William Gray, 13th Baron Gray de Wilton
William Gray, 13th Baron Gray de Wilton (around 1509 - 14 December 1562 in Cheshunt , Hertfordshire ), was an English nobleman and general .
Origin and Peer Dignity
He was the fourth son of Edmund Gray, 9th Baron Gray de Wilton († 1511), from his marriage to Florence Hastinges. He survived his three older brothers, who succeeded his father as 10th, 11th and 12th Baron Gray de Wilton , and as a minor he inherited this title of nobility when the last of them died in 1520. After reaching the age of majority he was first convened on November 3, 1529 in the House of Lords .
Military career
He began his military career when he bought the post of commander of Hammes Castle in Picardy for life in 1531 .
During the Fourth Italian War in 1544 he was a commander of the French campaign under John Russell, 1st Baron Russell , and part of the occupation of Boulogne . During the unsuccessful siege of Montreuil , he suffered a gunshot wound in the left shoulder. In 1545 and 1546 he served as governor of Boulogne and commander in chief of the English troops in the region. In 1546 he was particularly distinguished by the fact that he destroyed the French fortress in Châtillon .
When King Edward VI took office. he was posted to Scotland in 1547 as commander in chief of the cavalry troops, where he personally led the first attack in the victorious battle of Pinkie Cleugh on September 10, 1547 . In the battle he was one pikes significantly wounded stitch by the lower jaw and tongue. However, he recovered quickly and was able to receive the surrender of Hume Castle on September 22, 1547 . In recognition of his achievements, Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset , proposed him on September 28, 1547 in Berwick to the Knight Banneret . Somerset then traveled to England, leaving Gray as governor of Berwick and commander in chief of the troops in that region. From April 1548 he undertook together with Sir Thomas Palmer an advance to Scotland, conquered Haddington that he fortified thoroughly in the following weeks, and pillaged Dalkeith and the surrounding area of Edinburgh before he retreated to Berwick.
In July 1549 he led an army to Oxfordshire to suppress a revolt there. He then assisted John Russell, 1st Earl of Bedford , in pacifying the Devonshire and Cornwall rebellious areas . When Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset , was arrested for high treason in 1551 , Gray was also temporarily imprisoned in the Tower of London as his partisan , but released the following year after his execution. After regaining royal favor, he was appointed governor of the city fortress of Guînes in Picardy. After the death of Edward VI. he joined John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland , to put Lady Jane Gray on the throne. The movement in favor of Lady Jane collapsed, and on July 21 and 22, 1553, Gray and others involved were pardoned.
A few days later he received permission in Middlesex , Kent and London to recruit up to four hundred soldiers as a garrison for Guînes. When the French officially declared war at the end of 1557, the garrison of Guînes was still relatively weak and insufficiently stocked. On December 31, 1557, a large French army passed Guînes, which took Calais on January 6, 1558 after a brief siege . As bad weather prevented the arrival of English reinforcements across the English Channel , Gray gave up the city of Guînes, burned the houses and retired with the eleven hundred garrison in the citadel. The French under François de Lorraine, duc de Guise , launched an assault on January 19, 1558 after three days of cannon fire. During the fighting, Gray was wounded when he accidentally stepped on a dropped sword and the first line of defense was taken. Shortly afterwards he had to surrender.
Gray was given a hefty ransom of 21,000 crowns , which he had to sell his family seat, Wilton Castle in Herefordshire , to raise . He was finally released in January 1559. In the meantime it had Queen Mary I in April 1558 in the absence of a Knight Companion of the Order of the Garter excellent.
In December 1559 was again used as governor of Berwick and commander in chief of the local border troops. From March July 1560 he moved again with an army to Scotland in support of Protestant rebels against the Scottish queen widow and regent Marie de Guise , who holed up in Edinburgh Castle , and invited by this French troops, which he besieged in nearby Leith . The fighting was unsuccessful and ended when, after the death of Marie de Guise in July 1560, the Treaty of Edinburgh was signed, which ended the Auld Alliance between France and Scotland. Gray then withdrew to Berwick.
He died on December 14, 1562 in the home of his son-in-law Henry Denny in Cheshunt, Hertfordshire. He was buried in the local parish church. His eldest son Arthur inherited him.
Marriage and offspring
He married Lady Mary Somerset, daughter of Charles Somerset, 1st Earl of Worcester , from his marriage to Elizabeth West. He had three children with her:
- Arthur Gray, 14th Baron Gray de Wilton (1536-1593);
- William Gray;
- Honora Gray ⚭ Henry Denny, squire of Cheshunt in Hertfordshire and Waltham Abbey in Essex .
His widow later married Robert Carre, third son of Robert Carre, landlord of Sleaford in Lincolnshire .
literature
- George Barnett Smith: Gray, Sir William, thirteenth baron Gray de Wilton . In: Sidney Lee (Ed.): Dictionary of National Biography . Volume 23, Smith, Elder & Co., London 1890, pp. 213-215.
Web links
- William Gray, 13th Lord Gray (of Wilton) on thepeerage.com
- William Gray 13th Baron Gray of Wilton, KG at Cracroft's Peerage
| predecessor | Office | successor |
|---|---|---|
| Richard Gray |
Baron Gray de Wilton 1520-1562 |
Arthur Gray |
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Gray, William, 13th Baron Gray de Wilton |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Gray de Wilton, William Gray 13th Baron |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | English nobleman and general |
| DATE OF BIRTH | around 1509 |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 14, 1562 |
| Place of death | Cheshunt , Hertfordshire |