Richard le Scrope, 1st Baron Scrope of Bolton (c. 1327-1403) was an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 soldier and courtier, serving Richard II of England

Richard II of England

Richard II was King of England, a member of the House of Plantagenet and the last of its main-line kings. He ruled from 1377 until he was deposed in 1399. Richard was a son of Edward, the Black Prince, and was born during the reign of his grandfather, Edward III...

. He also fought under the Black Prince at the Battle of Crecy

Battle of Crécy

The Battle of Crécy took place on 26 August 1346 near Crécy in northern France, and was one of the most important battles of the Hundred Years' War...

 in 1346.

He was a knight of the shire for Yorkshire

Yorkshire (UK Parliament constituency)

Yorkshire was a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of England from 1290, then of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1832...

 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

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 Act of Union of 1707. A holder of the post would be the third highest ranked Great Officer of State, below the Lord High Chancellor and above the Lord President...

 and Keeper of the Great Seal

Keeper of the Great Seal

Keeper of the Great Seal can refer to:*Keeper of the Great Seal of Canada*Keeper of the Great Seal of Scotland*Keeper of the Great Seal of the State of Illinois*Keeper of the Great Seal of Wisconsin*Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England-See also:...

.

In 1378 Lord Scrope became Lord Chancellor

Lord Chancellor

The Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, or Lord Chancellor, is a senior and important functionary in the government of the United Kingdom. He is the second highest ranking of the Great Officers of State, ranking only after the Lord High Steward. The Lord Chancellor is appointed by the Sovereign...

, a role in which he attempted to curb the extravagance of Richard II. He was deprived of office in 1382 and thereafter dedicated himself to the rebuilding of Bolton Castle

Bolton Castle

Bolton Castle in North Yorkshire, is located in Wensleydale in the Yorkshire Dales . The nearby village Castle Bolton takes its name from the castle. The castle is a Grade I listed building and a Scheduled Ancient Monument. The castle was damaged in the English Civil War, but much of it remains...

. on his estates in Wensleydale in Yorkshire, which he had been given licence to crennelate.

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

Pishobury

Pishobury or Pishiobury was the second great estate in medieval Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire.- History :This sub-manor of Pishobury originated in a grant of 74 libartes of land within the Manor of Sawbridgeworth, which Geoffrey de Mandeville, 1st Earl of Essex, who died in 1144, made to Warin...

, 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 Richard Grosvenor

Duke of Westminster

The title Duke of Westminster was created by Queen Victoria in 1874 and bestowed upon Hugh Grosvenor, 3rd Marquess of Westminster. The current holder of the title is Gerald Grosvenor, 6th Duke of Westminster....

 for the right to the shield blazoned "Azure, a bend Or," which a court of chivalry decided in his favor after a controversy extending over four years (see Scrope v Grosvenor)

Geoffrey Chaucer

Geoffrey Chaucer

Geoffrey Chaucer , known as the Father of English literature, is widely considered the greatest English poet of the Middle Ages and was the first poet to have been buried in Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey...

 and Owain Glyndŵr

Owain Glyndwr

Owain Glyndŵr , or Owain Glyn Dŵr, anglicised by William Shakespeare as Owen Glendower , was a Welsh ruler and the last native Welshman to hold the title Prince of Wales...

 gave evidence in Scrope's favour.

Family

He was a son of Henry le Scrope

Henry le Scrope

Sir Henry le Scrope 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 , who was bailiff to the earl of Richmond in Richmondshire...

. The Archbishop of York

Archbishop of York

The Archbishop of York is a high-ranking cleric in the Church of England, second only to the Archbishop of Canterbury. He is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and metropolitan of the Province of York, which covers the northern portion of England as well as the Isle of Man...

 Richard le Scrope

Richard le Scrope

Richard le Scrope was Bishop of Lichfield then Archbishop of York.Scrope earned a Doctorate in canon law. He was provided to the see of Coventry and Lichfield on 18 August 1386, and consecrated on 19 August 1386. He was given the temporalities of the see on 15 November 1386. He was consecrated at...

 was a first cousin.

He married Blanche de la Pole and they had four sons:

• William Scrope, 1st Earl of Wiltshire
• Roger Scrope, 2nd Baron Scrope of Bolton
• Stephen
• Richard