My lord Ferrers (6)

On 5 April 1264 Henry III defeated the baronial rebels at Northampton, capturing over eighty knights. These included Earl Simon’s heir, Simon junior, who was thrown from his horse into a ditch. He was scooped up and dumped before his kinsman Edward, who said “hello, cousin.” Probably.

Among the prisoners was William de Ferrers, younger brother to Earl Robert. Also taken were Andrew Jarpunville, an associate of the earl, and Richard de Irenchester, one of his Berkshire tenants.

The presence of these men at Northampton, even if Robert himself was absent, strongly implies the earl was still an active supporter of the barons. The earl’s absence can be explained by the threat to his own lands.

After the battle, Henry sent Edward to ravage the Ferreres estates in Derbyshire and Staffordshire. The Westminster chronicle notes:

“…the prince laid waste with fire and sword the lands of Robert de Ferrers, earl of Derby, and overthrew his castle of Tutbury, and committed miserable destruction in it.”

This raid has been interpreted as Edward pursuing a private vendetta against Ferrers. That is contradicted by the sources, which make it clear he was acting at his father’s command. It was really part of a two-pronged assault on rebel lands: while Edward attacked the Ferrers estates, Henry marched on Nottingham, ‘ravaging the manors of the barons in all directions with fire and sword.”

That’s a whole lot of fire and sword, or vice versa.