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Birth:          ABT 1280 Heaton Castle, Wark-on-Tweed, Northumbeland, England
Death:          BEF 12 Mar 1344 Chillingham, Northumberland, England

Notes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Grey_(of_Heaton)
Sir Thomas Grey of Heaton, Northumberland was a soldier who served throughout the 
Wars of Scottish Independence. His experiences were recorded by his son Thomas 
and provide a rare picture of the day to day realities of the wars. His career was 
blemished by his suicidal charge at the Battle of Bannockburn, which was a 
contributing factor to the devastating English defeat, but is perhaps best known for 
his role in the tale of Sir William Marmion the chivalric knight of Norham Castle.
Career and Life[edit]

Early life[edit]

Thomas was serving under William de Hesilrig, Sheriff of Clydesdale as early as 1297.
[4] Following William Wallace's nighttime assassination of the Sheriff at Lanark, Gray 
was left for dead, stripped naked in the snow.[4] He only survived because of the 
heat from the houses burning around him and was rescued the next day and his 
wounds healed.[4]

Thomas was knighted before September 1301 and served with the King's Lieutenant 
for Scotland, Patrick IV, Earl of March at Ayr.[5]

In May 1303 Sir Thomas found himself under the command of Hugh de Audley 
encamped at Melrose Abbey when they were attacked at night by a much larger force 
led by John Comyn.[6] Grey was beaten to the floor and taken prisoner but most of his 
comrades were slain.[7]

Siege of Stirling Castle (1304)[edit]

Edward I had captured most of Scotland by April 1304 and embarked upon a 
nineteen-week siege of the last significant uncaptured fortress at Stirling Castle using 
twelve siege engines which included the massive trebuchet called "Warwolf".

Thomas Grey fought at the siege under the command of Henry de Beaumont, jure 
uxoris 4th Earl of Buchan.[8] A hook thrown from a siege machine ensnared de 
Beaumont one day, and was about to haul him to his death upon the castle walls, 
when Thomas freed him in the nick of time and dragged him to safety.[8]

Just as Thomas had performed this act of bravery he was struck in the head by a large 
bolt fired from a springald (a large multi-man crossbow) just below his eyes.[7] He 
collapsed to the ground lifeless and preparations for a quick burial were made.[8] Just 
as the funeral ceremony started, Thomas suddenly stirred and opened his eyes, much 
to the astonishment of the funeral party.[8] He subsequently staged a full recovery.[8]

It is from this event that Thomas Grey perhaps adopted a ram's head as the crest of 
his coat of arms as a light-hearted reference to his thick skull.[3]

Thomas became closer to the Beaumont family, who were kinsmen of both the King 
and Queen, and was drawn into court life. In 1305 Grey acted as attorney for Henry 
de Beaumont's sister Isabella de Vesci.[5] In December 1307 Thomas took custody of 
Robert Bruce's sister Christina following the execution of her husband Christopher 
Seton for his part in the murder of John Comyn, Guardian of Scotland.[9]

Ambush at Cupar Castle (1308)[edit]

Upon the death of Edward I he was succeeded by his son Edward II and Sir Thomas 
Grey attended the coronation at Westminster Palace in February 1308.[10] As Thomas 
returned to Cupar Castle, of which he was the then Warden, he was ambushed by 
Walter de Bickerton, a supporter of Bruce.[10]

Thomas was heavily outnumbered, having only twenty six men at arms compared to 
the four hundred men commanded by Bickerton.[10] Deciding that he could not avoid 
the ambush he decided to charge the heart of Bickerton's men using lance and the 
shock of his horse to down many of the enemy.[10] Seeing the success of his 
aggression he was joined by his men at arms and together they succeeded in 
overthrowing many of the enemy and stampeded their horses.[11]

Before starting the charge, Thomas had instructed his grooms to follow at a distance 
carrying a battle standard.[10] As they came into view of Bickerton's confused men 
they mistook the grooms for another formation of soldiers and took flight.[11] Grey and 
his men drove one hundred and eighty of Bickerton's abandoned horses to his castle 
as booty.[11]

Battle of Bannockburn (1314)[edit]

Sir Thomas' lack of discipline at the Battle of Bannockburn was undoubtedly the low 
point of his career but he was not alone and the English defeat is often recognised as 
being caused by both poor leadership by Edward II and hot-headedness. On the first 
day of the battle Thomas was in one of the two cavalry forces alongside Robert 
Clifford and Henry de Beaumont. The Scalacronica's account of events follows;

Robert Lord de Clifford and Henry de Beaumont, with three hundred men-at-arms, 
made a circuit upon the other side of the wood towards the castle, keeping the open 
ground. Thomas Randolph, 1st Earl of Moray, Robert de Brus's nephew, who was 
leader of the Scottish advanced guard, hearing that his uncle had repulsed the 
advanced guard of the English on the other side of the wood, thought that he must 
have his share, and issuing from the wood with his division marched across the open 
ground towards the two afore-named lords.

Sir Henry de Beaumont called to his men: "Let us wait a little; let them come on; give 
them room"

"Sir," said Sir Thomas Gray, "I doubt that whatever you give them now, they will have 
all too soon"

"Very well" exclaimed the said Henry, if you are afraid, be off"

"Sir," answered the said Thomas, "it is not from fear that I shall fly this day."
So saying he spurred in between Beaumont and Sir William Deyncourt, and charged 
into the thick of the enemy. William was killed, Thomas was taken prisoner, his horse 
being killed on the pikes, and he himself carried off with the Scots on foot when they 
marched off, having utterly routed the squadron of the said two lords. Some of the 
English fled to the castle, others to the king's army, which having already left the road 
through the wood had debouched upon a plain near the water of Forth beyond 
Bannockburn, an evil, deep, wet marsh, where the said English army unharnessed and 
remained all night, having sadly lost confidence and being too much disaffected by 
the events of the day. 
—?Sir Thomas Gray, Scalacronica, translated by Herbert Maxwell[12]

The next day the demoralised English were heavily defeated and King Edward was 
rushed from the scene by his bodyguard.

Norham Castle[edit]

Following their victory at Bannockburn, the Scottish attacked and raided the north of 
England repeatedly over the ensuing years. Sir Thomas was garrisoned at Berwick-
upon-Tweed in 1318 which fell to Robert Bruce following an eleven-week siege. Grey 
was subsequently recompensed £179 arrears of wages for himself and fourteen men at 
arms and for horses he had lost.[14]

In 1317 Grey's patron Henry de Beaumont and his brother, the newly appointed Bishop 
of Durham, Lewis de Beaumont were kidnapped by Gilbert de Middleton before being 
released. Middleton was executed and his lands confiscated. In May 1319, as reward 
for his services, Thomas was granted 108 acres at Howick, Northumberland that 
formerly belonged to a supporter of Gilbert de Middleton, John Mautulent.[15]

Grey was appointed in 1319 as Sheriff of Norham and Islandshire and Constable of 
Norham Castle[16] where he was to be based for eleven years.[17] During this time 
Norham remained under a state of almost perpetual siege and it is Thomas' rescue of 
the chivalric knight Sir William Marmion that he is probably best known for.[18]

A two year truce expired in 1322 and Thomas promised King Edward to recruit an extra 
twenty men at arms and fifty hobelars to reinforce Lewis de Beaumont's existing 
garrison to protect both Norham castle and the March.[9] By September 17 Norham 
found itself besieged by one hundred Scottish men at arms and one hundred 
hobelars.[9] The king sent Thomas money to pay his garrison and requested that he 
send frequent reports of the situation and reassured the people around the castle that 
any losses in crops and goods would be made up to them.[9]

Edward II agreed to a thirteen-year truce with Robert Bruce in March 1323 and, three 
months later, Thomas was given permission to go to Scotland to resupply Norham 
Castle with corn and ammunition and to replace its ploughs and carts which had been 
destroyed in the preceding years.[15] He imprisoned eighty Scots at Norham who had, 
coming from overseas, landed at Lindisfarne and attempted to reach Scotland and on 
2 October was ordered to send them to the Sheriff of York at York Castle.[19]

On 9 July 1325 Grey was ordered to accept back into the King's Peace all those of 
Northumberland who had joined the Scottish through poverty or other urgent needs.
[15]

Later career[edit]

During the buildup to the impending Invasion of England of 1326 Sir Thomas was first 
granted more land at Howyk[15][9] and then in August ordered to join John de Sturmy, 
Admiral of the Fleet of the North, alongside other captains and their ships, to help 
defend the hugely unpopular Edward II from his wife Isabella and her lover Roger 
Mortimer, 1st Earl of March.[15] Thomas was ordered to "compel" ships from 
Northumberland ports to join the fleet and to supervise their departure for Orwell, 
Suffolk in early September.[20] No naval conflict occurred and, landing at Orwell on 
24 September, Isabel and Mortimer seized control of England with virtually no 
opposition, with most of Edward's orders having been ignored. Edward II was 
imprisoned and replaced on the throne by Edward III.

Edward III resumed hostilities with the Scottish and, shortly after the defeat of the 
Scottish at Halidon Hill in July 1333, Thomas was appointed as Deputy Constable of 
Berwick.[21]

In about 1334 Sir Thomas was granted Mitford Castle and the hamlet of Mollisdoun[22] 
and in October 1335 he was granted custody of the lands and marriage of the heir of 
Andrew de Grey in Berwick.[15]



Family and descendants[edit]

He married Agnes de Bayles and had the following issue:
Sir Thomas Grey, Soldier and Chronicler

Thomas is an ancestor of the Earl Greys of Tankerville, Baronet Grey of Chillingham, 
Baron Greys of Powis and Baron Greys of Werke.
http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=jweber&id=I22791

Parents
DE GREY (GRAY) Thomas I (ABT 1252 - 1310)
----- ----- ()

Siblings
DE GREY Thomas II (ABT 1280 - BEF 12 Mar 1344)

Marriage To DE BEYLE Agnes (ABT 1290 - )
    m.  

Notes


Children by DE BEYLE Agnes ABT 1290 - 
DE GREY Isabel (ABT 1315 - AFT 2 Mar 1348)
DE GREY Thomas (ABT 1328 - BEF 22 Oct 1369)
DE GREY David (ABT 1330 - AFT 1366)

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