Mahthild

Female
DWP
4 of 5

Discussion of the name

Mahthild is a Continental Germanic feminine name comprising the elements maht ‘power, might, strength’ and hild ‘battle, combat’.

There are six entries in the PASE corpus for the name Matilda, a secondary form of the original name Mahthild.  Five of these are from continental and/or post-Conquest contexts but Matilda 6 was both insular and pre-Conquest, being the lady-of-chamber (Mahtilda cameraria) to Queen Eadgyth (Eadgyth 3) and the wife of Ælfgeard 2, a Worcestershire landholder (Hearne 1723: 253-4).  Whether or not Matilda 6 was of insular or continental origin, however, it is clear that the names Mahthild and Matilda were extremely rare as names in pre-Conquest England.

Bibliography

Hearne 1723: Hemingi Chartularium Ecclesiæ Wigorniensis , ed. T. Hearne (Oxford, 1723)

Forms of the name

Spellings in Domesday Book: Matheld, Mathila, Mathild

Variants in Exon: Mathildis, Mastilda

Forms in modern scholarship:

von Feilitzen head form: Mahthild

Phillimore edition: Matilda

Alecto edition: Mahthild

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
Devon 24,1 Bywood Mathild Mahthild 'of Bywood' - Walter de Claville - 0.88 0.50 0.50 A Map
Devon 40,4 Cheldon Matheld Mahthild 'of Bywood' - Ansger of Montacute - 0.38 1.25 1.25 D Map
Devon 52,25 Rousdon Mathila Mahthild 'of Bywood' - Oda son of Eadric - 0.25 1.00 1.00 C Map
Totals