JOHN DE GREY (GRAY)

Bishop of Norwich, justiciar of Ireland; b. Norfolk, England; d. Saint-Jean-d'Audely, near Poitiers, France, Oct. 18, 1214. First mentioned in 1198 in the service of Prince John (see john, king of england), he rose rapidly in the ecclesiastical hierarchy once John succeeded King richard i, the Lion-Heart on the English throne (1199). By March 1200 he had become archdeacon of Cleveland, and a month later he is mentioned as archdeacon of Gloucester. On September 24 of the same year he was consecrated bishop of Norwich. He evidently enjoyed the royal favor, and when hubert walter, the Archbishop of Canterbury, died in 1205, King John had him elected to canterbury. This election, however, was disputed, and Pope innocent iii sought to resolve the matter by suggesting the election, instead, of stephen langton. King John refused to recognize Langton's election, and this precipitated the disastrous quarrel between king and pope that plagued the greater part of King John's reign. During this period John de Grey continued to function as justiciar at court and as itinerant royal judge except while in Ireland, where he served as justiciar (1209–13). There he distinguished himself by his attempts to increase English influence northward and westward and to reform Irish coinage, law, and administration along English models, as well as to raise money and troops for the king. His devotion and loyalty to the cause of the king earned him both an early excommunication by the pope and a special exclusion from the general absolution that followed John's submission to Innocent in 1213. Later that year, however, John de Grey went to Rome and received not only a full pardon but also the papal favor to such an extent that it was feared in England that he would return there as Innocent's special agent to subject the kingdom to papal rule. In 1214 Innocent provided for his election to Durham, over the protest of the monastic chapter there, but John de Grey died on his way back to England before taking possession of his new see. He was the uncle of Abp. walter de gray.

Bibliography: a. l. poole, From Domesday Book to Magna Carta (2d ed. Oxford History of England 3; 1955). w. l. warren, King John (New York 1961).

[j. brÜckmann]