The Ferrers family were a noble Anglo-Norman family that crossed to England with the Norman Conquest and gave rise to a line that would hold the Earldom of Derby for six generations before losing it in rebellion. They also gave rise to several lines that held English peerages, the longest-living going extinct in the male line in the 15th century, as well as a Norman branch of the family that persisted into the 13th century. A French line persisted into the 16th century. Origin The family is first documented holding Ferrières-Saint-Hilaire in Normandy, an important centre for ironworking, perhaps the reason the manor took its name. Their Norman toponymic surname, de Ferrières, evolved into simply de Ferrers, sometimes Latinized as de Ferrariis. Walkelin de Ferrières, the first documented family member, was killed in the civil wars of William II, Duke of Normandy. His son, Henry de Ferrers, was Lord of Longueville in Normandy when he participated in the Norman Conquest of England in 1066. Henry brought three of his feudal followers and tenants to England in his retinue, namely the knights de Curzon (from Notre Dame-de-Courson), the de Baskerville (from Boscherville) and the de Levett (from Livet-en-Ouche), who all subsequently founded prominent English families. Henry was richly rewarded by King William the Conqueror by the grant of 210 manors throughout England and Wales, situated mainly in Derbyshire and Leicestershire. He first served William I in England as the Governor of Stafford Castle and in about 1066 or 1067 he was granted the lands in Berkshire and Wiltshire of the defeated Anglo-Saxon Goderic, the former Sheriff of Berkshire. Henry acted as a Commissioner for the compilation of the Domesday Book of 1086 and was soon appointed the first Anglo-Norman Sheriff of Berkshire. He built Tutbury Castle in Staffordshire, which he adopted as his caput. He also built castles at Duffield and Pilsbury. Henry died 1100 at Tutbury Priory in Staffordshire, where he and his wife Bertha, perhaps a member of the L'Aigle family, had founded Tutbury Priory in 1080. They had at least four children, a daughter Amicia, wife of Nigel d'Aubigny of Cainhoe, and sons William, Engenulph and Robert, who became the first Earl of Derby. Earls of Derby Robert de Ferrers, youngest son of Henry, rose in the service of king Stephen of England, and was awarded the Earldom of Derby after serving as one of Stpehen's commanders at