The manor appears to have been, from an early period, connected with the dignity of the Earldom of Lincoln. Ranulph, an illustrious nobleman, marrying Lucia, widow of Roger de Romara, sister, and heiress of Morcar, the Saxon Earl of Northumberland and Lincoln, delivered the estates, amongst which was this lordship, to Henry the first, for the dignity of the Earldom of Chester. Against this, William de Romara, son of Lucia by her former husband, appealed to the king, but in vain. William however strengthening by his interest the rebellion in Normandy which had been raised by Robert, the eldest son of the conqueror and brother of the king; Henry, to appease his wrath, and obtain his favor, was in the twenty-second year of his reign, induced to restore to him the estates of his mother Lucia, and invest him with the Earldom of Lincoln. After this, exchanging certain lands in Normandy with Robert de Tillol for the lordships of Hareby, Enderby, and Hundleby, parts of this soke, William was invited by the security of the situation, to erect his castle at Bolingbroke. About the same time asserting the rights of the Empress Maud, in her contentions with Stephen for the throne, he greatly contributed to her early successes, particularly at the siege of Lincoln. By his wife Maud, the daughter of Richard de Redvers, he had issue a son named William, who married Hawise daughter of Stephen Earl of Albemarle; but dying in the life time of his father, the estates descended to his son, also called William. This William, the third of that name, to further improve his fortress, and add to the advantages of its situation, procured from Simon Briton, who also held lands in these parts, remission of all his claims in the whole marsh of Bolingbroke, and from Jeffrey Fitz Stephens, the superior of the Knights Templar, a full release of their interest in all the fens belonging to this manor, and its soke, which William de Romara his grandfather had given to them. This last mentioned individual of the family of Romara died without issue, and in him the male line of the family ceased; which appears from Gilbert de Gaunt, after being a suppliant prisoner when fighting on the side of Stephen at the siege of Lincoln, and compelled by the first William de Romara to marry his daughter Hawise, becoming in her right possessor of this manor, and receiving also the Earldom of Lincoln.