heraldryofyorkmi01custuoft

THE SCROPES. 83
him that he was distinguished for his extraordinary wisdom and integrity.
Some traits of his character are specially interesting to us, indicating
his appreciation of the value of the heraldic cognizance of his
house, and
his energy in protecting that which affected the honour and dignity of
his
family.
In September, 1346, when present at the siege of Calais, he maintained
his right to his crest, a crab issuing from a ducal coronet, which,
much to the astonishment of Robert de Ufford, Earl of Suffolk, who knew
the antiquity of his family, had been challenged.
In 1359, when serving under John of Gaunt before Paris, an esquire
from Cornwall, named Carminow, challenged him as to his right to bear
the arms azure a bend or ;
and he successfully defended his claim before
the Duke of Lancaster, the Earl of Northampton, the Constable, and the
Earl of Warwick, the Marshal of the army, who adjudged that they might
both bear the said arms entire, on the ground that Carminow was of
Cornwall, which was a large county, and was formerly a kingdom, and that
the
Scropes had borne them since the Conquest.
In 1384, however, another difference on the same subject arose, in
which Scrope was the aggressor. For, being Warden of the Marches, he
was ordered by the King to review a large army under the command of
the Duke of Lancaster, levied
to invade Scotland, and report the efficiency
In so doing he observed Sir Robert
and number of the troops to the King.
Grosvenor bearing as his arms, azure a bend or, and at once challenged his
August, 1385, a general proclamation was made through-
right to do so. In
out the host in Scotland that all who were interested in the dispute should
appear at Newcastle-on-Tyne on the 2oth of that month. Lord Scrope
attended accordingly but the further consideration
;
of the matter was
adjourned, and the suit was continued for upwards of four years. A long
time : but when we consider the number of witnesses and the difficulties
of procuring their evidence, it is easily explained. Sir Harris Nicolas, in
his Scrope and Grosvenor Controversy, has published the
depositions of two
hundred and twelve witnesses, and promises another volume, which, alas !
has never appeared, but which, he says, shall contain the remainder of
the deponents in behalf of Sir Richard Scrope, "and notices of all the
" witnesses who gave their testimony in favour of Sir Robert Grosvenor."
So that we have some idea of the large number who gave evidence ;
and
when we remember the difficulties of travelling, and that they resided in
different
parts of the country, the labour appears very great.
Commissioners seem to have attended at different towns of England
for this purpose. Lord Fitz-Walter, Sir John Marmion, and Sir John Kentwode,
at the palace of John of Gaunt, King of Castile and Leon, in the
Friars Carmelites, at Plymouth. Here " time-honoured Lancaster " and his