Sir John Middleton
Andrew Howes
Derbyshire who served as a mercenary with the Burgundian army during the
15th century.
Can anyone help or enlighten me further as apart from a seal in London, I
can't seem to find anymore ... oh except that he had a wildman as a livery
badge!
Thanks in advance.
Andrew Howes
Pete Barrett
wrote:
>I am trying to piece together some information on Sir John Middleton of
>Derbyshire who served as a mercenary with the Burgundian army during the
>15th century.
The name seemed familiar when I saw this post. The only place I can think of
where I might have come across the name is, since he served with the
Burgundians, in one of Vaughan's biographies of the Valois Dukes. You might try
there.
Pete Barrett
Paul J Gans
Try soc.genealogy.medieval for this and similar questions as
well as this group.
---- Paul J. Gans [ga...@panix.com]
Andrew Howes
I've taken your advice and cross posted.
I know that its about a man but any cross information would be useful ...
like any common instances of English units going to fight for the Burgundian
armies ... they (the Burgundians) did it here afterall and I think that at
least one Burgundian Duke had an English Bodyguard of longbowmen.
mary_...@cix.compulink.co.uk
<936142703.6009.0...@news.demon.co.uk>,
an...@isenguard.demon.co.uk (Andrew Howes) wrote:
You could do worse than start with Richard Vaughan's _Charles
the Bold._ Here's him quoting Charles's letter home about
the scrap outside Neuss (23 May 1475):
"In the first battle [we posted] all the infantry, pikemen of
our [companies of] ordinance, and the English archers both of
Messire John Middleton's company and of our household and
guard... [...] [Among] all these pikemen were intermingled
the archers in groups of four, so that there was a pikeman
between every group of archers. On the right wing of these
infantrymen we posted Messire Jehan Middleton's mounted
men-at-arms, as well as those of Jaques Galiot's company, all
in a single squadron..." (p.198-199)
Vaughan notes that in 1475 "over 2,000 Englishmen took
service with Charles the Bold instead of returning home with
their king", after Edward IV's amiable pottering around on
the continent. No wonder.
He doesn't have too much more to say about Middleton, other
than to suppose he has a whole lot of guys with him, and made
up one of Charles's companies.
As for Middleton post-1477, there's a small bit in Christine
Weightman's _Margaret of York_, noting that the widowed
Margaret of Burgundy was raising English troops in 1480 (it
looks as though they're in support of Maximillian's claim to
the Duchy). At the beginning of August "[...] the
Burgundians were permitted to raise 6,000 English archers at
their own expense. The king [Edward IV] agreed that 2,000
could be recruited at once [...] On 8 August [Margaret]
signed indentures with three captains: Sir John Middleton,
Sir John Dichefield, [...] and Sir Thomas Everingham."
(p.136)
Note: it doesn't say anything indicating this is the same
Middleton who previously fought for Burgundy, but it doesn't
say that it isn't, either...
HTH.
Mary
Andrew Howes
I haven't had much luck tracing that book as yet but I will.
again thankyou
Andy
<mary_...@cix.compulink.co.uk> wrote in message
news:7qmc5v$lkg$1...@plutonium.compulink.co.uk...
David Brewer
mary_...@cix.compulink.co.uk writes:
> As for Middleton post-1477, there's a small bit in Christine
> Weightman's _Margaret of York_, noting that the widowed
> Margaret of Burgundy was raising English troops in 1480 (it
> looks as though they're in support of Maximillian's claim to
> the Duchy). At the beginning of August "[...] the
> Burgundians were permitted to raise 6,000 English archers at
> their own expense. The king [Edward IV] agreed that 2,000
> could be recruited at once [...] On 8 August [Margaret]
> signed indentures with three captains: Sir John Middleton,
> Sir John Dichefield, [...] and Sir Thomas Everingham."
This raising of troops for "the duc of burgoyne" or "the duc of
ostreich" is mentioned in the Leet Book of Coventry. The good
burghers were worried that the recruiters were taking men out of
prisons and were generally unhappy about the situation, and wrote
to King Ed to say so.
The Leet Book is published by the Early English Text Society.
--
David Brewer
"It is foolishness and endless trouble to cast a stone at every
dog that barks at you." - George Silver, gentleman, c.1600
Gareth
On Sun, 29 Aug 1999, Andrew Howes wrote:
> I am trying to piece together some information on Sir John Middleton of
> Derbyshire who served as a mercenary with the Burgundian army during the
> 15th century.
> Can anyone help or enlighten me further as apart from a seal in London, I
> can't seem to find anymore ... oh except that he had a wildman as a livery
> badge!
Well, there's a Sir John Middleton of Northumberland mentioned serving as
MP for Northumberland in 1414, 1417 and 1426 mentioned in the History of
Parliament. Alternatively Alumini Cantabrigienses has a John Middleton
studying at Cambridge in 1453. Could it be either of them ? At the end
of the day your best bet might be taking teh time to plough through the
various assorted Calendars of Patent Rolls, Inquisitions Post Mortem,
Privy Council Registers and so forth, for the period when you knoww that
he was active, and see what turns up. It can get a bit tedious at times,
but that's the joy of historical research for you !
Gareth