General Notes

Sir John de Grey (d 1266), judge, was second son of Henry de Grey, first baron Grey of Codnor, by his wife Isolda, the eldest of the nieces ofRobert Bardolf, and possibly related to Walter de Grey, archbiship ofYork.  Heving a seat at Eaton, near Fenny Stratford, he served as sheriffof Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire in the twenty-third year of HenryIII, and seven years later became constable of the castle of Gannoe inNorth Wales, and justice of Chester.  In the thirtyt-fifth year of HenryIII he married Johanna, widow of Paulinus Peiure.  The king, however, haddestined her for another husband, and for thus marrying her without theroyal license Grey was fined five hundred marks, and lost hisappointments in Wales.  He took the cross in 1252, and on his return fromthe crusade was received again into favour, and in 1258 was forgiven hisfine and debts to the crown to the extent of 300 l.  He was alsoappointed steward of Gascony and custos of the castles of Northampton,Shrewsbury and Dover.  In 1255 he withdrew from court, disliking thecourse taken by the royal councillors, and pleading old age.  But in 1258he was one of the twelve representatives of the commonalty, and of thetwenty-four 'a treiter de aide le rei.' He was also appointed by thebarons one of the counsellors to Prince Edward, and castellan ofHereford.  In 1260 he became a justice in eyre in Somersetshire,Dorsetshire, and Devonshire.  On 9 July 1261 he was appointed by the kingsheriff of Hereford and custos of Hereford Castle.  In the king's warwith his barons he adhered to the king, took command of the army in Walesin February 1263, in July his house was attacked by the Londoners, and heescaped with difficulty.  He was one of the king's sureties that he wouldabide by the award made by King Louis of France, and in 1265, after thebattle of Evesham, was made sheirff of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire.He died in the following year.  By his first wife, Emma, daughter andheiress of Geoffrey de Glanville, he had a daghter and a son, Reginald,first baron Grey de Wilton ( d 1308, from whom descend the Earl of Wiltonand Marquis of Ripon. [Dictionary of National Biography VIII:634]

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Sir John de Grey, 2nd son of Henry de Grey, of Thurrock, co. Essex,served the office of sheriff for the cos. Buckingham and Bedford in the23rd Henry III [1249], and had summons to attend the king in the 26th ofthe same reign, with horse and arms, upon the expedition then made intoFlanders. "In the 35th Henry III [1251]," says Dugdale, "the Lady JoanePeyvre, widow of Pauline Pevere (a great man in that age), beingpossessed of all her husband's estate, sold to this John the marriage ofher son for 500 marks, he undertaking to discharge her of any fine to theking; whereupon he married him to his own daughter, and when this Joaneheard that the king had given her in marriage (as she was a widow) to oneStephen de Salines, an alien, she, by the advice of her friends, beingthen in London, matched herself to this John de Grey, which being told tothe king, he grew much offended but at length accepted of a fine of 500marks from him for that transgression." In the 37th Henry III [1253], SirJohn de Grey was made governor of Northampton Castle and the next yearconstituted steward of all Gascony, but in three years afterward, "beingan aged knight, much esteemed to his civility and valour, as also chiefof the king's council," yet weary of the vanities of the court, hewithdrew from public life. In the very next year, however, we find himnominated to the governorship of Shrewsbury Castle, and soon afterappointed constable of that of Dover. In the 47th Henry III [1263], hewas sheriff of Herefordshire and governor of Hereford Castle. The nextyear he had the custody of all the lands of Anker de Frescheville in thecos. of Nottingham and Derby, and was one of those barons who undertookthat the king should abide the arbitration of Lewis, King of France,touching the misunderstanding with the barons. Remaining subsequentlyloyal to the king, he was appointed, after the victory of Evesham,sheriff for the cos. of Nottingham and Derby. Sir John de Grey d. in1265, and was s. by his son, Reginald de Grey. [Sir Bernard Burke,Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited and Extinct Peerages, Burke's Peerage, Ltd.,London, England, 1883, p. 245, Grey, Barons Grey of Wilton, co. Hereford]

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John, sometime justice of Chester, progenitor of the Greys of Wilton, andGreys of Ruthyn. [Sir Bernard Burke, Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited andExtinct Peerages, Burke's Peerage, Ltd., London, England, 1883, p. 248,Grey, Baron Grey, of Codnor, co. Derby]