3Edward of Salisbury was a nobleman and
courtier (curialis), probably part
Anglo-Saxon, who served as
High Sheriff of Wiltshire during the reigns of
William I,
William II and
Henry I.
The
Chronicon Abbatiae Rameseiensis (1293) names him as a justice during the reign of
Edward the Confessor. He may have been sheriff as early as 1070, he was certainly in that office by 1081, and perhaps carried on there until as late as February or March 1105,
[1] when he appears in a long list of sheriffs who witnessed a charter of Henry I.
He probably served Henry as a
chamberlain.
[1] As sheriff Edward received the
reeveland and a certain pence pertaining the shrievalty as personal property, under certain obligations.
A different man,
Walter Hosate, possessed the shrievalty of Wiltshire in 1107.
According to
Domesday Book (1088), Edward held five
hides of land at
Salisbury from
Bishop Herman in 1086. His
manors in Wiltshire included
Wilcot, where he had "a very good house",
Alton Barnes, and
Etchilhampton, all held "of the king", making him a
tenant-in-chief (baron). That no holder of these manors before the
Norman Conquest is cited suggests that Edward, whose name was
Anglo-Saxon, may have held them both before and after 1066. He may also have been the
castellan of the royal castle at Salisbury.
Edward's predecessor in many of his manors was a certain Wulfwynn, perhaps his mother. Edward had augmented
Chitterne, one of Wulfwynn's estates, with lands formerly owned by two
thegns, Kenwin and Azor. These may have been family estates, subsequently enlarged by the grant of the manors of
North Tidworth,
Ludgershall, and
Shrewton, once held by a thegn named Alfward. It is clear from sources of a century later that all of Edward's manors owed heavy
knight-service to the Crown.
Edward had a (probably younger) son,
[1] also Edward, who held land at
Rogerville and
Raimes in the
Duchy of Normandy and who once witnessed a
charter there of William de Tancarville. This may indicate that Edward was of mixed Anglo-Norman extraction, and perhaps emigrated to England during the reign of Edward the Confessor. The Edward of Salisbury mentioned by
Orderic Vitalis as having fought with
Henry I in Normandy in 1119 was probably the younger.
[1] His later descendants, who founded
Lacock Abbey, claimed that he was descended from
Gerold of Roumare. A certain Matilda (Maud), daughter of one of these Edwards, probably the elder, inherited a large number of estates and passed them on to her husband,
Humphrey I de Bohun.
[1] One of their sons, Walter of Salisbury, was father to
Patrick, the first
Earl of Salisbury.