General Notes

REFN: 11488AN
The Conqueror and His Companions
by J.R. Planché, Somerset Herald. London: Tin sley Brothers, 1874.
"Henri le Sire De Ferriers," commemorated by Wace as a co mbatant at Senla
c, was Seigneur De Saint Hilaire De Ferriers, near Bernay, and son
of Walkelin De Ferrers, who fell in a contest with the first Hugh De Montf
ort we hear of in the early days of Duke William II, and therefore,
though a younger son, for he had an elder brother named Guillaume, who Mon
sieur d e Pluquet tells us, was also in the great battle, must have
been well advance d in years in 1066. Whatever his services, it was not ti
ll after Hugh d'Avranc hes was created
Earl of Chester, in 1071, that Henry De Ferrers received at l east the Cas
tle of Tutbury, his "caput Baronie," which had been previously gr anted
to the said Hugh, and resigned by him on becoming Earl of Chester. In 108
5, we find him appointed one of the commissioners for the general
survey of the kingdom, and in that year he is recorded as the holder, besi
des the Ca stle of Tutbury, of seven lordships in Staffordshire,
twenty in Berkshire, th ree in Wiltshire, five in Essex, seven in Oxfordsh
ire, two in Lincolnshire, t wo in Buckinghamshire, one in
Gloucestershire, two in Herefordshire, three in Hampshire, thirty-fi
ve in Leicestershire, six in Warwickshire, three in Nott inghamshire, a
nd one hundred and fourteen in Derbyshire! When bestowed, however, or h
ow obtained, whether wholly by grant of the King, or partly by marriag
e, is not recorded. Neither have we succeeded in identifying his wife, Ber
ta , in conjunction with whom he founded and richly endowed the Prio
ry of Tutb ury in 1089, "by the concession and authority of William the yo
unger (Rufus), King of the English." The date of his death also is unknow
n; but he had issu e three sons, Enguenulf, William, and Robert. The two e
ldest died in his life time without issue, and Robert, who succeeded hi
m, was the first Earl of Ferr ers, not Earl Ferrers, as incorrectly descri
bed, by some, but "Robertus, Come s De Ferrarius" or "De Ferriers
," as in the charter of the second Earl Robert , who was also Earl of Nott
ingham, and
according to Orderic Vital, the first Earl of Derby. It is no part of t
he plan of this work to enter into details respecting the descendants of t
he actual companions of the Conqueror, but there are exceptions to mos
t, if not to all, rules, and there is so little to be said about Hen
ry De Ferrers, and so much about his immediate successors, that I am tempt
ed to depart from my own rule on this occasion. There is considera ble dif
ference of opinion, in the absence of
indubitable facts, as to which o f these two Roberts — father and son — di
stinguished himself in the famous ba ttle at Northallerton, known as the B
attle of the Standard, also as to the ex act period at which the earldo
ms of Nottingham and Derby were conferred upon an Earl of Ferrers; but t
he principal bone of contention is the identificatio n of the fortunate me
mber of that family who married Margaret, daughter and h eiress of Willi
am Peverel, Lord of Nottingham, who was dispossessed of his es tates by Ki
ng Henry II, for conspiring with Maud, Countess of Chester, to poison h
er husband, Ranulph Gernons, Earl of Chester, in 1155. Now th
is is a ve ry curious story, which has been received in perfect confidenc
e, and handed down from writer to writer, as a portion of the
history of England, until, at the Newark Congress of the British Archaeolo
gical Association, I ventured to question the very existence
even of the Margaret Peverel, who has been married by various genealogis
ts to at least three successive Earls of Ferrers.
In the charter of King Stephen to the monks of Lanton we find mention of t
his Wi lliam Peverel, of his wife Oddona, and his son Henry, at that time
Henry De Ferrers - was born about 1036, lived in Ferriers, Normandy, Fran
ce and died in 1088 while li