THE DOMESDAY SURVEY 



record. Within a very few years these two fiefs were combined in 

 the hands of the first Earl of Warwick, and the great dominion thus 

 created, with Warwick Castle as its head, completely overshadows the 

 feudal history of the county. Something therefore should here be said 

 of the origin of these fiefs. At the time of the Conquest Roger de 

 Beaumont, a trusted friend and minister of the Conqueror, had two 

 sons, Robert and Henry, of whom Robert inherited, through his 

 mother, the Comte of Meulan, while Henry, very shortly indeed after 

 the Domesday Survey, was created Earl of Warwick. As early as 

 1068, when Warwick Castle was 'founded,' Henry was entrusted with 

 its keeping, 1 but he is not found in Domesday as a holder of land. 

 It was his elder brother, the Count of Meulan, one of the heroes 

 of the battle of Hastings, who held so large a fief in the county 

 in 1086. He, however, it would seem, had not been its first 

 holder. The cartulary of Preaux distinctly states that the five 

 hides at Arlescote were given to that house by Roger de Beaumont 

 himself, not by his sons 2 ; and we must therefore conclude that the 

 Count of Meulan (from whom the abbey held this endowment in 1086) 

 had inherited the fief (or, in any case, part of it) from his father. Its 

 subsequent devolution appears to be somewhat obscure, for, instead of 

 descending to Robert's heirs, it clearly passed to his brother Henry, who 

 became Earl of Warwick. This, indeed, is implied by the same cartu- 

 lary of Preaux, which states that the tithes of some Warwickshire manors 

 were added by Roger's sons, Robert, Count of Meulan, and Henry, Earl 

 of Warwick. 3 It is probable that the fief was transferred to Henry when 

 he was made an earl, and that his elder brother was compensated by the 

 large grants of other lands which we know he subsequently obtained. 



It was also to provide Henry with lands suitable to his dignity that 

 he received the fief which had been held by Turchil 'of Warwick.' 

 This we learn incidentally from the chronicle of Abingdon Abbey, 

 which states that in consequence of this transference Henry claimed Hill 

 and Chesterton, which Turchil had given to the abbey, and had to be 

 induced by a sum of money to confirm the gift.* On what ground 

 Turchil (or his son and heir, Siward) was deprived of his extensive fief 

 we cannot tell ; but the fact that, in Mr. Freeman's words, ' he stands 

 out more conspicuously in Domesday than any other Englishman ' 

 would be of itself enough to excite the cupidity of Normans. That 

 his house however was not doomed to such ruin and destruction as was 

 the fate of others is shown by the fact that his descendants held some 

 ten knights' fees under the Earls of Warwick. 5 Their long continu- 

 ance in the county, under Turchil's name of Arden, is of great interest 



1 ' Rex itaque castrum apud Guarevicum condidit et Henrico Rogerii de Bellomonte filio ad 

 servandum tradidit ' (Ord. Vit.) 



* Calendar of Documents preserved in France, p. 1 08. 3 Ibid. 



4 'In comitatus supplementum Henrici Warewicensis comitis, regis Willelmi junioris, in sui imperil 

 principio, dono, patrimonium terrarum Turkilli de Ardene adjectum est ' (ii. 21). 



Eighty years after Domesday Henry de 'Ardene' was holding 5 fees, and Hugh de 'Ardene' 

 5j of William, Earl of Warwick (ReJ Book of the Exchequer, p. 325} 



277 



