{"id":26680,"date":"2024-05-31T12:38:45","date_gmt":"2024-05-31T11:38:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/marthamnorfolk.co.uk\/?page_id=26680"},"modified":"2024-05-31T12:38:47","modified_gmt":"2024-05-31T11:38:47","slug":"seal-of-william-de-martham-c1085","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/marthamnorfolk.co.uk\/?page_id=26680","title":{"rendered":"Seal of William De Martham, c1085"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Seal of William De Martham, c1085<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

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This magnificent seal is inextricably linked to the Norman period of the history of Martham. It belonged to William De Martham in about 1085. He was better known as William Beaufoe(1)<\/sup> and was the Bishop of Thetford before the Bishop\u2019s residence later moved to Norwich. Before he became the Bishop he was a steward to the King and a royal clerk. He was also the son of Robert Sire de Belfou, who fought for William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings in 1066.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The copper alloy seal bears the inscription, WILLEMI DE MARTHAM (seal of William of Martham) and shows a bull being attacked by a lion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When William the Conqueror (c1028-1087) won the Battle of Hastings in 1066 he effectively became the owner of all the land in England. He rewarded his supporters by giving them land and manors. Robert Sire de Belfou and his son William benefited from this process and the family were given hundreds of manors in Norfolk and Suffolk, one of which was Martham. As a consequence of this grant William appears in the Domesday Book<\/a><\/em> for Martham the entry for which you can see by clicking on the link.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

William would probably have had dozens of seals like this one for sealing documents with wax that related to each manor. It\u2019s a scarce historical treasure that came from the collection of a man with a passion for history and was sold after his death by Hansons the auctioneers of Derby in January 2024 for \u00a31,800.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(1<\/strong>)  Sometimes William de Beaufai, William of Beaufour or William of Belfou whose family originated from Normandy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back to Index page<\/span><\/a>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Seal of William De Martham, c1085 This magnificent seal is inextricably linked to the Norman period of the history of Martham. It belonged to William De Martham in about 1085. He was better known as William Beaufoe(1) and was the Bishop of Thetford before the Bishop\u2019s residence later moved to Norwich. Before he became the … Continue reading “Seal of William De Martham, c1085”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"elementor_header_footer","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-26680","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t