Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 23.djvu/217

Grey appointment was connected with the king's displeasure at the consecration of Hugh of Wells, see, Judges, ii. 79-81;, Fasti Ebor. p. 283). He made himself the obsequious instrument of King John's will, and the king gave him many benefices, appointing him in 1207 to the prebend of Malling at Rochester; to a prebend at Exeter, with the archdeaconry of Totnes (, i. 401); to a moiety of the vicarage of Holkham, Norfolk ; and in 1208 to the rectory of Stradbroke in Suffolk (ib.) By the king's command the chapter of Lichfield elected him bishop in 1210, in opposition to the monastic chapter of Coventry, which had elected Prior Josbert; both elections were quashed by Pandulf. In 1212 the king gave him the living of Cossey in Norfolk (, ii. 417), and in 1213 the deanery of St. Berians (now St. Buryan), Cornwall, and the living of Kirkham, Lancashire . He was present when John made submission to the pope at Dover on 15 May; he appears not to have sealed the charter, but there is no ground for the assertion (, Lives of the Chancellors, i. 123) that he refused to do so. Possibly in the summer of that year (Fœdera, i. 113), and certainly in October, he was employed on an embassy to Flanders, and before setting out in October he resigned the chancellorship, though his resignation was evidently intended as temporary . On 20 Jan. 1214 he was again in England, had resumed the chancellorship, and was elected bishop of Worcester. He appears to have accompanied the king abroad, and did not receive seisin of the bishopric until July; he was consecrated at Canterbury on 5 Oct., when he finally resigned the chancellorship (for some of his acts as bishop see Annals of Worcester, pp. 403, 404). Possibly the story of his offering to have a bible copied for Edmund Rich belongs to this period of his life, when he would have been able to get the work done in the monastery of Worcester (see under Edmund, 1170?-1240; Vita S. Edmundi ap., Thesaurus Novus Anecdotum, iii. col. 1788). In common with his fellow-bishops of both sides, he appeared as one of the king's supporters at Runnymead on 15 June 1215; but he must have cordially adhered to John, for in the autumn the king sent him to raise troops abroad for his service (, iii. 320). This seems inconsistent with Dr. Stubbs's opinion that the bishop avoided taking up any decided position (Const. Hist. i. 542). Wendover is wrong in calling him chancellor in 1215. On 18 June John wrote to the chapter of York to procure Grey's election to the archbishopric. The canons persisted in electing Simon Langton [q. v.], who was displeasing to John, and refused Grey on the plea that he was illiterate. In accordance with the king's wish Innocent III quashed Langton's election, and, when the canons persevered, called the case to Rome. At Rome the canons made an attempt to procure the confirmation of Langton; but on the pope's threatening that if they did not choose some one else he would choose for them, they named Grey, alleging as the reason of their choice the chastity of his life. Grey was on the spot, for the Lateran council was then sitting, and John was anxious that his cause should be well represented there. He therefore received the pall at once, and bound himself to pay the enormous sum of 10,000l. for his promotion. The date of his return to England is uncertain ( is mistaken in asserting that he assisted at the coronation of Henry III on 28 Oct. 1216, Fasti Ebor.p. 284; his authority, a continuator of, Recueil, xviii. 345, confuses him with Silvester of Evesham, his successor at Worcester; comp. Annals of Dunstable, p. 48, Waverley, p. 286).

On the archbishop's return he acted with the legate Gualo and his order generally against the French party, and immediately before the battle of Lincoln (20 May 1217) joined in pronouncing excommunication against the king's enemies (Chron. Mailros, p. 195). About 6 Nov. he took part in issuing a new edition of the great charter and the charter of the forest. In December he was at Berwick, and there absolved Alexander II, the Scottish king, who had upheld the invaders, and thence proceeded to Carlisle, which had been surrendered by Alexander, and took possession of the town for Henry. In July 1219 he had a severe illness (Royal Letters, i. 39). He quarrelled with Archbishop Stephen Langton about his right to have his cross borne erect in the southern province, and rather than yield the point abstained from attending the king's second coronation in May 1220 (Annals of Dunstable, p. 57). He persisted in his claim, and in 1222 had an interview with the Archbishop of Canterbury near Lincoln to discuss the question, but their meeting had no result (ib. pp. 62, 77). When William of Aumale renewed his rebellion in 1221, Grey joined with Pandulf in excommunicating him, and on the fall of Biham, the earl's stronghold, helped the northern lords to take him prisoner near Fountains, and delivered him to the king, insisting, however, that he should be pardoned (ib. p. 64 ;, iv. 67; , iii. 61). On 25 June he married Alexander of Scotland to the king's sister, Joanna, at York. He Rh