Henry Grey, 4th (7th) Baron Grey of Codnor

Henry Grey, 4th Baron Grey of Codnor (1435 – April 1496) was an English nobleman. Having initially supported the House of Lancaster during the Wars of the Roses, he later gave his allegiance to the victorious King Edward IV.[1] Despite a record of controversy and feuding with other members of the nobility, he enjoyed the confidence of the King, who appointed him Lord Deputy of Ireland, an office in which he was not a success. He retained the favour of Richard III and Henry VII, both of whom made him grants of land.

Early life

He was the only son of Henry Grey, 3rd (6th) Baron Grey of Codnor, and Margaret Percy, who later remarried Sir Richard Vere, younger son of John de Vere, 12th Earl of Oxford.[2] He was only nine when his father died. In 1461 he fought for Henry VI at the Second Battle of St. Albans; but after the Yorkist victory at the Battle of Towton he was rapidly pardoned, as part of Edward IV's effort to secure widespread support among the nobility.[3]

Career

He was one of the principal magnates in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, and like many nobles of the time, was prepared to assert his power by force, even in open defiance of the law.[4] In 1467 a serious feud erupted between Lord Grey and the Vernon family, in which one of the Vernons was killed. The King appointed a particularly strong commission of oyer and terminer headed by his brother George, Duke of Clarence, to restore order in the region. The commission does not seem to have been successful, and the following year Grey and the Vernons were made to swear not to intimidate the jurors appointed to investigate the matter. One difficulty was that while the Duke of Clarence favoured the Vernons, the King was said to favour Grey.[5]

The King's tolerance of law-breaking by the nobility had limits, and in 1471 Grey was charged with inciting riot in Nottingham. He was summoned before Star Chamber, where the King personally questioned him about his links to the rioters. At the end of the hearing the King strictly ordered Grey not to favour or maintain any malefactors in the town of Nottingham.[6]

Grey's activities were one of the reasons for the passage of an Act of Parliament in 1468,[7] declaring illegal the practice of retaining, the maintenance of a private army. Although proceedings were taken against him in the Court of King's Bench, there is no record of a conviction, and little serious effort seems to have been made to enforce the Act.[8]

He was soon restored to favour and received substantial grants of land in Ireland, and the office of Steward of the royal castles of Ulster.

Lord Deputy

Like most other medieval English kings, Edward IV was as a rule prepared to let Ireland be governed by the Anglo-Irish nobility, but he made intermittent efforts to assert his authority over that Kingdom. In 1478, concerned at the increasing power of Gerald FitzGerald, 8th Earl of Kildare, he dismissed him as Lord Deputy and appointed Grey in his place.[9] Grey however faced the united opposition of the Anglo-Irish ruling class. The Lord Chancellor of Ireland, Baron Portlester refused to allow him use of the Great Seal (although Grey was able to have a rival seal minted), the constable of Dublin Castle refused him entry, and his efforts to hold a Parliament at Trim collapsed when the sheriffs of Dublin and Louth simply ignored the writs of summons. Unable to impose his authority, Grey left the country the following year.[10]

Personal life

Grey died in April 1496. His first marriage on 29 August 1454 was to Katherine Strangways, daughter of Sir Thomas Strangways by Katherine Neville, Duchess of Norfolk, daughter of Ralph de Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland and Joan Beaufort; the marriage was childless. He did have two natural sons, Richard and Henry, for whom he made generous provision in his will.

After Katherine's death he remarried Margaret Stanley, daughter of Thomas Stanley, 1st Baron Stanley and his wife Joan Goushill, and then Katherine Stourton, daughter of William Stourton, 2nd Baron Stourton;[11] both marriages were childless. After Grey's death, Katherine, who received substantial lands under his will, quickly remarried Edward IV's nephew William de la Pole; but as a potential Yorkist pretender to the Crown, William was soon imprisoned in the Tower of London and remained their till his death. Katherine died in 1521.

As he had no legitimate heir, the barony fell into abeyance between his father's three sisters.[12] It was finally called out of abeyance in 1989.

He is said to have been keenly interested in alchemy, and obtained a licence from the King for the transmutation of metals, on condition that he must inform the Crown if he succeeded in producing gold.[13]

References

  1. ↑ Ross, Charles Edward IV Eyre Methuen Ltd. 1974 p.67
  2. ↑ Burke's Peerage 107th Edition 2003 Vol. 2 p.1666
  3. ↑ Ross p.67
  4. ↑ Ross p.119
  5. ↑ Ross p.119
  6. ↑ Ross p.303
  7. ↑ 8 Edward IV c.2
  8. ↑ Ross p. 412
  9. ↑ Otway-Ruthven, A.J. History of Medieval Ireland Reissued Barnes and Noble 1993 p.397
  10. ↑ Otway-Ruthven p.398
  11. ↑ Burke's Peerage p.1666
  12. ↑ Burke's Peerage p.1666
  13. ↑ Burke's Peerage p.1666
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