Ralph the Staller


Ralph the Staller was a landowner in both Anglo-Saxon and post-Conquest England.
He is said to have been born in Norfolk of Breton parentage. He held the military post of staller, roughly equivalent to the continental constable, under King Edward the Confessor. He survived the Conquest of 1066 and gained the favor of William the Conqueror, who made him Earl of East Anglia. He married and had several children, including his heir, Ralph Guader, who succeeded to his earldom.