Portrayals - Biography of Lord Henry Grey of Codnor

Written by Kevin Houghton

Lord Henry Grey, 7th Baron of Codnor was born in 1435. The Codnor estate was located in Ripley, Derbyshire, north of the River Trent, Midlands of England. In 1444, the 6th Lord Grey, Henry's father, also named Henry died. The 7th Lord Grey of Codnor was briefly warded to John, Viscount Beaumont. In the early years of the dynastic battles, eventually called the Wars of the Roses, Lord Grey was a supporter of King Henry VI, and the Lancastrian cause.

In 1461, at the age of 26, Lord Grey and his retinue fought with the Lancastrian forces, headed by Queen Margaret and her eight year old son, Edward, Prince of Wales. The Lancastrian army was lead by Sir Henry Beaufort, Duke of Somerset. The army, some 25,000 men strong met their Yorkist counter parts at the Second Battle of St. Albans, commanded by the Earl of Warwick. On February 17th, Warwick was driven from St. Albans and Henry VI, who was in Yorkist hands, was reunited with his wife and son. However the Lancastrian victory would be short lived.

On March 29th, the Lancastrian forces, including Lord Grey, met the Yorkist Army, commanded by the newly crowned Yorkist King, Edward IV at Towton, near Leeds . This time the battle went to the Yorkists and a complete rout for the Lancastrians. The Duke of Somerset, the Duke of Exeter, Lord Roos, and John Fortescue managed to escape with Henry VI and Margaret of Anjou to Scotland . Forty-two of the captured Lancastrian knights were executed, but many other lords and knights were spared, including Lord Grey of Codnor.

Per common practice of the time, Lord Grey eventually gained a royal pardon by Edward IV, in early 1462. After the battles, Lord Grey had earned a reputation as not only a formidable soldier, and active participant in local and kingdom politics, but as a quarrelsome and violent man. He engaged in a bitter drawn out feud with the Vernon Family of Haddon Hall.

In 1463, Edward IV gave license to Lord Grey to 'labour by the conning of philosophy the transmutation of metals at his own cost, but he should answer to the king if any profit grew.' Lord Grey was now a legal alchemist, who searched for the philosopher's stone of immortality and the secret of changing lead into gold.

A year later, in 1464, Lord Grey became the well willer of Lord William Hastings of Hastings, chamberlain to King Edward IV. The powerful Hastings will prove to be an indispensable friend to Lord Grey in his future legal issues.

Three years later, in 1467, Lord Grey's retinue clashed with the retinue of the Earl of Shrewsbury, which contained Roger Vernon of Haddon Hall. Vernon was murdered in the melee. The fighting between the two factions became so violent, that Lord Hastings, the Duke of Clarence, and the Earl Rivers were sent to restore the King's Peace, in the early months of 1468. By that summer Lord Grey, the Vernons, and the Earl of Shrewsbury had to be bound over to prevent them from intimidating jurors, another common practice of the time. While the final out come of the hearings is not known, Lord Grey managed to survive, most likely with the help of Lord Hastings.

In 1470, Edward IV was driven from England by the Earl of Warwick, the Kingmaker, who replaced the Lancastrian Henry VI, back onto the Throne of England. Edward returned and on April 14th, 1471 met the Earl of Warwick at the Battle of Barnett. Warwick was killed and the Lancastrians were defeated. King Edward dealt another crushing blow to the Lancastrians at the Battle of Tewkesbury on May 4th, 1471 . The Lancastrian Prince Edward was killed in the battle, and his father Henry VI, was murdered shortly thereafter. It is known that Lord Grey was at least at the battle of Tewkesbury , as many of the Yorkist forces came from the midlands, where Codnor was located. Lord Grey was a known royalist and afterwards, he was awarded 100 pounds for 'bringing unto us (Edward IV) a great number of men defensibly arranged at his cost and charge.' Lord Grey and his retinue was a part of the 3,000 men force that Lord Hastings brought with him to Tewkesbury . Of interesting note was that Hastings force also included another retainer, Henry Vernon, son of the murdered Roger Vernon. More than likely the two retinues of Grey and Vernon were kept well apart from each other during the campaign.

In late 1471, Lord Hastings again assisted Lord Grey legally, when he was accused of inciting dangerous riots in Nottingham against the Lord Mayor and the City Corporation. More than likely he did it, in a bid to gain control of the office of sheriff of Nottingham .

After Edward IV died and his brother Richard III became king, Lord Grey was specially noted for his loyalty and in 1484 was awarded estates in Norfolk , Suffolk , and Rutland , with a combined yearly income of 266 pounds and 4 ducats. Greatly enlarging his revenue that he already received from his hereditary estates of Codnor, Thurrock , and Aylesford.

At the age of 50 Lord Grey mustered his retinue for the final battle of the Wars of the Roses, joining Richard III's army at the Battle of Bosworth on August 22, 1485 . Despite the final Yorkist defeat, and the death of Richard III, Lord Grey was pardoned and was even invited to attend the creation of the Duke of York, Henry Tudor (the future Henry VIII), in 1494.

Lord Grey died in 1496 at the age of 61. Although he married three times to Catherine Strangeways, Margaret Stanley, and Catherine Stourton, respectively, he did not have any legitimate heirs. He willed generous provisions to his surviving wife and his 3 illegitimate sons, but the Barony of Codnor itself fell into abeyance. Lord Grey was buried at Aylesford and his last wife remarried in 1497 to William de la Pole.

Lord Grey's family coat of arms is Barry 6 Argent & Azure or 6 horizontal bars alternating between white and blue.

Lord Grey's badge was Red and Green a white badger under a tress white, over a crown gold. The badger was often called a grey, and is a play on his name. The Tress is an enclosed bar that binds him to the gold crown marking him as a royalist.

 

Bibliography:

"Grey and Grays: A Chronology" http://www.thurrock-community.org.uk/historysoc/grey1.htm

"The War of the Roses: Through the Lives of Five Men and Women of the Fifteenth Century." Desmond Seward ISBN 0-14-023402-0

"The War of the Roses." Alison Wier ISBN 0-345-40433-5

"The Military Campaigns of the Wars of the Roses." Phillip A. Haigh ISBN 0-938289-90-X

"The Chronicles of the Wars of the Roses" Editor: Elizabeth Hallam ISBN 1-85833-588-4

"The War of the Roses" Terrence Wise & Gerry Embleton The Osprey Military Men-at-Arms Series ISBN 0-85045-520-0