James Bertie, 1st Earl of Abingdon

James
Earl of Abingdon Baron Norreys
The 1st Earl of Abingdon. (Godfrey Kneller)
Spouse(s)	Eleanora Lee Catherine Chamberlayne
Issue Montagu Venables-Bertie, 2nd Earl of Abingdon Hon. James Bertie Hon. Henry Bertie Lady Bridget Bertie Lady Anne Bertie
Father	Montagu Bertie, 2nd Earl of Lindsey
Mother	Bridget Wray, 4th Baroness Norreys
Born	(1653-06-16)16 June 1653
Died	22 May 1699(1699-05-22) (aged 45)

James Bertie, 1st Earl of Abingdon (16 June 1653 – 22 May 1699), styled Hon. James Bertie until 1657 and known as the 5th Baron Norreys from 1657 until 1682, was an English nobleman.

Bertie was the eldest son of Montagu Bertie, 2nd Earl of Lindsey by his second wife, Bridget Bertie (née Wray), 4th Baroness Norreys. The Earl of Lindsey was a royalist of impeccable credentials, and the head of an influential Lincolnshire family. While James' position as a sixth son might have limited his prospects, upon his mother's death c.1657, he became the 5th Baron Norreys of Rycote. Together with the peerage, he inherited from his mother considerable estates, including the manors of Rycote,Albury,Wendlebury,Chesterton,Dorchester,Thame,Beckley and Horton in Oxfordshire, and Wytham,Cumnor and Frilsham, all then in Berkshire. These extensive estates would provide him with a base of political power in Oxfordshire. The marriage in the early 1650s of his half-sister Bridget to Sir Thomas Osborne would also prove of great advantage to the Berties, as Osborne rose to become Duke of Leeds and one of the eminent politicians of the later Stuart era. Osborne was on particularly good terms with Lord Norreys, and often stayed and hunted with him at Rycote.

On 1 February 1671/2, Norreys married Eleanor Lee at Adderbury. She was the elder daughter and coheir of Sir Henry Lee, 3rd Baronet and his wife Ann Danvers, both of whom had died in 1659. The Danvers estates were left in trust for Eleanor and her sister Ann, who married Thomas Wharton in 1673; Eleanor's aunt Elizabeth, wife of Robert Villiers, later Danvers, was also a beneficiary, but the trustees bought out her share in the year of Ann's marriage. Litigation arose between Norreys, Wharton, and their wives over the trust, and a partition of the estates in 1681 made Abingdon, as he then was, and his wife the sole owners of the manors of West Lavington,Marden, and Patney, Wiltshire; they also received Anne's share in the manor of Westbury, Wiltshire. The manor of Bradenstoke was divided between Anne and her aunt Elizabeth until 1683, when Abingdon bought out Elizabeth's interest.