| Early
Years and the Hundred Years War |
| Robert’s
Brother Thomas took over the title as 7th Baron
Scales. He was the last and perhaps the most
distinguished of the Barons Scales, his son
Thomas dying before him. He married Emma
Whalesborough, daughter of Sir Simon
Whalesborough, probably of Whalesborough in
Cornwall. |
| He behaved
gallantly in the wars against France and played a
major role in Henry V’s 1421 campaign,
including the sieges of Dreux and Meaux. Henry
was to die the following year from dysentery
probably caught during the latter siege. In 1422
he fought in Normandy against Joan of Arc in the
Loire campaign. |
| He was at the
battle of Verneuil in 1424 (sometimes called the Second
Agincourt), where the English under the Duke
of Bedford won a crushing victory over the Scots
and French. In 1424-5 he fought alongside John
Fastolf (Shakespeare’s probable model for
Falstaff) to recapture the fortress at Maine. In
1426, when in France (again with the Duke of
Bedford, regent to the young Henry VI), he was
elected Knight of the Garter at St.
George's feast at Windsor. |
| He saw action
against Joan of Arc again in the Siege of
Orléans (1428-9), a turning point in the Hundred
Years War and the first major French success
after Agincourt. He was taken prisoner but a
ransom was paid and he was released. This is
discussed by the Duke of Bedford in Shakespeare's
Henry VI Part 1 (see the next page but one). |
| He evidently
commanded a corps of 728 archers and about 50
infantry at the siege of Saint-Denis in 1435. By
1441 he was Seneschal of Normandy with a seal of
six scallop shells and the circumscription Sir
Thomace de Scalis et de Neucellis Senescalli
Normanice. |
| All in all he
was one of the principal English commanders in
the last twenty years of the Hundred Years War. |
|
| Later
Years and the Wars of the Roses |
| In 1450 Thomas
fought against Jack Cade, leader of the popular
revolt known as the Kent Rebellion. This
act is recalled when he appears briefly in
Shakespeare's Henry VI Part 2 (see the next page
but one). By 1451, a Lancastrian supporter, he
was said to be in high favour with Henry VI and
his queen Margaret of Anjou. In 1459, the Yorkist
Earls of March, Warwick, and Salisbury invaded
from Calais and Thomas and some other lords took
possession of and secured the Tower of London for
the King. |
| However, after
the battle of Northampton, where the Yorkists
triumphed and the King was taken, many in the
Tower had to surrender. Thomas tried to escape by
boat with three others, and on the way to take
sanctuary with the Queen at Westminster was
recognised by boatmen on the river and murdered. |
| The family tree
of the Middleton Scales branch is shown below. |
| |
|
| Middleton
Towers |
| It was Thomas
who in 1455 began the construction of what is now
Middleton Towers. The large, three storey
gatehouse with corner turrets dates from this
time. It was unfinished by the time of his death
in 1460 and the work was probably completed by
his daughter Elizabeth and son-in-law Anthony
Woodville. By the 18th century the site was
derelict and very little of the 15th century
house remained other than the gatehouse itself.
The remainder of the present structure dates from
the second half of the 19th century, when the
gatehouse was also restored. The present site is
worth studying on Google Earth - the
moat and layout of the buildings are very clear. |
|
