Page:VCH Suffolk 1.djvu/468

 A HISTORY OF SUFFOLK the reeve' {praeposkus), in whom we may, perhaps, recognize Aluric Wanz, appointing new customs for the freemen of the hundreds of Wangford and Lothing, and increasing the king's farm ' in the time of Roger Bigot,' and apparently under his direction, while we have a hint that Hugh de Hosdenc, who in 1086 was a prisoner in the king's hands, had at one time held office, either as sheriff or as reeve on the royal demesne."^ The demesne manors {de regno) of Barrow, which had belonged to King Edward and Badmondis- field, which had been held by Algar, were entrusted to the care of Picot,^^* in all likelihood, if this be Picot the Sheriff of Cambridgeshire,^-' because they are on the western side of the county. The forfeiture of Earl Ralph of East Anglia overshadows Suffolk as well as Norfolk, and has set its mark deeply on the Suffolk Survey. The father of Earl Ralph, Ralph the Staller (Sta/ra), seems to have been earl in East Anglia,^^* and to have acted with William, Bishop of London, and Engelric the priest as a royal commissioner in Suffolk shortly after the Conquest.^" As earl (comes) we find him apparently succeeding Gurth, and adding his estate of Bentley to the royal manor of Bergholt as a berewick, in the time of King William.^-' We also come upon traces of him in the hundreds of Blything, Claydon, and Plomesgate, where his land, commended freemen, and rights of sac and soke passed to Count Alan and to Earl Hugh, and in the manor of Thorney, where he held a carucate of land in pledge from the sheriff Toli, on the day when King Edward was alive and dead, which his son Ralph held after him."" To the ' Godwine, uncle [avunculus) of Earl Ralph,' who is mentioned in the Norfolk Domesday, may be added Hardwin, the brother of Earl Ralph and Alsi, Earl Ralph's nephew, whose names occur in the Suffolk Survey.""* The day when the younger Ralph ' made forfeiture ' became an epoch to date from throughout East Anglia.'"* After the unsuccessful revolt of Ralph Earl of East Anglia and Roger Earl of Hereford in 1075, and the consequent flight and forfeiture of Ralph, ' Guader ' or ' de Waer,' the king kept the bulk of his Suffolk estates in his own hands, and appointed the Englishman 'Godric Dapifer' his custos or bailiff. It would appear that Ralph had acquired some of these lands from Edith the ' Fair ' or ' Rich,' who has been sometimes identified with ' Edith of the Swan Neck,' whose land at Great Sampford, Essex, passed in like manner to the East Anglian earl and then to the king, who entrusted it to the care of Godric Dapifer."'" Three of Ralph's manors, in Carlford Hundred, had been granted to Odo of Bayeux, who had taken an active share in the suppression of the revolt of 1075."" The Harkstead Manor was, naturally enough, farmed by Peter of Valognes, the Sheriff of Essex,"'" and the land of Alveva, "' Dom. Bk. 282, 2823, 283, 284 : 'tempore H. de Hosdena ' ; cf. above, p. 385. "' Dom. Bk. 2893. »» Ibid, i, 193;^ ; Round, Feud. Engl. Index, 'Picot.' "' F.C.H. Norf. ii, 10, II ; cf. Mr. Round's account of 'the two Ralfs ' ; ibid. 10-12 ; Freeman^ Norm. Cenj. vi. Index, ' Ralph the Staller ; Ralph of Wader.' Cf. the writ addressed by the Conqueror to ' Raulf Eorl, '.(Ethelmaer, Bishop of Thetford, and Nordman, Sheriff of Suffolk ; Round, FeuJ. Engl. 427 et seq. ; y.C.H. Norf. ii, 11. "' Above, p. 386. "" Dom. Bk. 287. •" Ibid. 293, 294^, 295, 297^, 299^, 409^. »' Ibid. 322, 324, 338, 3503 ; cf. y.C.H. Norf. ii, II. '" Dom. Bk. 294, 294*, 450 ; cf 301^. "° Ibid. 73 ; y.C.H. Essex, i, 350, n. 2 ; Freeman, Norm. Conq. iii, App. Note R. R. A freewomaa called Edith also appears on 286. "' Dom. Bk. 373. One of these manors was claimed by the abbey of Ely. Above, p. 382. "* Dom. Bk. 2 863 ; y.C.H. Essex, i, 349. 390