Scrope

from Wikipedia

Origin of name

The name (pronounced "Scroop") may be derived from the old Anglo-Norman word for "crab" and that it began as a nickname for a club-footed illegitimate son of an English princess by a Norman knight. A crab moves sideways and so the name could fit a child with club feet. Whether far fetched or not, it is fact that at one stage the family crest was a crab (subsequently five feathers) and that the family motto is still "Devant si je puis" -("forward if I can"), which could have a double meaning as of course a crab can only go sideways.

Early Scropes

One Richard Fitz Scrob (or Fitz Scrope), apparently a Norman knight, was granted lands by Edward the Confessor before the Norman Conquest, in Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Shropshire as recorded in the Domesday Book. He built Richard's Castle, near Ludlow in Shropshire, and is recorded in chronicles of the Conqueror's early years in England as asking for assistance against the Welsh.

His son was Osbern FitzRichard. According to one genealogy, his wife was Nest. This Nest is identified as the daughter of Gruffydd ap Llywelyn by his wife Edith of Mercia, herself granddaughter of Leofric, Earl of Mercia possibly by his wife Godiva (or Godgifu). The evidence for Nest's name comes from charters of her son Hugh granting lands to an abbey, where he declares his parentage; that son, however, is silent about his mother's antecedents.[1] The heiress of this family eventually married into the Mortimer family, famous as Marcher Barons[2] and important players in 14th century English politics.

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See "My Lines"

( http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cousin/html/p347.htm#i7149 )

from Compiler: R. B. Stewart, Evans, GA

( http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cousin/html/index.htm )

Nothing is known of Richard's origins, but he was likely to have been Norman. He came to England prior to 1052, no doubt invited by (King) Edward the Confessor, of whom he was later seen to be a close ally. He married the daughter of a fellow pre - conquest Norman settler "Robert the Deacon", but it is not know whether the marriage took place before or after his leaving France.......He held land in the Welsh Marches in 1066, and very likely had done so for quite some time by this date, as his son Osbern (Fitz Richard) also held land there at the same time. He may also have had another son, William.......THE DETAIL OF HOW HE CAME BY HIS LANDS IS NOT KNOWN, BUT THE BARONY OF BURFORD SEEMS TO HAVE ORIGINATED PRE - CONQUEST, AND IT IS POSITED BY MANY (SUCH AS EYTON, IN HIS "ANTIQUITIES OF SHROPSHIRE") THAT HE BUILT RICHARD'S CASTLE, POSSIBLY AT THE TIME HE WAS GRANTED THE BARONY. It is also claimed that he may have been sheriff of Worcestershire in the 1060's.......He survived the Norman Conquest, having sided with the invaders, and witnessed a charter of William I the following year. His date of death is not known.

Source -- http://genealogy.mallen.org.uk/6518252064-RichardScrob.html

RICHARD'S CASTLE / HEREFORD

RICHARD FITZ SCROB (or Fitz Scrope) was a Norman knight granted lands by the Saxon King Edward the Confessor before the Norman Conquest; in Herefordshire, Worcestershire, and Shropshire, as recorded in the Domesday Book. He built Richard's Castle before 1051. The castle was a motte and bailey style construction, one of only three or four castles of this type built before the Norman conquest. Most were built after the conquest. Richard was last mentioned in 1067. His castle passed to his son, OSBERN FITZ RICHARD, who married Nesta, the daughter of King Gruffyd ap Llywelyn of Wales.....Osbern died around 1137 and was succeeded by his grandson, OSBERN FITZ HUGH, who died in 1187. RICHARD'S CASTLE THEN PASSED TO HIS BROTHER IN LAW, HUGH DE SAY, WHO DIED IN 1190, LEAVING THE BARONY TO HIS SON, ANOTHER HUGH SAY. In 1196, this Hugh fought at the battle at New Radnor and was probably killed there, his castles eventually passing to Robert de Mortimer of Attleborough.

Source -- Wikipedia / Richard's Castle

Please see Darrell Wolcott: The Consorts and Children of Gruffudd ap Llewelyn; http://www.ancientwalesstudies.org/id210.html. (Steven Ferry, July 22, 2020.)

The Honour of Richards Castle

[https://richardscastle.com/]

Page titles include:

1. The Descent of the Honour of Richards Castle
2. The History of Richards Castle
3. The Manors of Richards Castle as listed in the Domesday Book
4. The Documents referring to Richards Castle

Anglo-Norman Studies, XVII

The preview copy provides pages 129 and 136 as the only relevant free pages to read online about Richard fitz Scrope. In the book Richard's surname is spelled fitz Scrob:

“The Norman bishops took ship back to Normandy, but others, presumably soldiers, fled from London to the castles of Earl Ralph’s men in Herefordshire and probably to Robert fitz Wimarc in Essex. The outcome suggests that they had very different receptions. In Herefordshire, Osbern Pentecost harboured the outlaws. Doing so compromised his loyalty to the king, and the failure of the rebellion made it impossible for him to stay in England. He and his ally High negotiated the surrender of their estates, and they withdrew through Mercia to Scotland for further adventures in the service of Macbeth. Earl Ralph … was apparently not involved, nor Richard fitz Scrob and his family, nor in Essex Robert fitz Wimarc.

“The origins within France of the pre-conquest landowners with French names are extremely difficult to ascertain. The originally Breton names Alan and Judicael were not necessarily exclusively Breton any more, though the fathers of Richard fitz Scrob and William Skialdvarthr had Scandinavian names, which in a French context meant Norman…. Taking all the French together, the handful about whom a little is known suggests that they spread across the full age-range in 1066, from men like Richard fitz Scrob who had adult sons and can hardly have been born later than the 1020s, down to young men at the start of their careers in England, like Richard ‘the youth’ (iuvenis). Another rather earlier settler might have been the Hugh whose son Wulfric held land in Suffolk in 1066….

“… The latter example, a French-named father with an English-named son, raises the interesting question of assimilation…. [A]t the Frenchified court, there were English norms: Robert fitz Wimarc and Earl Ralph named their sons after Earl Godwine’s eldest boys, Swein and Harold…. Others may have cultivated ambiguity: Ralph the staller’s second son Hardwin, and Richard fitz Scrob’s son Osbern had names which could be taken as ither French or English.”
[https://www.google.com/books/edition/Anglo_Norman_Studies_XVII/FaI5...]