RUSSELL, HOUSE OF. The first dukedom of Bedford (q.v.) expired in the person of the great regent of France (in the time of Henry VI.). with whom the present dukes are unconnected_ by affinity. The early descent of the Russells, and their derivation from the Du Rozels of Normandy, have been traced by Mr. Willett in his Memoirs of the House of Russell. This great historical family is said to derive its descent from Olaf, the sharp-eyed king of Rerik, in the 6th c., one of whose descendants, Turstain, a Scandi navian jarl, settled in Normandy, on its conquest by the Northmen, and became pos sessed of the barony of Briquebec, and the castle of Rozel, near Caen. In a charter of Matilda, wife of the conqueror, dated 1066, Hugh de Rozel appears as a witness, and is no doubt the same knight who accompanied William in his invasion of England, and assisted at the battle of Hastings. His name, together with that of his brother, are found on the roll of Battle Abbey. They both accompanied duke Robert of Normandy in the first crusade, where the elder died. The youfiger, Hugh de Rozel, upon his return from the Holy Land, established himself in England, and was the progenitor of sir James Rozel, or Russell (as it had then begun to he called), governor of Corfe Castle in 1221, and of sir W. Russell, who represented Southampton in the first parliament of Edward
H. From the latter Russell directly descended sir John Russell, one of the most valiant soldiers of the age of chivalry. His son, sir John Russell, was speaker of the house of commons in the time of Henry VI. The high fortune and eminence of the house of Russell date from his grandson, JOHN RUSSELL, one of the most accomplished gentlemen of his time, who, in 1538, was elevated to the peerage, under the title of "lord Russell, baron Russell of Cheyneys, co. Buckingham." His son, the second earl, was a person of eminence in queen Elizabeth's reign, and was, like his father, a knight of the garter. The next notable member of the family was EDWARD RUSSELL, who was bred to the sea, and was groom of the bedchamber to the duke of York, afterward James II., but upon William Lord Russell's judicial murder retired from court. Strenuously support ing the revolution, he obtained high naval commands from William III., and distin guished himself as one of the most eminent naval heroes of the period, particularly by his victory over the French fleet at La Hogue in 1692. His cousin was—