Richard Scrob (sometimes fitzScrob or FitzScrob;

fl. ''Floruit'' (; abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for "they flourished") denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indicatin ...

1051-1066) was a Frenchman who came to England prior to the

Norman Conquest of England The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, Duchy of Brittany, Breton, County of Flanders, Flemish, and Kingdom of France, French troops, ...

. Richard may have been a Norman, but it is not certain that he was. "Scrob" was not a patronymic, but rather an alternative name that was mistaken by the medieval chronicler John of Worcester as a patronymic. Thus Richard is often known as "Richard fitzScrob" or the alternative spellings.Lewis "Richard Scrob" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' Richard arrived in England during the reign of

Edward the Confessor Edward the Confessor ; la, Eduardus Confessor , ; ( 1003 – 5 January 1066) was one of the last Anglo-Saxon English kings. Usually considered the last king of the House of Wessex, he ruled from 1042 to 1066. Edward was the son of Æth ...

,Sanders ''English Baronies'' p. 75 probably early in the reign, as he was not expelled from England in 1052 along with many of other non-English landholders when

Godwin of Wessex Godwin of Wessex ( ang, Godwine; – 15 April 1053) was an English nobleman who became one of the most powerful earls in Kingdom of England, England under the Denmark, Danish king Cnut the Great (King of England from 1016 to 1035) and his succ ...

returned to power. He built Richard's Castle before 1051. Richard possibly held the office of Sheriff of Worcester during Edward's reign. It is, however, certain that he was trusted by Edward with royal business in his locality. He was also named as housecarl of the king. Richard's main holdings were at Auretone in Herefordshire. He built an earthwork castle there, Richard's Castle, which is one of the few castles that predate the Norman Conquest in England. Besides his holdings around Auretone, he also held lands nearby, extending into Worcestershire and Shropshire. When

William the Conqueror William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first House of Normandy, Norman List of English monarchs#House of Norman ...

invaded England, Richard joined the Norman cause and took part in the fighting against Eadric the Wild in Herefordshire. Richard married the daughter of Robert the Deacon, who may be the same person as

Robert fitzWimarc Robert fitz Wimarc (died before 1075, Theydon Mount, Chipping Ongar, Ongar, Essex) was a kinsman of both Edward the Confessor and William of Normandy, and was present at Edward's death bed. Nothing of his background is known except his kinship t ...

. Richard's heir was his son,

Osbern fitzRichard Osbern fitzRichard (sometimes Osbern fitz Richard Scrob;Baxter ''Earls of Mercia'' p. 122 died after 1088) was a Frenchman, perhaps Norman, who was a landowner and tenant-in-chief in England. Osbern served as a royal judge and sided with the baroni ...

,Keats-Rohan ''Domesday People'' p. 316 who held Richard's Castle by the time of the ''

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

''. He had another son William also. Richard's date of death is unknown, but his heir held his lands by 1086.

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* * * {{authority control Normans 11th-century deaths Normans in England High Sheriffs of Worcestershire