Page:VCH Herefordshire 1.djvu/340

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A HISTORY OF HEREFORDSHIRE But the palatine position of Earl William is also shown by the Domes- day references of his grants of land to his followers. We learn that he enfeoffed Thurstin the Fleming, a predecessor of Roger Mortimer, both in Herefordshire and in Shropshire ; that he similarly enfeoffed Thurstin's father- in-law, known as Alvred of Marlborough ; that he bestowed lands on Walter de Laci, Gilbert Fitz Turold, Ewen the Breton, and ' King Mariadoc ' of Wales ; while an incidental entry tells us that Hugh L'Asne had received from the earl the lands of his predecessor, Turchil the White. The earl also gave the bishop one of Harold's Herefordshire manors ' in exchange,' we read, ' for the land where the market is now (held) and for three hides of Lydney {Lidenegie) .' This implies that the earl provided a new market-place for what, we have seen, was virtually his own town of Hereford. As for the 3 hides of ' Lidenegie,' we duly find them entered (under ' Lindenee ') in Gloucester- shire as obtained by the earl from the bishop of Hereford's demesne. Another Gloucestershire entry shows us the earl bestowing land on Ansfrid de Cormeilles, which implies that, as might be expected, it was he who enfeoffed that considerable landowner in Herefordshire. It is tempting to compare the Domesday record of the earl's doings in Gloucestershire with that of his activity in his own earldom ; but one must only deal with those entries which illustrate his Herefordshire position. Under Gloucestershire, for instance, we find duplicated — though with details which differ widely — the entries of those manors of Forthampton (co. Gloucester) and Hanley Castle (co. Worcester), which are surveyed under Herefordshire because the restless earl had annexed their revenues to that of Hereford itself : that this was the result of his action is shown even more clearly by the Gloucestershire entry." Although he was not earl in Gloucestershire, his peculiar position on the southern March involved his using that county as well as his own for a base of operations against the Welsh. Indeed the various lines of advance must have involved some compli- cation ; the castellany of Caerleon is dealt with under Herefordshire, but the revenue of Caerleon " is entered as appurtenant to the castle which Earl William had founded at Chepstow (' Estrighoiel,') a castle entered under Gloucestershire. Castles, we know from the chroniclers, he had been charged to build, and with castles Domesday specially connects him, from Chepstow and ' Nesse ' in the south ^* to Wigmore in the north, a castle which like Clifford he is expressly said to have founded, even as he re-founded that of Ewyas (Harold). The term castellaria is a rare one in Domesday, and, with the exception of Hastings, and possibly Lewes" — both of them the heads of rapes — the only castles with which it is connected would seem to be those of Caerleon, Ewyas Harold, Clifford, Richard's Castle (' Auretone '), Mont- gomery and Dudley. Of the castellaria of Clifford it is specially recorded that it is ' of the Kingdom of England and is not in any Hundred.' We note that, accordingly, it was not hidated, but was reckoned to contain 26 plough-lands in addition to four others which belonged, not to its lord, but to " ' Haec terra fuit W. comitis ; modo est ad firmam regis in Hereford.' The two manors are entered as having formerly belonged to Tewkesbury. " ' Redditio de carlelon.' " ' In Nesse sunt v hidae pertinentes ad Berchelai quas W. comes misit extra ad faciendum castellulum.' " ' Castellatio ' is the term in the case of Lewes. Richmond also seems to have had a castellany. 272