Sir John Markham, the Younger, Chief Justice

John Markham

Sir John Markham (died 1479) was an English judge and Chief Justice of the King’s Bench

Markham was the son of John Markham, a judge of the Common Pleas, by either his first or second wife. Francis Markham, in his manuscript 'History of the Family’, written in 1606, Thoroton in his 'History of Nottinghamshire', and Wotton in his ' Baronetage’ described him as the son of the second wife, but the writ of dower which she brought in 1410 against 'John, son and heir of her husband by his wife Elizabeth,' seems to point the other way. His extreme youth when his father died, however, makes it almost certain that he was a son by the second marriage.

He does not appear as an advocate until 1430, having studied the law, according to a doubtful authority, at Gray's Inn. At Easter 1440 he was made a serjeant-at-law, served the king in that capacity, and on 6 February 1444 was raised to a seat on the king's bench. In the subsequent troubles, though he probably took no active part, he was popular with the Yorkists. He and his elder brother Robert were both made knights of the Bath at the coronation of Edward IV. In October 1450 he reproved an enemy of John Paston for the injuries done to Paston, and for 'ungoodly' private life. On the accession of Edward IV he was immediately promoted to the office of chief justice of the king's bench, 13 May 1461, in place of Sir John Fortescue. He was credited with having procured a knighthood for Yelverton, 'who had loked to have ben chef juge,' to console him for his disappointment. On 23 January 1469 Markham was superseded by Sir Thomas Billing.

Fuller, who couples him with Fortescue as famous for his impartiality, tells us that the king deprived him of his office because he directed a jury in the case of Sir Thomas Cooke, accused of high treason for lending money to Margaret of Anjou (July 1468), to find him guilty only of misprision of treason. Markham certainly presided on the occasion in question, and his removal closely followed it. Sir John Markham then laid down the maxim of our jurisprudence that 'a subject may arrest for treason, the king cannot, for if the arrest be illegal the party has no remedy against the king.' He is said to have won the name of the 'upright judge,' and Sir Nicholas Throckmorton, when on his trial in 1554, urged the chief justice to incline his judgment after the example of Judge Markham. and others who eschewed corrupt judgments.

Markham spent the rest of his life in retirement at Sedgebrook Hall, Sedgebrook, Lincolnshire, which he had inherited from his father, and dying there in 1479, was buried in the parish church.

By his wife Margaret, daughter and coheiress of Sir Simon Leke of Cottam, Nottinghamshire, he had a son Thomas and a daughter Elizabeth. A descendant of Sir John Markham was created a baronet by Charles I in 1642. The title became extinct in 1779.

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Markham

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• A history of the Markham family (1854)
• http://archive.org/details/ahistorymarkham00markgoog
• http://archive.org/stream/ahistorymarkham00markgoog#page/n38/mode/1up
• SIR JOHN MARKHAM, Lord of East Markham, was living in the reigns of the first three Edwards. He was an eminent lawyer, and arrived at the dignity of King's Sergeant.
• He married Joan, the daughter and heir of Sir Nicholas Bottumsell or Bothomsell, and her coat is impaled with Markham in Markham, Cotham, and Maplebeck. By her he had three sons: William, who succeeded him, but died childless; Robert, of whom hereafter; and Nigel, who was the tenant of William of Lyneham, of a manor in Markham 9 Edw. I. By his second wife Sir John had two daughters, Elizabeth, who was 12, and Cecilia, who was 10 years of age, at his death, which took place in 1329. He was buried in the cemetery of the church of East Retford.(*)
• SIR ROBERT MARCHAM succeeded his brother William, who died childless, and, following the same profession as his father, became also King's Serjeant, He married Isabel, the
• http://archive.org/stream/ahistorymarkham00markgoog#page/n40/mode/1up
• Pg.7
• daughter and heir of Sir John de Caunton, of Caunton, and by her had issue one son.
• SIR JOHN MARKHAM, following in the steps of his father and grandfather, applied himself to the study of the law, in which he was eminently successful. In Richard the Second's time he had become serjeant-at-law, and was entrusted to draw up the instrument for deposing that monarch; moreover he was appointed one of the commission to receive the crown which the unfortunate Richard resigned in favour of his rival Henry of Bolingbroke. A curious speech made upon this occasion to the King by Sir William Thirnyng, the Chief Justice, will not be without interest. .... etc.
• http://archive.org/stream/ahistorymarkham00markgoog#page/n52/mode/1up
• Pg.13
• Sir John Markham was married twice: his first wife was Elizabeth, daughter and coheir of Henri de Cressi, in direct descent from Sir Roger de Cressi lord of Hodsac in the time of Henry II. Sir John de Clifton, of Clifton, who was afterwards killed at the battle of Shrewsbury, married the elder sister Katharine, and at the death of their brother Hugo de Cressi, his property was divided between the two sisters at Retford, in the tenth year of Henry IV., when Hodsac fell to the Cliftons; and Cressi Hall, Risegate, Braytoft, and Exton in Lincolnshire to the Markhams. Sir John married for his second wife Milicent, daughter and heir of Sir Thomas de Bekeryng, and widow of Sir Nicholas Bourdon, by whom he had two children: Sir John, afterwards Lord Chief Juctice of England,(!) "the greatest ornament," says Camden, "of this family, who tempered his judgments with so much equity that his name will endure as long as time itself;" and Margaret, who married Sir Walter Pitwardyn. Milicent died in 1419. Upon a fair marble tomb in the church of East Markham was this inscription — .... etc.
• http://archive.org/stream/ahistorymarkham00markgoog#page/n54/mode/1up
• Pg.14
• By his first wife, Elizabeth de Cressi, Sir John had two sons and one daughter, Adela, the wife of Sir Robert Stanhope, who had a monument erected to their memory in York Minster now destroyed; Henry was the second son, who appears never to have been married, and the eldest succeeded his father.
• SIR ROBERT MARKHAM married Elizabeth, daughter and heir of Sir John Burdon and Elizabeth de Bekeryng his wife ; by which marriage the manors of Maplebec and Boughton were settled upon him. By this lady, Sir Robert had four children: Elizabeth, married to Sir Thomas Molineux of Hawton, created Knight Banneret by Richard III. at Berwick; Margaret, the wife of Sir Henry Willoughby, also a Knight Banneret; and Katharine, the wife of Sir Henry Bozome of Screveton. The fourth child was his son Robert, who suceeded him. The exact time of his death is uncertain; it was probably in the early part of the reign of Henry IV. Both Sir Robert and his lady were buried at Sedgbrook, the seat of his brother the chief justice, and in the "quayer of the church, in a window on the syde of the Ladyes chapel," are three pictures with inscriptions as follows — .... etc. _________________________________________
• Familiae minorum gentium; v39 (1894)
• http://archive.org/details/FamiliaeMinorumGentiumV39
• http://archive.org/stream/FamiliaeMinorumGentiumV39/Familiae_Minoru...
• Pg. 964
  • Markham. MS.412 - Chart Pg.964-968
• Sir Alexander de Markham, Castellane of Notthingham circ. 1270. = ; ch: William (m. Isabel or Cecily de Lexington) de Markham.
  • William = Isabel or Cecily, dau. of John de Lexington; niece & coh. of Henry, Bishop of Lincoln. ; ch: Richard de Markham.
    • Richard. = ; ch: Robert (m. Sarah de Snitterton), Richard (2 son) Markham.
      • Robert, 1 son, inq. p.m. 16 E. 1, seised of the m'rs of Tuxford, Lexington. = Sarah, dau. & h of Jordan de Snitterton, co. Derb., 42 II. 3. ; ch: Cecily, aet. 30, 16 E. I. (m. John Bray), Bertha, aet. 19, 16 E. 1. (m. William Longvillers), Agnes, (m. William de Sancta Cruce.)
      • Richard Markham, 2 son, Lord of Markham by entail after his brother's death. = ; ch: John (m. Joan Bothumsal) Markham.
        • John, of West Markham temp. E. 3. = Joan, dau. of Sir Nicholas Bothumsal. ; ch: Sir Robert (m. . . . . Caunton) Markham.
          • Sir Robert = . . . . dau. of Sir John Caunton. ; ch: (Pg.965 Sir John (m. Margaret Cressie & Milicent Bickering) Markham).
            • http://archive.org/stream/FamiliaeMinorumGentiumV39/Familiae_Minoru...
            • Pg.965
            • Sir John Markham, Ch. Just. of the Common Pleas, ob. 30 Dec. 1409; drew the Instrument for the deposition of Richard II.; Mon. at Markham; d. on day of St. Silvester. = Margaret, 1 w., dau. & d. of Sir Henry Cressie of Cressie, co. Linc.; niece & h'rs of Sir Hugh. ; ch: Sir Robert (m. Eliz. Burden), Adela (m. Sir Ric. Stanhope). Markham. ; = Milicent, 2 w., dau. of Sir John Bickering; wid. of Nic. Burden. ; ch: John (Ch. Just. of the King's Bench) Markham.
              • John Markham,(1) Ch. Just. of the King's Bench, from whom Markham of Sedgebrook.
              • Sir Robert, Sher. Notts 12 H. 6. Had a tomb in Markham Church. = Eliz., dau. & h. of Sir Nicholas Burden. ; ch: Sir Robert (m. Jane Daubeny) Markham.
                • .... etc. __________________________________

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Robert Thoroton, 'Parishes: Syreston', in Thoroton's History of Nottinghamshire: Volume 1, Republished With Large Additions By John Throsby, ed. John Throsby (Nottingham, 1790), pp. 333-335. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/thoroton-notts/vol1/pp333-335 [accessed 18 August 2020].

(fn. 11) Sir John Markham the Younger, the Chief Justice, had a Sister called Margaret, married to Walter Pedwarden, who had a Daughter named Katherin, married to Nicholas Deuyn, or Deane, of Sireston, who by her had James Deuon, whose Daughter and Heir Dorothy, was first married to Sir Richard Bozome, mentioned in Screveton (whose Ancestor was of Sireston in the Time of Henry the Fourth) and afterward Wife of William Vernon, Son of Raph, younger Brother of Sir Henry Vernon of Haddon, (fn. 12) by whom she had Anne (some call her Jane) the Wife of Henry Seyvile, as there is also noted, where the many Daughters and Co-heirs of Sir Robert Bozon, are likewise set down