Wulfwynn

Female
CPL
4 of 5

Discussion of the name

The name is the OE female name Wulfwynn. The first element, wulf (‘wolf’), was used to form many different personal names, both male and female. The second, wynn (‘joy, rapture, pleasure’), was a grammatically feminine noun and is diagnostic of female names. In Domesday Book the name was written in four different ways which all represent the same pronunciation. Once in Exon it was rendered Oluuena, spellings in Ol– being commonly found there for names starting Wulf–.

Von Feilitzen discusses the name under its standardized OE spelling Wulfwynn. It is rendered Wulfwynn in Alecto and Wulfwen in Phillimore.

The name may well have been common in the tenth and eleventh centuries. PASE currently includes nine Wulfwynns between the earlier tenth century and 1066, with none from an earlier date. None of the women was royal but they included an abbess of Romsey (Hants) whose death in 982 was noted in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, and all but one of them were of conspicuously high status. The known Wulfwynns were mostly linked with the heartland of Wessex, though the only one who may have been of lower status was life-tenant of a mere yardland which almost certainly lay in Suffolk (S 1537).

Bibliography

von Feilitzen 1937: Olof von Feilitzen, The Pre-Conquest Personal Names of Domesday Book, Nomina Germanica 3 (Uppsala: Almqvist and Wiksells, 1937)

S: P. H. Sawyer, Anglo-Saxon Charters: An Annotated List and Bibliography, Royal Historical Society Guides and Handbooks 8 (London, 1968), revised by S. Kelly, R. Rushforth et al., The Electronic Sawyer: Online Catalogue of Anglo-Saxon Charters, published online through Kemble: The Anglo-Saxon Charters Website, currently at http://www.esawyer.org.uk/about/index.html

Forms of the name

Spellings in Domesday Book: Vluuen, Vluuene, Wluuen, Wluuene

Forms in modern scholarship:

  von Feilitzen head forms: Wulfwynn

  Phillimore edition: Wulfwen

  Alecto edition: Wulfwynn

Distribution map of property and lordships associated with this name in DB

List of property and lordships associated with this name in DB

Holder 1066

Shire Phil. ref. Vill DB Spelling Holder 1066 Lord 1066 Tenant-in-Chief 1086 1086 Subtenant Fiscal Value 1066 Value 1086 Value Conf. Show on Map
Berkshire 65,1 Hinton Waldrist Vluuen Wulfwynn of Creslow - Oda of Winchester - 10.00 11.00 9.00 B Map
Buckinghamshire 24,1 Aston Clinton Wluuen Wulfwynn of Creslow Edward, king Edward of Salisbury - 20.00 20.00 18.00 A Map
Buckinghamshire 24,3 Creslow Wluuen Wulfwynn of Creslow - Edward of Salisbury Ranulph 'the man of Edward of Salisbury' 5.00 6.00 5.00 A Map
Devon 3,61 Molland Vluuene Wulfwynn 'of Molland' - Geoffrey, bishop of Coutances Drew fitzMauger 0.50 1.25 1.25 B Map
Devon 42,15 Brayley Vluuene Wulfwynn 'of Molland' - Odo fitzGamelin Reynold 'the man of Odo fitzGamelin' 0.25 1.00 1.00 B Map
Dorset 31,1 Canford Magna Vluuen Wulfwynn of Creslow - Edward of Salisbury - 25.00 32.89 46.05 A Map
Dorset 31,2 Kinson Wluuen Wulfwynn of Creslow - Edward of Salisbury - 13.00 17.11 23.95 A Map
Hertfordshire 32,1 Great Gaddesden Wluuen Wulfwynn of Creslow Ecgfrith, abbot of St Albans Edward of Salisbury - 6.00 25.00 22.00 A Map
Middlesex 20,1 Chelsea Wluuene Wulfwynn of Creslow Edward, king Edward of Salisbury - 2.00 9.00 9.00 A Map
Somerset 40,1 Hinton Charterhouse Vluuen Wulfwynn of Creslow - Edward of Salisbury - 10.00 10.00 12.00 A Map
Wiltshire 24,24 Chitterne Vluuen Wulfwynn of Creslow - Edward of Salisbury Robert 'the man of Edward of Salisbury' 5.00 3.00 5.00 A Map
Wiltshire 24,27 Poole Keynes Wluuen Wulfwynn of Creslow - Edward of Salisbury Azelin 'of Poole Keynes' 5.00 5.00 6.00 A Map
Wiltshire 24,41 Winterbourne Earls Wluuen Wulfwynn of Creslow - Edward of Salisbury - 7.00 8.00 12.00 A Map
Totals

Lord 1066

Shire Phil. ref. Vill DB Spelling Holder 1066 Lord 1066 Tenant-in-Chief 1086 1086 Subtenant Fiscal Value 1066 Value 1086 Value Conf. Show on Map
Buckinghamshire 24,2 Hoggeston Wluuene Almær the man of Wulfwynn of Creslow Wulfwynn of Creslow Edward of Salisbury Ranulph 'the man of Edward of Salisbury' 1.38 1.00 0.50 A Map
Buckinghamshire 43,4 Helsthorpe Wluuen 1 thegn, man of Wulfwynn Wulfwynn of Creslow Mainou the Breton Helgot 1.06 1.00 0.50 - Map
Totals