Margaret Tiptoft, Baroness Scrope

Margaret Tiptoft, Lady Scrope

• Birth: abt 1366 - Sundon, Luton, Bedfordshire, England / Probably Nettlestead, Suffolk, England
• Death: after May 14 1431 - London, Middlesex, England
• Burial: Christ Church Priory, London, England
• Parents: Robert Tiptoft, Margaret Deincourt
• Married: Roger le Scrope, John Ninezergh
• Also known as: Margaret Tybotot

Children

1. Richard le Scrope, 3rd Baron Scrope of Bolton b 31 May 1394. Married Margaret de Neville.
2. Thomas b abt 1390
3. Maud
4. Matilda b 1393. Married Richard Grey, 6th Baron Grey of Wilton.
5. Elizabeth b abt 1394. Married John Daubeney.

From History of Parliament online

After the death of her first husband, in 1403, Margaret became involved in what one antiquary has described as a series of ‘discreditable matrimonial intrigues’. Her various suitors were, no doubt, attracted as much by the scale and wealth of her dower properties in the north as by whatever personal qualities she herself may have possessed, and there was keen competition for her hand. In 1405 one John Fitzjohn, alias Curraunt, claimed to have married her at Coveney in Cambridgeshire, while another rival, John Harwood, also put himself forward as her husband. In the event, however, it was John Ninezergh who made off with the prize, albeit under highly dubious circumstances. Shortly after their marriage he was indicted and arraigned in the court of King’s bench on a charge of raping and abducting Lady Scrope. He was eventually acquitted, and she later found it expedient to uphold the verdict herself, although their courtship must have given rise to some violent scenes because the vicar of Wensley was reputedly murdered by Ninezergh for opposing his designs.

If Lady Scrope managed to retain control of her husband’s possessions, through his feoffees, it proved less easy for her to defend her own title to the dower lands which she had occupied since 1403. By reviving the charge of rape made earlier against his exiled stepfather, Richard, Lord Scrope, found a pretext for evicting his mother; and when he himself died, in France, in August 1420, the Crown stepped in to seize the land in question. John Ninezergh did not himself survive for more than a few weeks longer, dying abroad at some point in the following autumn. His widow lost no time in petitioning Parliament for redress, on the ground that since he had not been convicted of rape in the first place, he should never have been deprived of the land which he held in her right. She lived on until 1431, but, understandably in light of her previous experiences, never married again. 4

Citations

1. 4.RP, iv. 164; CPR, 1413-16, pp. 219, 251; 1413-19, pp. 356-7.
2. A Genealogical History of the Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited, and Extinct Peerages of the British Empire (Google eBook). Sir Bernard Burke. Page 480.
3. "He [Roger le Scrope] married, before 23 November 1385, Margaret (aged 6 in 1372), 1st daughter and coheir of Robert (TIBETOT), 3rd LORD TIBETOT or TIPTOFTj who died 13 April 1372, by Margaret, daughter of Sir William DEINCOURT [son and heir apparent of 2nd LORD DEINCOURT]. He died 1 December 1403, and was buried at Easby. His widow married, in 1405 or 1406, John NIANDSER or NIXANDSER, who fled the kingdom for felony, 22 July 1414, and died after August 1420." [Complete Peerage XI:541-2, XIV:573, (transcribed by Dave Utzinger)]

Links

• The Phillips, Weber, Kirk, & Staggs families of the Pacific Northwest
• http://www.tudorplace.com.ar/SCROPE.htm#Roger%20SCROPE%20(2%B0%20B....

www.findagrave.com

Lady Margaret Tibetot Scrope
BIRTH 1366
Greater London, England
DEATH 14 May 1431 (aged 64–65)
BURIAL
Priory of Holy Trinity
Aldgate, City of London, Greater London, England
MEMORIAL ID 73471156

Eldest daughter and co-heiress to Sir Robert de Tibetot and Margaret Deincourt.

She was the wife of Sir Roger le Scrope, Lord Scrope of Bolton, son of Sir Richard le Scrope and Blanche de la Pole. They married before 23 Nov 1385, and had two sons and one daughter;

• Sir Richard, Lord Scrope of Bolton, husband of Margaret Neville
• Thomas
• Maud, contracted to marry Richard Grey, Lord Grey of Wilton.

Sir Roger died 03 Dec 1403, and Margaret married secondly, to John Niandser, who fled once charged with a felony in 1414 and died after August of 1420.

Margaret left a will dated 13 April 1431, proved 14 May 1431.

Family Members
Parents
Robert Tibetot
1341–1372

Spouse
Roger Scrope
1348–1403

Siblings
Elizabeth Tibetot Despenser
1370–1424

Children
Richard Le Scrope
1394–1420