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This electronic thesis or dissertation has been downloaded from the King’s Research Portal at https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/ The Honour of Wallingford, 1066-1300 Tilley, Christopher Awarding institution: King's College London The copyright of this thesis rests with the author and no quotation from it or information derived from it may be published without proper acknowledgement. END USER LICENCE AGREEMENT Unless another licence is stated on the immediately following page this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ You are free to copy, distribute and transmit the work Under the following conditions: Attribution: You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). Non Commercial: You may not use this work for commercial purposes. No Derivative Works - You may not alter, transform, or build upon this work. Any of these conditions can be waived if you receive permission from the author. Your fair dealings and other rights are in no way affected by the above. Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact [email protected] providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 25. Sep. 2021 This electronic theses or dissertation has been downloaded from the King’s Research Portal at https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/ The Honour of Wallingford, 1066-1300 Title: Author: Christopher Tilley The copyright of this thesis rests with the author and no quotation from it or information derived from it may be published without proper acknowledgement. END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ You are free to: Share: to copy, distribute and transmit the work Under the following conditions: Attribution: You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). Non Commercial: You may not use this work for commercial purposes. No Derivative Works - You may not alter, transform, or build upon this work. Any of these conditions can be waived if you receive permission from the author. Your fair dealings and other rights are in no way affected by the above. Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact [email protected] providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. THE HONOUR OF WALLINGFORD , 1066-1300 by Christopher David Tilley Thesis submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy King’s College, University of London 2011 Abstract The honour of Wallingford was the great lordship centred on the castle of Wallingford on the bank of the River Thames in the English county of Berkshire that dominated the southern midland region as an important centre of power. Famous in English constitutional history for its unique mention in King Henry II’s Assize of Clarendon of 1166, and as one of the only baronial lordships mentioned by name in Magna Carta, this thesis is the first full study of this important institution, and explores the reasons for its prominence primarily through English royal records preserved in the Public Record Office, and private charters that survive in the cartularies of religious houses, but also drawing on narrative, topographical and archaeological evidence. The thesis contributes to current scholarship in a number of areas. The model of the ‘feudal honour’ has long been central to historians’ understanding of English political history, and the honour of Wallingford was in many ways a perfect representation of ‘feudal society’. In light of important recent challenges to the concepts of ‘feudalism’ and ‘feudal society’, as well as work on the origins of ‘bastard feudalism’, this study allows a re-examination of the ways in which post-Conquest political, social, legal and tenurial relations actually operated in society. This allows for a fresh perspective on the impact of the Norman Conquest, the nature and significance of tenurial ties to the social and political organisation of England, the changing ways in which power was mediated in the localities over the period, and the development of the English state. Related to this, the study also focuses on the knightly tenants of the honour, building up a picture of the social, political, economic and cultural circumstances of families over a long period, which were part of a social group of great historical significance. CONTENTS List of figures .................................................................................................................................................. 5 List of tables .................................................................................................................................................... 5 Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................................................... 6 Note on Systems of Reference ........................................................................................................................ 7 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................................ 8 1 THE ORIGIN AND FORMATION OF THE HONOUR TO 1107 ...................................................................... 16 1.1 Anglo-Saxon Landholders .............................................................................................................. 17 1.1.1 Wigod .................................................................................................................................... 17 1.1.2 Beorhtric ................................................................................................................................ 30 1.1.3 Other Pre-Conquest Landholders .......................................................................................... 37 1.2 Conquest and Colonisation ............................................................................................................. 41 1.2.1 The Transfer of Lands to the Normans, 1066-1086 .............................................................. 44 1.2.2 Miles Crispin ......................................................................................................................... 60 1.2.3 The Management of the Honour ............................................................................................ 73 2 INHERITANCE AND PATRONAGE : THE DESCENT OF THE HONOUR , 1107−1154 .................................... 78 2.1 Brian FitzCount ............................................................................................................................... 80 2.2 Matilda of Wallingford ................................................................................................................... 84 2.3 Henry of Anjou ............................................................................................................................... 88 2.4 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................... 89 3 THE TENANTS OF THE HONOUR AND ITS IDENTITY , 1066-1166 ............................................................ 92 3.1 Some tenants of the honour, 1066 −1166 ......................................................................................... 97 3.1.1 Roger son of Alfred ............................................................................................................... 98 3.1.2 Peter de la Mare ..................................................................................................................... 99 3.1.3 Hugh son of Richard son of Rainfrid................................................................................... 101 3.1.4 The fitzAmaury family ........................................................................................................ 103 3.1.5 Walter Canute ...................................................................................................................... 105 3.1.6 The Pippard family .............................................................................................................. 106 3.1.7 The Basset family ................................................................................................................ 108 3.1.8 The Foliot family ................................................................................................................. 113 3.2 The identity of the honour ............................................................................................................. 115 3.2.1 Structure and distribution of fees ........................................................................................ 115 3.2.2 The origins of tenants and the process of colonisation ........................................................ 118 3.2.3 An honorial community? ..................................................................................................... 123 4 GOVERNMENT AND ADMINISTRATION , 1154 −1300 ............................................................................ 130 4.1 The relationship between the honour