The Normans

The continental adventurers who followed William of Normandy were rewarded for their services in the conquest of England by grants of land. Our region was not at once Normanised, but after two rebellions by Earl Eadwin of Mercia what remain-ed of the ancient Mercian kingdom was largely granted to Ansculf of Picquiny, who received thirty manors east and west of Dudley for the upkeep of the great fort-ress there. Among his possessions were Barr, Perry, and Handsworth in Staffordshire, Birmingham, Aston, Erdington, and Edgbaston in Warwickshire, and Northfield and Selly in Worcestershire. Of these Aston (which then included five other manors now in the city) had been the Earl's, as had Erdington, while Birmingham had belong-ed to the Saxon shire-reeve of Warwick, Ulwine. Norton was retained by the king, hence its royal prefix, as was Sutton.