The Family of Aethelwig, Abbot of Evesham 1058–78 and Acting Justiciar of the Mercian Province

ABSTRACT

This article arises from research into people named in the Worcestershire Domesday Book. Counties were administrative units rather than limits on landholding, and estates could stretch across many counties. A greater understanding of each person can come from the Domesday evidence of their estate’s geographical arrangement and who, if anyone, shared their manors and townships. The family of Abbot Aethelwig of Evesham shows what can be achieved through this approach. After the Norman conquest Aethelwig was said, by Hemming, to be second only in judicial power in the Mercian province to William the Conqueror. Documents tell us that Ordwy was Aethelwig’s father. This is enough to reconstruct his immediate family and its pre-conquest estate. It was a family of thegns whose estate was organized to facilitate communication between family members in north Staffordshire, at Evesham and Leominster Abbeys and beyond. There is evidence of a strong link with Evesham Abbey.

KEYWORDS:

• Abbot Aethelwig
• Evesham Abbey
• Domesday Book
• Faintree
• Acton Beauchamp
• seigneurial reeves

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

¹ Aethelwig’s date of death is taken from: H. B. Clarke, ‘The Early Surveys of Evesham Abbey: an Investigation into the Problem of Continuity in Anglo-Norman England’ (PhD Thesis, University of Birmingham, 1977) p. 32–3. It is cited in D. C. Cox, The Church and Vale of Evesham: Lordship, Landscape and Prayer (Woodbridge: Boydell, 2015), p. 89. and S. Baxter, The Earls of Mercia: Lordship and Power in Late Anglo-Saxon England, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007), p. 288. Elsewhere his date of death is usually said to be 1077.

² The Chronicle of Evesham Abbey, trans. by D. C. Cox (Evesham: Vale of Evesham Historical Society, 1964), p. 12.

³ R. R. Darlington, ‘Aethelwig, Abbot of Evesham’, English Historical Review, 48 (1933), 1–22, 177–98. Hemming was a monk at Worcester whose cartulary and other writings of the late C11th/early C12th are major sources for this period. T. Hearne, ed., Hemingi Chartularium Ecclesiae Wigorniensis, (Oxford, 1723), pp. 270–3.

⁴ Domesday Book translations and references given in this article are from: Domesday Book, Staffordshire, trans. by A Hawkins and A. Rumble (Chichester: Phillimore, 1976); Domesday Book, Gloucestershire, trans. by J. S. Moore (Chichester: Phillimore, 1982); Domesday Book, Warwickshire, trans. by J. Plaister (Chichester: Phillimore, 1976); Domesday Book, Herefordshire, trans. by V. Sankaran (Chichester: Phillimore, 1983); Domesday Book, Worcestershire, trans. by F. and C. Thorn (Chichester: Phillimore, 1982); Domesday Book, Shropshire (DBSalop), trans. by F. and C. Thorn (Chichester: Phillimore, 1986); Domesday Book, Northamptonshire, trans. by F. and C. Thorn et. al. (Chichester: Phillimore, 1979). A. Williams and G. H. Martin, eds., Domesday Book: A Complete Translation, (London: Alecto Historical Editions, Penguin, 1992). (AlectoDB county, page no.), is used for all other counties. Great Domesday Book: original folio numbers are also given for all references as GDB f.no.

⁵ C. P. Lewis, ‘Joining the Dots: A Methodology for Identifying the English in Domesday Book’, in Family Trees and the Roots of Politics: The Prosopography of Britain and France from the Tenth to the Twelfth Century, ed. by K. S. B. Keats-Rohan (Woodbridge: Boydell, 1997), pp. 69–87.

⁶ L. Marten, ‘Meet the Swarts: Tracing a Thegnly Family in Late Anglo-Saxon England’, in The English and their Legacy, 900–1200: Essays in Honour of Ann Williams ed. by D. Roffe (Woodbridge: Boydell, 2012), pp. 17–32.

⁷ J. McN. Dodgson and J. J. N. Palmer, Domesday Book: Index of Persons (Chichester: Phillimore, 1992), pp. v-xi.

⁸ Lewis, ‘Joining the Dots’, p. 80.

⁹ Cox, Church and Vale, p. 68.

¹⁰ Cox, Chronicle, p. 11–12.

¹¹ Cox, Chronicle, p. 12–13; Ealdred was appointed Archbishop of York two years later, in 1060 – The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles trans. and ed. by M. Swanton (London: Phoenix, 2000), s.a. 1060, p. 189.

¹² Cox, Chronicle, p. 13.

¹³ Cox, Chronicle, p. 13.

¹⁴ Darlington, ‘Aethelwig’, 1–22, 177–98.

¹⁵ D. Bates, William the Conqueror (Yale: Yale University Press, 2016), pp. 265–84.

¹⁶ Bates, William the Conqueror, p. 261.

¹⁷ Cox, Chronicle, p. 12; V. King, ‘Ealdred, Archbishop of York: the Worcester Years’, in Anglo-Norman Studies, 18 (1996), 123–37.

¹⁸ Swanton, ASC, s.a. 1066, p. 200; Bates, William the Conqueror, p. 276.

¹⁹ Swanton, ASC, s.a. 1066, p. 200; Baxter, Earls of Mercia, p. 66. On the relationship between the King and his Earls, particularly the latter’s administrative role, see J. A. Green, English Sheriffs to 1154 (London: Public Record Office Handbook no.24, HMSO, 1990), pp. 9–19, esp. pp.10–11; A. Williams, The World Before Domesday: The English Aristocracy 900–1066 (London: Continuum, 2008), Chapter 1, esp. pp. 23–4; F. Barlow, Edward the Confessor (London: Eyre Methuen, 1970), p. 168; Baxter, Earls of Mercia, pp. 10, 12, 76, 89–118. Before the conquest earls ‘played a significant role in royal administration’ but ‘sheriffs were able to discharge many of the duties of earls, and royal administration could function perfectly well in their absence’ (Baxter, p. 12); after the conquest the newly appointed Norman sheriffs did not have sufficient knowledge of English law to discharge the same functions.

²⁰ Sometime before 1070 Gerbod the Fleming was given power in Cheshire (though he may not have had the status of earl), and he may already have been in place, alternatively King William may have intended to create a separate powerbase there to guard the northern Welsh border and therefore excluded it from Abbot Aethelwig’s area of power; see C. P. Lewis, ‘The Formation of the Honor of Chester, 1066–1100’, in The Earldom of Chester and its Charters: a Tribute to Geoffrey Barraclough, ed. by A. T. Thacker, Journal of the Chester Archaeological Society, 71 (1991), p. 38–41. The Normans, Henry de Ferrers and Harding the Sheriff, were given power in Derbyshire very soon after the conquest, therefore, Aethelwig’s expertise was not required – Baxter, Earls of Mercia, p. 287n.

²¹ Swanton, ASC, s.a. 1066, p. 200; W. E. Wightman, ‘The Palatine Earldom of William fitz Osbern in Gloucestershire and Worcestershire (1066–1071)’, English Historical Review, 77, 302, (1962), 6–17. That Earl William had considerable power in Oxfordshire is shown by the Domesday record of 29 lands still recorded as in the fief of Earl William 15 years after his death – GDB f. 161; AlectoDB, Oxon, Ch.59, pp. 443–4.

²² Cox, Chronicle, p. 14.

²³ D. Douglas and G. W. Greenaway, English Historical Documents, Volume II, 1042–1189 (EHD2), (London and Oxford: Eyre Methuen and Oxford UP, 1981), no. 50, pp. 481–3; Bates, William the Conqueror, pp. 363–4.

²⁴ J. Keates and A. Hornak, Canterbury Cathedral, (London: Summerfield Press and Philip Wilson Publishers, 1980), p. 9; E. Carpenter, Cantuar: The Archbishops in their Office, (London: Cassell, 1971), p. 84.

²⁵ EHD2, no. 50, pp. 481–3; the reference to the account being written for Christ Church, Canterbury is on p. 483.

²⁶ EHD2, no. 50, pp. 481–2.

²⁷ There is an anachronism in the Canterbury account which would give a date of 1075–6; however, two other early sources give the date 1072 – EHD2, no. 50, p. 481n.

²⁸ The bishop’s seat was shortly to be moved to Chichester.

²⁹ EHD2, no. 50, p. 483.

³⁰ EHD2, no. 50, p. 482.

³¹ Cox, Chronicle, p. 18.

³² D. Roffe, ‘Hidden Lives: English Lords in Post-Conquest Lincolnshire and Beyond’, in The English and their Legacy, 900–1200: Essays in Honour of Ann Williams, ed. by D. Roffe (Woodbridge: Boydell, 2012), p. 205.

³³ Cox, Chronicle, pp. 12 and 17.

³⁴ P. H. Sawyer, Anglo-Saxon Charters: An Annotated List and Bibliography (London: Royal Historical Society, 1968), (S) no. 1479. Acton (Beauchamp) was transferred to Herefordshire in 1897.

³⁵ DBWorcs, App. V, Worcs. G2; H. P. R. Finberg, The Early Charters of the West Midlands, (Leicester: Leicester University Press, 1972), no. 424, p. 146. As land could not be physically moved, the taking of a property involved depriving the rightful lord (in this case the Church of Worcester) of the dues and services which should have been rendered and either retaining them (probably the case with Ordwy) or conferring them on another lord; hence, the restoration of the property meant Ordwy once again rendered the dues and services owed to the Church of Worcester from Acton Beauchamp. A much later example from the early 13^th century illustrates how difficult it was to oust a person in possession of a property: when Thurstan stopped paying the 20s due from Bewdley to the Church of Worcester, the church combined with Thurstan’s Mortimer overlord to expel him, but it had to be done ‘both for a valuable consideration and by force’ – J. R. Burton, A History of Bewdley, (London: William Reeves, 1883), pp. 1–2, citing Annales Monastici, vol. iv, p. 405.

³⁶ GDB f. 176; DBWorcs, 11.1.

³⁷ The suggestion is made in Baxter, Earls of Mercia, p. 168.

³⁸ GDB f. 243 v; DBWarks, 36.1.

³⁹ For example, Earl Aelfgar (Algar) was listed as the 1066 holder of many lands in Staffordshire, even though he died in 1062–3, at least three years before King Edward – GDB f. 246–250 v; DBStaffs, 1.11, 13–28, 32, 5.2, 8.1–3, 5, 9.1, 12.1, 6, 14.

⁴⁰ GDB f. 257; DBSalop, 4.14.6; 4.23.18; 4.16.2.

⁴¹ On Faintree generally see R. C. Purton, ‘Some Account of the Manor of Faintree’, in Transactions of the Shropshire Archaeological and Natural History Society, 2^nd series, no.5, part II, (1893), p. 211–24.

⁴² In 1066 there was land for 5 ploughs and, in 1086, 1½ ploughs supported the manorial lord and another 2 ploughs supported the recorded population of 2 villagers and 5 smallholders, a total of 7 families. This suggests that in 1066 there might have been up to 12 families farming the land with the 3½ ploughs that were not in the manorial lords’ hands. DBSalop, 4.16.2.

⁴³ Ordnance Survey, Landranger Series of Great Britain, Sheet 138, (1979), SO 66 89.

⁴⁴ Purton, ‘Faintree’, p. 212. Arksley is named on the OS Map referenced above.

⁴⁵ Williams, World Before Domesday, p. 3.

⁴⁶ N. Saul, A Companion to Medieval England 1066–1485 (Stroud: Tempus, 2000), p. 177; G. Polack and K. Kania, The Middle Ages Unlocked: A Guide to Life in Medieval England, 1050–1300, (Stroud: Amberley, 2016), p. 317.

⁴⁷ GDB f. 177 v; DBWorcs, 26.16.

⁴⁸ GDB f. 177 v; DBWorcs, 24.1.

⁴⁹ On the importance of Droitwich salt see, for example, J. D. Hurst, Savouring the Past: The Droitwich Salt Industry (Worcester: Hereford and Worcester County Council, 1992).

⁵⁰ DBWorcs, 26.16, note.

⁵¹ J. Hudson, ‘The Making of English Law and the Varieties of Legal History’, in Early Medieval Studies in Memory of Patrick Wormald, ed. by S. Baxter et al. (London: Routledge, 2009), pp. 431–2.

⁵² GDB f. 246 v, 248 v-249, 250 v; DBStaffs: 1.58, 59, 64; 11.2, 3, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 28, 33, 36, 38; 17.10, 19.

⁵³ GDB f. 248 v, 249; DBStaffs: 11.2, 3, 17, 19, 21, 22, 28, 33, 36, 38; J. Hunt, ‘Land Tenure and Lordship in Tenth and Eleventh Century Staffordshire’, Staffordshire Studies, 4, (1991–2), 1–20, esp. 16–17.

⁵⁴ GDB f. 246 v; DBStaffs: Newton 1.58, Paynsley 1.59, Rushton 1.64.

⁵⁵ GDB f. 250 v; DBStaffs: Betley 17.10, Checkley 17.19.

⁵⁶ GDB f. 248 v; DBStaffs, 11.3.

⁵⁷ GDB f. 248 v-249 v; DBStaffs, Ch.11 and note; J. A. Green, The Normans: Power, Conquest and Culture in 11^th-Century Europe, (Yale: Yale University Press, 2022), pp. 61–2, 295.

⁵⁸ Cox, Church and Vale, pp. 113–4.

⁵⁹ Baxter, Earls of Mercia, p. 14, states that ‘religious houses were relatively stable centres of power in a world where secular lordship was often volatile and ephemeral […]and their spiritual and social functions made them natural focal points for identity and allegiance’; such considerations may have motivated both Wulfgeat and Robert of Stafford, whose replacement of his French byname of ‘de Tosny’ with one indicating his English centre of power adds strength to the suggestion that he was determined to move his ‘identity and allegiance’ from Normandy to England.

⁶⁰ GDB f. 249; DBStaffs, 11.17 and 11.21.

⁶¹ GDB f. 249; DBStaffs, 11.20, it had been in the hands of a man called Swein in 1066.

⁶² Wulfgeat was probably at least 21 years old when he married, his son needed to be at least 10 years old to enter an abbey, and the gift was made 40 years previously; therefore, he would have been at least 21 + 10 + 40 = 71 years old by the time of the Domesday Survey in 1086, and probably older.

⁶³ E. Mason, St Wulfstan of Worcester c.1008–1095 (Oxford: Blackwell, 1990), p. 28.

⁶⁴ C. Rawcliffe, ‘Health and Disease’ in A Social History of England 900–1200, ed. by J. Crick and E. van Houts (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011), p. 66.

⁶⁵ GDB f. 244; DBWarks, 40.2; GDB f. 167; DBGlos, 34.1.

⁶⁶ S1409; Anglo-Saxon Charters, trans. and ed. by A. J. Robertson (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1939), pp. 209, 456–9. Ditchford is now part of Gloucestershire.

⁶⁷ GDB f. 173; DBWorcs, 2.39.

⁶⁸ On the probability that there was a reeve in every village see J. Campbell, ‘Some Agents and Agencies of the Late Anglo-Saxon State’ in Domesday Studies, ed. by J. C. Holt (Woodbridge: Boydell, 1987), pp. 205–8.

⁶⁹ Williams, World Before Domesday, Ch. 4; D. Hill, An Atlas of Anglo-Saxon England, (Oxford: Blackwell, 1981), p. 153. There is little evidence for the existence of inns before the C12th and the earliest ones were on the busiest roads, especially near London, and therefore unlikely to be in Shropshire – see Polack and Kania, Middle Ages Unlocked, p. 321.

⁷⁰ On the acquisition of lands to facilitate travel, see for example, S. Harvey, Domesday: Book of Judgement (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), p. 116.

⁷¹ On the identification of reeves among the landholders named in Domesday Book see: N. J. Higham, ‘Patterns of Patronage and Power: The Governance of Late Anglo-Saxon Cheshire’, in Government, Religion and Society in Northern England 1000–1700, ed. by J. C. Appleby and P. Dalton (Stroud: Sutton, 1997), pp. 1–13; on seigneurial reeves and the need for them see Campbell, ‘Agents and Agencies’, p. 216.

⁷² Campbell, ‘Agents and Agencies’, p. 216.

⁷³ Eadmer writing about Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury, visiting his rural manors, quoted by Campbell, ‘Agents and Agencies’, p. 216.

⁷⁴ On a lord’s need for men to ride between the properties of his estate, see Campbell, ‘Agents and Agencies’, pp. 213–14.

⁷⁵ GDB f. 254, 254 v, 255 v, 257, 257 v, 258, 258 v, 259, 259 v; DBSalop: Acton (Round) 4.3.7, Berwick 4.3.25, Tibeton 4.3.36, Wollaston 4.4.7, Aston 4.14.11, Eyton (upon the Weald Moors) 4.14.18, Preston (Brockhurst) 4.19.10, Cherrington 4.23.4, Sandford 4.23.6, Longslow 4.23.10, Ightfield 4.23.11, Lee (Brockhurst) 4.25.2, Pulverbatch 4.26.4, Poynton and Tunestan 4.27.29.

⁷⁶ See, for example: Dodgson and Palmer, Index of Persons, pp. 233–4.

⁷⁷ GDB f. 258, 259; DBSalop: Preston Brockhurst, 4.19.10; and Pulverbatch, 4.26.4.

⁷⁸ GDB f. 258; DBSalop: the entry for Moreton Corbett, 4.19.9, taken together with Preston Brockhurst, 4.19.10; A. Williams, The English and the Norman Conquest, (Woodbridge: Boydell, 1995), p. 90.

⁷⁹ On dowries and morning gifts see E. van Houts, ‘Family, marriage, kinship’, in A Social History of England, 900–1200, ed. by J. Crick and E. van Houts (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011), p. 138.

⁸⁰ GDB f. 257; DBSalop, 4.14.6.

⁸¹ GDB f. 176; DBWorcs, 11.2; Cox, Chronicle, p. 17. By 1086 it was in Norman hands: Urse D’Abetot, the sheriff, held it from Odo, Bishop of Bayeux.

⁸² GDB f. 243; DBWarks, 28.13; Cox, Chronicle, p. 17. The Norman overlord in 1086 was William son of Corbucion.

⁸³ GDB f. 173 v; DBWorcs, 2.54.

⁸⁴ GDB f. 242 v; DBWarks, 22.22 – this Odo was not the Bishop of Bayeux.

⁸⁵ GDB f. 225; DBNorthants, 27.1. Stoneton is now in Warwickshire.

⁸⁶ GDB f. 258 v; DBSalop, 4.21.5–6 and 14. The name Holdgate developed from Helgot, the holder in 1086.

⁸⁷ GDB f. 257; DBSalop, 4.14.4. For a possible second Aelfeva, and Leofwin’s heir, see DBWarks, 31.1 note; A. Williams, The English and the Norman Conquest, p.118.

⁸⁸ GDB f. 257; DBSalop, 4.14.3.

⁸⁹ GDB f. 187 v, 181; DBHerefs, 34.2, 1.71.

⁹⁰ GDB f. 180; DBHerefs, 1.10b. In 1046 Swein Godwinson had abducted the Abbess of Leominster and lived with her for a year. It is unclear when the abbey was dissolved, although its lands were being redistributed to other landholders by 1086, see: GDB f. 180–180 v; DBHerefs, 1.10a-38; Swanton, ASC, s.a. 1046, p. 164; J and C Hillaby, Leominster Minster, Priory and Borough c.660–1539 (Leominster: Friends of Leominster Priory in association with Logaston Press, 2006), pp. 42–52.

⁹¹ GDB f. 180, 180 v; DBHerefs, 1.10–38.

⁹² Betton: GDB f. 259; DBSalop, 4.23.9; Packington: GDB f. 247; DBStaffs, 2.16, 2.22; Mansell Lacy: GDB f. 187 v; DBHerefs, 31.5; Lassington: GDB f. 164 v; DBGlos, 2.13.

⁹³ GDB f. 176; DBWorcs, 15.10.

⁹⁴ GDB f. 177; DBWorcs, 21.2.

⁹⁵ On commendation generally see: S. Baxter, ‘Lordship and Justice in Late Anglo-Saxon England: The Judicial Functions of Soke and Commendation Revisited’, in Early Medieval Studies in Memory of Patrick Wormald, ed. by S. Baxter et al. (London: Routledge, 2009), pp. 383–419; Williams, World Before Domesday, p. 69–76; F. M. Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1947), pp. 483–4.

⁹⁶ GDB f. 176; DBWorcs, 15.8.

⁹⁷ DBWorcs, App. V, Worcs G7.

⁹⁸ GDB f. 176; DBWorcs, 15.3 & note.

⁹⁹ GDB f. 176, 177, 178; his other lands were DBWorcs: Shelsley Beauchamp, 15.11; Hollin, 21.1; Glasshampton, 21.3; and Hillhampton, X1.

¹⁰⁰ GDB f. 186 v; DBHerefs, 23.1.

¹⁰¹ GDB f. 185 v; DBHerefs, 15.9.

¹⁰² GDB f. 258 v; DBSalop, 4.21.8.

¹⁰³ GDB f. 248 v; DBStaffs, 11.5.

¹⁰⁴ GDB f. 246 v, 248, 248 v, 250 v; DBStaffs: Tean, 11.2; Rownall, 1.62; Rudyard, 1.63; Ashley, 8.25; and Normacot, 13.3.

¹⁰⁵ GDB f. 244; DBWarks, 37.3.

¹⁰⁶ GDB f. 177; DBWorcs, 21.3.

¹⁰⁷ GDB f. 240 v; DBWarks, 16.44.

¹⁰⁸ GDB f. 241; DBWarks, 17.38.

¹⁰⁹ DBGlos, Appendix, Evesham K, 1.

¹¹⁰ Cox, Chronicle, p. 13.

¹¹¹ There was another monk of Evesham called Wulfmer who witnessed a confraternity agreement with other monasteries in 1077 – King’s College London, Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England (PASE), <www.pase.ac.uk>, (2010) under ‘Wulfmer 27’. Although the timing is not impossible, the use of Scandinavian names makes Abbot Manni/Wulfmer the more likely to be Ulfketel’s lord.

¹¹² For example, a monk of Evesham called Clement was the son of the goldsmith Godric who worked with Manni and himself had become a monk at Evesham under Abbot Walter – see Cox, Church and Vale, p. 91; Cox, Chronicle, p. 12.

¹¹³ Cox, Chronicle, p. 11.

¹¹⁴ Ibid.

¹¹⁵ J. Hunt, ‘Piety, Prestige or Politics? The House of Leofric and the Foundation and Patronage of Coventry Priory’, in Coventry’s First Cathedral: The Cathedral and Priory of St Mary, ed. by G. Demidowicz (Stamford: Paul Watkins, 1994), pp. 97–117. This may have been a reconsecration for the benefit of the new King Edward; any earlier consecration having been under a Scandinavian king. There is evidence that there was an Anglo-Saxon nunnery on this site which had been destroyed by Cnut and his invading army in 1016, so this may have been a refoundation by Earl Leofric and Godiva.

¹¹⁶ Hunt, ‘Piety, Prestige or Politics?’, p. 97, quoting John of Worcester; Baxter, Earls of Mercia, pp. 197–8.

¹¹⁷ GDB f. 185; DBHerefs: Upton, 11.1; and Laysters, 11.2.

¹¹⁸ GDB f. 256; DBSalop, 4.5.3.

¹¹⁹ DBWorcs, App. V, Worcs G, 28.

¹²⁰ E. Mason, St Wulfstan of Worcester c.1008–1095 (Oxford: Blackwell, 1990), pp. 72–6.

¹²¹ Ibid., pp. 76–7.

¹²² William of Malmesbury’s Life of Saint Wulfstan, trans. by J. H. F. Peile (Felinfach: Llanerch, 1996, reprinted from 1934), p. 27; Mason, St Wulfstan, p. 78.

¹²³ Mason, St Wulfstan, p. 84.

¹²⁴ DBWorcs, App. V, Worcs G, 2.

¹²⁵ On the strength of the family, especially the close patriarchal line, see van Houts, ‘Family, marriage, kinship’, pp. 133–41.

¹²⁶ On the spoliation of the Church of Worcester by the Earls of Mercia and others, see: DBWorcs, Appendix V; Hunt, ‘Piety, Prestige or Politics?’, pp. 105–7; Baxter, Earls of Mercia, pp. 168–77; F. Tinti, Sustaining Belief: The Church of Worcester from c.870 to c.1100, (London: Routledge, 2016), esp. Chapter 4; A. Williams, ‘The Spoliation of Worcester’, Anglo-Norman Studies, 19 (1996), 383–408.

¹²⁷ S1479, the attached notes cite the opinions of four historians: two suggesting it is genuine, two suggesting it is spurious; Clarke, ‘Early Surveys’, pp. 432–3.

¹²⁸ Baxter, Earls of Mercia, p. 47.

¹²⁹ GDB f. 175 v; DBWorcs, 9.5c.

¹³⁰ Baxter, Earls of Mercia, p. 48. Earl Edwin was the son of Earl Aelfgar.

¹³¹ GDB f. 233; DBNorthants, 18.32.

¹³² GDB f. 257 v; DBSalop, 4.16.2.

¹³³ GDB f. 222 v; DBNorthants, 11.6 – this entry names only Badby but almost certainly included nearby Newnham; Clarke, ‘Early Surveys’, pp. 496–509. See Clarke for a suggestion as to how and why Badby and Newnham went to Crowland Abbey. See also Baxter, Earls of Mercia, pp. 29–30.

¹³⁴ GDB f. 222 v; DBNorthants, 13.1.

¹³⁵ Clarke, ‘Early Surveys’, pp. 496–509.

¹³⁶ GDB f. 222 v, 223 v, 224, 226–226 v, 227 v; DBNorthants: 13.1, 18.40, 18.64, 19.2–3, 39.1–18, 48.11.

¹³⁷ On Leofnoth see Williams, World Before Domesday, pp. 19, 157–8; R. Fleming, ‘Domesday Book and the Tenurial Revolution’, Anglo-Norman Studies, 9 (1987), 87–101, esp. 100.

¹³⁸ GDB f. 247; DBStaffs, 2.11.

¹³⁹ GDB f. 255 v; DBSalop: 4.4.19; his other properties were Maesbrook, 4.3.35; Cardeston, 4.4.18; Petton, 4.6.3; Little Wytheford, 4.8.8; Udeford and Ryton Eleven Towns, 4.18.2; and The Sheet, 6.10; GDB f. 254 v, 255 v, 256, 256 v, 257 v, 260.

¹⁴⁰ GDB f. 186 v; DBHerefs, 22.5; his other properties were DBWorcs: Rockmoor, 15.7; Bell Hall, 23.8; and DBHerefs: Eaton, 1.22; Broadward, 1.28; Clehonger, 26.2; GDB f.176, 177, 180, 187.

¹⁴¹ GDB f. 186 v; DBHerefs, 23.1.

¹⁴² GDB f. 240; DBWarks: 16.31; his other properties were Wilnecote, 16.24; Berkswell, 16.27; and a Warwickshire property recorded in DBNorthants, Over Whitacre,19.3; GDB f.240, 224. On Ulfketel’s holding here, see GDB f. 241; DBWarks, 17.38.

¹⁴³ Lewis, ‘Joining the Dots’, p. 77.

¹⁴⁴ GDB f. 214 v, 215 v, 216; AlectoDB, Bedfordshire, pp. 576, 578–580; DBBeds: Carlton 24.20, Totternhoe 32.1, Turvey 32.3, Odell 32.4, Podington 32.5, Wymington 32.6, Thurleigh 32.8–9, Segenhoe 33.1, Silsoe 33.2 – not mapped.

¹⁴⁵ GDB f. 215 v; AlectoDB, Bedfordshire, p. 579; DBBeds, 32.9.

¹⁴⁶ GDB f. 215 v; AlectoDB, Bedfordshire, p. 579; DBBeds, 32.8.

¹⁴⁷ For Abbot Alwin of Evesham (originally spelt Aluuin) see GDB f. 177 v; DBWorcs, 26.15, 26.16; for Abbot Alfwy of Evesham (originally spelt Eluui) see GDB f. 176; DBWorcs, 11.2. The Latin alphabet did not have the letters to transliterate Aethelwig’s name any more accurately.

¹⁴⁸ GDB f. 177 v; DBWorcs, 26.17.

¹⁴⁹ DBWorcs, App. V, Worcs G, 15.

¹⁵⁰ GDB f. 177 v; DBWorcs, 26.15.

¹⁵¹ GDB f. 176 v; DBWorcs, 17.1.

¹⁵² GDB f. 242 v; DBWarks, 22.13.

¹⁵³ Fleming, p. 94, suggests that there was a ‘scramble for powerful lords and protectors’ by English thegns and freemen after the conquest; if so, then Aethelwig’s family may have chosen Robert of Stafford.

¹⁵⁴ GDB f. 255, 260 v; DBSalop: Osbaston and Kynaston 4.3.43, Bucknell 6.29.

¹⁵⁵ GDB f. 256 v; DBSalop, 4.8.6; GDB f. 258 v; DBSalop, 4.21.5–6 and note – the original text clearly shows the older name.

¹⁵⁶ GDB f. 254; DBSalop, 4.3.8; GDB f. 256 v; DBSalop, 4.8.5.

¹⁵⁷ GDB f. 256 v; DBSalop, 4.8.4; GDB f. 256; DBSalop, 4.8.2; DBSalop, 4.14.4 note.

¹⁵⁸ The Church’s need for legal expertise only increased with the number of post-conquest religious foundations and was the major stimulus for the early development of Oxford University a century after Abbot Aethelwig’s death – see H. Mayr-Harting, ‘The Role of the Benedictine Abbeys in the Development of Oxford as a Centre of Legal Learning’, in Benedictines in Oxford, ed. by H. Wansbrough and A. Marrett-Crosby (London: Darton, Longman and Todd, 1997), pp. 11–19.

¹⁵⁹ Cox, Chronicle, p. 19.

¹⁶⁰ Ibid., p. 18.

¹⁶¹ GDB f. 175 v; DBWorcs: 10.12 and notes; Cox, Chronicle, pp. 18–19; Bates, William the Conqueror, p. 405.

¹⁶² Cox, Chronicle, pp. 18–19.

¹⁶³ Swanton, ASC, p. 220; Bates, William the Conqueror, pp. 441–5.

¹⁶⁴ Cox, Chronicle, pp. 14–15; Bates, William the Conqueror, pp. 309–21.

¹⁶⁵ P. Stafford, Unification and Conquest: A Political and Social History of England in the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries (London: Edward Arnold, 1989), pp. 155, 196. Archbishop Wulfstan was also Bishop of Worcester; however, he should not be confused with St Wulfstan, a later Bishop of Worcester, and the nephew of the archbishop.

¹⁶⁶ GDB f. 259; DBSalop 4.23.18. This is not Earl Edwin.

¹⁶⁷ GDB f. 241, 241 v; DBWarks: Nether Whitacre 17.14, Ladbroke 17.18, 12.21 (with Radbourne), 17.23, 17.24, Calcutt 17.19, 17.20, Cawston 17.22, 17.26, Rugby 17.25, Napton 17.28, Flecknoe 17.29, Radford Semele 17.56.

¹⁶⁸ GDB f. 241; DBWarks 17.10.

¹⁶⁹ GDB f. 240 v-241 v; DBWarks Ch.17; Baxter, Earls of Mercia, pp. 146, 246–7.

¹⁷⁰ GDB f. 180, 185 v, 186 v, 187; DBHerefs: Risbury 1.23, Maund 14.2, Broadward 14.3, Croft 14.5, Poston 14.6, Dilwyn 14.8, Marston Stannett 14.12, ‘Burcstanestune’ 23.3, Bullinghope 25.2, The Bage 25.4; GDB f. 254 v, 257 v, 258 v; DBSalop: Brockton 4.3.13, Middleton 4.14.23, Ingardine 4.14.28, Preen 4.21.7; GDB f. 177; DBWorcs: Orleton 20.5; GDB f. 249 v; DBStaffs: ‘Cippemore’ 12.11.

¹⁷¹ GDB f. 180; DBHerefs, 1.28.

¹⁷² S1462; Anglo-Saxon Charters, trans. and ed. by A. J. Robertson (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1956), no.78, pp. 150–3. This charter can only be dated to the reign of Cnut, 1016 × 1035.

¹⁷³ Purton, ‘Faintree’, p. 212.

¹⁷⁴ GDB f. 177 v; DBWorcs, 26.16.

¹⁷⁵ GDB f. 246 v; DBStaffs, 1.63; S1536; Anglo-Saxon Wills, ed. & trans. by D. Whitlock (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1930), no. xvii, pp. 46–54, 151–60. J. Hunt, Warriors, Warlords and Saints: The Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Mercia, (Alcester: West Midlands History, 2016), pp. 142–6.

¹⁷⁶ Baxter, Earls of Mercia, p. 180.

¹⁷⁷ Ibid., pp. 24n, 139, 241.

¹⁷⁸ Ibid., pp. 299, 301.

¹⁷⁹ Ibid., pp. 32–4.

¹⁸⁰ For the suggestion that Wulfgeat junior was associated with Earl Edwin of Mercia on the eve of conquest, see J. Hunt, ‘Land Tenure and Lordship in Tenth and Eleventh Century Staffordshire’, Staffordshire Studies, 4, (1991–2), 17.

¹⁸¹ GDB f. 240 v; DBWarks, 16.44.

¹⁸² Cox, Chronicle, pp. 10 and 11.

¹⁸³ Cox, Chronicle, pp. 12–13; Cox, Church and Vale, pp. 70–1; Baxter, Earls of Mercia, pp. 140–1.

¹⁸⁴ Swanton, ASC, s.a. 1071, p. 208; Bates, William the Conqueror, pp. 344–5, 349–50; Baxter, Earls of Mercia, Ch. 7 esp. pp. 278–80.

¹⁸⁵ Marten, ‘Meet the Swarts’, pp. 24–32.

¹⁸⁶ Hill, Atlas, p. 153.

¹⁸⁷ Ibid., pp. 153–4; GDB f. 247 v; DBStaffs, Ch. 4; Hunt, Warriors, Warlords and Saints, pp. 142–5; Baxter, Earls of Mercia, pp. 180–2.

¹⁸⁸ Hill, Atlas, p. 153.

¹⁸⁹ See for example: Cox, Chronicle, pp. 6–9; Stafford, Unification and Conquest, pp. 188–9.

¹⁹⁰ Hill, Atlas, p. 153.

¹⁹¹ P. R. Coss, ed., The Early Records of Medieval Coventry (London: The British Academy and Oxford University Press, 1986), p. xv; Hunt, ‘Piety, Prestige or Politics?’ pp. 97–117; Baxter, Earls of Mercia, pp. 160–3.

¹⁹² Later given to Westminster Abbey by King Edward the Confessor, see E. Mason, Westminster Abbey and its People c.1050-c.1216 (Woodbridge: Boydell, 1996), pp. 189–90.

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Sally Dickson

Sally Dickson is an independent scholar and local historian. For my doctoral thesis I researched early modern Hartlebury in Worcestershire graduating at the University of Birmingham in December 2000. I have taught adult education evening classes in Worcestershire local history. I taught ‘The Rise of Scientific Europe 1500-1800’, including the Lunar Society of Birmingham, for the Open University. I am Chair of Kidderminster Historical Society and have authored Kidderminster: Remembering 1914-1918 (2014), researched jointly with other members of the Society. I have long been interested in the Domesday Book as a source for local history and am now using it as the basis of research into the people of Domesday Worcestershire.