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of the lands of Ralph were subsequently given to William of Eu most probably after
the compilation of Domesday Book. 141
Ralph of Beaufour (Bellofago) was from Beaufour, Calvados, in Normandy.
He was the lord of Hockering in Norfolk. He was a Class D (£100-£200) landholder.
Besides, he was the sheriff of Suffolk in the period between 1091 and 1102 and of
Norfolk in the early part of Henry I’s reign. His brother or a relative was the bishop
of Thetford, William de Beaufour. He married Agnes, who was the daughter of
Robert de Tosny. Despite having two sons, Richard and Ralph, after his death,
Hockering went to Agnes’s second husband, Hubert I de Ryes and his
descendants. 142
As Judicael the Priest does not seem to be holding his land as the property of
a particular church, it seems best to treat him as a ‘lay’ tenant-in-chief. However,
apart from his apparently Breton name, nothing can be found out about him.
Robert Blund (Blunt) was tenant-in-chief in Suffolk, was well as in
Wiltshire. He was the lord of Ashfield in Claydon Hundred in Suffolk. Before 1086
he was the sheriff of Norfolk. He inherited some of his lands from his brother,
Ralph. By 1166, his lands were held by William son of Gilbert Blund. 143
Adelaide, the countess of Aumale was sister or half-sister of the Conqueror.
She married three times, first to Engueran count of Ponthieu, second to Lambert
count of Lens, and third to Odo count of Champagne. Odo succeeded Drogo de la
141
Green, Aristocracy, p. 65.
142
Keats-Rohan, Domesday People, p. 330; Green, Aristocracy, p. 343; Sanders, English Baronies,
p.53; Norwich Episcopal Acta, p. xxviii.
143
Keats-Rohan, Domesday People, p. 370; Sanders, English Baronies, pp. 3-4; Red Book, i, pp. 408-
9.
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