Katherine Stourton, Baroness Grey of Codnor (c. 1455 – 1521) was an English noblewoman. Her life reflects the turbulence of English political life in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries; her first husband was
attainted for treason, and her third husband holds the record for the longest period of imprisonment in the
Tower of London
The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is sep ...
.
Background
She was the daughter of
William Stourton, 2nd Baron Stourton and Margaret Chideock, eldest daughter of Sir John Chideock and Catherine Lumley. Her father, although he was not a leading political figure, enjoyed the confidence of
King Edward IV: in 1469 he sat on the
commission of oyer and terminer which convicted
Thomas Hungerford of Rowden
Sir Thomas Hungerford of Rowden (died 17 January 1469) was an English nobleman. He supported the House of Lancaster, Lancastrian cause in the War of the Roses and was executed for supporting a conspiracy to restore Henry VI of England, Henry VI.L ...
and Henry Courtenay of treason.
First marriage
About 1475, Katherine married Sir William Berkeley, son of Sir Maurice Berkeley of
Beverstone Castle
Beverston Castle, also known as Beverstone Castle or Tetbury Castle, was constructed as a medieval stone fortress in the village of Beverston, Gloucestershire, England. The property is a mix of manor house, various small buildings, extensive gar ...
,
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean.
The county town is the city of Gl ...
and his wife Anne West. At about the same time, her brother
John
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Secon ...
married William's sister, another Katherine.
[Stourton, Charles, Lord, ''History of the Noble Family of Stourton'', London, UK (1899) p. 240] William became a political figure of some importance at the court of Edward IV; he was constable of
Southampton
Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...
and
Winchester, organised the entertainment of the King's sister
Margaret, Duchess of Burgundy on her visit to England in 1480, and played a leading role in organising Edward IV's funeral.
[Ross, Charles, ''Richard III'' (1984), University of California, pp. 108, 329 ]
Ross suggests that it was loyalty to Edward's children that led Berkeley, like several other key members of the royal household, to oppose
Richard III when he seized the throne. He was one of the leaders of
Buckingham's revolt in October 1483.
After the failure of the revolt, Berkeley, unlike many of the rebels, did not immediately flee the country, having apparently some hope of a
pardon. The Parliament of 1484 attainted him as a
traitor
Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...
, but in March he was pardoned. Katherine's brother John stood
surety for his good behaviour. Soon afterwards he abandoned the
Yorkist
The House of York was a cadet branch of the English royal House of Plantagenet. Three of its members became kings of England in the late 15th century. The House of York descended in the male line from Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, t ...
cause for good and joined the future
Henry VII in
Brittany
Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period ...
. After Henry's victory at the
Battle of Bosworth
The Battle of Bosworth or Bosworth Field was the last significant battle of the Wars of the Roses, the civil war between the houses of Lancaster and York that extended across England in the latter half of the 15th century. Fought on 22 Au ...
the Berkeley lands were restored, and several court offices were promised to William. By this time, however, he was already a sick man (having made a
codicil to his will in September 1485) and seems to have died early in 1486.
He and Katherine had no children.
Second marriage
Before 1492, Katherine married
Henry Grey, 4th (7th) Baron Grey of Codnor
Henry Grey, 4th Baron Grey of Codnor (1435 – April 1496) was an English nobleman of the fifteenth century. Having initially supported the House of Lancaster during the Wars of the Roses, he later gave his allegiance to the victorious King Edward ...
, becoming his third wife. Henry, who was at least twenty years older than Katherine, was one of the principal
magnates
The magnate term, from the late Latin ''magnas'', a great man, itself from Latin ''magnus'', "great", means a man from the higher nobility, a man who belongs to the high office-holders, or a man in a high social position, by birth, wealth or ot ...
in
Derby
Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby g ...
. Despite a record of fomenting
riot, which brought him before the
Star Chamber on at least one occasion, he enjoyed the trust of successive Kings, and was
Lord Deputy of Ireland in 1478–79. Although the marriage was childless, it seems to have been a happy one, and upon his death in 1496, Grey provided generously for Katherine in his
will.
Third marriage
Within a year of Grey's death, Katherine made a third and illustrious marriage into the
House of York itself; her husband was
William de la Pole
William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...
, a younger son of
John de la Pole, 2nd Duke of Suffolk
John de la Pole, 2nd Duke of Suffolk, KG (27 September 1442 – 14–21 May 1492), was a major magnate in 15th-century England. He was the son of William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk, and Alice Chaucer, the daughter of Thomas Chaucer ...
, and
Elizabeth
Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to:
People
* Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name)
* Elizabeth (biblical figure), mother of John the Baptist
Ships
* HMS ''Elizabeth'', several ships
* ''Elisabeth'' (sch ...
, sister of Edward IV.
[Weir, Alison, ''Britain's Royal Families- the Complete Genealogy'' Bodley Head 1989, p. 135; ] Since William was more than 20 years younger than Katherine his motives for marrying were presumably financial, although the families had long been close, and William's sister married Katherine's brother
William Stourton, 5th Baron Stourton.
Within a few years, with the House of York almost extinct and the
Tudor dynasty
The House of Tudor was a royal house of largely Welsh and English origin that held the English throne from 1485 to 1603. They descended from the Tudors of Penmynydd and Catherine of France. Tudor monarchs ruled the Kingdom of England and it ...
on the throne, Katherine and William faced an uncertain future.
Henry VII, the first Tudor king, did not have his son's ruthless determination to eliminate all the surviving
Yorkist
The House of York was a cadet branch of the English royal House of Plantagenet. Three of its members became kings of England in the late 15th century. The House of York descended in the male line from Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, t ...
claimants,
[Chrimes, S.B. ''Henry VII'' Yale University Press 1999, pp. 92-94
] but he was deeply suspicious of the de la Poles, and with some reason; William's eldest brother,
John
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Secon ...
had been killed at the
Battle of Stoke Field, fighting against Henry for the pretender
Lambert Simnel
Lambert Simnel (c. 1477 – after 1534) was a pretender to the throne of England. In 1487, his claim to be Edward Plantagenet, 17th Earl of Warwick, threatened the newly established reign of Henry VII (1485–1509). Simnel became the ...
, who claimed to be the rightful Yorkist heir.
In 1501, two of William's brothers
Edmund and
Richard de la Pole
Richard de la Pole (died 24 February 1525) was a pretender to the English crown. Commonly nicknamed "White Rose", he was the last Yorkist claimant to actively and openly seek the crown of England. He lived in exile after many of his relatives w ...
fled the country, after being accused, probably with good cause, of
conspiracy
A conspiracy, also known as a plot, is a secret plan or agreement between persons (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder or treason, especially with political motivation, while keeping their agre ...
.
The fact that William did not flee with them might be seen as evidence of his innocence, but Henry was clearly taking no chances; William was arrested and spent the rest of his life in the Tower of London, dying there in 1539. Katherine died in London in November 1521.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grey of Codnor, Katherine Stourton, Baroness
1450s births
1521 deaths
English baronesses
Daughters of barons
Katherine
Katherine, also spelled Catherine, and other variations are feminine names. They are popular in Christian countries because of their derivation from the name of one of the first Christian saints, Catherine of Alexandria.
In the early Christ ...
Place of birth missing
Place of death missing