Thursday, April 3, 2014

Ralph de Greystoke, 5th Baron Greystoke

And now for my next trick.

After the excitement of discovering a family connection to the Plantagenets & Richard III, I became more interested in my direct ancestor, Ralph de Greystoke. I learned he was at Bosworth and fought for Richard III via a footnote which mentioned a folk song written about the Battle, but I have yet to find a copy of that song to read it.

I still have no clue whose ranks he was in, where he was on the battlefield, or if he brought any men with him.
I just hope to God he didn't show up with Stanley! (Boo Hiss!)

I did find his coat of arms, & that caused some minor panic because prominently displayed on them is the Red Rose of Lancaster (Boo! Hiss!).

But all is right in the state of Greystoke, for while he was initially on the Lancastrian side, he switched allegiances once Margaret of Anjou (Boo! Hiss!) sold Berwick to the Scots around 1461. He was knighted by Richard (when he was still Duke of Glouster) after serving with him in the battles with the Scots to win Berwick back to the English side.

I have found some links about him in the Court of Edward IV & will be looking at those next, as well as information about Berwick.

2 comments:

  1. Don't forget, Tarzan of the Apes, was a Lord Greystoke. I have several Lord Greystokes as ancestors, but none was Tarzan, the movie star.

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  2. My brother used to run around, telling everyone he was Tarzan. Little did we know then.... too bad Tarzan was a fictional Lord Greystoke.

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