Editing John Fortescue (judge) (section)

{{short description|English jurist (c. 1394–1479)}}
{{other people||John Fortescue (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix    = Sir
| name                = John Fortescue
| image               = Court of King's Bench (cropped) - chief justice attire.JPG
| caption             = Depiction of a Chief Justice of the King's Bench contemporary to Fortescue's term in office
| office              = [[Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales|Chief Justice of the King's Bench]]
| term_start          = 25 January 1442
| term_end            = [[Easter term]] 1460
| appointer           = [[Henry VI of England|Henry VI]]
| predecessor         = [[John Hody]]
| successor           = [[John Markham (judge)|John Markham]]
| birth_date          = {{circa}} 1394
| birth_place         = Norris, North Huish, [[Devon]], England
| death_date          = {{Death year and age|1479|1394}}
| death_place         = Ebrington, Gloucestershire, England
| restingplace        = St. Eadburgha's Church, [[Ebrington]], [[Gloucestershire]], England
| restingplacecoordinates = {{coord|52|3|28.98|N|1|44|0.92|W|display=inline}}
| nationality         = [[England|English]]
| alma_mater          = [[Exeter College, Oxford]]
| signature           = 
}}
[[File:Fortescue arms.svg|thumb|200px|Arms of Fortescue: ''Azure, a bend [[line (heraldry)#Engrailed and invected|engrailed]] argent plain [[ordinary (heraldry)#Cottise and cottising|cottised]] Or''. Motto: "Forte Scutum Salus Ducum" ("A Strong Shield is the Salvation of Leaders")<ref>{{citation|editor=P. W. Montague-Smith|title=[[Debrett's|Debrett's Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage and Companionage 1968: With Her Majesty's Royal Warrant Holders: Comprises Information Concerning the Peerage, Privy Councillors, Baronets, Knights, and Companions of Orders]]|location=Surrey|publisher=[[Kelly's Directory|Kelly's Directories]]|year=1968|page=461|oclc=8972816}}</ref>]]
[[File:Sir John Fortescue.jpg|thumb|A drawing of Fortescue in anachronistic 17th-century dress with an oversized [[Great Seal of the Realm|Great Seal of England]], from the Legal Portrait Collection of [[Harvard Law School|Harvard Law School Library]]]]

'''Sir John Fortescue''' ({{circa}}&nbsp;1394 – December 1479), of [[Ebrington Manor|Ebrington]] in Gloucestershire, was [[Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales|Chief Justice of the King's Bench]] and the author of ''De Laudibus Legum Angliae'' (''Commendation of the Laws of England''),<ref name=EB1911>{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Fortescue, Sir John (lawyer) |display=Fortescue, Sir John |volume=10 |page=678}}</ref> first published posthumously ''circa'' 1543, an influential treatise on [[English law]]. In the course of [[Henry VI of England|Henry VI]]'s reign, Fortescue was appointed one of the governors of [[Lincoln's Inn]] three times and served as a Member of Parliament from 1421 to 1437.<ref name="parliament">{{cite web|title=FORTESCUE, John (d.1479), of Devon.|url=http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1386-1421/member/fortescue-john-1479|website=History of Parliament Online|publisher=The History of Parliament Trust|access-date=22 December 2015}}</ref> He became one of the [[serjeant-at-law#King's Serjeants|King's Serjeants]] during the [[Easter term]] of 1441, and subsequently served as Chief Justice of the King's Bench from 25 January 1442 to Easter term 1460.<ref name = ODNB>{{cite ODNB|title = Oxford Dictionary of National Biography|author = E. W. Ives|url = https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/9944|date = 22 September 2005| doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/9944 |access-date = 23 July 2023}}</ref><ref name =HOP>{{cite book|title = The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1386-1421|editor = J.S. Roskell |editor2=L. Clark |editor3=C.Rawcliffe |year = 1993|url = https://historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1386-1421/member/fortescue-john-1479|access-date = 23 July 2023}}</ref><ref name = Viv>{{cite book|editor=John Lambrick Vivian|title=The Visitations of the County of Devon: Comprising the Herald's Visitations of 1531, 1564, & 1620|location=Exeter|publisher=H. S. Eland|year=1895|page=353|url = https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=yale.39002002213917&view=1up&seq=367|access-date = 23 July 2023}}</ref>

During the [[Wars of the Roses]], Henry VI was deposed in 1461 by Edward of York, who ascended the throne as [[Edward IV of England|Edward IV]]. Henry and his queen, [[Margaret of Anjou]], later fled to Scotland. Fortescue remained loyal to Henry, and as a result was [[attainder|attainted]] of [[treason]]. He is believed to have been given the nominal title of [[Lord Chancellor|Chancellor of England]] during Henry's exile. He accompanied Queen Margaret and her court while they remained on the Continent<ref name=EB1911/> between 1463 and 1471, and wrote ''De Laudibus Legum Angliae'' for the instruction of young Prince [[Edward of Westminster|Edward]]. After the defeat of the [[House of Lancaster]], he submitted to Edward IV who reversed his attainder in October 1471.