Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Sadington, Robert de
SADINGTON, Sir ROBERT de (fl. 1340), chancellor, was no doubt a native of Sadington in Leicestershire, and perhaps a son of John de Sadington, a valet of Isabella, wife of Edward II, and custos of the hundred of Gertre [Gartree] in that county (Abbrev. Rot. Orig. i. 243). He may be the Robert de Sadington who was named by Joan de Multon to seek and receive her dower in chancery in January 1317 (Cal. Close Rolls, Edw. II, ii. 451). He appears as an advocate in the year-books from 1329 to 1336. In 1329 he was on a commission to sell the corn from certain manors then in the king's hands. On 18 Feb. 1331 he was on a commission of oyer and terminer to inquire into the oppressions of the ministers of the late king in Rutland and Northamptonshire (Cal. Pat. Rolls, Edw. III, ii. 134). In the following years he frequently appears on similar commissions. On 12 Feb. 1332 he was placed on the commission of peace for Leicestershire and Rutland, and on 25 June 1332 was a commissioner for the assessment of the tallage in the counties of Leicester, Warwick, and Worcester (ib. ii. 287, 312). Previously to 8 Aug. 1334 he was justice in eyre of the forest of Pickering and of the forests in Lancashire (ib. iii. 1, 4, 172, 261). On 31 Dec. 1334 he was appointed on an inquiry into the waterways between Peterborough and Spalding and Lynn, and, on 10 July 1335, on an inquiry into the collection of taxes of Northamptonshire, Warwickshire, and Rutland (ib. iii. 70, 202). During 1336 he was a justice of gaol delivery at Lancaster and Warwick (ib. iii. 300, 324). On 20 March 1334 he was appointed chief baron of the exchequer (ib. iii. 400), and appears to have been the first chief baron who was summoned to parliament by that title. On 25 July 1339 he was acting as lieutenant for the treasurer, William de Zouche, and from 2 May to 21 June 1340 was himself treasurer, but retained his office as chief baron. On 29 Sept. 1343 he was appointed chancellor, being the third layman to hold this position during the reign. He resigned the great seal on 26 Oct. 1345. The reason for his resignation is not given, but the fact that he was reappointed chief baron on 8 Dec. 1345 seems to preclude the suggestion of Lord Campbell, that it was due to inefficiency. He had been a trier of petitions for England in the parliaments of 1341 and 1343, and was a trier of petitions from the clergy in 1347 (Rolls of Parliament, ii. 126, 135, 164). In 1346 Sadington was one of the guardians of the principality of Wales, duchy of Cornwall, and earldom of Chester during the minority of the prince. In 1347 he presided over the commission appointed to try the earls of Fife and Menteith, who had been taken prisoners in the battle of Neville's Cross. Sadington perhaps died in the spring of 1350, for his successor as chief baron was appointed on 7 April of that year. He married Joyce, sister and heiress of Richard de Mortival, bishop of Salisbury. Isabel, his daughter and sole heir, married Sir Ralph Hastings.
[Murimuth's Chronicle, p. 118; Nichols's Leicestershire, ii. 187, 612, 740, 776; Foss's Judges of England; Campbell's Lives of the Chancellors, i. 245–6; other authorities quoted.]