+Knightly.+
BERKELEY OF BERKELEY CASTLE, EARL OF BERKELEY 1679; BARON BERKELEY
1416.
[Illustration] Pre-eminent among the Norman aristocracy is the house
of Berkeley, and more especially remarkable from being the only
family in England in the male line retaining as their residence
their ancient Feudal Castle. This great family are descended from
Hardinge, who fought with William at the battle of Hastings; and
whose son, Robert Fitzhardinge, received the lordship and castle of
Berkeley from Henry II., in reward for his fidelity to the Empress
Maude and her son. His son and successor Maurice married Alice,
daughter of Roger de Berkeley, the former and dispossessed owner of
Berkeley.
Younger branches. The Berkeleys of Cotheridge and Spetchley, both in
Worcestershire, and both descended from Thomas, fourth son of James
fifth Lord Berkeley, and Isabel, daughter of Thomas Mowbray, Duke of
Norfolk. (Nash's Worcestershire, i. 258.)
For Berkeley of Stoke-Gifford in this county, and of Bruton, co.
Somerset, (Lords Berkeley of Stratton,) both extinct, see Blore's
Rutlandshire, p, 210; for Berkeley of Wymondham, also extinct, see
Nichols's Leicestershire, ii. pt. 1. p. 413; for Berkeley-Portman of
Bryanston, co. Dorset, see Hutchins's Dorset, i. 154.
For Berkeley Genealogy, see Leland's Itinerary, vi. fo. 49, &c.; for
Charters of the Berkeleys, with their seals copied from the
originals at Berkeley Castle, see MSS. Reg. Coll. Oxon. cxlix., and,
above all, Fosbroke's "Abstracts and Extracts of Smyth's Lives of
the Berkeleys," admirably illustrative of the ancient manners of our
old landed families.
ARMS.--_Gules, a chevron between ten crosses patée argent_. The
original arms were, _Gules, a chevron argent_, and were so borne by
Moris de Barkele, in the reign of Henry III. The present coat was
used by Sir Moris in the reigns of Edward II. and III. and Richard
II. His son, during his father's life, differenced his arms by _a
label azure_; Sir Thomas de Berkeley used "_rosettes_" instead of
crosses; Sir John de Berkeley, _Gules, a chevron argent between
three crosses patée or_. (Roll of Edw. II. &c.)
See for the differences in the Berkeley coat, Camden's Remains, ed.
1657, p. 226.
Present Representative, Thomas Morton Fitz-Hardinge Berkeley, 6th
Earl of Berkeley.
+Gentle.+