Also called Eudo the Steward, or Eudo Dapifer. He was the youngest of four
sons of Hubert of Ryes; he married a daughter of Richard FitzGilbert of
Tonbridge; while his sister married Peter de Valognes. He was William I's
steward, succeeding William FitzOsbern. He founded the Abbey of St John's
at Colchester, his major manor in England,
and built Colchester Castle around the podium of the Roman Temple of
Claudius, creating the largest Norman keep in Britain.
But his main castle was at Préaux in Normandy, though he had large
land-holdings in Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, Essex, Hertfordshire and
Norfolk. He died in 1120.
His statue (left) is one of several on the front of the present Colchester Town Hall. |
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