. 6. was a son of Gray in Chillingham, Northumberland, England, who came to The chronicler also claimed that the duke secured the support of Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor, and King Sweyn II of Denmark. After returning to Normandy in 1072, he spent around 130 months in Normandy as against about 40 months in England. Census records every ten years and an occasional mention in a Edwin and Morcar submitted, but William continued on to York, building York and Nottingham Castles before returning south. Arguing that Edward had previously promised the throne to him and that Harold had sworn to support his claim, William built a large fleet and invaded England in September 1066. William placed supporters in charge of these new fortifications among them William Peverel at Nottingham and Henry de Beaumont at Warwick. [100] The historian David Bates sees this coronation as the ceremonial papal "seal of approval" for William's conquest. most eventful periods of English history. [73], William of Poitiers describes a council called by Duke William, in which the writer gives an account of a great debate that took place between William's nobles and supporters over whether to risk an invasion of England. We trace his journey from 1027 when he. He finally crossed the Thames at Wallingford in early December. in Harrow-on-the-Hill church records there is a John Gray baptized February Emma went into exile in Flanders until Harthacnut became king following Harold's death in 1040, and his half-brother Edward followed Harthacnut to England; Edward was proclaimed king after Harthacnut's death in June 1042. [135] Coinage across his domains continued to be minted in different cycles and styles. T he surname is originally French, being first borne by Fulbert, Great Chamberlain of Robert, Duke of Normandy, who granted him the castle and lands of Croy or Gray in Picardy which he thereafter assumed as the family surname. [66], In England, Earl Godwin died in 1053 and his sons were increasing in power: Harold succeeded to his father's earldom, and another son, Tostig, became Earl of Northumbria. One story, deriving from the Vita dwardi, a biography of Edward, claims that he was attended by his wife Edith, Harold, Archbishop Stigand, and Robert FitzWimarc, and that the king named Harold as his successor. [96] Once in Normandy the new English king went to Rouen and the Abbey of Fecamp,[94] and then attended the consecration of new churches at two Norman monasteries. [f] One of Herleva's brothers, Walter, became a supporter and protector of William during his minority. Scotland in the reign of Alexander II, (about 1130), and gave his allegiance [104], In 1071 William defeated the last rebellion of the north. [134], William continued the collection of Danegeld, a land tax. John, Lord of Gray, whose son Anschetil de Also, the charters and documents produced for the government in Normandy differed in formulas from those produced in England. During the Bretons' flight, rumours swept through the Norman forces that the duke had been killed, but William succeeded in rallying his troops. Medieval chroniclers frequently referred to 11th-century events only by the season, making more precise dating impossible. Lordships. Her rule was contested by Robert, Baldwin's brother. W. Gray. Also, it says, "Gray, Nevertheless, despite all the high-tech stuff, you can't beat good old text! in time of war and helped build it in peacetime. Northumberland persuaded the sickly Edward VI to name Lady Jane Grey as his heir just before his death on 6 July 1553. A.P. Gray instead of Grey is almost universally used in the different branches From a Boston Transcript clipping in the Durfee film 804977, "Clarkes English resistance had also begun, with Eadric the Wild attacking Hereford and revolts at Exeter, where Harold's mother Gytha was a focus of resistance. [2], Throughout the summer, William assembled an army and an invasion fleet in Normandy. William's biographer David Bates argues that the former explanation is more likely, explaining that the balance of power had recently shifted in Wales and that William would have wished to take advantage of the changed circumstances to extend Norman power. William also benefited from his campaign in Brittany by securing the support of some Breton nobles who went on to support the invasion of England in 1066. The town held out for 18 days, and after it fell to William he built a castle to secure his control. themselves in politics, literature, and the learned professions and still He enjoyed excellent health until old age, although he became quite fat in later life. This was an advantage for William, as it was the only universal tax collected by western European rulers during this period. there were at least twenty different families of Grays, or different branches money from Benjamin Franklin for passage home. His reign in England was marked by the construction of castles, settling a new Norman nobility on the land, and change in the composition of the English clergy. Eventually, the clergy of Rouen arranged to have the body sent to Caen, where William had desired to be buried in his foundation of the Abbaye-aux-Hommes. support the effort with food, money and work in recruiting and organization. Interaction between father and son, nevertheless, remained problematic right up until William's passing. Its effect, though, was to destabilise Brittany, forcing the duke, Conan II, to focus on internal problems rather than on expansion. [82] Although Harold attempted to surprise the Normans, William's scouts reported the English arrival to the duke. [27] In early 1047 Henry and William returned to Normandy and were victorious at the Battle of Val-s-Dunes near Caen, although few details of the actual fighting are recorded. More difficulties struck in 1083 when William's son Robert rebelled once more with support from the French king. Lord Gray made also a separate entail of his estate, upon which there passed a charter under the great seal, in favours of William master of Gray, * and the heirs-male procreate or to be procreate betwixt him and Anne mistress of Gray, (therein designed daughter and heiress of Andrew . In the 1050s and early 1060s, William became a contender for the throne of England held by the childless Edward the Confessor, his first cousin once removed. Sam helped precipitate the Massacre itself. On the death to that King, receiving possessions in Roufield shire of Roxburgh. [79] Harold kept his forces on alert throughout the summer, but with the arrival of the harvest season he disbanded his army on 8 September. After waiting a short while, William secured Dover, parts of Kent, and Canterbury, while also sending a force to capture Winchester, where the royal treasury was. Not an insignificant sum!! [2] Knowledge of the events preceding his death is confused because there are two different accounts. This campaign, which included the burning and destruction of part of the countryside that the royal forces marched through, is usually known as the "Harrying of the North"; it was over by April 1070, when William wore his crown ceremonially for Easter at Winchester. day. By far the most disturbing fact . The crowning of William the Conqueror was "celebrated" by setting buildings on fire. [54] To oversee his expanded domain, William was forced to travel even more than he had as duke. Clarke in the "Clarkes Genealogies" quotes from the The Earlier dukes had been illegitimate, and William's association with his father on ducal charters appears to indicate that William was considered Robert's most likely heir. John, baptized 1612. remained in the hands of the Grey family until the Marcher Lords were abolished Among the names inscribed at Battle Abbey, after the Battle of Hastings, I know there are loads of wonderful programs to assist in the tabulation, formation and display of the largest family tree. Gray Coat of Arms and Gray Family Crest. The remaining earls Edwin (of Mercia), Morcar (of Northumbria), and Waltheof (of Northampton) were confirmed in their lands and titles. Conan's death in 1066 further secured William's borders in Normandy. [30], William's next efforts were against Guy of Burgundy, who retreated to his castle at Brionne, which William besieged. There are those like Captain The ceremony took place in Westminster. Andy Rhind-Tutt claims to have traced his family back to the Saxon . Permanent Scandinavian settlement occurred before 911, when Rollo, one of the Viking leaders, and King Charles the Simple of France reached an agreement ceding the county of Rouen to Rollo. After hurried consultations, the allegation was shown to be true, and the man was compensated. Others, such as H. G. Richardson and G. O. Sayles, see the changes brought about by the Conquest as much less radical than Southern suggests. A further blow was the death of Queen Matilda on 2 November 1083. By 12 April 1080, William and Robert had reached an accommodation, with William once more affirming that Robert would receive Normandy when he died. afterward queen of Edward IV; Thomas Grey, created Marquis of Dorset in Later English sources stated that Harold had been elected as king by the clergy and magnates of England. During the reign of Queen Elizabeth I of England, Archbishop Matthew Parker saw the Conquest as having corrupted a purer English Church, which Parker attempted to restore. de Gray, (III) John from whom the most illustrious branches of the house His marriage to Matilda appears to have been quite affectionate, and there are no signs that he was unfaithful to her unusual in a medieval monarch. [63] No English source mentions a supposed embassy by Archbishop Robert to William conveying the promise of the succession, and the two Norman sources that mention it, William of Jumiges and William of Poitiers, are not precise in their chronology of when this visit took place. He crossed back and forth between the continent and England at least 19 times between 1067 and his death. correspond with John of Stapleford, as his eldest child was born in 1608. Although William returned to York and built another castle, Edgar remained free, and in the autumn he joined up with King Sweyn. [100] In 1070 William also founded Battle Abbey, a new monastery at the site of the Battle of Hastings, partly as a penance for the deaths in the battle and partly as a memorial to the dead. [55] Most of the income came from the ducal lands, as well as from tolls and a few taxes. In England and Ireland Grey is still used, in Scotland An early documented person was Anchetil de Greye - a vassal of William the Conqueror of Normandy (now part of France) and who accompan. The Grays were in Wales by 1283 when King Edward created new Marcher [45] Papal sanction of the marriage appears to have required the founding of two monasteries in Caen one by William and one by Matilda. It may have been Norman propaganda designed to discredit Harold, who had emerged as the main contender to succeed King Edward. The thigh bone currently in the tomb is assumed to be the one that was reburied in 1642, but the Victorian historian, Lewis "Breteuil, Roger de, earl of Hereford", Danish king had brought a large fleet to England, Norman conquest of England Consequences, "Edward (St Edward; known as Edward the Confessor) (1003x51066)", "William I (known as William the Conqueror)", "Breteuil, Roger de, earl of Hereford (fl. According to the Norman writer William of Jumiges, William had meanwhile sent an embassy to King Harold Godwinson to remind Harold of his oath to support William's claim, although whether this embassy actually occurred is unclear. He celebrated Christmas at Winchester and dealt with the aftermath of the rebellion. [97], Early in 1069, Edgar the theling rose in revolt and attacked York. The name has various spellings and includes GRAY and GREY - sometimes different spellings occur in the same generation of a single family.The first Gray to arrive in the United States was John Gray in about 1620.The origins of the name would seem to be multiple. William the Conqueror. The Church, under the influence of the, The reasons for the prohibition are not clear. England remained unstable. Members of the Gray or de Gray family later ride with William the Conqueror to defeat the Brittish at the Battle of Hastings(1066). The listing for each county gives the holdings of each landholder, grouped by owners. He was not known as a patron of authors, and there is little evidence that he sponsored scholarships or other intellectual activities. He was thus able to assert his overlordship over the Bellme family and compel them to act consistently with Norman interests. Harold, perhaps to secure the support of Edwin and Morcar in his bid for the throne, supported the rebels and persuaded King Edward to replace Tostig with Morcar. diverse branches. [n][79] Events after the invasion, which included the penance William performed and statements by later popes, do lend circumstantial support to the claim of papal approval. Lord John and Lord Thomas Gray. In 1047, William was able to quash a rebellion and begin to establish his authority over the duchy, a process that was not complete until about 1060. William then sent forces into London to construct a castle; he was crowned at Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day 1066. A Norman chief, whose name was They served their country [77] The Norman fleet finally set sail two days later, landing in England at Pevensey Bay on 28 September. 1. Walcher was killed on 14 May 1080, and the king dispatched his half-brother Odo to deal with the rebellion. But William was not finished; he marched over the Pennines during the winter and defeated the remaining rebels at Shrewsbury before building Chester and Stafford Castles. [97] FitzOsbern and Odo found it difficult to control the native population and undertook a programme of castle building to maintain their hold on the kingdom. Biography Norman King; known as William the Bastard; Duke of Normandy as William II (1035-1087); King of England as William I (1066-1087). "They built castles far and wide, oppressing the unhappy people", wept the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for 1066. [20] The support given to the exiled English princes in their attempt to return to England in 1036 shows that the new duke's guardians were attempting to continue his father's policies,[2] but Archbishop Robert's death in March 1037 removed one of William's main supporters, and conditions in Normandy quickly descended into chaos. [113] Ralph's authority seems also to have been less than his predecessors in the earldom, and this was likely the cause of his involvement in the revolt. The tomb has been disturbed several times since 1087, the first time in 1522 when the grave was opened on orders from the papacy. There is no record of the reason from the Council, and the main evidence is from Orderic Vitalis. changed to DeGray and then to Gray. If you have any information concerning any of these people, or [69][l], In 1065 Northumbria revolted against Tostig, and the rebels chose Morcar, the younger brother of Edwin, Earl of Mercia, as earl in place of Tostig. He married Matilda of Flanders in 1051, in Normandy, France. Gytha Thorkelsdttir, Harold's mother, offered the victorious duke the weight of her son's body in gold for its custody, but her offer was refused. it is Gray. Norsemen first began raiding in what became Normandy in the late 8th century. He then proceeded to buy off the Danes. Robert also married his half-sister Bertha to King Philip I of France, who was opposed to Norman power. [57], In 1051 the childless King Edward of England appears to have chosen William as his successor. [38] William met the invasion by dividing his forces into two groups. William was the son of the Norman Duke Robert the Magnificent and the unnamed daughter of a tanner. 1. Ralph eventually left Norwich in the control of his wife and left England, finally ending up in Brittany. Before this, William had returned to the continent, where Ralph had continued the rebellion from Brittany. [128] William granted some lands to his continental followers from the holdings of one or more specific Englishmen; at other times, he granted a compact grouping of lands previously held by many different Englishmen to one Norman follower, often to allow for the consolidation of lands around a strategically placed castle. left Tiverton to settle all across the country. [33] Geoffrey attempted to expand his authority into the county of Maine, especially after the death of Hugh IV of Maine in 1051. [49], There are records of two tutors for William during the late 1030s and early 1040s, but the extent of his literary education is unclear. (Former King of England (1066 - 1087)) William the Conqueror was the Duke of Normandy, who later became the King of England. Park Street Congregational Church, Boston. [100] William's half-brother Odo perhaps expected to be appointed to Canterbury, but William probably did not wish to give that much power to a family member. The listings describe the holding, who owned the land before the Conquest, its value, what the tax assessment was, and usually the number of peasants, ploughs, and any other resources the holding had. [48], No authentic portrait of William has been found; the contemporary depictions of him on the Bayeux Tapestry and on his seals and coins are conventional representations designed to assert his authority. [2] Although he put two Normans in overall charge, he retained many of the native English sheriffs. as [65] William's western border was thus secured, but his border with Brittany remained insecure. Genealogies" and "A History of Wales" by John Davies. These controversies have led to William being seen by some historians either as one of the creators of England's greatness or as inflicting one of the greatest defeats in English history. Family visits Group . He was crowned the Duke in 1035 and over the years made himself the mightiest noble in France, later seizing the English throne in 1066. [127], By William's death, after weathering a series of rebellions, most of the native Anglo-Saxon aristocracy had been replaced by Norman and other continental magnates. It appears that the Gray family was from Harwich, Essex, as a John and Ralph was bottled up in Norwich Castle by the combined efforts of Odo of Bayeux, Geoffrey de Montbray, Richard fitzGilbert, and William de Warenne. A John Gray was buried May 28, 1658. [112] Roger was a Norman, son of William fitzOsbern, but had inherited less authority than his father held. Next, he led his forces around the south and west of London, burning along the way. [107] He left England in the hands of his supporters, including Richard fitzGilbert and William de Warenne,[108] as well as Lanfranc. [24] Although many of the Norman nobles engaged in their own private wars and feuds during William's minority, the viscounts still acknowledged the ducal government, and the ecclesiastical hierarchy was supportive of William. Although Odo remained in confinement for the rest of William's reign, his lands were not confiscated. Aug 29, 2018. 2, 1589 and married on October 6, 1606 to Elizabeth Ward. Although William of Jumiges's claim that the ducal fleet numbered 3,000 ships is clearly an exaggeration, it was probably large and mostly built from scratch. Learn about the history of this surname and heraldry from our database and online image library. [114] Roger and Waltheof were kept in prison, where Waltheof was executed in May 1076. [120] William also visited Wales in 1081, although the English and the Welsh sources differ on the exact purpose of the visit. William was unhorsed by Robert and was only saved from death by an Englishman, Toki son of Wigod, who was himself killed. William was the son of Robert I, duke of Normandy (reigned 1027-1035), and a woman of lower social status named Herleva. On his father's death in 1035, William was recognised by his family as the heir - an . if you have any questions, please e-mail Rodney Gray at "wyarg 'at' juno dot com". [94] But the families of Harold and his brothers lost their lands, as did some others who had fought against William at Hastings. William I 'the Conqueror', King of England also went by the nick-name of William 'the Conqueror'.5 William I 'the Conqueror', King of England also went by the nick-name of William 'le Batard' (or in English, the Bastard).5 In 1035 on his father's death, William was recognised by his family as the heir - an exception to the general rule that .
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