Ealdgifu 4

Ealdgifu ‘of Hendred’ (Berks.), fl. 1066x1086
Female
DWP
4 of 5

Name

Ealdgifu
Ealdgifu 3

Summary

Ealdgifu 4 was a free woman with a small estate in west Berkshire TRE assessed at 1 hide and with a value of 20s, and over which she had the power of alienation. She retained this estate in 1086, when she held it in alms from the king and its value had been decreased to only 5s.

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
Berkshire 65,13 East Hendred Ældeua Ealdgifu 'of Hendred' - Ealdgifu, free woman - 1.00 1.00 0.25 B Map
Totals

Tenant-in-Chief 1086 demesne estates (no subtenants)

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
Berkshire 65,13 East Hendred Ældeua Ealdgifu 'of Hendred' - Ealdgifu, free woman - 1.00 1.00 0.25 B Map
Totals

Profile

Ealdgifu 4 held one of the smallest of about eight TRE estates at East and West Hendred, which lay along the Icknield Way (here called the Port Way) to the east of Wantage in west Berkshire. Morgan (1979: 65,13 Notes) suggests that Ealdgifu’s hide was at East Hendred, and this suggestion has been adopted here for mapping purposes.

DB records that Ealdgifu ‘could go where she wished’ TRE, which indicates that she had the power of alienation over her land rather than being a dependent tenant. She survived the Conquest and retained her estate, which in 1086 was said to be held from the king in alms. This need not imply that these were features of her tenure TRE, although that is possible.

Ealdgifu 4’s estate seems to have been largely pastoral in 1086, because no ploughs or plough-lands are recorded for it and she had only the households of two dependent cottars to work the land.

There is no obvious reason to associate Ealdgifu 4 with any of the two or three other women of that name mentioned in DB.

Bibliography



Morgan 1979: Domesday Book 5: Berkshire, ed. P. Morgan (Chichester, 1979)



insert PASE numberinsert PASE numberNB: there may be further and better reasons to prefer Eadgifu when we come to deal with that name, although none were immediately apparent to me.