Page:The Complete Peerage Ed 1 Vol 3.djvu/67

DERBY. 05 the Standard at Northallerton 22 Aug. 1 138, against the Scotch and is said to have boon w, EARL OF DERBY('I) in that year by King Stephen.^') He m. Hawise de Vitre. He d. 1139. II. 1139. 3. Robert (Ferrers), Earl of Derby, or Earl de Ferrers (de Ferrariis), or, according to some, Earl of Nottingham, 3d but only surv. s. and h., b before 1101. He styled himself " Robertus Cornea junior dc Ferrari is," and likewise " llobcrtus Cornea junior de Nottingham." (') He was Founder of Bredon Priory, co. Leicester in 1144, &e. He is said by some(s) to have m. Margaret, da. and h. of Willliam Peverel, Lord of the honour of Nottingham, who was dispossessed thereof ill 1155. He became a monk before 1159 (when his lands were in the King's hands) ; was living lfl April 1161, but d. before 1163 and was bur. at Herevale Abbey, co. Warwick which he had founded, HI 11G2? S. William (Ferrers), Earl of Derby, or Earl db Ferrers,^) s. and h., under age in 1159. He appears to have joined (°) " John, Prior of Hexham, the continuator of Simon, the Monk of Durham, says that Stephen, elated with his successes after the Battle of the Standard, gave to Robert de Ferrers the Earldom of Derby, at the same time that he bestowed tho County of York on 'William de Albemarle." [Courthope]. ( f ) " Until the reign of King Hie. II, no charter or patent of creation to the Earldom of this county [Nottingham] is on record. William Peverel, a natural son of William the Conqueror, obtained the Lordship of Nottingham, which passed, by an heir female [ted query] to the Ferrers, Earls of Derby, who are sometimes, tho' erroneously styled Earls of Nottingham. John, afterwards King of England, received a grant of the County and Castle of Nottingham, but the first person who was regularly cr. Earl of this county was [in] 1377 "[Nicolas]. "Robert, 2d Earl of Derby, styled himself Comes junior de Nutinghum from which he has been styled Earl of Nottingham, altho' the style conveys no such meaning " [Courthope, sub " Nottingham."] The subject is intricate, but probably a residence at Nottingham (which was only a Lordship) would, as in the case of Tutbury, account for the style of Comes de Notingham. The counties of Derby and Nottingham had but one Sheriff till 10 Eliz., so that (like as in the case of Dorset and Somerset) the style of either county might appertain to him who had the third penny from both . (8) By (inter alios) Mr. James Doyle in his " Official Baronage," and if any Earl (Ferrers), of Derby, is to be credited with such a wife (and this wife has been attributed to several), this Earl is as likely to have been her husband, as any. It is, however, far more probable that this Margaret Peverel never had auy existence, and that the Peverel estates came to the Ferrers family thro' the match of the 5th Earl with Agnes, sister and coheir of Randolph, Earl of Chester, grandson of Randolph, Earl of Chester, the grantee thereof. See this matter ably discussed in Planche's "The Conqueror and his companions," vol. ii, pp. 66-73, sub " Ferrers." ( u ) The names and succession of these Earls (distinguished chiefly for disloyalty and for the incurable treason of the last of them) is most obscure. That given in the text is the one thought to be the most probable by Mr. Eyton (the well-known historian of Shropshire) and is confirmed by the chartulary of Tutbury, in which "Robert [VI], s. and h. of William [V], formerly Earl of Derby, confirmed in 1260, the grants of Henry, the Pounder, and of Robert [I], and of another Robert [II], and of Wlllia.m [III], and of another William [IV J, who was my grandfather, and of William [V], my father." Ex inform. E. Chester Waters. "Dugdale," "Nicolas," and "Courthope," make no less than four (instead of but two) Earls follow Robert, the 2d Earl, in the 26 years elapsing between 1164 and 1190, viz. : (1) William, living 1164 and 1167 ; (2) Robert, living 1172 ; (3) William, who d. 1190, and (4) William, invested 1191. It seems, however, far more probable that the Willium, livmg in 1164 was he who d. in 1190, and that it was, by mistake, he was, sometimes, during that interval, spoken of as Robert. Mr. Chester Waters writes thus, " Ho [i.e. the Earl] is called Robert in Benedict's account of the burning of Nottingham. There is a charter, however, to Lenton Priory, in which Earl William grants for the souls of those who wero with him at the burning of Nottingham. He calls himself Robert in lu3 grant to Dore Abbey, for the soul of his wife, Sybil de 17