He was a son of Henry le Scrope. The Archbishop of York Richard le Scrope was a first cousin.
Richard le Scrope was a Knight of the Shire for Yorkshire in the parliament of 1364, and was summoned to the upper house as a baron by writ in 1371, when he was made Lord High Treasurer and Keeper of the Great Seal.
In 1378 Lord Scrope became Lord Chancellor, a role in which he attempted to curb the extravagance of Richard II, but resigned in 1380 when the government collapsed due to military failures in France. After the turbulence of the Peasants' Revolt, in which his successor was beheaded by the rebels, he took up the position again. He was finally deprived of office by King Richard for non-cooperation in 1382 and thereafter dedicated himself to the rebuilding of Bolton Castle. on his estates in Wensleydale in Yorkshire, which he had been given licence to crenellate.
Both as a soldier and a statesman Lord Scrope was highly regarded and the new king Henry IV was moved to confirm that his lands and titles would not be forfeit in spite of the fact that his eldest son William had been executed by Henry in 1399 for William's support of Richard II. Richard Scrope died on 30 May 1403 in Pishobury, Hertfordshire (where he had bought a country estate) and was buried at Easby Abbey in Richmond, Yorkshire. His title passed to his second son Roger Scrope.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_le_Scrope,_1st_Baron_Scrope_of_Bolton
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cr%C3%A9cy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_of_the_Shire
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_High_Treasurer
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_Keeper_of_the_Great_Seal
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Lord_High_Treasurers_of_England_and_Great_Britain#Plantagenet
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Scrope,_2nd_Baron_Scrope_of_Bolton
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_le_Scrope,_1st_Earl_of_Wiltshire
