Ida de Grey

Ida de Grey or Edith de Grey (1368 – 1 June 1426), was a Cambro-Norman noblewoman, and the daughter of Reginald Grey, 2nd Baron Grey de Ruthyn, a powerful Welsh Marcher lord. The Greys of Ruthyn were the chief Marcher barons in the northern region of the Welsh Marches.^[1]

Ida married Sir John Cockayne, Justice of the Common Pleas, by whom she had six children. Through her eldest daughter Elizabeth, she was an ancestress of Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, and Catherine Howard, queens consort of King Henry VIII of England.

Family

Ida or Edith was born at Ruthin Castle in Ruthin, Denbighshire, Wales in 1368, the youngest daughter of Reginald Grey, 2nd Baron Grey of Ruthyn and Eleanor Le Strange of Blackmere^[2] (1337 – 20 April 1396). She had four siblings including Reginald Grey, 3rd Baron Grey de Ruthyn, the implacable enemy of Owen Glendower.^[3] It was her brother's land dispute with Glendower which caused the latter to launch his rebellion against King Henry IV of England and take Reginald prisoner, keeping him in confinement until he was ransomed by the king for the sum of 10,000 marks.^[4]

Her paternal grandparents were Sir Roger Grey, 1st Baron Grey de Ruthyn and Elizabeth de Hastings, and her maternal grandparents were John Le Strange, 2nd Baron Strange of Blackmere, and Ankaret Le Botiller, daughter of Sir William Le Botiller and Ela de Herdeburgh. Ankaret was a direct descendant of Welsh Prince Gruffydd II ap Madog, Lord of Dinas Bran and his wife, Emma de Audley.^[5]

Queen consort Anne Boleyn was a notable descendant of Ida de Grey

Marriage and issue

In 1387 at Bearwardcote, Derbyshire, Ida married Sir John Cockayne, Chief Baron of the Exchequer, the son of Sir John Cockayne and Cecilia de Vernon. In 1417, Sir John bought 1,500 acres (6.1 km²) of land in Bedfordshire which included the village of Hatley Bury. He renamed the village Cockayne Hatley and established his manor there. Henceforth, the manor of Cockayne Hatley in Bedfordshire became the principal residence of the Cockayne family.^[6]

Together Sir John and Ida had six children:

• Sir Reginald Cockayne (1390- after 10 February 1428), married Beatrice Walleys, by whom he had issue.
• Henry Cockayne (1392- after 10 February 1428)
• Elizabeth Cockayne (1394- after 1422), married firstly in 1411, Sir Philip Butler by whom she had two sons; she married secondly on 13 December 1421, Sir Laurence Cheney of Fen Ditton, Sheriff of Cambridge, by whom she had five children, including Elizabeth Cheney, the great-grandmother of three Queen consorts of King Henry VIII; Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, and Catherine Howard.^[7]
• John Cockayne (1396- after 10 February 1428)
• Margaret Cockayne (1398- after 10 February 1428)
• Thomas Cockayne (1400- after 10 February 1428)

Ida's husband Sir John died in 1427^[8] and was succeeded by their eldest son Sir Reginald. Ida died on 1 June 1426 and was buried in St. John's Church, Cockayne Hatley. There are many fine effigies of the Cockayne family which can be seen in the church at Cockayne Hatley.^[9]

Ancestry

References

• http://www.thePeerage.com/p.32612.htm#326119
• The Complete Peerage by G.E. Cokayne
• Thomas B. Costain, The Last Plantagenets, published by Popular Library, New York, 1962, originally published by Doubleday and Company, Inc.
• Charles Cawley, Medieval Lands, Wales, Kings and Princes, Princes of Northern Powys
• http://www.British History Online.com/