Tova-Hild 2

Tova-Hild ‘of Fordham’ (Essex), fl. 1066
Female
DWP
4 of 5

Name

Tova-Hild
Tova-Hild 3

Summary

Tova-Hild 2 had a minute holding in north Essex TRE assessed at 3 acres; it was worth 7d in 1086.

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 90,72 Fordham Touillda Tova-Hild 'of Fordham' - Richard fitzGilbert - 0.03 0.00 0.03 C Map
Totals

Profile

Tova-Hild 2’s minute holding was at Fordham in the Colne valley in north Essex. The reference to it occurs among entries dealing with invasiones, or ‘encroachments’ by Richard 5 fitzGilbert, towards the end of the Essex folios in DB. The entry records simply that Tova-Hild had held 3 acres at Fordham TRE and that Richard now holds them ‘as [he does] the others and it is worth 7d’. The implication of both wording and layout is that, as with preceding entries, Richard’s ‘antecessor had neither customary dues nor commendation’ over the TRE holder. 

‘Richard’s antecessor’ in these entries must surely be Wihtgar, a local magnate TRE who was Richard’s antecessor not only at Colne but also for much of his fief and may have been the deputy sheriff of Essex at the time of the Conquest (Mortimer 1981: 128-31; Wareham 2005: 99-100). The fact that Tova-Hild’s former holding was entered under the invasiones implies an irregularity in Richard’s tenure in 1086. It is unlikely that Richard acquired Tova-Hild’s land through her having been a dependent tenant of Wihtgar, or else the holding could have been entered as part of his fief without problem. Since Tova-Hild had not apparently been in Wihtgar’s commendation, Richard perhaps acquired her holding either because Wihtgar had its soke or else simply because it was in close proximity to the other lands that he held legitimately (cf. Baxter 2007: 221-2).

The main text of DB for Essex includes only one entry in Richard’s fief that relates to a place called Fordham, a holding of 40 acres held by Wulfmær under Wihtgar TRE and under Richard in 1086 that Wulfmær ‘could not withdraw from the soke’. Although there is no need to presume any connection between Tova-Hild 2 and Wulfmær TRE, this entry does show that Wihtgar had the soke of part of Fordham and that a process for Richard’s acquisition of Tova-Hild 2’s land there such as that suggested above was feasible.

Although the name Tova-Hild was extremely rare and this solitary TRE instance occurs only about 18 miles from the single TRW instance, Tova-Hild 3, both holdings were clearly very small and there seems no good reason to associate the two women.

Bibliography


Baxter 2007: S. Baxter, The Earls of Mercia: Lordship and Power in Late Anglo-Saxon England (Oxford, 2007)

Mortimer 1981: R. Mortimer, ‘The beginnings of the honour of Clare’, Anglo-Norman Studies 3 (1981)

Wareham 2005: A. Wareham, Lords and Communities in Early Medieval East Anglia (Woodbridge, 2005)