Individual Details

Sir Robert Plumpton, Sir William Plumpton's father, was a tenant of the powerful Percy family. Sir Robert Plumpton was married to Isabella Scrope, sister of Richard Scrope, who became Archbishop of York. The Percys and their supporters had been intrumental in putting Henry IV on the throne of England. However, the Percys rebelled against Henry IV in the summer of 1403. The Percys were defeated at the Battle of Shrewsbury in 1403, where the Earl of Northumberland's son and heir, Henry 'Hotspur' Percy, was killed. In 1405 Northumberland, joined by Lord Bardolf, rebelled again against Henry IV. Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland, eluded capture. On May 27, 1405 Archbishop Scrope and his co-conspirators Thomas de Mowbray, 4th Earl of Norfolk, and Scrope's nephew, Sir William Plumpton, assembled a force of some 8000 men on Shipton Moor. Scrope did not engage the enemy, but parleyed with Westmorland. Scrope was tricked into believing that his demands would be accepted and his personal safety guaranteed.The army disbanded on May 29, 1405. Archbishop Richard Scrope and Thomas de Mowbray were arrested and taken to Pontefract Castle to await the arrival of Henry IV. The king arrived in York on June 3, 1405. Henry IV denied Scrope and Mowbray a trial by their peers. The Earl of Arudel and Sir Thomas Beaufort headed a commission which passed judgement on Archbiship Scrope, Mowbray and Plumpton. The trail was held three miles south of York, in Scrope's own hall at his manor of Bishopthorpe. The Chief Justice, Sir William Gascoigne, refused to participate in such irregular proceedings and to pronounce judgment on a prelate. The lawyer Sir William Fulthorpe condemned Scrope to death for treason. Scrope, Mowbray and Plumpton were taken to a field belonging to the nunnery of Clementhorpe which lay just under the walls of York. They were beheaded on June 8, 1405 before a large crowd. Scrope requested the headsman to give him five blows in remembrance of the five wounds of Christ. Scrope was buried in York Minster. Plumpton was buried at Spofforth.

Scrope was believedf to have participated in the rebellion due to his opposition to Henry IV's proposal to temporarily confiscate the clergy's landed wealth. However, Scrope's reasons for participating actively in the military action is a mystery to history. Pope Innocent VII excommunicated all those involved in Scrope's execution. Archbishop Arundel did not publish the Pope's decree in England. Henry IV was pardoned by Pope Gregory XII in 1407.

Birth	1362	Plumpton, Yorkshire, England
Marriage	1381	York, Yorkshire, England - Alice Gisburn
Burial	1405	Spofforth, Yorkshire, England
Death	8 Jun 1405	Plumpton, Yorkshire, England

Spouse	Alice Gisburn (1364 - 1424)
Child	Robert Plumpton (1383 - 1421)

Father	Sir Robert de Plumpton (1340 - 1407)
Mother	Isabella Scrope (1349 - )