John Bourchier, 2nd Baron Berners
Portrait byAmbrosius Benson, 1520–1526
Born	c. 1467
Died	19 March 1533 Calais
Buried	Calais
Spouses	Katherine Howard Margaret Chedworth
Issue	Thomas Bourchier Joan Bourchier Margaret Bourchier Mary Bourchier Humphrey Bourchier James Bourchier George Bourchier Ursula Bourchier
Father	Humphrey Bourchier
Mother	Elizabeth Tilney

John Bourchier, 2nd Baron Berners (1467 – 19 March 1533) was an English soldier, statesman and translator.

John Bourchier, born about 1467, was the only son of Humphrey Bourchier (d. 1471 at theBattle of Barnet) andElizabeth Tilney (d. 1497), the daughter and sole heir ofSir Frederick Tilney ofBoston, Lincolnshire. Through his father, Bourchier was descended fromKing Edward III; his great-grandmother,Anne of Gloucester, was the daughter ofThomas of Woodstock, King Edward's youngest son.^[1]

By his mother's first marriage, Bourchier had two sisters,Margaret, who married firstly, John Sandys, secondly,Thomas Bryan, and thirdly, David Zouche, andAnne, who marriedThomas Fiennes, 8th Baron Dacre of Gilsland.

After the death of the elder Bourchier, his widow, Elizabeth, marriedThomas Howard, then Earl of Surrey, and later Duke of Norfolk.^[2] By his mother's second marriage Bourchier had ten half-siblings,Thomas Howard,Edward Howard,Edmund Howard, John Howard, Henry Howard, Charles Howard, Henry Howard, Richard Howard,Elizabeth Howard, and Muriel Howard.^[3]

After his father was slain fighting on theYorkist side at theBattle of Barnet in 1471, Bourchier became a ward ofJohn Howard. Duke of Norfolk. As noted above, Bourchier's mother, Elizabeth, had married as her second husbandThomas Howard, the eldest son and heir of Bourchier's guardian. In 1474, Bourchier's grandfather,John Bourchier, Baron Berners, died, and Bourchier inherited the title at the age of seven.^[4]

Bourchier was educated at Oxford University and in 1477 was created aKnight of the Bath. In 1492, he contracted to serve in the wars overseas and took part in suppressing theCornish rebellion of 1497 in support ofPerkin Warbeck. He owned a manor at West Horsley Place, which would be in the path of rebels as they moved from Guilford to Banstead.

In 1513 Bourchier was engaged at the capture ofThérouanne and in 1520 accompaniedHenry VIII and his entourage of peers and knights to the king's meeting in France withFrancis I of France at theField of the Cloth of Gold.^[5]

Bourchier held various offices of state underKing Henry VIII, includingLieutenant of Calais from 28 November 1520 andChancellor of the Exchequer from 14 July 1524.

Bourchier translated, at the King's request,Froissart's Chronicles (1523–1525), in such a manner as to make a distinct advance in English historical writing, and theGolden Book ofMarcus Aurelius (1534), as well asThe History of Arthur of Lytell Brytaine (Brittany), and the romance ofHuon of Bordeaux.^[6]

Bourchier died atCalais in 1533.

Before 13 May 1490 Bourchier married his step-father's half-sister, Katherine Howard, the daughter ofJohn Howard, by his second wife, Margaret Chedworth, and by her had a son and three daughters:^[7]

• Thomas Bourchier, who predeceased his father.
• Joan Bourchier (d. 1561), who married Edmund Knyvet (d. 1 May 1539), sergeant porter toKing Henry VIII
• Margaret Bourchier, who predeceased her father.
• Mary Bourchier, who marriedAlexander Unton of Wadley, but died without issue, predeceasing her father.

By a mistress^[8] Bourchier had three illegitimate sons and an illegitimate daughter:^[9]

• Humphrey Bourchier (d. 1540), esquire, who married Elizabeth Bacon, but had no issue.
• James Bourchier (d. 1554), who married Mary Bannaster, daughter of Humphrey Bannaster.
• George Bourchier
• Ursula Bourchier, who marriedSir William Sharington.^[10]

After Humphrey Bourchier's death, his widow married George Ferrers.

• Carley, James P. (2004)."Bourchier, John, second Baron Berners (c.1467–1533)".Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press.doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/2990. Retrieved21 November 2012. (Subscription,Wikipedia Library access orUK public library membership required.)(subscription required)
• Challis, C.E. (2004)."Sharington, Sir William (c.1495–1553)".Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press.doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/25205. Retrieved21 November 2012. (Subscription,Wikipedia Library access orUK public library membership required.)(subscription required)
• Lehmberg, Stanford (2004)."Knyvet, Sir Edmund (c.1508–1551)".Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press.doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/15797. Retrieved20 November 2012. (Subscription,Wikipedia Library access orUK public library membership required.)(subscription required)
• Richardson, Douglas (2011).Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, ed. Kimball G. Everingham. Vol. I (2nd ed.). Salt Lake City.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)ISBN 1449966373
• Richardson, Douglas (2011).Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, ed. Kimball G. Everingham. Vol. II (2nd ed.). Salt Lake City.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)ISBN 1449966381
• Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911)."Berners, John Bourchier" .Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 3 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

• Works by John Bourchier Berners atProject Gutenberg

• 1467 births
• 1533 deaths
• People from Hertfordshire
• Knights of the Bath
• Chancellors of the Exchequer of England
• Bourchier family
• 15th-century English writers
• 16th-century English writers
• 16th-century English male writers
• English translators
• English male non-fiction writers
• 16th-century English nobility
• Barons Berners

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