Robert de Malberthorp

Sir Robert de Malberthorp (d. 1331/1332) was an English lawyer, and Chief Justice of the King's Bench in1329. He was the son and heir of Sir William of Malberthorpe, lord of the manor of Mablethorpe, Lincolnshire.

Malberthorp was a serjeant at the common bench by 1299. In 1311 he was working for the city of London, and in 1313-14 he was employed as serjeant by Thomas of Lancaster. On 1 August 1320 he was appointed justice of the king's bench. He worked on several legal commissions in this period, many in his native Lincolnshire and surrounding counties. One commission in particular was designed to help the Despensers gain the lordship of Gower against John Mowbray and his allies.

It was Malberthorp who, in the king's name, passed a judgement of death over the rebellious Thomas of Lancaster, after Lancaster's defeat at the Battle of Boroughbridge. For this Malberthorp would need a pardon after the fall of Edward II. Yet he remained in favour at court under the new regime of Roger Mortimer, and later under the personal government of Edward III. In February 1329 he was involved in sessions against rebels led by Thomas' brother, Henry of Lancaster.

The pinnacle of Malberthorp's career came on 1 May 1329, when he was made chief justice of the king's bench. He only held this position until 28 October, however, as at this time he had been appointed justice of eyre for Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire. On 18 January 1331, he was appointed justice of common pleas, and remained in that position until Michaelmas term.

He was dead by 21 January 1332, when the escheator was instructed to take his lands into the king's hand. There is no will or inquisition post mortem, however, and no record of him ever having married or having children. He had been knighted by 1326.

References

*S. Bothwell, 'Malberthorpe, Sir Robert (d. 1331/2)', "Oxford Dictionary of National Biography", online edn, Oxford University Press, May 2006 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/94468, accessed 11 Jan 2008]