CHAPTER XVI.

THE PERCIES.

AFTER the constant reference that has been made to some of the actions of this noble family, it is become necessary to say a little about personages who were of so much importance in the times when they lived. Yet it is a most difficult subject to approach, since it opens the whole range of English history. In fact, it would require the extent of a separate work to do any thing like justice to the character of men whose magnanimity and valour have rendered them so celebrated in our national annals, whilst little short of the inspiration of a poet could set it forth in the language it deserves.

For reasons that will be sufficiently obvious, I shall not attempt to discharge either of these duties; but rather confine myself to the statement of a few facts bearing on their general biography, more particularly upon such of its portions as relate to transactions occurring in the north of England, or otherwise illustrative of some circumstances already noticed.

That the race of Percy boasts of a descent from a remote age, is a fact sufficiently authenticated. It was of Norman extraction, known to have been of consequence when William I. sailed on his expedition to invade this kingdom; and had been ennobled some generations previously, by possessing the Earldoms of Caux and Poitiers.

There seems good ground for believing that the Percies were originally settled at a place so called in Normandy, and that, according to the common usage, they adopted its The commune, one of the most extensive in the de

name.

partment of La Manche, is situated in the arrondissement of St. Lo, on a postal line betwixt that city and Villedieu. Lying out of the direct route of any towns of consideration, unless the traveller is seeking Avranches, it is little visited, and few Englishmen pass in this direction. Yet the district is lovely; and the prospect of examining the numerous and impressive buildings at Mount St. Michael, at the end of the journey (if they can stop without pressing onwards to Brittany) is very inviting, and will amply repay them for any fatigue, and almost any expense, they can undergo.

In the early autumn of 1854, I halted at the little village of Percy. It had long been associated in my mind with the illustrious family whose ancestors, some nine centuries ago, made it their residence; and it was with no common feelings of interest that I now, as it were, momentarily rested at the seed-plot of warriors, whose deeds have conferred glory upon the English nation and become enshrined in immortal fame. The houses are few and modern; even the church is later than the Conqueror's time, and though curious-from its detached tower with its angular roof, its gabled chapels and its rude granitic font-it presents no evidences of existence before the middle of the twelfth century. At this time, the Percies were fully established in England, and the manors conferred on them by the Conqueror had rendered them equal to any house both in influence and territorial possessions.

Every vestige of their early residence in Normandy has perished.* The natural features of the country alone remain, and these perhaps are little changed. They continue to offer the sweetest and most diversely combined landscape even beautiful France can boast of; presenting to the view a fertile soil, and deeply wooded glades, and cultured slopes, and sunny hills empurpled over with vineyards, or fragrant orchards bending under their golden fruit — a

green secluded valley, watered by one of the crystal tributaries of the Sienne,

The assured domain of calm simplicity

And pensive quiet.

And such is Percy! and there enchanted I might have lingered on amid its pleasant abstractions, had not the overtaxed indulgence of my two companions hastened these inquiries and speculations to a close; not, however, before they allowed me to exercise the "pencil's silent skill," and to bring away a slight recollection of the church and surrounding scenery.*

1. The first Percy, who came over to England with the Conqueror, was William, who assumed the name of Le Gernons, or Algernon. He obtained from Hugh, first Earl of Chester, the lordship of Whitby, where he founded an abbey for Benedictine monks in honour of God and St. Hilda. This foundation he subsequently cancelled; upon which his brother Serlo made complaint to William II., who enforced its restitution. The Conqueror conferred on William de Percy as many as thirty-two lordships in Lincolnshire and eighty-six in Yorkshire, of which Topclive and Spofforth were part; here the family resided down to the purchase of Alnwick. William de Percy, with Emma de Port his wife, were buried at Whitby, leaving three children, Alan, Geoffrey, and Richard.

2. Alan married Emma, daughter of Gilbert de Gant, Baron of Folkingham, son of Baldwin Earl of Flanders, and nephew to William the Conqueror. He was buried in the Chapter House at Whitby, close to his father and mother. He left five sons, William, Walter, Geoffrey, Henry, and Alan.

3. William de Percy's second son,† Richard, succeeded. He left an only son, William, married to Adelidis de Tunbridge, by whom he had six children; Agnes, the youngest, surviving all the rest. She became a great heiress, and, as is supposed, about 1168, married Josceline de Louvaine,

Only two days previously I had visited, with Lord Charles and Mr. Hastings Russell, the ducal cradle of their ancestors at Rosel, near Caen. This little village bears a strong resemblance to some of those on the outskirts of Northamptonshire, both in the neglected condition of the people and their common occupation

of lace-making. The church is interest-
ing in itself, and becomes more so from
the fact of his Grace the Duke of Bed-
ford having presented to it a fine bell, in
memory of his ancestral line that sprang
from Rosel before the Conquest.

See their charters, Appendix 6.
See their charters, Appendix 7.