John Scott (died 1533)


Sir John Scott was the eldest son of Sir William Scott of Scot's Hall. He served in King Henry VIII's campaigns in France, and was active in local government in Kent and a Member of Parliament for New Romney. He was the grandfather of both Reginald Scott, author of The Discoverie of Witchcraft, a source for Shakespeare's Macbeth, and Thomas Keyes, who married Lady Mary Grey.

Family

According to MacMahon, the Scott family, which claimed descent from John Balliol, was among the leading families in Kent during the reign of King Henry VII.
John Scott, born about 1484, was the eldest son of Sir William Scott of Scot's Hall and Sibyl Lewknor, the daughter of Sir Thomas Lewknor of Trotton, Sussex. Scott's father, Sir William Scott, had been Comptroller of the Household to King Henry VII, and Scott's grandfather, Sir John Scott, had been Comptroller of the Household to King Edward IV. Both Scott's father and grandfather had held the offices of Constable of Dover Castle and Warden of the Cinque Ports, and Scott's father had been Marshal of Calais.
Scott had a brother, Edward, and three sisters, Anne, who married Sir Edward Boughton; Katherine; and Elizabeth.

Career

As a young man Scott was knighted by the future Emperor Charles V in 1511 while serving as a senior captain, under his relative Sir Edward Poynings, with the English forces sent by King Henry VIII to aid Margaret of Austria, Regent of the Low Countries, against Charles II, Duke of Guelders. According to MacMahon Henry VIII 'transmuted the honour into a knighthood of the body'. In 1512 he was elected Member of Parliament for New Romney. Scott may have participated in the French campaigns of 1512 and 1513; he was among the forces being marshaled at Calais in 1514 when negotiations for peace between England and France brought the war to a temporary halt. In 1514 and 1515 he was a commissioner for the subsidy in Sussex. In June 1520 he attended Henry VIII at the Field of Cloth of Gold. In 1522 he was in the service of George Nevill, 5th Baron Bergavenny, Constable of Dover Castle, and was placed in charge of transport when the Emperor Charles V landed at Dover on 28 May 1522. In 1523 Scott was with the English forces which invaded northern France under the Duke of Suffolk. In 1523 and 1524 he was a commissioner for the subsidy in Kent. He was Sheriff of Kent in 1527 and 1528, and a Justice of the Peace in that county from 1531 until his death. In May 1533 Scott was summoned to be a servitor at the coronation of Anne Boleyn. He died on 7 October 1533.

Marriage and issue

Scott married, before 22 November 1506, Anne Pympe, daughter and heiress of Reynold Pympe, esquire, of Nettlestead, Kent, by Elizabeth Pashley, the daughter of John Pashley, esquire.
Sir John Scott and Anne Pympe had five sons and seven daughters: