THE ORIGIN OF THE SHIRLEYS AND OF THE GRESLEYS. 171 



There is no difficulty whatever about these fees ; the records 

 do show which they were ; and not one of them was in Derby- 

 shire. A valuable return for the Honour of Peverel, which 

 is assigned to John's reign, contains the entry — 



Radulfus de Grasele iij. milites, scilicet in Grasle in Notinghamscira, j, 

 in Claydon in Bokinghamscira ij.* 



That is to say that one of the fees lay in Greasley, Notts., 

 and the other two in Claydon (i.e., Middle Claydon), Bucks. 

 This entry is abundantly confirmed by record evidence, which 

 shows that Greasley and Middle Claydon descended together.! 

 There is no mystery in this, neither is there anything new.]: 

 All that has happened is that Mr. Yeatman has confused the 

 Derbyshire Gresleys of Gresley with the Nottinghamshire 

 Greasleys, who held Greasley of the Honour of Peverel. § The 

 two families, of course, had' no more to do with one another 

 than has Lord Middleton, who takes his title from Middleton, 

 co. Warwick, with Lord Midleton, who takes his from Midleton, 

 co. Cork. || 



It will be observed that the words "in Derbyshire," which 

 have led Mr. Yeatman astray, are interpolated (doubtlessly 

 inadvertently) by himself, and that no record places, or, 

 indeed, could place the fees in that county. II 



I have now disproved Mr. Yeatman's assertion, and explained 

 the origin of his error. In his latest volume, I observe, he 

 seems to be vaguer on the subject (p. 132). We there read 

 of Ralf, who held the Peverel fees : " Possibly his family, if 

 they ever existed,** were of the Nottingham Grellys (sic) or 



* " Honor Piperelli de Notingham," in Red Book of the Exchequer, 

 p. 584. 



t See Feudal Aids, i., 85, 93, 119, for the descent of Middle Claydon 

 to Ros and Cantelupe, as did Greasley. See also Testa de Nevil, pp. 

 6, 12, 13, 14 for Greasley, and pp. 258, 261 for Claydon. 



X See Mr. Madan's Gresleys of Drakelowe, p. 210, and the works there 

 quoted. 



§"Griseleia" was held by William Peverel in Domesday. 



!| In Mr. Yeatman's Index of Places, vol. i., he similarly combines 

 under " Gresley " the entries which relate respectively to Gresley and 

 to Greasley. 



% Being in Notts, they would, of course, be found in records which cover both 

 Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. 



** I am quite at a loss to know what this means. 



