from 1349 to 1372. There is no proof, as is commonly stated, that the judge was father of Michael Scott, who in 1346–7 was assessed to the sixteenth in Bircholt.
Obscurity in the history of the family of Scott of Scot's Hall ceases with the settlement by Peter de Coumbe in 1402 of the manor of Combe or Coumbe in Brabourne on William Scott (d. 1434), who was escheator for Kent in 1425, sheriff in 1428, and M.P. in 1430. Before 1409 he married his first wife, Joan, daughter of Sir John de Orlestone (d. 1397), and by purchase or inheritance he acquired the manor and church of Orlestone, which had belonged to her family. He presented to the church in 1426, 1430, and 1433. He is believed to have built on the manor of Hall the mansion-house afterwards known as Scot's Hall. To him also was probably due the reconstruction in the Perpendicular style of the chapel of the Holy Trinity to the south of the chancel in Brabourne church, at the entrance of which he directed that he should be buried (cf. Weever). He died on 5 Feb. 1433–4. His second wife was Isabella, youngest daughter of Vincent Herbert, alias Finch, of Netherfield, Sussex (ancestor of the earls of Winchilsea); she survived him, and remarried Sir Gervase Clifton, treasurer of the household to Henry VI, who resided at Brabourne. By his second wife William Scott had, with other issue, an heir, John, and William (d. 1491). The latter was lord of the manor of Woolstan, and founder of the family of Scott of Chigwell, Essex.
The heir, Sir John Scott (d. 1485) of Scot's Hall, a consistent Yorkist, was appointed sheriff of Kent in 1460, and, on the accession of Edward IV next year, was knighted and made comptroller of the household. Edward IV, on the attainder in 1461 of Thomas, baron de Roos, and James Butler, earl of Wiltshire, gave him the castle and manor of Wilderton and Molash in Kent and the manor of Old Swinford and Snodsbury in Worcestershire, with a life interest in the castle and manor of Chilham. He was one of the negotiators of the treaty of commerce with Burgundy, concluded at Brussels on 24 Nov. 1467, and of the marriage treaty [see Margaret, Duchess of Burgundy], and one of the commission for the delimitation of the Pale of Picardy, appointed on 18 June 1472. He was returned to parliament for Kent in 1467, and was engaged in the following years on diplomatic negotiations with the Hanse Towns. In 1471 he succeeded Richard Neville, earl Warwick, whom he was sent to arrest in France after the battle of Stamford (May 1470), as lieutenant of Dover Castle, warden of the Cinque ports, and marshal of Calais, and continued in active diplomatic employment. He died on 17 Oct. 1485, and was buried in the north wall of the chancel of Brabourne church. His arms are in the north window of ‘the martyrdom’ at Canterbury Cathedral. His account-book (1463–6) was printed in ‘Archæologia Cant.’ vol. x. By his wife Agnes (d. 1487), daughter of William de Beaufitz of the Grange, Gillingham, Kent, he had, with two daughters, an heir, William. The statement that Thomas Rotherham [q. v.] was a younger son is without foundation.
Sir William Scott (1459–1524) of Brabourne was concerned in the siege of Bodiam Castle in 1483–4, for which and other delinquencies he received a pardon on the accession of Henry VII. Rising in favour with that monarch, he was sworn of the privy council, appointed comptroller of the household, and created C.B. with Prince Arthur on 29 Nov. 1489. He was also lieutenant of Dover Castle, warden of the Cinque ports, and marshal of Calais in 1490–1, sheriff of Kent the same year, in 1501 and 1516. In 1495 he succeeded to the manor of Brabourne on the death, without issue, of Joan, widow of Sir John Lewknor (killed at Tewkesbury 1471). The property came to her from her father Richard, son of John Halsham, and, by a settlement of 1464, was limited to John Scott and his heirs, failing Joan Lewknor's issue. John Scott's relationship to the Halshams and Lewknors is not established. In 1519 Sir William attended Henry VIII at the Field of the Cloth of Gold, and figured among the grandees deputed with Wolsey to receive the Emperor Charles V on his landing at Dover on 28 May 1522. Scot's Hall he rebuilt in a style of such splendour as to make it long the rival of the greatest of the houses of Kent. He died on 24 Aug. 1524, and was buried in the chancel of Brabourne church. By his wife Sybil (d. 1527) he left issue. A younger son, Edward (d. 1535), married Alice, daughter of Thomas Fogge, serjeant porter of Calais, and founded the family of Scott of the Mote, Iden, Sussex.
His heir, Sir John Scott (1484?–1533), was knighted by the young Prince Charles (afterwards the Emperor Charles V) for gallantry displayed in the campaign of 1511 in the Low Countries against the Duke of Guelders [see Poynings, Sir Edward]. He entered the retinue of George Neville, lord Abergavenny, constable of Dover Castle, and had charge of the transport service on the landing of Charles V at Dover on 28 May 1522. He was sheriff of Kent in 1527, and died 7 Oct. 1533. By marriage with Anne, daughter of Reginald Pympe (said to be de-
