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 A HISTORY OF HEREFORDSHIRE slain, and his priests with him, and iElnoth the sheriff." No new bishop was appointed, and the diocese was placed under the administration of Ealdred, bishop of the neighbouring see of Worcester. Through the intervention of Ealdred and Earls Leofric and Harold a peace was concluded between GrufFydd and King Edward, which secured for Herefordshire a respite from attack.* On 2 1 December, 1057, Earl Ralph died,* and Harold added Hereford- shire to his West Saxon earldom.''' Ralph left a son Harold, of tender years, whose name probably is still preserved in that of Ewyas Harold,^* but it was impossible to entrust the care of a Welsh border district to a child. More- over, the events of 1055 and 1056 had clearly indicated that Herefordshire was too weak to form a separate administrative province : it was imperative to incorporate it with one of the great earldoms — Mercia or Wessex. But in Mercia iElfgar had succeeded his father Leofric a few months before, and it would have been extremely impolitic on the part of the central govern- ment to entrust the great border shire to the former ally of Gruffydd, with whom he still remained on friendly terms, and to whom, either during his former banishment or afterwards, he married his daughter Aldgyth. The shire was therefore bestowed on its former deliverer, the man in England best able to protect it. For five years Herefordshire enjoyed a respite from the assaults of Gruffydd, and though it probably suffered from his renewed devastations in 1062, it was terribly avenged by Harold in the following year, when by attacking the Welsh by sea as well as by land he compelled them to seek pardon by assassinating Gruffydd. In consequence Radnorshire and the adjoining district was added to the earldom on the north-west border of Herefordshire." His conquests also assured to the shire the possession of the districts beyond the Wye — Stradel and Archenfield — which belonged to it at the time of Domesday." The first effect on the west of England of the Norman victory near Hastings in 1066 was one of disintegration. Herefordshire was left without a ruler ; but the Conqueror quickly appreciated the strategic importance of Hereford in relation to Wales. The city commanded the approaches to the moorlands and valleys between Plinlimmon and the Black Mountains. Its possession was equally essential for defence and attack. Before March, 1067, he appointed William Fitzosbern earl of Hereford. He was probably not granted the office by written charter, in any case no charter of investiture survives, but there is strong evidence that he received very extensive powers. In a charter of the year 1069 he is styled 'comes palatii,' with clear reference, however, to his post of ' dapifer ' at the court of the Norman '' Jng/.-Sax. C^raw. (Rolls Ser.), i, 326; Flor. Wore. Chnn. i, 214-5; Brut y Tywysogion 1056; Jnn. Camb. 1056. " jlngl.-Sax. Chron. (Rolls Ser.) ; Flor. Wore. Chron. ut supra. " Angl.-Sax. Chron. (Rolls Ser.), i, 328. " Cod. Difl. Nos. 833, 867 ; cf. Freeman, Norman Conquest, ii, 425, 578. " Ibid, ii, 683-5. " Domesday (Rec. Com.), i, 1 8 1. Freeman would add more extensive acquisitions {Norman Conquest 1(1877), ii, 708-10), but adduces no positive evidence, while the negative evidence of Domesday points to these being made after the Conquest. Except in the Radnor district there is no mention of lands formerly held by Harold or T.R.E. " Domesday (Rec. Com.), i, liob, 181, 185^. 354