Leonard Grey, Lord Deputy of Ireland (1479/149228 July 1541), known as Lord Leonard Grey prior to 1536, served as
Lord Deputy of Ireland from 1536 to 1540.
Family
Leonard Grey was a younger son of
Thomas Grey, 1st Marquess of Dorset
Thomas Grey, 1st Marquess of Dorset, 1st Earl of Huntingdon, 7th Baron Ferrers of Groby, (145520 September 1501) was an English nobleman, courtier and the eldest son of Elizabeth Woodville and her first husband Sir John Grey of Groby. Her secon ...
and
Cecily Bonville, Baroness Harington and Bonville
Cecily Bonville, 7th Baroness Harington, 2nd Baroness Bonville (30 June 1460 – 12 May 1529) was an English peer, who was also Marchioness of Dorset by her first marriage to Thomas Grey, 1st Marquess of Dorset, and Countess of Wiltshire by her ...
.
Career
On receiving instructions from
King Henry VIII
Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disag ...
, Grey commanded an army which he led in 1535 against Irish rebels who would not acknowledge Henry's
supremacy as supreme head of the
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
, and renounce the Pope. He was said to have been so cruel that he shortened the life of the
Lord Deputy of Ireland,
William Skeffington
Sir William Skeffington (c. 146531 December 1535) was an English knight who served as Lord Deputy of Ireland.
Early life
William Skeffington was born in Skeffington Hall, Leicestershire, the eldest son of Thomas Skeffington by his wife, Mary. ...
,
['']Letters and Papers of the Reign of Henry VIII
''Letters and Papers of the Reign of Henry VIII'' (full title: ''Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the Reign of Henry VIII: preserved in the Public Record Office, the British Museum, and elsewhere in England''; often abbreviated in citat ...
'', vol. X, no. 298 and succeeded him as Lord Deputy. Grey was created Viscount Grane in the
Peerage of Ireland
The Peerage of Ireland consists of those titles of nobility created by the English monarchs in their capacity as Lord or King of Ireland, or later by monarchs of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It is one of the five divisi ...
on 2 January 1536, but never assumed the title. He was active in marching against the rebels and he presided over the
parliament of 1536, but he was soon at variance with the powerful family of the
Butlers and with some of the
privy council
A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...
lors, including the highly influential
John Rawson, 1st Viscount Clontarf
John Rawson, 1st and only Viscount Clontarf (–1547) was an English-born statesman in sixteenth-century Ireland, and was regarded as one of the mainstays of English rule in the Kingdom of Ireland. He was the last Prior of the Kilmainham house of ...
.
On 11 July 1537 Grey as Lord Deputy visited
Galway
Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a City status in Ireland, city in the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lo ...
. This was the first visit of a King's Deputy to the town, and marked the start of closer relations between the town and the Anglo-Irish administration in Dublin. He was lavishly entertained and stayed for seven days.
Grey was accused of allowing the escape of his sister
Elizabeth's son, the young
Earl of Kildare
Earl () is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. The title originates in the Old English word ''eorl'', meaning "a man of noble birth or rank". The word is cognate with the Scandinavian form ''jarl'', and meant "chieftain", particular ...
to
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
in 1539, which he strenuously denied, and the quarrel with the Butlers became fiercer than ever.
Grey was nevertheless tried and attainted of
high treason
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 ...
, and subsequently executed at 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 separa ...
on 28 July 1541 by the orders of Henry VIII.
Carrigogunnell massacre
Grey was implicated in several massacres in Ireland; the most notorious took place at
Carrigogunnell
Carrigogunnell Castle (Irish: ''Chairrge Ó gCoinneall'') is a medieval Irish fortification near the village of Clarina, on the banks of the River Shannon in County Limerick.
The structure dates to at least the early 13th century, and was slig ...
Castle in 1536 (then part of
Thomond
Thomond (Classical Irish: ; Modern Irish: ), also known as the kingdom of Limerick, was a kingdom of Gaelic Ireland, associated geographically with present-day County Clare and County Limerick, as well as parts of County Tipperary around Nenag ...
, it would later become part of
County Limerick
"Remember Limerick"
, image_map = Island_of_Ireland_location_map_Limerick.svg
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Ireland
, subdivision_type1 = Province
, subdivision_name1 = Munster
, subdivision ...
in the
Kingdom of Ireland
The Kingdom of Ireland ( ga, label=Classical Irish, an Ríoghacht Éireann; ga, label=Modern Irish, an Ríocht Éireann, ) was a monarchy on the island of Ireland that was a client state of England and then of Great Britain. It existed from ...
). As an active participant in the
Tudor conquest of Ireland
The Tudor conquest (or reconquest) of Ireland took place under the Tudor dynasty, which held the Kingdom of England during the 16th century. Following a failed rebellion against the crown by Silken Thomas, the Earl of Kildare, in the 1530s, ...
, he was one of the figures who brought a new element to
Irish warfare, where the killing of non-combatants by Crown forces was seen as acceptable by the establishment.
Marriages and issue
Grey is said to have married firstly Elizabeth Arundel, widow of Sir Giles Daubeney, and secondly Eleanor Sutton, daughter of
Edward Sutton, 2nd Baron Dudley
Edward Sutton, 2nd Baron Dudley, (c. 1460 – 31 January 1531) was an English nobleman elected as Knight of the Garter (KG) in the beginning of King Henry VIII's reign. He was chamberlain to Princess Mary (later Queen Mary I) from 1525 to 1528 ...
by Cecily Willoughby, daughter and coheiress of Sir William Willoughby; however, according to Lyons it is unclear whether Grey ever married. He is mentioned in the will of his brother, Sir John Grey.
References
Bibliography
*
*
Hardiman's History of Galway: Chapter 4: From 1484 to the commencement of the Irish Rebellion in 1641from "History of the Catholic Church from the Renaissance to the French Revolution" by Rev. James MacCaffrey, S.J., 1914
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grane, Leonard Grey, 1st Viscount
1541 deaths
Viscounts in the Peerage of Ireland
Peers of Ireland created by Henry VIII
People executed under the Tudors for treason against England
Executions at the Tower of London
Prisoners in the Tower of London
Executed English people
Younger sons of marquesses
Year of birth uncertain
16th-century Irish politicians
Leonard
Leonard or ''Leo'' is a common English masculine given name and a surname.
The given name and surname originate from the Old High German ''Leonhard'' containing the prefix ''levon'' ("lion") from the Greek Λέων ("lion") through the Latin '' L ...
Executed Irish people
People executed by Tudor England by decapitation
People executed under Henry VIII
Irish politicians convicted of crimes
Lords Lieutenant of Ireland