Top of page Name Summary Distribution Map Property List Profile Bibliography Bottom of page

Beorhtwig 3

Name

Summary

Beorhtwig 3 held two estates in western Wessex TRE with a total assessment of just over 4½ hides and a valuation of £4.  He survived the Conquest and may well have been the sheriff of Dorset in the late 1060s (or at least have held some other position of local or royal importance), but little else is known about him.

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 Dorset	Phil. ref. 33,4	Vill Allington	DB Spelling Brictui	Holder 1066 Beorhtwig 'of Allington'	Lord 1066 -	Tenant-in-Chief 1086 Thurstan fitzRolf	1086 Subtenant -	Fiscal Value 3.00	1066 Value 3.00	1086 Value 4.00	Confidence B	Map
Shire Somerset	Phil. ref. 19,69	Vill Weston Bampfylde	DB Spelling Brictuid	Holder 1066 Beorhtwig 'of Allington'	Lord 1066 -	Tenant-in-Chief 1086 Robert, count of Mortain	1086 Subtenant Alfred the butler	Fiscal Value 1.63	1066 Value 1.00	1086 Value 1.50	Confidence D	Map
Totals								Fiscal Value	1066 Value	1086 Value

Profile

Beorhtwig 3 occurs in an Old English writ of King William (William 1) that decreed protection for the lands of Abbotsbury Abbey.  The writ was addressed to Bishop Herman (Herman 2) of Sherborne, Beorhtwig 3, Scewine 1 ‘and all the thegns in Dorset’; it can be dated to 1066x1078 but is most likely to pre-date c.1070 (Bates 1998: 111-12 no.1).  Beorhtwig 3 was clearly of sufficient local importance to be addressed specifically with regard to this matter and so may have been a royal reeve or similar official.  In fact, the position his name occupies in the writ is where we would normally expect the sheriff to be addressed, so Beorhtwig 3 may have been the sheriff of Dorset at some point between Alfred 58, addressed in a writ of 1053x1058 (S 1063), and Hugh fitzGrip (Hugh 6), who held the office until his death in or before 1086 (cf. Green 1990: 37; Bates 1998: 113-14 nos.2-3). 

In any event, the writ suggests that Beorhtwig 3 was associated with the area of Abbotsbury in west Dorset in the immediately post-Conquest period.  The closeness of date and place and the rarity of his personal name therefore render it very probable that he is to be identified with the Beorhtwig whose TRE estate of 3 hides at Allington lay only 8¼ miles from Abbotsbury.

A man called Beorhtwig was also the TRE holder of Weston Bampfylde, 22 miles from Allington and close enough for both to have been held by the same person given the sizes of the two estates (just over 1½ hides and 3 hides respectively).  Although the estates had different TRW successors, the fact that the TRE holders had the same rare name together with this relatively near proximity of the estates render it more likely than not that both were held by the same person, Beorhtwig 3.

Bibliography

Bates 1998: Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum: The Acta of William I (1066-1087), ed. D. Bates  (Oxford, 1998)

Green 1990: J. A. Green, English Sheriffs to 1154 (London, 1990)