hence they produced the elements of their own abolition: for, while the lords, as they had all the service and wealth of their vassals, were likewise liable to maintain them and their sequels, so they became the more willing to manumit and set them free on easy terms. It is, however, under these circumstances of reciprocal domination and vassalage, that the tenantry of Worksop must be contemplated before the conquest, and for some centuries afterwards. How far its lords exercised this degrading superiority, with the tyranny common to their order, or with a more paternal regard to the welfare of their inferiors, we have no very determinate evidence: the little which we do know of the character of the De Lovetots, must be admitted to depose favourably for their memories. CHAPTER II. Worksop and its Lords, De Busli, the Lovetots, the Furnivals, Ir will now be proper to identify the progress of our history, with some notice of the families, which, under the above denominations, have successively included Worksop among their great northern possessions, for a period of more than 500 years, reckoning from the ownership of the first De Busli, to the alliance between the heiress of Talbot and the illustrious house of Norfolk. A memoir at large, of any one of these great families, would occupy ten times as much space, as I can afford to devote to my notices of the whole; which must, therefore, be confined chiefly to the direct lineal succession through each house, and to such members thereof, as circumstances may appear to connect more immediately with the History of Worksop. It may be interesting to the reader, as well as illustrative of the subsequent details, to exhibit at one view the direct line of descent through these families; the following sketch, therefore, is abstracted from the most authentic pedigrees : Thomas de Furnival, second son and heir, dead, Bertha, living 1279. anno 1279. William Lord Furnival, brother and heir of Tho-Thomasine, dau. and heir of Dagworth, co. Norfolk. mas, died without male issue 1383. Arms. Gules, a lion rampant, within a border engrailed or. Crest. On a chapeau gules, turned up ermine, a lion sta tant, tail extended, or. Support George, fourth Earl of Shrewsbury, died=Ann, dau. of Lord Hastings. ers, two Talbots argent. Motto. Prest d'accomplir. 1539. Francis, fifth Earl of Shrewsbury, died 1560. George, sixth Earl of Shrewsbury, died 1590. Eliz. dau. and co-heir of Sir Rich. Mary, dau. of Thomas Lord Dacre. Gertrude Manners, dau. of Earl of Rutland. Gilbert, seventh Earl of Shrewsbury, died, without-Mary, dau. of Sir William Cavendish, of Chatsworth. male issue, 1616. Edward, eighth Earl of Shrewsbury, brother to the preceding, died, without issue, 1617. Jane, eldest dau. and co-heir of Cuthbert Lord Ogle. Howard. Thomas, Earl of Arundel and Surrey, by his mar-Alathea Talbot, youngest dau. and co-heir. riage with this lady, became possessed of the manor of Worksop, and other great estates. ROGER DE BUSLI. The reader has already seen, that the manor of Worksop was held, after the conquest, by Roger de Busli, the friend and favourite of the Conqueror: but by what means it came to the Lovetots, is far from being satisfactorily ascertained. Popular writers, on the authority of Thoroton, have generally contented themselves with stating, that Emma, the wife of William de Lovetot, was the daughter of Roger, a feudal tenant of De Busli. The probability of this supposition (for it is nothing more,) is disparaged by Mr. Hunter, with considerable effect. "Thoroton," says he, "has an unsuccessful conjecture, that the interest which the Lovetots obtained in the north, was by the marriage of William, with the daughter and heir of Roger, who is mentioned in the Doomsday survey of Worksop, and whom he supposes to be homo, or tenant of De Busli; while, in fact, the Roger, whose name so often occurs in the survey of De Busli's fee, was not any subinfeuded person of that name, but the lord-paramount himself. Nor is any stress to be laid upon the deference which appears to be paid to the wife of this William de Lovetot, in the foundationcharter of the monastery of Worksop. The donations made to that house are said to have been • concessione et consideratione Emmæ uxoris;' but such clauses are usual in the charters of that age and nature; and it immediately follows, that the deed was executed with like consent of his sons."* Mr. Hunter, with great deference, offers a conjecture, that the Ricardus Surdus of the Doomsday survey, may be the direct ancestor of the house of De Lovetot; and the reader, who wishes to see what may be said upon this subject, will find the passage, in connection with the extract abovequoted, from Hallamshire. By whatever means the immense possessions of De Busli came into the hands of WILLIAM DE LOVETOT, the next Norman lord of Worksop, the succession of the property, and the family descents, become thenceforward clear and indisputable. Of the character and actions of this William, few traces remain. To him must be attributed the erection of the castle, the foundation and endowment of the noble church and monastery, the remains of which, together with its charter of privileges, exist to this day, as a testimony to the piety and liberality of his character. At this period, it is reasonable to suppose, that the space between the castle and the monastery, where the town now stands, would be selected as the site of such dwellings as the inhabitants might require, or be then able to erect: these were, no doubt, clumsily constructed of timber, wattled, and plastered with clay, and probably covered with sods or sedges; for, whatever progress the Anglo-Saxons might have made in architecture, and however much the Normans might improve it, by their erection of castles and monasteries, yet it was chiefly confined to those structures, and it was long, very long, before the feudal barbarity of the times suffered it to operate, with any advantage, in the construction of private dwellings. Thoroton says of this William, that "he had Sheffield, in Hallamshire, in the county of York, and was a principal man in Huntingdonshire, where he left a barony to his second son Nigellus." He was likewise the founder of the parish church of Sheffield, and of an hospital there for the sick; which church, as will hereafter be shewn, was annexed to the religious establishment of Worksop. When he died, is uncertain; and where he was buried, might have been left in the same obscurity, but for the rhyming testimony of Pigot the monk, who says,— "Sir William dicest, and was tumulate In the said church, on the north side, On the nederest gree, for his hye estate, He was succeeded by his son, • Hallamshire, p. 25. + Thoroton, iii. 385. + Of Worksop. |