John Greystoke, 4th Baron Greystoke (''c.'' 1390–1436), son and heir of Ralph Greystoke, 3rd Baron Greystoke, was a member of the northern English

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in the early fifteenth century.

Royal service

Born ''c.'' 1390, on his father's death and his elevation to the title, Greystoke "soon became enmeshed in

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politics and Anglo-Scottish negotiations." He was appointed constable of Roxburgh Castle in 1421, being paid £1,000 ''p.a.'' during time of truce and double that in time of war, for a four-year contract, when he was replaced by Sir Robert Ogle. Twice, in 1424, and again six years later, he was a member of ambassadorial expeditions to treat with the Scots. The first of these discussions resulted in a truce with Scotland in March. Indeed, this embassy also took the role of providing an escort back to Scotland for the newly married

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who had recently married the king's cousin

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. The second resulted in a further- tenuous- extension to the truce, a not insignificant achieving in view, as one historian has put it, of the fact that Greystoke and his fellow negotiators ran the gauntlet "whilst on Scottish soil." Service to the crown was not however confined to the border; in 1430-1 he acted, at the behest of the royal council, as a royal commissioner to collect loans amounting to £400 to assist in the prosecution of the

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. He acted as an adjudicator in local gentry quarrels, alongside peers such as the

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Wealth and regional influence

In the

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of 1436, he was assessed at an income of £650 ''p.a'', and although never belonging to the higher echelons of the northern nobility, his family has been described as being regionally "a force to be reckoned with," in a relatively compact area that "jostled" with such landowning families. Although traditionally the Greystoke family had been

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by the Percies, Earls of Northumberland, by the 1430s John had come within the sphere of Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury.Harriss, G.L., ''Shaping the Nation: England 1360–1461'', Oxford 2005, p. 535 He was known for his piety, bequeathing valuable items to his father's clerical college, including

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, ornaments, "and

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to repair the choir."

Personal life

Greystoke was married to Elizabeth Ferrers, though the date of their union is unknown. She was born in 1393, a daughter of Joan Beaufort, a cousin of the king, by her first marriage to Sir Robert Ferrers. They had a son,

Ralph Ralph (pronounced ; or ,) is a male given name of English, Scottish and Irish origin, derived from the Old English ''Rædwulf'' and Radulf, cognate with the Old Norse ''Raðulfr'' (''rað'' "counsel" and ''ulfr'' "wolf"). The most common forms ...

, who later succeeded to the

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. He dictated his will on 10 July 1436; dead less than a month later, he was buried, according to his wish, in Greystoke church.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Greystoke, John de, 4th Baron Greystoke 1436 deaths People from Cumberland 15th-century English people

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Year of birth uncertain Barons Greystoke