Æscræd

Male
CPL
4 of 5

Discussion of the name

Æscræd is a masculine OE name formed from the elements æsc (‘ash; spear, lance; ship’) and ræd (‘counsel, wisdom’). Von Feilitzen’s hesitation in assigning the DB spelling Ascored to the name seems unnecessary in light of the frequency with which DB inserted vowels in the middle of OE names that were difficult for Normans to pronounce (von Feilitzen 1937: 72, 165) and especially in light of the spelling Ascured for what must surely be the same name in a fourteenth-century cartulary copy of a tenth-century charter (S 679). The name was uncommon, there being only two pre-Domesday examples currently in PASE, including the latter (Æscred 1 Æscræd 2).

Bibliography

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

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: Ascored

Forms in modern scholarship:

  von Feilitzen head forms: Ascored

  Phillimore edition: Ashred

  Alecto edition: Ascored

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
Kent 5,194 Appleton Ascored Æscræd 'of Appleton' Edward, king Odo, bishop of Bayeux Ralph de Courbépine 2.00 5.00 2.00 A Map
Totals