Richard le Scrope, 1st Baron Scrope of Bolton ( 1327 – 30 May 1403) was an English 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, Edward, Prince of Wales (later known as the Black Prince), and Jo ...

. He also fought under

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

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 () 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 Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 ...

for

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

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 Lord High 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 in England, below the Lord H ...

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

Lord Chancellor The Lord Chancellor, formally titled Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom. The lord chancellor is the minister of justice for England and Wales and the highest-ra ...

, 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 Black ...

, 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 d ...

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 masculine given name of Germanic languages, Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman Conquest, Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle ...

had been executed by Henry in 1399 for William's support of Richard II. Richard Scrope died on 30 May 1403 in Pishobury, Hertfordshire (where he had bought a country estate) and was buried at

Easby Abbey Easby Abbey, or the Abbey of St Agatha, is a ruined Premonstratensian abbey on the eastern bank of the River Swale on the outskirts of Richmond in the county of North Yorkshire, England. The site is privately owned but maintained by English Heri ...

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 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 Scrop ...

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 (28 May 135420 September 1415), commonly known as Owain Glyndŵr (Glyn Dŵr, , anglicised as Owen Glendower) was a Welsh people, Welsh leader, soldier and military commander in the Wales in the late Middle Ages, late Middle ...

gave evidence in Scrope's favour.

Family

He was a son of Henry le Scrope. Richard le Scrope,

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 the ...

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

Hull Hull may refer to: Structures * The hull of an armored fighting vehicle, housing the chassis * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a sea-going craft * Submarine hull Ma ...

), by whom he had four sons: *

William le Scrope, 1st Earl of Wiltshire William le Scrope, Earl of Wiltshire, King of Mann (c. 1350 – 29 July 1399) was a close supporter of King Richard II of England. He was a second son of Richard le Scrope, 1st Baron Scrope of Bolton. He was the third and final king of an inde ...

* Roger le Scrope, 2nd Baron Scrope of Bolton *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 compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language">Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'st ...

1 Peers created by Edward III