Sir William de Thorpe (died 27 May 1361) 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 ide ...

lawyer who was

Chief Justice of the King's Bench Chief may refer to: Title or rank Military and law enforcement * Chief master sergeant, the ninth, and highest, enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force * Chief of police, the head of a police department * Chief of the boa ...

from 26 November 1346 to 26 October 1350. As a clerk of this court, he was assaulted on one occasion in 1318, when his enemies allegedly urinated on him. He was knighted in 1345, at the same time as he was made justice of the King's Bench. Thorpe accumulated great estates, particularly in

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...

, and his wealth must have derived primarily from bribes and

maintenance Maintenance may refer to: Biological science * Maintenance of an organism * Maintenance respiration Non-technical maintenance * Alimony, also called ''maintenance'' in British English * Champerty and maintenance, two related legal doctrine ...

. In 1350, he was imprisoned and condemned to hanging and confiscation of all property. By 1351, however, he had been pardoned and had his property restored. The next year, he was made

baron of the exchequer The Barons of the Exchequer, or ''barones scaccarii'', were the judges of the English court known as the Exchequer of Pleas. The Barons consisted of a Chief Baron of the Exchequer and several puisne (''inferior'') barons. When Robert Shute was a ...

and also held various other commissions. In 1357, he was excommunicated for non-appearance at the trial of

Thomas de Lisle Thomas de Lisle (–1361) ( Latinised to ''Thomas de Insula'' ("Thomas from the island") was a medieval Bishop of Ely. Lisle was elected to Ely on 15 July 1345 and consecrated in July 1345. He had his servants burn down some of the houses be ...

Bishop of Ely The Bishop of Ely is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Ely in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese roughly covers the county of Cambridgeshire (with the exception of the Soke of Peterborough), together with a section of nort ...

, in

Avignon Avignon (, ; ; oc, Avinhon, label=Provençal dialect, Provençal or , ; la, Avenio) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Vaucluse Departments of France, department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region of So ...

. He appears to have had a son by the same name.

References

Sources

*Richard W. Kaeuper, 'Thorp, Sir William (d. 1361)', ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 200
accessed 9 Aug 2006
14th-century English judges People excommunicated by the Catholic Church Lord chief justices of England and Wales 1361 deaths Year of birth unknown {{England-law-bio-stub