142 
Indiana University Studies 
judges in this time were chosen from the sergeants of large 
practice. 
Lancaster and York. The chief lawyers during the reigns 
of the houses of Lancaster and York were Thirning, Rickhill, 
Gascoigne, Hankford, Markham, Danby, Norton, Prisot, Hody, 
Croyle, Choke, Brian, Skrene, Yelverton, Fortescue, and 
Thomas Littleton. Thirning (-1413) was appointed as one to 
receive the resignation of Richard II, because Henry IV did 
not want to olfend the lawyers. He was appointed chief 
justice of the Common Pleas by Richard II, and Henry IV, and 
Henry V. Gascoigne (-1419) was chief justice of King’s 
Bench under Henry IV. When the king commanded him to 
pronounce sentence of death on Archbishop Strope and Earl 
Mowbray for leading an insurrection, Gascoigne answered, 
“Neither the king nor any of his subjects can according to 
the law of the realm sentence a prelate to death, and the Earl 
has a right to be tried by his peers.” Gascoigne also once 
put in jail for contempt the king’s son, Prince Henry, who 
drew his sword in court because the chief justice would not 
release him; but when Prince Henry became Henry V he did 
not reappoint Gascoigne because of the indignity laid upon 
him. Hankford (-1422) was justice under four kings — 
Richard II, Henry IV, Henry V, and Henry VI. He had a 
high reputation for moral and legal character. John Mark- 
ham (-1479) kept from the civil contest of the times, and was 
justice of King’s Bench under Henry VI and chief justice 
under Edward IV. Danby (-1471) was justice of the Com- 
mon Pleas under Henry VI and chief justice under Edward IV, 
and continued on the restoration of Henry VI for six months, 
but was not reappointed by Edward IV. He committed 
suicide because of the perplexities of the times by ordering 
his keeper to shoot anyone walking in his park who did not 
answer the keeper’s challenge. Prisot and Hody (1441) 
helped Littleton on his Treatise on Tenures . The two great- 
est lawyers of this period were probably Fortescue and Thom- 
as Littleton. 
Fortescue (-1476). John Fortescue was a great practi- 
tioner, judge, statesman, soldier, writer, and scholar. He was 
a Lancastrian, and chief justice of the King’s Bench under 
Henry VI, but was attainted of high treason, as one engaged 
in the battle of Towton, by the first Parliament of Edward 
