War and the English Gentry Under Edward III

In September 1586, officials of the Court of Chivalry visited John de Rithre esquire at his home in Scarborough. He was a sixty-six year old war veteran and they had come to gather evidence relating to the dispute between Sir Richard Scrope and Sir Robert Grosvenor over possession of the arms azure a bend or. Rithre's deposition, in support of Scrope's claim, offers a fascinating catalogue of campaigning memories, focusing essentially on his recollections of the military exploits of the Scrope family, but at the same time serving to outline the main events of his own long and colourful military career.