Henry de Ferrers

"The Domesday Book records over 200 manors given to Henry de Ferrers"^[1]

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 (French: Guillaume) fell in the battle. William and Henri were both sons of Vauquelin de Ferrers (d. ca. 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]

The landholdings

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. His power base was Tutbury Castle^[6] where he rebuilt and founded the priory in 1080. The Domesday Book of 1086 shows him as tenant-in-chief of Tutbury in an exclave of the Staffordshire hundred of Pirehill which abutted his holdings in Offlow hundred, Staffordshire,^[7] and Appletree wapentake, Derbyshire. (The exclave was annexed to Offlow hundred, well before a 17th-century map of Staffordshire shows them whole).

His major landholdings, however, were those of the Anglo-Saxon Siward Barn,^[8] 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.^[9]

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's Family

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.^[10] 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 September 1093 and September 1100. He was buried in Tutbury Priory.

Enguenulf died shortly after September 1100 (where he is mentioned in a document) and the English estate passed to Robert, whom King Stephen later made the first Earl of Derby.

St. Mary's Priory Church, Tutbury, 11th century

Undertenants

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]

References