Family and Education

b.c.1349, s. and h. of Sir Thomas Chandos† of Snodhill by his w. Lucy. m. (1) 1363, Violet, da. of John de la Bere of Kinnersley, Herefs.; (2) by 1377, Philippa, da. of Guy, Lord Bryan, by Elizabeth, da. of William Montagu, 1st earl of Salisbury, wid. of Edward de Bohun, s.p. Kntd. by 1385.

Offices Held

J.p. Herefs. 26 May 1380-Mar. 1384, 27 Apr. 1404-Feb. 1407.

Commr. to put down rebellion, Herefs. July, Dec. 1381, Mar., Dec. 1382; of inquiry Feb. 1391 (alienation of Eaton Tregoes), Sept. 1400 (ownership of Yatton and Little Hereford), Aug. 1402 (persons trading with Welsh rebels), Dec. 1417 (lands of Sir John Oldcastle*); array Mar. 1392, Aug. 1402; to arrest adherents of Walter Brut Sept. 1393; seize lands of Thomas, Lord Despenser, S. Wales Jan. 1400; relieve Abergavenny castle May 1401.

Sheriff, Herefs. 16 Dec. 1382-12 Jan. 1383.

Tax collector, Herefs. Mar 1404, Sept 1405.

Biography

A member of an old Herefordshire family, Sir John was the grandson of Roger, Lord Chandos. His father died in 1375, leaving him property scattered throughout the county, including the chief family seat at Snodhill castle in the Golden Valley and the manors of Fownhope, Limebrook (near Lingen), Wellington and Lugwardine, the last two of which he allotted to his mother for life. By 1377 he had married (as his second wife) the well-connected Philippa, daughter of Guy, Lord Bryan: in June 1383 he acted as his father-in-law’s surety and, in 1390, served as an executor of his will. In September 1396 Chandos’s mother died, and he recovered the manors of Wellington and Lugwardine to his own use.1

From 1380 onwards Chandos acted as a j.p. and a local commissioner, and in December 1382 he was appointed sheriff of Herefordshire, though he remained in office for less than three weeks. He does not, however, appear to have been active outside his home county. Like many other gentry of the marches, he was deeply involved in resisting Owen Glendower’s revolt. In May 1401 he was one of those appointed to go to the relief of Abergavenny, where William Beauchamp, Lord Abergavenny, was being besieged by the Welsh, and in the following August he attended a great council at Westminster. A year later, in August 1402, he was ordered to review the Herefordshire levies and lead them to the county town for a royal expedition into Wales. This enterprise was a failure. However, when in September 1403 Henry IV made a fresh attack on Glendower’s forces and ordered the border gentry to provide for the safeguard of their own strongholds, Chandos was required to garrison and provision Snodhill castle. A month later he was empowered to receive rebels from central Wales into the King’s peace.2

As by this time Sir John was over 50 and without heirs of his body, in 1404 he began to settle the reversion of his lands (subject to a life interest for himself and his wife) upon feoffees, who mostly came from the locality. In this connexion it suffices to say that for Wellington and Fownhope his principal trustees were Thomas de la Hay* (his neighbour at Peterchurch), Thomas Walwyn I*, Sir John Oldcastle* and (Sir) John Skydemore*, and that after 1420 Snodhill was conveyed to Richard de la Mare and John Merbury*. It was possibly with regard to these settlements that the lawyer and Speaker-to-be, William Stourton*, entered into a series of recognizances with Chandos, the bonds to be redeemed between June 1409 and November 1411.3 Despite his advancing years, Sir John remained active in Herefordshire well into the 15th century. He was present at the county elections to the Parliaments of 1410, 1414 (Nov.), 1417, 1419, 1420, 1421 and 1422, and in January 1419 he presided at the trials of a number of suspected supporters of the lollard, Sir John Oldcastle, his former feoffee.4

Chandos died at the age of about 79, on 18 Dec. 1428. His heirs were the issue of his sister Margaret (d.1406), by her husband Thomas Berkeley* of Coberley, Gloucestershire, including her grandson, Giles Bridges†. From him were descended the Barons Chandos of Sudeley and the duke of Chandos.5

Ref Volumes: 1386-1421

Author: Charles Kightly

Notes

He is not to be confused with the famous soldier of the same name, who was a distant cousin and died in 1370, nor with John Chandos, yeoman of the royal chamber and bailiff-itinerant in Wilts. who d. 1395: CPR, 1385-9, pp. 202, 286; 1391-6, pp. 280, 335, 560.

• 1. CP, ii. 361-2; iii. 149-50; J. Duncumb, Herefs. i. 171; CPR, 1374-7, pp. 216, 444, 530; 1391-6, p. 400; CCR, 1396-9, p. 16; CFR, ix. 371.
• 2. CPR, 1399-1401, pp. 518, 520; 1401-5, pp. 138, 439; CCR, 1402-5, p. 111; PPC, i. 162; J.E. Lloyd, Owen Glendower, 54, 73-74; C47/2/49/6.
• 3. CPR, 1401-5, pp. 366, 492; 1405-8, p. 246; 1416-22, pp. 51, 68, 238, 310; CCR, 1405-9, p. 472; 1419-22, pp. 131-2, 134; 1422-9, p. 430; Cal. Hereford Cathedral Muns. (NLW 1955), iii. 2695a; C139/100/52.
• 4. C219/10/5, 11/4, 12/2-6, 13/1; KB27/634 rex m. 11.
• 5. CFR, xv. 235; C139/40/54; CP, iii. 150-1.