John de Grey, 2nd Baron Grey de Rotherfield

John de Grey, 2nd Baron Grey de Rotherfield, KG (9 October 1300[1] – September 1359[1]) was an English soldier and courtier. John was the son and heir of Sir John de Grey, 1st Baron Grey de Rotherfield,[2] by Margaret who was daughter William de Odingsells and the granddaughter of Ida II Longespee.[3]

John de Grey
Baron Grey de Rotherfield
John de Grey, 2nd Baron Grey, KG, depicted in the Bruges Garter Book
Born	9 October 1300 Rotherfield, Oxfordshire, England
Died	1 September 1359 (aged 58) Rotherfield, Oxfordshire, England
Spouse(s)	Katherine FitzAlan Avice Marmion
Issue Sir John de Grey, 3rd Baron Grey of Rotherfield Sir Robert de Grey Maud Grey Sir John Marmion
Father	Sir John de Grey
Mother	Margaret de Odingsells

Arms of Sir John de Grey, KG

John de Grey of Rotherfield was a founding member of the Most Noble Order of the Garter.[4] He is often confused with John Grey of Codnor, who bore the same coat of arms (Barry argent and azure).

By December 1349,[1] John was Lord Steward of the Royal Household of King Edward III. He distinguished himself well in the Scottish and French wars. He was summoned to parliament often from 1338 to 1357, and is regarded as having become Baron Grey of Rotherfield.[1]

Note: Some sources describe him as 1st Baron Grey of Rotherfield, and some as the 2nd Baron Grey, numbering his father John de Grey as 1st Baron Grey (but not of Rotherfield); this can be confusing.

Family

He married firstly, shortly before 1313,[1] Katherine Fitzalan, daughter and coheir of Bryan FitzAlan, Lord FitzAlan of Bedale, Yorkshire and had a single son and heir:

• Sir John de Grey, 3rd Baron Grey de Rotherfield.[2] He married maud de Burghersh, daughter of Sir Bartholomew Burghersh the elder, 1st Baron Burghersh.

He married secondly Avice, daughter of John Marmion, Baron of Winteringham, a descendant of John of England.[1][5] by whom he had the following issue:

• John de Grey aka Marmion, (d.s.p. 1385)[5] m. Elizabeth St. Quintin (b.1341)[6]
• Sir Robert de Grey aka Marmion, m. Lora St. Quintin (b.1343);[6] their daughter Elizabeth m. Henry FitzHugh, 3rd Baron FitzHugh[5]

References

1. Henry Summerson, 'Grey, John, first Lord Grey of Rotherfield (1300–1359)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, September 2004; online edn, January 2008. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/11544
2. Burke, Sir Bernard. A Genealogical History of the Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited, and Extinct Peerages of the British Empire.
3. Richardson, D. (2011) Plantagenet Ancestry: A Study ... pg 642 (via Google)
4. Shaw, Wm. A. (1971). The Knights of England: A Complete Record from the Earliest Time to the Present Day of the Knights of All the Orders of Chivalry in England, Scotland, and Ireland, and of the Knights Bachelors. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company. p. 1. OCLC 247620448.
5. Nicolas, Nicholas Harris (1857). Historic Peerage of England. London: John Murray.
6. Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem, XI, London: HMSO, 1935