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House of Greengrass

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Greengrass is the surname of a pure-blood wizarding family, and one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight. They are related through marriage to the Malfoy family and, more distantly, to the Black and the Lestrange families. The family motto is "antiquum assero decus," translated as "I claim ancient honour."

Family history

Early history

The Greengrass family consists of an ancient line of pure-blood wizards, most of whom attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and were traditionally sorted into Slytherin House. The first Greengrass ever recorded on a census in Britain is Cynesige Greengrass, an English landowner recorded in the Doomesday Book under the rule of William the Conqueror. However, there is evidence that the Greengrasses have been in England long before that. Their Anglo-Saxon roots become prominent when we consider Hroðgar of Norfolk, known to belong over the green grass, in the year 946 A.D.

The Greengrass family would soon gain the reputation for pure-blood supremacy and courting richness and power from those around them. Until the passing of the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy in 1692, the Greengrasses, along with several other families such as the Blacks and the Malfoys, integrated themselves in high-class Muggle society. In the year 1501, Hubertus Greengrass was created Earl of Norwich, a title that technically is still possessed by the Greengrasses, though they are forbidden from interfering in muggle society by magical means.

After 1501, the Greengrasses expanded their already large estate with the lands of their Muggle neighbours, and dabbled successfully into Muggle currency and assets, becoming extremely wealthy.

Recent history

The Greengrasses are known to have espoused the philosophy of Pure-blood supremacy. Following the horrors of the Second Wizarding War as well as the death of her sister, Astoria, Daphne Greengrass abandoned those beliefs in favour of a more tolerant world view. An ancestor of the family, believed to have been Edwinus Greengrass, 10th Earl of Norwich (14 Apr 1695 - 6 Jan 1761), was stricken with a curse, which would be passed down into the Greengrass family as a blood malediction. However, it is believed that the blood malediction only surfaces in females. However, it is unknown if this is true. The House of Greengrass attempted to keep the public away from the knowledge of the curse, for fear of being ostracized. In the modern day, both Rosalind and Astoria Greengrass have known to have been affected, and both died as teenagers.

They were included in the Sacred Twenty-Eight list, published in the Pure-Blood Directory by the 1930s.

Known members

  • Alexei Greengrass I (18 Apr 1689 - 13 Jul 1700), died young
  • Linnea Greengrass (4 May 1690 - 25 May 1690), died as an infant
  • Aemilius Greengrass II, 9th Earl of Norwich (24 Jan 1691 - 1 Jun 1740), died without issue
  • Alexandria Travers, Baroness Yarmouth (née Greengrass) (12 Apr 1692 - 4 May 1755), m. 4th Baron of Yarmouth, had issue
  • Isadora Greengrass II (6 Sep 1693 - 1 Jul 1753), married and had issue
  • Edwinus Greengrass, 10th Earl of Norwich (14 Apr 1695 - 6 Jan 1751) m. Columba Black (1692 - 1758)
    • Atilius Greengrass, 11th Earl of Norwich (27 Dec 1728 - 19 Jan 1803) m. Hermia Selwyn (1730-1810)
      • Edwinus Greengrass, 12th Earl of Norwich (28 Jul 1760 - 3 Mar 1808) m. Eadburga Rosier (1760-1823)
        • Hon. Horatius Greengrass (14 Dec 1799 - 19 Feb 1858) m. Lavinia Parkinson (1807-1901)
          • Hon. Percival Greengrass (2 Apr 1830 - 9 Jun 1898) m. Claudia Ollivander (1833-1890)
            • Hon. Maximus Greengrass (5 Jun 1852 - 22 Aug 1935) m. Idelle Fairburn (1852-1923)
              • Hon. Ivor Greengrass (1 Dec 1875 - 22 Oct 1943) m. Ottoline Prewett (1876-1955)
                • Muriel Greengrass (11 Apr 1898 - 12 Aug 1954)
                • Rowina Greengrass (24 Apr 1900 - 12 Dec 1939)
                • Hon. Ivor Greengrass II (19 Jun 1902 - 13 Oct 1975) m. Petronia Stebbins (1902-1968)
                  • Hon. Ignatius Greengrass II (26 Oct 1928 - 19 Feb 1987) m. Odella Burke (1925-1989)
                    • Hon. Ignatius Greengrass III (b. 18 Apr 1951 - living) m. Evaline Fawley (b. 1950)
                    • Cyril Greengrass (b. 21 May 1952 - living) m. Winnifred Marchbanks (b. 1952)
                      • Clotilda Greengrass (b. 17 Jun 1974 - living)
                      • Lisette Greengrass (b. 12 Jul 1976 - living)
                      • Ambrose Greengrass II (b. 6 May 1981 - living)
                    • Rosalind Greengrass (14 Jul 1955 - 10 Oct 1968), died young
                    • Ambrose Greengrass (16 Dec 1960 - 18 Jul 1981)
  • Atilius Greengrass (1 Aug 1696 - 17 Jan 1703), died young
  • Romilda Crabbe (née Greengrass) (7 Feb 1698 - 11 Aug 1716), first wife of Nicolas Crabbe (1698 - 1769), had issue
  • Alexei Greengrass II (16 Jan 1699 - 29 Oct 1767), married, had issue, male line extinct
  • Adeliza Greengrass (1 Dec 1699 - 9 Jul 1720), died without issue
  • Cierce Greengrass II (12 Dec 1700 - 18 Jun 1783), married, had issue

Etymology

The surname Greengrass seems to simply come from the words green and grass, emphasising Slytherin's house colours. This imagery would be appropriate if the Greengrass family has been traditionally sorted into Slytherin.

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