Robert Malet, "Lord of Eye", Domesday 1086
Robert Malet was born in Normandy c. 1045, the son of William Malet, and both fought with Duke William of Normandy during the Battle of Hastings in 1066 after which Duke William added "King of England" to his titles. Robert was one of the largest land holders in England at the time of the Domesday survey in 1086. The lands that he held at the time of Domesday are assumed to have come to Robert upon the death of his father William c.1071 who held them before that.
"Honour of Eye", Eye, Suffolk
The above engraving shows a view of the castle motte in Eye, Suffolk, c. 1818. The windmill atop the motte was built in 1561-2; the castle, built by Robert Malet's father William, had fallen into disrepair and was demolished sometime prior to that.
The Honour of Eye, inherited from his father Willam, made Robert Malet one of the largest landholders in England at the time of the Domesday Survey in 1086. Eye, with its castle, church, priory and market was the administrative centre of the Honour. The annual income from these English lands is estimated to be about £600 (estimated to be in excess of £500,000 value in 2017). The Honour was comprised of at least 75,000 acres, of which 47,000 were located in Suffolk, making Robert the second largest landowner there behind only the Abbot of Bury St. Edmunds.
The windmill was replaced in 1844 by another castle built as a private residence, the ruins of which stand today, shown above in a photograph taken in 1996.
Map of Eye showing the Castle Motte and Bailey.
Eye Tithe Map 1840.
Aerial View of Eye 1975
At Eye, Robert was responsible for establishing the Benedictine priory of St. Peter in 1086-87, and also for establishing Eye park as a hunting preserve prior to 1086. The park is one of only four such parks mentioned in the Suffolk Domesday book.
Robert was Sheriff of Suffolk 1071-c1080, succeeding his father William in that capacity. In 1075-6, he was responsible for suppressing the rebellion of Ralph, Earl of Norfolk.
At some point, Robert was appointed to the office of "Great Chamberlain of England". He seems to have acceded to it early in the reign of Henry I. Robert's possession of the office is established by Henry I's charter of 1133 granting to Aubrey II de Vere the "master chamberlainship of all England" as fully as Robert Malet had formerly held it.
It is possible he served all three of the early Norman Kings in that role, in fact he may have been the first Great Chamberlain of England.
Robert attested 5 of King William I's charters, and remained in the good graces of the King until the King's death in 1087. King William I bequeathed Normandy to his oldest son Robert "Curthose", and England to the next oldest son William "Rufus" who then became William II of England. The youngest son Henry was given £5000 (estimated to be in excess of £4,000,000 value in 2017) in silver, and his mother's lands in Buckinghamshire and Gloucestershire.
This set up a contest between Robert and William, each of whom wanted the other's lands, and both of whom wanted their younger brother Henry's money. It may be that Robert Malet backed the wrong horse from an English perspective (i.e. Robert Curthose) because William Rufus seems to have taken the honour of Eye away from Robert Malet shortly after his accession to the throne, and Robert Malet disappears from the English records until the death of William Rufus in a hunting "accident", when the younger son Henry claimed the throne and became Henry I of England in 1100.
Whatever the case, after 1100 Robert Malet was restored to the Honour of Eye by King Henry I, was back in the good graces of the King and reappears in the English historical record attesting to 19 of King Henry's Charters.
In 1105 it is thought that Robert accompanied King Henry to Normandy to have it out with Henry's older brother Robert as to who was going to rule Normandy and England. The final battle between the forces supporting the two brothers occurred at Tinchebrai in 1106. It was during this battle that Robert Malet may have died. There is no record of Robert in England after 1105.
Robert married Elisée de Brionne, and had sons named William and Hugh. William inherited his father's estates, while Hugh became a monk.
Robert's son William II was one of Duke Robert of Normandy's companions on the first Crusade in 1096 where he is rated among the Knights Banneret (i.e. he had at least 24 vassal knights serving under him).
William is thought to have inherited the Honour of Eye upon his father's death in 1106, but the Anglo Saxon Chronicle tells us that these lands were taken from him and he was banished from England in 1110. From that point on William no longer appears in the English historical record, and seems to have spent the rest of his life on the Malet lands in Normandy.
He is buried in front of the alter in the church that his grandfather William I commissioned to celebrate his and his companions' success in conquering England in 1066.
Abbaye de Graville, Le Havre, Normandy.
William II is buried in front of the alter in the Abbey Church.
William II's Tomb.
Although it is clear that William II Malet left England for France in 1110, there were still Malets living in England.
In the Domesday survey in 1086 Durand Malet, probably Robert's brother held land in Lincolnshire and Leicestershire, and his descendants continued to be recorded in the historical record after that.
In 1289, the Chronicles record that "Robert Malet, Knight" was given the task of guarding an important Royal prisoner at Babwell, near Bury St. Edmunds in Suffolk.
The Malet family also reappears in England as large landholders at Curry Mallet in Somerset before the death of Henry I in 1135. It is generally accepted that there is a direct link between the "Suffolk Malets" and the "Somerset Malets", but the precise nature of the relationship is not known. See "Malet of Curry Mallet", and "Malet of Enmore" for more on that topic.
After Robert and William II, the Honour of Eye was held by a succession of Kings, Queens, Princes, Dukes, and Earls, even Archbishop Thomas à Becket at one point, which gives an indication of the high value of it. One estimate suggests that the annual income of these estates equates to approximately 5% of the total annual income of all property in Domesday.
Sources:
- Malet, G.E.G., "The Origin of the Malets of Enmore," The Genealogists' Magazine Volume 8, No. 6 (June 1939), pp. 316-324
- Hollister, C. Warren, "Henry I and Robert Malet", Monarchy, Magnates and Institutions in the Anglo-Norman World Ch. 7, pp. 129-136.
- Hart, Cyril, "William Malet and his Family", Anglo-Norman Studies XIX pp. 123-165.
- Keats-Rohan, K.S.B. "Domesday Book and the Malets: Patrimony and the Private Histories of Public Lives", Nottingham Medieval Studies 41 [1997] pp. 13-56.
- Paine, Clive, "The History of Eye", Eye Press, Diss, Norfolk 1993.
- The National Archives (UK), Currency Converter
Author:
Bob Mallett
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
November 30, 2025.