 He was employed on state affairs down to the end of the rule of Isabella of France and Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March, and on 1 May 1330 received a grant for life of Orford Castle in Suffolk, which had been previously held by his father; he also obtained grants of other lands.On 28 July he was appointed to array and command the levies of Norfolk and Suffolk summoned to fight "against the king's rebels".Nevertheless, in October he associated himself with William de Montacute in the attack on Mortimer at Nottingham.