Editing John de Gray (section)

==Episcopal affairs and later career==

As bishop, de Gray settled a long-running dispute between the monks of his cathedral chapter and his predecessors as bishop.<ref name=Harper-Bill294>Harper-Bill "John and the Church" ''King John'' p. 294</ref> He also allowed the monks of his cathedral chapter the right to appoint and replace the clergy of the dependent churches of the cathedral.<ref name=Cheney121>Cheney ''From Becket to Langton'' p. 121 footnote 7</ref> De Gray received a 1203 missive from Innocent&nbsp;III decrying the marriages of some [[secular clergy]], in contravention of canon law.<ref name=Cheney137>Cheney ''From Becket to Langton'' p. 137</ref> In more secular matters, he granted the town of [[King's Lynn#Toponymy|Bishop's Lynn]] (now [[King's Lynn]]) the right to hold a weekly market and two [[Fair#History|fair]]s per year. He also built a palace at [[Gaywood, Norfolk|Gaywood]].<ref name=DNB/>

De Gray's ability to raise money made him useful to John. In 1213 de Gray mustered 500&nbsp;knights during a period when Philip II was threatening to invade England,<ref name=Powell121/> bringing this force over from Ireland along with mounted men-at-arms to support the king in England.<ref name=Warren204>Warren ''King John'' p. 204</ref> In May 1213, John and Innocent finally resolved the dispute over Langton's election to Canterbury, and part of the settlement was that John gave Ireland and England to Innocent and received them back from the pope, making John a papal vassal.<ref name=Lyon306/> The settlement was sealed with a treaty, to which de Gray was one of the witnesses.<ref name=Powell121>Powell and Wallis ''House of Lords'' p. 121</ref> After John settled with the papacy, de Gray was not included in the general pardon and had to go to Rome to be pardoned.<ref name=Warren212/> While in that city the bishop was named as one of the guarantors of a new financial arrangement between the king and the pope dealing with feudal payments from England, which lowered the lump sum that had to be paid before Innocent would lift the interdict.<ref name=Vincent92>Vincent ''Peter des Roches'' p. 92</ref> After Innocent pardoned de Gray, the pope recommended his election as [[Bishop of Durham]] in 1213;<ref name=Warren212>Warren ''King John'' p. 212</ref><ref name=BHODurham>Greenway ''Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1066–1300: Volume 2: Monastic Cathedrals (Northern and Southern Provinces): Durham: Bishops''</ref> but de Gray died during his journey back to England on 18 October 1214, at [[Saint-Jean-d'Angély]] in [[Poitou]].<ref name=Handbook261/> He was buried in [[Norwich Cathedral]], but his tomb has not survived.<ref name=DNB/>

As well as encouraging his nephew's career, de Gray took into his household two of Hubert Walter's household clerks: David, and Robert of Ruddeby.<ref name=Young58>Young ''Hubert Walter'' p. 58</ref> Another clerk employed by de Gray, [[Robert de Bingham]], was in the bishop's household during the papal interdict on England; he went on to become a tutor in theology at [[Oxford University|Oxford]], and [[Bishop of Salisbury]] in 1228.<ref name=Vincent83>Vincent ''Peter des Roches'' p. 83 and footnote 203</ref>

De Gray remained close to John for most of the bishop's life,<ref name=Evil46>Turner ''King John'' p. 46</ref> and one of the King's chief fundraisers.<ref name=Powell121/> [[Sidney Painter]], a historian and biographer of John, said of de Gray that he was "probably the only man whom John trusted absolutely and without reservation for the whole period of their association".<ref name=QEvil46>Quoted in Turner ''King John'' p. 46</ref> The medievalist Ralph Turner called de Gray "one of John's greatest favourites",<ref name=Evil61>Turner ''King John'' p. 61</ref> and another of John's biographers, {{nowrap|[[W. L. Warren]]}}, described de Gray as "one of the best brains of the royal administration".<ref name=Warren195/> [[Matthew Paris]], a medieval writer, called him an "evil counsellor",<ref name=QDNB>Quoted in Haines "Gray, John de" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''</ref> and blamed many of the difficulties of John's later reign on de Gray's failed election to Canterbury.<ref name=DNB/>