DOMESDAY SURVEY 



Norman, or held by a ' Norman,' who may be the ex-sheriff,'"* Roger may 

 have acquired the lordship over them in connexion with the East Anglian 

 shrievalty. 



Among Roger Bigot's predecessors by commendation or tenure are 

 found Edric of Laxfield, the two Malets, Toli and Norman, the Englishmen 

 Burchard and Lewin, and many other English or Danish freemen, among 

 them one who had been reeve of Ipswich/"^ His under-tenants included 

 Stannard, probably the tenant-in-chief of that name,"" Hugh de Hosdenc, 

 Robert and Hugh de Curcun, Godric Dapifer, Robert de Vallibus, Norman, 

 Warenger, and Aitard,'"^ At Bulcamp he held a manor ' of the king's gift,' 

 which had formed part of the forfeited estates of Earl Ralph. '"^ 



After Roger Bigot comes Roger of Poitou,"" with large and widely- 

 scattered estates. He seems to have encroached considerably on the rights 

 of the Abbot of Ely, and to have gathered many of St. Etheldreda's freemen 

 into his fief. His freemen had been commended also to King Edward, to 

 Harold, to Gurth, to Earl Algar [Mlfgar)^ to Stigand, and to Edric of Lax- 

 field. He held, too, woodland which had come to him from that ' Raymond 

 Giralt ' by whose aggressions he had benefited in Essex."" 



William de Scoies, Hermer de Ferrieres, and Ralph de Bella Fago 

 held in both the East Anglian counties.'" William's antecessores in Suffolk 

 were Aluric a thegn, Aluric a freeman, and Wluric a freeman — possibly 

 all the same person. Huard de Vernon and Robert de Vallibus held of 

 William. Hermer de Ferrieres had succeeded to the manor of Osmund a 

 freeman at Barningham, in Blackbourn Hundred, and Ralph de Bella Fago held 

 the lands of a number of commended freemen in the hundreds of Wilford 

 and Hartismere. Frodo brother of Baldwin, Abbot of St. Edmunds, who 

 held also in Essex, had a composite fief. Algar, a tenant of Siward or 

 Seward of Maldon, a great Essex thegn, was among his antecessores, and his 

 Lavenham manor came from St. Edmund, and could not be sold without 

 the Abbot's leave.'^' Godric Dapifer, who farmed the forfeited estates of 

 Earl Ralph, held a small fief in his own right, composed of the lands of free- 

 men, of whom one, Godric, had formerly held under Ralph the Staller. 

 Perhaps the ' Edwin freeman ' whom he succeeded at Blyford is Edwin, 

 King Edward's thegn, who is also called Edivinus liber homo, who was Godric's 

 antecessor in Norfolk.'^' 



After the description of the Church lands comes the account of the fief 

 of one of the most noteworthy of Suffolk magnates, Richard Fitz Gilbert, or, 

 as the Suffolk Domesday once calls him, ' Richard de Clare,' "* the founder 

 of the great family of De Clare. He was the son of Count Gilbert of 

 Brionne, and came to England with the Conqueror. He received some 

 hundred and seventy English lordships as his share of the spoils of conquest, 



'" Dom. Bk. 3333 et seq. On 333 'Norman the thegn' is mentioned; cf. ibid. Ailward the 

 king's reeve. 



""Ibid. 3373. Belham. 



^ Ibid. 330*. Alwi or Allwin of Thetford had held this land T.R.E. 



*" Ibid. 331 et seq. Aitard had held of Stigand. '*' Ibid. 333. 



»°' Ibid. 3453 et seq. 



"° Ibid. 3503 ; V.C.H. Essex, i, 354 ; Round, The Ancestor, i, 127. 



»" Dom. Bk. 353 et seq. ; F.C.H. Norf. ii, 19, 20. '" Dom. Bk. 354^. 



'" Ibid. 3553 ; V.C.H. Norf. ii, 19 ; Dom. Bk. 175*, 202^, 203, 203^. 



"* Ibid. 3893 et seq. 448. Ricardus de Clara. 



397 



