Earnwulf

Male
DWP
4 of 5

Discussion of the name

Earnwulf is an Old English masculine name comprising the elements earn ‘eagle’ and wulf ‘wolf’.  It is related to the Old Norse name Arnulfr (variant form Ornólfr ) and to the Continental Germanic name Arnulf (var. Ernulf); and, although neither name is certainly evidenced from pre-Conquest England except perhaps as moneyers (although see Earnwulf 7), the latter does occur thereafter and cannot formally be distinguished from Earnwulf (Bjorkman 1910: 9; Forssner 1916: 35-6; von Feilitzen 1937: 244; Fellows Jensen 1968: 17; von Feilitzen 1976: 149).  TRW instances have therefore been treated here as representing Earnwulf unless there is good reason (such as byname, associated holders or external evidence) to regard the individual as being of continental or Scandinavian origin.

The only entries in the PASE corpus are for Earnwulf 1, a bishop occurring in a probably spurious early tenth-century charter (S 401), and Earnwulf 2, a catch-all for occurrences in DB; there are nine entries for Arnulf, of which five are moneyers and none affects the identities assigned here.

Bibliography

Björkman 1910: Erik Björkman, Nordische Personennamen in England in alt- und frühmittel-englischer Zeit, Studien zur englischen Philologie 37 (Halle an der Saale, 1910; reprinted Tübingen: Max Niemeyer, 1973)

Fellows Jensen 1968: Gillian Fellows Jensen, Scandinavian Personal Names in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire (Copenhagen: I Kommission hos Akademisk Forlag, 1968)

Forssner 1916: Thorvald Forssner, Continental-Germanic Personal Names in England in Old and Middle English Times (Uppsala, 1916)

von Feilitzen 1937: Olof von Feilitzen, The Pre-Conquest Personal Names of Domesday Book, Nomina Germanica 3 (Uppsala: Almqvist and Wiksells, 1937)

von Feilitzen 1976: Olof von Feilitzen, ‘The personal names and bynames of the Winton Domesday’, in Winchester in the Early Middle Ages: An Edition and Discussion of the Winton Domesday, ed. Martin Biddle, Winchester Studies 1 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1976), 143–229 

Forms of the name

Spellings in Domesday Book: Arnul, Ernulf(us)

Spellings in ICC: Ernulfi (gen.)

Forms in modern scholarship:

  von Feilitzen head forms: Earnwulf

  Phillimore edition: Arnulf, Earnwulf, Ernulf, Ernwulf

  Alecto edition: Arnulf, Earnwulf, Ernulf

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
Essex 20,13 Latton Ernulfus Earnwulf 'of Latton' - Eustace, count Adelulf de Marck 1.75 2.50 3.00 C Map
Suffolk 6,32 Parham Ernulfus Earnwulf 'of Parham' - Robert Malet - 0.33 0.35 0.35 B Map
Warwickshire 17,8 Longdon Arnul Earnwulf 'of Longdon' - Thorkil of Warwick Almær 'of Ratley' 2.50 1.00 1.00 E Map
Warwickshire 4,5 Bidford-on-Avon Ernulf Earnwulf 'of Bidford' - Odo, bishop of Bayeux Robert d'Oilly 0.31 0.03 0.25 E Map
Yorkshire 1L8 Aldingham Ernulf Earnwulf 'of Aldingham' - William, king - 6.00 0.00 0.00 B Map
Totals

Lord 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
Cambridgeshire 17,4 Harlton - 1 sokeman, man of Earnwulf Earnwulf Walter Giffard Walter fitzAubrey 0.13 0.25 0.22 D Map
Totals

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
Hampshire 69,6 Preston Candover Ernulfus Esbern Bigga Eadgyth, queen Cypping, king's thegn Earnwulf 'of Preston Candover' 0.25 0.40 0.25 C Map
Suffolk 27,12 Freston Ernulfus Robert fitzWimarc - Swein of Essex Earnwulf 'of Freston' 0.25 0.50 0.50 C Map
Totals