DOMESDAY SURVEY 



reign of Henry I, perhaps until about i izo.^o He may have been aUve in 1 130, since he 

 appears in the Pipe Roll for that year.3' A daughter of his became a nun at Shaftesbury, 

 whereupon he returned to that abbey the part of Farnham (no. 352) which he held in 

 1086 but which had belonged to the abbey T.R.E. Aiulf's brother, Humphrey the 

 chamberlain, held just over 10 hides in Dorset. He held land in 8 counties, and seems to 

 have been a protege of Queen Maud. In Surrey he held the manor of Combe whose 

 previous owner, a woman, placed herself under the queen's protections^ and two of his 

 manors in Gloucestershire had been given to him by the queen." Queen Maud pre- 

 sumably gave him his two manors at Edmondsham (nos. 353, 354) since she had held 

 the remaining portion of this vill herself (nos. 18 and xxiv). Eddeva, who held one of 

 these two manors, is probably to be identified with the widow mentioned in the Geld 

 Roll for Albretesberge hundred, who held a hide at farm of Humphrey the chamberlain 

 which did not pay geld because Aiulfiis dicit reginam perdonasse pro anima Ricardi filii 

 sui. Humphrey seems to have held some oflncial position in East Anglia under William 

 Rufus, either as sheriff or as local justiciar. -'-^ William of Eu held 90 hides in Dorset. 

 Over half of his entire fief (consisting of 336 hides in eight counties) lay in Wiltshire and 

 Dorset. His lands were derived largely from Aelfstan of Boscombe, who held 36 hides 

 in Dorset, and Toli, who, though less wealthy than Aelfstan, held a considerable 

 amount of land in Dorset and the south-west. William's father. Count Robert, held land 

 in Essex and Huntingdon, but the bulk of his fief lay in Sussex. The mother of William 

 of Eu occurs once in the Dorset Geld Rolls, holding a manor which can only be Crichel 

 (no. 266) which her son held in 1086.35 Eyton suggested that William's mother was a 

 relative of Ralph de Limesi, who had once held land in Dorset and Gloucestershire 

 which belonged to William in 1086.3^ In Dorset Ralph de Limesi had held Blandford 

 St. Mary (no. 261) and in Gloucestershire 34 carucates of the honor of Strigoil (later 

 Chepstow) and several manors. ^^ William of Eu was a rich and powerful baron but he 

 did not retain his position long. In 1088 he took part in the rebellion against William 

 Rufus, and in 1094 was involved in the plot against the king's life. In 1096 he was 

 unable to clear himself of a charge of treason, and in consequence was blinded and 

 mutilated, probably dying soon afterwards. ^^ His steward, William de Aldrie, was 

 involved in his downfall and hanged. He held land of William of Eu in Wiltshire, and 

 in the Dorset Geld Rolls appears as the holder of a manor which is probably Blandford 

 (no. 261). 



Roger Arundel held a considerable amount of land in the south-west which later 

 formed the honor of Powerstock. He had 65 hides in Dorset and 78^ in Somerset, most 

 of which he derived from two English thegns, Aethelfrith and Aelmer. He had at one 

 time held the 30-hide manor of Piddletrenthide (no. 69) which in 1086 belonged to the 

 New Minster, Winchester. Roger's surname appears to be a corruption of rhirondelle, 

 and has no connexion with Arundel in Sussex. ^^ As Roger Derundel he witnessed a 

 charter to the Bishop of Wells in 1068, but is otherwise unknown.-*^ A much more 

 famous figure was Roger de Beaumont,"*' who held 47^ hides in Dorset and the manor of 



" W. A. Morris, Medieval Eiig. Sheriff, 47, n. 48 " Dom. Bk. (Rec. Com.), i, ff- 162, i66b~i67. 



(reprinted from W. A. Morris, 'The Office of Sheriff in "* Anglo-Saxon Cliron., ed. D. Whitelock and others, 



the Early Norman Period', E.H.R. xxxiii. 151, n.); 173 ; Ordericus Vitalis, H/s/. Sec/., ed. A. Le Prevost, iii. 



Regesta Regiim .■inglo-Nonnannoriim, ii, no. 1367 and n. 411. According to the Chron. the accusation was brought 



5' Pipe R. 1 130 {Rec. Com.), 14. by Geoffrey Bainard. Orderic says that the accuser was 



" T.R.W. femina que banc terram tenehat misit se cum ea Earl Hugh, whose sister William had married. Le Provost 



in manu regine: Dom. Bk. (Rec. Com.), i, f. 36b. calls William the Count of Eu, but Dr. Whitelock rejects 



" Ibid. f. 170. this. 



^* Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannormii, i, p. xxv. ■''' Eyton, Domesday Studies: Soni. i. 62-63. 



" See pp. 138, 139. '"' Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum, i, no. 23. 



3* Eyton, Key to Domesday: Dorset, -^ii; Eyton, Domes- ■" Name derived from Beaumont-le-Roger; Eure, arr. 



day Studies: Som. i. 64. Bernay, cant. Beaumont. 



47 



