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FERRERS is the name of a great Norman-Anglo feudal House. "Ferrer" is Norman French and means "to bind with iron" or "to shoe a horse". Walchelin de Ferrers, (Ferrierers), was seigneur of St.Hilaire de Ferrers, an area to the south of Bernay, Normandy, important as a centre for ironwork. He had two sons, William and Henry. The family were allied to the Count of Mortain, half brother of the Duke of Normandy. During the Conqueror’s minority, Walchelin, (Walkelin), was killed in a joust or feud, with Hugh de Montfort, where both men died.
Later, both William and Henry, took active parts in the Conquest and the Battle of Hastings, 1066. They were said to have brought many companies to the action, however, William, the elder brother, fell during the battle. Thereafter, it is the progeny of Henry De Ferrers, whose deeds and intrigues are recorded in the annals of history for the next five centuries.
(As depicted by a BPAS member at the annual event of the re-enactment of the Battle of Hastings. He is wearing a Norman helm with a chain mail aventail and a chain mail hauberk, (total weight 35 lbs), and is carrying a small hand axe and a broad sword).
Henry de Ferrers, became 1st Earl of Ferrers, Lord of Longueville, Normandy, and a Domesday Commissioner; he built Tutbury Castle and Duffield Castle . He was granted 210 manors and lordships throughout England and Wales by Duke William of Normandy for his conspicuous bravery and support at Hastings. 114 of these were in Derbyshire and much of Nottingham over which he held virtual rule. The family became the Earls of both Derby and Nottingham.
Henry’s descendents are noted to have rebelled against King Henry II, taken part in the Crusades, rebelled against King Henry III, one was mistress of King John, another was poisoned, another was a notorious highwaywoman, and one even has the infamy of being the only Peer of the realm hanged for murder.
The family, through its five hundred year fall from grace, has held power over kings and has been crushed by them. Their titles have include; Earl of Derby (1190) and Nottingham, Sheriff of Lancaster (1223 – 1227), Baroness Berkely (c1300), Baron Chartley (c1271), Baroness Fitzwalter, Baron of Groby, and Baron of Oversley.
By the time of the 100 years war the Ferrers family was reduced in stature having lost its earldom and lands during their rebellion against the king in 1266. Thus the family held only two Baronies, that of Groby, and Chartley.
Edmund Ferrers 6Th Barron Ferrers of Chartley 1387 - 1435.
(As depicted by a BPAS member at a tournament. He is wearing a Bassinette with a chain mail avantail, a long sleeved chain mail hauberk, plate gauntlets, arms and legs, (total weight 90 lbs), and his weapons are a sword and glaive.)
Lord Edmund was involved in the One Hundred Years War and took part in the Battle of Agincourt 1415. Furthermore, Edmund’s name can be found in the penultimate stanza of Michael Drayton’s, ‘The Ballad of Agincourt’, the final two stanzas being:
Warwick in blood did wade,
Oxford the foe invade,
And cruel slaughter made,
Still as they ran up;
Suffolk his axe did ply,
Beaumont and Willoughby
Bare them right doughtily,
Ferrers and Fanhope.
Upon St. Crispin's day
Fought was this noble fray,
Which fame did not delay
To England to carry;
Oh when shall English men
With such acts fill a pen,
Or England breed again
Such a King Harry?
Sir Thomas Ferrers of Tamworth, (1395-1458), second son to the 5th Baron of Groby, had the good fortune to marry Elizabeth, Daughter and coheir to Sir Baldwin Frevelle, thus establishing the Tamworth line of the Ferrers family. They had two sons Thomas, (heir), and Henry Ferrers.
Sir Thomas Ferrers (heir), 1422-1498, (Yorkist)
(As depicted by a BPAS member. LEFT: He is wearing a long sleeved chain hauberk under a full plate harness, (total weight, 112 lbs), and carrying a sword and glaive.)
Born at Tamworth Castle c1422, he died 22 Aug 1498 and was buried in Tamworth Church. During his life he was knighted in 1461 and married Ann Hastings in 1440. They had two children, John and Ann. John was bourn in 1442, and predeceased his father in 1485.
Ann Hastings, 1427, (Yorkist)
Born in 1427 in Kirby, Leicestershire, daughter to Leonard Hastings and Alice Camoys.
The Ferrers of Tamworth, were staunch Yorkists, and related to the ascending Lord William Hastings, (brother to Ann). This earned Sir Thomas’ and Ann’s son, John and Sir Thomas’ brother, Henry, their knighthoods on the battlefield at Tewkesbury, 1471.
It is also noted that, at the Battle of Bosworth Field, 22 August 1485, 12 miles east of Tamworth, near the village of Market Bosworth, Sir Thomas Ferrers of Tamworth Castle and his son Sir John Ferrers, fought for King Richard. However, the Lancastrians eventually took the field, killing King Richard III. Amongst the dead lay Lord Ferrers of Chartley and Sir Thomas’ heir, Sir John.
Sir Henry Ferrers Chilesmore (1440-1500) sheriff of kent.(yorkist)
(As depicted by a BPAS member. She is wearing a coif and a long sleeved chain mail hauberk beneath a plate harness without backplate, tassets, pauldrons and lower and upper cannon, (total weight 84 lbs). She is carrying a sword and buckler.)
Sir Henry was born 1440, died 28 December 1500, at Chillesmore, Warickshire. He also married Margaret Heckstall in 1479.
My search through the annals of history has revealed both nobility and no small measure of infamy within the Ferrers line. As one would expect, there has been a full measure of humanity, with greatness, benevolence, fools, brutes, greed, murderers, harlots and no doubt, adulterers. So, beware all those that seek nobility or pride in the name they carry, and consider this, in a patriarchy, the name you carry may be of a great house, but, the blood you carry may not. Let your own deeds speak for you.