Almund

Male
CPL
4 of 5

Discussion of the name

Æthelmund is an Old English masculine name formed from the elements æðel ‘noble’ and mund ‘protection’. The name had been widely used in England since the eighth century, but by the end of the tenth century was perhaps becoming both less common and geographically restricted to western Mercia: the only Æthelmunds currently recorded in PASE who were active after 980 were a Gloucestershire thegn of the 970s and 980s (Æthelmund 22 and Æthelmund 23) and a charter witness of the 1060s (Æthelmund 24) who may have been identical with Æthelmund 33 identified below. The sparing use of the name among TRE landowners is broadly in line with that pattern.

The name was spelled in seven different ways in DB. The form Edelmundus is the clearest indication that the traditional form normalized as Æthelmund was still current (with the written letter d standing for ð). The forms Ailmundus and Æilmundus represent the way that Æthelmund was pronounced in the eleventh century.

Spellings in Almund(us) (and the variant Almunt) and Elmund(us) could in theory stand for either Æthelmund or Ealhmund, but the identification of Æthelmund 33 proposed below carries the implication that all the instances of those spellings in the west Midlands referred to him, a matter on which von Feilitzen (1937: 149 and note) was unnecessarily cautious. The instances of Almund and Almunt in Yorkshire, however, have been left as Almund, on the grounds that the name Ealhmund was certainly current in the shire in 1066 (see Ealhmund ).

The Phillimore edition renders all the different spellings Almund except for Edelmundus, which it gives as Aethelmund. Alecto uses Æthelmund for that name and also in Warwickshire, and Almund elsewhere.

Bibliography

von Feilitzen 1937: O. von Feilitzen, The Pre-Conquest Personal Names of Domesday Book, Nomina Germanica 3 (Uppsala, 1937)

Forms of the name

Spellings in Domesday Book: Almund, Almunt,

Forms in modern scholarship:

von Feilitzen head forms:

Phillimore edition: Almund

Alecto edition: Almund

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
Yorkshire 29W39 Rylstone Almunt Almund 'of Rylstone' - Dolfin 'of Rylstone' - 4.00 0.00 0.00 B Map
Yorkshire 29W40 Hartlington Almunt Almund 'of Rylstone' - Dolfin 'of Rylstone' - 1.00 0.00 0.00 B Map
Yorkshire 30W10 Arnford Almund Almund 'of Rylstone' - Roger the Poitevin - 2.00 0.00 0.00 B Map
Yorkshire 30W10 Wigglesworth Almund Almund 'of Rylstone' - Roger the Poitevin - 2.00 0.00 0.00 B Map
Yorkshire 30W10 Caretorp Almund Almund 'of Rylstone' - Roger the Poitevin - 2.00 0.00 0.00 B Map
Totals