A HISTORY OF SUFFOLK 



the reeve' {praeposkus), in whom we may, perhaps, recognize Aluric Wanz, 

 appointing new customs for the freemen of the hundreds of Wangford and 

 Lothing, and increasing the king's farm ' in the time of Roger Bigot,' and 

 apparently under his direction, while we have a hint that Hugh de Hosdenc, 

 who in 1086 was a prisoner in the king's hands, had at one time held office, 

 either as sheriff or as reeve on the royal demesne."^ The demesne manors 

 {de regno) of Barrow, which had belonged to King Edward and Badmondis- 

 field, which had been held by Algar, were entrusted to the care of Picot,^^* 

 in all likelihood, if this be Picot the Sheriff of Cambridgeshire,^-' because 

 they are on the western side of the county. 



The forfeiture of Earl Ralph of East Anglia overshadows Suffolk as well 

 as Norfolk, and has set its mark deeply on the Suffolk Survey. The father 

 of Earl Ralph, Ralph the Staller (Sta/ra), seems to have been earl in East 

 Anglia,^^* and to have acted with William, Bishop of London, and Engelric 

 the priest as a royal commissioner in Suffolk shortly after the Conquest.^" 

 As earl (comes) we find him apparently succeeding Gurth, and adding his 

 estate of Bentley to the royal manor of Bergholt as a berewick, in the time 

 of King William.^-' We also come upon traces of him in the hundreds of 

 Blything, Claydon, and Plomesgate, where his land, commended freemen, and 

 rights of sac and soke passed to Count Alan and to Earl Hugh, and in the 

 manor of Thorney, where he held a carucate of land in pledge from the 

 sheriff Toli, on the day when King Edward was alive and dead, which his 

 son Ralph held after him."" To the ' Godwine, uncle [avunculus) of Earl 

 Ralph,' who is mentioned in the Norfolk Domesday, may be added Hardwin, 

 the brother of Earl Ralph and Alsi, Earl Ralph's nephew, whose names 

 occur in the Suffolk Survey.""* The day when the younger Ralph ' made 

 forfeiture ' became an epoch to date from throughout East Anglia.'"* 

 After the unsuccessful revolt of Ralph Earl of East Anglia and Roger Earl 

 of Hereford in 1075, and the consequent flight and forfeiture of Ralph, 

 ' Guader ' or ' de Waer,' the king kept the bulk of his Suffolk estates in his 

 own hands, and appointed the Englishman 'Godric Dapifer' his custos or bailiff. 

 It would appear that Ralph had acquired some of these lands from Edith 

 the ' Fair ' or ' Rich,' who has been sometimes identified with ' Edith of the 

 Swan Neck,' whose land at Great Sampford, Essex, passed in like manner to 

 the East Anglian earl and then to the king, who entrusted it to the care of 

 Godric Dapifer."'" Three of Ralph's manors, in Carlford Hundred, had been 

 granted to Odo of Bayeux, who had taken an active share in the suppression 

 of the revolt of 1075."" The Harkstead Manor was, naturally enough, 

 farmed by Peter of Valognes, the Sheriff of Essex,"'" and the land of Alveva, 



"' Dom. Bk. 282, 2823, 283, 284 : 'tempore H. de Hosdena ' ; cf. above, p. 385. 



"' Dom. Bk. 2893. »» Ibid, i, 193;^ ; Round, Feud. Engl. Index, 'Picot.' 



"' F.C.H. Norf. ii, 10, II ; cf. Mr. Round's account of 'the two Ralfs ' ; ibid. 10-12 ; Freeman^ 

 Norm. Cenj. vi. Index, ' Ralph the Staller ; Ralph of Wader.' Cf. the writ addressed by the Conqueror 

 to ' Raulf Eorl, '.(Ethelmaer, Bishop of Thetford, and Nordman, Sheriff of Suffolk ; Round, FeuJ. Engl. 427 

 et seq. ; y.C.H. Norf. ii, 11. "' Above, p. 386. 



"" Dom. Bk. 287. •" Ibid. 293, 294^, 295, 297^, 299^, 409^. 



»' Ibid. 322, 324, 338, 3503 ; cf. y.C.H. Norf. ii, II. 



'" Dom. Bk. 294, 294*, 450 ; cf 301^. 



"° Ibid. 73 ; y.C.H. Essex, i, 350, n. 2 ; Freeman, Norm. Conq. iii, App. Note R. R. A freewomaa 

 called Edith also appears on 286. 



"' Dom. Bk. 373. One of these manors was claimed by the abbey of Ely. Above, p. 382. 



"* Dom. Bk. 2 863 ; y.C.H. Essex, i, 349. 



390 



