John Sutton, 1st Baron Dudley

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Coat of arms of John Sutton, 1st Baron Dudley
Ruin of Dudley Castle

John Sutton, 1st Baron Dudley KG (also John Dudley ; * December 25, 1400 - September 30, 1487 ) was an English soldier and politician.

Origin and family environment

John Sutton, the original family name, belonged to an old English family who had lived at Dudley Castle in the central English county of Staffordshire for generations . Since the Suttons often called themselves not only Sutton, but also Dudley after their property, the nomenclature of the family fluctuated between Sutton, Dudley and de Sutton de Dudley. So led the branch of the family that made it under the Tudors to the Duke of Northumberland and the Earl of Leicester , exclusively the family name Dudley, while the branch of the family dealt with here was called partly Sutton, partly de Sutton de Dudley.

Life and political and military activity

He was the eldest son of John Sutton of Dudley Castle in Staffordshire and Constance Blount and was born on December 25, 1400 and baptized in Barton under Needwood, Derbyshire . He first appeared in public in 1422 at the funeral of King Henry V , at which he carried the royal standard. He then remained in the service of the new King Henry VI. and obviously won his trust so much that he made him Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in 1428 , an office he held until 1430. He then became Constable of Clun Castle on November 3, 1435 .

He later took part in the campaigns in France on the king's side during the Hundred Years War . Since the king valued his advice, he appointed him in 1440 through a Writ of Summons in the House of Lords and thereby made him the hereditary peer of the kingdom as 1st Baron Dudley . In the dispute over the crown between the two branches of the Plantagenet royal family , Lord Dudley was a supporter of the House of Lancaster . In the course of this dispute between the Houses of York and Lancaster, he took part in the Wars of the Roses on the side of Henry VI. part. He and his king were captured by the Yorkists on May 23, 1455 in the first battle of St. Albans . After the liberation and restitution of Henry VI. Lord Dudley was released too and continued to fight on the king's side. He was wounded in the battle at Blore Heath on September 23, 1459. He had already been accepted as a knight in the Order of the Garter before April 23, 1459 . Thereafter, the king appointed him on February 2, 1460 as Steward of the Lordship of Montgomery.

After the fall of Henry VI. He was also favored by the new King Edward IV of the House of York, because he appointed him Constable of the Tower , an office he held from 1470 to 1483 after his predecessor Richard Fiennes, Baron Dacre , had been recalled. Eventually, with this Lord Dacre Chamberlain, he became the wife of Edward IV, Elizabeth Woodville .

As an old supporter of the House of Lancaster, he was also well regarded by Henry Tudor, the heir to the throne of the Lancaster party, later Henry VII , who, despite his old age, invited him to all parliamentary sessions until his death on September 30, 1487.

Baron Dudley was married to Elizabeth, widow of Edward Charlton, 5th Baron Charlton and daughter of Sir John Berkeley. He was followed by his grandson Edward Sutton as 2nd Baron Dudley.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d The Complete Peerage , Volume IV, page 479, Article Barone Dudley, St. Catherine Press, London, 1916
  2. ^ William Arthur Shaw: The Knights of England. Volume 1, Sherratt and Hughes, London 1906, p. 13.
  3. ↑ Leigh Rayment's Peerage, Article Dudley

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predecessor Office successor
New title created Baron Dudley
1440-1487 		Edward Sutton
personal data
SURNAME Sutton, John, 1st Baron Dudley
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Dudley, John, 1st Baron Dudley
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English soldier and politician
DATE OF BIRTH December 25, 1400
DATE OF DEATH September 30, 1487