John de Mowbray, 2nd Duke of Norfolk, 3rd Earl of Nottingham, 8th Baron Mowbray, 9th Baron Segrave KG, Earl Marshal (139219 October 1432) was an English nobleman and soldier. He was a younger son of the first Duke of Norfolk and Lady Elizabeth Fitzalan, but inherited his father's earldom of Norfolk (but not the dukedom) when his elder brother rebelled against King Henry IV and was executed before reaching the age of inheritance. This and the fact that his mother lived to old age and held a third of his estates in dower, meant that until the last few years of his life he was, although an important political figure, poorly-off financially.
Probably due to the need to augment his income, he took the still-popular path for young members of the English nobility by taking part in the Hundred Years' War in France. His first campaign was in 1415 with Henry V, and although he took part in some of the great expeditions, he, like so many of his comrades, fell badly ill with dysentery and had to return to England. For this reason, he missed the Battle of Agincourt.
When Henry V died in 1422, Mowbray remained a leading commander of the armed forces in France for the new boy-king, Henry VI. He continued campaigning there for the next five years, and, when parliament decided it was time to crown the new young king—in both Westminster Abbey and in France—Mowbray acted as both royal bodyguard and councillor. He also took part in Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester's personal campaign in Hainaut, which appears for once to have been profitable to him.
Foreign service occupied most of Mowbray's career but often cost him more than he gained from any spoils. Hence it was not until his mother died in 1425 that his fortunes changed for the better; not only did he inherit her large share of his father's estates, but he also received promotion from Earl of Norfolk to Duke of Norfolk. This followed a bitter dispute, while he was still earl, with Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, as to who held precedence within the English peerage; the question was never resolved, but avoided by making Mowbray a duke.
Whilst still a youth Mowbray had been married by his guardian, Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland, to Neville's eldest daughter, Katherine; Mowbray's marriage had cost Westmorland the princely sum of £2,000. John and Katherine had one son, also named John. Mowbray died in 1432, and his heir and namesake, although still a minor, inherited the dukedom. He was to have a relatively short career, although one which made him a significant player in the later Wars of the Roses. Katherine not only survived Mowbray but was to live until 1483, and she took three more husbands before her death, the last of whom, John Woodville, was young enough to be her grandson.
Youth and early career John Mowbray was born in Calais in 1392. He was the younger of two sons to Thomas Mowbray, 1st Duke of Norfolk and his second wife Elizabeth Fitzalan. Thomas Mowbray had died in 1399, and in 1405 John Mowbray's elder brother—also named Thomas—rebelled against King Henry IV. The rebellion failed, Thomas was beheaded for treason, and John succeeded to his father's earldoms of Norfolk and Nottingham as 5th and 3rd earl respectively. Whilst still only about fifteen in 1407, he was made a ward of his great-aunt Joan, Countess of Hereford (who was also the king's mother-in-law). Since she did not live at court, but in Essex (at either the castles of Rochford or Pleshey) it is likely her wards lived with her there (she also had custody of Richard de Vere, heir to the earldom of Oxford). Joan received an annuity to pay for his upkeep which had increased from £100 to £300 by 1410, in which year he left her wardship and became a ward of the king in the royal household. At the same time, even though still a minor, Mowbray began gradually receiving some of his patrimonial estates back from the crown. Thirteen at the time of his brother's death, he was made a ward of the Earl of Westmorland in 1411, who paid £2,000 for John's custody and marriage. Westmorland was a major northern magnate who had by this time repeatedly supported King Henry against various rebellions in the region.
On 12 January the following year, John married Neville's eldest daughter, Katherine. At this time he also received the return of his family's hereditary office of Earl Marshal, which had been granted to Westmorland in 1399 on the death of John's father. Historian Christine Carpenter has suggested that his restoration was part of Henry V's policy of reconciling the families that had rebelled against his father. Chris Given-Wilson has noted that in spite of this spirit of reconciliation, none of the heirs received outright their treacherous fathers' lands, and that this, therefore, made John Mowbray more likely to be "dependent on the crown" for additional sources of income. G. L. Harriss described Mowbray as "younger than the king and anxious to recover forfeited lands and titles and restore... family honour".
King Henry IV died in March 1413 and was succeeded by his eldest son, who became Henry V. It was probably at his coronation, on 9 April that year, that Mowbray first exercised his office of Earl Marshal, and as a fee, he was paid with a silver dish, worth approximately twenty-five marks. Furthermore, one of the old King's last acts, in early March, had been to restore Mowbray to full seisin of his estates, and to confirm him as Earl of Nottingham. Two days after the king's death, the earl was summoned to the parliament for the first time; however, he "continued to badger" the new king, Henry V, for the restoration of his full estates.
Military service in France
Under Henry V By the spring of 1414, the new king was publicly reiterating the claim to the French throne that English Kings had traditionally upheld. By April the next year, Mowbray indentured with the King for military service in France, contracting to supply four knights, forty-five men at arms, and 150 archers. On top of military personnel, Mowbray's extant accounts indicate that he also had to pay not only for materiél (such as tents, horses, armour, weapons and livery), but for support staff such as surgeons, priests, armourers and cooks. Providing this contingent and other preparations cost him £2,500, of which, eventually, only £1,450 was returned to him in campaign wages. So poor were Mowbray's finances at this time that he had had to borrow 1,000 marks from the Earl of Arundel; worse, he had to resort to the "dubious practice" of claiming that innocent—but prosperous—townsmen (from Norwich, for example) were in fact runaway villeins, and effectively blackmailed them with manumission fines. The Agincourt campaign ultimately cost Mowbray £1,000 more than he was paid. The King's expedition was due to leave from Southampton in August 1415; just before it did, however, a treasonous plot against Henry V was uncovered, which involved his cousin, Richard, Earl of Cambridge. In his capacity as Earl Marshal, Mowbray led the investigation into the plot on 1 August; four days later he sat in judgement upon them in a trial which ultimately condemned the conspirators to death.
Henry V's expeditionary force landed in France on 14 August, and Mowbray took part in the first major engagement, the siege of Harfleur. It was also his last engagement of the campaign—having caught the dysentery that was ravaging the English army, he (and around a quarter of his force and a third of the entire English army) returned to England in October to recover. As a result, John Mowbray was unable to take part in what became the most famous battle of the campaign, at Agincourt, which took place on 25 October soon after he left France. He recuperated at his family seat at Epworth, Lincolnshire, although he had recovered sufficiently by November to travel to London to welcome the victorious Henry V home. Early the following year he also took part in the welcoming committee that greeted the Emperor Sigismund at Dover on his visit to England, which resulted in the Treaty of Canterbury of 1416.
The following year Mowbray again contracted to go to France, this time with a bigger force than before, at 100 men-at-arms and 300 archers; he would not return to England for five years. During this period of the war he took part in some of the major sieges of the campaign, for example, those of Caen, Louviers, and Rouen. In February 1419, he was appointed to the captaincy of two French towns, but it would seem that Henry V—realising that these appointments would keep Mowbray occupied there, and "being apparently unwilling to proceed without his marshal"—cancelled them soon after. As a consequence of this, Mowbray was available to participate in the sieges of Évreux, Vernon, Ivry, Gisors and Melun later that year, the latter of which he played a major role, receiving its surrender in October that year.
In 1420, Mowbray continued with his success in the military; the extent of his activity is indicated by the fact that he had to allow duties in England to pass by. He passed Christmas 1419 with the king at his Rouen base, until March, when he captured the town of Fresnay-le-Vicomte (with John Holland, Earl of Huntingdon), which was followed by the Battle of Le Mans the same month, in which the Dauphin, Charles Valois, was routed. That Christmas he indentured again with the king, this time accepting the captaincy of Pontoise and contracting to provide 60 men-at-arms and 180 archers for the purpose. This appointment—Rowena Archer described it as an "onerous" one—was sufficient to prevent Mowbray from accompanying the King to England. Mowbray was only able to travel with Henry as far as Amiens; the king had just married Katherine of Valois, and they were travelling to England for her coronation. Mowbray should have attended per his office of Earl Marshal; the Earl of Worcester deputised for him. Similarly, when Mowbray was elected to the Order of the Garter, his installation had to be received for him by Rowland Lenthal, later High Sheriff of Hertfordshire.
With the Duke of Gloucester What has been described as a "curious" episode in Mowbray's career occurred in 1424. Already friends with Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, when the duke decided to invade the county of Hainaut in November that year, Mowbray journeyed with him and acted as his military commander. Little is known of this expedition except that, having raided Brabant, it was probably profitable for Mowbray.
Under Henry VI Mowbray was still in France when King Henry returned in 1421, maintaining a front line at Vermandois, Tierche and the Laonnois against La Hire and Jean Poton de Xaintrailles. It was only when the king died unexpectedly on 31 August 1422 that the earl returned to England accompanying the corpse. He attended parliament that year, although he was summoned under the name "Thomas", and Archer posits that that clerical error is indicative of how little, due to his French service, he was known in England. He also joined the royal council that the recent parliament had ordained would govern the country through the new King's long minority. Ralph Griffiths has also suggested that Norfolk's admission to that body "provided an injection of youth into discussions hitherto conducted by a rather elderly group."