John de Wingfield

Who is John de Wingfield?

Sir John de Wingfield was chief administrator to Edward the Black Prince. He and both his brothers fought at Crecy in 1346. He fought in the Normandy campaign from 1347-48. He was appointed 'governor of the prince's business' to Edward the Black Prince round about 1351. In 1356 Wingfield fought at Poitiers capturing the head of the French King John II's bodyguard, Sire D'Aubigny. Edward III purchased this captive from Wingfield for £833 . Wingfield died round about 1361, possibly of the second outbreak of the Black Death.

His will provided for the founding of Wingfield College in 1362. The college was endowed by the Black Prince. Sir John Wingfield's only child, his daughter and heiress, married Michael de la Pole, later 1st Earl of Suffolk and lived at Wingfield Castle in Suffolk.