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- Pallbearer to Edward IV. Said to have had charge of the left wing at Bosworth Field; subsequently made Knight of the Garter by Henry VII.
Killed at the siege of Boulogne. According to J. D. Mackie, The Earlier Tudors 1485-1558 (Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1952), "The siege was not pressed hard, and save that Sir John Savage was killed nothing of note occured."
"Traditionally, the wife of Sir John Savage is claimed to have been Dorothy Vernon, a descendant of the Vernons of Shipbrook, Cheshire. This claim is based upon the Visitation of Cheshire of 1580 [...T]here is no evidence that Dorothy Vernon even existed." [The Ancestry of Dorothea Poyntz, citation details below.]
"Sir John (V) Savage (d. 1492), who fought for Edward IV at Tewkesbury, became a royal carver and knight of the body, and was second in order of precedence when Edward was buried. He received many important grants, including that of the constableship of Hanley Castle, Worcestershire. As such close supporters of Edward IV, and associates of the Stanleys, it is not surprising that John (V) and his father seem to have been mistrusted by Richard III. Thomas Savage may have been abroad during the latter's reign and possibly acted as the Savages' direct contact with Henry Tudor. According to Polydore Vergil, John (V) was one of those who 'invited' Tudor to invade. He certainly played an important role at Bosworth, where he commanded the left wing. The author of Bosworth Feilde described him and his men, clad in their distinctive white livery hood:
Sir John Savage, that hardy Knight,
deathes dentes he delt that day
with many a white hood in fight,
that sad men were at assay.
As a result of this support, in 1486 he received an extensive grant in the north midlands of the forfeited estates of John, Lord Zouche, and Francis, Viscount Lovell, valued at £158 p.a. or more. He also received extensive grants of office, especially in Worcestershire and Gloucestershire. The support of the Savages for Henry Tudor guaranteed them a growing prominence at court, and at eight out of eleven council meetings for which evidence survives during the period June–July 1486 either John (V), or Thomas, or both, were present. Sir John (V) Savage led the force that seized Humphrey Stafford from sanctuary at Culham in 1486. [...] Sir John (V) was killed at the siege of Boulogne in 1492." [Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, citation details below]
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