Balki 2

Balki ‘the Dane’ (Glos.), fl. 1066
Male
DWP
4 of 5

Name

Balki
Balki 3

Summary

Balki 2 held an estate in east Gloucestershire TRE assessed at 2 hides and with a value of 40s; it is possible that his lord was Regenbald 1, although DB does not specifically record this.

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
Gloucestershire 78,11 Aldsworth Balchi Balki 'the Dane' - Alweard son of Regenbald - 2.00 2.00 1.50 B Map
Totals

Profile

According to DB, Balki 2’s small TRE estate of 2 hides was at Aldsworth, in the Leach valley roughly 10 miles to the north-west of Cirencester in east Gloucestershire.  By 1086 his successor there was Alweard, a king’s thegn and the son of Regenbald 1, the chancellor of pre-Conquest England (Frances Smith 2004).

More flesh is put on these bare DB bones by a charter of 1133 by which King Henry I (Henry 5) confirmed the endowment of the recently-founded Cirencester Abbey (Ross 1964: 21-4).  Most of the endowment comprises ‘the whole tenure of Regenbald the priest’, including in Walle ii hydas que fuerunt Balchi Daci ‘in Wall 2 hides that were Balki the Dane’s’.  Wall can be identified as the precursor of Wall Farm on the north side of Aldsworth (Smith 1964-5: 1 23), and it is obvious that Balchi Daci is the same person as Balki 2.  Given that Balki’s estate had passed to Regenbald’s son by 1086 and in 1133 was regarded as part of ‘Regenbald’s tenure’, it is possible that Regenbald had been Balki’s lord, either by commendation or, perhaps more likely, through dependent tenure.

Bibliography


Frances Smith 2004: M. Frances Smith, ‘Regenbald (fl. 1050–1086)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford, 2004)

Ross 1964: The Cartulary of Cirencester Abbey Gloucestershire. Volume I, ed. C. D. Ross (London, 1964)

Smith 1964-5: A. H. Smith, The Place-Names of Gloucestershire, 4 vols. (Cambridge, 1964-5)