124 DUFFIELD CASTLE. 



involved their being deprived of troops. At all events, so far as 

 Duffield castle was concerned, the order of demolition by Henry 

 II. if ever issued, was certainly never carried out, for it stood for 

 another century. Perhaps the most reasonable conjecture is that 

 Dugdale and others confused this rebellion in the time of Henry 

 II., with the rebellion in the time of Henry III., and attributed 

 the demolition carried out at the latter date to the former event. 



After this, Earl Ferrers seems to have regained the confidence 

 of his sovereign ; he was one of the witnesses, in 1177, to King 

 Henry's decision as arbitrator in the dispute between Alphonsus, 

 King of Castile, and Sanctius, King of Navarre.* On King 

 Richard's arrival in England on the death of Henry, he is said to 

 have received the powerful baron with disfavour, and he conferred 

 the Earldom of Derby on his brother John ; but soon after they 

 were reconciled, and William Earl Ferrers accompanied the king 

 to the Holy Land, and died at the siege of Acre, n 90. He was 

 married to Sibilla, daughter of William de Braose, lord of Aber- 

 gavenny and Brecknock. By her he had six children, the eldest 

 being named after his father. 



William Earl Ferrers was thoroughly loyal to Richard. When 

 John Earl of Morton, during his brother's captivity, on his return 

 from the Holy Land, spread a report of his death and laid claim to 

 the crown, Earl Ferrers united with the Earl of Chester in raising the 

 standard of their absent monarch, and leading the Derbyshire men 

 against Nottingham castle, which was being held by John's con- 

 federates, successfully besieged it. On Richard's return, Earl Ferrers 

 was, for his fidelity, appointed a member of his Great or Privy Coun- 

 cil, and was one of the four who carried the canopy over the king's 

 head on the occasion of his second coronation. t But on John's 

 accession the Earl readily gave him his allegiance, and was present 

 at the coronation in Westminster Abbey on Ascension Day. 

 Recognising the value of retaining the aid of this sturdy baron, 

 King John, on the 8th of June of the same year, when at North- 



* Rymers' Fxdera, Vol. I., p. 23. 



t K. Hovedcn, pp. 41S-420, etc., etc. 



