Thomas Grey -1554

On 9th October 1514 Louis XII King France [aged 52] and Mary Tudor Queen Consort France [aged 18] were married at Abbeville [Map], Somme. She by marriage Queen Consort France. [his father] Thomas Grey 2nd Marquess Dorset [aged 37], Thomas West 8th Baron De La Warr 5th Baron West [aged 57], Thomas Brooke 8th Baron Cobham [aged 44] and his son George Brooke 9th Baron Cobham [aged 17], Bishop Thomas Ruthall [aged 42] and [his mother] Margaret Wotton Marchioness Dorset [aged 27] attended. The difference in their ages was 33 years. She the daughter of King Henry VII of England and Ireland and Elizabeth York Queen Consort England. He the son of Charles Valois Duke Orléans and Mary de la Marck Duchess Orléans. They were second cousin twice removed.

On 23rd December 1543 Henry VIII [aged 52] enobled his new wife's [aged 31] brother [aged 31] and uncle [aged 60] at ceremony in the Presence Chamber, Hampton Court Palace [Map]. Henry Grey 1st Duke of Suffolk [aged 26] and Edward Stanley 3rd Earl of Derby [aged 34] were present. Christopher Barker read the Patents.

William Parr 1st Baron Parr of Horton was created 1st Baron Parr of Horton. William was sixty with five daughters. He died four years later at which time the Barony became extinct.

William Parr 1st Marquess Northampton was created 1st Earl Essex. His estranged wife Anne Bourchier 7th Baroness Bourchier [aged 26] was daughter of the last Earl of Essex of the Fifth Creation. A somewhat curious choice given his wife had eloped the year previous year with John Lyngfield, the prior of Tandbridge, Surrey [Map], by whom she had an illegitimate child.

On 23rd February 1554 [his brother] Henry Grey 1st Duke of Suffolk [aged 37] was beheaded at Tower Hill [Map]. Duke Suffolk, Marquess Dorset, Earl Huntingdon, Baron Ferrers of Groby, Baron Harington, Baron Bonville forfeit.

Dean Hugh Weston [aged 49] acted as Confessor.

Calendar of State Papers of Spain. 19th February 1554. Simon Renard to Prince Philip.

My Lord: Since I last wrote to your Highness French plots have been discovered to show that Courtenay and the Lady Elizabeth, by means of intermediaries called Peter Carew, Wyatt [aged 33], Crofts [aged 36] and my Lord Thomas (Grey), conspired to throw the Queen of England into the Tower and put her to death, in order to seize the crown for themselves. The King of France had promised help in troops and money, and had already distributed some 10,000 to 12,000 crowns to private individuals. In the meantime 200 or 300 gentlemen, all of them heretics, were meeting together: the Duke of Suffolk [aged 37] and his two brothers [Note. Thomas Grey and John Grey [aged 30]], Cobham [aged 57] and his three sons [Note. William Brooke 10th Baron Cobham [aged 26], George Brooke [aged 21], Thomas Brooke [aged 21]], Pelham, Pickering, Carew and many more, and agreed to put their plans into execution in the spring. However, as God means to protect this good lady, the conspirators were forced to take up arms sooner than they had intended because Courtenay did not keep the secret and letters from the French ambassador, seized and enclosed herewith, were deciphered and revealed part of the plot. Moreover, Courtenay had a servant of his in France, and six weeks ago he and one Valbic (Welby?) were intriguing for the conspirators. To start with, Peter Carew made a violent effort to rouse the people on account of your Highness's marriage with the Queen, but as the people refused to rise, he had to fly to France, where trustworthy accounts tell he had a nocturnal conversation with the King-a sign of their malignity. His adherents were taken prisoners at Coventry (Compierre) where a similar attempt was made; and on the first day of Lent the rebels were defeated as your Highness will see by the copies of letters I wrote from time to time to the Emperor.

Calendar of State Papers of Spain. 19th February 1554. Gaspard Schetz to the Queen Dowager.

Madam: Although I believe your Majesty to be informed of occurrences in England, I am unwilling not to send you the news that have reached us this morning in a letter of the 15th instant. It relates that the Queen has caused the rebels to be punished: the [his niece] Lady Jane [deceased] and her husband [deceased], the Duke of Suffolk's [aged 37] son, have been decapitated; the White Rose [aged 27] has been sent back to the Tower [Map], where are also the Duke of Suffolk with two of his brothers [Note. Thomas Grey and John Grey [aged 30]] and guilty lords to the number of 27. They write that, of the soldiers who abandoned the Duke of Norfolk [aged 81] on the field and joined the rebels, 40 have been hanged and 200 more condemned to the same penalty. They say that the said Duke has died in his own country. The Earl of Pembroke [aged 53] has been sent down to Kent with 300 light horse to discover who took part in the rebellion and execute justice. This, Madam, is the substance of what I have heard, together with a report that it is being said in England that my Lord our Prince is to come with 8,000 Spanish soldiers, about which the English are not best pleased.

They say the Queen is sending hither an ambassador, the Viscount Fitzwalter [aged 47] (Fewaters), who will be able to give your Majesty more trustworthy information.

Antwerp, 19 February, 1554.

Copy. French. Printed by Gachard, Voyages des Souverains des Pays-Bas, Appendix to Vol. IV.

Henry Machyn's Diary. 28 Apr 1554. The xxviij day of Aprell was heddyd on Towre hyll [Map], betwyn ix and x of the cloke a-for none, my lord Thomas Gray, the [his brother] duke of Suffoke-Dassett brodur, and bered at Allalow's Barkyng [Map], and the hed (unfinished)

Wriothesley's Chronicle [1508-1562]. 27th April 1554. Frydaye the 27 of Aprill Lord Thomas Grey, brother to the Duke of Suffolke, was beheaded at the Tower hill [Map].