It all started here

I spy with my little eye something beginning
with "A"

After the conquest in 1066, King William assumed the position of Edward's lawful successor. Every man who had fought against him was judged unworthy of holding any English land and for some one hundred years Englishmen were disqualified from holding any position of authority or honour in the church or State. The effects on Dorset were profound. Much pillaging took place at the hand of the Sheriff of Dorset, Hugh Fitz Grip during which many manors between Dorchester and Exeter were sacked and seized together with half of Dorchester's houses. Hugh Fitz Grip and his wife also seized land of the Abbot of Abbotsbury.

In 1086, the widow of Hugh de St Quentin son of Grip, ("Uxor Huonis filii Grip") held the manor of Martinstown from the king and the value had gone down to £6.00. Some commentators consider this was a consequence of her widowhood and inability to manage her estates as well as her husband rather that a reflection of the economics of the time. Such was Martinstown by the end of the first Millennium. At the Domesday Survey the Commissioners returned her as holding 47 manors or parcels of land of which ten were in Purbeck. Besides these she held other lands as subtenant. Her husband, Hugh Fitz Grip (also known as Hugh of Wareham), had also been a landowner in Dorset, holding eight manors of Queen Matilda, (wife of King William 1). He died before 1086. His lands had escheated (passed back) to the Crown (no doubt for want of issue), and were then held by the King. Little of him is known except that he was sheriff of the county.

Domesday offers no answer to the parentage of this wealthy widow, and how she had acquired this large estate. A charter found amongst the grants of the Norman Abbey of Montivillier and printed in "Gallia Christiana" throws light on the subject. It shows that Hadwidis, daughter of Nicholas de Baschelvilla, wife of Hugh de Varham (Wareham), son of Gripon, gave the manor of Waldune (the adjoining manor of Waddon), with the advice and consent of her husband to the church of the Monastery of "Saint Mary Villarensis" for the health of her own soul and that of her husband and of her friends, the great King William assenting, before his barons.

They included Jeffery Martel, brother of Hugh fitz Grip. The houses of Martel and Baschelvilla were of common origin. Little is known of Nicholas de Baschelvilla but it can be presumed this was a reward by the Duke of Normandy who rewarded him for his services by a grant of this Barony.

Today, none of the honours conferred by William Rufas, Henry I, Stephen, Henry II, Richard I or John exist.

At the time marriages were bought and sold, the overlord being entitled to the purchase money. It cannot be supposed that this wealthy heiress would be long permitted to enjoy the independence of widowhood. There is no direct or positive evidence of her re-marriage, but circumstantial evidence leads to the conclusion that she had for her second husband, Alured (or Alfred) de Lincoln.

One of the influences in the decline of many rural communities were changes in ownership or tenancy. The cumulative effect on estates that became united by marriage, led to a change in geographical focus that often resulted in movement of labour. Mention of marriage raises an interesting issue of medieval social history, namely the inheritance of land through heiresses as witnessed with the wife of Hugh fitz Grip and later with the daughters of Alured de Lincoln IV.

The lack of male heirs to Dorset estates often led to estates being passed through the female line, and what were, in effect mergers, had great influence on the settlements on the estates. Prior to the Dissolution of the Monasteries, unmarried women had little choice other than marriage or the surrender of their property to the Church. Thus union has enlarged many of the largest estates in the county with estates inherited by heiresses whose subsequent marriage owed more to necessity than choice.

The unsentimental manner in which marriages were contracted and the kind of pressure put upon ladies to marry men selected for them is shown later in the record of King John in 1204.

And so it was that the settlement of Frome Belet near Dorchester would disappear.

For more about the Belet family visit the academic database on baptismal fonts for the church of St George at Fordington.