Feudal barony of Gloucester

The feudal barony of Gloucester or Honour of Gloucester was one of the largest of the mediaeval English feudal baronies, in 1166 comprising 279 knight's fees, or manors. The constituent landholdings were spread over many counties. The location of the caput at Gloucester is not certain as Gloucester Castle appears to have been a royal castle, but it is known that the baronial court was held at Bristol in Gloucestershire.

Although English feudal baronies are generally stated to have been brought into existence by the early Norman kings of England following the Norman Conquest of 1066 and the subsequent feudal land tenure per baroniam, in the instance of the barony of Gloucester it is well recorded that many of the lands of the Norman barony had been held before 1066 by the great Saxon thegn Brictric son of Algar. According to the account by the Continuator of Wace and others, in his youth Brictric declined the romantic advances of Matilda of Flanders (c. 1031 – 1083), later wife of King William the Conqueror, and his great fiefdom was thereupon seized by her.

The barony held many manors in Devon, where its local caput appears to have been the manor of Winkleigh. The principal sources of the barony's lands in Devonshire were from the former holdings of:

Matilda of Flanders (c. 1031 – 1083), later wife of King William the Conqueror, seized Brictric's lands which after her death in 1083 reverted to the royal demesne of her eldest son King William Rufus (1087–1100). The feudal barony proper was created when William Rufus granted the lands to his follower Robert FitzHamon (died 1107), the conqueror of Glamorgan.

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