c 1238 "Margaret de Quincy, married William de Ferrers, Knt. Earl of Derby." [1]
1251 About December 13, William de Ferrers deeded land to his son William, then a minor.
c 1254-1260 Robert de Ferrers granted the manor of Easton to his sister Johanna. [2]
Grant from Robert de Ferrars, son and heir of William, late Earl of Derby, to Johanna de Ferrars, his sister, of the manor of Easton, co. Leic. Witnesses: Dom. Roger de Quency, Earl of Winchester; Dom. Richard de Clare, Earl of Gloucester; Dom. Simon de Montefort, Earl of Leicester; Dom. Thomas de Ferrars, uncle of the grantor; William de Ferrars, his brother; William de Oyli, Knt.; Roger de Luvetot. Circ. 1254-1260. Lat. With fragment of seal.
1280 King Edward I reviewed a charter of King Henry III allowing William de Ferrers and his heirs to till an area in the forest of Wodeham in Essex and ordered on June 6 that Margaret de Ferrers, countess of Derby, be acquitted if the area sown by her and her tenants was within the area specified in the charter. [3]
June 6. Westminster. To the barons of the exchequer. The king has inspected the charter, made by the late king to William de Ferr[ariis], sometime earl of Derby, that he and his heirs might assart and till his wood of Wodeham, which is within the forest of Essex, and might enclose that wood and make a park of it, and dispose thereof wholly at his pleasure, and that this plot should be for ever quit of waste and regard and view of foresters, verderers, regarders, and all ministers of the forest, and also of all things pertaining to the forest. The king orders the barons, if they ascertain that the sown corn (inbladatura) whereby they cause Margaret de Ferr[ariis], countess of Derby, tenant of the said wood, to be distrained was of the assart made in the wood aforesaid, to cause the distraint to be released and to cause Margaret and her other tenants of the assart to be acquitted thereof.
1281 On April 19, following the death of Margaret de Ferrers, an inquistion was ordered concerning land in Essex that William de Ferrers, earl of Derby, had deeded to William and Margaret's son William in 1251.
413. Margaret de Ferrariis, countess of Derbeye.
Writ of plenius certiorari to Richard de Holebrok, the king's steward, on the complaint of William de Ferrariis that the sheriff of Essex had taken into the king's hand the manors of Wodeham, Stubbyng and Feirstude which he had demised to the said Margaret, his mother, who had restored them to him long before her death, 15 April, 9 Edw. I.
Essex. Inq. Monday after the Invention of the Holy Cross, 9 Edw. I. Wodeham, Stobyng and Fayrstede. The manors with a messuage in Cheche were given by Sir William de FeiTariis, sometime earl of Derbeye, to William de Ferrariis his son at Nottingham about the feast of St. Lucy, 36 Hen. Ill, by letter patent, to be held of him and his heirs by sevice of 5 knights' fees, saving to the said earl the homage and service of Sir Richard de Grey and his heir's in Thurrok; and he had full seisin for four years and more during the life of his father, and the issues of the manors were collected by Robert de Duffeld his guardian (custodem) and placed in ward (custodiam) at Tyleteya, and in the fifth year they were rendered to the said William, and so he remained in peaceful seisin until he was made a knight and was of full age. Afterwards he granted these manors, &c. to Lady Margaret de Ferrariis his mother for her life for lands, &c. in Scotland and Gaweye of which she enfeoffed him, and into the aforesaid manors he had ingress sixteen days before his mothers death by her assent. The manor of Wodeham is worth 21l. yearly ; the manor of Stubbyng, with one carueate land in the same town afterwaids purchased by the said William of Sir Nicholas de Stubbyng, knight, 52l.; the manor of Fayrstede 10l.; and the messuage in Cheche 6s. (See Hen. III., No. 333.) C. Edw: I. File 28. (17.)
1281 On May 11 ownership of the land deeded to William de Ferres by his father, William de Ferrers, earl of Derby, was confirmed following the inquisition after the death of the younger William's mother Margaret. [4]
May 11. Westminster. To Richard de Holebrok, the king's steward. Whereas the king learns by inquisition taken by the steward that William de Ferrar[iis], sometime earl of Derby, enfeoffed William his son, 86 Henry III, of the manors of Wodeham, Stebbing, and Fairsted, and of a messuage in Cheehe, to be held of the earl by the service of five knights' fees, saving to the earl the homage and service of Richard de Grey in Thurrok, so that William son of the earl was in seisin of the manors for four years and more during the earl's lifetime, and that William the earl's son afterwards granted to Margaret de Ferrar[iis], his mother, for life, the manors aforesaid, with the rent issuing from the messuage aforesaid, which manors ought to revert to William after her death and which were taken into the king's hands by reason of her death: the king orders the steward to deliver the manors and messuage to the said William son of the earl.
1281 King Edward I ordered the lands that Margaret de Ferrers, countess of Derby, had held in dower to be delivered to Edmund, the king's brother. John, son of Margaret's deceased son Robert was a minor in the king's custody. [5]
May 25. Westminster. To Richard Fokeram. Order to deliver to Edmund, the king's brother, all the lands that Margaret de Ferrar[iis], countess of Derby, held in dower, which the king lately committed to Richard during pleasure, and to deliver to Edmund everything received thence since Richard received the custody; saving to John, son and heir of Robert, sometime earl of Ferrers, a minor in the king's wardship, every right that he may have in the lands, so that by reason of this delivery to the king's brother the condition of John when he come of age shall not be worse or that of Edmund better in regard to John having action against Edmund and the latter defending the same.
Research Notes:
"William de Ferrers, 7th earl of Derby, held Chartley in his mother's right. He suffered from his father's infirmity, the gout. Being unable to walk, he was driven out in a chariot; which, through the driver's carelessness, fell off the bridge of St. Neot's, March 22nd, 1253-4. He soon d. of his bruises; and was bur. in Merevale-abbey. ... By his 2nd wife, Margaret, dau. and coh. of Rog. de Quinci, 2nd earl of Winchester by Helen, dau. and coh. of Alan lord of Galloway, he had, i. Robert, his successor." [6]
[1] Douglas Richardson and Kimball G. Everingham, Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 2nd editon, 4 vols. (Douglas Richardson, 2011), 2:150, [GoogleBooks].
[2] Isaac Herbert Jeayes, Descriptive catalogue of the charters and muniments in the possession of Lord Fitzhardinge at Berkeley castle, comp. with introduction, notes and indices, [HathiTrust].
[3] H. C. Maxwell Lyte, ed., Calendar of the Close Rolls, Edward I A.D. Vol. II. 1279-1288 (London: HMSO, 1902), 20, [GoogleBooks], [InternetArchive], [HathiTrust].
[4] H. C. Maxwell Lyte, ed., Calendar of the Close Rolls, Edward I A.D. Vol. II. 1279-1288 (London: HMSO, 1902), 83, [GoogleBooks], [InternetArchive], [HathiTrust].
[5] H. C. Maxwell Lyte, ed., Calendar of the Close Rolls, Edward I A.D. Vol. II. 1279-1288 (London: HMSO, 1902), 85, [GoogleBooks], [InternetArchive], [HathiTrust].
[6] Charles Ferrers Palmer, The history of the town and castle of Tamworth, in the counties of Stafford & Warwick (1845), 363, [HathiTrust].