John Berkeley (1352–1428) John Berkeley (1352–1428) Sir John Berkeley (1352–1428), of Beverston Castle, Gloucestershire was an English politician. He was the son of Thomas de Berkeley, 3rd Baron Berkeley of Berkeley Castle and Katherine Clivedon. He was knighted before 1383. He was appointed High Sheriff of Somerset and Dorset for 1390–91 and 1394–95, High Sheriff of Gloucestershire for 1392–93, 1397–98 and 1414–15, High Sheriff of Hampshire for 1402–03 and 1406–07, and High Sheriff of Wiltshire for 1410–11. He was a Member (MP) of the Parliament of England for Gloucestershire in February 1388, September 1388 and January 1397, for Somerset in November 1390 and
Baron Berkeley each baron were coined by John Smith of Nibley (d.1641), steward of the Berkeley estates, the biographer of the family and author of "Lives of the Berkeleys". The feudal barony of Berkeley was created "circa" 1155, when King Henry II granted the royal castle of Berkeley to the Anglo-Saxon royal financier Robert Fitzharding under the feudal land tenure "per baroniam". Prior to that time Berkeley Castle had been held in fee-farm by Roger I "de Berkeley" (d.1093), a Norman nobleman, possibly a son of Roger I of Tosny (died circa 1040), who acquired the surname "de Berkeley". Roger I "de