Richard le Scrope, 1st Baron Scrope of Bolton ( 1327 – 30 May 1403) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

soldier and courtier, serving

Richard II of England Richard II (6 January 1367 – ), also known as Richard of Bordeaux, was King of England from 1377 until he was deposed in 1399. He was the son of Edward the Black Prince, Prince of Wales, and Joan, Countess of Kent. Richard's father ...

. He also fought under the

Black Prince Edward of Woodstock, known to history as the Black Prince (15 June 1330 – 8 June 1376), was the eldest son of King Edward III of England, and the heir apparent to the English throne. He died before his father and so his son, Richard II, suc ...

at the

Battle of Crecy A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

in 1346.

Biography

Richard le Scrope was a

Knight of the Shire Knight of the shire ( la, milites comitatus) was the formal title for a member of parliament (MP) representing a county constituency in the British House of Commons, from its origins in the medieval Parliament of England until the Redistributio ...

for

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

in the parliament of 1364, and was summoned to the upper house as a baron by writ in 1371, when he was made

Lord High Treasurer The post of Lord High Treasurer or Lord Treasurer was an English government position and has been a British government position since the Acts of Union of 1707. A holder of the post would be the third-highest-ranked Great Officer of State ...

and Keeper of the Great Seal. In 1378 Lord Scrope became

Lord Chancellor The lord chancellor, formally the lord high chancellor of Great Britain, is the highest-ranking traditional minister among the Great Officers of State in Scotland and England in the United Kingdom, nominally outranking the prime minister. Th ...

, a role in which he attempted to curb the extravagance of Richard II, but resigned in 1380 when the government collapsed due to military failures in France. After the turbulence of the

Peasants' revolt The Peasants' Revolt, also named Wat Tyler's Rebellion or the Great Rising, was a major uprising across large parts of England in 1381. The revolt had various causes, including the socio-economic and political tensions generated by the Blac ...

, in which his successor was beheaded by the rebels, he took up the position again. He was finally deprived of office by King Richard for non-cooperation in 1382 and thereafter dedicated himself to the rebuilding of

Bolton Castle Bolton Castle is a 14th-century castle located in Wensleydale, Yorkshire, England (). The nearby village of Castle Bolton takes its name from the castle. The castle is a Grade I listed building and a Scheduled Ancient Monument. The castle was da ...

. on his estates in Wensleydale in Yorkshire, for which he had been given licence to crenellate. Both as a soldier and a statesman Lord Scrope was highly regarded and the new king Henry IV was moved to confirm that his lands and titles would not be forfeit in spite of the fact that his eldest son

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

had been executed by Henry in 1399 for William's support of Richard II. Richard Scrope died on 30 May 1403 in

Pishobury Pishiobury, sometimes spelled Pishobury, was a manor and estate in medieval Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire. Its denomination as "Pishiobury" only emerged in the mid to late 19th century. History This sub-manor of Pishiobury originated in a grant ...

, Hertfordshire (where he had bought a country estate) and was buried at Easby Abbey in Richmond, Yorkshire. His title passed to his second son Roger Scrope.

Heraldic litigant

Scrope engaged in several disputes with regard to his armorial bearings, the most celebrated of which was with Sir Robert Grosvenor for the right to the shield blazoned "Azure, a bend Or," which a court of chivalry decided in his favour after a controversy extending over four years (see

Scrope v Grosvenor ''Scrope v Grosvenor'' (1389) was an early intellectual property lawsuit, specifically regarding the law of arms. One of the earliest heraldic cases brought in England, the case resulted from two different knights in King Richard II's servic ...

Geoffrey Chaucer Geoffrey Chaucer (; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for '' The Canterbury Tales''. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He w ...

and

Owain Glyndŵr Owain ap Gruffydd (), commonly known as Owain Glyndŵr or Glyn Dŵr (, anglicised as Owen Glendower), was a Welsh leader, soldier and military commander who led a 15 year long Welsh War of Independence with the aim of ending English rule in Wa ...

gave evidence in Scrope's favour.

Family

He was a son of

Henry le Scrope Sir Henry le Scrope (b. in or before 1268 - 7 September 1336) was an English lawyer, and Chief Justice of the King's Bench for two periods between 1317 and 1330. He was the eldest son of Sir William le Scrope (c. 1259 - c. 1312), who was bailif ...

Richard le Scrope Richard Scrope may refer to: * Richard Scrope, 1st Baron Scrope of Bolton (c. 1327–1403), English soldier and courtier, builder of Bolton Castle *Richard Scrope (bishop) (c. 1350–1405), Archbishop of York * Richard Scrope, 3rd Baron Scrope of Bo ...

Archbishop of York The archbishop of York is a senior bishop in the Church of England, second only to the archbishop of Canterbury. The archbishop is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and the metropolitan bishop of the province of York, which covers ...

, was a first cousin. He married Blanche de la Pole (daughter of William de la Pole of

Hull Hull may refer to: Structures * Chassis, of an armored fighting vehicle * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a ship * Submarine hull Mathematics * Affine hull, in affi ...

), by whom he had four sons: * Roger le Scrope, 2nd Baron Scrope of Bolton * William le Scrope, 1st Earl of Wiltshire *Stephen le Scrope (died 1408) *Richard le Scrope

Footnotes

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Scrope Of Bolton, Richard le Scrope, 1st Baron 1320s births 1403 deaths English soldiers Lord chancellors of England Lord High Treasurers of England

Richard Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'stro ...

1 Peers created by Edward III