James Chudleigh (b. ~1331, d. 1401-1402) was an English knight,

Sheriff of Devon The High Sheriff of Devon is the Queen's representative for the County of Devon, a territory known as his/her bailiwick. Selected from three nominated people, they hold the office for one year. They have judicial, ceremonial and administrative f ...

, royal servant, nobleman and landowner. He was one of the most important noblemen below peerage rank in Devon in the last two decades of the 14th century. Chudleigh lived roughly 70 years during the height of the

Black Death The Black Death (also known as the Pestilence, the Great Mortality or the Plague) was a bubonic plague pandemic occurring in Western Eurasia and North Africa from 1346 to 1353. It is the most fatal pandemic recorded in human history, causi ...

and the start of the

Hundred Years' War The Hundred Years' War (; 1337–1453) was a series of armed conflicts between the kingdoms of Kingdom of England, England and Kingdom of France, France during the Late Middle Ages. It originated from disputed claims to the French Crown, ...

Career

He began as a combat squire and served in this capacity for many years probably originally lacking sufficient wealth to be considered a knight. Chudleigh was called into the

Scrope v Grosvenor ''Scrope v Grosvenor'' (1389) was an early intellectual property lawsuit, specifically regarding the law of arms. One of the earliest heraldic cases brought in England, the case resulted from two different knights in King Richard II's servi ...

case of 1389 in which he stated that he fought in the

Battle of Poitiers The Battle of Poitiers was fought on 19September 1356 between a French army commanded by King JohnII and an Anglo- Gascon force under Edward, the Black Prince, during the Hundred Years' War. It took place in western France, south of Poi ...

in 1356, serving as a

squire In the Middle Ages, a squire was the shield- or armour-bearer of a knight. Use of the term evolved over time. Initially, a squire served as a knight's apprentice. Later, a village leader or a lord of the manor might come to be known as a " ...

; he also served under

John of Gaunt John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster (6 March 1340 – 3 February 1399) was an English royal prince, military leader, and statesman. He was the fourth son (third to survive infancy as William of Hatfield died shortly after birth) of King Edward ...

in Spain in his failed invasion of 1386. In 1368 he again traveled overseas to an unknown destination. From may 1372 to January 1373 he served at sea under Philip Courtenay, admiral of the west. After a lengthy military career Chudleigh had built up prestige, land, and power and was appointed Sheriff of Devon in 1376 as his father had served in 1335. In 1384 he was again the Sheriff of Devon. Later he was part of the

Earl of Devon Earl of Devon was created several times in the English peerage, and was possessed first (after the Norman Conquest of 1066) by the de Redvers (''alias'' de Reviers, Revieres, etc.) family, and later by the Courtenay family. It is not to be con ...

's retinue which joined the 1387 expedition under Admiral of the west

Richard Fitzalan, 4th Earl of Arundel Richard Fitzalan, 4th Earl of Arundel, 9th Earl of Surrey, KG (1346 – 21 September 1397) was an English medieval nobleman and military commander. Lineage Born in 1346, he was the son of Richard Fitzalan, 3rd Earl of Arundel and Eleanor of L ...

. In 1390 he was the

Knight of the shire Knight of the shire ( la, milites comitatus) was the formal title for a member of parliament (MP) representing a county constituency in the British House of Commons, from its origins in the medieval Parliament of England until the Redistributio ...

for Devon as the second knight (the first was Courtenay). Although Chudleigh derived much of his power from the Earls of Devon, he became an important royal servant and these two loyalties sometimes clashed. In 1391 he and a knight,

William Esturmy Sir William Esturmy (died 1427) (''alias'' Sturmy), of Wolfhall, Wiltshire was an English Knight of the Shire, Speaker of the House of Commons, and hereditary Warden of the royal forest of Savernake, Wiltshire. Origins He was born in about ...

, were responsible for arresting one of the Earl's retainers. Chudleigh was often employed by the King to enforce royal authority in Devon, for example arbitrating Courtenay's land disputes. Due to his royal service he benefitted from escheats, and was given temporary control of escheated lands on several occasions. In 1394 he was again the sheriff of Devon. A dispensation allowed his daughter Joan Chudleigh to remarry Philip Bryan son of Guy Bryan, 1st Baron Bryan in order to stop feuding that had occurred between the two fathers.

Personal life

His third marriage was to Joan Champernon.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chudleigh, James 1401 deaths 1402 deaths English knights High Sheriffs of Devon