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Æthelbeorht

Discussion of the name

Æthelbeorht is an Old English masculine name comprising the elements æðele ‘noble, famous’ and beorht ‘bright, distinguished, pure’.  Loss of ‑ð‑ in the first element means that it is usually spelt Ail‑ in DB; but because further reduction to Al‑ could occur it is possible that some people classified under the Continental Germanic etymon Albert actually had names that derived from OE Æthelbeorht (cf. von Feilitzen 1937: 102-6, 142).

There are 32 entries for Æthelbeorht in the PASE corpus.  The earliest refers to someone born in the late sixth century and the name remained in use throughout the Anglo-Saxon period.  The PASE corpus suggests that use of this name was geographically widespread.

Bibliography

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: Ailbertus, Ailbriht, Ailbric, Albertus, Albrict

Spellings in Exon: Alabrictus

Forms in modern scholarship:

  von Feilitzen head forms: Æðelbeorht

  Phillimore edition: Albert, Albrict

  Alecto edition: Æthelbeorht (with one instance of Albert)

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 Cambridgeshire	Phil. ref. 32,36	Vill Impington	DB Spelling -	Holder 1066 Æthelbeorht, steward of the abbot of Ely	Lord 1066 Wulfric, abbot of Ely	Tenant-in-Chief 1086 Picot of Cambridge	1086 Subtenant Walter 'the man of Picot the sheriff'	Fiscal Value 2.25	1066 Value 2.67	1086 Value 2.00	Confidence A	Map
Shire Cambridgeshire	Phil. ref. 32,37	Vill Milton	DB Spelling Ailbertus	Holder 1066 Æthelbeorht, steward of the abbot of Ely	Lord 1066 Wulfric, abbot of Ely	Tenant-in-Chief 1086 Picot of Cambridge	1086 Subtenant Ralph de Bans	Fiscal Value 6.75	1066 Value 6.75	1086 Value 3.94	Confidence A	Map
Shire Cambridgeshire	Phil. ref. 32,39	Vill Waterbeach	DB Spelling Albertus	Holder 1066 Æthelbeorht, steward of the abbot of Ely	Lord 1066 Wulfric, abbot of Ely	Tenant-in-Chief 1086 Picot of Cambridge	1086 Subtenant Mucel 'of Waterbeach'	Fiscal Value 1.00	1066 Value 0.52	1086 Value 0.50	Confidence B	Map
Shire Cornwall	Phil. ref. 5,3,16	Vill Burthy	DB Spelling Ailbriht	Holder 1066 Æthelbeorht 'of Burthy'	Lord 1066 -	Tenant-in-Chief 1086 Robert, count of Mortain	1086 Subtenant Richard fitzTurolf	Fiscal Value 0.13	1066 Value 1.00	1086 Value 0.50	Confidence B	Map
Shire Cornwall	Phil. ref. 5,3,17	Vill Lanescot	DB Spelling Ailbric	Holder 1066 Æthelbeorht 'of Burthy'	Lord 1066 -	Tenant-in-Chief 1086 Robert, count of Mortain	1086 Subtenant Richard fitzTurolf	Fiscal Value 0.06	1066 Value 0.75	1086 Value 0.50	Confidence B	Map
Shire Somerset	Phil. ref. 43,1	Vill Quarme	DB Spelling Albrict	Holder 1066 Æthelbeorht 'of Quarme'	Lord 1066 -	Tenant-in-Chief 1086 Godbold	1086 Subtenant -	Fiscal Value 0.75	1066 Value 1.00	1086 Value 0.50	Confidence B	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 Essex	Phil. ref. B3a	Vill Colchester	DB Spelling Ailbriest	Holder 1066 -	Lord 1066 -	Tenant-in-Chief 1086 William, king	1086 Subtenant Æthelbeorht, burgess of Colchester	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

• Æthelbeorht 33 - Æthelbeorht steward of the abbot of Ely, fl. 1066
• Æthelbeorht 34 - Æthelbeorht ‘of Burthy’ (Corn.), fl. 1066
• Æthelbeorht 35 - Æthelbeorht ‘of Quarme’ (Som.), fl. 1066
• Æthelbeorht 36 - Æthelbeorht, burgess of Colchester, fl. 1086