William de Ros, 6th Baron Ros

In return for his loyalty to the new regime, Ros received extensive royal patronage. This included lands, grants, wardships and the right to arrange the wards' marriages. Ros performed valuable service as an adviser and ambassador (perhaps most importantly to Henry, who was often in a state of near-penury; Ros was a wealthy man, and regularly loaned the crown large amounts of money). Important as he was in government and the regions, Ros was unable to avoid the tumultuous regional conflicts and feuds which were rife at this time. In 1411 he was involved in a land dispute with a powerful Lincolnshire neighbour, and narrowly escaped an ambush; he sought—and received—redress in parliament. Partly because of Ros's restraint in not seeking the severe penalties available to him, he was described by a twentieth-century historian as a particularly wise and forbearing figure for his time.

King Henry IV died in 1413. Ros did not long survive him, and played only a minor role in government during the last year of his life. He may have been out of favour with the new king, Henry V. Henry—as Prince of Wales—had fallen out with his father a few years before, and Ros had supported King Henry over his son. William Ros died in Belvoir Castle on 1 November 1414. His wife survived him by twenty-four years; his son and heir, John, was still a minor. John later fought at Agincourt in 1415, and died childless in France in 1421. The Barony of Ros was then inherited by William's second son, Thomas, who also died in military service in France seven years after his brother.

Background and career under Richard II

The exact date of William Ros's birth is unknown. He was described in 1394 as about twenty-three years old, which would place his birth year around 1370.

John of Gaunt—the most powerful noble in the country and second only to the crown in wealth

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".[37] 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 influential.^[46] Whatever his reasons were for rebelling in 1399, 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,^[47] and Ros had also been retained by Gaunt in the late fourteenth century.^[48] Service to the duke had involved 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 Ros received annuities of £40 to £50, and was one of only two knights banneret whom Gaunt retained.^[47]

Local administration and political crisis

Ros was an active royal official in the local administration and became a leading member of political society in the north

Ros was also elected to the

For the duration of Henry's reign, Ros was "high in the King's confidence and enjoyed especially trusted positions".^[75] The historian Mark Arvanigian summarises Ros's position as "clearly a reliable and trusted servant, as well as being a reasonably talented administrator and royal councillor".^[41] Henry continued relying on loans to carry out policy, and Ros's loan funded the Calais garrison. Unlike many—and indicating the favour with which the King held him in—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, Ros paid £80 for the custody of Giffard family lands in the South Midlands. John Tuchet, Lord Audley died in December, and Ros was granted Audley's lands while the Audley heir was a minor. Ros also paid £2,000 for the right to arrange the heir's marriage. The Audley estates from which Ros intended to get his money back were greatly overvalued, and he was charged only half the original amount.^[76] These grants were in addition to his annual conciliar salary of £100,^[23] and he held the manor of Chingford to quarter himself and his men when he was regularly in the south on royal business.^[20] Ros remained an active councillor and undertook significant military and diplomatic roles.^[77] He was one of Henry's few advisors who, even when the king's council was not sitting, remained a close counsellor.^[75]

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".

Despite his aptitude for dispute resolution, Ros was not exempt from local conflict. He became involved in a dispute with his Lincolnshire neighbour, Sir Robert Tirwhit, in 1411.^[100] Tirwhit was a newly appointed royal justice^[101] and a well-known figure in the county. He and Ros fell out over conflicting claims to common grazing^[100] and associated hay-mowing and turf-digging rights in Wrawby.^[102] An arbitration took place before Justice William Gascoigne, who ordered a Loveday arranged.^{[note 13]} 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.^[100] Later justifying the size, he claimed not to have agreed to the Loveday in the first place.^[101] Ros kept to the arrangement vis á vis his retinue,^[106] bringing with him only Lords Beaumont and de la Warre (the latter, like Beaumont, a relative).^{[102][note 14]}

He and his companions escaped Tirwhit's ambush unharmed.^[101] 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".^[102] On 4 November 1411, 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.^[102] The Chamberlain and Archbishop requested the attendance of Ros and all the "knyghtes and Esquiers and Yomen that had ledynge of men" for him.^[107] After deliberating, they found firmly in Ros's favour. Tirwhit was bound to give Ros a quantity of Gascon wine and provide the food and drink for the next Loveday, where he would publicly apologise to Ros. In his apology, Tirwhit acknowledged that a nobleman of Ros's position could also have brought an army and he had shown forbearance in not doing so. The only responsibility Ros was given as part of the arbitration award was that at the second Loveday, he would provide the entertainment.^{[106][note 15]}

Later years and death

Although the King's health continued to decline, he improved sufficiently in 1411 to direct the formation of a new council of his loyal councillors; this intentionally excluded

With his wife, Margaret Fitzalan, William Ros had four sons:[127] John, Thomas, Robert and Richard. They also had four daughters: Beatrice, Alice, Margaret and Elizabeth.^{[128][note 19]} Ros also had an illegitimate son, John, by a now-unknown woman.^[129] Charles Ross suggests that he "provides full confirmation of what the scanty evidence as to the character of his earlier career suggests, that Ros was a man of just and equitable temperament"^[130] by the nature and extent of his bequests. His heir, John, inherited his father's lordship and patrimony and his armour and a gold sword. His third son, Robert—whom Ross describes as "evidently his favourite"^[129]—also inherited a quantity of land.^[129] Ros made this provision for Robert from John's patrimony, a decision described by G. L. Harriss as "overrid[ing] both family duty and convention".^[127] His younger three sons (Thomas, Robert, and Richard) received a third of Ros's goods among them; Thomas, traditional for a younger son, was intended for an ecclesiastical career. Ros's wife, Margaret, received another third of his goods. His illegitimate son, John, received £40 towards his upkeep. Loyal retainers received benefices, and Ros's "humbler dependents"—for instance, the poor on his Lincolnshire estates—received often-massive sums among them.^{[note 20]} His executors—one of whom was his heir, John—received £20 each for their services.^[119] Ros was buried in Belvoir Priory, and an alabaster effigy was erected in St Mary the Virgin's Church, Bottesford,^[131] on the right side of the altar. Seven years later, after his death at Baugé, an effigy of his son John was placed on the left.^[132] William Ros left £400 to pay ten chaplains for eight years to educate his sons.^[133]

In Shakespeare

William Ros appears in William Shakespeare's Richard II as Lord Ross.^[134] His character performs a double act of sorts with Lord Willoughby in their (ultimately successful) attempts to persuade the Earl of Northumberland to revolt against Richard,^[135] although as one reviewer has noted, indicating "little sense of rebels carefully testing the political water"^[136] before doing so. Together, the three of them are the core of the conspiracy to overthrow Richard.^[137] In their colloquies—for which R. F. Hill has compared them to a Senecan Chorus—^[138] they provide the audience with a catalogue of Richard's misdeeds by re-telling his history of poor governance.^[139] Ross, says Hill, is "lured" by the earl into conversation, which results in their plotting.^[140] Ross tells Northumberland, "The commons hath [King Richard] pill'd with grievous taxes / And quite lost their hearts: the nobles hath he fined / For ancient quarrels, and quite lost their hearts"^[141] and is portrayed as an overt follower of Henry Bolingbroke from the beginning.^[142] Shakespeare has this discussion take place in the north;^{[note 21]} in this way, says Hill, their separation from the King emphasises their geographical closeness to Bolingbroke.^[144]

The speed with which Ross deserts Richard and joins Henry is in stark contrast to the themes of loyalty and honour that the play deals with, suggests Margaret Shewring.^[145] Described by Shakespeare (based on Raphael Holinshed's chronicle) as "fiery-red with haste",^[146][142] Ross joins Bolingbroke at Berkeley, Gloucestershire.^[142] In 1738—when the public image of the King, George I, was poor—the play was put on by John Rich, in the knowledge that it was "dangerously topical in terms of contemporary politics".^[147] The discussion between Ross, Willoughby and Northumberland on the faults of the King—"basely led/by flatterers"^[147]—has been argued to have reflected contemporary disfavour with George, who was widely believed to be under the influence of his chief minister, Horace Walpole.^[147] A contemporary, Thomas Davies, watched the performance and later wrote how "almost every line that was spoken to the occurrences of the time, and to the measures and character of the ministry".^[147]

The text of Richard II is often cut by directors, either to tighten the plot or to avoid problems with weak casting,