in the hands of Earl Simon) in 1166.[1] These fees were widely scattered, for four of them were in Northamptonshire, where Kislingbury and Stowe were held by this family under Gaunt, as was also a manor at Ewelme in Oxfordshire. It can be proved from Domesday (56b) that the 'Robert' who held of Gilbert de 'Gand' at Ewelme and at Handborough in the same county in 1086, was Robert 'Armenteres,' so that the family must have come to England with this powerful Fleming at the Conquest. It is probable therefore that they derived their name from the Armentieres in Flanders which is now a place of some importance in the 'Nord.'
I have set forth in this detail the true descent of Honington in order to establish beyond dispute the grotesque falsehood of the statement set forth in Burke's Peerage, The authoritative founder of the Irish Esmondes, 'Sir Geoffrey de Estmonte' of Honington, proves to have been a Geoffrey de Armenters (Armentieres), who had no more to do with the Esmondes than I have. And this is proved by the very evidence which is produced by the editor himself to establish Geoffrey's existence!
It is sometimes urged against me that one ought not to treat seriously statements which would only be found within the covers of 'a Peerage book.' But no impartial reader can, I think, deny that so long as Burke's Peerage is published with the insignia of an Ulster King of Arms upon its title page, the uninstructed public will treat it as quasi-official, or that as long as its editor assures them, on the strength of letters from highly qualified (though unnamed) correspondents, that the statements it contains are 'authoritative,' that assurance will be widely accepted. Indeed, I need only cite at random a notice of the current issue from the St. James' Gazette where we read that, in the hands of the present editor, 'it has increased its reputation for accuracy, notably in the genealogical department.' This, it will be seen, simply echoes the editor's own assertion, but will doubtless be included in turn among 'the flattering comments of the Press.'
- ↑ He is oddly disguised as 'David de Armere' (sic) in Mr. Hall's official edition of The Red Book of the Exchequer (p. 383), though Hearne, the eighteenth century editor of the same 'carta' had acutely pointed out that the name (which is 'Arm' in the 'Liber Niger') should be extended as 'Armenters vel Armentiers sive Armenteres.' We can hardly, therefore, congratulate ourselves on the prospects of 'Advanced Historical Teaching (London).'
