The Queenmaker - John Grey of Groby

My favorite monthly email is the ancestor connector from WikiTree - it selects a theme and then shows you how many steps away you are from a particular notable person or group of historical people. Last month was War of the Roses, and while I can't say that subject has ever been anything I've ever been particularly interested in, this email changed that! I really went down the connection rabbit hole with this one, and I'm still finding notable people on this line.

WikiTree told me I was 20 degrees from Henry VII, but it wasn't a direct line (my main focus) or even close to it, my line only connects to Henry through his brother's, wife's, sister.  Now, typically that isn't even a line I would follow, but I did, and the son of that brother's wife's sister was Thomas Grey, 1st Marquess of Dorset, son of John Grey and Elizabeth Woodville.  John and Elizabeth are my 15th Great Grandparents.

John Grey of Groby was born in 1432, in Groby, Leicestershire, England to Edward Grey and Elizabeth Ferrers.  Elizabeth was titled 6th Baroness Ferrers of Groby, and Edward was 3rd Baron Grey of Ruthin.  Around 1452, John married Elizabeth Woodville, daughter of Richard Woodville, 1st Baron Rivers, and Jacquetta of Luxembourg. (Through her mother, Elizabeth is a relation to both Henry VI and his wife Margaret of Anjou.) Remember in A Knights ale how everyone had these big fancy titles and walked around with family trees? This is kind of like that.  John Grey and Elizabeth Woodville had two sons, my 14th Great Grandfather Thomas in 1455, and Richard in 1457.  

John Grey was a Lancastrian Knight, and was fighting in the Second Battle of St Albans during the War of the Roses. The Wars of the Roses were fought between the supporters of two branches of the Plantagenet dynasty: the House of Lancaster, represented by the mentally-unstable King Henry VI, and those of the rival House of York. It is estimated 2,000 men died at the Second Battle of St Albans, perhaps the most important being John Grey of Groby, at least in terms of dynastic results. One morning Elizabeth begs the new Yorkist king, Edward IV, for mercy and to have her late husband’s land returned to her and her two sons. Edward – who has a reputation as a bit of a playboy – falls for her instantly. Thus, John Grey's widow, Elizabeth Woodville, marries Edward IV in secret in 1464.

Elizabeth (my 15th great grandmother) ruled as Queen of England from 1 May 1464 - 3 Oct 1470, and again from 11 April 1471 until 9 April 1483. They eventually went on to have ten children together. The match was unpopular to the ruling nobility of the House of York because she was a daughter of the Lancastrians, the traditional enemies of the Yorkists, and because she was not of royal rank. Her penchant for procuring high offices and titles of nobility for her relatives increased her widespread unpopularity. Her son, and my direct line, Thomas Grey, married King Edward's niece Anne Holland, then the King's cousin Cecily Bonville.  

This line seems incredibly large and Noble. I've just started mapping all the relations but all of them are Notable. Elizabeth is the Great Grandmother of lady Jane Grey.  Her mother Jacquetta only narrowly missed being a Queen herself. This line intermingles with the Plantagenets, the Yorks, and hundreds of years worth of nobility. 

                                                    Elizabeth Woodville as The White Queen

Does this make my family inherently special? Not necessarily.  In total, Elizabeth Woodville had either 12 or 14 kids between her two husbands, depending on your sources.  I read somewhere in the research that almost every single person who claims English descent is a descendant in some way of Woodville. We're talking tens of thousands of people....more? So many I could not even find an estimate.

Still. I'm feeling pretty special. ;)