John Cheyne (or Cheney), Baron Cheyne (ca. 1442 – 1499) was Master of the Horse to King Edward IV and personal bodyguard to King Henry VII of England.
John was the third son of John Cheyne (or Cheney) of Shurland Hall in Kent, by his wife, Eleanor, daughter and sole heiress of Sir Robert Shottesbrooke of Faringdon in Berkshire (now Oxfordshire). He was the uncle of Thomas Cheyne, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports and grand-uncle of Tudor soldier and MP, John Cheyne.
In the 1460s he was appointed Esquire for the body to Elizabeth Woodville, Queen of Edward IV. From 1471 until 1481 he was MP for Wiltshire and in 1479 was appointed Master of the Horse.
He was present when the Treaty of Picquigny was signed in 1475, and remained behind as a hostage of King Louis XI of France until King Edward IV had gone back to Calais and thence to England. He fought in 1485 at the Battle of Bosworth Field, where he was unhorsed personally by Richard III, and at the Battle of Stoke in 1487. He was made a Knight of the Garter and was called to parliament as Baron Cheyne.
He lived at Faulston Cheyne in Wiltshire and Enborne in Berkshire. Nicknamed the "Vigorous Knight" by contemporaries, he was a massive man of redoubtable strength. A 21" thighbone found in his tomb puts his height at 6 feet 8 inches.
Famous quotes containing the word baron:
“There are two things which cannot be attacked in front: ignorance and narrow-mindedness. They can only be shaken by the simple development of the contrary qualities. They will not bear discussion.”
—John Emerich Edward Dalberg, 1st Baron Acton (1834–1902)