THE ORIGIN OF THE SHIRLEYS AND OF THE GRESLEYS. l8l 



separately on the Earl's carta in 1166 as Robert de Albini 

 and Robert, son of William Fitz Nigel. Everything thus falls 

 into place, and all " difficulties " disappear. 



It is on the endeavour to confuse these two distinct families 

 that Mr. Yeatman concentrates his efforts, and with its failure 

 there fails also his assault on the Gresley pedigree, for I 

 cannot find any other point on which he definitely sets himself 

 to disprove the accepted descent from William Fitz Nigel set 

 forth in Mr. Madan's book.* 



This paper has unavoidably extended to so great a length 

 that I very reluctantly venture to deal as briefly as possible 

 with the three chapters in Mr. Yeatman's book (xvi.-xviii.) 

 devoted to the Fitz Alans and various Breton families. I do 

 not understand what they have to do with the " Feudal History 

 of Derbyshire," but it is clear that Mr. Yeatman is very angry 

 with myself, for " Mr. Round's wild-cat genealogy sweeps away 

 English, Scotch, and Irish history for a foolish theory of the 

 author of The Norman People " (p. ix.) — a work, by the way, 

 against which I have invariably cautioned genealogists as 

 rash and untrustworthy."! After wading through my critic's 

 vague denunciation of this " ridiculous theory," this " absurd 

 theory," this "extraordinary blunder," my "wild theories" 

 and "especially ridiculous idea" (p. 186-189), I at length 

 discovered, with some difficulty, the cause of his wrath. It 

 is due to the fact that, instead of adopting the legendary 

 descent of the Fitz Alans from " Fleance, son of Banco " 

 (p. 237), which " the poet Shakespeare has adopted and 

 stamped with his imprimature (sic) ... in his great play 

 of Macbeth" (p. 187), I have preferred the sober evidence 

 of charters, which prove that Alan Fitz Flaald, the founder 

 of the house, was a Breton]: It is, indeed, as Mr. Yeatman 



* See The Gresley s of Drakelowe, pp. 224-230. As I stated at the 

 outset, he impugns the origin of the first baronet, but without adducing 

 any evidence for denying it. 



tSee, for instance, The Ancestor, 2, 165-174. 



X Even since this article was written there has appeared vol. i. of the 

 new Scots Peerage, in which my views on the Breton origin of the 

 Stewarts are explicitly accepted, and the Banquo legend discarded. 



