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Here is a map of locations that are important to our story. Ranulf was born in Saxmundham and Acre is Ranulf’s place of death, Alnwick is the location of the Battle of Alnwick where Ranulf captured William the Lion! Bacton is one of Ranulf’s land holdings. Bristol is where Henry’s Uncle Robert Earl of Gloucestershire
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Furthermore, he founded two abbeys, both in Suffolk; Butley for Black Canons, in 1171, and Leiston, for White Canons, in 1183; also a leper hospital at Somerton, in Norfolk.[1] Ranulf distributed lands including Butley priory to his daughters prior to his death perhaps to avoid inheritance law and to be sure that his property was
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If you were not a baron or great magnate but also not a peasant, what would you do? Jobs in the church were uber hard to come by…would you enter the merchant class or attach yourself to the royal court as an administrator? When it came to those that he chose to serve him, Henry
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Think. It is the twelfth century and the world is your oyster. One of you is the King of all England from the Scottish border and on the continent to the Pyrenes Mountains and the other is the Chief Justiciar of England! Together you will protect, shape, develop and rule over that vast Kingdom. When
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Butley Priory was an Augustinian Priory founded in 1171 by Ranulf de Glanville. It is currently a wedding venue. It is northeast of Ipswich on the North Sea. Must have been a bit chilly in the winter. Ranulf held the Lordship of Butley but a portion of it became the property of his daughter Maud
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Battle of Alnwick, 1174. In pursuit of his claims to the northern shires, William I ‘the Lion’, king of Scotland, invaded England in 1173 and 1174. In 1174, having failed to take Carlisle, Wark, and Prudhoe castles, William in frustration decided to ravage the coastal plain of Northumberland. On the morning of 13 July, while
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Early in his reign Henry called a great meeting at the hunting lodge of the Norman kings in Clarendon near Salisbury. The attendance was from throughout England and even as widespread as the continent, this was a group of high-profile clerics and nobles that Henry gathered to attempt to control the growing power of the
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Henry II (reigned in England 1154-1189) and Ranulf de Glanville (died 1190), Chief Justiciar of England beginning in 1180 had a good working relationship and Ranulf was known as the King’s “eyes”. He was Henry’s right hand man, learned, clever, talented and faithful. For Henry faithfulness would be very important. There is some disagreement over
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In 1182 Ranulf de Glanville founded Leiston Abbey. In about 1363 the abbey was moved away from what was evidently a rather unhealthy location on swampy ground, and rebuilt on its present site. The old abbey was dismantled for building materials (though a fragment of it can still be seen) and as a result the
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How in the world did Ranulf get it all done? Busy as a bee he is a 12th Century over achiever.

