Margaret Grey, Lady Bonville

Margaret Grey (died after May 1426)^[1] was a Cambro-Norman noblewoman, the daughter of Reginald Grey, 3rd Baron Grey de Ruthyn, a powerful Welsh Marcher Lord, who was the implacable enemy of Owain Glyndŵr.

Margaret was the first wife of Sir William Bonville, later the 1st Baron Bonville who was decapitated by Queen consort Margaret of Anjou following the Yorkist defeat at the Second Battle of St Albans. Margaret was the great-grandmother of Cecily Bonville who succeeded to the estates and baronies of Bonville and Harington, thus becoming the wealthiest heiress in England.^[2]

Family

Margaret Grey was born in Ruthin Castle, Denbighshire, Wales on an unknown date, the eldest daughter of Reginald Grey, 3rd Baron Grey de Ruthyn and Margaret de Ros. She had three brothers and two younger sisters. Her eldest brother was Sir John Grey KG who married Constance Holland, the granddaughter of John of Gaunt. Her paternal grandparents were Reginald Grey, 2nd Baron Grey de Ruthyn and Alianore Le Strange of Blackmere, and her maternal grandparents were Thomas de Ros, 4th Baron de Ros and Beatrice Stafford.

Her father was a powerful Marcher Lord of the Welsh Marches. It was his dispute with Owain Glyndŵr over a piece of moorland called the common of Croisau that caused the latter's rebellion against King Henry IV of England.^[3] Margaret's father was taken prisoner by Glyndŵr in January 1402, and ransomed for the sum of 10,000 marks which was paid by King Henry.^[4] In September 1400, the town of Ruthin had been razed to the ground by the Welsh in revenge for the destruction of Glyndŵr's manor of Sycharth by Grey and his men,^[5] however, the castle was left standing, and its inhabitants unharmed.

On 7 February 1415, her father married secondly, Joan de Astley, by whom he had another six children.

Marriage and issue

On 12 December 1414, Margaret married Sir William Bonville (30 August 1393 – 18 February 1461), the son of John Bonville and Elizabeth FitzRoger. She was his first wife. They made their home at the Manor of Chewton Mendip, in Somerset, and together they had at least two children:^[6]

• William Bonville (died 30 December 1460), married Elizabeth Harington, by whom he had one son, William Bonville, 6th Baron Harington of Aldingham, who in his turn married Katherine Neville; they were the parents of Cecily Bonville, Marchioness of Dorset. William Bonville and his son, Baron Harington were both executed on the battlefield by orders of Margaret of Anjou, following the Battle of Wakefield.
• Elizabeth Bonville (died 14 February 1491), married Sir William Tailboys, by whom she had at least one son, Sir Robert Tailboys (1451- 10 January 1495). Sir Robert was an ancestor of Virginian colonist, Colonel George Reade.

In 1423, Margaret's husband was appointed Sheriff of Devon.

Margaret herself died sometime after May 1426. Her husband married secondly on 9 October 1427, Elizabeth Courtenay, the daughter of Edward Courtenay, 3rd Earl of Devon, by whom he had a son, John Bonville. Sir William was elevated to the peerage in 1449 as the 1st Baron Bonville.

The Bonvilles were staunch Yorkist supporters during the Wars of the Roses. William and Margaret's son, William and their grandson, William, 6th Baron Harington of Aldingham were both executed immediately after the Battle of Wakefield by Margaret of Anjou, who headed the Lancastrian contingent. On 17 February 1461, William, 1st Baron Bonville was taken prisoner after another Yorkist defeat at the Second Battle of St Albans. Queen Margaret, remembering that Baron Bonville was one of the men who had taken King Henry VI into custody after the Battle of Northampton, ordered his execution the next day.

Margaret Grey's great-granddaughter, Cecily Bonville, less than a year old, inherited the Bonville titles and estates, becoming the suo jure 2nd Baroness Bonville, and suo jure 7th Baroness Harington of Aldingham. On 18 July 1474, she married Thomas Grey, 1st Marquess of Dorset, a descendant of Margaret's father, by his second marriage to Joan de Astley.

References

• www.thePeerage.com/p. 13755.htm#137542
• Thomas B. Costain, The Last Plantagenets, published by Popular Library, New York, 1962