William II de Ferrers , 4th Earl of Derby 
William II de was born in 1172 in Ferrers, Derbyshire, England. William II de's father was William I de Ferrers , 3rd Earl of Derby and his mother was Sybil de Braose. His paternal grandparents were Robert de Ferrers , 2nd Earl of Derby and Margaret Peverel; his maternal grandparents were William II de Braose , 1st Baron of Abergavenny and Bertha de Gloucester , Heiress of Brecon. He had three sisters named Agatha de, Millicent de and Pernell (Petronella) de. He was the second youngest of the four children. He died at the age of 75 on September 22nd, 1247.General Notes
This nobleman, upon the return of King Richard from captivity, took arms in his behalf and, joining the Earl of Chester, besieged Nottingham Castle, which, after a brief resistance, surrendered. For this and other acts of fidelity, he was chosen by the king to sit with the rest of the peers in the great council held at the said castle in Nottingham in the ensuing March. Moreover, at Richard's second coronation he was one of the four that carried the canopy over the king's head. Upon the accession of King John, his lordship, with the Earls of Clare and Chester, and other great men, swore fealty to the new monarch but upon the condition that each person should have his right. His lordship was present at the coronation of King John and 7 June following, being solemnly created Earl of Derby by special charter dated at Northampton, he was girt with a sword by the king's own hands (being the first of whom in any charter that expression was used). He had also a grant of the third penny of all the pleas before the sheriff throughout the whole country whereof he was earl, to hold to him and his heirs as amply as any of his ancestors had enjoyed the same. Moreover, in consideration of 4,000 marks, he obtained another charter from the king of the manor of Higham-Ferrers, co. Northampton, with the hundred and park; as also of the manors of Bliseworth and Newbottle, in the same shire; which were part of the lands of his great grandfather, William Peverel of Nottingham. King John also conferred upon him a mansion-house situated in the parish of St. Margaret within the city of London, which had belonged to Isaac, a Jew, at Norwich, to hold by the service of waiting upon the king (the earl and his heirs), at all festivals yearly without any cap, but with a garland of the breadth of his little finger upon his head. These liberal marks of royal favour were felt so gratefully by the earl that in all the subsequent struggles between the king and the refractory barons, his lordship never once swerved from his allegiance, but remained true to the monarch; and loyalty to the interests of his son, King henry III. His lordship assisted at the coronation of the new monarch and immediately after the ensuing Easter, he took part with the famous William Marshall (governor of the king and kingdom), the Earls of Chester and Albemarle, and many other great men in the siege of Mountsorell Castle in Leicestershire, then held by Henry de Braybroke and ten other stout knights. And the same year was likewise with those noble persons at raising the siege of Lincoln, which place the rebellious barons with Lewis, King of France, had invested. His lordship m. Agnes, sister and one of the co-heirs of Ranulph, Earl of Chester, by whom he had two sons, William and Thomas. He died of the gout in 1246 and his countess d. in the same year after a union, according to some authorities, of seventy-five, and by others, of fifty-five years. His lordship was s. by his elder son, William de Ferrers, 5th Earl of Derby. [Sir Bernard Burke, Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited, and Extinct Peerages, Burke's Peerage, Ltd., London, 1883, p. 196, Ferrers, Earls of Derby]
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There is substantial confusion over his name. See The Complete Peerage Vol. 4, p 193 for an account. Personally, I feel there could have been two brothers, William and Robert, Robert being the Earl and when he died at Acre his nephew William son of his brother William succeeded, but no documents support this theory either! In The Complete Peerage vol. XIV ,p .250 it is suggested that Robert is a fabrication by Vincent, Earl of Ferrieres. [Brian Tompsett, Directory of Royal Genealogical Data]
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Ancestor Pedigree Chart
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*There are earlier generations for the ancestor(s) indicated. See their page(s) for details (click name)
- b.~ 1010 in Ferrieres-St-Hilaire, Eure, Normandy, France d.1089 in Tutbury Castle, Staffordshire, England
- b.~ 1036 in Ferrieres-St-Hilaire, Eure, Normandy, France d.1101 in Castle Tutbury, Staffordshire, England
- b.~ 1062 in Ferrers, Derbyshire, England d.1139 in Charterley, Staffordshire, England
- b.1040 in Gostenois, Normandy, France d. in Darley, Darbyshire, England
- b.~ 1118 in Ferrers, Derbyshire, England d.< 1160 in Merevale, Warwickshire, England
- b.~ 1030 in Vitre, Ille-et-Vilaine, Bretagne, France
- b.1054 in Vitre, Ille-et-Vilaine, Bretagne, France d.1139
- b.~ 1083 in Vitre, Ille-et-Vilaine, Bretagne, France
- b.~ 1031 in Mortagne-au-Perche, Orne, Normandy, France d.08 Dec 1095 in Abbey of St. Grestain, Normandy, France
- b.~ 1067 in Mortagne-au-Perche, Orne, Normandy, France
- b.~ 1051 in Montgomery, Normandy, France d.< 1085 in Abbey of St. Grestain, Normandy, France
- b.1140 in Ferrers, Derbyshire, England d.<21 Oct 1190 in Seige of Acre, Jerusalem, Palestine
- b.1030 in Normandy, France d.1072 in Hatfield, Essex, England
- b.1050 in Normandy, France d.17 Apr 1113 in Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England
- b.1032 in St Martin's le Grand, London, Middlesex, England
- b.1080 in Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England d.1155 in Bourn, Cambridgeshire, England
- b.1054 in Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England d.19 JAN 1118/19 in England
- b.~ 1118 in Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England
- b.~ 1022 in St Germain Montgomery, Normandy, France d.>27 Jul 1094 in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England (clothed as a monk)
- b.1058 in St Germain Montgomery, Normandy, France d.1123
- b.1026 in Alencon, Eure, Normandy, France d.02 Dec 1079 in Bures Castle, Eure, Normandy, France (murdered)
- b.1088 in Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England d.1149
- b.~ 1010 in Marche, Creuse, Limousin, France d.1086
- b.1062 in Marche, Creuse, Limousin, France d.1116
- b.~ 1035 in France
- b.1172 in Ferrers, Derbyshire, England d.22 Sep 1247
- b.~ 1030 in Bruis, Manche, Normandy, France d.< 1098 in Skelton Castle, Yorkshire, England
- b.1049 in Briouze near Argentan, Normandy, France d.> 1089 in Bramber, Sussex, England
- b.~ 1030 in France d.< 1050
- b.1075 in Bramber, Sussex, England d.1112 in Holy Land, Palestine
- b.~ 1025 in St Clair-sur-Elle, Manche, Normandy, France
- b.1058 in Normandy, France
- b.~ 1027 in Normandy, France
- b.1112 in Abergavenny, Over Gwent, Monmouthshire, Wales d.< 1193 in Weobley, Herefordshire, England
- b.1029 in Barnstable, Devonshire, England
- b.1059 in Barnstable, Devonshire, England d.> 1123
- b.1084 in Barnstable, Devonshire, England
- b.~ 1040 in Picquigny, Picardy, France d.1085
- b.1060 in Picquigny, Picardy, France
- b.1150 in Bramber, Sussex, England d.AFT 5 FEB 1227/28
- b.1047 in Bal de Pitres, France d.1089 in Gloucestershire, England
- b.~ 1070 in Gloucester, Gloucestershire, England d.1129 in England
- b.1050 in Gloucester, Gloucestershire, England d. in England
- b.1092 in Gloucester, Gloucestershire, England d.24 Dec 1143 in Shot while hunting in Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, England
- b.1030 in Ballon, Maine, France
- b.~ 1070 in Ballon, Maine, France
- b.~ 1130 in Gloucester, Gloucestershire, England
- b.1018 in Neufmarche, Seine-Inferiere, Normandy, France
- b.~ 1050 in Neufmarche, Seine-Inferiere, Normandy, France d.1093 in Aberhonwy, Breconshire, Wales
- b.1027 in St Valaery-en-Caux, Normandy, France
- b.< 1093 in Aberhonwy, Brecon, Wales d.> 1143 in Gloucestershire, England
- b.1055 in Arwystle, Herefordshire, England d.> 1100 in Richard's Castle, Ludlow, Herefordshire, England
- b.~ 1075 in Hereford, Herefordshire, England
- b.~ 1057 in Rhuddlan, Flintshire, Wales d.1153
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