Richard de Gray (nobleman, † 1335)

Sir Richard de Gray (also Richard de Gray, 2nd Baron de Gray ) (* around 1281, † around March 10, 1335 ) was an English nobleman and military man.

Origin and heritage

Richard de Gray was the eldest son of Sir Henry de Gray and his first wife Eleanor de Courtenay. After his father's death in September 1308, he inherited his estates, including Codnor Castle in Derbyshire . On March 4, 1309 Gray was appointed to parliament for the first time, on February 23, 1335 for the last time . It has long been controversial whether he is considered the Baron Gray of Codnor . Since it could not be proven whether he actually took part in the parliamentary meetings, the House of Lords decided in 1989 that only his great-grandson from 1397 onwards was the 1st Baron Gray of Codnor. In 1321 and 1332, Gray was commissioned by parliament to receive and examine petitions.

Military career

Gray was one of the most famous military men during the reign of King Edward II. In 1312 he served as Seneschal of Gascony , and in the early summer of 1313 he was part of the king's entourage when he made a state visit to France. As early as 1311 he had participated in the failed campaign of the king to Scotland. In 1314 he was again part of the royal army that suffered a crushing defeat in the Battle of Bannockburn against the Scots. Together with the Earl of Pembroke , Bartholomew de Badlesmere and other nobles, he was in Newcastle between July 1 and November 1, 1315 in order to be available to ward off Scottish attacks. He complained bitterly in a letter to the king that too little money was available for the defense of northern England. From 1319 to 1320 he took part in the unsuccessful siege of Berwick and in other battles against the Scots in the Scottish Marches . During the Despenser War he supported Roger Mortimer and the Marcher Lords , who attacked and sacked the Welsh possessions of the royal favorite Hugh le Despenser . Like the other attackers, he was pardoned by parliament in August 1321 for these attacks. Together with John Giffard and Robert de Shirland, he testified to Badlesmere's claim that the younger Despenser was a traitor. Apparently he was deceived by false letters, and the rebels tried to win Gray, Giffard and Shirland firmly on their side. From the end of 1321, however, Gray supported the king, who took action against this aristocratic opposition. He was a member of the royal army that pursued the rebels under Thomas of Lancaster to northern England. He thus remained in the favor of the king, who visited him in Codnor Castle after his victory over Lancaster in March 1322. In 1324, Gray was reappointed Seneschal of Gascon during the War of Saint-Sardos . Already in October 1324 Gray resigned his office, which he was allowed to do, however, because he then served Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent in Gascony as a military. On his return to England in December 1325 he became Constable of Nottingham Castle .

Role in the deposition of Edward II and the overthrow of Roger Mortimer

Gray was a vassal of Thomas of Brotherton, 1st Earl of Norfolk , the king's half-brother and opponent of the Despensers. Norfolk was Earl Marshal from 1316 , with Gray being his deputy. This relationship may explain Grey's role in the ousting of King Edward II. He was part of the delegation that brought the indictments of Parliament to the king in January 1327 at Kenilworth Castle and moved him to officially abdicate. As the official constable of Nottingham Castle, Gray was not in the castle in October 1330 when the deputy constable William d'Eland showed the young William Montagu a secret entrance into the castle. This allowed Montagu and other conspirators to get into the castle and, together with the young King Edward III. bring the previous ruler Roger Mortimer into their power. After this coup, Gray was replaced as constable of the castle on October 26th.

A page of the book of hours Gray must have given his wife for the wedding

Family and offspring

Gray had married Joan FitzPayne, daughter of Robert FitzPayne, 1st Baron FitzPayne . Probably for the wedding, Gray gave his wife the Gray-FitzPayn book of hours , a splendid prayer book that is now in the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge. Gray had at least three children with his wife:

• Sir John de Gray († 1392)
• Jane de Gray

1. ∞ Sir William de Harcourt
2. ∞ Ralph de Ferrers

• Robert FitzPayn (around 1321–1393)

His main heir became his eldest son, John.

Web links

• Sir Richard de Gray on thepeerage.com , accessed June 19, 2016.
• Simon Walker: Gray, Richard, second Baron Gray of Codnor (b. 1281/2, d. In or before 1335). In: Henry Colin Gray Matthew, Brian Harrison (Eds.): Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , from the earliest times to the year 2000 (ODNB). Oxford University Press, Oxford 2004, ISBN 0-19-861411-X , ( oxforddnb.com license required ), as of 2004

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Cracroft's Peerage: Gray (of Codnor), Baron (E, 1397). Retrieved June 15, 2016 . 
2. ^ John E. Morris: Bannockburn . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1914, p. 35
3. ↑ Seymour Phillips: Edward II . New Haven, Yale University Press 2010. ISBN 978-0-300-15657-7 , p. 249
4. ↑ Seymour Phillips: Edward II . New Haven, Yale University Press 2010. ISBN 978-0-300-15657-7 , pp. 252
5. ^ Ian Mortimer: The Greatest Traitor. The Life of Sir Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March, Ruler of England, 1327-1330. Jonathan Cape, London 2003, ISBN 0-224-06249-2 , p. 110
6. ↑ Seymour Phillips: Edward II . New Haven, Yale University Press 2010. ISBN 978-0-300-15657-7 , pp. 389
7. ↑ Natalie Fryde: The tyranny and fall of Edward II, 1321-1326 . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2003. ISBN 0-521-54806-3 , p. 46
8. ↑ Magnus Alexander, Jonathan Millward: Codnor Castle. Earthwork Analysis, Suryey Report. English Heritage, 2008, p. 8. (pdf file, 3.76 MB) (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on July 28, 2011 ; accessed on June 22, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
9. ↑ Seymour Phillips: Edward II . New Haven, Yale University Press 2010. ISBN 978-0-300-15657-7 , pp. 534
10. ↑ Alison Weir: Isabella. She-Wolf of France, Queen of England . London, Pimlico 2006, ISBN 0-7126-4194-7 , p. 341.
11. ^ Donald Drew Egbert: The Gray-Fitzpayn Hours: An English Gothic Manuscript of the Early Fourteenth Century now in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, MS. 242 . In: The Art Bulletin, 18 (1936), p. 527