PASE

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Leofrun

Gender: Female

Author: DWP

Editorial Status: 4 of 5

Discussion of the name

Leofrun is an Old English feminine name comprising the elements lēof ‘dear, beloved’ and rūn ‘mystery, secret’. There are eight pre-Conquest bearers of the name noted in the PASE corpus, to which can be added at least one more from the Durham Liber Vitae (Insley et al. 2007: 136). All represent women alive in or after the 960s, a relatively high frequency which, given the general under-recording of women in the sources, suggests that it was a popular and fairly common name in late Anglo-Saxon England. There are also instances of its occurrence in minor place-names, at least one of which was of pre-Conquest origin (Hough 2002: 80, 94). The name enjoyed a broad social range as well, from Leofrun 3, abbess of St Mildred’s in Thanet (Kent) in the early eleventh century, and Leofrun 4, abbess of Reading (Berks) in the 990s, through to Leofrun 6, a slave mentioned in a Hertfordshire will of c.990x1001.

Bibliography

Hough 2002: C. Hough, ‘Women in English place-names’, in ed. C. Hough and K. A. Lowe, ‘Lastworda Betst’: Essays in Memory of Christine E. Fell with Her Unpublished Writings (Donnington, 2002), 41-106

Insley et al. 2007: J. Insley and D. Rollason with P. McClure, ‘A.3 English dithematic names’, in ed. D. and L. Rollason, The Durham Liber Vitae: Volume II (London, 2007), 81-165

Forms of the name

Spellings in Domesday Book: Leueron, Leuerone

Spelling in Exon Domesday: Leuerona

Spelling in Terrae Occupatae: Leofrun

Spelling in Winton Domesday: Leuerun

Forms in modern scholarship:

von Feilitzen head forms: Lēofrūn

Phillimore edition: Leofrun

Alecto edition: Leofrun

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 Cornwall	Phil. ref. 5,14,6	Vill Porthallow	DB Spelling Leueron	Holder 1066 Leofrun 'of Treverim'	Lord 1066 -	Tenant-in-Chief 1086 Robert, count of Mortain	1086 Subtenant Odo 'the man of Robert, count of Mortain'	Fiscal Value 0.06	1066 Value 0.35	1086 Value 0.10	Confidence E	Map
Shire Cornwall	Phil. ref. 5,2,23	Vill Trefrize	DB Spelling Leueron	Holder 1066 Leofrun 'of Treverim'	Lord 1066 -	Tenant-in-Chief 1086 Robert, count of Mortain	1086 Subtenant Reynold de Vautortes	Fiscal Value 0.25	1066 Value 0.50	1086 Value 0.50	Confidence C	Map
Shire Dorset	Phil. ref. 54,2	Vill Stourton Caundle	DB Spelling Leuerone	Holder 1066 Leofrun 'of Marston'	Lord 1066 -	Tenant-in-Chief 1086 Hugh the woodman	1086 Subtenant -	Fiscal Value 0.50	1066 Value 0.00	1086 Value 0.00	Confidence C	Map
Shire Dorset	Phil. ref. 56,54	Vill Stourton Caundle	DB Spelling Leueron	Holder 1066 Leofrun 'of Marston'	Lord 1066 -	Tenant-in-Chief 1086 Godric 'of Stourton Caundle'	1086 Subtenant -	Fiscal Value 1.00	1066 Value 0.50	1086 Value 0.50	Confidence C	Map
Shire Hertfordshire	Phil. ref. 34,14	Vill Brickendon	DB Spelling Leueron	Holder 1066 Leofrun 'of Brickendon'	Lord 1066 Stigand, archbishop of Canterbury	Tenant-in-Chief 1086 Geoffrey de Bec	1086 Subtenant Isembard 'of Brickendon'	Fiscal Value 1.25	1066 Value 2.00	1086 Value 0.50	Confidence C	Map
Shire Hertfordshire	Phil. ref. 36,8	Vill Libury	DB Spelling Leueron	Holder 1066 Leofrun 'of Brickendon'	Lord 1066 Almær of Bennington	Tenant-in-Chief 1086 Peter de Valognes	1086 Subtenant 2 sokemen	Fiscal Value 1.00	1066 Value 1.14	1086 Value 0.57	Confidence C	Map
Shire Somerset	Phil. ref. 19,72	Vill Marston Magna	DB Spelling -	Holder 1066 Leofrun 'of Marston'	Lord 1066 -	Tenant-in-Chief 1086 Robert, count of Mortain	1086 Subtenant -	Fiscal Value 3.00	1066 Value 6.00	1086 Value 6.00	Confidence B	Map
Totals								Fiscal Value	1066 Value	1086 Value