ii s. x. A. 29, MR.] NOTES AND QUERIES.
161
LONDON. SATURDAY, AUGUST 29. 191!,.
CONTENTS. -No. 244.
NOTES : Meiler Fitz-Henry and Robert Fitz-Stephen, 161 Holcroft Bibliography, 163 Webster and the 'N. E. D.,' 165 The Berkeley Family Whitehead Family : Saxon Descent Result of Cricket Match given out in Church Irish Pillar- Stones, 167 Regiments and their Colours in War Time Brave Belgians Early Virginia Colony The Royal Exchange, 168.
QUERIES : Sophie Anderson Gelria Harden S. Melville " Dun Cow's Rib " in Stanion Church, 168 Goethe :
e notation Wanted Sepulchral Slabs in Hampsthwaite hurch 'The Harlequin' " Le sinistre " Statue of Charles I. at Charing Cross Old Etonians Edward Akam, 169 Leverian Museum " Wakes " : " Laik " Line-Endings in the Old Dramatists Catherine Parr's Descendants "Silverwood" Early Railway Travelling Friar Tuck Ciphers before Figures in Accounts, 170 Lawyers in Literature Pharaoh's Lean Kine Devotions on Horseback R. H. Wood, F.S.A. " The hindmost wheel of the cart " Epitaph at Christchurch, Hampshire -" What you don't know won't hurt you "Calendar, 171.
REPLIES : Sir Gregory Norton, 171 Between Winchester and London, 172' Aut Diabolus aut Nihil 'Life of M. de Renty, 173 Folk-Lore : Swallows Sloe Fair St. Angus Seventh Child of a Seventh Child London Bushel, 174 " Trod "Holcroft of Vale Royal 'Poems written for a Child ' " lebie horse,' 175 W. Carr, Mayor of Liverpool " Memmian naphtha -pits " : Medicinal Mummies, 176 Marquis de Spineto Wearing of the Oak Author Wanted Old Etonians Lord Erskine's Speeches W. Carey, 177 Sir P. Howard Saints' Day 'Customs " Corvicer " Dwight Red Hand of Ulster Scott's, ' Antiquary 'Rev. Ferdinando Warner, 178.
NOTES ON BOOKS : ' Memorials of an Ancient House ' ' Chats on Household Curios ' ' Transactions of the Hunter Archaeological Society.'
Booksellers' Catalogues.
MEILEB FITZ-HENRY (f 1220) AND
BOBERT FITZ-STEPHEN (f 1183-4).
IN these days, when an examination of the works of genealogical " authorities " so often reveals inaccuracies which, in the volumes of such writers, should not have been present, one is apt to turn to the
- D.N.B.' for statements concerning historical
personages which can be accepted as reliable. But apparently this great work is not always to be trusted.
In the course of certain investigations I have recently been making, I have had occasion to refer to the two articles under the above names which appear in the
- D.N.B.,' 1890 ed., vol. xix. pp. 164, 211,
respectively. Both these articles are from the pen of a learned professor of mediaeval history ; but in each slips occur which, if allowed to remain unnoticed, might lead fiome unfortunate student of the lives"of the above-mentioned individ vials into a""miser-
able tangle. I therefore venture, with all
due apologies to the writer of the articles, to
call attention to these slips through the
medium of your columns, as the most likely
means of putting the unwary on their
guard.
In the article (xix. 164) upon Meiler Fitz- Henry, T. F. T. correctly (cf. Betham, ' Genealogical Tables,' 1795 ed., Table DCIV.) records the ancestry of the said Meiler (and quotes his authorities, q.v.), namely, that he was the son of Henry, natural son of King Henry I., by Nesta, the wife of Gerald of Windsor, and daughter of Rhys ap Tewdwr, King of South Wales (xlviii. 88) ; the writer adding that consequently Meiler was first cousin (of the half-blood) to King Henry II. But then he goes on to say that Robert Fitz - Stephen, Maurice Fitz - Gerald, and David II., Bishop of St. David's, were his half-brothers, yet proceeds :
" In 1157 his father Henry was slain during Henry II. 's campaign in Wales, when Eobert Fitz-Stephen so narrowly escaped (Giraldus, ' Opera,' vi. 130). Meiler, then quite young, now [1157] succeeded to hia father's possessions."
The statement that Meiler was half- brother to Maurice Fitz-Gerald (f 1176) also occurs in Mr. T. A. Archer's article (xix. 135) on Maurice, such relationship being apparently vouched for by the refer- ences following, namely, ' Exp. Hib.,' 229 ; Girald., ' Itin. Cambr.,' 130 ; ' Earls of Kil- dare,' 3.
But this supposed relationship did not exist, nor was Meiler half-brother to either Robert Fitz-Stephen or David the Bishop. Robert Fitz-Stephen was either the legiti- mate or natural son (vide xix. 211 ; xl. 229) of Stephen the Constable, by Nesta, the widow or wife (xix. 164) of Gerald of Windsor, who " was probably dead by 1136 " (xix. 135 ; f. xl. 229) ; whilst Maurice and David II. were her legitimate issue by her husband Gerald (xl., ib.). Meiler Fitz-Henry was her grandson, and (xix. 164) cousin to Raymond le Gros (Raymond Fitz-Gerald [t 1182 ?], xix. 144), son of William, elder brother of Maurice (t 1176), and to Giraldus Cam- brensis (xxi. 389). Had Meiler been the half -brother of Robert Fitz-Stephen, Maurice Fitz-Gerald, and David II., Bishop of St. David's, Raymond Fitz-Gerald and iraldus Cambrensis would have been, not ais cousins, which they were, but his nephews of the half-blood, which they were not.
The exact relationship which existed jetween the persons referred to is shown in he following table :
