John de Mowbray, 1st Earl of Nottingham

Who was John de Mowbray, 1st Earl of Nottingham?

John de Mowbray, 1st Earl of Nottingham was an English peer.

Born 1 August 1365 at Epworth in the Isle of Axholme, Lincolnshire, John de Mowbray was the elder son of John de Mowbray, 4th Baron Mowbray, and Elizabeth Segrave. He had a younger brother, Thomas de Mowbray, 1st Duke of Norfolk, and three sisters, Eleanor, Margaret and Joan. He was styled 'cousin' by John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster.

At the death of his mother in 1368, Mowbray is said to have become Baron Segrave. However he had little financial benefit from his inheritance as a result of the very large jointure which had been awarded to Elizabeth Segrave's mother, Margaret, Duchess of Norfolk, who lived until 1399.

In 1368 he also succeeded to the barony of Mowbray when his father was slain by the Turks near Constantinople while en route to the Holy Land.

In April 1372, custody of both John and his brother Thomas was granted to Blanche Wake, a sister of their grandmother, Joan of Lancaster. On 23 April 1377, he was knighted in company with the future Richard II and the future Henry IV when the latter two noblemen were made Knights of the Bath.