Page:The Ancestor Number 1.djvu/170

122 Studies (p. 69), that the date of Domesday Book was 1086, not 1078; that Walter was the son of Other, not of Otho; and that Domesday does not state that his lands had been held by his father, but, on the contrary, proves them to have belonged to forfeited Englishmen. Before dealing with Walter however we will glance at a Domesday mystery.

Domesday affords us a tantalizing glimpse of a personage who has hitherto escaped notice, and whose name is more suggestive of those borne by the early FitzGeralds than any other in the Survey. Under Essex we read that Reimund' Girald' annexed some land held by a tenant on the great royal manor of Stanway (fo. 5) and did the same at Wormingford (fo. 66), his successor, Roger of Poitou, retaining both in his hands at the time of the Survey. This points to Reimund having held the manors of Bergholt by Stanway and Mount Bures by Wormingford, both of which are found in the hands of Roger of Poitou in 1086. Following up this clue we find that 'Raimunt Giralt' had preceded Roger of Poitou in possession at Stonham, Thorney and Coddenham, in the heart of Suffolk (fos. 350b, 351, 352); while under Norfolk a remarkable entry (fo. 139b) proves that Reimund' Girald' had preceded Roger in at least one of his manors (fo. 244b), Roger being styled his 'successor.' From this entry we learn that Reimund' departed (discessit), a vague term which leaves us in doubt as to the cause of his departure. He is the only Raymond in Domesday, and almost the only bearer of the name Girald, or Gerald, though Girard, Gerard, Girold, Gerold are not uncommon. But the special interest of his name lies in its form, for the peculiar combination of two Christian names, unconnected by 'filius,' distinctly points to the south of what is now France, where 'Raimundus Geraldi' and similar forms are commonly found soon afterwards in the districts towards the Mediterranean. I cannot however connect Gerald with the origin of the FitzGeralds.

In Domesday Walter FitzOther appears as a tenant-in-chief in a compact block of counties, Berkshire, Bucks, Middlesex, Surrey and Hants. He also held Winchfield in Hampshire under Chertsey Abbey. At first sight there is not much to connect him with Windsor or its forest, but investigation reveals the facts that at Windsor itself he held on the royal manor 1¾ hides and some woodland; that at Kintbury, another Berkshire manor, he held half a hide 'which King Edward had given to his predecessor' out of the royal demesne for the