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Wulfflæd

Discussion of the name

Wulfflæd is an Old English feminine name comprising the elements wulf ‘wolf’ and flæd ‘beauty’.

There are ten entries for the name Wulfflæd in the PASE corpus, of which Wulfflæd 1-9 occur between the late eighth and early eleventh centuries and Wulfflæd 10 is a catch-all category for those appearing in DB. Despite this low frequency the name is best regarded as unusual rather than rare, because women are generally under-reported in pre-Conquest sources and the elements wulf and flæd occur in the formation of other OE personal names. The small PASE corpus has a distribution focussed on the Wessex heartlands but with outliers in Worcestershire and Ely, whereas the DB instances are more widespread.

Forms of the name

Spellings in Domesday Book: Ulflet, Vlflet

Forms in modern scholarship:

  von Feilitzen head forms: Wulfflæd

  Phillimore edition: Wulfflaed, Wulfled, Wulfgeat (the latter in error)

  Alecto edition: Wulfflæd

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 Berkshire	Phil. ref. 1,12	Vill Betterton	DB Spelling Vlflet	Holder 1066 Wulfflæd 'of Betterton'	Lord 1066 -	Tenant-in-Chief 1086 William, king	1086 Subtenant Robert d'Oilly	Fiscal Value 0.13	1066 Value 0.07	1086 Value 0.07	Confidence B	Map
Shire Hampshire	Phil. ref. 1,W10	Vill Nunwell	DB Spelling Vlflet	Holder 1066 Wulfflæd 'of Nunwell'	Lord 1066 Tosti, earl	Tenant-in-Chief 1086 William, king	1086 Subtenant -	Fiscal Value 2.00	1066 Value 3.00	1086 Value 2.00	Confidence B	Map
Shire Lincolnshire	Phil. ref. CK1	Vill East Deeping	DB Spelling Vlflet	Holder 1066 Wulfflæd mother of Wulfgeat 'of Tallington'	Lord 1066 -	Tenant-in-Chief 1086 -	1086 Subtenant -	Fiscal Value 0.25	1066 Value 0.00	1086 Value 0.00	Confidence A	Map
Shire Lincolnshire	Phil. ref. CK1	Vill Uffington	DB Spelling Vlflet	Holder 1066 Wulfflæd mother of Wulfgeat 'of Tallington'	Lord 1066 -	Tenant-in-Chief 1086 -	1086 Subtenant -	Fiscal Value 3.50	1066 Value 0.00	1086 Value 0.00	Confidence A	Map
Shire Lincolnshire	Phil. ref. CK1	Vill Tallington	DB Spelling Vlflet	Holder 1066 Wulfflæd mother of Wulfgeat 'of Tallington'	Lord 1066 -	Tenant-in-Chief 1086 -	1086 Subtenant -	Fiscal Value 3.25	1066 Value 0.00	1086 Value 0.00	Confidence A	Map
Shire Lincolnshire	Phil. ref. CK1	Vill Casewick	DB Spelling Vlflet	Holder 1066 Wulfflæd mother of Wulfgeat 'of Tallington'	Lord 1066 -	Tenant-in-Chief 1086 -	1086 Subtenant -	Fiscal Value 0.38	1066 Value 0.00	1086 Value 0.00	Confidence A	Map
Shire Norfolk	Phil. ref. 9,31	Vill Whitlingham	DB Spelling Ulflet	Holder 1066 Wulfflæd 'of Whitlington'	Lord 1066 Stigand, archbishop of Canterbury	Tenant-in-Chief 1086 Roger Bigod	1086 Subtenant Robert de Courson	Fiscal Value 1.33	1066 Value 0.79	1086 Value 1.18	Confidence C	Map
Shire Suffolk	Phil. ref. 25,78	Vill Stansfield	DB Spelling Vlflet	Holder 1066 Wulfflæd 'of Stansfield'	Lord 1066 Wihtgar son of Ælfric	Tenant-in-Chief 1086 Richard fitzGilbert	1086 Subtenant Roger d'Abenon	Fiscal Value 1.00	1066 Value 1.00	1086 Value 1.50	Confidence C	Map
Totals								Fiscal Value	1066 Value	1086 Value

People of this name

• Wulfflæd 11 - Wulfflæd mother of Wulfgeat, ‘of Tallington’ (Lincs.), fl. 1066
• Wulfflæd 12 - Wulfflæd ‘of Betterton’ (Berks.), fl. 1066
• Wulfflæd 13 - Wulfflæd ‘of Nunwell’ (IoW), fl. 1066
• Wulfflæd 14 - Wulfflæd ‘of Whitlingham’ (Norf.), fl. 1066
• Wulfflæd 15 - Wulfflæd ‘of Stansfield’ (Suff.), fl. 1066