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Godrun

Discussion of the name

Godrun is a feminine OE name formed from the elements god (‘god’) and rūn (‘mystery, secret’). No examples earlier than 1066 are currently recorded in PASE, and von Feilitzen (1937: 279) thought that the two women in DB called Goderona and Goderun (one each in 1066 and 1086) had the Scandinavian name which is normalized as ON Guðrún. Since the 1930s, the balance of opinion has swung decisively in favour of deriving those spellings from OE Godrun (Insley 1994: 156–7; DLV: II, 223). Their locations in Somerset and Oxford also count in favour of an OE provenance.

Bibliography

Insley 1994: John Insley, Scandinavian Personal Names in Norfolk: A Survey based on Medieval Records and Place-Names, Acta Academiae Regiae Gustavi Adolphi 62 (Uppsala, 1994)

DLV: The Durham Liber Vitae. London, British Library, MS Cotton Domitian A.VII: Edition and Digital Facsimile with Introduction, Codicological, Prosopographical and Linguistic Commentary, and Indexes, ed. D. W. Rollason and L. Rollason, 3 vols. (London: British Library, 2007)

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

Forms of the name

Spellings in Domesday Book: Goderun

Spellings in Exon: Goderona

Forms in modern scholarship:

  von Feilitzen head forms: Guðrún, Guthrun, Gudhrun (f.)

  Phillimore edition: Guthrun, Gudrun (Som.), Goderun (Oxon.)

  Alecto edition: Guthrun (Oxon.)

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
Shire Somerset	Phil. ref. 19,60	Vill Carlingcott	DB Spelling Godeman	Holder 1066 Godrun 'of Carlingcott'	Lord 1066 -	Tenant-in-Chief 1086 Robert, count of Mortain	1086 Subtenant Richard fitzTurolf	Fiscal Value 3.50	1066 Value 3.00	1086 Value 2.50	Confidence C	Map
Totals								Fiscal Value	1066 Value	1086 Value

Subtenant in 1086

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
Shire Oxfordshire	Phil. ref. B10	Vill Oxford	DB Spelling Goderun	Holder 1066 -	Lord 1066 -	Tenant-in-Chief 1086 William, king	1086 Subtenant Godrun	Fiscal Value 0.00	1066 Value 0.00	1086 Value 0.00	Confidence -	Map
Totals								Fiscal Value	1066 Value	1086 Value

People of this name

• Godrun 2 - Godrun ‘of Carlingcott’ (Som.), fl. 1066
• Godrun 3 - Godrun litteprot, burgess of Winchester, fl. before 1066
• Godrun 4 - Godrun burgess of Oxford, fl. 1086
• Godrun 5 - Godrun mother of Ælfmar, d. by 1086?