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through her to her husband, William d’Albini Brito. However, Hugh Bigod did
inherit the lands of Berengar de Tosny in Yorkshire. 119
Robert de Tosny had lands in many counties. As Green states, he had a
compact lordship:
Bottesford in Leicestershire, on which estate the castle of
Belvoir was built, consisted of four estates in Domesday Book,
three held jointly by four thegns, Oswulf, Osmund, Rolf and
Leofric and the fourth by Leofric alone…Robert must have
received this land before about 1076 when the priory of
Belvoir was founded. Like the honour of Dudley, Belvoir was
a compact lordship extended into three counties,
Northamptonshire, Leicestershire, and Lincolnshire, and, like
Dudley, was probably created at a relatively early date after
1066.
Besides demesne manors situated in Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire,
Hertfordshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, and Northamptonshire, the Tosny family
held lands in Guerny and Vesly in Eure. 120
Geoffrey de Mandeville was Norman and was from a place called
Magneville in Upper Normandy. 121 After the Conquest he became the sheriff of
Middlesex. 122
Geoffrey de Mandeville was probably put in charge of the
defences in the south-east corner of the city wall of London (later
the Tower) in the early weeks of 1067, and may well have been
granted the lands of Ansger the Staller at the same time. 123
In accordance with Corbett’s categorization, in 1086 he was one by the Class
A tenants-in-chief in England. The total value of his estates was around £791. Out of
the £791, £540 consisted of his demesne lands. Besides lands in Suffolk, he held
119
Ibid., pp. 374-5; Sanders, English Baronies, p. 12.
120
Keats-Rohan, Domesday People, p. 380; for more information on Tosny (Todeni) family, see
Loyd, Some Anglo-Norman Families, pp. 2, 18, 29, 104, 107.
121
Green, Aristocracy, p. 37.
122
Douglas, William, p. 297.
123
Green, Aristocracy, p. 37. See also Hollister, “Misfortunes of the Mandevilles”, pp. 18-19.
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