Earl of Rutland hath made it fairer than ever it was."--_Leland_.

George, eldest son of the above-named Robert Manners, succeeded to his
father's estates, including Belvoir: in his will, a copy of which is
given by Mr. Nichols, dated Oct. 6, 1513, he is styled "Sir George
Manners, knight, Lord Ros." He was interred, with his lady, in a
chantry chapel, founded by his father-in-law, Sir Thomas Ledger, in
the chapel of St. George, at Windsor. His son, Thomas, Lord Ros,
succeeded him, and was created by Henry VIII. a knight, and afterwards
Earl of Rutland, a title which had never before been conferred on
any person but of the blood royal. This nobleman aided Henry in the
dissolution of the monasteries, and for his zeal received from the
monarch several manors and estates. He caused many of the ancient
monuments of the Albinis and the Rosses to be removed from the priory
churches of Belvoir and Croxton to that of Bottesford. He also
restored and in part rebuilt the castle, which had been in ruins since
Hastings's attack. The state of the castle at this period is thus
described by Leland:--"It is a straunge sighte to se be how many
steppes of stone the way goith up from the village to the castel.
In the castel be two faire gates; and the dungeon is a faire rounde
towere now turned to pleasure, as a place to walk yn, and to se al
the counterye aboute, and raylid about the round (wall,) and a garden
(plotte) in the midle. There is also a welle of grete depth in the
castelle, and the spring thereof is very good." Henry, the second Bard
of Rutland, succeeded his father in 1543; and in 1556 was appointed
captain-general of all the forces then going to France, and commander
of the fleet, by Philip and Mary. Edward, the third earl, eldest son
of the former, succeeded in 1563: Camden calls him "a profound lawyer,
and a man accomplished with all polite learning." John, a colonel of
foot in the Irish wars, became fourth earl in 1587, and was followed