Ferrers of Bere Ferrers
Ivor West
Henry de Champernoun might be better understood by looking at the marriage
of William de Champernoun, son of Henry, and Joan de Ferrers, said to be a
daughter of Reginald de Ferrers and Margery le Dennys. Hap Sutliff asked me
a question about the descent of Martin de Ferrers in this line so I sent him
an abbreviated Bere Ferrers line. Hap questioned the position of Joan de
Ferrers as Reginald's daughter as Joan's son Henry de Champernoun was born
in 1271 and therefore Joan was more likely to be the sister of Reginald than
his daughter. Kathie Weigel looked in the Gen-Medieval archive and found
that Todd Farmerie's "hurried" notation of Benson's line (DCNQ, vol 21)
showed Joan as daughter of Reginald (probably the source I had used for the
abbreviated line).
So I have had a closer look at Benson's paper and, as it has wider
ramifications, I have brought the discussion back into SGM. The DCNQ
article shows that Benson was aware that Reginald (born c.1254) was not the
son of Isolda de Cardinham as Henry de Tracy, Isolda de Cardinham's first
husband, was alive at the time (died c.1267). The part where he refers to
Joan, "said to be" the daughter of Reginald, is easy to misread as it
immediately follows upon a comment on Joan de Champernoun, relict of
William. I think he is probably referring to a different Joan, added by
Pole, with the other daughters Isolda and Amy.
That Benson was aware that Joan and Reginald were brother and sister, but of
William de Ferrers and his first wife, is shown by another reference that I
consulted in his paper of the same year (1941) in Trans. Dev. Assoc., vol
73, The Heritage of Prouz, where he discusses the descent of Otterham manor
to the Champernouns. Benson concluded that Joan de Ferrers, who married
William de Champernoun, was the link that brought Otterham to the
Champernouns. He remarks that Joan and Reginald de Ferrers were not the
children of Isolda de Cardinham as both were born before the death of Henry
de Tracy and neither inherited any Cardinham property. He further concludes
that Joan was the sister of Matilda of Otterham and both were daughters of
Matilda of Otterham the elder, the missing first wife of William de Ferrers.
Presumably, Matilda is to be equated with Mabel who is shown to be the wife
of William de Ferrers in Devon Fine 605 of 1256, unless there is a third
wife.
So the relevant part of Benson's Ferrers of Bere Ferrers line shown by Todd
may be revised to look more like :
IV. William de Ferrers, fl. 1253 -1270/9, m.1 Matilda/Mabel of Otterham,
m.2 Isolda de Cardinham, widow of Henry de Tracy (patron of St. Mabyn 1266),
who presented in 1279.
by Matilda/Mabel
1. Matilda
2. Reginald - see next
3. Joan, m. William de Champernowne
by Isolda(?)
4. Roger, d.s.p.
5. Hugh - see below
V. Reginald de Ferrers, fl. 1279, MP 1300, ipm 1305, m. Margery, dau Henry
le Dennys, fl.
1316
1. William - see next
2. Reginald, Parson of Jacobstowe, presented 1308
3. Joan (?)
4. Amy m. Henry Belston
5. Isold m. Oliver Carminow
Benson started his article on Otterham by quoting Hingeston-Randolph's
comment "Matilda, Lady of Otterham, i.e., Matilda Champernowne". Does he
mean by this that she was a daughter, say, of Oliver de Champernowne? It
would make William de Champernowne and Joan de Ferrers cousins.
Footnote 5, Cornwall Fine 222 of 1270, says Isolda de Cardinham had two
sons by William de Ferrers. If these were Roger, dsp 1291 and Hugh of
Churston, they would have been Isolda's heirs. Why then did she dispose of
her capital manors of Cardinham and Botardel to Oliver de Dinant in 1269?
Were Roger and Hugh not yet born? On the other hand, if Hugh and Roger
were,
instead, sons of William de Ferrers and his first wife, perhaps she was
divesting herself of property to her nearest blood relatives.( Her cousins
on her uncle Robert de Cardiham's side were the Treverbyns and on her aunt
Emma de Soligny's's side the Champernownes). One school of thought has said
that the Cardinhams derived from the Dinhams/Dinans. Isolda's father was
Andrew and her grandfather was Robert de Cardinham. Following Laurent and
Yoshiko Ohiers' Dinan lines, her greatgrandfather would be contemporary with
Roland de Dinan-Becherell, d1157, who held Hartland, and his cousin Geoffrey
II de Dinan-Nord, who founded Hartland Abbey. Hartland is only 40 miles from
Cardinham. Is anything known of a closer link with Isolda?
Ivor West