Roger (Busli) de Buelli (abt. 1028 - 1098)

Born about 1028 in Bully, Calvados, Basse-Normandie, France

Descendants

Died 17 Jan 1098 at about age 70 in Tickhill, West Riding, Yorkshire, England

Biography

Keats-Rohan's entry for him:^[1]

Roger De Busli

Norman from Bully, Seine-Maritime, arr. and cant. Neufchâtel (Loyd, 21). Domesday tenant-in-chief whose fief became the honour of Tickhill, Yorkshire, often referred to as the honour of Blyth. He held a manor in Devon given to him by Queen Matilda with his wife, Muriel. After his death his lands were seized by Robert of Bellême, but he lost all his lands in 1102. According to Orderic Vitalis (v, 224-6 and n.), Robert was a kinsman (cognatus) of Roger. The fief remained in royal hands until Stephen granted it to Henry count of Eu, son of William count of Eu and Beatrice, daughter of Roger. His son Roger II was possibly a minor at the date of his death in 1098/9, and though he may briefly have held his father's lands he appears to have left no issue. Benefactor of Sainte-Trinité de Rouen (Carte., p.444).

Poorly sourced information needing checking

Married the heiress of Uchtel, said by one Ancestry.com gedcom to be Muriel Chappell:

| /Thurston Haldub b: ca 990 d: 1074 =>

/Edo Chapell b: 1035 d: 1066

| \Emma Anna b: ca 1000

Muriel Chappell b: ca 1062

| /Herlevin De Conteville b: ca 1001 d: 1087 =>

\Muriel Conteville b: ca 1038

\Harlette De Falaise b: ca 1003 d: ca 1050 =>

Ancestry.com: When the length and breadth of England were parcelled out among the followers of the Norman Conqueror, a great man became possessed of East and West Markham, the list of whose lands in Nottinghamshire alone covers more than five pages of Domesday Book. This was Roger de Busli (or Builli, the Bully of modern maps), who took his name from a lordship in the land of Braye near Rouen, on the high ground which overlooks the forest of St. Saen.

"In the extent of his possessions, Roger de Busli ranked as one of the foremost men in England. He sat by the hearth of Eadwin and by the hearth of Waltheof. But he plays no visible part in history and lives only in the record of Domesday and in his still abiding work -- a minster and a castle. He founded Blyth priory in 1088, and built Tickhill Castle." (Freeman's W William Rufus, ii pp. 159-62)

He died in 1098; his only child followed him in 1102, but he had a brother Arnaldus, and a sister Beatrix, married to Robert, Earl of Eu. They were, however, deprived of their inheritance, and Robert de Belleme, on some plea of kindred, obtained a grant of all the possessions of Roger de Busli from William the Red. But this merciless oppressor did not retain them long. He espoused the cause of Duke Robert, was defeated and expelled from England by Henry I in 1102 AD.

Of the possessions of Roger de Busli, Tickhill Castle was retained by the King. Sheffield and Worksop were granted to William de Lovetot. Other manors reverted to his brother and sister. The last of the Busli family was Idonea, who m. Robert de Vipont in 1235. The great Norman Lord, Roger de Busli, retained a demesne and parcelled out the rest of his possessions in knight's fees. The names of his tenants in Domesday Book are:

Fulc de Lizours, son of Roger

William

Ralph

Turold

Claron

Goisfrid

Ernulf

Giselbert

Of these tenants, those who held land in the Markham villages were:

EAST MARKHAM

Fulc de Lizours

Turold

WEST MARKHAM

Claron

Goisfrid

Among these names Fulc de Lizours, the son of Roger, is Norman. All the rest are English. So, there was no ejection of the English proprietors by Roger de Busli. They merely became his tenants. This gives good reason for the hope, founded on probability, that East Markham came to Fulc de Lizours in a legitimate way. His father Roger, we may suppose, married the heiress of Ulchel of East Markham, a descendant of the Gainas who fought for Edwin against Ethelfrith, on the banks of the Idle, in 617 AD, and of the tribe which gave a Queen to Alfred the Great.

Roger held a manor in East Markham, it is presumed by right of his wife, and during the reign of Henry I he was succeeded by his son, Fulc de Lizours. [Ken Markham]

Lowdham and Bridgford belonged to the honor of Tickhill which were part of the Domesday fief of Roger de Busil. Lowdham was held by the family of Beaufou, or de Bellafogo; and Bridgford by the family of Biset. The Bisets were tenants of the honor of Pontefract, a circumstance which probably accounts for this feoffment, whereby Lascy became mesne between the tenant in demesne and the earl of Chester. This charter affords evidence that Stephen's well-known charter to earl Ranulf was effective in regard to the honor of Tickhill. [Phil Moody]

Sources

1. ↑ Keats-Rohan, Domesday People, pp.401-2

See also:

• Standish, John. Transactions of the Thoroton Society (Cooke & Vowles, 1901) Vol. 5, Page 24
• Jacks, Leonard. The Great Houses of Nottinghamshire and the County Families (W. and A.S. Bradshaw, Nottingham, 1881)
• Page 57: "was possessed of no fewer than a hundred and seventy-four manors in Nottinghamshire. These were granted to him by William the Conqueror"
• The Wikipedia page says he had only one son, who died in infancy.