A HISTORY OF NORFOLK 



Thorpe next Norwich with Lakenham, an under-tenant at Somerton, 

 Earsham with Ditchington and Stockton, and Toft Monks with Seething. 



The king's lands and the boroughs occupy nearly as much space in this 

 part of Domesday Book as the lands held by the church. As might be 

 expected, the largest block of these latter was held by the bishop of Thetford. 

 His estates are divided into two parts — the ancient lands of the bishops of 

 Elmham, or of the East Angles, being distinguished from the 'Terre ejusdem 

 de Feudo,' the lands which the bishops had acquired since the death of King 

 Edward.^ A third section is concerned with the ' Invasiones ' of the fee, the 

 lands and rights which the bishops had usurped. A glance at the map will 

 show that the ancient lands of the see lay mainly in the northern and central 

 parts of the county grouped about the manors of Thornage, Hindringham, 

 Hindolveston, North Elmham, and Helmingham, with outlying manors at 

 Colkirk and Egmere. Thornham and Gaywood in the west, Cressingham 

 Tofts and Stratton in the south, also belonged to the see. Bishop Aylmer 

 added Gunton, Beighton, and Hemsby, as well as Blofield, which he got 

 with his wife before he was bishop,' and North Langley, which he owed to 

 the sudden death of Anant,* with whom he seems to have been a joint- 

 tenant. Anant was apparently a thane or huscarl of Edward the Con- 

 fessor, and held land at Broome, and also in Suffolk and elsewhere. The 

 other lands of the see were granted by King William from the holdings of 

 Harold and Gurth, and afterwards of Earl Ralf. William de Noyers, who 

 has already been named, has left his mark on the map at Swanton Novers, 

 which he held of the bishop's manor of Hindolveston.* We also find him 

 holding the land at Blakeney which Edric had held of Harold, and which 

 the bishop had seized." The mention of the same William de Noyers holding 

 under the bishop at Bradiston leads us to identify this Edric with the 

 steersman of King Edward's ship, who fled to Denmark as an outlaw after 

 the battle of Hastings. ° Roger Longsword {Liingus ensis) appears as another 

 wrongful holder under the bishop, since he had eight of Harold's freemen, 

 whom he should probably have held of the manor of Fakenham, and had 

 transferred to Hindolveston. Among other aggressions the most interesting 

 is the seizure by Bishop Aylmer of a plough-land at Plumstead near Norwich 

 because the widow of Godwin, the owner, who had held of Gurth, had 

 re-married within a year.^ In this case the bishop and not the lord got the 

 forfeited land, but it seems equally likely that he claimed it as appurtenant 

 to his manor of Blofield. 



We get a few incidental details about the East Anglian bishops ; * we 

 have seen how Stigand was succeeded by his brother Aylmer, now a widower; 

 we hear that Bishop Arfast had a niece Helewis (or Alice) who held land at 

 Witton,' which her uncle had wrongfully acquired on the fall of Earl Ralf. 

 Arfast was the bishop who succeeded Aylmer when he shared the fate of his 



See r.C.H. Essex, i, 339, for a fuller discussion of the same distinction. 

 ' Dom. Bk. f. 195. ' Ibid. f. 196. • Ibid. f. 192. ' Ibid. f. 198. 



Ibid. f. 200. As Edric ' Styresman ' he appears as a great benefactor to St. Benet of Holme, in the 

 chronicle of John de Oxenedes (p. 291), where he is said to have given five estates in the neighbourhood of 

 North Walsham. Of these we can only connect him in Domesday with Honing (J. H. R.). 



' Ibid. f. 199. It is not clear who succeeded Gurth, but probably Earl Ralf. Compare Brundall (Ibid, 

 f. 2683). 



* The fact that William was bishop at the time of the survey gives us an important note of date, for he 

 was not consecrated till 1086 (J. H. R.). " Dom. Bk. f. 20o3. 



