Page:The Complete Peerage Ed 1 Vol 3.djvu/292

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290 EU, OR EWE. It is stated in " Comihope," under " Ewe," that " the Counts of Ewo were considered as having the rank of Earls in England and were probably summoned as such to the king's councils, altho' their possession of the Castle aud Barony of Hastings made them only Barons in England." As territorial Barons they have no place in this work, and it is truly remarked that " albeit they had lands in England yet were they never reputed of the nobilitic of England, never Parliamentary Earlfs of Englar.d, and if not Rarliamentarie, what have we to do with them ?"( a ) The logical answer to this is doubtless " nothing "—yet, in spite •of logic, the order of the succession, and a brief notice of sue/i of those Counts as iccre territorial Parous in England, is (iu consideration of their great importance) given as under. M I. 10G6. Robetvt, Count( c ) of Eu, in Normandy, s. ami h. of William, ( ,! ) COUNT OF Er, MIC his father before 1039 ; was one of the Conqueror's most trusted Generals at the English invasion, was at the battle of Hastings, 10G0, and was rewarded with the yrant of the castle and rape of Hastings,^) and 52 manors iu co. Sussex. He m. Beatrix, and d. 1090. II. 1090. Vftcxii.it, Count of Eu, in Normandy, feudal Loid of Hastings, &c, s. and h. He m. Beatrix, da. of Roger and sister and h. of another Rnger DE Busu, of Tickhill, co. Yolk, by which match that Lordship became the inheritance of these Counts, He, who was living l'Vb. 1090, d. before 1100.(0 ( n ) " Vincent on Brooke," p. 190. Vincent goes on to say "would any, but blind- bayard, have recounted these Earls unto us among our Enr/lith nobilitic ? Hco might as well have inserted the Eavles of Anjou, Blois, Bolloigne, Brabant, Brionie, Carict, Champaigne, Dunbarre, Ulster, Evreux, Gisnes, Hareeourt, Holland, Jnliers, Lorraigne, Moriton, Mellent, Perch, Boicticrs, Tholouse, /Celand, and others, as these of Ewe." ( b ) See an exhaustive account of " the Counts of Eu, sometime Lords of the honour of Tickill, by Edmoud Chester Waters, B.A." iu the Yorkshire Arch. Journal, vol. ix, pp. 257-302 and 401-120, from which the dates and facts in this short account are taken. ( c ) " At the time of the Conquest of England there were only four subjects in Normandy, who held the rank of Count," riz (1) The Count of Eu ; (2) The Count of Evreux, both decendants of Richard 1, of Normandy ; (3) the Countess of Aun.ale, sister and (4) the Count of Mortaiu, uterine brother to the Conqueror, A pedigree of these " Norman Counts, who were Domesday Barons," shewing their connexion " with the reigning Sovereign and with each other " is given iu Mr. Chester Waters', " Counts of Eu," see note " b." C 1 ) This William who was one of the illegit. sons of Richard I, of Normandy, was cr. Count of Eu, about 1018 and d. about 1038. lie and his decendants are the Counts of Eu, "of the second house." Those of '• the first house" consist of Geoffrey de Brionne, another of the illegit. sons of Richard I, of Normandy, which Geoffrey was cr. Count of Eu iu 996, by Richard II, of Normandy, being sue. about 1010 by his son Gilbert (ancestor of the house of Clare) who was deposed about 1010. See note " b." (°) Of the six rapes of Sussex, (1 and 2) Chichester and Arundel were assigned to Roger de Montgomery ; (3) Brambcr to William de Braose ; (4 ) Levees to William do Warenne ; (5) Pcvensey to the Count of Mortain, and (0) Hastings to the Count of Eu, while the custody of Kent was assigned to, the King's half brother, the Bishop of Bayeux ; thus tho whole coast that commanded Normandy was in command of a "few great Barons whom the King could thoroughly trust." See note " b." C) He is generally confounded with William of Eu, who hi. a Bister of the Earl of Chester, and was executed for treason Jau. 1090. See Eyton's "Domesday Dorset Surrey."