It is believed that John Gray of Stapleford Tawney descended from the It was during this exile that Edward offered the throne to William. He also allowed his son Robert Curthose to do homage to the new Count of Anjou, Geoffrey the Bearded. [102], Although Sweyn had promised to leave England, he returned in early 1070, raiding along the Humber and East Anglia toward the Isle of Ely, where he joined up with Hereward the Wake, a local thegn. The first of this line [2] At an ecclesiastical council held in Lillebonne in 1080, he was confirmed in his ultimate authority over the Norman church. Sam is supposed to be buried at the old Granery Burying Ground near William's final years were marked by difficulties in his continental domains, troubles with his son, Robert, and threatened invasions of England by the Danes. Norsemen first began raiding in what became Normandy in the late 8th century. 2 son of Robert I, Duke of Normandy and Harlette de Falaise, was born about 1028 in Falaise, Normandy, France and died on 9 Sep 1087 in Rouen, Normandy, France about age 59.. Other names for William were William of Normandy and William I King of England. William was the son of the Norman Duke Robert the Magnificent and the unnamed daughter of a tanner. [2], There is no evidence of any illegitimate children born to William. himself there. and lordships in the counties of Oxford and Buckingham. Hereward escaped, but Morcar was captured, deprived of his earldom, and imprisoned. The name Gray is of local origin, or, it follows the name of a place The Whitsun council saw the appointment of Lanfranc as the new Archbishop of Canterbury, and Thomas of Bayeux as the new Archbishop of York, to replace Ealdred, who had died in September 1069. It appears that the Gray family was from Harwich, Essex, as a John and [73][m] King Harald Hardrada of Norway also had a claim to the throne as the uncle and heir of King Magnus I, who had made a pact with Harthacnut in about 1040 that if either Magnus or Harthacnut died without heirs, the other would succeed. The soldier He overthrew the last Anglo-Saxon king, Harold II, to seize the throne, earning the title William the Conqueror. [100] William's half-brother Odo perhaps expected to be appointed to Canterbury, but William probably did not wish to give that much power to a family member. Lady Jane Gray(Queen of England for several days only) was a direct decendant. It is unclear whether William would have been supplanted in the ducal succession if Robert had had a legitimate son. William's government blended elements of the English and Norman systems into a new one that laid the foundations of the later medieval English kingdom. [45] Papal sanction of the marriage appears to have required the founding of two monasteries in Caen one by William and one by Matilda. The Grays in Ireland, usually A further blow was the death of Queen Matilda on 2 November 1083. Original: Mar 26, 2013. Andrew Morton Carr Descendant of the right-hand general Ker of William the Conqueror. Next, he led his forces around the south and west of London, burning along the way. and heiress of Henry heir apparent of William.". Although Alexander did give papal approval to the conquest after it succeeded, no other source claims papal support prior to the invasion. of Lisle, the Earl of Stamford, the Marquis of Dorset, and the Duke of William I, the first Norman King of England, ascended to the throne in 1066 shortly after the death of his second cousin, Edward the Confessor. Instead, some of the English clergy and magnates nominated Edgar the theling as king, though their support for Edgar was only lukewarm. of that parish for some years. Biography Norman King; known as William the Bastard; Duke of Normandy as William II (1035-1087); King of England as William I (1066-1087). of a series of incidents that brought about the Boston Massacre later that After hurried consultations, the allegation was shown to be true, and the man was compensated. He died in early July at Nicea, on his way back to Normandy. The Norman sources do not dispute the fact that Harold was named as the next king, but they declare that Harold's oath and Edward's earlier promise of the throne could not be changed on Edward's deathbed. [104], In 1071 William defeated the last rebellion of the north. They were John, Elizabeth, Edward, Sarah, Thomas and Rebecca. taken to England where he was imprisioned. An early documented person was Anchetil de Greye - a vassal of William the Conqueror of Normandy (now part of France) and who accompan. The exact events preceding the battle are obscure, with contradictory accounts in the sources, but all agree that William led his army from his castle and advanced towards the enemy. Modern historians have come to the conclusion that the New Forest depopulation was greatly exaggerated. William the Conqueror. [16][17][h] He enjoyed the support of his great-uncle, Archbishop Robert, as well as King Henry I of France, enabling him to succeed to his father's duchy. found in. [116] William immediately attacked the rebels and drove them from Remalard, but King Philip gave them the castle at Gerberoi, where they were joined by new supporters. John, Lord of Gray, whose son Anschetil de Andrew Morton Carr Descendant of the right-hand general Ker of William the Conqueror. [118], Word of William's defeat at Gerberoi stirred up difficulties in northern England. Robert was accused by some writers of killing Richard, a plausible but now unprovable charge. Edward was ailing, and he died on 5 January 1066. George Herbert Walker Bush (1924- ), 41st President of the US. Members Most leave the usual trail. [83] Harold had taken a defensive position at the top of Senlac Hill (present-day Battle, East Sussex), about 6 miles (9.7 kilometres) from William's castle at Hastings. [2] William assumed power in Normandy, and shortly after the battle promulgated the Truce of God throughout his duchy, in an effort to limit warfare and violence by restricting the days of the year on which fighting was permitted. Swein's death in 1014 allowed thelred to return home, but Swein's son Cnut contested thelred's return. William and Malcolm agreed to peace by signing the Treaty of Abernethy, and Malcolm probably gave up his son Duncan as a hostage for the peace. William then sent forces into London to construct a castle; he was crowned at Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day 1066. The Tiverton Grays are descended from a long line of Grays which are claimed to go back to Rollo, Viking invader and conqueror of Normandy, France. [57], In 1051 the childless King Edward of England appears to have chosen William as his successor. A Marcher Lordship passed from an Owain to son-in-law John Charleton. from tree Kittredge Family Tree (Private) Birth. His consolidation of power allowed him to expand his horizons, and he secured control of the neighbouring county of Maine by 1062. Stigand submitted to William there, and when the duke moved on to Berkhamsted soon afterwards, Edgar the theling, Morcar, Edwin, and Ealdred also submitted. Several unsuccessful rebellions followed, but William's hold was mostly secure on England by 1075, allowing him to spend the greater part of his reign in continental Europe. [14] After his accession, Robert continued Norman support for the English princes Edward and Alfred, who were still in exile in northern France. [58] William was the grandson of Edward's maternal uncle, Richard II of Normandy. Sam helped precipitate the Massacre itself. He finally crossed the Thames at Wallingford in early December. Regarding the Grays of Scotland being of the same family, Nesbits says, [2] In 1034 the duke decided to go on pilgrimage to Jerusalem. [65] William's western border was thus secured, but his border with Brittany remained insecure. was too old to go to war, but he used his extensive farm and fortune to In the Department of Haute-Saone, there is now a town Also, in England, no other coinage was allowed, while on the continent other coinage was considered legal tender. From this his family assumed the name of DeCroy, which was later [52] William's main hobby appears to have been hunting. If you have any information concerning any of these people, or correspond with John of Stapleford, as his eldest child was born in 1608. [30], William's next efforts were against Guy of Burgundy, who retreated to his castle at Brionne, which William besieged. On his father's death in 1035, William was recognised by his family as the heir - an . came to the rope makers shop where Sam worked and asked for a job. Gray instead of Grey is almost universally used in the different branches Following his arrival back on the continent he married his daughter Constance to Duke Alan of Brittany, in furtherance of his policy of seeking allies against the French kings. Although the army and fleet were ready by early August, adverse winds kept the ships in Normandy until late September. Harold stopped in London, and was there for about a week before marching to Hastings, so it is likely that he spent about a week on his march south, averaging about 27 miles (43 kilometres) per day,[81] for the distance of approximately 200 miles (320 kilometres). [41], One factor in William's favour was his marriage to Matilda of Flanders, the daughter of Count Baldwin V of Flanders. During the 17th and 18th centuries, some historians and lawyers saw William's reign as imposing a "Norman yoke" on the native Anglo-Saxons, an argument that continued during the 19th century with further elaborations along nationalistic lines. William also ordered that all of his prisoners be released, including his half-brother Odo. [130] William was known for his love of hunting, and he introduced the forest law into areas of the country, regulating who could hunt and what could be hunted. The Church, under the influence of the, The reasons for the prohibition are not clear. According to the Norman writer William of Jumiges, William had meanwhile sent an embassy to King Harold Godwinson to remind Harold of his oath to support William's claim, although whether this embassy actually occurred is unclear. Nor is there evidence that many English pennies were circulating in Normandy, which shows little attempt to integrate the monetary systems of England and Normandy. William spent most of his time in England between the Battle of Hastings and 1072, and after that, he spent the majority of his time in Normandy. At first, Alan of Brittany had custody of the duke, but when Alan died in either late 1039 or October 1040, Gilbert of Brionne took charge of William. He took part in church councils and made several appointments to the Norman episcopate, including the appointment of Maurilius as Archbishop of Rouen. from Rollo (born 860 A.D.). His daughter, Arlotta, is said to have been the mother of William the Conqueror. children: Richard, baptized August 1608, buried October 9, 1613. Gray was one of William the Conquerors companions in arms at the battle [63] No English source mentions a supposed embassy by Archbishop Robert to William conveying the promise of the succession, and the two Norman sources that mention it, William of Jumiges and William of Poitiers, are not precise in their chronology of when this visit took place.