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Sir Walter Blount (died 21 July 1403), was a soldier and supporter of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster. He later supported John's son and heir Henry Bolingbroke in his bid to become king Henry IV and in later battles against his enemies. At the Battle of Shrewsbury he served as the royal standard bearer, was mistaken for the king and killed in combat. He appears as a character in Shakespeare's play Henry IV, part 1, in which he epitomises selfless loyalty and chivalry. Early life According to his biography in The History Of Parliament (online), Sir Walter Blount was the 3rd son of Sir John Blount of Sodington, by his 1st wife, Iseult Mountjoy, but this is incorrect. "A Genealogical History of the Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited, and Extinct Peerages of the British Empire," by Sir Bernard Burke, states he is the son of Sir John Blount and his second wife, Eleanor Beauchamp, daughter of John Beauchamp of Hache. His half brother, John Blount of Sodington, conveyed many estates to him in 1374, including Mountjoy, which he had inherited from his mother. In 1367 Blount participated in Edward, the Black Prince's expedition to restore Peter of Castile to the throne of Leon and Castile. This expedition was successfully terminated by the Battle of Nájera in 1367. Blount returned to England. As a result of his role in the campaign, Blount married Sancha de Ayála, the daughter of Diego Gómez, who held high office in Toledo under the Castilian regime, by his wife, Inez Alfonso de Ayála, sister of Pero López de Ayala. Sancha came to England in 1371 as a lady-in-waiting to Constance, the elder daughter of Peter of Castile, whom John of Gaunt married in 1372. Estate In 1374 Sir Walter Blount's brother John, who had succeeded his mother Iseult (Isolde) Mountjoy in the Mountjoy property, made over to Walter the Mountjoy estates in Derbyshire, and to them Walter added by purchase, in 1381, the great estates of the Bakepuiz family in Derbyshire, Leicestershire, and Hertfordshire. Return to Castile Blount probably returned to Castile in 1386. Permission had been granted Blount in 1377 to proceed with Duke John of Gaunt to Castile in order to assert the duke's right by virtue of his marriage to the throne of Leon and Castile; but the expedition did not start till 1386. On 17 April 1393 he, with Henry Bowet and another, was appointed to negotiate a permanent peace with the king of Castile. In 1398 Duke John granted to Blount and his wife, with the king's approval, an annuity of 100 marks in consideration of their labours in his service. Blount was an executor of John of Gaunt, who died early in 1399, and received a small legacy. Later career and death He represented Derbyshire in Henry IV's first parliament, which met on 6 Oct 1399. When the rebellion of the Percys broke out, Blount supported the King. At the Battle of Shrewsbury (21 July 1403) he was the king's standard-bearer. In the decisive struggle of the battle, the rebel leader Henry Percy attempted to break the royal army by a direct attack on the King. In the struggle Blount was killed by Archibald Douglas, 4th Earl of Douglas, one of the most powerful and feared noblemen of Scotland, and a privileged hostage in Percy's entourage, following his earlier capture at Homildon Hill. According to later chronicles, Blount was dressed in armour resembling that worn by Henry IV, and was mistaken by Douglas for the king.[1] He was buried in the church St. Mary ‘of Newark’, Leicester. His widow Sancha survived him until 1418. In 1406 she founded the hospital of St. Leonards, situated between Alkmonton and Hungry-Bentley, Derbyshire. Eulogised in Shakespeare's Henry IV Shakespeare gives Blount, whom he calls Sir Walter Blunt, a prominent place in the first part of his Henry IV, and represents both Hotspur and Henry IV as eulogising his military prowess and manly character. In the play he deliberately misidentifies himself as the King in order to draw the attack onto himself. Falstaff, finding his body, undercuts the eulogies by presenting his death as proof of the uselessness of "honour". Descendants Sir Walter Blount's will, made 16 Dec 1401, named: his wife; sons John, Thomas, and James; and daughters Constance and Anne Griffith. Sir John Blount was at one time governor of Calais; was besieged in a castle of Aquitaine by a great French army, which he defeated with a small force (Walsingham, Ypodigma Neustriæ, Rolls Ser., p. 437); was created knight of the Garter in 1413; and was present at the siege of Rouen in 1418: Sir John died without male issue. Sir Thomas Blount was Treasurer of Calais during Henry VI's wars in France (Stevenson's Letters, &c., illustrating the wars in France temp. Henry VI, Rolls Ser., ii. passim), and founded a chantry at Newark in 1422 (at the expense of the Duke of Exeter) in memory of his father and mother. Sir Thomas was the father (by Margaret, daughter of Sir Thomas Gresley of Gresley, Derbyshire) of Sir Walter Blount, 1st Baron Mountjoy. James Blount was the ancestor of the Blounts of Grendon, Orleton, and other places in Herefordshire. (Croke, Vol. II, Book III, p. 196.) Constance Blount married John de Sutton V of Dudley Castle, Staffordshire. They were the parents of John Sutton, 1st Baron Dudley. Anne Blount married Thomas Griffith, Esq., of Wichnor (in Tatenhill), Staffordshire. (Croke, Vol. II, Book III, p. 196.) References Walsingham, Hist. Anglicana, ed. Riley, ii. 258; Annales Henrici Quarti, 367, 369 Sources G. E. Cokayne, The Complete Peerage, vol. IX, pp. 331-333 Burke, Sir Bernard, "A Genealogical History of the Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited, and Extinct Peerages of the British Empire," New Edition, pp.54-55, https://archive.org/details/agenealogicalhi00burkgoog/page/n74 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Another version: Sir Walter Blount b. circa 1348, d. 21 July 1403 Sir Walter Blount was the "Walterus Blount miles" who married "Sanchia de Ayala Hispana" and had six children as described in the Visitation of Shropshire of 1623. He was born circa 1348. He was the son of Sir John Blount and Eleanor Beauchamp. He accompanied the Black Prince and the Duke of Lancaster, John of Gaunt, on their expedition to Spain to assist Peter the Cruel, King of Castile, to restore him to the throne in 1367. He was said to have fought at Najera under John of Gaunt on 3 April 1367. He was apparently in the Duke's service in 1369. He chose his wife from the suite of ladies of Constantia of Castile, the consort of John of Gaunt circa 1372. He was already a knight in March 1371/72. He married Doña Sancha de Ayala, daughter of Diego Gómez, alcalde mayor and Doña Inéz de Ayala, circa 1372/73. He was appointed by John of Gaunt as constable of Tutbury Castle for life in January 1372/73. He acquired lands, soon after his marriage, which seem to have been part of the Mountjoy property, from his (half?) brother John. He entered into a contract to serve the Duke, John of Gaunt, in peace and in war, for the term of his life in May 1374. He was in the train of John of Gaunt, King of Castile and Leon, setting out overseas in March 1377/78. He was Justice of the Peace for Staffordshire in 1380. He was setting out again for Spain in the company of his patron in 1386. He was Justice of the Peace for Derbyshire in 1388. He was a commissioner of array in 1392 in Staffordshire. He and Doña Sancha de Ayala obtained Papal indults for portable altars in 1394. He was made one of the executors of John of Gaunt in 1398. He was chosen a Knight of the Shire for Derby in 1399. He was receiving instructions for an embassy to Portugal, Spain and Aragon in February 1399/1400. He was so celebrated for his martial prowess in the warlike times of Edward III, Richard II, and Henry IV, and immortalized by the muse of Shakespeare for his devotion even unto death of King Henry. He left a will on 16 December 1401 in Liverpool; He names his wife Sancha and sons John, Thomas, and James. He died on 21 July 1403. Slain at Shrewsbury while wearing the Coat Armor of his King. (See Shakespere's Henry IV.). His estate was probated on 1 August 1403. Sir Walter Blount was buried in St. Mary's, the Newark, Leicester. Children of Sir Walter Blount and Doña Sancha de Ayala: Constance Blount+ Sir John Blount K.G. b. c 1374? James Blount+ b. c 1376? http://en.wikipedia.org Ancestor of President George Washington.
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