DOMESDAY SURVEY The fief of Robert de Todeni, which is described in succession to that of Henry de Ferrers, was much more intimately connected with Leicester- shire, for it was dependent upon the great castle of Belvoir which had already arisen on the eastern edge of the county, although there is no record of it in the survey. Its existence is proved by an 'agreement,' printed in Dugdale's Monasticon, between Robert de Todeni and Abbot Paul of St. Albans, relative to the foundation of Belvoir Priory. 89 The list of witnesses who attested this document on Robert's behalf includes several names which occur among his Leicestershire undertenants in Domesday, but since there is nothing in the * agreement ' to connect them with any particular vills in the county, there is no certain proof of their identi- fication.* 1 Robert's fief, like that of Henry de Ferrers, was disconnected geographically, for in addition to a compact estate in the north-eastern angle of the county he was possessed of a number of manors in the neigh- bourhood of the Welland valley. The estate had formerly been divided among a number of Englishmen ; we are told in regard to the manors of Horninghold, Medbourne, Harby, Barkestone, and Bottesford, which Robert was considered to hold in demesne, that 'four thegns, Osulf, Osmund, Roulf, and Leuric, held these lands, and could go where they wished with them.' All these alike are entirely unknown men,* 1 and we need only note here that Leuric (Leofric) was particularly associated with Bottesford and its dependencies of Stathern, Redmile, and Knipton. With the lands of Robert de Veci we return to the system by which a Norman baron was granted the estate of a single Englishman. All Robert's Leicestershire lands had formerly belonged to a certain ' ^Eilric (^Egelric), the son of Meriet,' who is stated to have been a freeman. He is a person of some interest as one of the earliest benefactors of Westminster Abbey, for there exists a writ of the Conqueror, 4 ' confirming to the abbey and Vitalis its abbot the manor of Doddington near Lincoln, with its soke of Thorpe on the Hill adjoining, as it had been given by Ailric. As this land is not mentioned in any of the numerous writs which Edward issued in favour of the church of his foundation, it is very probable that the grant was made subsequently to the Conquest. Ailric had preceded Robert de Veci at Helpringham, Caythorpe, and Great Steeping in Lincolnshire, and at Braybrooke in Northamptonshire, but in the survey of the latter counties he is entered as Eilric or Ailric simply, without the addition of his father's name, the mention of which in Leicestershire enables us to identify him with the benefactor to Westminster.* 8 The fief of Robert de Buci is of interest for its subsequent history, for in the reign of Henry I it passed by forfeiture or escheat into the king's 19 Man. Angl. iii, 288. 40 On the evidence of the Belvoir Chartulaiy, however, we are enabled to identify the William de Boisro- hard of the ' agreement ' with the William who was a tenant at Stathern, and to prove that the Odard who held one carucate in Bottesford was the same as the Odard de Hottot of the former document. We may also identify the Ivo who held Long Clawson. ('Belvoir MSS.' Hist. MSS. Cam. Rep. iv, 129-49.) " It is, however, probable that the Leicestershire Osulf was the same as the Osulf son of Frane, a thegn of King Edward, who had preceded Robert de Todeni in his three Northamptonshire manors, and it is possible that Oswulf's father is identical with the Frane of Rockingham who gave East Langton to Peter- borough Abbey. See above p. 289. "Man. Angl. i, 301. 48 He appears as ^Elric Merietesune in the Line. ' Clamores.' 293
