Richard le Scrope

Richard le Scrope (* 1350 ; † June 8, 1405 in York ) was an English church prince.

Origin and family

Richard le Scrope came from an old Anglo-Norman noble family. He was born in 1350 as the fourth son of Henry le Scrope, 1st Baron Scrope of Masham , and his wife Joan. He was also the uncle of Henry Scrope , 3rd Baron Scrope of Masham, who was later executed for high treason.

Vocational training

Richard le Scrope studied in Oxford , the liberal arts and then in Cambridge jurisprudence. In 1375 he was already a licentiate in law. From 1375 he was employed in the office of the Bishop of Ely , in the same year he was appointed administrator of the chapel of the Tickhill Castle belonging to the John of Gaunt . Eventually he became Chancellor of Cambridge University in 1378 , where he received his doctorate in both rights in 1386 .

Spiritual career

After he was ordained a priest in 1377, he went to Rome in 1382. Probably there he was appointed dean of Chichester by papal bull in 1383 . But he stayed in Rome and became a papal notary in 1386. In the same year Pope Urban VI consecrated it . to the Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield . In 1387, when he returned to England, he took over his diocese in the presence of King Richard II. In 1392 he went on a missionary trip to Scotland to examine and consolidate the Scots' faith.

In 1397 King Richard II sent him to Rome so that he could personally bring forward and support the king's request to canonize King Edward II . Although his mission was unsuccessful, he remained in the favor of the king, who applied to the papal chair to transfer the vacant chair of the archbishop of York to Richard le Scrope . Although the cathedral chapter had proposed a different candidate, the Pope elevated Richard le Scrope to Archbishop of York on June 2, 1398.

After Henry IV came to power in 1399, Richard le Scrope was part of the commission that Richard II visited on September 29, 1399 in the Tower of London and caused the old king to abdicate. Together with the Archbishop of Canterbury , he then enthroned the new king.

Rebellion of the Percy family against Henry IV.

In the rebellion of northern English lords led by the Percy family , with whom Richard le Scrope was related, he played an obscure role. He secretly supported the Percys without openly participating in the rebellion. But he took over a number of demands from the rebels and published them in a manifesto, which he posted in his cathedral and other churches. These church attacks caused the citizens of York to rise. The archbishop encouraged them to insist on their demands and to arm themselves. The commander of the royal troops, the Earl of Westmorland, dared not attack the outnumbered vigilante group. He read the manifesto and then declared that he did not want war and proposed a debate on the citizens' demands. Richard le Scrope accepted the proposal. During the debate Westmorland agreed to the demands and offered to submit them to the king. Then both of them drank together to the result of the debate, and the citizens' troops then dispersed. After the vigilantes left Westmorland arrested the bona fide archbishop and transferred him to Pontefract .

Trial and execution of Richard le Scropes

In the royal castle in Pontefract, Richard le Scrope asked to speak to the king, but the king refused. Henry IV set up a commission of inquiry to investigate the archbishop's treasonous activities. The commission found Richard le Scrope guilty of high treason and sentenced him to death.

Before his execution, the archbishop asked God not to repay the executioner and the executioner to cut off his head with five strokes in memory of the five holy wounds of Christ. The execution with the ax was carried out on June 8, 1405 in front of the city of York with five pranks. Richard le Scrope was buried in York Minster .

literature

• James Tait: Scrope, Richard le (1350? -1405) . In: Sidney Lee (Ed.): Dictionary of National Biography (DNB). Volume 51, Smith, Elder & Co., London 1897, pp. 144-147.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ DNB Volume 51, pages 141 ff
2. ↑ DNB Volume 51, page 144
3. ↑ DNB Volume 51, page 144
4. ↑ DNB Volume 51, from page 145
5. ↑ DNB Volume 51, page 146

predecessor	Office	successor
Walter Skirlaw	Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield 1386–1398	John Burghill
Robert Waldby	Archbishop of York 1398–1405	Thomas Langley (Elect)