William de Skipwith

William de Skipwith (died after 1392) was a fourteenth-century

Parliament of 1388

.

Family

He was the younger son of William de Skipwith and Margaret Fitzsimon. The Skipwiths came from Skipwith in North Yorkshire: the family were descended from Robert de Stuteville, lord of the manor of Skipwith in the reign of Henry III;^[2] the Fitzsimons were from Ormsby in Lincolnshire, where the de Skipwiths later settled. On the death of his elder brother, William inherited the family estates.^[2]

Early career

He was probably educated at

Sergeant-at-law in 1354 and was knighted and made a justice of the Court of Common Pleas in 1359. In 1360 he sat on a judicial commission in Northumberland to inquire into serious allegations against Sir Adam de Heton and his associates of murder, felony and trespasses.^[3] He became Chief Baron of the Exchequer in 1362, and a trier of petitions in Parliament.^[4]

Disgrace and return

In 1365 Skipwith and the

gaol delivery in Dublin.^[1] In 1376 he was restored to his old seat on the Court of Common Pleas in England, and remained in office until 1388.^[4] He regularly appeared in Parliament as a trier of petitions and sat on various judicial commissions.^[4]

Merciless Parliament

When Richard II summoned the High Court judges in August 1387 to give their opinion on the lawfulness of the actions of the powerful commission of nobles known as the Lords Appellant, Skipwith pleaded illness as an excuse for non-attendance.^[4] As a result, he avoided participating in the judgment against the Lords Appellant, condemning them for treason and authorising their arrest, which the judges later claimed they had been coerced into giving. His decision not to attend was a wise one since when the judges were impeached by the Merciless Parliament in 1388, Skipwith escaped censure (his son-in-law Sir Robert Constable was an MP in that session, and no doubt he had other supporters).^[5] He and his eldest son swore to uphold the Lords Appellant. He retired from the Bench soon afterwards.^[4] He was still living in 1392: his date of death is uncertain.^[4]

Richard II, who presided in person over the Merciless Parliament

Descendants

He married Alice de Hiltoft of

licence for a widow's remarriage, Constable was obliged to pay a heavy fine to the Crown.^[5]

William Skipwith (died 1547), MP for Lincolnshire, was a direct descendant.

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Ball, F. Elrington The Judges in Ireland 1221-1921 John Murray London 1926 Vol.1 p. 86
^ ^a ^b Kingsford, Charles Lethbridge "William de Skipwith" Dictionary of National Biography 1885-1900 Vol. 52 p.356
^ Calendar of Patent Rolls of Edward III Vol. 11 p.516
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Kingsford p.357
^ ^a ^b "Sir Robert Constable" The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1386-1421 Roskell, J.S., Clark, L., Rawcliffe, C. Editors 1993

Sources

Lee, Sidney, ed. (1897). "Skipwith, William de" . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 52. London: Smith, Elder & Co. p. 356.

Legal offices
Preceded by John Keppock	Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench for Ireland 1370-72	Succeeded by John Keppock

[Ball-1] Ball, F. Elrington The Judges in Ireland 1221-1921 John Murray London 1926 Vol.1 p. 86

[DNB-2] Kingsford, Charles Lethbridge "William de Skipwith" Dictionary of National Biography 1885-1900 Vol. 52 p.356

[3] Calendar of Patent Rolls of Edward III Vol. 11 p.516

[Kingsford_p.357-4] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Kingsford p.357

[Constable-5] "Sir Robert Constable" The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1386-1421 Roskell, J.S., Clark, L., Rawcliffe, C. Editors 1993

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