JOHN (1268-1353) , Dictionary of Welsh Biography, National Library of Wales
• John Cherleton, 1st Lord Cherleton on thepeerage.com , accessed September 15, 2016.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ National Trust: Medieval Origins of Powis Castle. Retrieved February 21, 2016 . 

predecessor	Office	successor
New title created	Baron Cherleton 1313-1353	John Cherleton