John Blount, 3rd Baron Mountjoy, was the second son of Walter, 1st Baron Mountjoy, and succeeded to the barony in 1475 on the death of his young nephew Edward. His tenure encompassed the final years of the Yorkist regime and the dramatic events of 1484–85 in the Pale of Calais, in which his brother James played a central and ultimately decisive role in the downfall of Richard III.
His will, written six days before his death on 12 October 1485, contains one of the most poignant passages in the family’s history: advice to his young sons never to desire to be great about princes, ‘for it is dangerous’ – written by a man whose family had suffered three violent deaths in royal service within living memory. He was succeeded as 4th Baron Mountjoy by his elder son William, who was born at Barton Blount.
Career
John Blount was born about 1450 in Rock, Worcestershire, the second son of Walter, 1st Baron Mountjoy, by his first wife Helena Byron. He was appointed Lieutenant of Hammes, within the Pale of Calais, on 6 April 1470 – Hammes being one of the three fortresses (with Calais and Guînes) that formed England’s last remaining foothold on the continent.
When his nephew Edward, 2nd Baron, died without issue in 1475, John inherited the barony as the next male heir. He was knighted in January 1478 at the marriage of Edward IV’s son Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York. Under Richard III he was appointed Constable of Guînes, the second of the three Pale castles in seniority; but by August 1484 he was so gravely ill that he required Sir Thomas Montgomery to act as his deputy, and he ceded the active command of Hammes to his younger brother James.
The 1484 crisis and James Blount’s defection
The events of late 1484 in the Pale of Calais were among the most dramatic of the Wars of the Roses. Among the prisoners at Hammes was John de Vere, 13th Earl of Oxford, held there since 1474. James Blount had come to know Oxford well over a decade of shared captivity, and in October 1484 he released the Earl and fled with him to join Henry of Richmond – the future Henry VII – at the French court, dealing Richard III a major strategic and propaganda blow.
The nominal lord of Hammes was John, 3rd Baron Mountjoy, and it is unclear how much he knew or consented to his brother’s action; seriously ill, he appears to have left the decisive role to James. James and others landed with Henry at Milford Haven on 7 August 1485 and fought at Bosworth.
Death and will
John Blount made his will on 6 October 1485, barely a week after the Battle of Bosworth. He bequeathed to his second son Rowland a chain of gold set with diamonds and to his daughter Constance £100 for her marriage. His instructions to his sons included the famous admonition to ‘live rightwisely and never to take the state of baron upon them if they may leave it from them, nor to desire to be great about princes for it is dangerous’. He died six days later, on 12 October 1485.
In 1488 the wardship of his eldest son and heir, William Blount, then about seven, was granted to his uncle James (d. 1492), who oversaw the young lord’s upbringing until his own death.
Marriage and children
John married, about 1477, Lora Berkeley (d. 1501), daughter of Edward Berkeley of Beverston Castle, Gloucestershire. They had two sons – William (the 4th Baron) and Rowland (d. 1509 without issue) – and two daughters, Lora and Constance, who married Sir Thomas Tyrrell of Heron, Essex. After John’s death, Lora Berkeley married secondly Sir Thomas Montgomery and thirdly Thomas Butler, 7th Earl of Ormond. His birth date (c. 1450) follows the principal modern account; some older sources give c. 1445.