A HISTORY OF BEDFORDSHIRE 



The northern part of Bedfordshire probably suffered severely when 

 Morkere marched to Northampton in the summer of 1065 with a force of 

 Northumbrians, Mercians, and Welsh, to seize the southern possessions of 

 Tostig as an appurtenance of the earldom of Northumberland, to which he 

 had been elected by the northern gemot at York.'' They were not cordially 

 received, and fell upon the country with fire and sword, slaying, burning, and 

 carrying off captives, ' so that the shire and the other shires nigh to it were 

 the worse for many winters.' '' 



The Conqueror may have passed through the county next year in the 

 course of his circuitous advance on London.*" The subsequent confiscation of 

 land was almost as sweeping in Bedfordshire as in any county. With the ex- 

 ception of Waltheof's lands at Potton, and of small holdings left to some 

 burgesses of Bedford, a few royal almsmen, reeves, or bailiffs of the king, and 

 the lands of religious communities, the only landowner who kept his land 

 was Albert of Lorraine ; he held a 5-hide manor at Chalgrave, and Lorings 

 (' Lorrainers ') continued to hold it of the barony of Bedford till the 14th 

 century." But the Domesday account of the shire is fully discussed else- 

 where.*^ 



Five years later Morkere was in revolt against William, and joined Here- 

 ward in the insurgent camp at Ely. Though near the borders, the tale of the 

 capture of the island hardly concerns us here ; but the story of Hereward's 

 adventures after his escape from Ely touches the county. The Gesta Her- 

 wardi,^^ in which fact and fiction intermingle, tells how Hereward made his 

 peace with the king, but soon quarrelled with Oger, one of the knights in 

 the king's pay [curiales]^ and wounded him in a duel. He was placed under 

 arrest and committed to the custody of Robert de Horepol, with whom he 

 remained at Bedford well-nigh a whole year, bound only by a single fetter. 

 He was visited by his clerk and cook in disguise, and in their hearing his 

 kindly warden told his prisoner that he was to be transferred under guard to 

 Ivo Taillebois at Rockingham Castle, adding that he only wished some of 

 Hereward's followers would rescue him on the way. The hint was taken ; 

 the rescue planned and executed. Of course, no harm was done to Robert 

 de Horepol, by whose mediation, indeed, Hereward again made his peace 

 with the king. Restored to his possessions, he lived long, ' serving King 

 WiUiam faithfully, and so at last rested in peace.'**' Such is the tale, whether 

 history or legend, which connects Hereward's name with Bedford. One 

 further link may be mentioned in passing. Gaimar tells how Hereward 

 escaped from Ely with a few companions, or^e of them being a relative, ' dan 

 Geri un gentil hom.'*^ The name Geri is closely connected with Bedford- 

 shire. A Walter Geri held an acre in villeinage at Crawley in 1244,** and a 

 William Gery was one of many defendants to an action brought by the Prior 



" Freeman, 'Norman Conq. ii, 488-91. 



" Angl.-Sax. Chron. (Rolls Ser. MS. D.), sub anno. The ' Northamptonshire Geld-roU,' drawn up at some 

 date between 1066 and 1075, bears witness to the havoc done in that county, as it enters 'by far the larger 

 proportion' of land liable to geld as waste ; Round, Feud. Engl. 147-9. 



" Hon. F. Baring, 'The Conqueror's Footprints in Domesday,' Engl. Hist. Rev. xiii, 17-25. But the 

 evidence is very doubtful. 



" Red Bk. ofExch. (Rolls Ser.), 322 ; Feud. Aids. " V.C.H. Beds, i, 191-218. 



" Printed in Gaimar, Lestorie des Engles (Rolls Ser.) i, 339-404. " Ibid. 400. "» Ibid. 404. 



" Gaimar, Lestorie des Engles, 5502, 5574 (Rolls Ser.), i, 233, 236. 



" Ramsey Chartul. (Rolls Ser.), ii, 14. 



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