Page:VCH Northamptonshire 1.djvu/360

 A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE received his great possessions in this and other counties, not in his epis- copal, but in his personal capacity, they passed, it seems, to his brother's son, Robert de Mowbray, as his secular heir. In any case they escheated to the Crown under William Rufus, whether on the forfeiture of the uncle or of the nephew for rebellion. As some of them afterwards formed part of the great ' Honour of Gloucester,' it has been presumed that William Rufus bestowed them on Robert Fitz Hamon, who stood high in his favour, and whose daughter and heir married Robert first earl of Gloucester. Of the lay fiefs the greatest by far was that of the count of Mortain, whose widespread lands will be found marked on the Domesday map. It is a peculiarity of the vast estates held by this half-brother of the Conqueror that — as with those of the bishop of Bayeux, William's other half-brother — Domesday has a tendency to group them, in each county, under the names of the under-tenants, who were themselves as richly endowed as many an ordinary tenant in chief. Thus, for instance, William ' de Cahainges,' who held only a single hide in this county as tenant-in-chief (fo. 2251^), is found as a tenant of the count of Mortain in no fewer than twenty-five consecutive entries (fo. 223*^), although only his Christian name is there given. His surname was derived from Cahagnes, now in the arrondissement of Vire (Calvados). This family was a great one in Northamptonshire, where it flourished in the male line for some three centuries. William's holdings are followed by those of 'Alured,' nine in number. This'Alured' was the count's 'butler,' whose office, in feudal times, was one of honour. He was succeeded in his holdings, in this and other counties, by his son William. The action of count Robert in joining the rebellion against William Rufus led to the forfeiture of his vast fief, but it was restored, wholly or in part, to his son, count William. The latter lost it finally in iiod, having taken sides against Henry I., who thus obtained ample means for rewarding his friends and supporters. His trusted minister, the count of Meulan, obtained a good share, while lands which were held of count Robert, in 1086, by 'Alan,' were bestowed on Roger de Mowbray {ne de 'Albini ') or his father. Like his brother the count of Mortain, Odo, bishop of Bayeux, had a great under-tenant, no less a man than William Peverel, who held of him all his Northamptonshire lands, except Charlton, of which the tenant, 'Adam,' I think, was a brother of ' Eudo Dapifer ' (No. xlii.), son of Hubert de Ryes.^ William Peverel, whose name is familiar from Scott's novel, Peveril of the Peak, was the founder of the line subsequently known, for distinc- tion, as Peverel ' of Nottingham.' His Northamptonshire estates cover more than a page of Domesday, besides which in Northampton itself he held no fewer than thirty-two houses. The bulk of his lands in this county, including their chief manor Higham (Ferrars), had been held, • Compare p. 284 above. 288