Richard Grey, 3rd Earl of Tankerville

Richard Grey, 3rd Earl of Tankerville, 8th Lord of Powys (5 November 1436 – c. 1466) fought on the side of the House of York in the War of the Roses.

Family

Richard Grey, was the son and heir of Henry Grey, 2nd Earl of Tankerville and Antigone Plantagenet (daughter of Humphrey of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Gloucester and Eleanor de Cobham) and was born on 5 November 1436 at Pontesbury, Montgomeryshire[1].

He married Margaret Touchet, daughter of James Touchet, 5th Baron Audley and first wife Margaret de Ros, before 12 January 1459.

Life

The Earldom of Tankerville lost its lands when France was lost to the English crown in 1453.

It does not appear "that this nobleman was ever summoned to parliament but strong evidence exists that he sat in assembly as a baron of the realm in 1455"[2], when it is recorded that he swore allegiance to Henry VI as Sir Richard Grey, Lord of Powis.

In the Wars of the Roses he was with the Duke of York at the Battle of Ludford Bridge on 12 Oct. 1459. His support for the house of York resulted in him being attainted with many others by the Lancastrian Henry VI in 1460, when the earl of Warwick ordered him to surrender Montgomery castle. All his hereditary titles were abolished by this attainder, bringing an end to this creation of the Earldom of Tankerville. The attainder would also have abolished the title of Baron of Powis[3]. Henry VI reversed the attainder once he had control of the lands, and had received a promise of loyalty.

In 1461 when Yorkist Edward IV came to the throne Richard Grey received the stewardship of Kerry, Kedwen, and Montgomery. Continuing his Yorkist support, Richard Grey was with Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick at the siege of Alnwick Castle in November 1462 to take it back, after the Lancastrians had taken it by siege from the captaincy of his cousin Sir Ralph Grey of Heton.

He died around 1466 and was succeeded by his son John Grey (died 1497) usually considered the first of the Baron Grey of Powis, married to Anne Herbert, daughter of William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke and Anne Devereux, and also left a daughter Lady Elizabeth Grey who married Sir John Ludlow, KB, of Hodnet, Shropshire, in 1465.

References

  1. ^ John Burke, A genealogical and heraldic history of the commoners of Great Britain and Ireland, 1838, Vol4, pg 134, London: Henry Colburn
  2. ^ Bernard Burke, A genealogical history of the dormant, abeyant, forfeited, and extinct peerages of the British Empire, London, 1866, pg 251
  3. ^ Bernard Burke, A genealogical history of the dormant, abeyant, forfeited, and extinct peerages of the British Empire, London, 1866, pg 251
Peerage of England
Preceded by
Henry Grey, 2nd Earl of Tankerville		 Earl of Tankerville
1450–1460		 Succeeded by
Forfeited