Sir John Cheyne or Cheney (died 1414) was a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house ...

and briefly the initial Speaker of the

House of Commons of England The House of Commons of England was the lower house of the Parliament of England (which incorporated Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England ...

in the Parliament of October 1399, summoned by the newly acclaimed Henry IV. In 1372, he married Margaret, daughter of William, Lord Deincourt and the widow of Robert, Lord Tiptoft which brought him wealth and status. He became an esquire in the king's household and was knighted in 1378. He took part in a number of diplomatic missions and became MP for

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

in 1390, 1393, 1394 and 1399. On the last occasion he was elected Speaker, but stood down on the ostensible grounds of ill-health, but may have been persuaded to do so by the influence of Thomas Arundel, archbishop of Canterbury, who was appalled by his election and warned the

clergy Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the t ...

that Cheyne was an inveterate enemy of the contemporary church. The revolution of 1399 made for strange bedfellows. Under Henry IV, he continued to be employed on diplomatic missions, including a two-year trip to Rome in 1407. He acquired property in Beckford, Gloucestershire as his principal estate. Being near to death, he was not implicated in the Oldcastle Rising of 1413/14, which involved a few, but far from all, of the sect, but the Cheynes of Drayton Beauchamp,

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-eas ...

, were, and they seem to have been his eventual heirs after the deaths of his sons.K.B. McFarlane, ''Lancastrian Kings and Lollard Knights''.

Death

He died in 1414 and was buried in Beckford churchyard. He had been married a second time to Margaret, daughter and heir of Sir Edward Lovetot of Southoe, Huntingdonshire with whom he had a son, John.

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cheyne, John Speakers of the House of Commons of England 1414 deaths Year of birth missing People from the Borough of Tewkesbury English MPs 1399 15th-century English people English MPs 1394 English MPs 1393 English MPs January 1390