Left fatherless, his lands were initially in the keeping of the Chief Justiciar of England, Ranulf de Glanvill. In 1191, though under age, he paid a 1000 mark fee to inherit his father's lands. In that year he also married a widow who was an illegitimate daughter of King William I of Scotland. Later he inherited from his mother one-third of the Trussebut estates, which included lands near the town of Bonneville-sur-Touques in Normandy, of which he became hereditary bailiff and castellan.