Sir Henry Green, JP ( 1347 – 1399) was a courtier and councillor to king

Richard II Richard II (6 January 1367 – ), also known as Richard of Bordeaux, was King of England from 1377 until he was deposed in 1399. He was the son of Edward the Black Prince, Prince of Wales, and Joan, Countess of Kent. Richard's father ...

of England.

Ancestry

Born in Northamptonshire, he was the son of Sir Henry Green, a lawyer and

Chief Justice of the Common Pleas The chief justice of the Common Pleas was the head of the Court of Common Pleas, also known as the Common Bench or Common Place, which was the second-highest common law court in the English legal system until 1875, when it, along with the othe ...

, by his second marriage to Katherine Drayton, daughter of Sir John Drayton of Drayton.

Career

Green inherited

Drayton House Drayton House is a country house south-west of the village of Lowick, Northamptonshire, England. History Aubrey de Vere I participated in the Norman conquest of England and was awarded the manor of Drayton near Northampton. In the early th ...

in Northamptonshire at his father's death in 1370. He became a JP in 1380 and MP for

Huntingdonshire Huntingdonshire (; abbreviated Hunts) is a non-metropolitan district of Cambridgeshire and a historic county of England. The district council is based in Huntingdon. Other towns include St Ives, Godmanchester, St Neots and Ramsey. The popu ...

in 1390, for

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It ...

in 1394 and 1397 and finally in the autumn of 1397 he became MP for

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

. He also served in France with John of Gaunt. He became a close confidant of King Richard II. Along with Sir

John Bussy Sir John Bussy (also Bushy; died 29 July 1399) of Hougham in Lincolnshire was a member of parliament representing Lincolnshire or Rutland eleven times from 1383 to 1398 as a Knight of the Shire. He was also Speaker of the House of Commons at th ...

and Sir William Bagot he was appointed one of the eccentric Richard's 'continual councillors' who gained an unsavoury reputation. At one point they advised the king to confiscate the lands of the exiled

Henry Bolingbroke Henry IV ( April 1367 – 20 March 1413), also known as Henry Bolingbroke, was King of England from 1399 to 1413. He asserted the claim of his grandfather King Edward III, a maternal grandson of Philip IV of France, to the Kingdom of Fran ...

, Duke of Hereford. When Bolingbroke returned from exile in 1399 to reclaim his inheritance, the three councillors decided flight was the best option. Bussy and Green sought sanctuary in Bristol Castle but were delivered up to Bolingbroke on 28 July 1399, who had them beheaded the following day. Bagot was spared and eventually

pardoned A pardon is a government decision to allow a person to be relieved of some or all of the legal consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. A pardon may be granted before or after conviction for the crime, depending on the laws of the j ...

. All three continual councillors (referred to as "caterpillars") feature in Shakespeare's historical play ''

King Richard II Richard II (6 January 1367 – ), also known as Richard of Bordeaux, was King of England from 1377 until he was deposed in 1399. He was the son of Edward the Black Prince, Prince of Wales, and Joan, Countess of Kent. Richard's father d ...

'', generally listed as "Bushy, Baghot and Green". Green also appears in the anonymous Elizabethan play '' Thomas of Woodstock''.

Family

He married Maud (or Matilda) Mauduit, daughter and heiress of Thomas Mauduit, by whom he had several children, including; * Ralph, his heir * Eleanor, m. Sir John Fitzwilliam (d. 5 July 1417).

Notes

References

* *
Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales, 1300–1500American Historical Society. 1n. History, genealogical-biographical, of the Danielson and allied familiesWillement’s roll of arms
{{DEFAULTSORT:Green, Henry Date of birth unknown Year of birth uncertain 1340s births 1399 deaths Male Shakespearean characters English MPs January 1390 Executed people from Northamptonshire People executed under the Plantagenets by decapitation English politicians convicted of crimes English MPs 1394 English MPs January 1397 English MPs September 1397 English justices of the peace