who, having married, in 1359, Beatrice, daughter of the Earl of
Strafford and widow of the Earl of Desmond, was in turn followed by
his son, John de Ros, who dying without issue, was succeeded by his
brother, Sir William de Ros. Sir William was, with Walter, Bishop of
Durham, and the Earl of Northumberland, sent by King Henry IV. to
arrange a treaty of peace with Scotland. He was a favourite with the
King, who gave him many important offices; made him a K.G.; and granted
him the town of Chingford, in Essex. By his wife, Margaret, of the
family of the Earl of Arundel, Sir William had issue five sons and four
daughters. He died at Belvoir Castle in 1414, and was buried in the
choir of that priory, his monument being now at Bottesford. The next
in succession was John de Ros, son of the last named, who came to the
title and estates when only seventeen years of age. He was killed along
with the Duke of Clarence and others in 1421; and, dying without issue,
had for successor his brother, Sir Thomas de Ros, who married Eleanor,
daughter of Richard de Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, by whom he had issue
three sons, of whom his successor, Thomas, Lord Ros, was the eldest,
and who, at his father’s death in 1431, was only four years of age.
This nobleman, Thomas, Baron Ros of Hamlake, Trusbut, and Belvoir, was
by the King put into full possession of his father’s estates when only
eighteen years of age. He married Philippa, eldest daughter of John
de Tiptoft, by whom he had issue one son and four daughters. For his
fidelity to the House of Lancaster in the Wars of the Roses, he was,
with his adherents, attainted in Parliament in 1461, and is said by
Rapin to have been beheaded. His estates were confiscated, and given
to various adherents of the House of York; Lord Hastings receiving
Belvoir and its members. By him Belvoir Castle was utterly despoiled,
he carrying away the lead from the roofs to Ashby-de-la-Zouch, to use
in his own castle there, and rendering the place no better than a ruin.
The next in succession, Edmund, Lord Ros, was by Henry VII. (who had
united the rival houses) restored to his father’s state and dignity;
the attainder was removed; and the Belvoir and other estates returned
to him. He died in 1508, at his house of Elsinges, at Enfield (in the
church at which, place is a noble monument erected to his memory),
without issue, and his estates were divided between his sisters and
co-heiresses—viz. Eleanor, married to Sir Robert Manners, Knight;
and Isabel, married to Sir Thomas Lovel. Belvoir, with Hamlake in
Yorkshire, and Orston in Nottinghamshire, being the portion of the
elder sister, Eleanor, thus passed into the hands of the family of
Manners, in whom it has remained in unbroken succession to the present
hour. The manor of Elsinges, which had passed to Sir Thomas Lovel,
as part of his wife’s portion, was bequeathed by him to the Earl of
Rutland.
[Illustration: _Ancient Arms of Manners._]
This Sir Robert Manners, who, as we have said, acquired Belvoir through
his marriage with one of the co-heiresses of the last Lord de Ros, was
descended from a long line of Manners’ of Northumberland. The earliest
of these of whom there is direct evidence was Sir Robert Manners, lord
of the manor of Ethale, in Northumberland, from whom descended another
Sir Robert, who married Philippa, daughter of Sir Bartholomew de Mont
Bouchier, by whom he had issue a son, also named Robert, who married
Hawise, daughter of Robert, Baron de Muschamp, in the reign of Henry
I. Their great-grandson, another Sir Robert Manners, married Agnes,
daughter of Sir David Coupland. Their son, Sir Robert, had issue by his
wife, Joan de Heton, four sons, three of whom dying without issue, the
second son, William Manners, inherited the estates. He married Ellen,
or Janetta, daughter of David Bagster, of Derby, by whom he had a son,
Sir Robert Manners.
This Sir Robert was returned, in the seventeenth year of Edward III.,
as one of the principal persons in the county of Northumberland, and
was entitled to bear arms by descent. In the first year of Edward’s
reign, being governor of Norham Castle, he distinguished himself by
his successful defence of that stronghold against the Scots, who,
“despising King Edward’s youth, on the very night of that day on
which King Edward was crowned, intended to take Norham Castle by
surprise; and so well managed their design that about sixteen of them
had already mounted the walls. But the captain, Sir Robert Manners,
being warned of the matter beforehand by one of his garrison, who
was a Scotsman, had so well prepared to receive them, that of those
who had mounted he took five or six, and put the rest to the sword,
their companions below, upon this disappointment, retiring.” In the
next year he was constituted one of the “conservators of the truce
made with the Scots for all hostilities to cease.” Soon afterwards
he was made sheriff of the county of Selkirk, and appointed to keep
and defend the forts of Selkirk and Ettrick, &c. In the fourteenth of
the same reign he represented Northumberland in Parliament, and again
subdued Scotch incursions. Soon afterwards he obtained a license from
the King “to strengthen and embattle his dwelling-house at Ethale,
in Northumberland, with a wall made of stone and lime, and to hold
the same to himself and his heirs for ever.” The next year he was
constituted one of the commissioners to treat with David Bruce and his
adherents for a peace, and subsequently was made Lord of the Marches.
At the battle of Neville’s Cross in 1346, under Queen Philippa, in
which the Scottish king was taken prisoner, Sir Robert displayed great
valour, and was intrusted to keep charge of the prisoners, and deliver
them to the Constable at the Tower of London. He died in 1355, leaving
his son and heir, John de Manners (by his wife, Aliva, or Alice,
daughter of Henry Strather), only one year and three weeks old.
[Illustration: _Belvoir Castle from the North-west, showing the Grand
Entrance._]
This John Manners received the honour of knighthood, and married Alice,
widow of William de Whitchester; and, dying in 1402, was succeeded by
his son, Sir John Manners, who was sheriff of Northumberland, and, with
his son John, was accused of the murder of William Heron and Robert
Atkinson, or Akyman. They were prosecuted by Sir Robert de Umphreville,
and Isabel, widow of William Heron, and were ordered to “cause 500
masses to be sung for the health of the soul of the same William
Heron within one year then next ensuing, and pay unto Sir Robert de
Umphreville, and Isabel, to the use of the said Isabel and her children
by Heron, 200 marks.” He was succeeded by his son Robert, who married
Joan, daughter of Sir Robert Ogle, and had issue by her, with others, a
son, Robert, by whom he was succeeded. This was the Sir Robert Manners
who married Eleanor, daughter of Thomas, Lord Ros, as already shown.
Sir Robert Manners had issue by his wife, Eleanor Ros, three daughters,
who each married into the family of Fairfax, and two sons. The elder
of these sons was Sir George Manners, who, on the death of his mother,
became Lord Ros or Roos, and was also lineal heir to the baronies of
Vaux, Trusbut, and Belvoir.
* * * * *
[Illustration: _Augmented Arms of Manners._]
MARRYING Anne, only daughter and heiress of Sir Thomas St. Leger,
by his wife Anne, daughter of Richard, Duke of York, and sister to
King Edward IV., and widow of John Holland, Duke of Exeter, this lady
brought royal blood into the family. By her Sir George had a numerous
family, the eldest of whom, Thomas, succeeded him.
This Sir Thomas Manners, on the death of his father, became thirteenth
Lord Ros, of Hamlake, and Baron Trusbut, Riveaulx, and Belvoir. He was
with Henry VIII. and his queen at the celebrated interview between that
monarch and the King of France at Guisnes, and in the same reign was
made Warden of the East Marches, and had many other honours granted
him. In the seventeenth year of the same monarch he was created Earl
of Rutland—“a title which none but royal family had ever borne, and
by reason of his descent from the sister of King Edward IV. had an
augmentation to his ancient arms.” The old arms were—_or_ two bars
_azure_, and a chief _gules_; which chief was augmented thus quarterly
_azure_ and _gules_, in the first and fourth two fleurs-de-lis and in
the second and third a lion passant guardant, all _or_. He was also
installed a Knight of the Garter. A few years later this nobleman
was present at the second interview between Henry VIII. and Francis
I.; he was also present at the marriage of his sovereign with the
ill-fated Anne Boleyn; and, later on, attended Anne of Cleves to
England, and was made her chamberlain. He was made Chief Justice in
Eyre of all the King’s lands north of the Trent, and obtained grants
of the manors of Muston, Waltham, Croxton, Upwell, Bilsdale, Helmsley,
Outwell, Elm, Emneth, Branston, &c., and lands belonging to several
dissolved monasteries. He rebuilt Belvoir Castle, and removed many of
the monuments from the dissolved priories of Croxton and Belvoir to
Bottesford, where he himself was buried in 1543. His lordship—who took
part in most of the events of this stirring reign, and held numerous
important offices—married twice: first, Elizabeth, daughter of Sir
Robert Lovel; and second, Eleanor, daughter of Sir William Paston, by
the latter of whom only he had issue. To the eldest and second of that
issue we now refer.
The eldest son, Henry Manners, succeeded his father, in 1543, as second
Earl of Rutland. He continued the rebuilding of Belvoir Castle, and was
made Constable of Nottingham Castle, Chief Justice in Eyre of Sherwood
Forest, &c. He was married twice: first, to Margaret, daughter of the
fourth Earl of Westmoreland, by whom he had issue; and second, to
Bridget, daughter of Lord Hussey, by whom he had no children. He was
succeeded by his eldest son, Edward Manners, as third Earl of Rutland,
who, dying without male issue, was succeeded by his brother, John
Manners (the second son of the second earl), as fourth Earl of Rutland.
This nobleman married Elizabeth, daughter of Francis Charlton, of
Apsley, by whom he had issue, with others, three sons—Roger Manners,
Sir Francis Manners, and Sir George Manners—who successively became
fifth, sixth, and seventh Earls of Rutland. All these dying without
surviving male issue, the title passed to the descendants of the second
son of the first Earl, as we shall now show.
Sir John Manners, second son of the first Earl of Rutland, and
great-grandson of the sister of King Edward IV., became, before he
was knighted, attached to Dorothy Vernon, the youngest daughter and
co-heiress of Sir George Vernon of Haddon Hall, known as “the King of
the Peak,” and so effectually wooed and won her, that he at length
carried her off on horseback into his own county of Leicester, and
there married her. By this marriage Haddon Hall, and the Derbyshire
property of the “King of the Peak,” passed into the family of Manners.
Sir John Manners had issue by his wife, Dorothy Vernon, three sons—Sir
George, who succeeded him; John, who died at the age of fourteen;
and Sir Roger, of Whitwell; and one daughter, Grace, who married Sir
Francis Fortescue, of Salden. Sir George Manners, their son, married
Grace, daughter of Sir Henry Pierrepoint, and sister to the Earl
of Kingston, by whom he had issue, with others, John Manners, his
eldest son, who not only succeeded him, but also succeeded his cousin
George, seventh Earl of Rutland, in his title and estates, and thus
became eighth Earl of Rutland. He married Frances, daughter of Edward,
Lord Montague of Boughton, by whom he had issue four sons and seven
daughters. He was sheriff of Derbyshire in the ninth and eleventh years
of Charles I., and also represented that county in Parliament. His
lordship was attached to the Parliamentary interest during the civil
wars, and was one of the twenty-two peers who remained at Westminster
when the King summoned both Houses to attend him at Oxford. As a
consequence, his castle of Belvoir was seized by the Royalists, and
was held by them and Sir Gervase Lucas, and here the King frequently
resided. It was finally surrendered to the Parliamentarians in January,
1645-6. In 1649 the castle was demolished, by consent of the Earl, who
soon afterwards set about rebuilding it, which he completed in 1668.
During this time the Earl lived principally at Haddon Hall, where he
died in 1679, and was succeeded by his third and only surviving son,
John Manners, as ninth Earl of Rutland.
This nobleman was born in 1638, and, in 1679 was created a peer in his
own right by the title of Baron Manners of Haddon; and in September of
the same year, his father dying, he became Earl of Rutland. When twenty
years of age he had married the Lady Anne Pierrepoint, daughter of the
Marquis of Dorchester, from whom he was afterwards divorced; and he
married, secondly, Lady Diana Bruce, widow of Sir Seymour Shirley, and
daughter of the Earl of Aylesbury, who died in child-bed. His lordship
married, thirdly, Catherine, daughter of Baptist Noel, Viscount Camden,
by whom only he had surviving issue. In 1703 the Earl was raised to the
highest dignity in the realm, by the titles of Marquis of Granby and
Duke of Rutland. He died in January, 1710-11, aged seventy-three, and
was succeeded by his only surviving son, John Manners.
John, second Duke of Rutland, when scarcely seventeen years of age,
was married to Katherine, second daughter of Lord William Russell,
who was beheaded in 1683. He then bore the title of Lord Roos; and
the wedding festivities seem, judging from some curious letters still
extant concerning them, to have been of the most lavishly extravagant
character. This lady, who was sister to the Duchess of Devonshire and
to the Duke of Bedford, gave birth to five sons and four daughters, and
died in child-bed in 1711. The Duke married, secondly, Lucy, daughter
of Lord Sherard, and sister of the Earl of Harborough, by whom also he
had issue six sons and two daughters. His grace died in 1721, and was
succeeded, as third Duke of Rutland, by his eldest son, John Manners.
This nobleman, who was born in 1696, married, in 1717, Bridget, only
daughter and heiress of Robert Sutton, Lord Lexington (an alliance that
gave him a large accession of estates), by whom he had issue thirteen
children, nearly all of whom died young. He it was who built the
hunting-seat at Croxton, and made many improvements at Belvoir Castle.
He was the last of the family who made Haddon Hall a residence. The
estates of Lord Lexington having been settled upon the younger branch
of the family, the second and surviving sons, successively, took, by
Act of Parliament, the additional surname of Sutton, and thus founded
the family of Manners-Sutton.
The Duke, who was familiarly known as “Old John of the Hill,” dying
in 1779, was succeeded by his grandson, Charles Manners, son of the
celebrated Marquis of Granby, Commander-in-chief of the British forces
in Germany, and Master of the Ordnance, who died during his father’s
lifetime. Charles, fourth Duke of Rutland, married Mary Isabella,
daughter of Charles Noel, Duke of Beaufort, by whom he had issue four
sons—viz. Lord John Henry (who succeeded him), Lord Charles Henry
Somerset, Lord Robert William, and Lord William Robert Albini; and two
daughters—viz. the Lady Elizabeth Isabella, married to Richard Norman,
Esq., and Lady Catherine Mary, married to Lord Forester. His Grace died
while holding office as Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, and was succeeded
by his eldest son—
John Henry Manners, as fifth Duke of Rutland, who married Elizabeth,
daughter of the Earl of Carlisle, and by her had issue six sons and
five daughters. The sons were—Lord George Henry Manners, to whom King
George III. stood sponsor in person, but who died in infancy; Lord
George John Frederick Manners, to whom the Prince Regent and H.R.H. the
Duke of York stood sponsors in person, but who also died in infancy;
Lord Charles Cecil John Manners (the present Duke of Rutland); Lord
Adolphus Edward Manners, who died in infancy: Lord John James Robert
Manners, M.P., the present eminent statesman and man of letters; and
Lord George John Manners, M.P., who married in 1855 the Lady Adeliza
Matilda Howard, daughter of the thirteenth Duke of Norfolk, and died in
1875. The five daughters were—the Lady Caroline Isabella Manners, who
died in infancy; the Lady Elizabeth Frederica Manners, now the widow
of Andrew Robert Drummond, Esq.; the Lady Emmeline Charlotte Elizabeth
Manners (deceased), married to the Hon. Charles Stuart Wortley; the
Lady Katherine Isabella Manners (deceased), married to Earl Jermyn;
and the Lady Adeliza Gertrude Elizabeth Manners, married to the Rev.
Frederick John Norman, Rector of Bottesford.
The present noble head of the House of Manners is, as we have just
stated, his Grace Charles Cecil John Manners, the sixth Duke of
Rutland, Marquis of Granby, fourteenth Earl of Rutland, Baron Manners
of Haddon, Baron Ros of Hamlake, Baron Trusbut, Riveaulx, and Belvoir,
K.G., &c., the “King of Belvoir,” as he may not inaptly be called, for
his is a regal residence, and he reigns in the hearts of the people
around him. He is, therefore, the direct descendant and representative
in unbroken succession of the grand old standard-bearer of William
the Conqueror, Robert de Todeni, and of the families of De Albini,
Espec, De Ros, and Manners; and by equally direct descent he has
royal blood coursing through his veins. His grace was born in 1815,
and was educated at Eton and at Trinity College, Cambridge, where
he took his M.A. degree in 1835; was M.P. for Stamford from 1837 to
1852, and from that time to his accession to the titles in 1867, for
North Leicestershire; and he was a Lord of the Bed-chamber to the late
Prince Consort. His grace is not married, the heir to his titles,
estates, and revenues being his brother, Lord John Manners, who is a
worthy representative of the long and illustrious line from which he
has sprung. The Duke is patron of twenty-four livings, of which one
is in Rutland, fifteen in Leicestershire, two in Lincolnshire, two in
Cambridgeshire, two in Nottinghamshire, and two in Derbyshire. His
seats are—Belvoir Castle, in Leicestershire; Haddon Hall and Longshawe
Lodge, in Derbyshire; and Cheveley Park, in Cambridgeshire.
Lord John Manners was born in 1818, and in 1851 married Louisa
Catherine, daughter of Colonel Marlay, by whom he had issue one son
(the present Henry John Brinsley Manners), and another who died in
infancy. This lady, dying in 1854, was buried at Rowsley, where
a magnificent monument—one of the happiest efforts of W. Calder
Marshall—has been erected to her memory. His lordship married
secondly, in 1862, Janetta, eldest daughter of Thomas Hughan, Esq., by
whom he has issue several children. Lord John Manners has held many
important offices. He was sworn a Privy Councillor, and appointed First
Commissioner of Works and Buildings, which office he held many years,
and in 1874 was appointed Postmaster-General.
[Illustration: _Arms of Duke of Rutland._]
The arms of the Duke of Rutland are—_or_, two bars, _azure_; augmented
by a chief, quarterly, first and fourth _azure_, two fleurs-de-lis,
_or_ (France), second and third _gules_, a lion passant guardant, _or_
(England). Crest, on a chapeau, _gules_, turned up, _ermine_, a peacock
in pride, _proper_. Supporters, two unicorns, _argent_, horns, manes,
tufts, and hoofs, _or_. Motto, “Pour y parvenir.” The ancient arms of
Manners, before the augmentation, were, _or_, two bars, _azure_, and a
chief, _gules_.
Belvoir Castle, as it now stands, is an erection of the present
century, built upon Norman foundations. As we have already stated, the
first castle was built by Robert de Todeni, standard-bearer to William
the Conqueror, and considerably extended by his successors. In 1461,
or thereabouts, it was despoiled (on the attainder of its noble owner)
by the Lord Hastings, to whom it had been granted by the King. “The
timber of the roof, being” by him “despoiled of the lead with which it
was covered, rotted away; and the soil between the walls at the last
grew full of elders, in which state the castle remained till it was
partially rebuilt by the first Earl of Rutland, and completed by the
second.” On the dissolution of the monasteries, many of the monuments
of the Albini and Ros families were, by order of the first Earl, and
later, by his successor, removed from Belvoir Priory to Bottesford
Church, and others were also brought to the same place from Croxton
Abbey. He commenced the rebuilding of the castle, which was completed
by his son in 1555, “making it a nobler structure than it was before.”
[Illustration: _Belvoir Castle from the North-west._]
In 1619 the singular trial of an old woman, named Joan Flower, of
Belvoir, and her two daughters, Margaret and Philippa, for sorcery, and
causing the deaths of the two sons of the Earl of Rutland, took place,
and resulted in the execution of the two younger “witches,” the old
“monstrous malicious woman,” or “devil incarnate,” as she was styled,
having died as she was being taken to gaol; and the destruction of her
cat, “Rutterkin.” The two sons, whose deaths were laid to the charge
of these miserable victims of superstition, were Henry, Lord Ros, and
Francis Manners, his brother, sons of Francis, sixth Earl of Rutland,
by his second wife, Cecilia, daughter of Sir John Tufton, and widow
of Sir Henry Hungerford. That Joan Flower, aided by her profligate
daughters, did cause the deaths of the two children, and attempt
the lives of the Earl and Countess, probably by poison, seems most
probable, and they were justly punished. The following account of this
singular transaction, printed in 1619, describes—
“Joan Flower as a monstrous woman, full of oaths, curses, and
imprecations; and for any thing they saw by her, a plain atheist.
Besides, of late days, her very countenance was estranged, her eyes
very fiery and hollow, her speech fell and envious, her demeanour
strange and exotic, and her conversation sequestered; so that the
whole course of her life gave great suspicion that she was a
notorious witch; yea, some of her neighbours dared to affirm that
she dealt with familiar spirits, and terrified them all with curses
and threatening of revenge, if there were never so little cause of
displeasure and unkindness. Concerning Margaret, the daughter, that
she often resorted from the castle to her mother, bringing such
provision as they thought was unbefitting for a servant to purloin;
and coming at such unseasonable hours that they could not but
conjecture some mischief between them, and that their extraordinary
riot and expenses tended both to rob the lady and to maintain certain
deboist and base company, which frequented this Joan Flower’s house,
the mother, and especially the youngest daughter. Concerning Philippa,
that she was leudly transported with the love of one Thomas Simpson,
who presumed to say that she had bewitched him, for he had no power
to leave her, and was, as he supposed, marvellously altered both in
mind and body, since her acquainted company. These complaints began
many years before either their conviction or public apprehension.
Notwithstanding, such was the honour of this earl and his lady; such
was the cunning of this monstrous woman, in observation towards them;
such was the subtlety of the devil, to bring his purposes to pass;
such was the pleasure of God, to make trial of his servants; and such
was the effect of a damnable woman’s wit and malicious envy, that
all things were carried away in the smooth channel of liking and
good entertainment, on every side, until the earl refused to give
that credence to her, on some complaint preferred, which he had been
accustomed to give; and the countess discovering in the daughter
Margaret some indecencies of her life, and neglect of her business,
discharged her from lying any more in the castle; dismissing her with
handsome presents, but commanding her to go home. This inflamed the
mother with hatred and rancour towards the earl, and his family.