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''Scrope v Grosvenor'' (1389) was an early lawsuit relating to 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 service, Richard Scrope, 1st Baron Scrope of Bolton, and Sir Robert Grosvenor, discovering they were using the same undifferenced
coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...
,
blazon In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct an accurate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The visual d ...
ed ''Azure, a bend Or''. This had previously gone unnoticed because the armigers' families were from different parts of England. As the law of arms by the 14th century prohibited armigers within the same system of arms from holding the same undifferenced arms, Scrope brought suit against Grosvenor in 1386 to determine who would be allowed to continue using the arms in question; the Court of Chivalry found in Scrope's favour in 1389, and King Richard affirmed the decision the following year.


Historical background

In the 12th and 13th centuries, the composition of coats of arms quite often consisted of only one charge and two tinctures. This simplicity meant that unrelated families often bore the same designs. By the 14th century, the sharing of coats of arms had become less tolerated. In many cases, the
monarch A monarch () is a head of stateWebster's II New College Dictionary. "Monarch". Houghton Mifflin. Boston. 2001. p. 707. Life tenure, for life or until abdication, and therefore the head of state of a monarchy. A monarch may exercise the highest ...
was the final arbiter.


Heraldic case

In 1385, Richard II led his army on a punitive expedition to Scotland. During the military campaign, two of the king's knights, Richard Scrope, 1st Baron Scrope of Bolton, from Bolton in
Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...
, and Sir Robert Grosvenor from
Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...
, both realised they were using the same coat of arms,
blazon In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct an accurate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The visual d ...
ed '' Azure, a bend Or''. When Scrope brought an action, Grosvenor maintained his family had worn these arms since his ancestor had come to England with
William the Conqueror William the Conqueror (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), sometimes called William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England (as William I), reigning from 1066 until his death. A descendant of Rollo, he was D ...
in 1066. The case was brought before the Court of Chivalry and presided over by Thomas of Woodstock, 1st Duke of Gloucester, the Constable of England. Several hundred witnesses were heard, including John of Gaunt,
Duke of Lancaster The dukedom of Lancaster is a former Peerage of England, English peerage, created three times in the Middle Ages, which finally merged in the Crown when Henry V of England, Henry V succeeded to the throne in 1413. Despite the extinction of the ...
,
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 ...
(who spoke on behalf of Sir Richard Scrope), himself a close friend of the Duke of Lancaster and a sometime member of his court; and a then little-known Welshman called Owain Glyndŵr, who gave his evidence with others at the Church of St John the Baptist in Chester on 3 September 1386. It was not until 1389 that the case was finally decided in Scrope's favor. Grosvenor was allowed to continue bearing the arms but they had to be within a bordure argent for difference. Neither party was happy with the decision so King Richard II was called upon to give his personal verdict. On 27 May 1390 he confirmed that Grosvenor could not bear the undifferenced arms. His opinion was that the two shields were far too similar for unrelated families in the same country to bear. The king nevertheless decided to uphold Grosvenor's request to annul the original decision, and accordingly Grosvenor's right to bear the new arms was denied.


Third claimant

According to many of the trial witnesses, there was a third person who bore the arms ''Azure a Bend Or''. During the reign of Edward III in the
Hundred Years' War The Hundred Years' War (; 1337–1453) was a conflict between the kingdoms of Kingdom of England, England and Kingdom of France, France and a civil war in France during the Late Middle Ages. It emerged from feudal disputes over the Duchy ...
, Grosvenor had previously challenged the right of a Cornish knight, Thomas Carminow, to bear the arms while serving in France in 1360. But neither party stopped using the same coat of arms. Carminow had also challenged the right of Scrope to bear the same arms. In this case, the Lord High Constable of England had ruled that both claimants had established their right to the arms. Carminow had stated that his family had borne the arms from the time of
King Arthur According to legends, King Arthur (; ; ; ) was a king of Great Britain, Britain. He is a folk hero and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain. In Wales, Welsh sources, Arthur is portrayed as a le ...
, while Scrope said they had been used since the time of the
Norman Conquest 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, French people, French, Flemish people, Flemish, and Bretons, Breton troops, all led by the Du ...
. The two families were ultimately judged to be of different heraldic nations: Scrope of England and Carminow of Cornwall. As stated in the trial records,
Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...
was then still considered a separate country, "a large land formerly bearing the name of a kingdom."


Outcome

Since the judgment of 1390, both the Carminow and Scrope families continued to use undifferenced arms, but Grosvenor had to choose a new design for his shield. He assumed arms of ''Azure a Garb Or'', the ancient arms of the Earls of Chester. (In the terminology of blazons, a "garb" is a wheatsheaf.) This coat of arms is still used by his descendants, the Dukes of Westminster.


Legacy

A
thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a list of horse breeds, horse breed developed for Thoroughbred racing, horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thorough ...
racehorse, born in 1877 and owned by Hugh Grosvenor, 1st Duke of Westminster, was named Bend Or in allusion to the case. It won The Derby in 1880. The 1st Duke's grandson, Hugh (1879–1953), afterwards 2nd Duke, was similarly from his childhood and in adult life known within family circles as "Bendor". His wife Loelia wrote in her memoirs: "Of course everybody, even his parents and sisters, would normally have addressed the baby as ' Belgrave' so they may have thought that any nickname was preferable. At all events it stuck, and my husband's friends never called him anything but Bendor or Benny".Lindsay 1961, p. 173. The art historian Bendor Grosvenor is a member of the Grosvenor family.


See also

* Court of Chivalry * College of Arms *'' Warbelton v Gorges''


Notes


Citations


Bibliography

* Nicolas, Sir Nicholas Harris ''The Controversy between Sir Richard Scrope and Sir Robert Grosvenor in the Court of Chivalry AD MCCCLXXXV – MCCCXC'', 3 Volumes: **Volume 1 (a transcript of the original Latin "Scrope and Grosvenor Roll" then held in the Tower of London), edited by Sir Nicholas Harris Nicolas, printed in limited edition of 150 copies by Samuel Bentley, London, 183

**Volume 2 (English translation), edited by Sir Nicholas Harris Nicolas, London, 183

**Volume 3, planned publication date 1833


Further reading

*Michel Pastoreau. ''Heraldry: An Introduction to a Noble Tradition''. (New York: Harry N Abrams, Inc., 1997), 104–5. *George Squibb. ''The High Court of Chivalry: A Study of the Civil Law in England''. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1959). *George Squibb. ''The Law of Arms in England''. (London: The Heraldry Society, 1967). {{DEFAULTSORT:Scrope v Grosvenor English heraldry 1390s in law 14th century in case law * 1390s in England English case law Heraldry and law United Kingdom intellectual property case law 1390 in Europe