William de Ros, 6th Baron Ros
He also supported Henry in his military campaigns, participating in the invasion of Scotland in 1400 and assisting in the suppression of the rebellion of Richard Scrope, Archbishop of York, five years later.
Several years before William's birth, King Edward instructed Thomas to remain with his army on his Irish estates "to prevent the loss and destruction of the country".
John fought for the new king, Richard II (heir of Edward III, who died in 1377), in the 1385–86 Scottish campaign and with the Earl of Arundel in France the following year.
[26] "It seems strange", says Ross, "that a wealthy young lord, who later proved himself both active and able in the royal service, had no public, and very little local employment during the later years of Richard II".
[41] In the first parliament of the new reign—held at Westminster in October 1399[43]—he was appointed a Trier of Petitions,[42] and was one of the lords who voted to imprison Richard[20][44] (who later died in Pontefract Castle of unknown causes).
[42] 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".
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.
[67] 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.
[66] The mission was a success; de Ros witnessed the Earl of Northumberland surrendering Berwick Castle to the king,[41] and sat on the commission which condemned Scrope to death without trial in early June 1405.
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.
[64] 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.
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.
[75] 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".
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.
[95] 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.
[98] Due to such efforts, Simon Payling has suggested that de Ros's "reputation for fair-mindedness"[99] made him a popular figure for settling gentry disputes.
[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.
[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] De Ros—the "reliable royalist"[110]—sat on the council for the next fifteen months[110] with other "unswervingly loyal"[111] officials, such as the Bishops of Durham and Bath and Wells and the Archbishop of York.
[3] Early that year, de Ros sat on a final anti-Lollard commission[note 16] and was tasked with investigating the murder of an MP in the Midlands.
[129] De 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".
[119] De 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.
[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.
[144] The speed with which Lord 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.
[147] The discussion between Lords 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] The text of Richard II is often cut by directors, either to tighten the plot or to avoid problems with weak casting,[148] and the role of Lord Ross is occasionally omitted.
[152] The same year, Walter Hudd directed it with the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre (SMT) at Stratford-upon-Avon, with Joss Ackland as Lord Ross to Robert Harris's Richard.
[155] In 1973, Charles Keating played Lord Ross to Richard Pasco and Ian Richardson's king and Bolingbroke,[note 22] in John Barton's production.
[159] Keith Dunphy played Lord Ross in Steven Pimlott's RSC production in 2000, to Sam West's Richard and David Troughton's Bolingbroke.
