Roger (Pîtres) de Gloucester (abt. 1040 - abt. 1085)

Born about 1040 in Pitres, Eure, Haute Normandie, France

Descendants

Died about 1085 at about age 45 in England

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Biography

Birth and Parents

No parents have been established.

Keats-Rohan shows him as a Norman, from Pîtres, Eure, cant. Pont-de-l'Arche. ^[1]

He was the brother of Duran, who succeeded him as sheriff of Gloucester. ^[1]

Birth Year Estimation: Assuming he was about 25 or 26 at the Norman Conquest would place his birth at, say, 1040.

1066 Conquest

He followed William the Conqueror to England in or after 1066. ^[2]

Marriage

Roger's wife was Adeline, by whom he had a son Walter of Gloucester. ^[1]

Carpenter notes that in a spurious confirmation for Gloucester Abbey, Walter's mother was named Adeliza (Adelaise); the calendar has "Alice wife of Roger de Pitres the sheriff." ^[3]

The Donations of the Gloucester abbey says that Adeliza gave fourteen lands as enumerated in her deed in 1125, at the time of Abbot William. ^[3]

Career

Roger had been a protégé of William FitzOsbern and owed much of his landed wealth to this association. After the death of Earl William in 1071, Roger was more closely associated with the crown. ^[2]

Carpenter notes that a letter of Gilbert Foliot, bishop of London, written between 1164 and 1179 to resolve a dispute over burial rights, states that Roger de Pitres ("Pistri") had been the first custodian of Gloucester castle after thew Conquest. Foliot stated that Roger and all his household, as well as his brother Durand de Pitres, who also had custody of the castle, had been buried in Gloucester Abbey. ^[3]

1071 Sheriff of Gloucestershire

Roger was sheriff of Gloucestershire from 1071 and castellan of Gloucester Castle, which he built. His estates in Gloucestershire and Herefordshire, with smaller tenures elsewhere, formed the honour of Caldicot. ^[2]

Roger de Pitres ("Pistri") was named in a writ of William I -- between 1071 and 1083 -- concerning the customs of the abbey of Abingdon. ^[3]

South Cerney Manor

"Earl W" -- William fitz Osbern, earl of Hereford, who died in Flanders in February 1071, gave the South Cerner manor to Roger the sheriff, Walter's father. ^[3]

1086 Death

He was dead by 1086. ^[1]

The letter by Gilbert Foliot, bishop of London, cited by Carpenter, states that Roger and his household had been buried in Gloucester Abbey. ^[3]

Roger died before Domesday Book was compiled, and in 1086 his brother, Durand, was sheriff of Gloucestershire. ^[2]

Issue

At his death he left by his wife Adeline a son Walter of Gloucester. ^[1] Also known as Walter fitz Roger ^[3]

The office of Sheriff of Gloucestershire, with the office of castellan of Gloucester Castle, passed to Roger's son, Walter of Gloucester, perhaps c. 1097.^[2]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4} Keats-Rohan, K. S. B. Domesday Descendants: A Prosopography of Persons Occurring in English Documents 1066-1166. II. Pipe Rolls to Cartae Baronum. Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell Press, 2002. Entry for "de Gloecestria, Roger". pp. 480-481 .'
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4} Source is apparently the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, however, this needs to be clarified and an exact citation needs to be created.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6} David X. Carpenter. Walter and Miles of Gloucester University of Oxford, 2013. Accessed 8 March 2022