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Leodmær 8

Name

Summary

Leodmær 8 held a small estate in east Bedfordshire TRE assessed at ½ hide and with a value of 20s, at which time his lord was Earl Tosti (Tosti 2) although he retained the power of alienation over his land. Leodmær was still holding his estate in 1086, albeit then as a subtenant of Hugh de Beauchamp (Hugh 27).

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 Bedfordshire	Phil. ref. 23,47	Vill Astwick	DB Spelling Ledmarus	Holder 1066 Leodmær 'of Astwick'	Lord 1066 Tosti, earl	Tenant-in-Chief 1086 Hugh de Beauchamp	1086 Subtenant Leodmær	Fiscal Value 0.50	1066 Value 1.00	1086 Value 1.00	Confidence C	Map
Totals								Fiscal Value	1066 Value	1086 Value

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
Shire Bedfordshire	Phil. ref. 23,47	Vill Astwick	DB Spelling Ledmarus	Holder 1066 Leodmær 'of Astwick'	Lord 1066 Tosti, earl	Tenant-in-Chief 1086 Hugh de Beauchamp	1086 Subtenant Leodmær	Fiscal Value 0.50	1066 Value 1.00	1086 Value 1.00	Confidence A	Map
Totals								Fiscal Value	1066 Value	1086 Value

Profile

Leodmær 8’s solitary estate was at Astwick in east Bedfordshire, just west of where Ermine Street crosses the river Ivel. DB records that he held this land TRE as the man of Earl Tosti (Tosti 2) and that he retained it in 1086, albeit then as a subtenant of Hugh de Beauchamp (Hugh 27). DB also notes that TRE Leodmær ‘could sell to whom he wished’, which implies that he had the power of alienation over his land and that Earl Tosti was his lord by commendation rather than Leodmær being one of Tosti’s dependent tenants.

In 1086 Leodmær’s estate appears to have been predominantly arable, there being half a ploughteam recorded but no meadow or pasture. The land was worked by 3 bordars (each probably representing a resident and dependent family) and Leodmær also had a mill, presumably on the river Ivel.

There are four other estates in the vicinity of Astwick whose TRE holders were called either Leomær (Leomær 7 and Leomær 9) or Leodmær (Leodmær 6), but all of these holders had lords other than Tosti and none was noted as still alive and holding his estate in 1086; furthermore, each of these estates passed to different TRW tenants-in-chief, none of whom was Hugh de Beauchamp. Although these estates all lay within about 8 miles of Astwick and were held TRE by people with names from the unusual Leo(d/f/m)mær name-group, therefore, there is not possible to identify any or all of these other holders with Leodmær 8 on the basis of the present evidence. An alternative explanation is that this cluster of TRE names represents a localized habit of name-giving influenced by the early eleventh-century holder of Bygrave (Leommære : Leofmær 1 in PASE).