Robert de Ferrers, 1st Earl o Derby

Robert I de Ferrers, 1st Earl o Derby (c. 1068 – 1139) wis born in Derbyshire, Ingland, a younger son o Henry de Ferrières an his wife Bertha l'Aigle. His faither, born in Ferrières, Normandy, France accompanied William the Conqueror during his invasion o Ingland. The family wis rewarded wi a grant o Tutbury Castle in Staffordshire an 114 manors in Derbyshire.

Robert's aulder brither William's main interests war in France. He joined Robert Curthose an wis captured at Tinchebrai. His ither brither Engenulf deed shortly efter his faither an so Robert succeeded tae the estates in 1088.

From the beginning, he gived great support tae Henry I. As pairt o his tenure o Duffield Frith in 1129–30, he is on record as haevin interests in leid mines at Wirksworth. At aboot this time he granted the kirk o Potterspury, Northamptonshire, tae Bernard the Scribe.

It is, howiver, during his last years that he is maist in evidence as a leading supporter o Keeng Stephen. He teuk a lairge body o Derbyshire men northwards tae assist in repelling an invasion o the Scots unner Keeng David I o Scotland, nominally on the behalf o Matilda. Little actual fechtin teuk place, but Thurstan, Archbeeshop o York, won the Battle o the Standard on Stephen's behalf, fecht neist Northallerton, on 22, August, 1138.

Robert wis mainly instrumental in securing the victory for his Sovereign, wha for this an ither important services makkit him Earl o Derby, awtho charters an chronicles during this period refer tae him interchangeably as Earl Ferrers, Earl o Nottingham or Earl o Derby.

He deed in the following year (1139) an wis succeeded in his earldom bi his second but auldest surviving son Robert de Ferrers, 2nd Earl o Derby aften kent as Robert de Ferrars the Younger.

As wi maist Norman lairds, the Ferrers brocht their Norman underlairds tae Ingland wi them – in this case, the Curzon (o Kedleston), Livet (Levett) an Boscherville (Baskerville) families, wha held their fiefs in Normandy frae the Ferrers, an wha subsequently held their Inglis lands fraae Ferrers as well. (The undertenant family names derive frae Notre-Dame-de-Courson, Livet-en-Ouche an Boscherville, aw pairt o the Ferrers barony in Normandy.) These undertenant retained their ties tae the Ferrers efter the families haed moved tae Ingland following the Norman Conquest.

References

• Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists Who Came to America Before 1700 by Frederick Lewis Weis, Line 55-26
• Jones, M.,(2004) Ferrers, Robert de, first Earl Ferrers (d. 1139)’', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press[ accessed 28 Oct 2007]
• Bland, W., 1887 Duffield Castle: A lecture at the Temperance Hall, Wirksworth, Derbyshire Advertiser
• Loyd, Lewis, 1951 "The Origins of Some Anglo Norman Families," Harleian Society [1]

External links

• freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com Archived 2007-01-27 at the Wayback Machine