Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 18.djvu/316

 ‘It shall be done.’ The larger council being held it was decided that Felton be sent to Spain with a fleet of twelve ships to bring Don Pedro. Having set out he landed at Bayonne, where Don Pedro had already arrived, and returned with him and his suite to Bordeaux. Power to treat with Pedro, king of Castile, was given to him as seneschal of Aquitaine representing Edward, prince of Wales, in letters dated 8 Feb. 1362. The invasion of Spain having been agreed upon, Felton and Chandos obtained leave from the king of Navarre to cross the mountain passes into Spain. Felton preceded the prince with a small force, and found the enemy encamped near Navarrete, 1367. They were attacked by a large body of Spaniards, and all either killed or taken prisoners. Felton was exchanged for the French Marshal d'Audreham, who was afterwards taken prisoner by the English at the battle of Navarrete. He subsequently took part in combats and sieges at Monsac, at Duravel, and at Domme, and was then recalled to Angoulême by the prince, and sent into Poitou with the Earl of Pembroke. He secured La Linde on the Dordogne when about to be betrayed to the French. He joined the Duke of Lancaster in an attack on the town of Mont-Paon, and made an unsuccessful attempt to relieve the garrison of Thouars. In spite of his efforts Monsac was lost to the English. In 1372, when the Black Prince had surrendered the principality of Aquitaine into the king's hands, it was granted by royal commission to Felton and Sir Robert Wykford; and on the final withdrawal of the Duke of Lancaster, Felton was appointed seneschal of Bordeaux. In February 1375 he returned to England; in 1376 he was charged with the execution of the truce, and in December of the same year he was charged to negotiate with the king of Navarre. He caused Guillaume de Pommiers and his secretary to be beheaded at Bordeaux for treason. He was at length again taken prisoner by the French near Bordeaux, 1 Nov. 1377. In 1380 Joan or Johanna, his wife, petitioned the king that a French prisoner in England should not be ransomed until her husband had been set at liberty. In August of the same year the king granted to Felton for the payment of his ransom thirty thousand francs from the ransom of two French prisoners. In April a procuration had been signed by the Comte de Foix to set him at liberty. During the same year he received letters of protection in England to enable him to return to France for matters connected with the payment of his ransom. The lands and barony of Chaumont in Gascony were given by Edward III to Sir John Chandos, with a reversion at his death to Felton. He was made a knight of the Garter in January 1381, and his plate is still to be seen in St. George's Chapel, Windsor, in the tenth stall, on the sovereign's side. He died 2 April 1381. Besides the manor of Litcham, Norfolk, Felton owned the manor called Felton's at Barrow, Suffolk, and other property in the neighbourhood. By his wife, Joan, he left three daughters: Mary, wife of Sir John Curson of Beke or Beek, Norfolk; Sibyll, wife of Sir Thomas de Morley; and Eleanor, wife of Sir Thomas de Ufford.

 FELTON, THOMAS (1567?–1588), Franciscan friar, son of John Felton (d 1570) [q. v.], born about 1567 at Bermondsey Abbey, Surrey, was in his youth page to Lady Lovett. Afterwards he was sent to the English College at Rheims, where he received the first tonsure from the hands of the Cardinal de Guise, archbishop of Rheims, in 1583 (Douay Diaries, p. 199, where he is described as ‘Nordovicen’). He then entered the order of Minims, but being unable to endure its austerities he returned to England. On landing he was arrested, brought to London, and committed to the Poultry Compter. About two years later his aunt, Mrs. Blount, obtained his release through the interest of some of her friends at court. He attempted to return to France, but was again intercepted and committed to Bridewell. After some time he regained his liberty, and made a second attempt to get back to Rheims, but was rearrested and recommitted to Bridewell, where he was put into ‘Little Ease’ and otherwise cruelly tortured. He was brought to trial at Newgate, just after the defeat of the Armada, and was asked whether, if the Spanish forces had landed, he would have taken the part of the queen. His reply was that he would have taken part with God and his country. But he refused to acknowledge the queen to be the supreme head of the church of England, and was accordingly condemned to death. The next day, 28 Aug. 1588, he and another priest, named James Claxton or Clarkson, were conveyed on horseback from Bridewell to the place of execution, between Brentford and Hounslow, and were there hanged and quartered.

