A still larger proprietor was Ivo Taillebois, Earl of Anjou, and nephew of the Conqueror. On him, William bestowed in marriage, the Saxon Lady Lucia, sister of Edgiva, wife of the late King Harold. Beside the lands of her father, Earl Algar, she had succeeded to the large possessions of her uncle, Sheriff Thorold, of the neighbouring Bucknall (where traditions still linger of him, and his sister, the “Lady Godiva.”) She was probably a kinswoman of the above Alured, of Lincoln, since his relative, Alan of Lincoln, is named in old deeds, as nephew of Thorold. Either through her, or by direct grant to himself, Ivo owned 1,020 acres in Stixwould, beside lands in 104 other parishes. On this Ivo Taillebois (or “Underwood” as the name signifies), we may here make a few remarks. He was commonly known as “the Lord of Holland,” through his wife’s extensive possessions in that division of the county, inherited from Thorold, her uncle, who was lord of Spalding, and he also had a fine residence at Spalding, where he lived in great state. He was, however, of a temperament fitted rather to inspire fear than affection. The chronicler, Ingulphus (“History of Croyland Abbey,”) tells us, that his dependants “supplicated him on bended knees, and did him all due service,” but, in return, he “tortured, harrassed, and daily loaded them with fresh burdens”; and by his cruelty, “compelled most of them to sell their property and seek other countries.” On the death of his patron, the Conqueror, he joined a conspiracy against William Rufus, and was banished the country. After a few years he was allowed to return, but died shortly afterwards of paralysis, in 1114. {188} Having been forced as a husband, by the Conqueror, upon the Lady Lucia, and being further of the temperament already described, we may assume that, as the saying is, there was “no love lost” between them, and we are therefore hardly surprised to find another old chronicler (Peter de Blois), saying, on the death of Ivo, “hardly had a month elapsed, when the Lady Lucia married that illustrious man, Roger de Romara, son of Gerald de Romara (seneschal or high steward of William, as Duke of Normandy), and that she lost all recollection of Ivo.”