Life

He is assumed to be a native of Sadington in Leicestershire

Leicestershire

Leicestershire is a landlocked county in the English Midlands. It takes its name from the heavily populated City of Leicester, traditionally its administrative centre, although the City of Leicester unitary authority is today administered separately from the rest of Leicestershire...

, and perhaps a son of John de Sadington, a valet of Isabella of France

Isabella of France

Isabella of France , sometimes described as the She-wolf of France, was Queen consort of England as the wife of Edward II of England. She was the youngest surviving child and only surviving daughter of Philip IV of France and Joan I of Navarre...

. He appears as an advocate in the year-books from 1329 to 1336. On 12 February 1332 he was placed on the commission of peace for Leicestershire and Rutland

Rutland

Rutland is a landlocked county in central England, bounded on the west and north by Leicestershire, northeast by Lincolnshire and southeast by Peterborough and Northamptonshire....

, and on 25 June 1332 was a commissioner for the assessment of the tallage

Tallage

Tallage or talliage may have signified at first any tax, but became in England and France a land use or land tenure tax. Later in England it was further limited to assessments by the crown upon cities, boroughs, and royal domains...

 in the counties of Leicester, Warwick, and Worcester. Previously to 8 August 1334 he was justice in eyre

Eyre (legal term)

An Eyre or Iter was the name of a circuit traveled by an itinerant justice in medieval England, or the circuit court he presided over , or the right of the king to visit and inspect the holdings of any vassal...

 of the forest of Pickering and of the forests in Lancashire.

During 1336 he was a justice of gaol delivery at Lancaster and Warwick. On 20 March 1334 he was appointed chief baron of the exchequer, and appears to have been the first chief baron who was summoned to parliament by that title. On 25 July 1339 he was acting as lieutenant for the treasurer, William de Zouche, and from 2 May to 21 June 1340 was himself treasurer, but retained his office as chief baron. On 29 September 1343 he was appointed chancellor, being the third layman to hold this position during the reign. He resigned the great seal on 26 October 1345. The reason for his resignation is not given, but he was reappointed chief baron on 8 December 1345. He had been a trier of petitions for England in the parliaments of 1341 and 1343, and was a trier of petitions from the clergy in 1347. In 1346 Sadington was one of the guardians of the principality of Wales, duchy of Cornwall, and earldom of Chester during the minority of Edward, the Black Prince

Edward, the Black Prince

Edward of Woodstock, Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornwall, Prince of Aquitaine, KG was the eldest son of King Edward III of England and his wife Philippa of Hainault as well as father to King Richard II of England....

. In 1347 he presided over the commission appointed to try the earls of Fife and Menteith, who had been taken prisoners in the battle of Neville's Cross

Battle of Neville's Cross

The Battle of Neville's Cross took place to the west of Durham, England on 17 October 1346.-Background:In 1346, England was embroiled in the Hundred Years' War with France. In order to divert his enemy Philip VI of France appealed to David II of Scotland to attack the English from the north in...

.

His successor as chief baron was appointed on 7 April 1350, Sadington having been given leave to retire in 1349. He married Joyce, sister and heiress of Roger de Mortival, bishop of Salisbury. Isabel, his daughter and sole heir, married Sir Ralph Hastings.