Thomas Gray, 1st Marquess of Dorset

Coat of arms of Thomas Gray, 1st Marquess of Dorset

Thomas Gray, 1st Marquess of Dorset KG (* around 1455 in Groby Old Hall , Groby , Leicestershire , † September 20, 1501 in Greenwich (London) ) was an English nobleman and courtier . His mother's second marriage made him a stepson of King Edward IV. He became the king's stepson and played an important role at court.

Life

He was the eldest son of Sir John Gray , landlord of Groby in Leicestershire and Astley in Warwickshire , from his marriage to Lady Elizabeth Woodville , daughter of Richard Woodville, 1st Earl Rivers . After his father died in 1461, his mother married King Edward IV in 1464. Thomas had a younger brother, Sir Richard Gray , and ten half-siblings from his mother's second marriage to King Edward IV.

His mother made efforts to increase his net worth by ensuring that Thomas married on an advantageous basis. So he was married in October 1466 in Greenwich with Lady Anne Holland (1461 - around 1474), the only daughter of Henry Holland, 2nd Duke of Exeter and Anne of York . His mother-in-law was the eldest surviving daughter of Richard, 3rd Duke of York , and Cecily Neville , and thus a sister of Edward IV.

During the Wars of the Roses , Thomas sided with his York stepfather . He fought at the Battle of Tewkesbury in May 1471 and was made Earl of Huntingdon on August 14, 1471 . That title had been stripped from his father-in-law, who had sided with the House of Lancaster .

After his first wife Anne Holland died young and without offspring, he married the rich heiress Cecily Bonville (1460–1529) in his second marriage on September 5, 1474 and obtained the titles of 7th Baron Harington and 2nd Baron Bonville from her right . She was the sole heir to William Bonville, 6th Baron Harington , and his wife Katherine Neville, daughter of Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury . His mother-in-law Katherine was the sister of the Earl of Warwick and thus the aunt of his daughters Isabella and Anne .

On the occasion of the investiture of the young Crown Prince Edward (V) as Prince of Wales , he was first made Knight of the Bath on April 18, 1475 and raised to Marquess of Dorset on the same day . For this he gave his title Earl of Huntingdon back to the crown. Shortly afterwards he was accepted as a Knight Companion in the Order of the Garter and in the Privy Council . In January 1483 he inherited the title 7th Baron Ferrers of Groby from his paternal grandmother .

After the death of his stepfather and the accession to the throne of his 12-year-old half-brother Edward V on April 9, 1483, Gray proved unable to maintain the position of his family. It was not possible to secure his mother's reign. Internal competitions, notably the age-old struggle for supremacy in Leicestershire between the Gray family and the Hastings family, now at national level, enabled Richard, the Duke of Gloucester , to seize power and ascend the throne. The Gray family was closely associated with Edward V. On June 25, 1483, a parliamentary assembly declared that Richard III. the rightful king and Thomas 'uncle Anthony Woodville, 2nd Earl Rivers , and Thomas' brother Sir Richard Gray, were executed. In the summer, Thomas learned of the apparent murder of his younger half-brothers and joined the Duke of Buckingham's rebellion against Richard III. on. When the rebellion failed, Thomas Gray fled to Brittany . In his absence he was ostracized for high treason and his titles and lands were confiscated from the crown. In Brittany he joined Henry Tudor , later Henry VII, who promised to marry Grey's half-sister Elizabeth of York and to unite the York and Lancaster families.

However, shortly before Henry Tudor began his ultimately successful invasion of England in August 1485, Gray heard rumors from England that his mother was reaching an agreement with Richard III. and was determined to leave Henry Tudor. He was captured in Compiègne en route to England and played no part in the invasion and subsequent fall of Richard. Instead, he had to stay in Paris as security for the repayment of a loan that the French government had granted Henry Tudor. When Henry VII finally ascended the English throne in 1485, Thomas was allowed to return to England.

After that, Henry VII made sure to keep the half-brother of his wife Elizabeth of York under control. Thomas Gray was unable to regain his previous influence, but received his titles and rights back. Thomas Gray was not allowed to leave the Tower of London during Lambert Simnel's uprising and was only released after the Tudors' victory in the Battle of Stoke . Although he was allowed to accompany the king to France in 1492, it was ensured that he would not commit high treason. He later participated in the suppression of the Cornish Rebellion of 1497 .

Thomas Gray, 1st Marquess of Dorset, died in London on September 20, 1501 and was buried in Astley, Warwickshire. His widow married his second cousin, Henry Stafford, 1st Earl of Wiltshire , around 1504 .

progeny

From his second marriage to Cecily Bonville he had seven sons and eight daughters:

• Lord Edward Gray († before 1501) ⚭ Anne Jerningham;
• Lord Anthony Gray († before 1501);
• Thomas Gray, 2nd Marquess of Dorset (1477-1530), ⚭ (1) Eleanor St John; ⚭ (2) Margaret Wotton;
• Lord Richard Gray ⚭ Florence Pudsey;
• Lord John Gray, ⚭ (1) Elizabeth Catesby, ⚭ (2) Anne Barley or Barlee († 1557 or 1558);
• Leonard Gray, 1st Viscount Grane (around 1490-1541); it is unclear if he ever married, if so then: ⚭ (1) Elizabeth Arundel, ⚭ (2) Eleanor Sutton;
• Lord George Gray, clergyman;
• Lady Cecily Gray († 1554) ⚭ John Sutton, 3rd Baron Dudley ;
• Lady Bridget Gray († young);
• Lady Anne Gray;
• Lady Dorothy Gray (1480–1552), ⚭ (1) Robert Willoughby, 2nd Baron Willoughby de Broke , ⚭ (2) William Blount, 4th Baron Mountjoy ;
• Lady Elizabeth Gray († 1540) ⚭ Gerald FitzGerald, 9th Earl of Kildare ;
• Lady Margaret Gray ⚭ Richard Wake of Blisworth;
• Lady Eleanor Gray († before December 1503) ⚭ Sir John Arundell of Lanherne (1474–1545);
• Lady Mary Gray (1493–1538) ⚭ Walter Devereux, 1st Viscount Hereford .

Reception in literature

Thomas Gray appears in William Shakespeare's drama Richard III. as Marquis of Dorset .

literature

• George Edward Cokayne : The Complete Peerage . Ed .: HA Doubleday. St. Catherine Press, London 1916, pp. 418-419 .
• TB Pugh: Gray, Thomas, first marquess of Dorset (c.1455-1501) . In: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography . Oxford University Press, 2004.

Web links

• Thomas Gray, 1st Marquess of Dorset on thepeerage.com
• Dorset, Marquess of (E, 1475-1554) at Cracroft's Peerage

Individual evidence

1. ^ The Complete Peerage
2. ↑ ^{a b} Dorset, Earls, Marquesses and Dukes of . In: Hugh Chisholm (Ed.): Encyclopædia Britannica . 11th edition. tape 8 . Cambridge University Press, pp. 431-434 .
3. ^ ^{A b} Douglas Richardson: Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families . Ed .: Kimball G. Everingham. 2nd Edition. tape 2 . Salt Lake City 2011, p. 304 .
4. ^ William Arthur Shaw: The Knights of England. Volume 1, Sherratt and Hughes, London 1906, p. 16
5. ^ William Arthur Shaw: The Knights of England. Volume 1, Sherratt and Hughes, London 1906, p. 16
6. ↑ Douglas Richardson: Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families . Ed .: Kimball G. Everingham. 2nd Edition. tape 4 . Salt Lake City 2011, p. 50-51 .

predecessor	Office	successor
New title created	Earl of Huntingdon 1471-1475	Title waiver
William Bonville (until 1460)	Baron Harington (de iure uxoris Cecily Bonville ) 1474–1501	Thomas Gray (from 1529)
William Bonville (until 1461)	Baron Bonville (de iure uxoris Cecily Bonville ) 1474–1501	Thomas Gray (from 1529)
New title created	Marquess of Dorset 1475-1501	Thomas Gray
Elizabeth Ferrers	Baron Ferrers of Groby 1483-1501	Thomas Gray