William de Greystoke, 2nd Baron Greystoke

St Andrew's Church, Greystoke, Cumbria. Burial place of William de Greystoke in 1359.[1]

William de Greystoke, 2nd Baron Greystoke, (6 January 1321 – 10 July 1359) was an English peer and landowner.[1]

Life

Greystoke was the son of Ralph de Greystoke, 1st Baron Greystoke, and his wife Alice, daughter of Hugh, Lord Audley.[1] He was born at the family home in Grimthorpe, on 6 January 1321.[1] Greystoke's father died while he was still a child and he became a ward of his mother's second husband, Ralph Neville, 2nd Baron Neville de Raby,[2] until he reached his majority in 1342.[1]

During the next ten years he was involved, on the English side, in the Hundred Years' War between the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of France, including the Siege of Calais,[1] and served under Edward, the Black Prince, in France.[3] He was also part of the crusade of Henry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster to Prussia in 1351–2.[1] In the early 1350s he was involved in the negotiations to secure the release of David II of Scotland, who had been taken prisoner at the Battle of Neville's Cross on 17 October 1346.[1] Greystoke was made a captain of Berwick-upon-Tweed but, because of his service in France, he was not present when the town fell to the Scots in August 1355.[1]

His first wife was Lucy de Lucie,[3] daughter of Thomas, Baron Lucy,[4] but the marriage was childless,[2] and they divorced.[3] During this time, his stepfather, Ralph Neville, unsuccessfully proposed that Greystoke should name his half-brothers, Ralph, Robert, and William Neville, as his heirs.[2] Greystoke married, for a second time, to Joane, daughter of Lord Fitzhugh, by whom he had four children; Ralph, his heir, Robert, William and Alice.[3]

In October 1353, Greystoke was given permission to crenellate 'his dwelling place', which would later become known as Greystoke Castle.[5] He was also responsible for renovations on Morpeth Castle which he also owned.[5]

Greystoke died on 10 July 1359, at Brancepeth Castle, the seat of his step-father,[4] and was buried in the parish church of St. Andrew's in Greystoke, Cumbria,[1] with a mass conducted by Gilbert de Welton, Bishop of Carlisle.[4] Those who attended his funeral, which took place with 'great pomp and solemnity', included his step-father, and first father-in-law, the guardian to his heir, Ralph, Roger de Clifford, 5th Baron de Clifford,[6] as well as, Henry Scrope, 1st Baron Scrope of Masham, Thomas, Baron Musgrave, and the abbots from the monasteries at Holmcultram and Shap.[4]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 Dockray, Keith (2004). "Greystoke family (per. 1321–1487)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/61295. Retrieved 2013-12-19. (subscription required (help)).
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Tuck, Anthony (2004). "Neville, Ralph, fourth Lord Neville (c. 1291 – 1367)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/19950. Retrieved 2013-12-19. (subscription required (help)).
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Burke, John (1831). A general and heraldic dictionary of the peerages of England, Ireland, and Scotland, extinct, dormant, and in abeyance. England. p. 244.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Jefferson, Samuel (1840). The history and antiquities of Leath Ward: in the county of Cumberland: with biographical notices and memoirs. S. Jefferson. pp. 342–343.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Coulson, Charles (2004). Castles in Medieval Society: Fortresses in England, France, and Ireland in the Central Middle Ages. Oxford University Press. p. 354. ISBN 978-0-19-927363-8.
  6. ↑ Summerson, Henry (2004). "Clifford, Roger, fifth Baron Clifford (1333–1389)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/5660. Retrieved 2013-12-19. (subscription required (help)).
Peerage of England
Preceded by
Ralph de Greystoke		 Baron Greystock
1323–1359 		Succeeded by
Ralph de Greystoke