39 Facts About John Burley

John Burley was an English lawyer, soldier, and a knight of the shire for Shropshire six times from 1399.

John Burley's origins are obscure, not least because his name was not uncommon.

John Burley has been portrayed as a nephew of Simon de Burley, an influential courtier executed by the Merciless Parliament at the behest of the Lords Appellant.

John Burley seems to have been a son of a John Burley of Wistanstow in southern Shropshire and a nephew of John Burnell of Westbury, Shropshire.

The lawyer John Burley is known from a quitclaim deed of 1397 to have had at that time three brothers: Nicholas, portioner of the church of Westbury, James and Edmund.

John Burley's name is rendered variously in medieval documents, including Bureley, Boerlee and Borley.

Ludlow had appointed three groups of feoffees to hold his properties in trust and John Burley was a member of all three groups.

Alongside his work for Ludlow, John Burley extended his reach as a feoffee and lawyer upwards into the local nobility.

John Burley is known to have worked for all but one of these.

Early in 1387 John Burley joined Talbot's contingent to fight under Richard FitzAlan, 11th Earl of Arundel in a successful naval campaign against the French and their allies in the English Channel.

At this point John Burley was dealing with the lower reaches of the nobility, but during his stewardship of their estates the Talbots grew increasingly powerful by marriage and John Burley reaped the rewards of skilled and loyal service.

John Burley acted as a feoffee to speed the transfer of the manor of Mannersfee in Fulbourn, Cambridgeshire, which was held of the Bishop of Ely.

Presumably John Burley's services were much valued, as his son, Edmund, was presented to a portion of Holdgate parish by Hugh Burnell in 1411.

Edmund John Burley must have been appointed to the deaconry, as its advowson was held by the Burnells.

John Burley made John Burley his steward of the town by 1393.

John Burley quickly rallied to Thomas FitzAlan, the dispossessed claimant to the earldom, when he returned with Henry Bolingbroke in 1399.

John Burley seems to have been trusted from the outset by new Lancastrian regime as politically and ideologically reliable, and he began to reap the rewards of loyalty.

John Burley was accompanied by Thomas Young, already a close associate and an executor of Richard FitzAlan, the executed earl.

The capable and reliable John Burley was returned five more times: in 1401, twice in 1404, in 1410, and for a final time in 1411.

John Burley was ordered to investigate complex and important matters of property and inheritance, and these too could have a bearing on the king's interests or public order.

John Burley was to conduct a punitive expedition and would need initially 500 men-at-arms and 2650 archers, with the need for archers rising to 3000 after the first two months.

Around the time of the campaigns John Burley had the distinction of being called to a great council by the king.

John Burley seems to have been considered a reliable upholder of orthodoxy.

John Burley was a member of the Palmer's Guild of Ludlow, essentially a friendly society providing a chantry for its members in St Laurence's Church, Ludlow, as well as insurance against some worldly misfortunes: the liturgical practices underpinning such societies were diametrically opposed to Lollard teaching.

John Burley continued to work for Arundel on issues concerning his estates.

John Burley was closely involved in a particularly protracted and complex feud at Shrewsbury, involving the politicians Nicholas Gerard and Urian St Pierre.

Around 1400 John Burley bought the tenancy-in-chief of Munslow in Corvedale from Beauchamp, and probably later acquired the terre tenancy or lordship of the manor.

However, according to the dean's report, Beauchamp had presented a chaplain, Hugh, to the church, and John Burley had challenged his institution.

An inquisition into the matter had been constituted but John Burley, described as the lord of the vill, had terrorised its members: not the first time he was using force to settle an ecclesiastical dispute.

John Burley Cornwall had been rewarded for his services to the king with the grant of the lucrative keepership of Morfe and Shirlett, areas of Royal forest, apparently in preference to Nicholas Gerard, who had been promised the post.

John Burley was very close to the perpetrators of violence: his son, his former ward and his future executors were involved in some of the most sensational outrages.

The elder John Burley was very familiar with the mechanics of raising forces like these, which were essentially the same mercenaries used in border warfare and Welsh campaigns.

From origins on the lower margins of the landed gentry class John Burley rose to become a substantial landowner.

John Burley's investments were concentrated in Corvedale and the neighbouring valleys, between Wenlock Edge and the Clee Hills, although he had land elsewhere.

War with the Armagnac party in France was a serious threat when John Burley began to establish a chantry for himself and his wife Juliana.

John Burley had presumably made all the necessary arrangements for tax avoidance and a smooth succession well before.

John Burley left the disposition of his moveable property to his executors, whom he named as Richard Lacon and Roger Corbet.

John Burley is mentioned frequently as a participant with him in property deals.

John and Juliana Burley had at least three sons and a daughter.