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Ralph Fitz-Stephen was the High Sheriff of Glouchestershire, England andreceived the feudal Barony of Wapley. Stevens Genealoge. Some Descendants OF THE Fitz Stepben Famile IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND. BY C. ELLIS STEVENS, LL.D., D.C.L. F.S.A. (EDINBURGH) KNIGHT COMNANDER OF THE ORDER OF CHRIST OF PORTUGAL. NEW YORK PRIVATELY PRINTED 1904 RALPH FITZ STEPHEN, Baron of Wapley by feudal tenure, great grandson ofAirard Fitz Stephen, was High Sheriff of Gloucestershire in 1171, theeighteenth year of the reign of King Henry II, conjointly with hisbrother William Fitz Stephen.2 Through him the family seem first to havebecome residents of this shire, with which they remained connected for somany generations. A clue to the cause of settlement in the county may befound in the fact that he became treasurer of the great Abbey ofMalmesbury in Gloucestershire, not far from the time that the historianWilliam of Malmesbury was resident there. He had charge as a layman ofthe feudal relations of the Abbey, and the administration of itsestates.3 Speaking of the Norman changes in the government of Saxontimes, Gardiner says,"The local chiefs gave way to the King'srepresentatives. One local officer indeed grew into increased activity.This was the officer who in each shire had always been especially theKing's officer, the shirereeve, or sheriff, who looked after theinterests of the King, while the ealdorman or earl represented theseparate being of the shire. Under William the Conqueror earls ceased tobe appointed save where they had distinct military duties. Under hissuccessors earldoms gradually sank into merely honorary dignities. Butthe sheriff was in the Norman reigns the busiest of all officers".4 Theoffice was of such power as to be held only by persons of rank, high inthe King's favor, and differed essentially from that of the same name inmodern times. In matters of administration its responsibilitiesnecessitated that the sheriff be at the head of a body of knights andarmed retainers. Ralph Fitz Stephen was possessed of landed estates in Gloucestershire. Inthe latter part of the reign of Henry II, he received the feudal barony of Wapley, of which Codringtonwas the chief seat, and shortly after 1189, he bestowed the manor upon the Abbey of Stanley inWiltshire, its income to be devoted to payment for masses for the repose of the soul of the lateKing.1 This Norman baron died 1190, in the first year of the reign of Richard Coeur de Lion, havingmarried (???) de Berkeley, of Berkeley Castle, co. Gloucester,2 near Eastington, by whom he had a son, FITZ RALPH FITZ STEPHEN, who was one of the Crusaders who went fromEngland to the Holy Land probably in the third Crusade, under RichardCoeur de Lion, 1190,3 leaving a son; JOHN FITZ STEPHEN,4 who it appears married a daughter of the De Bradestonfamily, and had issue; ----William Lackey Stephens;http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/s/t/e/William-Lackey--Stephens/index.html
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