John Bourchier, 2nd Baron Berners

John Bourchier, 2nd Baron Berners
Portrait by Ambrosius Benson, 1520–1526
Spouse(s)	Katherine Howard
Issue Thomas Bourchier Joan Bourchier Margaret Bourchier Mary Bourchier Humphrey Bourchier Sir James Bourchier George Bourchier Ursula Bourchier
Father	Sir Humphrey Bourchier
Mother	Elizabeth Tilney
Born	c.1467
Died	19 March 1533 Calais
Buried	Calais

John Bourchier, 2nd Baron Berners (1467 – 19 March 1533) was an English soldier, statesman and translator.

Family

John Bourchier, born about 1467, was the only son of Sir Humphrey Bourchier (d.1471) and Elizabeth Tilney (d.1497), the daughter and sole heir of Sir Frederick Tilney of Boston, Lincolnshire. Through his father, Bourchier was descended from King Edward III; his great-grandmother, Anne of Gloucester, was the daughter of Thomas of Woodstock, King Edward's youngest son.^[1]

By his mother's first marriage, Bourchier had two sisters, Anne, who married Thomas Fiennes, 8th Baron Dacre of Gilsland, and Margaret, who married firstly, John Sandys, secondly, Sir Thomas Bryan, and thirdly, David Zouche.

After the death of Sir Humphrey Bourchier, his widow, Elizabeth, married Thomas Howard, then Earl of Surrey, and later 2nd Duke of Norfolk.^[2] By his mother's second marriage Bourchier had ten siblings of the half blood, Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, Lord Edward Howard, Lord Edmund Howard, Sir John Howard, Henry Howard, Charles Howard, Henry Howard (again), Richard Howard, Elizabeth Howard, and Muriel Howard.^[3]

Career

After his father was slain fighting on the Yorkist side at the Battle of Barnet in 1471, Bourchier became a ward of John Howard, 1st Duke of Norfolk. As noted above, Bourchier's mother, Elizabeth, had married as her second husband Thomas Howard, the eldest son and heir of Bourchier's guardian by his first wife, Katherine Moleyns. In 1474 Bourchier's grandfather, John Bourchier, 1st Baron Berners, died, and Bourchier inherited the title at the age of seven.^[4]

He was educated at Oxford University.

Bourchier held various offices of state, including Lieutenant of Calais from 28 November 1520 and Chancellor of the Exchequer from 14 July 1524 that of to King Henry VIII.

He translated, at the King's desire, Froissart's Chronicles (1523–1525), in such a manner as to make a distinct advance in English historical writing, and the Golden Book of Marcus Aurelius (1534), as well as The History of Arthur of Lytell Brytaine (Brittany), and the romance of Huon of Bordeaux.^[5]

Bourchier died at Calais in 1533.

Marriage and issue

Before 13 May 1490 Bourchier married his step-father's half-sister, Katherine Howard, the daughter of John Howard, 1st Duke of Norfolk, by his second wife, Margaret Chedworth, daughter of Sir John Chedworth, and by her had a son and three daughters:^[6]

• Thomas Bourchier, who predeceased his father.
• Joan Bourchier (d.1561), who married Sir Edmund Knyvet (d. 1 May 1539), sergeant porter to King Henry VIII, and was her father's heir.
• Margaret Bourchier, who predeceased her father.
• Mary Bourchier, who married Alexander Unton of Wadley, but died without issue, predeceasing her father.

By a mistress^[7] Bourchier had three illegitimate sons and an illegitimate daughter:^[8]

• Humphrey Bourchier (d.1540), esquire, who married Elizabeth Bacon, but had no issue. After Humphrey Bourchier's death his widow married George Ferrers, esquire.
• Sir James Bourchier (d.1554), who married Mary Bannaster, daughter of Sir Humphrey Bannaster.
• George Bourchier
• Ursula Bourchier, who married Sir William Sharington.^[9]

Footnotes

References

• Carley, James P. (2004). Bourchier, John, second Baron Berners (c.1467–1533). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Retrieved 21 November 2012.  (subscription required)
• Challis, C.E. (2004). Sharington, Sir William (c.1495–1553). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Retrieved 21 November 2012.  (subscription required)
• Lehmberg, Stanford (2004). Knyvet, Sir Edmund (c.1508–1551). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Retrieved 20 November 2012.  (subscription required)
• Richardson, Douglas (2011). Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, ed. Kimball G. Everingham. I (2nd ed.). Salt Lake City.  ISBN 1449966373
• Richardson, Douglas (2011). Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, ed. Kimball G. Everingham. II (2nd ed.). Salt Lake City.  ISBN 1449966381
•  Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Berners, John Bourchier". Encyclopædia Britannica. 3 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

External links

• Works by John Bourchier Berners at Project Gutenberg

Ancestry

Chancellors of the Exchequer
of England	Eustace of Fauconberg Maunsell Leicestre Westminster Chishull W. Giffard G. Giffard Chishull de la Leye Willoughby Benstead Sandale Hotham Stanton Harvington Wodehouse Stratford Ashby Ashton Barnham Somer Somerset Browne Witham Thwaites Witham Fowler Catesby Lovell Berners Cromwell Baker Sackville Mildmay Fortescue Dunbar Caesar Greville Portland Barrett Cottington Colepeper Hyde Ashley Duncombe Ernle Delamer Hampden Montagu Smith Boyle
of Great Britain	Boyle Smith Harley Benson Wyndham Onslow Walpole Stanhope Aislabie Pratt Walpole Sandys Pelham Lee Bilson-Legge Lyttelton Bilson-Legge Mansfield Bilson-Legge Barrington Dashwood Grenville Dowdeswell Townshend North Cavendish Pitt Cavendish Pitt Addington Pitt Ellenborough Petty Perceval Vansittart
of the United Kingdom	Vansittart Robinson Canning Tenterden Herries Goulburn Althorp Denman Peel Spring Rice Baring Goulburn Wood Disraeli Gladstone Lewis Disraeli Gladstone Disraeli Hunt Lowe Gladstone Northcote Gladstone Childers Hicks Beach Harcourt R. Churchill Goschen Harcourt Hicks Beach Ritchie A. Chamberlain Asquith Lloyd George McKenna Law A. Chamberlain Horne Baldwin N. Chamberlain Snowden W. Churchill Snowden N. Chamberlain Simon Wood Anderson Dalton Cripps Gaitskell Butler Macmillan Thorneycroft Heathcoat-Amory Lloyd Maudling Callaghan Jenkins Macleod Barber Healey Howe Lawson Major Lamont Clarke Brown Darling Osborne Hammond
Italic: Interim Chancellor of the Exchequer, as Lord Chief Justice