Person Page - 1362

     Henry de Ferrers (also known as Henri de Ferrières) was a Norman soldier from a noble family who took part in the conquest of England and is believed to have fought at the Battle of Hastings of 1066 and, in consequence, was rewarded with much land in the subdued nation.

His elder brother William fell in the battle. William and Henri were both sons of Walkeline de Ferrers (d.c. 1040) Seigneur of Ferrières-Saint-Hilaire, Eure in upper Normandy.[2] The Ferrers family holding at Ferrières-Saint-Hilaire was the caput of their large Norman barony.[3]

Henry became a major land holder and was granted 210 manors throughout England and Wales, but notably in Derbyshire[4][5] and Leicestershire[4], by King William for his conspicuous bravery and support at Hastings.

He first served William I as castellan of Stafford, and in about 1066 or 1067 he was granted the lands in Berkshire and Wiltshire of Goderic, former sheriff of Berkshire, and, by the end of 1068 he also held the lands of Bondi the Staller in present day Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Northamptonshire, and Essex. He is thought to have been appointed the first Anglo-Norman High Sheriff of Berkshire.

Following this in 1070 was the Wapentake of Appletree, which covered a large part of south Derbyshire, granted to Henry on the promotion of Hugh d'Avranches to become Earl of Chester. At the centre of this was Tutbury Castle[6] where he rebuilt and founded the priory in 1080.

His major landholdings, however, were those of the Anglo-Saxon Siward Barn,[7] following a revolt in 1071, including more land in Berkshire and Essex and also Gloucestershire, Warwickshire, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire.

These included part of the wapentakes of Litchurch and Morleyston, which contained an area later to be known as Duffield Frith. To command an important crossing over the Derwent he built Duffield Castle. In the wapentake of Hamston was the west bank of the River Dove, where he built Pilsbury Castle. Both these were of typical Norman timber motte and bailey construction. The latter history of Pilsbury is unknown, but Duffield was rebuilt as a stone fortress sometime in the Twelfth century.[8]

He was a key administrator in Derbyshire and Staffordshire, and among the most powerful Anglo-Norman magnates. In 1086 he was a legatus ('commissioner’) on the West Midland circuit of the Domesday survey.

Henry had by his wife, Bertha, three sons - Enguenulf, William and Robert. A daughter, Amicia, married Nigel d'Aubigny, probably the brother of Henry I's butler. Henry had built Duffield Castle to protect and administer the Frith, and he placed it in the charge of Enguenulf.[9] Meanwhile William inherited the family's Norman estates. He joined Robert Curthose and was captured at Tinchebrai.

The date of Henry de Ferrers' death is uncertain, but it would seem to be between 1093 and 1100. He was buried in Tutbury Priory.

Enguenulf died shortly afterwards and the English estate passed to Robert, who King Stephen later made the first Earl of Derby.

His family tree is well researched and various people are said to be descended from this line.[10]. These include, George the First, Lady Diana, George Washington and Winston Churchill, and likely the actress Mia Farrow, a daughter of the Australian film director John Farrow, a descendant of the Farrows of Norfolk, England.

As a leading Norman magnate, Henry de Ferrers was followed to England by a coterie of lesser lords, or vassals, who were part of the feudal structure of Normandy and who owed their allegiance to their overlord. Among the underlords who followed Henry de Ferrers were three families who were lords of villages within the original Ferrers barony in Normandy: the Curzons (Notre Dame-de-Courson)[11], the Baskervilles (Boscherville)[12] and the Levetts (Livet-en-Ouche).[13]

All three families were from villages close by Ferrières-Saint-Hilaire. In the case of the de Livets, the village under their control was approximately four miles from the caput of the Ferrers family barony at Ferrières-Saint-Hilaire.

His grandson, Earl Robert de Ferrers the younger, produced a charter confirming land grants originally made by Henry de Ferrers to his vassals including: Alfinus de Breleford, Nigellus de Albiniaco, Robert fitz Sarle, William de Rolleston, Robert de Dun, Hugh le Arbalaster, Anscelin de Heginton, Robert de St. Quintin.[14]¹

     Elizabeth le Despenser (c. 1327 – 13 July 1389) was an English noblewoman. She was the youngest daughter of Hugh le Despenser the younger and his wife Eleanor de Clare.[1] Her father is famous for being the favorite of Edward II of England, and being executed as a result of his position and actions. Through her mother, Elizabeth was a great granddaughter of King Edward I of England.

The exact date of her birth is disputed; it is possible that she (or her brother John) was born in December 1325. She may have been born to her mother sometime after her father's death, as she was not forced to take the veil like three of her older sisters. Not much else is known about her youth until August 1338, when she was sent to the care of her maternal aunt Elizabeth de Clare after her mother Eleanor's death the previous year.[2]

In August 1338, she married Maurice de Berkeley, 4th Baron Berkeley, who was ironically a grandson of Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March, the man held mainly responsible for the execution of Elizabeth's father Hugh. She and her husband had seven children.¹

     Maurice de Berkeley, 4th Baron Berkeley the Valiant (ca. 1330 – 8 June 1368) was an English peer born in Berkeley, Gloucestershire, England to Thomas de Berkeley, 3rd Baron Berkeley and Lady Margaret Mortimer.

In August of 1338 Lord Berkeley married Elizabeth le Despenser, daughter of Hugh Despenser the younger and Eleanor de Clare. Maurice and Elizabeth had seven children.¹

     Thomas de Berkeley, 5th Baron Berkeley the Magnificent (5 January, 1352/53 – 13 July 1417) was an English peer born in the Berkeley Castle, Berkeley, Gloucestershire, England to Maurice de Berkeley, 4th Baron Berkeley and Elizabeth le Despencer.

In 1367 Lord Thomas married Margaret de Lisle, Baroness Lisle, daughter of Warin de Lisle, 2nd Lord Lisle and Margaret Pipard. Thomas and Margaret had one child:

Elizabeth de Berkeley (born ca.1386 – 28 December 1422), married Richard de Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick.¹

     2nd Lord Lisle.

     John Talbot, 1st Viscount Lisle (1423 – 17 July 1453), English nobleman and medieval soldier, was the son of John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury, and his second wife Margaret Beauchamp.

In 1444, he was created Baron Lisle (his mother being one of the coheirs to the previous creation of the barony), and in 1451, was made Viscount Lisle. After 1449, his mother was one of three coheirs to her father, and through her he possessed a claim on Berkeley Castle.

In prosecution of the claim against the Baron Berkeley, the heir-male, he stormed Berkeley Castle in 1452 and took the Baron and his sons prisoner.

In the winter of 1452, he led troops into Guyenne to reinforce his father.

Both father and son were killed the next summer at the Battle of Castillon. Some chroniclers assert that when his wounded and unhorsed father begged him to quit the field and save himself, he refused, preferring death to dishonor; a scene memorialized by William Shakespeare in Henry VI, Part I.

He married Joan Cheddar after 1443 and had three children:

Elizabeth Talbot (d. 1487), married Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Lisle
Thomas Talbot, 2nd Viscount Lisle (d. 1470)
Margaret Talbot (d. 1475).¹