A HISTORY OF LEICESTERSHIRE 



which four centuries after the Conqueror's time gave a queen to England in 

 the person of Elizabeth, wife of Edward IV. The description of the tenant 

 of Galby and Braunstone as ' the son of Robert Burdet (misspelled Burdel in 

 the latter entry) is interesting, for we know on the authority of the foundation 

 charter of Monk's Kirby Priory " that Robert Burdet himself was alive in 1077, 

 and it is probable that his son was only a minor in 1086. Doubtless the 

 Hugh Burdet who held land in Welby, Rearsby, and Sysonby of the Countess 

 Judith was a member of the same family, and Hugh de Grentemaisnil's tenant 

 in Croft is entered as ' Robert's wife,' which is noteworthy, for land was 

 rarely sublet to females. Probably we may connect the Ivo of Cadeby, 

 Evington, and Ashby de la Zouch, if the same person is meant in each case, 

 with the Ivo who is described as the knight of Hugh de Grentemaisnil in the 

 Monk's Kirby charter, but the rest of Hugh's tenants remain mere names. 

 Four of them, however, were probably men of English birth, namely Ulf 

 of Willoughby Waterless, and Enderby ; Edwin of Cotesbach ; Alwin 

 (/Elfwine), who held one carucate in Glen ; and Suain the tenant of Syston. 



The Leicestershire manors of Henry de Ferrers fall geographically into 

 two divisions, the first lying in the neighbourhood of the Upper Wreak and 

 the Rutland border, the second in the extreme west of the county, being 

 connected with Henry's lands in South Derbyshire. The latter district was 

 perhaps the very poorest part of the county at the time of Henry's first 

 possession, and six manors from his fief were selected by Professor Maitland 

 to illustrate the difficulties presented by the Leicestershire ' valuit.' Until 

 quite recently Leicestershire and Derbyshire were closely intermingled in this 

 quarter, and Linton, Stretton en le Field, Donisthorpe, Appleby, and Ravens- 

 thorpe are surveyed in part in each county. But the chief interest of Henry 

 de Ferrers's Leicestershire fief lies in the accidental circumstance that we possess 

 slightly more information about his undertenants here than is commonly the 

 case. Henry himself had founded some years before Domesday a priory at 

 his seat of Tutbury in Staffordshire, and his son Robert de Ferrers, the first 

 earl of Derby, in a charter confirming his father's foundation, specifies the 

 various gifts which the latter's tenants had made to the same. 88 In this way 

 we are enabled to identify the Robert who was the Domesday undertenant of 

 Henry at Burton Lazars with the ' Robertus Venator ' of the charter, and to 

 distinguish him from the Robert FitzWidelin who held Over and Nether Seal, 

 Bogthorpe, and one carucate in Appleby. We may also recognize the Roger 

 de Livet who gave to the priory two-thirds of his demesne tithes in Somerby 

 and Little Dalby in the ' Roger ' who appears as the Domesday undertenant 

 there and at Burrough, and it is quite possible that the ' Wazelinus' who held 

 Smockington on the Warwickshire border was the same as the ' Vasolinus' who 

 is represented in the charter as possessed of land at Chesterton and Harbury 

 in the latter county. The Leicestershire Survey proves the Nigel who was 

 the undertenant at Linton to be identical with Nigel of Stafford, who was 

 himself a tenant in chief in South Derbyshire and the founder of the family 

 of Gresley, which still continues his descent in the male line. No other record, 

 however, has been preserved of the two Englishmen who appear in the list 

 of Henry's undertenants, namely Godric of Houghton on the Hill and Ardulf 

 of Osgathorpe. 



a Man. Angl vii, 996. " Ibid, iii, 392. 



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