Sir John Donne

Sir John Donne (c.1420s – January 1503)[1] was a Welsh courtier, diplomat and soldier, a notable figure of the Yorkist party.

His father Griffith (Gruffydd) reputedly fought at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415 and certainly in many other French campaigns; he was Lieutenant of Cherbourg in 1424.

His mother was Joan Scudamore, a grandchild of Owain Glyndŵr, the last independent Prince of Wales, who disappeared into hiding in 1412.

Donne was their third son who entered, probably in his late teens, the service of the Duke of York, father of Edward IV.

He was probably the Jehan Don present at the extravagantly celebrated wedding in Bruges in 1468 of Charles the Bold and Margaret of York, sister of Edward IV.

Apart from the Memling, there are two surviving Flemish illuminated manuscripts commissioned by Donne in the British Library, plus a second-hand one (BL MS Royal 15 D iv) that was a gift from the two Duchesses of Burgundy (the widowed Margaret and her stepdaughter Mary) with the inscriptions: "For yet not har that ys on of yor treu frendes Margarete of Yorke" ("Forget not her that is one of your true friends, Margarete of York), and "Prenez moy ajames pour vre bonne amie Marie D. de bourg.ne" ("Take me forever for your good friend, Mary, Duchess of Burgundy").

His formal diplomatic career seems to have begun in February 1477, when he and John Morton, the future Lord Chancellor and Archbishop of Canterbury, were ambassadors to the French court.

He managed to avoid getting caught in the fall of Hastings in 1483, and was appointed High Sheriff of Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire for 1485 under King Richard III.

After the change of dynasty in 1485, he must have made an accommodation with his fellow Welshman, Henry VII, at which point he would have reached an age to retire in any case.

Both he and his wife are buried in St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle, next to Edward IV and Hastings, which is in itself indicative of royal favour.