Fridebert 2

Fridebert ‘of Ockendon’ (Essex), fl. 1066
Male
DWP
4 of 5

Name

Fridebert
Fridebert 3

Summary

Fridebert 2 was a thegn with four substantial manors in Essex TRE assessed for a total of about 27 hides; their value is uncertain but was in excess of £15.

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 1,22 Margaretting Friebertus Fridebert 'of Ockendon' - William, king - 3.50 0.00 0.00 C Map
Essex 18,36 Hanningfield Friebertus Fridebert 'of Ockendon' - Odo, bishop of Bayeux Ralph fitzTurold 9.00 5.00 7.00 B Map
Essex 30,4 Ockendon Frebertus Fridebert 'of Ockendon' - Geoffrey de Mandeville Turold 'the man of Geoffrey de Mandeville' 10.67 7.00 16.00 B Map
Essex 30,44 Stow Maries Friebernus Fridebert 'of Ockendon' - Geoffrey de Mandeville Hugh de Verly 4.00 3.00 3.00 E Map
Essex 30,50 Stow Maries Friebernus Fridebert 'of Ockendon' - Geoffrey de Mandeville Hugh de Verly 3.00 3.00 3.00 E Map
Totals

Profile

Fridebert 2’s largest manor was at Ockendon, on a broad, low hill rising from the valley of the River Thames in south Essex.  The DB entry for this manor notes that Fridebert was a thegn and held the land ‘freely’.  It was not his largest estate in terms of the demesne, however, which at Ockendon amounted to about 2 hides.  Much larger in this respect was another substantial manor held TRE by Fridebert at Hanningfield, an area of open country around a tributary of the River Chelmer and about 13 miles north-east of Ockendon.  Given the large size and proximity of the two manors, together with the extreme rarity of the name Fridebert in pre-Conquest England, it is reasonable to presume that both were held TRE by the same man, Fridebert 2.

It is similarly probable that he was also the Fridebert holding a smaller but still appreciable manor at Ginga, now Margaretting on the River Wid a couple of miles to the west of Hanningfield.  A note of caution is sounded by the fact that these three manors passed to three different successors after the Conquest, but the other factors outweigh this consideration.

Three miles to the east of Hanningfield was a manor of 3 or 4 hides at Stow Maries, recorded twice in DB with slightly differing details although in both entries giving the TRE holder’s name as Frieb’n’.  Formally this should represent the name Fridebern; but because there was the potential for linguistic or scribal confusion between names in -bern and -bert (cf. Dodgson 1985: 43) the possibility that the TRE holder of Stow Maries was in fact Fridebert 2 should be considered.  The size of the estate and its proximity to his other manors would favour this interpretation, since the nearest estate held TRE by someone called Fridebern – that of Stutton in south-east Suffolk held by Fridebern 2 – was more than 40 miles away.  Succession is not a reliable indicator of TRE holder here, because Stow Maries, Stutton and Ockendon all passed to subtenants of Geoffrey 5 de Mandeville after the Conquest.  On balance, the close proximity of Stow Maries to Fridebert 2’s other manors just tips the probability in favour of identifying him as the TRE holder.  Indeed, it is possible that Fridebert 2 and Fridebern 2 were the same person, especially as Fridebern 2 was also described as a thegn; but here the distance between their estates just swings the balance of probability the other way and they are treated as separate people here.

The variety of his successors makes it difficult to suggest who Fridebert’s commended lord might have been and to determine if he had power of alienation over all of his lands or only some.  Only with regard to Ockendon manor does DB state that Fridebert was a thegn holding freely; the other two entries are silent on such matters, although the fact that in 1086 Ginga was included in the assessment for Earl Harold’s former estate at Fingrith may point to a tenuous connection there.

The details of TRE manorial resources provided by DB for Essex enable something to be said about the agriculture practised on Fridebert’s manors.  Arable appears to have predominated over pastoral on most, although all his manors had some sheep or pigs if not both.  The dependent peasant population that worked his lands were in each place augmented by two or more slaves, with the highest number being the four slaves at Hanningfield.

The estates of the other two landholders called Fridebert TRE were both fairly small and 35 miles or more from the nearest held by Fridebert 2 and their holders were men associated with Ely Abbey or Earl Leofwine (Leofwine 69), and so there seems little reason to consider Fridebert 2 in connection with any other person or estate.

Bibliography


Dodgson 1985: J. McN. Dodgson, ‘Some Domesday personal-names, mainly post-Conquest’, Nomina 9 (1985), 41-51