Castle constable

One of the things I'm going to need to learn to do is to pay better attention to the exact lineage of the people I find in my past so I can track them down again.

I found Sir John de Greystoke last week, prompting the post about coats of arms and heraldry, and I know that he was an ancestor of Orpha Morse, who in turn is an ancestor of my grandmother. For the life of me, though, I could not trace back from Orpha to John this week. I need to do this because part of my quest is to understand exactly how I could have so many members of the English peerage, and possibly royalty, whose stories flow down to a poor Chicago resident begging members of Congress and the military for enough money to be able to feed her family. 

At some point, some offspring of one of the peers did not succeed to the title, and his or hers heirs went on to become "regular" people, like Matthew Crawley in Downtown Abbey, who at the opening of the story is a solicitor and most assuredly not a posh member of the peerage. Of course, in his story arc he moves back up the ladder, finding himself in line to become an earl.

Somewhere in Greystoke's story, his lineage flows into the stories of Brits who decided to come to America. Their offspring then become part of the story of the founding of America, its near dissolution because of the Civil War, and its reconstruction. I expect I'll find the thread again, and I'll make better notes so I can possibly answer my question.

But for this week, we return to John de Greystoke to find a thread in the history of the relationship between Scotland and England. 

Greystoke's biographies on the Internet are short and all the ones I found seem to rely on the same sources. Greystoke hails from the northwestern part of England in Cumberland, now a part of  Cumbria. This area is part of what is known as the Borders Region, which abuts Scotland. 

Scotland and England have a long history of conflict, starting near the end of the 13th century and continuing through the middle of the 16th century, when the last formal war was fought. If you follow the news, you know that Scotland still strives for independence. They fight at the ballot box these days. 

You're no doubt familiar with William Wallace and Robert the Bruce thanks to Mel Gibson and Braveheart. The movie depicts the beginning of the struggle after the death of Scotland's King Alexander III. As so often happens a struggle arose among several families claiming the throne. Someone had the bright idea to ask the king of England, Edward I to arbitrate. 

The shorter version of the story is that Edward decided he should be king of Scotland and invaded the country, kicking off the 250 years or so of war between the nations.

Greystoke intersects this history in the 1400s. In 1421, at the age of 31, he was appointed constable of Roxburgh castle. The constable in those days was both a military and civil position, charged with leading the militia and keeping the peace in the area, though not really in the policing sense we often associate with the title. In peace time, the position paid £1,000. The pay doubled in times of war. 

Roxburgh was established by a Scottish king who also ruled Cumbria in 1128, but it was captured by the English almost 50 years later and mostly remained in English hands. Edward once imprisoned Robert the Bruce's sister at Roxburgh. Robert responded by ordering his brother to tear it down. It was rebuilt and damaged more than once during the conflicts.

After his contract to serve as constable, Greystoke served as part of two ambassadorial delegations to Scotland to establish and maintain a truce between the two countries. This despite the second delegation being forced to run the gauntlet, sometimes referred to as the "gantlet," from the French. That would have involved their passing between two rows of people and being beaten with rods or switches. 

Unfortunately, I found no reason for this incident happening. 

Though never considered to be rich by the standards of the day, Greystoke was noted both for his influence and his piety. He also has ties to individuals involved in the Wars of the Roses, which we'll explore another time. 

Next week, I'll try to make some sense of the English peerage system.

Image above: Grave of John de Greystoke from Findagrave.com