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 A HISTORY OF STAFFORDSHIRE John Fitz Philip, Geoffrey de Gresley, John de Audley, Roger Bagot of Brinton, John de Swynnerton, Richard de Bromley, William de Rideware, Giles de Erdington, and many more. 8 * Against Robert de Ferrers Henry had a special grudge because he had married the king's niece, Mary of Angouleme, and yet was opposed to him. This was aggravated by Ferrers capturing Prince Edward and imprisoning him. In 1264 he defeated the royalists at Chester, but soon after Edward, his old opponent, laid waste his lands in Derbyshire and Staffordshire, and demolished his stronghold of Tutbury. 85 Such determined hostility brought about his own downfall and that of his family. In 1265 he was brought to trial, confessed, and was forgiven, yet with extraordinary infatuation he again raised an army and seized Chesterfield, 84 but was defeated, attainted, and his lands confiscated. Immediately after the battle of Lewes, Earl Simon, acting in the name of Henry, appointed for the first time a ' custos pacis ' in every county in England, who appears to have superseded the sheriff and wielded almost despotic power, the custos for Staffordshire being Ralph Basset of Drayton, 85 who at the battle of Evesham fell fighting against the king with Hugh le Despenser, Richard Trussel of Kibblestone, and William de Bermingham. 88 The last-named was a tenant of Roger de Somery, one of Henry's few supporters, and their being found on opposite sides shows that the feudal tie was severed. 87 It is perhaps fitting that in the early years of the reign of the great legis- lator Edward I the history of Staffordshire should be concerned with a famous lawsuit, which not only is a good illustration of the litigation of the time, but was important in the annals of the county. In the second year of the reign Robert de Ferrers, the staunch opponent of Henry III, sued Edmund Crouchback, the late king's son, to whom all Ferrers' lands, with two ex- ceptions, had been given, that he might redeem his lands according to the Dictum de Kenilworth. This was an agreement drawn up between Henry and his tenants in chief during the siege of Kenilworth, by which those who had been disin- herited might upon submission recover their estates, and was published on 31 October, 1266. In it was a special clause by which Ferrers was to pay seven years' revenue and give up his castles. 88 Edmund appeared and said that Ferrers could not claim the benefit of the Dictum de Kenilworth, since after it was passed he had offered of his own free will to redeem his lands and himself from prison for 50,000 ; an enormous sum when its present value is considered, and especially considering that the annual value of the Earl of Derby's estates at this time was put at jf^ooo. 89 This sum was to be paid by the Quindene of St. John the Baptist, and if not paid then Edmund was to hold the land until it was paid, and he 81 Coll. (Salt Arch. Soc.), viii (2), 5. ra Dugdale, Baronage, 263 ; Ann. Mon. (Rolls Ser.), iii, 230. 94 Ann. Man. (Rolls Ser.), ii, 370 ; Mosley, Hist, of Tutbury, 16. Robert de Ferrers, though hostile to the king, was not a loyal supporter of the barons ; Rishangcr says of him, ' fidus nee Regi nee Baronibus' ; Chnn. and Ann. (Rolls Ser.), 13. In the summer of 1263 he marched about the country plundering and burning indiscriminately. He incurred the hostility of Simon de Montfort at Lewes and was imprisoned by him ; Engl. Hist. Rev. x, 3 I. 85 Coll. (Salt Arch. Soc.), viii, 4. " Ann. Mon. (Rolls Ser.), ii, 365. 87 Coll. (Salt Arch. Soc.), viii, 6. M Stubbs, Const. Hist, ii, too. 89 Dugdale, Baronage, i, 265. 228