Thomas Wendesley of Battle of Shrewsbury

Sir Thomas Wensley (or Wendesley; died 1403) of Wensley in Derbyshire, served five times as a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

, in 1382, 1384, 1386, 1390 and 1394. He was a follower of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster and was killed on 21 July 1403, fighting at the

Battle of Shrewsbury The Battle of Shrewsbury was a battle fought on 21 July 1403, waged between an army led by the Lancastrian King Henry IV and a rebel army led by Henry "Harry Hotspur" Percy from Northumberland. The battle, the first in which English archers ...

for the Lancastrian cause.

Career

He was a son of Roger Wensley, about whom little is recorded. He served as Steward and Constable of the High Peak, Derbyshire, and for the Duchy of Lancaster. He was knighted between 1382–4.

Marriage and issue

He married a wife of unrecorded name, with legitimate issue unknown. He did however leave an illegitimate son: *John Wensley, who having studied canon law at Oxford University obtained a papal dispensation to hold benefices despite his illegitimacy. He became a canon of Lichfield Cathedral, vicar-general to the Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield and

Archdeacon of Stafford The Archdeacon of Lichfield (called Archdeacon of Stafford until 1980) is a senior cleric in the Diocese of Lichfield who is responsible for pastoral care and discipline of clergy in the Lichfield archdeaconry. The archdeaconry was erected – as ...

1442–59.

Death and burial

He was killed on 21 July 1403, fighting at the

for the Lancastrian cause and was buried in Bakewell Church, Derbyshire (where he may have been a member of a guild within the church), 5 miles north-west of Wensley, where survives his effigy, dressed in full armour and wearing around his neck the

Collar of Esses A livery collar or chain of office is a collar or heavy chain, usually of gold, worn as insignia of office or a mark of fealty or other association in Europe from the Middle Ages onwards. One of the oldest and best-known livery collars is the C ...

of the Lancastrian livery.

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biography His helmet is inscribed ''

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Nazaren'' ("Jesus of Nazareth").

References

1403 deaths {{DEFAULTSORT:Wensley, Thomas