It appears that he passed the greater part of his life in the field, and that he was the "hero of a hundred battles." He was at the
Battle of Halidon Hill in Scotland, and at the taking of Berwick in July 1333. On 12 July 1338, he was in France, in the retinue of the Earl of Salisbury and was present at the
Battle of Crécy in August 1346. On 29 August 1350, he was at the naval battle under King Edward III in person, when a complete victory was gained over the Spanish fleet, thence called the
Battle of Les Espagnols sur Mer (modern:
Battle of Winchelsea). Sully was in Gascony with the
Black Prince in 1355 and 1356, and a payment was made to him at
Bordeaux on 1 October 1355 by the hands of Richard Baker his
esquire.' On 17 September 1356, he shared in the honours of the
Battle of Poitiers and
letters of protection were granted to him in 1359, when he was in the army in Gascony. In 1361, he obtained the following singular grant from the King: "That he might once in every year during his life, in any of the royal forests, parks, or chases in the realm, have one shot with his bow, one course with his hounds, and one chase for his dog called
Bercelette". The merits of Sir John Sully were about this time rewarded in the most striking manner. On the feast of St. George 1362 he was elected into the Order of the Garter, in the ninth stall on the Prince's side, in lieu of Sir Reginald Cobham; and the
Garter stall plate of his arms was still remaining in the reign of Charles II. In 1362, he was a mainpernor for John de Saint Low the son, and Matthew de Goumay, then prisoners in the
Tower of London. Sully again accompanied the
Black Prince to Gascony in 1365, and in April 1367 was at the
Battle of Nájera. Three years afterwards, in 1370, he again received letters of protection, being about to serve in Acquitaine and as he was then nearly ninety years old, it is not surprising that his name does not afterwards occur in public records until his appearance as a witness in favour of Sir Richard Scrope. He seems to have then retired from public life, attended by Richard Baker his faithful esquire, who, having partaken of his master's toils and dangers, became the companion of his latter years.
Crusader The following anecdote of a Sir John Sully is related by Pole: :"Sir John Sully, renowned for his exploits in the Holy Land against the Saracens, in which he was weakened by many wounds, returned home after many years' discontinuance, whereupon his officers bringing in the accounts of his rent, which amounted to a great mass of money, he caused his cloak, being of
cloth of gold, to be spread on the ground, and commanding the money to be put therein, cast himself thereinto, that it might be said for once he tumbled in gold and silver; whereof he afterwards gave one part to his wife, a second to his officers and tenants, a third part to the poor". His action was deemed by the Duchess of Cleveland (1889) "a childish excursion into
Tom Tidler's Ground."
Deponent at Scrope v Grosvenor Due to his very old age of 105, and his inability to travel to the court of the
Earl Marshal, an officer of the court was sent to his house at Iddesleigh to record his deposition, which he gave in favour of Sir Richard Scrope in the famous case of
Scrope v Grosvenor, decided in 1389, in which he stated he saw Scrope bear the arms which formed the subject of the case. Sir John Sully, of the age of one hundred and five year, and armed eighty years, deposed that he had seen and known the arms of Sir Richard Scrope, borne by Sir Henry Scrope, at the battle of Halidon Hill,
blazoned: "the field azure, a bend or, with a label argent". He afterwards saw the said Sir Henry armed in the same arms at the
Siege of Berwick; Sir William Scrope at the battle of Cressy so armed with a difference; the said Sir Richard armed in the same arms at the Battle of Espagnols-sur-mere; and afterwards saw the said Sir William Scrope armed in the same arms with the
Black Prince at the battle of Poictiers, and the said Sir Richard so armed at the battle of Spain, [Najara.] Sully said he had also seen and known others of the name and lineage armed in the same arms in journeys and expeditions, with
differences; and in his time he had always heard that the said arms belonged to Sir Richard Scrope by descent, who, with others of his lineage, had peaceably enjoyed them from beyond the time of memory. As to Sir Robert Grosvenor, he never saw or heard of him or of his ancestors, until the time of his examination. ==Landholdings==