John Fortescue (judge)

Sir John Fortescue
A portrait of Fortescue by William Faithorne published in 1663 inscribed "Sr John Fortescu Kt Lord Cheife Justice & Lord Chancellor of England vnder King Henry ye Sixth"
Chief Justice of the King's Bench
In office 25 January 1442 – Easter term 1460
Appointed by	Henry VI
Preceded by	John Hody
Succeeded by	John Markham
Personal details
Born	c. 1394 Norris, North Huish, Devon, England
Died	1479 (aged 84–85)
Resting place	St. Eadburgha's Church, Ebrington, Gloucestershire, England 52°3′28.98″N 1°44′0.92″W / 52.0580500°N 1.7335889°W / 52.0580500; -1.7335889
Alma mater	Exeter College, Oxford

Sir John Fortescue (c. 1394 – December 1479), of Ebrington in Gloucestershire, was Chief Justice of the King's Bench and was the author of De Laudibus Legum Angliae (Commendation of the Laws of England),^[2] first published posthumously circa 1543, an influential treatise on English law. In the course of Henry VI's reign, Fortescue was appointed one of the governors of Lincoln's Inn three times and served as a Member of Parliament from 1421 to 1437.^[3] He became one of the King's Serjeants during the Easter term of 1441, and subsequently served as Chief Justice of the King's Bench from 25 January 1442 to Easter term 1460.^[4][5][6]

During the

He was educated at Exeter College, Oxford,^[2] favoured by many Devonshire gentry families. He was elected as a Member of Parliament for Tavistock (1421 to 1425), Totnes (1426 and 1432), Plympton Erle (1429) and Wiltshire (1437).^[3]

During the reign of Henry VI, Fortescue was thrice appointed one of the governors of Lincoln's Inn. During the Easter term of 1441 he was made one of the King's Serjeants, and on 25 January in the following year Chief Justice of the King's Bench, a position he held till Easter term 1460.^[8] As a judge Fortescue was recommended for his wisdom, gravity and uprightness, and he is said to have been favoured by the king.^[2]

He held his office during the remainder of the reign of Henry VI, to whom he was loyal; as a result, he was

By 1423 he was married to Elizabeth Bright, daughter of Robert Bright from Doddiscombsleigh in Devon, but in 1426 she died without coming into her inheritance and without children. By 1436 he was married to Isabella James, daughter and heiress of John James who held land at Norton St Philip in Somerset as well as in Wiltshire, and they had three known children:^[5][4][6]

• Martin Fortescue, born about 1430 and died 1472, who in 1454 married Elizabeth Denzill, daughter and heiress of Richard Denzill, landholder at Filleigh, Weare Giffard, Buckland Filleigh and other places in Devon. ^[6]
• Elizabeth Fortescue, who in 1455 married Edward Whalesborough.^[6]
• Maud Fortescue, who in 1456 married Robert Corbet.^[6]

Death and burial

The exact date of Fortescue's death is not known, but is believed to be shortly before 18 December 1479.

John Fortescue's description of England's mixed monarchy as a dominium politicum et regale (a political and regal kingdom) has been profoundly influential in the history of British constitutional thought. During the 20th century, the earlier portrayal of Fortescue as a constitutionalist has come under pressure from legal and constitutional historians.[17] Scholars of literature have taken an interest in Fortescue's contribution to the development of English prose,^[18] and in his role as a Lancastrian writer.^[19] More recently, Fortescue's constitutional thought has been reassessed and his Lancastrian affiliation has been challenged.^[20]

To this day the John Fortescue Society is joined by students of law at Exeter College, Oxford.^[21]

Works

Fortescue's most significant works were composed in Scotland and France, where the Lancastrian party had taken refuge, between 1463 and 1471. Taken together, Opusculum de natura legis naturæ et de ejus censura in successione regnorum suprema (A Small Work on the Nature of the Law of Nature, and on its Judgment on the Succession to Supreme Office in Kingdoms, c. 1463),

The Difference between an Absolute and Limited Monarchy,[25] based on Fortescue's c. 1471 manuscript, was published in 1714 by a descendant, John Fortescue Aland. In the Cotton library there is a manuscript of this work, and its title indicates that it was addressed to Henry VI. However, many passages show plainly that it was written in favour of Edward IV. A revised edition of this work, with a historical and biographical introduction, was published in 1885 by Charles Plummer under the title The Governance of England.^[2][26]

Fortescue also wrote a number of mostly topical works that addressed the political conflict during the Wars of the Roses. Among the surviving works are the pamphlets De titulo Edwardi comitis Marchiæ (The Title of Edward, Earl of March), Of the Title of the House of York, Defensio juris domus Lancastriæ (Defence of the Rights of the House of Lancaster), Replication ageinste the Clayme, and Title of the Duke of Yorke for the Crownes of England and France, as well as the treatise Opusculum de natura legis naturæ et de ejus censura in successione regnorum suprema already mentioned. Two further works, Declaration upon Certayn Wrytinges Sent oute of Scotteland and Articles Sent to Warwick have been discussed by recent scholarship.^[19][27] All of Fortescue's minor writings appear in The Works of Sir John Fortescue, published in 1869 for private circulation by another descendant, Thomas Fortescue, 1st Baron Clermont.^[2][28]

A list of Fortescue's printed works and selected later editions follows:

• Fortescue, John (c. 1543), Prenobilis militis, cognomento Forescu [sic], qui temporibus Henrici sexti floruit, de politica administratione, et legibus ciuilibus florentissimi regni Anglie, commentarius [Commentary on Political Administration and on the Civil Laws of the Most Flourishing Kingdom of England, of the Very Noble Knight, surnamed Forescu [sic], who Flourished during the Reign of Henry VI], London: tipis Edwardi Whitechurche, et veneunt in edibus Henrici Smyth bibliopole [printed by Edward Whitechurche, and are sold in the buildings of Henry Smith the bookseller],
  OCLC 606486248
  . Later editions:
  • Fortescue, John (1567), A Learned Commendation of the Politique Lawes of Englande: VVherin by moste Pitthy Reasons [and] Euident Demonstrations they are Plainelye Proued Farre to Excell aswell the Ciuile Lawes of the Empiere, as also all other Lawes of the World, with a Large Discourse of the Difference betwene the. ii. Gouernements of Kingdomes: Whereof the one is onely Regall, and the other Consisteth of Regall and Polityque Administration Conioyned. Written in Latine aboue an Hundred Yeares Past, by the Learned and Right Honorable Maister Fortescue Knight, Lorde Chauncellour of England in the Time of Kinge Henrye the. vi. And Newly Translated into Englishe by Robert Mulcaster, Mulcaster, Robert, transl., London: Imprinted ... in
    OCLC 837169265. (According to the English Short Title Catalogue
    (ESTC), further editions were issued under this title in 1573 and 1599.)
  • John Fortescue (1616),
    OCLC 837172477
    . (According to the ESTC, further editions were issued under this title in 1660, 1672, 1737, 1741 and 1775.)
  • Waterhouse, Edward (1663), Fortescutus Illustratus, or a Commentary on that Nervous Treatise De laudibus legum Angliæ, Written by Sir John Fortescue Knight, first Lord Chief Justice, after Lord Chancellour to King Henry the Sixth. Which Treatise, Dedicated to Prince Edward that King's Son and Heir (whom he Attended in his Retirement into France, and to whom he Loyally and Affectionately Imparted himself in the Virtue and Variety of his Excellent Discourse) Hee Purposely Wrote to Consolidate his Princely Minde in the Love and Approbation of the Good Lawes of England, and of the Laudable Customs of this Native Country. The Heroique Design of whose Excellent Judgement and Loyal Addiction to his Prince, is Humbly Endeavoured to be Revived, Admired, and Advanced, London: Printed by Tho. Roycroft for Thomas Dicas [etc.],
    OCLC 830342279
  • Fortescue, John (1825),
    OCLC 60724441
    .
  • Fortescue, John (1917), Sir John Fortescue's Commendation of the Laws of England: The Translation into English of "De laudibus legum Angliæ", Gregor, Francis, transl., London:
    OCLC 60732964
    .
• Fortescue, John (1714),
  OCLC 642421515
  . (According to the ESTC, further editions were issued under this title in 1719 and 1724).
  • Later editions:
    • Fortescue, John (1885),
      OCLC 457292673. Digital versions of text are available online, including at The University of Michigan's Corpus of Middle English and Prose and Verse
      .
    • ISBN 978-1241522131
      ]
• Modern editions of Fortescue's major works:
  • Fortescue, Sir John. (1942), De Laudibus Legum Angliae, Edited and translated by S. B. Chrimes, (2nd Edition: 2011). Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, c[includes an extensive introduction along with Latin and English texts]
  • Fortescue, Sir John. (1997), On the Laws and Governance of England. Edited by Shelly Lockwood. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
    ISBN 0-521-58996-7
    . [includes a new English translation of De Laudibus Legum Angliae, The Governance of England in modern English, and selected passages from the Opusculum de natura legis naturæ and lesser works]

Notes

1. OCLC 8972816
2. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j}  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Fortescue, Sir John". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 10 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 678.
3. ^ ^{a b c} "FORTESCUE, John (d.1479), of Devon". History of Parliament Online. The History of Parliament Trust. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
4. ^ ^{a b} E. W. Ives (22 September 2005). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Retrieved 23 July 2023.
5. ^ ^{a b} J.S. Roskell; L. Clark; C.Rawcliffe, eds. (1993). The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1386-1421. Retrieved 23 July 2023.
6. ^ ^{a b c d e} John Lambrick Vivian, ed. (1895). The Visitations of the County of Devon: Comprising the Herald's Visitations of 1531, 1564, & 1620. Exeter: H. S. Eland. p. 353. Retrieved 23 July 2023.
7. OCLC 23361486
   .
8. ^ Foss, pp. 309–310.
9. ^ Foss, pp. 310–312.
10. ^
    OCLC 606486248
    .
11. ^ Foss, pp. 313–314.
12. ^ "See colour photos". Archived from the original on 14 May 2014. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
13. ^ Anne Mannooch Welch (1901), "Sir John Fortescue, Buried at Ebrington Gloucestershire" (PDF), Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society, 24: 193–250, archived from the original (PDF) on 5 December 2013.
14. ^ Foss, p. 314; a photograph can be seen at Painted stone effigy of Lord Chief Justice Sir John Fortescue c1478 on Flickr.
15. ^ Vivian, p. 355.
16. ^ For heraldry on this monument, see F. Were (1902), "Heraldry" (PDF), Transactions of the Bristol & Gloucestershire Archaeological Society, 25: 187–211 at 200, archived from the original (PDF) on 21 April 2014.
17. S2CID 155648025
    .
18. ISBN 978-1-84384-018-3
    .
19. ^
    ISBN 978-0-268-04114-4
    .
20. ^
    ISBN 978-0-268-04145-8
    , a study of Fortescue's influence on late medieval and early Tudor thought.
21. ^ See, for example, John Fortescue Society Dinner, Exeter College, Oxford, 2013, archived from the original on 18 October 2013.
22. OCLC 766455476
    .
23. ISBN 978-0-19-959913-4
    , The full title of Fortescue's treatise on natural law is significant: De Natura Legis Naturae et de ejus Censura in Successione Regnorum Suprema ('On the nature of the law of nature, and on its judgment on the succession to supreme office in kingdoms').
24. ^ Sobecki, p. 71.
25. OCLC 642421515
    .
26. OCLC 457292673
    .
27. ^ Sobecki, pp. 78–80 and 90.
28. OCLC 47732533
    .

References

• Fortescue, John (1885), "Introduction", in
  OCLC 457292673
  .
• OCLC 47732533
  .
• OCLC 351642996
  .

Further reading

Wikiquote has quotations related to John Fortescue.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to John Fortescue (judge).

• Callahan, Edwin T. (1995), "The Apotheosis of Power: Fortescue on the Nature of Kingship". Majestas vol. 3, p. 35-68.
• Cromartie, Alan. (2004), "Common Law, Counsel and Consent in Fortescue's Political Theory", The Fifteenth Century 4: Political culture in late Medieval Britain p. 45-68.
• Doe, Norman. (1990). Fundamental Authority in Late Medieval English Law. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
  ISBN 9780521384582
  .
• Gill, Paul E. (1968), Sir John Fortescue: Chief Justice of the King's Bench, Polemicist of the Succession Problem, Governmental Reformer, and Political Theorist [unpublished Ph.D. thesis], State College, Penn.:
  OCLC 13557234
  .
• Gill, Paul E. (1971), "Politics and Propaganda in Fifteenth-century England: The Polemical Writings of Sir John Fortescue",
  S2CID 154211521 – discusses Fortescue's role in the succession crisis between the Houses of Lancaster and York
  .
• Gross, Anthony J. (1996), The dissolution of the Lancastrian kingship: Sir John Fortescue and the crisis of monarchy in fifteenth century England. London: Stamford,
  ISBN 9781871615906
  . [foreword by J. R. Lander].
• Jacob, Ernest Frazer. (1953), "Sir John Fortescue and the Law of Nature", Jaccob, Essays in the Conciliar Epoch. Manchester University Press, p. 106-120, 247-248.
• Kekewich, Margaret Lucille. (1998), "Thou shalt be under the power of man". Sir John Fortescue and the Yorkist Succession", Nottingham Medieval Studies vol. 42 (1998) p. 188-230.
• Kelly, M. R. L. L. (2014), "Sir John Fortescue and the Political Dominium: The People, the Common Weal, and the King", Galligan, Denis Ed., Constitutions and the Classics: Patterns of Constitutional Thought from Fortescue to Bentham, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Litzen, Veikko. (1971). "A war of roses and lilies. The theme of succession in Sir John Fortescue's works", Annales Academiae Scientiarum Fennicae B vol. 173 (1971) p. 5-73.
• McGerr, Rosemarie, (2011), A Lancastrian Mirror for Princes: The Yale Law School New Statutes of England. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press,
  ISBN 978-0253356413
  .
• Mosse, George L. (1952), "Sir John Fortescue and the Problem of Papal Power", Medievalia et humanistica vol. 7 (1952) p. 89ff.
• Sobecki, Sebastian (2015), Unwritten Verities: The Making of England's Vernacular Legal Culture, 1463–1549, Notre Dame, Ind.:
  ISBN 9780268041458
  .
• Taylor, Craig David. (1999), "Sir John Fortescue and the French Polemical Treatises of the Hundred Years War", The English Historical Review vol. 114 (1999) p. 112-129.
• John L Watts, (1999) Henry VI and the Politics of Kingship. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
  ISBN 978-0-521-65393-0
  .

Legal offices
Preceded by Sir John Hody	Lord Chief Justice 1442–1461	Succeeded by Sir John Markham