John, 1st Baron de Verdon, of Bressingham

• Birth: 24 JUN 1299 in in Brixworth, Northamptonshire, England
• Death: OCT 1376 in Bressingham, Norfolk, England
• Parents: Sir Thomas de VERDON , of Bressingham b: 10 JAN 1274/75 in Whiston, West Riding Yorkshire, England & Margaret de KNOVILL b: BEF 1276 in Horseheath, Linton, Cambridgeshire, England
• AKA: Sir John de Verdun, Knight

He married, 1stly, in or before 1325-26, Agnes.

Children

1. Edmund de Verdon , of Bressingham b: BEF 1328 in Bressingham, Depwade, Norfolk, England

He married, 2ndly, in or before 1339-40, Maud, widow of Ralph DE CROPHULL, of Bonnington, Notts (living 1332), who was living 1357-59.

BARONY OF VERDON (I) 1332

JOHN DE VERDON, son and heir, was born 24 June 1299. He was summoned for service against the Scots in 1322 and 1335, being granted a protection to accompany the Earl of Norfolk to Scotland, 20 July 1322; and was returned by the sheriffs of cos. Hertford, Suffolk and Northampton as a knight to attend the Great Council at Westminster in 1324, in June of which year he was going on the King's service to Aquitaine. In July 1331 he was one of the sureties for Hugh, son of Hugh le Despenser. He was summoned to Parliament from 27 January 1331/2 to 22 January 1335/6, by writs directed Johanni de Verdon, whereby he is held to have become LORD VERDON.

He was in the retinue of the Princess Eleanor for her marriage with Reynaud, Count of Gueldres, 22 May 1332; Constable of Rockingham Castle and Keeper of the Forest there, appointed for life by Queen Philippa before September 1335, which grant was confirmed by the King, 24 July 1337; was in the company of William de Bohun, Earl of Northampton, to cross the seas in 1337; took part in the Crécy campaign of 1346, serving in the 1st division under the Prince of Wales, but returned to England because of illness before 12 January 1346/7; and was ordered, 14 March 1359/60, to conduct the captive King of France from Stamford to Woburn Abbey.

Although (according to modern doctrine) he was a peer of the realm, he was chosen Knight of the Shire for Northants in the Parliament which met at Westminster, 3 June 1369. He last appears as a Justice of oyer and terminer in Northants, May 1370; was pardoned trespass in Rockingham Forest, 19 August 1375; and as lord of Moulton had seisin of lands in Forncett, Norfolk, 23 October 1376.

He died after 23 October 1376, aged over 77. Not one of his descendants was ever summoned to Parliament. [Complete Peerage XII/2:244-5, (transcribed by Dave Utzinger)]

Sources

1. Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists, 7th Edition, by Frederick Lewis Weis, additions by Walter Lee Shippard Jr., 1999 Page: 34-36
2. Burke's Peerage & Baronetage, 106th Edition, Charles Mosley Editor-in-Chief, 1999 Page: 1924
3. Complete Peerage of England Scotland Ireland Great Britain and the United Kingdom, by G. E Cokayne, Sutton Publishing Ltd, 2000 Page: XII/2:244-5

Links

• http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=gwenbj&id=I6926092