John de Gray

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John de Gray (d. 1214) was Bishop of Norwich in the English county of Norfolk.

John was a younger son of Robert de Gray of Rotherfield Greys in Oxfordshire, a grandson of the Norman knight, Anchetil de Greye. He entered Prince John's service, and at his accession (1199) was rapidly promoted in the church till he became bishop of Norwich in September 1200.

King John's attempt to force him into the primacy (Archbishop of Canterbury) in 1205 started the king's long and fatal quarrel with Pope Innocent III. De Gray was a hard-working royal official, in finance, in justice, in action, using his position to enrich himself and his family. In 1209 he went to Ireland to govern it as justiciar. He adopted a forward policy, attempting to extend the English frontier northward and westward, and fought a number of campaigns on the River Shannon and in Fermanagh. But in 1212 he suffered a great defeat. He assimilated the coinage of Ireland to that of England, and tried to effect a similar reform in Irish law.

De Gray was a good financier, and could always raise money: this probably explains the favour he enjoyed from King John. In 1213 he is found with 500 knights at the great muster at Barham Downs, when Philip Augustus was threatening to invade England. After John's reconciliation with Innocent he was one of those exempted from the general pardon, and was forced to go in person to Rome to obtain it. At Rome he so completely gained over Innocent that the pope sent him back with papal letters recommending his election to the bishopric of Durham (1213); but he died at St. Jean d'Audely in Poitou on his homeward journey (October 1214).

Religious Posts
Preceded by Hubert Walter	Archbishop of Canterbury 1206–1207 set aside by Pope	Succeeded by Stephen Langton

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.