Robert Blund was a Norman nobleman and

Sheriff of Norfolk The high sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown and is appointed annually (in March) by the Crown. The High Sheriff of Norfolk was originally the principal Law enforcement in the United Kingdom, law enforcement officer in Norfolk and ...

after the

Norman Conquest of England The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, Duchy of Brittany, Breton, County of Flanders, Flemish, and Kingdom of France, French troops, ...

. Blund was named in ''

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

'' as the Sheriff of Norfolk, so he held that office sometime before 1086, when ''Domesday'' was compiled.Green ''English Sheriffs'' p. 60 Blund was also the lord of Ashfield in

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

, and is considered to have been the

feudal baron A feudal baron is a vassal holding a heritable fief called a ''barony'', comprising a specific portion of land, granted by an overlord in return for allegiance and service. Following the end of European feudalism, feudal baronies have largely been ...

of Ashfield.Sanders ''English Baronies'' p. 3 ''Domesday Book'' states that Blund inherited his lands in Suffolk from his brother, who was named Ralph.Keats-Rohan ''Domesday People'' p. 370 Blund's heir was his son Gilbert, who had inherited the fiefs by sometime in the reign of King

Henry I of England Henry I (c. 1068 – 1 December 1135), also known as Henry Beauclerc, was King of England from 1100 to his death in 1135. He was the fourth son of William the Conqueror and was educated in Latin and the liberal arts. On William's death in ...

. Besides his son, Blund had at least two daughters, who were married to William of Audley and Robert de Albamara. Another possible relative was Gilbert Blund, who held lands from

Robert Malet Robert Malet (c. 1050 – by 1130) was a Norman-English baron and a close advisor of Henry I. Early life Malet was the son of William Malet, and inherited his father's great honour of Eye in 1071. This made him one of the dozen or so great ...

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* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Blund, Robert High Sheriffs of Norfolk Normans in England