William Gascoigne

Sir William Gascoigne (c. 1350 – 17 December 1419) was Chief Justice of England during the reign of King Henry IV.

After the suppression of the rising in the north in 1405, Henry eagerly pressed the chief justice to pronounce sentence upon Richard Scrope (Archbishop of York), and the Earl Marshal Thomas Mowbray, who had been implicated in the revolt.

[4] His reputation is that of a great lawyer who in times of doubt and danger asserted the principle that the head of state is subject to law, and that the traditional practice of public officers, or the expressed voice of the nation in parliament, and not the will of the monarch or any part of the legislature, must guide the tribunals of the country.

[4] The popular tale of his committing the Prince of Wales (the future Henry V) to prison must also be regarded as inauthentic, though it is both picturesque and characteristic.

Another brother, Richard (c. 1365 – 1423), married Beatrice Ellis, and was possibly the father of Thomas Gascoigne,[8] Chancellor of Oxford University.