George Talbot, 4th Earl of Shrewsbury (1468-26 July 1538) was Lord High Steward of Ireland from 1473 to 1538 and Lord Steward of England from 1502 to 1538.
Biography[]
George Talbot was born at Shifnal, Shropshire, England in 1468, the son of John Talbot, 3rd Earl of Shrewsbury and the daughter of Humphrey Stafford, 1st Duke of Buckingham. He succeeded to his father's peerage in 1473 and was knighted an Order of the Bath in 1475. Under King Henry VII of England, he was a distinguished and honored warrior, fighting with distinction against Lambert Simmel at the Battle of Stoke in 1487. In 1489, he took part in an expedition to Flanders to assist the Holy Roman Empire against France, and he was made godfather to Princess Margaret Tudor, Henry VII's first daughter. Shrewsbury served King Henry VIII just as he had served his father, and he served as a Chamberlain of the Exchequer from 1509 to 1538, a Privy Councillor in 1512, and Lieutenant-General of the North in 1522. In 1512, he served as a Lieutenant-General of the English army in France during the War of the League of Cambrai, and he was present at the Battle of the Spurs and the capture of Therouanne. Shrewsbury also supported King Henry's divorce from Catherine of Aragon and the downfall of Cardinal Thomas Wolsey. In 1536, Shrewsbury raised forces on his own authority to quell the Pilgrimage of Grace, and he signed an armistice with rebel leader Robert Aske, who laid down his demands before the King. Shrewsbury died in 1538 at the age of 70.