John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury

John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury (died 1453) was an important English military commander during the Hundred Years War.

He was second son of Richard, 5th Baron Talbot, by Ankaret, heiress of the last Lord Strange of Blackmere.

Talbot was married before 1404 to Maud Neville, heiress of the barons Furnivall, and in her right summoned to parliament from 1409. In 1421 by the death of his niece he acquired the baronies of Talbot and Strange. From 1404 to 1413 he served with his elder brother Gilbert in the Welsh war.

Then for five years from February 1414 he was lieutenant of Ireland, where he held the honour of Wexford. He did some fighting, and had a sharp quarrel with the earl of Ormonde. Complaints were made against him both for harsh government in Ireland and for violence in Herefordshire. From 1420 to 1424 he served in France. In 1425 he was again for a short time lieutenant in Ireland until becoming Constable of France for the King of France.

So far his career was that of a turbulent lord of the Marches, employed in posts where a rough hand was useful. In 1427 he went again to France, where he fought with distinction in Maine and at the battle of Orléans. He was defeated in 1452 near Bordeaux, which effectively ended English rule in the duchy of Gascony, a principal cause of the Hundred Years War. His exploits were those of a good fighter rather than of a general, and it was his stubborn rashness that was chiefly his deficiency.

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