they stood to each other. Erneis, who appears to have been the more
considerable personage of the two, held numerous manors in the
counties of York and Lincoln. In the Domesday Book, Ralph, the
direct ancestor of the poet, ranks high among the tenants of the
Crown, in Notts and Derbyshire; in the latter county he resided at
Horestan Castle, from which he took his title. One of the lords of
Horestan was a hostage for the payment of the ransom of Richard Coeur
de Lion; and in the time of Edward I., the possessions of his
descendants were augmented by the addition of the Manor of Rochdale,
in Lancashire. On what account this new grant was given has not been
ascertained; nor is it of importance that it should be.

In the wars of the three Edwards, the de Byrons appeared with some
distinction; and they were also of note in the time of Henry V. Sir
John Byron joined Henry VII. on his landing at Milford, and fought
gallantly at the battle of Bosworth, against Richard III., for which
he was afterwards appointed Constable of Nottingham Castle and Warden
of Sherwood Forest. At his death, in 1488, he was succeeded by Sir
Nicholas, his brother, who, at the marriage of Arthur, Prince of
Wales, in 1501, was made one of the Knights of the Bath.

Sir Nicholas died in 1540, leaving an only son, Sir John Byron, whom
Henry VIII. made Steward of Manchester and Rochdale, and Lieutenant
of the Forest of Sherwood. It was to him that, on the dissolution of
the monasteries, the church and priory of Newstead, in the county of
Nottingham, together with the manor and rectory of Papelwick, were
granted. The abbey from that period became the family seat, and
continued so until it was sold by the poet.

Sir John Byron left Newstead and his other possessions to John Byron,