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FERRERS

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Originally appearing in Volume V10, Page 287 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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FERRERS , the name of a See also:

great See also:Norman-See also:English feudal See also:house, derived from Ferrieres-St-Hilaire, to the See also:south of See also:Bernay, in See also:Normandy. Its ancestor Walkelin was slain in a See also:feud during the Conqueror's minority, leaving a son See also:Henry, who took See also:part in the See also:Conquest. At the See also:time of the Domesday survey his See also:fief extended into fourteen counties, but the great bulk of it was in See also:Derbyshire and See also:Leicestershire, especially the former. He him-self occurs in See also:Worcestershire as one of the royal commissioners for the survey. He established his See also:chief seat at See also:Tutbury See also:Castle, See also:Staffordshire, on the Derbyshire border, and founded there a Cluniac priory. As was the usual practice with the great Norman houses, his eldest son succeeded to Ferrieres, and, according to Stapleton, he was ancestor of the See also:Oakham house of Ferrers, whose memory is preserved by the horseshoes See also:hanging in the See also:hall of their castle. See also:Robert, a younger son of Henry, inherited his vast English fief, and, for his services at the See also:battle of the See also:Standard (1138), was created See also:earl of See also:Derby by See also:Stephen. He appears to have died a See also:year after. Both the See also:title and the arms of the earls have been the subjectof much discussion, and they seem to have been styled indifferently earls of Derby or See also:Nottingham (both counties then forming one shrievalty) or of Tutbury, or simply (de) Ferrers. Robert, the and earl, who founded Merevale See also:Abbey, was See also:father of See also:William, the 3rd earl, who began the opposition of his house to the See also:crown by joining in the great revolt of 1173, when he fortified his castles of Tutbury and Duffield and plundered Nottingham, which was held for the See also:king. On his subsequent submission his castles were razed. Dying at the See also:siege of See also:Acre, 1190, he was succeeded by his son William, who attacked Nottingham on See also:Richard's behalf in 1194, but whom King See also:John favoured and confirmed in the earldom of Derby, 1199.

A claim that he was See also:

heir to the See also:honour of Peveral of Nottingham, which has puzzled genealogists, was compromised with the king, whom the earl thenceforth stoutly supported, being with him at his See also:death and witnessing his will, with his See also:brother-in-See also:law the earl of See also:Chester, and with William See also:Marshal, earl of See also:Pembroke, whose daughter married his son. With them also he acted in securing the See also:succession of the See also:young Henry, joining in the siege of Mountsorrel and the battle of See also:Lincoln. But he was one of those great nobles who looked with See also:jealousy on the rising See also:power of the king's favourites. In 1227 he was one of the earls who See also:rose against him on behalf of his brother Richard and made him restore the See also:forest charters, and in 1237 he was one of the three counsellors forced on the king by the barons. His See also:influence had by this time been further increased by the death, in 1232, of the earl of Chester, whose See also:sister, his wife, inherited a vast See also:estate between the Ribble and the See also:Mersey. On his death in 1247, his son William succeeded as 5th earl, and inherited through his wife her See also:share of the great possessions of the Marshals, earls of Pembroke. By his second wife, a daughter of the earl of See also:Winchester, he was father of Robert, 6th and last earl. Succeeding as a See also:minor in 1254; Robert had been secured by the king, as See also:early as 1249, as a See also:husband for his wife's niece, See also:Marie, daughter of See also:Hugh, See also:count of See also:Angouleme, but, in spite of this, he joined the opposition in 1263 and distinguished himself by his violence. He was one of the five earls summoned to See also:Simon de See also:Montfort's See also:parliament, though, on taking the earl of See also:Gloucester's part, he was arrested by Simon. In spite of this he was compelled on the king's See also:triumph to forfeit his castles and seven years' revenues. In 1266 he See also:broke out again in revolt on his own estates in Derby-See also:shire, but was utterly defeated at See also:Chesterfield by Henry " of Almain," deprived of his earldom and lands and imprisoned. Eventually, in 1269, he agreed to pay £50,000 for restoration, and to See also:pledge all his lands See also:save Chartley and Holbrook for its See also:payment.

As he was not able to find the See also:

money, the lands passed to the king's son, See also:Edmund, to whom they had been granted on his See also:forfeiture. The earl's son John succeeded to Chartley, a Staffordshire estate See also:long famous for the See also:wild See also:cattle in its See also:chase, and was summoned as a See also:baron in 1299, though he had joined the baronial opposition in 1297. On the death, in 1450, of the last Ferrers See also:lord of Chartley, the See also:barony passed with his daughter to the Devereux See also:family and then to the Shirleys, one of whom was created Earl Ferrers in 1711. The barony has been in See also:abeyance since 1855. The See also:line of Ferrers of Groby was founded by William, younger brother of the last earl, who inherited from his See also:mother See also:Margaret de Quinci her estate of Groby in Leicestershire, and some Ferrers manors from his father. His son was summoned as a baron in 1300, but on the death of his descendant, William, Lord Ferrers of Groby, in 1445, the barony passed with his granddaughter to the See also:Grey family and was forfeited with the dukedom of See also:Suffolk in 1554. A younger son of William, the last lord, married the heiress of See also:Tamworth Castle, and his line was seated at Tamworth till 1680, when an heiress carried it to a son of the first Earl Ferrers. From See also:Sir Henry, a younger son of the first Ferrers of Tamworth, descended Ferrers of Baddesley See also:Clinton, seated there in the male line till towards the end of the 19th See also:century. The line of Ferrers of Wemme was founded by a younger son of Lord Ferrers of Chartley, who married the heiress of Wemme, Co. Salop, and was summoned as a baron in her right; but it ended with their son. There are doubtless male descendants of this great Norman house still in existence. Higham Ferrers, Northants, and Woodham Ferrers, See also:Essex, take their names from this family.

It has been alleged that they See also:

bore horseshoes for their arms in allusion to Ferrieres (i.e. See also:iron-See also:works); but when and why they were added to their coat is a See also:moot point. See See also:Dugdale's Baronage; J. R. See also:Planche's The Conqueror and his Companions; G. E. C(okayne)'s See also:Complete See also:Peerage; See also:Chronicles and Memorials (Rolls See also:Series) ; T. Stapleton's Rotuli Scaccarii Normannie, (J. H.

End of Article: FERRERS

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