"to write her son the Marquis of Dorset, to leave Richmond. The
Marquis fearing the Earl would not succeed in his enterprise,
gave way to his mother's persuasions, and King Richard's
flattering promises, left the Earl, and stole away from Paris by
night, intending to escape into Flanders. But as soon as the Earl
had notice of his flight, he applied to the French Court to
apprehend him in any part of his dominions, for both himself and
his followers, were afraid of his discovering his designs if he
got to England.
"Having obtained license to seize him, the Earl sent messengers
every way in search of him, and among the rest Humphrey Cheney,
Esq., who overtook him near Champaigne, and by arguments and fair
promises prevailed with him to return.
"By the Marquis's disposition to leave him, the Earl began to
doubt, that if he delayed his expedition to England longer, many
more of his friends might grow cool in their zeal for him. So he
earnestly solicited the French Court for aid, 'desiring so small
a supply of men and money, that Charles could not in honour
refuse him; yet for what he lent him, he would have hostages,
that satisfaction should be made. The Earl made no scruple of
that, so leaving the Lord Marquis of Dorset (whom he still
mistrusted), and Sir John Bourchier, as his pledges at Paris, he
departed for Rouen, where the few men the French king had lent
him, and all the English that followed his future, rendezvous'd.'"
Rather an ignominious _denouement_, but doubtless Richmond, quite
estimated the quality of his man, and would not allow the Marquis to
play any possible double game by taking him to England with the
expedition. So he remained at Paris, in this kind of semi-imprisonment,
until after the battle of Bosworth, Henry's coronation, and the end of
the Parliament in 1485, when the king was possessed of some means to pay
off his debt to the French king.
This being obtained, he sent across to Paris and redeemed the Marquis
and Bourchier, and invited them over to England. On the 18 Jan.
following, Henry married the Princess Elizabeth, half-sister to the
Marquis. Soon after the king restored him to all his honours, called
him to the Privy Council, and created him a Knight of the Garter,
being the two hundred and fortieth in the succession of that noble
Order.
Henry however still distrusted him, for on his pilgrimage to
Walsingham in 1487,--
"being come to St. Edmunds-bury, he understood that Thomas,
Marquis of Dorset, was hasting toward him, to purge himself of
some accusations that had been made against him. But the King,
though he kept an ear for him, yet was at the time so doubtful,
that he sent the Earl of Oxford to meet him, and forthwith carry
him to the Tower; with a fair message nevertheless, that he
should bear that disgrace with patience, for that the King meant
not his hurt, but only to preserve him from doing hurt, either to
the King's service or to himself, and that the King should always
be able (when he had cleared himself) to make him reparation."
Very wise of Henry, doubtless, and done in kindness to prevent his not
too strong-minded brother-in-law getting into mischief. The Marquis
remained in the Tower until after the coronation of the Queen,--when
Henry, who had locked him up "rather upon suspicion of the time, than
of the man, set him at liberty without examination, or other
circumstance."
He was with the large army taken across the channel to France in 1492,
in the flotilla under the command of Lord Willoughby de Broke, which
was apparently designed, but really never intended, to assist the
Emperor Maximilian. The Marquis also held a command in the royal
forces in 1497, at the defeat of the Cornish insurgents on
Black-Heath.
It is probable also he accompanied Henry into the west, at the
suppression of Perkin Warbeck's attempt in October of the same year.
Respecting this Mr. Davidson writes,--
"The king left Exeter on 3 November, and passed the night at the
College of St. Mary, at Ottery, and on the next day proceeded to
Newenham Abbey. At this place the king remained nearly a week
until the 10th, when he resumed his progress to London. It is
difficult indeed to imagine for what reason the king remained so
long a time at Newenham at this period, unless he was engaged in
making enquiry for such of the men of consideration in the
Counties of Devon and Somerset as had taken part with the rebels,
and in appointing the commissioners for detecting them. Among
those commissioners the name of Sir Amias Paulet appears, whose
residence in Somersetshire was at no great distance from this
place. It may be conjectured also, that the king was entertained
by the lord Marquis of Dorset, at his manor and mansion of Shute,
which is nearly adjoining the Abbey demesnes, for this nobleman
appears to have been on terms of familiar intercourse with his
sovereign. The following items appear in the king's privy purse
expenses;--'_1492, 7 July. To my lord Marquis for a ring of gold,
L100.--1495, March 20.--Loste at the buttes to my lord Marques
L1._'"
Four years after Warbeck's rebellion, on the 10 April, 1501, the
Marquis died; by his will, without date, he "_bequeathed his body to
be buried in his College at Astley, before the image of the Blessed
Trinity, in the midst of his closet, within the same College; and that
his executors should cause to be said for his soul, in every of the
four orders of Friars in London, a hundred masses, and at the time of
his burial, one hundred marks to be distributed in alms to the poor
people_."
On a boss over the organ-gallery in St. George's Chapel, Windsor, are
the arms of the Marquis, quarterly of eight:--1. _Barry of six argent
and azure, in chief three torteaux_ (GREY).--2. _Or, a maunche gules_
(HASTINGS).--3. _Barry of ten argent and azure, an orle of martlets
gules_ (VALENCE). Over these three quarterings _a label of three
points ermine_--4. _Gules, seven mascles, three, three, and one, or_
(QUINCY).--5. _Azure, a cinquefoil ermine_ (ASTLEY).--6. _Argent_, _a
fess and a canton gules_ (WIDVILLe).--7. _Sable, six mullets argent,
pierced gules_ (BONVILLE).--8. _Sable, a fret argent_ (HARINGTON).
On his banner he bore the same quarterings. The "tenan," _an unicorn
ermine_. His standard, _per fess white and murrey_. The badges are
"_bunches of daisies, tufted proper_" (this from Widville). The motto,
"A MA PUISSANCE" (Willement).
Cicely Bonville, Marchioness of Dorset, married secondly Henry
Stafford, second son of Henry Stafford, second Duke of Buckingham (by
his wife Catherine daughter of Richard Widville, Earl Rivers), who,
rising in revolt against Richard III., was beheaded at Salisbury,
1483.
He was created Earl of Wiltshire by Henry VII., in 1509, and
constituted a Knight of the Garter by the same monarch, being the two
hundred and fifty-eighth on the roll of the Order.
The Marchioness of Dorset was his second wife. His first was Muriel,
daughter of Sir Edward Grey,--created Viscount L'Isle, 1483,--brother
to Sir John Grey, father of the Marquis of Dorset, and therefore
cousin to the Marchioness's first husband. The Earl of Wiltshire left
no issue by either of his wives. He died 6 March, 1523, when his title
became extinct.
On a boss in the vaulting of the choir of St. George's Chapel,
Windsor, is his badge, _a Stafford knot argent, differenced by a
crescent sable_, and on a stall-plate below are his arms,
quarterly:--1. _France and England within a bordure argent_
(PLANTAGENET).--2. BOHUN.--3. STAFFORD.--4. BOHUN, EARL OF
NORTHAMPTON; there are no supporters. The crest, _in a ducal coronet,
per pale sable and gules, a demi-swan argent, beaked gules, the wings
endorsed_. Motto, "HUMBLE ET LOYAL" (Willement).
The carved escutcheon of this Earl, quartered as above, with
_crescent_ for difference, and encircled by the Garter, was found
among the ruins of the Cluniac Priory of St. Mary Magdalene at
Barnstaple, and is now preserved in a modern residence built on the
site. The _knot and crescent_ are found on the churches of Axminster,
Ottery St. Mary, and Seaton, and will be further referred to.
We do not hear much more of the Marchioness, but she evidently stood
very high in the Court of Henry VIII., for in September, 1533, at the
christening of the Princess, afterward Queen Elizabeth, daughter of
Queen Anne Boleyn, at Greenwich, Hall relates that "the old
Marchioness of Dorset, widow," was one of the child's god-mothers, and
in the grand procession the Marquis her son, bore the Salt, and she
afterward made the infant-princess "a present of three gilt bowls
pounced with a cover."
By her will, dated 6 March, 1528-9, 19 Henry VIII., she "_bequeathed
her body to be buried in the Chapel of Astley, in the tomb where her
husband the late Lord Marquis lay, and a thousand masses to be said
for her soul. That a goodly tomb should be made in the Chapel of
Astley over the Lord Marquis her husband, and another for herself, and
two priests daily to sing in the said Chapel of Astley by the space of
eighty years, to pray for the soul of the said Lord Marquis and her
own soul._"
The exact date of her death does not appear to have been ascertained,
but probably before, or by 1530, when she would have been about
seventy years old.
With the death of Cicely Bonville--last of her name and race--the main
personal interest of our little narrative ceases, and it is not
intended, in bringing our story to its conclusion, to give a long
detailed account of the two next succeeding generations of the Greys,
which belongs rather to national history.
Thomas Grey, eldest son of Thomas Grey, first Marquis of Dorset, and
Cicely Bonville, was summoned to Parliament in 1509, as Lord Ferrers
of Groby, and in 1511, as the second Marquis of Dorset. He married
first Eleanor, daughter of Oliver, Lord St. John, by whom he had no
issue, and secondly Margaret, daughter of Sir Robert Wotton of Bocton
in Kent, by whom he had Henry, his successor;--John, ancestor of the
Earls of Stamford;--Elizabeth, married to Thomas, Lord Audley of
Walden, K.G., Lord Chancellor to Henry VIII., who sat as High Steward
at the trial of Henry Courtenay, Marquis of Exeter, and who died in
1544;--Catherine, to Henry Fitzalan, eighteenth and last Earl of
Arundel of that family, Lord High Steward to Queen Elizabeth, and
K.G., who died 1579;--and Anne, to Henry Willoughby of Wollaton,
Nottinghamshire.
He appears to have enjoyed the favour and confidence of that
dangerously uncertain despot Henry VIII., and in 1512 was constituted
Commander-in-Chief of the expedition sent into Spain, designed as an
augmentation of the forces of the Emperor Ferdinand in the invasion of
Guienne, and with him were associated the second Lord Willoughby de
Broke and other noblemen. In 1514, he was with Charles Brandon, Duke
of Suffolk, in France at the jousts of St. Denis, and acquired
considerable renown; as afterward at the meeting of Henry and Francis
in 1521 on the Field of the Cloth of Gold. He was one of the lords who
signed the celebrated letter to Pope Clement touching the king's
divorce, and subscribed to the articles of impeachment against
Cardinal Wolsey. Altogether a pliant and observant courtier probably,
who carefully noted, studied, and complied with the errant phases of
his grim master's will, the only safe way of getting on with him, and
keeping his head on his shoulders, but, of course, requiring the aid
of a not too-exacting conscience.
He made his will 1530, "_ordered his body to be buried at Astley, near
his father, and his executors to make and build a Chapel at Astley,
according to the will of his father, with a goodly tomb over his
father and mother, and where he himself resolved to be buried_."
Together with further bequests "_to found an alms house for thirteen
poor men, who were to have twelve pence a week, and a livery of black
cotton yearly at a cost of four shillings, and three honest priests to
pray for his soul, &c._"
Relating to the burial of this nobleman, we append the following,
given as a quotation by Burke,--
"The Collegiate church of Astley, founded by Thomas third Lord
Astley, whose heiress-general married the ancestor of this
Marquis, a most rare and beautiful piece of workmanship, having
fallen down, a new chancel was erected by the parishioners. When
on opening the vault where the body of the Marquis was laid, a
large and long coffin of wood was found, which at the curious
desire of some, being burst open, the body which had lain there
for seventy-eight years, appeared perfect in every respect,
neither perished nor hardened, but the flesh, in colour,
proportion, and softness, alike to any corpse newly interred. The
body was about five feet eight inches in length, the face broad
and the hair yellow. All which seemed to be well preserved from
the strong embalming thereof."
Henry Grey, third and last Marquis of Dorset, was constituted Lord
High-Constable of England for three days at the coronation of Edward
VI., 1547. In 1551 made Justice in Eyre of all the King's Forests, and
in 1552 Warden of the East, West, and Middle Marches toward Scotland,
and 11 October of the same year was created Duke of Suffolk, and
installed Knight of the Garter.
He married first Katharine, daughter of William, Earl of Arundel, but
by her had no issue.
Secondly, he espoused Frances, daughter of Charles Brandon, created
Duke of Suffolk in 1514, and K.G.,--by his third wife the Princess
Mary, second daughter of king Henry VII., widow of king Lewis XII.,
and so Queen-Dowager of France. The issue of this marriage was three
daughters, Jane, Katharine, and Mary.
The Lady Jane Grey married the Lord Guilford Dudley, son of John
Dudley, created Duke of Northumberland in 1551 and K.G.; by his wife
Jane daughter of Sir Edward Guilford, knt. The Duke his father, was
beheaded on Tower Hill 22 Aug., 1553.
The Lady Katharine Grey, married first Henry, Lord Herbert, eldest son
of William, Earl of Pembroke, from whom she was divorced. Secondly she
married Lord Edward Seymour, son of the Protector Somerset, who was
beheaded on Tower Hill, 22 Jan., 1552. Lord Edward Seymour was created
by Queen Elizabeth in 1559, Baron Beauchamp of Hache, and Earl of
Hertford. But for marrying the Lady Katharine without the permission
first obtained of the imperious and unfeeling Queen, they were both
committed to the Tower. He was fined five thousand pounds, and endured
nine years imprisonment. His wife bore him three sons during her
captivity, and she died while still a prisoner in that fortress 26
Jan., 1567. He died at an advanced age in 1621.
The Lady Mary Grey married Martin Keys, Groom-Porter to Queen
Elizabeth.
It is not necessary here to enter into the mournful circumstances of
the deaths,--perhaps the most sad in English history--of the youthful
Lady Jane Grey and her husband Lord Guilford Dudley,--they are fully
known to all who have the slightest acquaintanceship with our national
annals. The event occurred on 12 Feb., 1554.
The same remark will apply to the fate of the Duke of Suffolk, her
father,--his participation in Wyatt's rising, the story of his fleeing
from his pursuers, hiding in a hollow tree in his park at Astley, and
betrayal (under circumstances somewhat similar to Henry Stafford, Duke
of Buckingham), by Underwood, one of his own park-keepers to whom he
had confided the secret of his life,--need only the outline of
relation here, to give semblance of completion to our little history.
He found his death also by the executioner's hand on Tower Hill, 23
Feb., 1554.
[Illustration: EFFIGY OF FRANCES BRANDON, DUCHESS OF SUFFOLK.
WESTMINSTER ABBEY]
The Duchess of Suffolk, his widow, married secondly Adrian Stokes,
Esq. She was buried in St. Edmund's Chapel in Westminster Abbey,
where, on a high-tomb of the same costly material, reclines her effigy
in alabaster, clad in the rich costume of the period, with a crowned
lion at her feet. On one side of the tomb is this inscription,--
HERE LIETH THE LADIE FRANCES, DVCHES OF SOVTHFOLKE,
DOVGHTER TO CHARLES BRANDON, DUKE OF SOVTHFOLKE,
AND MARIE THE FRENCHE QVENE;
FIRST WIFE TO HENRIE, DUKE OF SOVTHFOLKE,
AND AFTER TO ADRIAN STOCK, ESQVIER.
and on the other the following,--