In Domesday, Berkeley appears as a royal demesne and free borough, which had been held by the Confessor, and belonged to William, but was held of him by Roger, called thence of Berkeley. It was the head of a soke or barony, for attached to it were “Berews,” or members, in twenty-one adjacent parishes. The castle is not mentioned, but in “Ness,” probably Sharpness, was a castellum, or castellet, claimed by the same Roger. His holding in the Liber Niger is set down as 2½ knights’ fees. He gave liberally to Stanley Priory, and died there 1096. William, his nephew, succeeded, and had a son Roger, father of Roger, who all held Berkeley, and are designated by its name. This latter Roger was a partisan of King Stephen, and was turned out of Berkeley by Henry, who gave Berkeley to Robert, son of Hardinge, Præpositus of Bristol, who died 1170, 16 Henry II., aged seventy-five, leaving Maurice Fitzhardinge, his son. To stanch the feud between the dispossessed and the new lord, Henry made up a double alliance: Helen, daughter of Fitzhardinge, was married to a son of Roger de Berkeley, and Alice, Roger’s daughter, to Maurice Fitzhardinge of Berkeley. The result was that the old Berkeleys fell back upon their manor of Cuberley, and finally died out, and the Fitzhardinges, with the estate, bore the surname of Berkeley, and have so continued. At that time the Manor or Lordship, sometimes called the Honour of Berkeley, included above thirty parishes, and extended over most of the hundred. It was rated at 160 hides, and paid a chief rent of £70. Henry, at the time of the gift, was only Duke of Normandy, and weak, and Fitzhardinge was an important man; hence the duke treats as equal with equal, and with the estate makes a promise to build him a castle to his taste. “Et pepigi ei firmare ibi castellum secundum voluntatem ipsius Roberti,” and, on the other hand, Robert promises to be Henry’s liege. Henry visited Berkeley in 1155, when, no doubt, the present castle was begun. Henry’s charter is in excellent preservation, and is kept at Berkeley. Another charter by Henry, when king, also there preserved, confirms to Robert Fitzhardinge, Berkelai-Herness Manor by the service of one knight, or, if he prefer it, 100 shillings per annum. A third charter is almost a copy of the second, but states the service at five knights, and is silent as to the composition. There is also a charter printed by Dugdale, by which Robert Fitzhardinge grants certain churches to St. Augustine’s at Bristol. These are the earliest title-deeds of the family. St. Augustine’s was founded by this Robert in 1142, and consecrated in 1148. He died 1170. Maurice, son of Robert, is said to have dug the ditch between the castle and the church. He probably deepened it. He also is reputed to have built the castle exterior to King Henry’s keep, including the two gatehouses. He died in 1189.