,
Helmsley Castle. Built in the 12th century by
Robert de Ros, the East Tower was heightened in the 14th century.|alt=Remains of Hemsley Castle|left John of Gaunt—the most powerful noble in the country and second only to the crown in wealth—died in February 1399. Bolingbroke and King Richard had fallen out the previous year, and Richard had exiled Bolingbroke for six years the previous September. Instead of allowing Bolingbroke to succeed to his father's estates and titles, says Given-Wilson, Richard "succumb[ed] to the temptation" to confiscate the Duchy of Lancaster. Richard proclaimed that Bolingbroke's exile was now a life sentence, and cancelled his writs of seisin. He further decreed that Bolingbroke could only request his inheritance at the
king's pleasure. Bolingbroke, in Paris, joined forces with the also-exiled
Thomas Arundel. Arundel had been
Archbishop of Canterbury, and was de Ros's wife's uncle; he lost his office because of his involvement with the
Lords Appellant, and been exiled since 1397. With Arundel and a small group of followers, Bolingbroke landed at
Ravenspur in Yorkshire in late June 1399. De Ros, bringing a large
retinue, joined Bolingbroke's army almost immediately (as did much of the northern nobility). Richard was
campaigning in Ireland at the time, and unable to defend his throne. Henry initially announced that he intended only to reclaim his rights as
Duke of Lancaster, although he quickly gained enough power and support (including that of de Ros) to claim the throne in Richard's stead and have himself proclaimed King Henry IV. In June, de Ros was present at
Berkeley Castle when Henry and Richard met for the first time since Henry was exiled; de Ros witnessed their final meeting on 6 September at the
Tower of London, when Richard resigned the throne. Bolingbroke's accession as Henry IV saw an uplift in de Ros's fortunes and those of the Fitzalans. De Ros now had strong connections with important figures at
court and a relatively close friendship with the new king. In contrast to his treatment by Richard, de Ros's previous loyal service to Henry—and the king's father—earned him significant
royal patronage. In the first parliament of the new reign—held at Westminster in October 1399—he was appointed a
Trier of Petitions, and was one of the lords who voted to imprison Richard (who later died in
Pontefract Castle of unknown causes). De Ros's new position at the centre of government was highlighted in December 1399, when he was appointed to Henry's first
royal council. De Ros's motives for joining Bolingbroke's invasion so swiftly are unknown but, says Given-Wilson, this should be no surprise; for most of Henry's new-found allies, "it is only possible to speculate as to their political allegiance". De Ros may have felt generally aggrieved by Richard's poor treatment of Gaunt and Bolingbroke, and his own lack of promotion under Richard was doubtless important. Whatever his reasons were for rebelling in 1399, de Ros and his father had been Lancastrian (rather than Ricardian) in their loyalties. His father had been one of
John of Gaunt's earliest retainers when the young Gaunt was
Earl of Richmond, and de Ros had also been retained by Gaunt in the late fourteenth century. Service to the duke had involved de Ros accompanying the duke abroad and travelling on his business on at least five occasions in the last years of Gaunt's life. For his services de Ros received annuities of £40 to £50, and was one of only two
knights banneret whom Gaunt retained.
Local administration and political crisis de Ros was an active royal official in the local administration and became a leading member of political society in the north
Midlands and Yorkshire, where he regularly headed royal commissions. He was frequently appointed a
justice of the peace, particularly in
Leicestershire. De Ros's service to the crown was not confined to the regions; in 1401, he directed the king's attempts to increase the royal income. He was appointed Henry's negotiator with the
House of Commons, to persuade the Commons to agree to a subsidy for the king's intended
invasion of Scotland later that summer. De Ros and the Commons representatives met in
Westminster's refectory. Emphasising "favourable consideration" the Commons would receive from the king, he played heavily on the king's expenses in defending the
Welsh and
Scottish Marches. Each party was wary of the other; the king did not wish to set a precedent, and the Commons were traditionally wary of the
House of Lords. Six years later, de Ros played much the same role—with the
Duke of York and the Archbishop of Canterbury, on a committee hearing the Commons' complaints. The result of these discussions was an altercation in which the Commons, reports the
parliament roll, were "hugely disturbed". This disturbance, according to
J. H. Wylie, was probably the result of something de Ros said and would account for the Commons' reluctance to meet him or his committee. De Ros's remit was to persuade the Commons to grant as substantial a tax—in exchange for as few liberties granted—as possible. An experienced parliamentarian, he attended most parliaments from 1394 to 1413. Almost from the beginning of his reign, Henry faced problems. Most stemmed from financial insecurity since by 1402 his treasury was empty. Around this time, de Ros was appointed
Lord Treasurer. Charles Ross suggests that this demonstrated the king's increased confidence in de Ros, who occupied the post for the next four years. He was unable to substantially improve Henry's financial situation, and relations with the Commons worsened. During the
1404 parliament,
speaker Arnold Savage confronted the king over his lack of money (and repeated demands for taxation), which Savage said could be ameliorated by reducing the number of annuities paid by the crown. Savage also condemned an unnamed crown minister for owing royal creditors over £6,000. The House of Commons' dissatisfaction was obvious to the king, who responded within the week. He despatched de Ros, accompanied by
Chancellor Henry Beaufort, to the Commons with a comprehensive breakdown of the king's financial requirements. According to
Ian Mortimer, "Savage, having attacked royal policy in the King's presence, had no compunction about speaking his mind to the chancellor and treasurer". Henry's government continued to subsist on poor revenues. As Given-Wilson put it, the treasury became "largely reliant on a diminishing circle of the faithful" (which included de Ros). He made numerous loans to the king, and temporarily surrendered his councillor's salary for the sake of the royal finances. De Ros also performed extensive military service. In 1400, he
contracted with the king to bring a fully crewed ship of 20
men at arms and 40 archers to Henry's Scottish invasion. Although the campaign declined in success, de Ros played a part in it. Returning to Westminster, he resumed his office of councillor and participated in Henry's
Great Council the following year. In 1402
Owain Glyndŵr rebelled, which impacted de Ros personally. His brother-in-law,
Reginald, Lord Grey of Ruthin—who had married de Ros's youngest sister, Margaret—was captured and imprisoned by Glyndŵr; personal animosity between Grey and Glyndŵr may have been to blame for the outbreak of the rebellion. The Welsh demanded a 10,000-mark ransom from the king, who agreed to pay. De Ros, because of his relationship to Grey, also agreed to contribute and led the commission which negotiated with Glyndŵr over its payment and his brother-in-law's release. A friend of de Ros, fellow Midlands baron
Robert, Lord Willoughby, accompanied him in the negotiations. De Ros was also elected to the
Order of the Garter in 1402, and was granted an annuity of 100 marks a year as the king's
retainer two years later. In May of that year another
rebellion broke out in the north, led by
Richard Scrope, Archbishop of York and the disaffected Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland. One of their first acts was to kidnap the king's envoy. De Ros was part of an extensive network of north Lancastrian loyalists who gathered around the king's cousin
Ralph Neville, Earl of Westmorland to suppress the rebellion. Henry entrusted de Ros to meet with Westmorland, commander of the king's armies in the north. de Ros was probably chosen because of the king's intimate advisors, his local knowledge would have been the most valuable. The mission was a success; de Ros witnessed the Earl of Northumberland surrendering
Berwick Castle to the king, and sat on the commission which condemned Scrope to death without trial in early June 1405. When the king arrived in York to oversee the execution of the rebels, de Ros brought Percy's bonds to him. Since de Ros had been instructed only to engage the rebels on the king's express instruction, it is difficult to ascertain the role that he and Gascoigne played in the rebellion's suppression. Unlike the Earl of Westmorland, "no more is heard of their activities" in the north until after the
confrontation at Shipton Moor. De Ros's role may have been to oversee the later judicial commissions over the rebels, and he was authorised to
pardon those who rejected rebellion and wished to return to the king's grace. The fact that so little of their work remains visible to historians may suggest surreptitiousness; possibly, says Given-Wilson, they were little more than spies tailing their prey until the king's main army caught up. The following year, the king's health (which had not been strong for some time) broke down for good. At the
parliament of 1406, Henry IV agreed that since it was clear that poor health prevented him from ruling, a Grand Council should be established to assist him in governing. Although de Ros was on the original list presented to parliament of those to be appointed to the council, how long he served is subject to conjecture. He was attending its meetings in late 1406 (since he was an unofficial "chaperone" for his successor as Lord Treasurer,
Lord Furnivall), and may have still been on the council the following June. De Ros regularly witnessed royal charters, and continued his role as the king's spokesman to the Commons. He probably assisted the Lord Chancellor through an increasingly difficult and uncertain period (due to the King's ill health), but it is uncertain whether he chose—or was instructed—to do so.
Royal favour For the duration of Henry's reign, de Ros was "high in the King's confidence and enjoyed especially trusted positions". The historian Mark Arvanigian summarises de Ros's position as "clearly a reliable and trusted servant, as well as being a reasonably talented administrator and royal councillor". Henry continued relying on loans to carry out policy, and de Ros's loan funded the Calais garrison. Unlike many—and indicating the favour with which the King held him in—de Ros was promised repayment, manifested in the royal patronage he continued to receive. By 1409, for example, he had been appointed to the lucrative positions of master forester and constable of
Pickering Castle. These offices strengthened his influence in the region, allowed him to appoint deputies, and gave him another patronage of his own to dispense. In October of that year, de Ros paid £80 for the custody of Giffard family lands in the
South Midlands.
John Tuchet, Lord Audley died in December, and de Ros was granted Audley's lands while the Audley heir was a
minor. De Ros also paid £2,000 for the right to arrange the heir's marriage. The Audley estates from which de Ros intended to get his money back were greatly overvalued, and he was charged only half the original amount. These grants were in addition to his annual conciliar salary of £100, and he held the manor of
Chingford to
quarter himself and his men when he was regularly in the south on royal business. De Ros remained an active councillor and undertook significant military and diplomatic roles. He was one of Henry's few advisors who, even when the king's council was not sitting, remained a close counsellor. De Ros remained in the King's favour through the final years of Henry's reign. As a trusted counsellor, in 1410 he participated in what has been described as "a show trial of national importance". The previous year, an
ecclesiastical court had found
John Badby of
Evesham guilty of
Lollardy. According to church custom, Badby had been given a year's grace to recant. He refused; if anything, his opinions were more entrenched than before. On 1 March 1410, Badby was brought before a
convocation at the
Friars-Preachers House. De Ros and his fellow barons found Badby guilty and passed secular judgement. He was
burnt to death (possibly, according to sixteenth-century
martyrologist John Foxe, in a
barrel) in
Smithfield.
Regional disorder After the death of the
Earl of Stafford in 1403 (whose infant
heir had a twenty-year minority), de Ros was the leading baron in
Staffordshire. He was responsible for upholding the
king's peace during a period that has been a
by-word for the kind of pervasive lawlessness that de Ros, like all regional magnates, was expected to suppress. Particularly well-known is the frequency with which the baronage and gentry indulged in internecine fighting. In 1411, his intervention averted a tense situation which was likely to erupt into armed conflict between local gentry Alexander Mering and John Tuxford. This was only a temporary ceasefire, however; the following year, de Ros sponsored a second arbitration between the parties with which they promised to abide on pain of a 500-mark fine. In early 1411
Sir Walter Tailboys caused a riot in
Lincoln, attacked the
sheriffs, killed two men, and lay in wait outside the city in ambush (preventing its residents from leaving). Lincoln's citizens petitioned the king for justice and explicitly requested that de Ros and his kinsman,
Lord Beaumont, be appointed to investigate. They found in favour of the Lincoln citizenry and, reflecting the severity of Tailboy's offence, he was
bound over to keep the peace for £3,000. Due to such efforts,
Simon Payling has suggested that de Ros's "reputation for fair-mindedness" made him a popular figure for settling gentry disputes. Despite his aptitude for dispute resolution, de Ros was not exempt from local conflict. He became involved in a dispute with his Lincolnshire neighbour, Sir
Robert Tirwhit, in 1411. Tirwhit was a newly appointed royal justice and a well-known figure in the county. He and de Ros fell out over conflicting claims to
common grazing and associated hay-mowing and turf-digging rights in
Wrawby. An
arbitration took place before Justice
William Gascoigne, who ordered a
Loveday arranged. The Loveday was intended to offer both parties the opportunity to demonstrate their support for the arbitration process; the two men were expected to attend with companions (or followers), keeping their numbers to a minimum. Tirwhit, however, brought a small army of about 500 men. Later justifying the size, he claimed not to have agreed to the Loveday in the first place. De Ros kept to the arrangement
vis á vis his retinue, bringing with him only Lords Beaumont and
de la Warre (the latter, like Beaumont, a relative). He and his companions escaped Tirwhit's ambush unharmed. Given-Wilson has argued that, although the case was not uncommon in its basic facts, "the personal involvement of a royal justice in such a calculated act of violence, and the status of the protagonists, clearly gave it an interest above the usual". On 4 November 1411, de Ros
petitioned parliament—at which he was appointed a Trier of Petitions—for satisfaction. The case was heard before the
Lord Chamberlain and the Archbishop of Canterbury, and took over three weeks to determine. The Chamberlain and Archbishop requested the attendance of de Ros and all the "knyghtes and Esquiers and Yomen that had ledynge of men" for him. After deliberating, they found firmly in de Ros's favour. Tirwhit was bound to give de Ros a quantity of
Gascon wine and provide the food and drink for the next Loveday, where he would publicly apologise to de Ros. In his apology, Tirwhit acknowledged that a nobleman of de Ros's position could also have brought an army and he had shown forbearance in not doing so. The only responsibility de Ros was given as part of the arbitration award was that at the second Loveday, he would provide the entertainment. == Later years and death ==