♂Robert de Grey

Robert de Grey (living in 1240) was an English landholder of Rotherfield Greys in Oxfordshire and the brother of Walter de Grey, Archbishop of York^W. He was the forebear of the Lords Grey of Rotherfield. He was the twenty-second great-grandfather of Nancy Jane Blanchard (1929–2006) by two separate lines of descent, both through his son Walter de Grey (died before 1268).

Family

Robert was the son and heir of Hawise de Grey. His mother is said to have given the church of Cornwell, in Oxfordshire, to Osney Abbey^W for the soul of her brother John de Grey, Bishop of Norwich^W. She made the gift with Robert’s assent as her heir, and her charter was witnessed by her other son Walter, then Bishop of Worcester and later Archbishop of York.

Rotherfield

Rotherfield had belonged to Eve de Grey. According to the Complete Peerage, the archbishop acquired the manor in her lifetime and settled it on his brother Robert. A royal charter dated at Windsor on 9 March 1239/40 freed Hawise and her heirs for ever from suit of the shire and hundred^W courts, and gave Robert and his heirs the same freedom for the land of Rotherfield that the archbishop had given him.

The archbishop went on to provide for Robert’s son Walter as well. On 1 May 1246 a royal charter granted Walter land in Rotherfield and Cornwell, the gift that the archbishop had made to “Robert, his brother, father of the said Walter”. In April 1252 the king confirmed the archbishop’s grants to Robert.

Lines of descent

Both lines run through his son Walter de Grey, his grandson Robert de Grey (died 1295) and his great-grandson 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

Mother and brother

The Complete Peerage (2nd ed., vol. 6, Note at the end of the article on Grey of Rotherfield) writes that “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”, citing a cartulary in the British Library (Cotton MS. Vitellius E xv, fol. 83). The first edition (vol. 4, p. 96) calls Robert of Rotherfield and the archbishop men “who undoubtedly were brothers”. His father is not known. Burke’s Peerage (1869) reports that Dugdale made Robert and the archbishop sons of Henry de Grey of Thurrock, and Collins his brothers; the Complete Peerage sets both aside, since “Robert de Grey is distinctly mentioned as s. and h. of Hawise de Grey”.

The Rotherfield charters

The Complete Peerage (same Note) states that “during the lifetime of Eve de Grey Rotherfield was acquired by Walter (de Grey), Archbishop of York, who settled it upon his brother Robert de Grey”. It quotes an inspeximus in favor of Robert’s descendants (Calendar of Patent Rolls, 14 November 1385) of a charter dated at Windsor on 9 March 1239/40 (Charter Roll, 24 Henry III, m. 3): a grant “to Hawise, mother of the said Archbishop, that she and her heirs should be for ever quit of shires and hundreds, &c., and to Robert, her son, and his heirs, for the land of Rotherfield which the Archbishop had given to him, he having had it by the gift of Eve de Grey”. It judges that “the Archbishop seems to have acquired land by purchase and passed it on to his brother Robert and subsequently to his nephew Walter”. The grant of 1 May 1246 (Charter Roll, 30 Henry III, m. 8) and the confirmation of 19 April 1252 (36 Henry III, m. 13) come from the same Note.

Wife and death

Robert’s wife is not known. The Complete Peerage suggests that “this Robert may possibly have m. Amice”, from an assize of novel disseisin of 1223 between “Robert de Grey and Amice his wife” and John de Bayeux over their freeholds in Thoresway, Lincolnshire; it does not show that this Robert was the same man. When he died is not known; he was living at the time of the charter of March 1240.