 Ranulf acquired the reputation of an able financier and administrator , and helped to increase the royal revenues . He appears to have played an important part in the compilation of the Domesday survey , perhaps even the main orchestrator of the project . Domesday Book gives his profession as clerk , and records him holding land in a number of counties . Before the death of the old king he became chaplain to Maurice , Bishop of London , whom he had formerly served in the chancery . Some sources call him " almost illiterate " , but this probably meant he was not formally educated in the liberal arts . His work in the chancery and as an administrator would have required knowledge of Latin . He also served as the keeper of the king 's seal from about 1085 . Once , while he was traveling in the Thames estuary with the seal , he was captured by pirates . Thinking quickly , he prevented the capture of the seal by throwing the seal into the sea . Although he served William the Conqueror , he does not attest a single genuine charter or writ of William 's , which implies he was not a leading servant . When King William died and his lands were split between his elder son Robert Curthose , who received Normandy , and the third son , William Rufus , who received England , Ranulf chose to serve Rufus in England . 
