Richard Folville was a member of the infamous robber band captained by his older brother Eustace

Eustace Folville

]Eustace Folville was the leader of a robber band active in Leicestershire and Derbyshire in the first half of the 14th century. With four of his younger brothers, he was responsible for two of the most notorious crimes of early 14th century England: no mean achievement, considering the same...

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Biography

Richard was the fourth of seven sons born to Sir John Folville (died 1310) of Ashby Folville

Ashby Folville

Ashby Folville is a village in the Melton district of Leicestershire, south west of Melton Mowbray. The civil parish of Ashby Folville was abolished in 1936 and its were merged with Gaddesby.The village was recorded in the Domesday Book....

, Leicestershire

Leicestershire

Leicestershire is a landlocked county in the English Midlands. It takes its name from the heavily populated City of Leicester, traditionally its administrative centre, although the City of Leicester unitary authority is today administered separately from the rest of Leicestershire...

. In 1321 he was created rector to the small country parish of Teigh

Teigh

Teigh is a village and civil parish in the county of Rutland in the East Midlands of England. It is notable for its parish church, almost unaltered since a 1782 rebuild, that features pews that face one another rather than the altar....

, about 12 km east of Melton Mowbray

Melton Mowbray

Melton Mowbray is a town in the Melton borough of Leicestershire, England. It is to the northeast of Leicester, and southeast of Nottingham...

. However, like his near-contemporaries Thomas De L'Isle or John Rippinghale, his vocation did not deter him from indulging in serious organised crime. Although he is not named in connection with the murder of Sir Roger Bellere

Eustace Folville

]Eustace Folville was the leader of a robber band active in Leicestershire and Derbyshire in the first half of the 14th century. With four of his younger brothers, he was responsible for two of the most notorious crimes of early 14th century England: no mean achievement, considering the same...

 in 1326, he certainly participated in many of his siblings' later outrages.

Richard seems to have masterminded the gang's most brazen plot, the abduction and ransom of the justice Sir Richard Willoughby, later Chief Justice of the King's Bench. The chronicler Henry Knighton

Henry Knighton

Henry Knighton was an Augustinian canon at the abbey of St. Mary of the Meadows, Leicester, England. He was a canon at the Abbey since at least 1363, when he was recorded as being present during a visit from the King.-The chronicle:He wrote a four-volume chronicle, first published in 1652,...

, our principal witness to the activities of the Folvilles, claims that the 'savage, audacious' Richard was in charge of the socialem comitivam ('allied company') which attacked Willoughby. The kidnap occurred in January 1332. Willoughby was seized on the road to Grantham

Grantham

Grantham is a market town within the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. It bestrides the East Coast Main Line railway , the historic A1 main north-south road, and the River Witham. Grantham is located approximately south of the city of Lincoln, and approximately east of Nottingham...

, and escorted into nearby woodland. One indictment claims that he was carried from here to numerous dens and hideouts across the county, 'from wood to wood'. He was at length made to pay 1300 marks (nearly £900) for his release, and forced to swear an oath of loyalty to the Folvilles.

The underlying reasons for this attack are obscure. What at first glance looks like casual opportunism may in fact be rooted in local politics, since Willoughby had estates in Leicestershire; the abduction may even have been intended as a challenge to royal authority. Knighton clearly regards it as the latter, conceiving the whole episode as revenge for the trailbaston

Trailbaston

Trailbaston was a special type of itinerant judicial commission first created during the reign of Edward I of England and used many times thereafter during the reigns of Edward II and Edward III, primarily to punish felonies and trespass at the king's suit.The first trailbaston commissions date...

 sessions of 1331, which 'made several outlaws in many places'. As Richard Firth Green comments: 'We may never be able to establish Richard Folville's motives precisely - was he paying off an old debt with a local rival, expressing his contempt for royal justice, or merely indulging in a spot of profitable brigandage?'

Capture and death

Richard did not only distinguish himself in this enterprise. He is also notable for being the only member of the Folville gang to suffer official retribution. In either 1340 or 1341, he and some of his retinue were cornered in the church of Teigh by Sir Robert Coalville

Coalville

Coalville is a town in North West Leicestershire, England, with a population estimated in 2003 to be almost 33,000. It is situated on the A511 trunk road between Leicester and Burton upon Trent, close to junction 22 of the M1 motorway where the A511 meets the A50 between Ashby-de-la-Zouch and...

, a keeper of the King's peace. After a prolonged struggle, which resulted in at least one fatality as Richard fired arrows from the church, Sir Robert succeeded in drawing Richard from the building. Once in custody Folville was summarily beheaded, in his own churchyard. After the event Pope Clement VI

Pope Clement VI

Pope Clement VI , bornPierre Roger, the fourth of the Avignon Popes, was pope from May 1342 until his death in December of 1352...

 instructed Thomas Bek

Thomas Bek, Bishop of Lincoln

Thomas Bek was the bishop of Lincoln from 1341 until his death. He was a member of the same family as Antony Bek, bishop of Durham, and Thomas Bek, Bishop of St David's....

, Bishop of Lincoln

Bishop of Lincoln

The Bishop of Lincoln is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Lincoln in the Province of Canterbury.The present diocese covers the county of Lincolnshire and the unitary authority areas of North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire. The Bishop's seat is located in the Cathedral...

, to absolve Robert and his men for killing the priest, on condition that they were whipped at each of main churches in the area, by way of penance. This is clearly reminiscent of Henry II

Henry II of England

Henry II ruled as King of England , Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Count of Nantes, Lord of Ireland and, at various times, controlled parts of Wales, Scotland and western France. Henry, the great-grandson of William the Conqueror, was the...

's penance before the cathedral of Avranches

Avranches

Avranches is a commune in the Manche department in the Basse-Normandie region in north-western France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department. The inhabitants are called Avranchinais.-History:...

, after the death of Thomas Becket

Thomas Becket

Thomas Becket was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1162 until his murder in 1170. He is venerated as a saint and martyr by both the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion...

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