Godric the Steward

Godric or Godric the Steward or Godric dapifer (died c. 1114) was an Englishman around the time of the Norman Conquest.

Godric was a native Englishman who was the dapifer, or steward, of the Earl of East Anglia, Ralph de Gael. Godric may have been a relative of the earl's.^[1]

Godric is listed in Domesday Book as administering some royal lands in Norfolk and Suffolk, some of which were lands formerly held by Ralph^[1] before the earl's participation in the Revolt of the Earls and subsequent loss of all his English landholdings.^[2] Godric is also listed in Domesday Book as holding lands in his own right.^[3] Godric was one of only 13 tenants-in-chief who were English listed in Domesday Book.^[4]

Godric served King William II of England as a steward also.^[5] The historian Frank Barlow states that he held the office of Sheriff of Suffolk,^[6] but the historian Judith Green only gives him as probably sheriff of Suffolk around 1087.^[7] Green also states that Godric may have been Sheriff of Norfolk at least part of the time between 1091 and 1100.^[8]

Godric was married to a woman named Ingreda. The marriage had at least one son, named Ralph. Ingreda may have been the daughter of Edwin, whose lands Godric held in 1086. A further bit of evidence pointing to Edwin being Ingreda's father is that Edwin was married to a woman named Ingreda. Charters of St Benet's Abbey state that Godric's son Ralph had a brother named Eudo and a nephew named Lisewy, but it is not clear how these two individuals were related to Godric.^[1]

Godric died around 1114.^[1]

Citations

1. Keats-Rohan Domesday People pp. 219–221
2. Huscroft Ruling England pp. 61–62
3. Green Aristocracy pp. 96–97
4. Huscroft Norman Conquest pp. 240-241
5. Barlow William Rufus p. 140
6. Barlow William Rufus p. 447
7. Green English Sheriffs p. 76
8. Green English Sheriffs p. 60

References

• Barlow, Frank (2000). William Rufus (Second ed.). New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-08291-6.
• Green, Judith A. (1997). The Aristocracy of Norman England. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-52465-2.
• Huscroft, Richard (2009). The Norman Conquest: A New Introduction. New York: Longman. ISBN 1-4058-1155-2.
• Huscroft, Richard (2005). Ruling England 1042–1217. London: Pearson/Longman. ISBN 0-582-84882-2.
• Keats-Rohan, K. S. B. (1999). Domesday People: A Prosopography of Persons Occurring in English Documents, 1066–1166: Domesday Book. Ipswich, UK: Boydell Press. ISBN 0-85115-722-X.