Robert Bealknap

His Worship Sir Robert Bealknap JP (d. 19 January 1401) was a British justice. He is first recorded as part of a commission in Berkshire in 1359, followed by a range of others, mainly in Kent, including two dealing with maritime crime in 1360 and 1361, most of the rest being conventional commissions of Array, sewer and the peace. He was appointed a Justice of the Peace for Kent on 18 May 1362, and at the same time began serving as legal counsel. In July 1362 he served on a commission with William of Wykeham investigating lands granted to the Bishopric of Winchester, which Wykeham at that time held. From this point Bealknap's career as a lawyer began to prosper; from 1371 he was retained as a lawyer by Westminster Abbey, and from 1374 by John of Gaunt. He was sent along with John Wycliffe and John Gilbert to Bruges in July 1374 to negotiate papal provisions; he returned in September and on 10 October he was made Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, and was Knighted on 28 December of that same year. From 1375 to 1388 he served as a Trier of Petitions in Parliament, and in 1376 he was involved in investigating Richard Lyons in Essex and Sussex after complaints of embezzlement.

Following the death of Edward III he was reappointed as Chief Justice under Richard II but was widely unpopular; at the time of the Peasants' Revolt he was in Essex conducting a court of trailbaston and was forced to promise not to conduct such courts again, as well as physically attacked; When the rebels reached London he was one of 15 people whose deaths they demanded. He also offended the people of London itself by suggesting that their claim to the position of Chief Butler of England for Richard's coronation should be rejected; in response they placed a model of his head on a water fountain in the marketplace so that it would vomit wine when Richard walked by. [cite web|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/1809?&docPos=32&backToResults=list=yes|group=yes|feature=yes|aor=3|orderField=alpha|title=Oxford DNB article: Bealknap, Sir Robert|last=Leland|first=John|accessdate=2008-10-02] Bealknap's downfall began when he advised the commission created in Parliament on 19 November 1386 to reform the government. The king and his advisers saw this commission as infringing on royal authority, and on 25 August 1387 Bealknap and the other justices involved were summoned to Nottingham and asked whether such a commission was lawful and, if not, how the summoners should be punished. The justices responded that such a commission was unlawful, and that the summoners should be punished as traitors. Bealknap reportedly refused to seal the answers until threatened with death by Robert de Vere, Duke of Ireland, and Michael de la Pole.

In response to this the Lords Appellant seized power on 17 November. After the Merciless Parliament began on 30 January 1388 Robert Charleton was made Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, and Bealknap was arrested along with his fellow justices. The group were brought to trial on 27 February due to their answers in relation to the legality of the parliamentary commission, and were sentenced to death. After many high-ranking figures including William Courtenay and Queen Anne pleaded on their behalf the sentence was changed to that of forfeiture and exile in Ireland. The exile was revoked in the January 1397 parliament, but Bealknap did not have his lands returned until the first parliament of Henry IV in October 1399; he died less than two years later on 19 January 1401, and was buried in Rochester Cathedral.

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