Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 3.djvu/18

4 town of Saint Ricquier, canton of Ailly-le-haut-Clocher, arrondissement of Abbeville, Departement of La Somme, being included in the pagus Pontivus, or Ponthien, in the diocese of Amiens. In the chronicle of this abbey, printed by D'Achery, in his Spicilegium, is a copy of a charter of Guy, Comte of Ponthieu, made at the solicitation of abbot Gervinus, annuentibus Proceribus meæ provinciæ in præsentia Regis Philippi Marchionisque Balduiui, necnon etiam principum regalis palalii, granting to St. Ricqnier the fourth part of a vill, called Outrebois, with these witnesses, ''signum Balduini juvenis comitis, signum Frederici, &c. Actum est hoc anno Regis Philippi imperii vi. Incarnationis Dominicæ mlxvii''. In this the second year of the reign of William the Conqueror in England, Abbot Gervinus passed over to his court, and obtained from him a confirmation of the gifts made to his monastery in the days of King Edward, being present Ralph, earl of Norfolk, with his son of the same name, who joined in this petition to the king, as they themselves had been the donors. His charter has this preamble: ''Bi nomine Sanctæ et individuæ Trinitatis, ego Guillelmus concessu Dei Anglorum Rex, affectu mei profectûs in Domino, et prece compulsus Domni Abbatis Gervini Monasterii sancti Richarii, quod est situm in pago comitatûs Ponlivi, nihilominus quoque hortatu amicorum meorum, Radulfi scilicet comitis, necnon et filii ejus Radulfi, annuentibus etiam unanimiter meæ curiæ Primatibus, regio more concedo quicquid hi ambo, videlicet pater et filius, fratrum prælibati Sancti devote concesserunt usibus. Quarum igitur ecclesiarum vel mansionum, ut cunctis manifestetur cognitio, dignum duximus in præsenti denominatim manifestare scripto. Hæc est Sancti Richarii terra in Anglicis finibus sita a Radulfo comite eidem Sancto tradita''. The places named are Sporle, South Acre, Custhorp, Cotes, Pickenham, Narford, Swaffham and Gaywode, Earl Ralph by his wife of the race of the Bretons in France had inherited the towns of Gael and Montfort in Britanny, being himself probably a Fleming, and died during the reign of the Conqueror. He was succeeded in his title of earl of Norfolk, by his son of the same name, whose conspiracy in 1074 is fully described by William of Malmesbury, in which Roger, earl of Hereford, brother of his wife, and Waltheof, earl of Huntingdon, were involved. At the time of the survey his vast possessions in Norfolk were in the king's hands, and it is also probable that Frederic, brother-in-law of William de Warren, was engaged in the