A turbulent archbishop
Gillian Evans admires a study of the facts behind a long-ago cult
Richard Scrope: Archbishop, rebel, martyr
P. J. P. Goldberg, editor
Shaun Tyas/Paul Watkins Publishing £35 (978-1-900289-84-9)
MEDIEVAL PEOPLE are hard to portray in three dimensions: even when they are involved in high-profile events, it often turns out that nothing is known about their early lives, and that there is no record of their own words. This collection of essays seeks to meet that challenge for Richard Scrope, an Archbishop of York who was executed in 1405 for alleged involvement in a rebel-lion against the King.
There are modern questions to be asked about these events. How far should senior churchmen involve themselves in politics, and stand up for what seems to them “right”, against a government’s vested interests? Should a bishop identify himself so closely with his local people that he engages shoulder-to-shoulder with them when they mount a protest? To avoid conflicts of interest, should a bishop separate himself from earlier loyalties to family and friends when he accepts high office in the Church?
R. N. Swanson begins by “sketching Scrope”. W. Mark Orm-rod discusses the extent of Scrope’s involvement in the Yorkshire Rising of 1405. The problem is that his execution quickly came to be re-garded as a martyrdom, and the historiography was accordingly compromised by the rise of a cult (although that cult was never successful in achieving Scrope’s canonisation). Melanie Devine and Christian D. Liddy write on further aspects of the rebellion and its “personalities”, including the role of the City of York.
P. H. Cullum sets Scrope among his fellow-bishops, in search of the norms of the day. The remaining papers explore the martyrdom and the cult (Danna Piroyansky), the way Scrope was represented in literature (Stephen K. Wright), and his contribution to the expansion of York Minster (Christopher Norton), with a final piece by Sarah Rees Jones on a “holy neighbourhood” in York. There is an edition of a short Middle English poem on Scrope and his death by Stephen K. Wright.
This is an excellent collection of research materials, presented in a way that makes them an engaging read for the non-specialist, too. The editor is to be congratulated.
Dr Evans is Professor of Medieval Theology and Intellectual History in Cambrige University.
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