Biography of John Cheney 1st Baron Cheyne 1442-1499

Paternal Family Tree: Cheney

1465 Coronation of Elizabeth Woodville

1483 Funeral of Edward IV

1485 Henry Tudor lands at Mill Bay

1485 Battle of Bosworth

1487 Battle of Stoke Field

Around 1442 John Cheney 1st Baron Cheyne was born to John Cheney (age 27) at Eastchurch, Kent. When his tomb was opened in the 18th Century his thighbone was measured at 21 inches making his height an estimated six feet eight inches.

In 1460 John Cheney 1st Baron Cheyne (age 18) was appointed Esquire to the Body to Elizabeth Woodville Queen Consort England (age 23).

Coronation of Elizabeth Woodville

On 26 May 1465 Elizabeth Woodville Queen Consort England (age 28) was crowned Queen Consort England by Cardinal Thomas Bourchier (age 47) at Westminster Abbey [Map].

King Edward IV of England (age 23) attended.

John Cheney 1st Baron Cheyne (age 23), Anthony Woodville 2nd Earl Rivers (age 25), Richard Woodville 3rd Earl Rivers (age 12) and William Calthorpe (age 55) were created Knight of the Bath.

Elizabeth Tilney Countess of Surrey (age 21) carried her train.

Judge Richard Choke (age 45) was created Knight of the Bath.

In 1467 [his father] John Cheney (age 52) died at Eastchurch, Kent.

In 1479 John Cheney 1st Baron Cheyne (age 37) was appointed Master of the Horse.

Funeral of Edward IV

On 17 Apr 1483 the coffin of Edward IV (deceased) was carried to Westminster Abbey [Map] by Edward Stanley 1st Baron Monteagle (age 21), John Savage (age 39), Thomas Wortley (age 50), Thomas Molyneux (age 38), probably John Welles 1st Viscount Welles (age 33) who had married Edward's daughter Cecily), John Cheney 1st Baron Cheyne (age 41), Walter Hungerford (age 19), Guy Wolston (age 50), John Sapcote (age 35), Thomas Tyrrell (age 30), John Risley, Thomas Dacre 2nd Baron Dacre Gilsland (age 15), John Norreys, Louis de Bretelles and John Comyn 4th Lord Baddenoch.

Those in the procession included:

Thomas St Leger (age 43), widow of Edward's sister Anne.

William Parr.

John Astley.

William Stonor (age 33).

Henry Ferrers (age 40).

James Radclyffe (age 43).

George Browne (age 43).

Gilbert Debenham (age 51).

John Howard 1st Duke of Norfolk (age 58) walked in front of the coffin with Edward's personal arms.

John Marlow Abbot Bermondsey followed by:

Bishop Thomas Kempe (age 93).

Bishop John Hales (age 83) (Bishop of Chester?).

Bishop Robert Stillington (age 63).

Bishop Edward Story.

Bishop Richard Bell.

Bishop James Goldwell.

Bishop William Dudley (age 58).

Bishop John Russell.

Cardinal John Morton (age 63) (as Bishop of Ely).

Bishop Edmund Tuchet (age 40) (as Bishop of Rochester).

Bishop Peter Courtenay, and.

Bishop Lionel Woodville (age 36).

Archbishop Thomas Rotherham (age 59) brought up the rear.

Cardinal Thomas Bourchier (age 65), then Archbishop of Canterbury, took no part due to infirmity.

John de la Pole 1st Earl Lincoln (age 21); the King's nephew,.

William Hastings 1st Baron Hastings (age 52).

Thomas Grey 1st Marquess Dorset (age 28).

William Herbert 2nd Earl Pembroke 1st Earl Huntingdon (age 32) (some sources say Earl of Huntingindon?).

William Berkeley 1st Marquess Berkeley (age 57).

Thomas Stanley 1st Earl of Derby (age 48).

Richard Fiennes 7th Baron Dacre Gilsland (age 68).

John Dudley 1st Baron Dudley (age 82).

George Neville 4th and 2nd Baron Bergavenny (age 43).

John Tuchet 6th Baron Audley, 3rd Baron Tuchet (age 57).

Walter Devereux Baron Ferrers of Chartley (age 51).

Edward Grey 1st Viscount Lisle (age 51).

Henry Lovell 9th Baron Marshal 8th Baron Morley (age 7).

Richard Woodville 3rd Earl Rivers (age 30).

John Brooke 7th Baron Cobham (age 35).

Richard Hastings Baron Willoughby (age 50).

John Bourchier 6th Baron Ferrers of Groby (age 45).

Thomas Bourchier.

Thomas Bourchier.

Henry Tudor lands at Mill Bay

On 07 Aug 1485 King Henry VII of England and Ireland (age 28) landed at Mill Bay Milford Haven [Map] with John Blount 3rd Baron Mountjoy (age 35), John Cheney 1st Baron Cheyne (age 43), Richard Guildford (age 35), John Welles 1st Viscount Welles (age 35), Philibert Chandee 1st Earl Bath and Edward Courtenay 1st Earl Devon (age 26) all of whom were knighted.

Battle of Bosworth

On 22 Aug 1485 King Richard III of England (age 32) was killed during the Battle of Bosworth. His second cousin once removed Henry Tudor  (age 28) succeeded VII King England. Earl Richmond forfeit.

Those supporting Henry Tudor included:

John Blount 3rd Baron Mountjoy (age 35).

John Cheney 1st Baron Cheyne (age 43).

Richard Guildford (age 35).

Walter Hungerford (age 21).

Thomas Stanley 1st Earl of Derby (age 50).

John Wingfield.

Edward Woodville Lord Scales (age 29).

Edward Courtenay 1st Earl Devon (age 26).

Rhys ap Thomas Deheubarth (age 36).

Jasper Tudor 1st Duke Bedford (age 53).

William Beaumont 2nd Viscount Beaumont (age 47).

Giles Daubeney 1st Baron Daubeney (age 34).

William Stanley (age 50).

Roger Kynaston of Myddle and Hordley (age 52).

Henry Marney 1st Baron Marney (age 38).

William Brandon (age 29) was killed.

James Harrington (age 55) was killed.

John Howard 1st Duke of Norfolk (age 60) was killed and attainted. He was buried firstly at Thetford Priory, Norfolk [Map] and therafter at Church of St Michael the Archangel, Framlingham [Map]. Duke Norfolk, Baron Mowbray, Baron Segrave forfeit.

John Sacheverell (age 85) was killed.

Philibert Chandee 1st Earl Bath

William Norreys (age 44), Gilbert Talbot (age 33), John de Vere 13th Earl of Oxford (age 42) and John Savage (age 41) commanded,.

Robert Poyntz (age 35) was knighted.

Those who fought for Richard III included:

John Bourchier 6th Baron Ferrers of Groby (age 47).

John Conyers (age 74).

Thomas Dacre 2nd Baron Dacre Gilsland (age 17).

William Berkeley 1st Marquess Berkeley (age 59).

Richard Fitzhugh 6th Baron Fitzhugh (age 28).

John Scrope 5th Baron Scrope of Bolton (age 48).

Thomas Scrope 6th Baron Scrope Masham (age 26).

Henry Grey 4th or 7th Baron Grey of Codnor (age 50).

Edmund Grey 1st Earl Kent (age 68).

Ralph Neville 3rd Earl of Westmoreland (age 29).

John de la Pole 1st Earl Lincoln (age 23).

Humphrey Stafford (age 59).

George Talbot 4th Earl of Shrewsbury (age 17).

Thomas Howard 2nd Duke of Norfolk (age 42) was wounded, captured and imprisoned in the Tower of London [Map] for three years. He was attainted; Earl Surrey forfeit.

Francis Lovell 1st Viscount Lovell (age 29) fought and escaped.

John Zouche 7th Baron Zouche Harringworth (age 26) was captured.

John Babington (age 62), William Alington (age 65), Robert Mortimer (age 43), Robert Brackenbury, Richard Ratclyffe (age 55) and Richard Bagot (age 73) were killed

Walter Devereux Baron Ferrers of Chartley (age 53) was killed.

William Catesby (age 35) was executed at Leicester, Leicestershire [Map] after the battle.

George Stanley 9th Baron Strange Knockin 5th Baron Mohun Dunster (age 25) held as a hostage by Richard III before the Battle of Bosworth.

Henry Percy 4th Earl of Northumberland (age 36) betrayed King Richard III of England (age 32) by not committing his forces at the Battle of Bosworth.

John Iwardby (age 35) was killed.

In 1486 John Cheney 1st Baron Cheyne (age 44) was created 1st Baron Cheyne.

In 1486 John Cheney 1st Baron Cheyne (age 44) was appointed 229th Knight of the Garter by King Henry VII of England and Ireland (age 28).

Battle of Stoke Field

On 16 Jun 1487 a Lancastrian army defeated a Yorkist army at the Battle of Stoke Field; considered by many to be the last battle of the Wars of the Roses.

The Lancastrian army of Henry Tudor comprised:

John de Vere 13th Earl of Oxford (age 44).

Jasper Tudor 1st Duke Bedford (age 55).

George Talbot 4th Earl of Shrewsbury (age 19).

Henry Willoughby (age 36).

John Cheney 1st Baron Cheyne (age 45).

John Mordaunt (age 31).

Richard Neville 2nd Baron Latimer of Snape (age 19).

William Norreys (age 46).

Edward Norreys (age 23) wounded.

John Paston (age 43).

George Stanley 9th Baron Strange Knockin 5th Baron Mohun Dunster (age 27).

Edward Woodville Lord Scales (age 31).

Thomas Lovell, knighted.

Henry Marney 1st Baron Marney (age 40).

Edward Belknapp of Blackfriars in London

William Lyttelton (age 37) who was knighted after the battle.

The Yorksists:

John de la Pole 1st Earl Lincoln (age 25) was killed. Earl Lincoln extinct.

Thomas Fitzgerald (age 29) and Martin Schwartz were killed.

Lambert Simnel (age 10) fought and was captured. He was pardoned by King Henry VII and put to work in the in the royal kitchen as a spit-turner. When he grew older, he became a falconer. Almost no information about his later life is known.

Francis Lovell 1st Viscount Lovell (age 31) fought and escaped. He was attainted. Baron Deincourt, Baron Lovel of Titchmarsh, Baron Holand forfeit.

On 30 May 1499 John Cheney 1st Baron Cheyne (age 57) died. Fluted Period. Alabaster Monument at Salisbury Cathedral [Map].

Fluted armour typified by having no headwear, being clean shaven, a breastplate in two pieces and the neck protected by a Standard. Damaged angel, its head removed, holding the cushion on which his head rests. He wearing a Lancastrian Esses Collar with large Esses. Ringed fingers.

Detail of the heavily graffitied Shoulder Garter.

Detail of the heavily graffitied Leg Garter and Poleyn.

Mutilated Lion at his feet with its head missing. The figure beneath his right foot appears to be a Bedesman. That beneath his left foot may be the remains of the means by which a bedesman was originally fixed to the foot. What appears to be a birds foot lying across the lions body is the tail of the lion.

Ancestors of John Cheney 1st Baron Cheyne 1442-1499

Great x 4 Grandfather: Alexander Cheney

Great x 3 Grandfather: William Cheney

Great x 4 Grandmother: Agnes Saye

Great x 2 Grandfather: Robert Cheney

Great x 4 Grandfather: Robert Shurland

Great x 3 Grandmother: Margaret Shurland

Great x 1 Grandfather: Richard Cheney

GrandFather: William Cheney

Father: John Cheney

John Cheney 1st Baron Cheyne