♀Hawise de Grey

Hawise de Grey (living in 1240) was an English landholder at Rotherfield Greys in Oxfordshire whose son Walter de Grey^W rose to be Archbishop of York. In 1240 the King granted her and her son Robert free warren over their own lands at Rotherfield. She was the twenty-third great-grandmother of Nancy Jane Blanchard (1929–2006) by two separate lines of descent, both through her son Robert de Grey.

Family

Hawise’s husband is not known. Her son Robert was her heir, while her son Walter made his career in the Church, becoming bishop of Worcester in 1214 and Archbishop of York the next year. Her brother was probably John de Grey, Bishop of Norwich^W, who died in 1214. For his soul she is said to have given the church of Cornwell, in Oxfordshire, to Osney Abbey^W, with Robert’s assent as her son and heir, and Walter, then bishop of Worcester, witnessed her charter.

Rotherfield

The family’s land at Rotherfield came through Walter, who as archbishop gave it to his brother Robert. In 1240 the King granted Hawise, as the archbishop’s mother, and Robert her son free warren^W, the right to hunt small game such as hares and pheasants, in their demesne lands of Rotherfield and Badgemore. When she died is not known.

Lines of descent

Both lines run through her son Robert de Grey and his heirs at Rotherfield down to John de Grey (1266–1311). One comes down through Thomas Dudley^W (1576–1653), later governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, to Nathaniel Dudley (1763–1844); the other reaches Nathaniel’s wife, Anna Smith (1764–1825). The two lines meet again in their daughter Sarah Dudley (1795–1839).

Notes

The grant of 1240

The Calendar of the Charter Rolls (vol. 1, p. 250) enters under 1240 (24 Henry III, m. 3): “The king has granted to Hawise, mother of W. archbishop of York, and Robert her son free warren in their demesne lands of Retherfeld and Bageruge.” A grant of 1246 to Robert’s son Walter covers “land in Ruthereffeld, which the said archbishop gave to Robert his brother, father of the said Walter” (same volume, p. 292). The Complete Peerage (2nd ed., vol. 6, Note at the end of the article on Grey of Rotherfield) quotes the 1240 roll as a grant “for the land of Rotherfield which the Archbishop had given to him”, that is, to Robert.

Her brother and the gift to Osney

The gift of Cornwell church rests on the Complete Peerage (same Note), from the abbey’s cartulary (British Museum, Cotton MS Vitellius E xv, fol. 83): “The pedigree of the Greys of Rotherfield is abundantly clear back to Hawise de Grey, who for the soul of John de Grey, Bishop of Norwich, her brother, with assent of her s. and h., Robert de Grey, gave the church of Cornwell to Oseney Abbey, her charter being witnessed by Walter de Grey, Bishop of Worcester [afterwards Archbishop of York], her son.” The same Note adds that a Close Roll of 9 Henry III might seem to make Hawise the mother of the bishop of Norwich, but judges that the damaged word is an error for “mother of the said Walter”. The dates of the two bishops’ careers (John de Grey died in 1214; Walter held Worcester from 1214 until his move to York in 1215) are general history and place the gift in those years.

Her husband

No record names Hawise’s husband. The Complete Peerage rejects “the persistent attempt to make Henry de Grey of Grays Thurrock father of all Greys”: Hawise was living at the same time as Henry’s wife, Iseude, and “Robert de Grey is distinctly mentioned as s. and h. of Hawise de Grey”. Some online family trees make her “Hawise de Clare”, wife of John de Grey, Bishop of Norwich; the Osney charter makes the bishop her brother, and that identification is not followed here.