_Domesday_ tells us of the old Saxon families, many of whom lost their estates when the Conqueror came, and were supplanted by the favourites of the new king. Some of them contrived to weather the storm and retain their lands. Almer, or Almar, the lord of Barkham, who succeeded his brother Stigand as Bishop of Elmham in 1047, when the latter became archbishop, was among the number of the dispossessed, and probably found shelter with many of his compatriots in the cloister. Several of William's Norman adventurers married the heiresses of the old Saxon gentry, and thus became possessed of great estates. Thus Robert D'Oili married the daughter of Wigod, lord of Wallingford, and soon gained possession of his father-in-law's property. However, the names of the fortunate Saxons who retained their estates are few in comparison with those who were dispossessed. We find Edgar Atheling, real heir to the throne, retaining a small estate; but he was a feeble prince, and therefore not to be feared by William. His sister Cristina had also land in Oxfordshire. Bishop Osbern, of Exeter, a kinsman of the late king, also held his estates; and amongst the list we find Seward the huntsman, of Oxfordshire; Theodric the goldsmith; Wlwi the huntsman, of Surrey; Uluric the huntsman, of Hampshire, who were not deprived of their lands, their occupations being useful to the king. The list of despoiled landowners is a long one, and need not here be recorded. One Brictric was very unfortunate. When ambassador to Baldwin of Flanders he refused to marry the count's daughter Maud. The slighted lady became the Conqueror's consort, and in revenge for her despised love caused Brictric to be imprisoned and his estates confiscated, some of which were given to the queen. The luckless relations and connections of the late royal house were consistently despoiled, amongst them Editha, the beautiful queen of King Edward, and daughter of Earl Godwin, of whom it was written: "_Sicut spina rosam genuit Godwynus Editham_"; and Gida, the mother of Harold; Godric, his son; and Gwith, his brother. Harold himself--the earl, as he is called, and not the king, who fought and died at Senlac, if he did not, as the romance states, end his life as a holy hermit at Chester--had vast estates all over England, which went to enrich William's hungry followers. Hereward the Wake, the English hero, also held in pre-Norman days many fat manors. Few of the Saxon landowners were spared, and it is unnecessary here to record the names of the Uchtreds, Turgots, Turchils, Siwards, Leurics, who held lands "in the time of King Edward," but whose place after Domesday knows them no more.