Peter de Valognes

Peter de Valognes was a Norman nobles who accompanied William the Conqueror on the invasion of England and fought at the Battle of Hastings and became great landowners in England.Peter de Valognes was born cica 1060 [The Plantagenet ancestry;: Being tables showing over 7,000 of the ancestors of Elizabeth (daughter of Edward IV and wife of Henry VII) the heiress of the Plantagenets,by William Harry Turton, Published by Genealogical Pub. Co, ASIN: B0006BWIKS] in the town of Valognes, Contentin, in Normandy, northwestern France. He appears as Pierre de Valognes on the plaque [ [http://www.robertsewell.ca/dives.htlm|#np] Dives-sur-Mer, List recording the companions of William the Conqueror on his invasion of England] in the church at Dives-sur-Mer, Normandy, France, where William the Conqueror and his knights said mass before setting sail to invade England.

Family

Peter de Valognes was the nephew [The Domesday Book, Englands Heritage, Then and Now, Editor: Thomas Hinde,Norfolk page 341, Major Domesday Landowners. ISBN 1858334403] of William the Conqueror, his mother Adbelahide, being Williams sister. Peter de Valognes wife was called Albreda. They had three children who were Robert de Valognes (born cica 1080), Roger de Valognes (Born cica 10800 and Muriel de Valognes (Born cica 1087)

Land Holdings

Between 1070 and 1076 Peter de Valognes was granted lands in the six counties of Hertfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex and Lincolnshire. In 1086 when the Domesday book was completed, Peter was sheriff of the counties of Essex and Hertfordshire and he farmed the boroughs of Havering and Hertford. Although Peter de Valognes made his caput in Benington in Hertfordshire, his most valuable lands were in Norfolk, the latter being a later grant at the forfeiture of Ralph de Guader after the revolt of the Earls in 1075.

Binham Priory

Peter de Valognes was the founder of Binham Priory in North Norfolk in 1091 [The King’s England series, NORFOLK, by Arthur Mee,Pub:Hodder and Stoughton,1972, page 32 Binham, ISBN 0 340 15061 0] , and was built on land given to him by his Uncle, William the Conqueror. The land on which the priory stands was, according to the Domesday Book, originally the property of a freeman named Esket.

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