According to The Complete Peerage, the parentage of John Botetourt is unknown. His parentage was studied by F. N. Craig, who sets out evidence which indicates that he was the son of Guy Botetourt of Ellingham, Norfolk, his predecessor in the manors of Ellingham, Uphall and Upton. [Many modern secondary sources indicate that John was an illegitimate son of Edward I King of England, based on a Hailes abbey chronicle which names him as such. Michael Prestwich comments that "in general terms, the Hailes chronicle is a reliable source", but highlights that Botetourt’s name is "in a genealogical table" in the chronicle and "appears to be written over an erasure". He concludes that "there is nothing in Botecourt’s career to suggest that he was an illegitimate son of the king" and that "in the absence of any corroborative evidence, it is difficult to credit the evidence of the genealogical table". Nevertheless, if the parentage as stated in the Hailes chronicle is incorrect, there must be some explanation for John Botetourt’s name being included, which is not obvious.]

Governor of St Briavel's Castle, Gloucestershire 1291. The Annales Londonienses name "domini Johannes Buttetort" among the judges sitting in London in 1302. He took a leading part in the Scottish wars of King Edward I. He was summoned to parliament in 1305, whereby he is held to have become Lord Botetourt. Lord of Mendlesham, Suffolk, in right of his wife. He joined the rebellion of Thomas Earl of Lancaster, and fought at the battle of Boroughbridge 16 Mar 1321/2. (Footnote 1)

He began his household career as a falconer in the 1270s. He first campaigned in Wales in 1282 as a squire in the household....
In 1286 he claimed view of frankpledge and free warren in Hamerton, Huntingdonshire....
In 1294 when the king faced the threat of French galleys raiding the south coast of England, he appointed two household knights, William de Leybourne and John Botetourt as captain and sub-captain of the fleet.
In the following year they were described as admirals—the first use of the term in England.
In 1296 he commanded 94 ships taken from the ports between Harwich and King's Lynn, the great majority from Yarmouth.
In 1298 and 1299 he served on four commissions of oyer and terminer.
In 1298 he had letters of protection for one year, he then going to Scotland. He was accompanied in that campaign by his younger brother, Guy Botetourt, and his valet, William Botetourt.
In 1300 he complained William de Wolcherchechaw, taverner, beat one of his carters and did "other enormities," the defendant came into court and pledged a cask of wine to him.
He was present at the siege of Caerlaverock in 1300; the metrical chronicler of that siege described him as "light of heart and doing good to all." The same year he was appointed one of three commissioners to inquire into cases of exportation of sterling money, gold and silver, plate, wool, etc., and the exchange of the same for base coin which was imported into England and unlawfully changed. He signed the Barons' letter to Pope Boniface VIII in 1301. In 1304 he held a raid into Nithsdale with 130 cavalry and 1,770 infantry. The same year the king ordered him to assist Robert de Brus, then on the English side, in transporting one great engine in preparation of the siege train for the siege of Sterling in Scotland.
He was summoned to Parliament from 13 July 1305 to 13 Sept. 1324, by writs directed Johanni Botetourt, whereby he may be held to have become Lord Botetourt. In 1305 he was appointed one of the justices of trailbaston. The same year he was sent to treat with the Scots on the affairs of that kingdom.
In 1306 he enrolled himself as performing the service of one knight in Scotland, but in fact he had a contingent of three knights and eleven squires with him.
In 1307 he again commanded a raid against the Scots. Sometime before 1309-10, he and his wife, Maud, conveyed land in Linslade, Buckinghamshire, to William Rous.
In 1309-10 William Fitz Walter conveyed the manor of Great Bradley, Suffolk, to him and his wife, Maud.
In 1310 he obtained a licence to alienate lands and rents in Mendlesham, Suffolk in mortmain to the value of 100s. for a chaplain to celebrate in Mendlesham church.
In 1311 he and his wife, Maud, were granted the reversion of the manors of Fulbourn, Cambridgeshire and Great Carbrooke, Norfolk by Baldwin de Manners, Knt., who died childless in 1320. John sold the former manor to William la Zouche Mortimer, Knt., Lord Zouche, and Alice his wife in 1323; the latter manor was held in 1327 by John Botetourt's son-in-law William le Latimer.
In 1312 John Botetourt and several others were granted letters of safe-conduct by the king to confer in London with Arnold, Cardinal of St. Prisca, and Louis, Count of Évreux, who were sent to help effect a reconciliation between King Edward II and the disaffected earls.
In 1314 he commanded the fleet employed in the expedition against Scotland. The same year Peter de Burgate, Knt., released all his right in the manor of Mendlesham, Suffolk to him and his wife, Maud.
In 1315 he complained that those recruited for his company were "feeble chaps, not strong enough, not properly dressed, and lacking bows and arrows."
In 1316 he presented his brother, Master Roger Botetourt, as rector of Great Bradley, Suffolk.
In 1318 he again presented to the church of Great Bradley, Suffolk. The same year he and his wife, Maud, complained that Richard, Abbot of St. Edmunds, William de Cleye, and many others came to Tivetshall, Norfolk, where Maud and some of the servants of the said John were lodged, maliciously raised a hue and cry against them, expelled the said Maud and the servants from the inn, carried away the goods of the said John, and assaulted the said servants....
In 1319 he and his wife, Maud, sold the manor of Woodmancote, Gloucestershire to Robert de Swynburn.
In 1320 he obtained a licence to alienate one acre of land in Fishley, Norfolk, together with the advowson of a moiety of the church of Fishley, Norfolk, to the Prior and Convent of St. Mary's, Weybridge, and for them to appropriate the said moiety, to find a chaplain to celebrate divine services for the soul of the said John and the souls of his ancestors.
In 1321 he and his wife, Maud, sold the manor of Shelsley Beauchamp, Worcestershire to John de Wysham, Knt. and his wife, Hawise de Poynings; in 1322-3 he conveyed the manor and advowson of the church of Little Ellingham, Norfolk to the same couple. John joined the rebellion of Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, and fought at the Battle of Boroughbridge 16 March 1321/2. He was subsequently fined £1000, and received a pardon 8 Oct. 1322.
In 1323 he and his wife, Maud, conveyed the manor of Ishampstead (in Chesham), Buckinghamshire, to Hugh le Despenser the younger, but, on Hugh's execution and attainder in 1326, the manor escheated to the crown and custody was re-granted to Maud Botetourt.
In 1323-4 they made a settlement of the manor of Great Carbrooke, Norfolk, evidently in connection with the marriage of their daughter, Elizabeth, to William le Latimer, as William was lord of this manor in 1327.
In 1324 John paid the Italian bankers, the Peruzzi, 100 marks, evidently in payment of a debt he owed to Hugh le Despenser the younger.... (Footnote 2 - Douglas Richardson)

24 Oct 1322, York
Licence for John Botetourt and Maud his wife to grant the manor of Chigenhale Trenchefoill, co. Essex, held in chief, to John de Sancto Philiberto and Ada his wife, to hold to them and the heirs of the said John de Sancto Philiberto.

Calendar of Patent Rolls, Edw. II, vol. 4, p. 210
Inquisition Post Mortem 587. JOHN BOTETOURT. 3
Writ, 30 November, 18 Edward II. [1324]
BEDFORD. Inq. 10 December, 18 Edward II.
Dilewik. The manor.
Wuttone. A third and a ninth part of the manor.
Ronhal. A moiety of the manor.
Kerdyngton. A third part of the manor with a mill at Bromham, 4 virgates of land in Bromham, and 30a. land held by Isabel de Bray for life.
All held as of the inheritance of Maud his wife of the king in chief as a third part of the barony of Bedford by service of a knight’s fee.
John, son of Thomas son of the aforesaid John, aged 7, is his next heir.

Writ, 30 November, 18 Edward II.

SUFFOLK. Inq. 21 December, 18 Edward II.

Mendlesham. The manor held jointly with Maud his wife, who survives, for their lives, by the gift of Hugh Pirpount [alias Perpound] by fine levied in the king’s court, of Thomas de Leukenore by service of 1d. yearly. John, son of Thomas Botetourt, aged 7, is his next heir.

NORFOLK. Inq. 25 December, 18 Edward II.

Great Kerbrok. The manor held jointly for life as above, by the gift of the aforesaid Hugh, of the heirs of Aymer de Valencia, earl of Pembroke, as of the manor of Hokham, by service of 1/4 knight’s fee. He died on 25 November last. Heir as above.

HUNTINGDON. Inq. 29 December, 18 Edward II.

Hamerton. The manor (extent given), held jointly for life as above, by the gift of the aforesaid Hugh, of Robert son of Walter, the elder, as in right of ——— sometime his wife who was one of the heirs of John de Burgo, by service of a pair of white gloves. Heir as above.

ESSEX. Inq. 20 December, 18 Edward II.

Belcham Otes. The manor held jointly for life as above, by the gift of the aforesaid Hugh, of the king in chief as of the honour of Boulogne by service of a knight’s fee.
Belcham Sancti Ethelberti. 100a. land, 4a. meadow, and 4s. rent, similarly held of the king in chief as of the honour of Boulogne by service of 1/8 knight’s fee.
Belcham William. The manor, similarly held of Robert de Veer, earl of Oxford, by knight’s service.
Gestingthorp. The manor, similarly held of Elizabeth de Burgh by knight’s service.
Gosfeld. The manor, similarly held of the said Elizabeth by knight’s service.
Oviton. The manor, similarly held of the earl Marshal by knight’s service. Date of death and heir, as above.

C. Edw. II. File 89. (16.)

Marriage Information:
John married Matilda (Maud) FITZ THOMAS, daughter of Thomas FITZ OTES, Lord of Mendlesham, and Beatrice DE BEAUCHAMP, between 1 Jul 1285 and 30 Jun 1292. (Matilda FITZ THOMAS was born in 1268/9 in Mendlesham, Hartismere, Suffolk, England and died shortly before 27 Nov 1328.)

Edward I ― one of the outstanding monarchs of the English Middle Ages―pioneered legal and parliamentary change in England, conquered Wales, and came close to conquering Scotland. A major player in European diplomacy and war, he acted as peacemaker during the 1280s but became involved in a bitter war with Philip IV a decade later. This book is the definitive account of a remarkable king and his long and significant reign. Widely praised when it was first published in 1988, it is now reissued with a new introduction and updated bibliographic guide.

" Prestwich Edward I (1997): 131-132 ("Edward [1] appears to have been remarkably faithful to his queens... there is the curious inclusion of John Botetourt in a genealogical table in a Hailes Abbey chronicle.
His name appears to be written over an erasure, and there is nothing in Botetourt's career to suggest that he was an illegitimate son of the king. He first appeared in royal service as a falconer, but rose to high rank, becoming a banneret in 1298. He was of East Anglian gentry origin, and became lord of Mendlesham through marriage. It is possible that the scribe intended to put the name of Edward's daughter Elizabeth's husband where Botetourt's now features.
This evidence places no more than a question mark against Edward's fidelity. Edward's grandfather John and his great-grandfather Henry II had not been faithful husbands, but attitudes and expectations changed in the thirteenth century. Henry III's reputation had been impeccable, as of course had that of Louis IX.
It would have been surprising had Edward not followed the precedent set by two kings whom he greatly admired. In general terms, the Hailes chronicle is a reliable source, but in the absence of any corroborative evidence, it is difficult to credit the evidence of this genealogical table.
It is worth noting that Edward II's bastard son was duly acknowledged as such in a royal record, there is no such evidence in the case of John Botetourt"

" But this estate descended to Maud (Fitz-Otho), the last surviving daughter of Fitz-Otho, by the before-mentioned Beatrix; and this Maud conveyed it to her husband, Sir John de Botetourt, of Mendlesham, in Suffolk, to whom she was married in 1302. "

" Like his brother, William, Brokesby enlisted for military service on Henry V’s first expedition to France: he took out royal letters of protection in June 1415 and was mustered with a small troop of a lance and six archers under the banner of the duke of York. But this experience of warfare, to which he was evidently not suited, was never repeated. Following his return home he devoted his energies primarily to the affairs of Archbishop Arundel’s niece, Joan Fitzalan, widow of William, Lord Beauchamp of Abergavenny, within a short time becoming her principal legal agent and counsellor. Brokesby’s connexion with Lady Joan had probably been forged as early as 1412 and by Michaelmas 1416 he was acting as one of the trustees of the estates which John, Lord Arundel and Mautravers, warranted to her for life on condition that she would not implead him for the earldom of Arundel (she being sister and coheir of the late Earl Thomas). A similar task fell to him over the years 1417-19 when Lady Joan purchased from the coheirs of Joyce, Lady Burnell, the reversion of two-thirds of the substantial Botetourt inheritance, then held for life by Hugh, Lord Burnell. The main preoccupation of the last years of the latter’s life was to benefit his friend Lady Joan: in the will he made in 1417 he gave her everything he had and appointed her closest advisors — Brokesby and Walter Keble — to assist her in the duties of executorship.

" In the spring of 1418 the lady of Abergavenny and her followers were responsible for major civil disturbances in Warwickshire; she was required to undertake under pain of £1,200 to keep the peace in future, while Brokesby was among those of her retainers bound in £200 each to do likewise. Lady Joan often used Brokesby as her agent to make presentations to ecclesiastical livings in her patronage, and relied on him to stand surety for her at the Exchequer. Thus, in November 1420 he provided guarantees that she would make payments of 200 marks and £100 respectively for custody of the Mytton ward and of the late (Sir) Ralph Arderne’s* estates.

" Not long afterwards he attended the Leicestershire elections to Parliament, witnessing the return of James Bellers, who in the following March was to name him as an overseer of his will.7 In November 1427, while Brokesby’s own fourth Parliament was in session, he shared with Sir Richard Hastings† and others a lease at the Exchequer of the estates recently held in dower by the widow of Henry, Lord Beaumont, for the duration of the minority of Beaumont’s heir.

" Thus began a close association with the latter, Lord John (afterwards Viscount Beaumont), who in 1438 was to ask him to be godfather to his second son, William (his eventual successor), and a few years later to be trustee of certain family properties.8 In the meantime, the lady of Abergavenny had been party to various transactions with her nephew John, duke of Norfolk, and in 1428 she and her feoffees, including Brokesby, were associated with him in the acquisition of a manor in Essex. When, in December that year, a long and costly lawsuit between certain of Norfolk’s retainers and a Coventry yeoman was put to the arbitration of Brokesby and others, the duke paid his expenses at Coventry for two days and nights. By then Brokesby had been made a trustee of those lands which Lady Joan had inherited from her late brother the earl of Arundel, and in 1430 he became her co-feoffee of the estates in four counties owned by her son-in-law James, 4th earl of Ormond, for the purpose of effecting an entail in favour of her grandsons. "

" At the end of the year she wrote to the abbot of Bury St. Edmunds to recommend him for the stewardship of the abbatial liberty (a post in her patronage), he being ‘a man that I trust to God shal rule hym so to yow in that office that God and yeo shal be pleasid withal’. He was duly appointed in preference to the candidate put forward by Lord Grey of Ruthin. During Brokesby’s sixth and last Parliament, in 1432, his lady petitioned the Crown to point out errors of record in the suit proceeding in the King’s bench with regard to her Chancery recognizance of 1418, it being alleged that she should incur forfeiture of £1,200 for abetment of an assault at Birmingham in her dispute with Lord Ferrers of Chartley (an affray in which, incidentally, Brokesby’s nephew "

" Henry had been a party as one of her retainers); but it was not until the next Parliament (1433) that she secured a reduction of the sum forfeited. When Lady Joan made her will on 10 Jan. 1435 she appointed among her executors Brokesby and Robert Darcy*, and it was on these two and Walter Keble that the brunt of the administration was to fall. All her wards with their marriages and livelihood were to be under their governance, and they were to have custody of all the ‘stuffe’at Abergavenny castle bequeathed to her grandson and heir, Sir James Ormond (afterwards earl of Wiltshire), until he reached the age of discretion. "

" Brokesby and Keble alone were to provide for the obsequies at her burial place at Hereford and be present there in person every year on the day of her obit. Brokesby received personal bequests of a bed of black and red silk, a considerable quantity of gold and silver plate, lavishly embroidered wall hangings and his lady’s best gown trimmed with martens’ fur. After her death he was responsible for arranging for masses to be said at Leicester abbey for her soul’s welfare.9 For the rest of his life Brokesby continued to act in the posthumous interests of Lady Joan and her heir. "

" Nor was this an easy task: he and Darcy had trouble with one of the Botetourt coheirs, Sir Maurice Berkeley† of Uley, and, eventually being bound to stand to the ordinance of Richard, earl of Warwick, they were forced to relinquish the property in dispute. The estates which he continued to hold in trust included those allotted to him and his co-feoffees after the death in 1439 of Beatrice, dowager countess of Arundel, and from 1447 he also served as Sir James Ormond’s feoffee of part of his inheritance. "

" All this time he had retained 700 marks of Lady Joan’s money to the use of Thomas Ormond, the heir’s brother.10 "