William Gascoigne in United Kingdom

Sir William Gascoigne (c. 1350-1419), chief justice of England in the
reign of Henry IV. Both history and tradition testify to the fact that
he was one of the great lawyers who in times of doubt and danger have
asserted the principle that the head of the state is subject to law, and
that the traditional practice of public officers, or the expressed voice
of the nation in parliament, and not the will of the monarch or any part
of the legislature, must guide the tribunals of the country. He was a
descendant of an ancient Yorkshire family. The date of his birth is
uncertain, but it appears from the year-books that he practised as an
advocate in the reigns of Edward III. and Richard II.

On the banishment of Henry of Lancaster Gascoigne was appointed one of his attorneys, and
soon after Henry’s accession to the throne was made chief justice of the
court of king’s bench. After the suppression of the rising in the north
in 1405, Henry eagerly pressed the chief justice to pronounce sentence
upon Scrope, the archbishop of York, and the earl marshal Thomas
Mowbray, who had been implicated in the revolt. This he absolutely
refused to do, asserting the right of the prisoners to be tried by their
peers. Although both were afterwards executed, the chief justice had no
part in the transaction. It has been very much doubted, however, whether
Gascoigne could have displayed such independence of action without
prompt punishment or removal from office following.

The oft-told tale of his committing the prince of Wales to prison must also be regarded as
unauthentic, though it is both picturesque and characteristic. The judge
had directed the punishment of one of the prince’s riotous companions,
and the prince, who was present and enraged at the sentence, struck or
grossly insulted the judge. Gascoigne immediately committed him to
prison, using firm and forcible language, which brought him to a more
reasonable mood, and secured his voluntary obedience to the sentence.
The king is said to have approved of the act, but there appears to be
good ground for the supposition that Gascoigne was removed from his post
or resigned soon after the accession of Henry V. He died in 1419, and
was buried in the parish church of Harewood in Yorkshire.

Some biographies of the judge have stated that he died in 1412, but this is
clearly disproved by Foss in his _Lives of the Judges_; and although it
is clear that Gascoigne did not hold office long under Henry V., it is
not absolutely impossible that the scene in the fifth act of the second
part of Shakespeare’s _Henry IV._ has some historical basis, and that
the judge’s resignation was voluntary.

Source: Encyclopedia Britannica (1911)