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king’s lands were contained in just two manors, Blythburgh and Parham. 68 The lands
in eastern Suffolk were not equally distributed among the tenants-in-chief. It is clear
from Table 1 that more than 80% of the land was held by the king and seven
tenants-in-chief, namely Robert Malet, Count Alan, Roger Bigod, Earl Hugh,
William bishop of Thetford, Simeon abbot of Ely, William of Warenne. Despite the
relatively low proportion of ecclesiastical land, it is notable that two of the four
ecclesiastical landholders of the region were among the wealthiest tenants-in-chief.
It is worth noting that the hundreds of eastern Suffolk differed greatly in
value, from the more than £250 worth of land in Blything Hundred (really a double
hundred of Blything and Dunwich) to the just over £64’s worth in Wilford Hundred
and the even smaller Parham Half-Hundred. If we look at the distribution of the
lands in individual hundreds, it is clear that certain of the tenants-in-chief held far
more land than others. In Bishop’s Hundred more than a third of the land was held
by Robert Malet (see Table 2). The lands of Roger Bigod and William bishop of
Thetford made up another third. In Blything Hundred half of the land was held by
Robert Malet and Count Alan (see Table 3). In Loes Hundred the biggest share, one
half, had been granted to Earl Hugh, Count Alan, Robert Malet and Hugh the
Montfort. In Plomesgate Hundred, Robert Malet held almost all the lands, since the
total value was around £68 and the value of Malet’s lands was £51. In Wilford
Hundred, just two tenants-in-chief, Robert Malet and Gilbert bishop of Evreux, held
most of the land. In Parham Half Hundred King William had nearly half the lands in
this small area.
In general many lands in the south-eastern part of the country, including my
area of eastern Suffolk, were distributed by King William to new tenants-in-chief
68 Domesday Book Suffolk, fos. 282a, 285ab.
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