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- From The Gresleys of Drakelowe by Falconer Madan (Oxford, 1899):
[Peter de Gresley] married Johanna, daughter and co-heiress of Sir Robert de Stafford and a lineal descendant of the Toenis. Very shortly after her husband's death, she was forcibly abducted from her manor of Drakelowe, which had been assigned to her by her eldest son, and carried off to Swinnerton by Sir John de Swinnerton and others. There she was detained for a long time, and it is certainly noticeable that we hear nothing of her for some years after this event. Justice was slow, and not till 1321-4 was Sir John brought to trial, when he produced a pardon from the King dated May 25, 1310! However, before 1320 Johanna must have escaped, for she was then the wife of Sir Walter de Montgomery (a connexion of the Swinnertons), who died in 1322 or 1323. The violence of the times can be as well gathered from the following single incident as from a catalogue of crimes. On Sept 23, 1323, Johanna is found abetting her sons Peter and Robert de Gresley in the murder of Sir William de Montgomery, son of her late husband Sir Walter "on the high road under the park of Seal!"
Philippa the widow of the murdered man procured the arrest of all three, but they were acquitted! Again in 1333 she was accused of murder and again acquitted. After these records -- and they are only samples -- one is not surprised to hear of her own strong-box being broken into at Drakelowe in 1323-4. At last in or before 1342 her turbulent life is ended.
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[Note: Rosie Bevan, in reproducing the above passage on SGM, 24 Nov 2002, noted that Madan's death date for Sir Walter de Montgomery is incorrect and that in fact he appears to have been alive when his son William was murdered.]
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Nielsen Hayden genealogy
- Bef 1343
d. Aft 6 Dec 1323