8. Drama at Merevale-Staffordshirte

The Drama at the Abbey of Merevale.

The knight-effigy of Sir William Ferrers, Lord Tutbury, the 5th Earl of Derby ( died at Acre in 1194-97 A.D.)

Post 6c shows this effigy which is located, as shown at post 6b, inside the Gate-Church of Our Lady of Merevale, which is the only original structure left from the destruction of the imposing Abbey/Monastery ( see post 6 ) ordered by King Henry VIII ( the welsh boar ), the Gate House having been rebuilt later-on by the Dugdale family ( who probably courted favour with Henry VIII for personal gain and aggrandisement, acquiring lands at Merevale ) in order to enclose the rich farming grounds developed on the ancient Abbey-grounds ( originally known in their wild undeveloped state as the Forest of Arden ) donated to the Cistercians by the third generation of british/morman Ferrers in Britain, later-on grabbed by King Henry VIII. Incidentally, the Ferrers remained faithful to their ancient and original Faith of Roman Catholicism, without subscribing to its southern excesses, aberrations and distortions. To them this was also a matter of ancestral loyalty and continuity that alone can ensure a healthy and civilized state of being. One should in fact not betray one's native Faith but try to reform it from the inside, if not happy with it, leaving the final move to God. What the Protestants have really achieved is the weakening through its fragmentation, of Christianity and consequently of the western civilization, a fact for which we are probably all be going to suffer in the end, if further breackdown in our civilization shall occur, God perhaps willing it to be so in order to rebuild it. In fact, it is highly probable that one of Henry VIII's motivations, in destroying these Cistercian-Abbeys, linked as these were to the knights-Templar's Order, was the search for hidden treasures and scriptural documents of the type Sir Laurence Gardner refers to in his books on the Sacred Line of the Holy-Grail-Kings to which Henry VIII also belonged, however in a madly, undeserving and treacherous liaison ( He was a highly bastardized, defective-mix of saxon and other barbaric strains ). His main motivation in attacking the uncompromising ( in his case ) Roman Catholic Church centered on his desperate desire to procreate a male heir [ he placed the blame for failure on his wives whom he had judicially murdered], hopelessly so, since his reproductive system had been damaged from syphilis and debauchery, and only female-children could survive, however condemned to infertility. The church ( actually a chapel ) is now inside the Gate-House but had originally been outside it, to be used by visitors of the Abbey/Monastery.

The effigy has been incorrectly identified in the past, and I suspect the possibility of malice in this failure as I intend to explain, resulting from surviving anti-Ferrers feelings elicited by the events at Merevale, in the times of Henry VIII. First of all, the effigy has been mutilated, its head and legs having been broken off The description of its identity contained in the small white rectangle of cardboard visible in the photo at post6c, reads -:

"The 13th Century knight is presumed to be William, Earl Ferrers of Chartley, who died in St. Neots after a fall from his bier in 1254".
My identification is-:

"The 12th Century knight is presumed to be William Ferrers, the 5th Earl of Derby, a crusading knight-Templar who died at the siege of Acre in ca. 1194-97, in the service of his liege King Richard I (The Lion Heart )".

My identification centers on the striking similarity between William, the 5th Earl of Derby's effigy ( shown at post 6c ) and the one of Geoffrey de Mandeville, shown at post 6d. The two effigies must have been made by the same artist, since William and Geoffrey lived at the same time during the struggles for Magna Carta. It is almost certain ( as shown by the Templar symbolic language used in the carving of his effigy, which is the same as that visible in William's effigy ) that Mandeville also participated in the same Crusade held by Richard I, in which William had participated, Mandeville returning however to Britain to fight King John.

The lack of a reference to the fact the effigy is of a crusading knight Templar, is clearly an injustice owing to the failure to make explicit the symbolic message which is the fundamental goal of the effigy and the desire, expectation and last will of the dead knight, either through ignorance ( I cannot believe it could be ignorance as this would reflect poorly on English scholarship and archeological circles which are supposed to be outstanding ) or malice( as the result of the Drama at Merevale and the lingering-on tradition of slight, insult and general ill-will generated in the past against this noble family I intend to defend, so help me God Almighty! I have also witnessed expressions of good-will and memories towards the Ferrers in other Counties such as for example at Higham-Ferrers in Nottinghamshire and at Tutburie on the border with Derbyshire where Ferrers-schools are still being funded through ancient Ferrers's grants. One criterion to judge the quality of the ancient administration of a County is by looking at the quality of housing built in those ancient times and the Ferrers' places are outstanding in this respect.. So, lay-off will you? By rights William's effigy should be located among those of his piers and Templar-brethren at the London Temple Court Church, however the scenario at Merevale is so beautiful and magic that I might agree it should remain there. However heraldic recognition and commemoration should be displayed inside the church, which I suggested to authorities but was discouraged through a total lack of response.

The identification on the effigy is also wrongly worded, as Chartley has never been linked to the Eardom of Derby which was lost to the Crown, through the rebellion of the 8th and last Earl, Robert in the struggle for the Dispensations of Westminster and Oxford which paved the way later-on to the institution of Parliament. Chartley and Groby were subsequently linked to newly acquired Baronies which allowed the Ferrers to continue as active members of the English nobility, until to-day. The fall at St.Neots' bridge occurred when William the 7th Earl of Derby, who suffered from gouts, had in his old age to be carried around on a chair. Mentioning such a trivial matter is ridiculous, malicious, and belittling ( a tabloid hit ) since it shows a desire to draw attention to the genetic ailment that afflicted the 6th, the 7th and the 8th Earls in their old age. Gout is just a form of arthritis and yes, diet influences these ailments. So what? Why not rather mention the fact that he had married in St.Thomas' in Canterbury or that he had gone to the Holy Land in pilgrimage with the Earl of Chester in 1218?

I found another similar slur on the Ferrers on a walking guide for the Midlands, sold at the Bookshop at Coventry Cathedral. In relation to the Manor at Baddesley-Clinton in Warwickshire, acquired by the Ferrers through a marriage to the heiress of the Broome family, it so happened that the Broome father-in-law killed a Priest he had judged to have found in a compromising scene with his wife. The book misreported the event stating the Ferrers-son-in-law had done so. Another such instance of malice is the famous trial by his piers and punishment by public hanging of a Ferrers in the eighteenth century, known in Law as the Ferrers-case, guilty of having shot one of his stewards. By then, the Ferrers' surname and titles had been passed on to and through several houses by Ferrers-female heiresses. The murderer had in fact been principally a Shirley ( the Shirley had originally been a skilled and gifted saxon family of millers, employed by the Ferrers, called Siwalis who began their social climb from the times of William the Conqueror on the Ferrers' back, gradually becoming squires, knight, etc., to-day sitting in the House of Lords with the title of Earl Ferrers ( newly created in 1711 as a recognition of the wisdom in the commemoration of this historical surname ), secondarily a Ferrers, yet his secondary surname became sacrificially linked with the case in preference to the principal one. These apparently trivial issues are indicative of some malice directed to this great and noble family, a malice which is unworthy of the british character and tradition, which is gradually disappearing from the fabric of our democratic societies, including our Australian one.

I have mentioned my findings to several authorities in the U.K.( I even wrote to the BBC ) and have been totally ignored, without even the benefit of the courtesy of an acknowledgment of the receival of my message. I also wrote to the Department of Medieval History at the Melbourne University without any answer at all. What sort of persons are we dealing with to-day? These persons should be handed a pick and shovel and sent to work the fields where they belong. Apparently this is what most English archeologists love to do. Leave the fine intellectual work and judgment to inspired amateurs like me! After all the discoverer of the ruins of Troy and of the jewels of the Court of Priamus was a german amateur called Shliemann!

The fact that such an outstanding and noble monument such as William's effigy is, could be so easily neglected and misrepresented makes one think how many times this must have happened in history to documents, scriptural documents, the characters of persons with a high value and worth as referential witnesses, historical facts, events and scenarios, etc. This lends strength to our dear Sir Laurence Gardner's utterings, disclosures and warnings. Byeeeeeeee!