23rd Generation

6270464. Sir Knight Walter BLOUNT was born about 1350 in Elwaston, , England. He died on Jun 22, 1403 in Shrewsbury, , England. Bought the MOUNTJOY estate from his brother, John.

SIR WALTER BLOUNT, so celebrated for his martial prowess in [p. 55] the warlike times of EDWARD III., RICHARD II., and HENRY IV., and immortalized by the muse of Shakespeare for his devotion, even unto death, to King HENRY. Sir Walter fell at the battle of Shrewsbury, 22 June, 1403, wherein, being standard bearer, he was arrayed in the same armour as his royal master, and was slain, according to the poet, in single combat, by the Earl of Douglas, who had supposed he was contending with the king himself.

In 1367 we find Sir Walter accompanying the BLACK PRINCE and his brother, the DUKE OF LANCASTER (John of Gaunt), upon the expedition into Spain to aid PETER THE CRUEL, King of Castile, and assisting on 3 April in that year at the battle of Najore, which restored PETER to his throne. Thenceforward for a seris of years, indeed until the prince's decease, he appears to have been immediately and confidentially attached to the duke,
having chosen his wife, whom he m. about the year 1372, from amongst the ladies in the suite of CONSTANTIA OF CASTILE (eldest dau. of PETER, and his successor on the throne, who became the royal consort of JOHN OF GAUNT) when the princess visited England in 1369. In 1398 the duke granted 100 marks a year to Sir Walter for the good services which had been rendered to him by the knight and his wife, the Lady Sancia. The
Lady Sancia's maiden designation was DONNA SANCHA DE AYALA; she was the dau. of DON DIEGO GOMEZ DE TOLEDO, alcalde mayor and chief justice of Toledo, and notario mayor or principal secretary of the kingdom of Castile, by his wife, Inez Alfon DE AYALA, one of the most ancient and illustrious houses in Spain. JOHN OF GAUNT, at his decease, appointed Sir Walter one of his executors, and bequeathed him a
legacy of 100 points, £66 6s. 8d.

In 1374, Sir Walter's half-brother, Sir John BLOUNT, of Sodington, conveyed to him numerous manors, which he had inherited from his mother, Isolda, heiress of the MOUNTJOY family. In 1381 he became proprietor, by purchase, of the large estates of the BAKEPUIZ family, in cos. Derby, Stafford, Leicester, and Hertford. In 1385 he obtained a charter for a fair and free warren in his demesne lands at Barton, and other manors in Derbyshire. In 1399 he was ranger of Needwood Forest and knight of the shire for co. Derby. By his wife Donna Sancha, who survived him, and lived until 1418.

from Sir Bernard Burke's "A Genealogical History of the Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited, and
Extinct Peerages of the British Empire" (1883, Harrison, London). Sir Knight Walter BLOUNT and Sancha de AYALA were married in 1371 in Elwaston, , England.

6270465. Sancha de AYALA.Children were:

3135232

i.

James BLOUNT.