Bray was quickly established at the administrative and financial heart of the new regime. He enjoyed extraordinary and trusted access to the king whom he had first met as a boy. On 13 September 1485, Bray was appointed as
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. He retained the office for life. The office brought immense patronage and responsibilities, both judicial and financial, as well as prestige and profit to its holder. Bray was one of the seven men created a
Knight of the Bath at the coronation of
Henry VII. In the autumn and winter of 1485 he was employed doing one of the things he did best, raising money for the king. To this end, he acted jointly with the merchant Avery Cornburgh as under-treasurer of the Exchequer from mid-October 1485; and, on 28 February 1486, he replaced
Archbishop Thomas Rotherham as
Treasurer, serving until July 1486. He retained some fiscal responsibility until his own death in 1503. He was Treasurer of War for the king's invasion of France in 1492. Peace with France brought him personal profit in the form of a pension from the King of France. In 1494, he was elected Steward of the
University of Oxford, a position which carried judicial responsibilities. He was elevated to be a knight banneret after the
battle of Blackheath in 1497. In 1501, he was elected as a
Knight of the Garter. He was M.P. for
Newcastle-under-Lyme in 1478, and for Hampshire in 1491, 1495, and 1497. Neither Bray's office of Chancellor of the Duchy, nor the various receiverships, stewardships, custodianship of castles, and the like, to which he was appointed by the king, fully explain his influence. He was above all the king's councillor, one of many, but one of the most important. Under the king, from he led the development of the Council Learned, which met in the Duchy chamber at Westminster. His methods prefigured those of the notorious
Empson and
Dudley, although his authority and responsibilities were greater than both. As such, modern historiography casts him as one of Henry VII's '
new men'. The nineteenth century compared him to a Prime Minister. He was a known source of patronage and of intercession with the king. This spilled over into personal profit, whether such minor gifts as food and drink, or larger rewards of money and appointments to estate office and trusteeship by those seeking his favour. The nineteenth century classed Bray as an architect. It would be more accurate to call him a prodigious builder, both on his own behalf, and by funding and assisting friends and projects in which he took an interest. He built, for example, at his houses of
Edgcote, which Henry VII briefly visited in 1498, and at Eaton, now known as
Eaton Bray, in Bedfordshire. His presence among the donor portraits in the great 'Magnificat' window at
Great Malvern Priory suggests that he part funded the costs. He contributed to
Jesus College in Cambridge and lent his assistance to
Bishop Oliver King for building works at
Bath Abbey. In January 1503 he helped to lay the foundation stone of the
king's new chapel in
Westminster Abbey. The major beneficiary, however, was
St George's Chapel, Windsor, both during Bray's life, and under the terms of his will. ==Personal life==