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Topi 5

Name

Summary

Topi 5 held a small estate in central Hertfordshire TRE assessed at 1 hide and with a value of 50s; he had the power of alienation over his land and was the man of Almær, presumably by commendation.

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 Hertfordshire	Phil. ref. 36,2	Vill Digswell	DB Spelling Topi	Holder 1066 Topi 'of Digswell'	Lord 1066 Almær of Bennington	Tenant-in-Chief 1086 Peter de Valognes	1086 Subtenant Roger 'the man of Peter de Valognes'	Fiscal Value 1.00	1066 Value 2.50	1086 Value 1.75	Confidence C	Map
Totals								Fiscal Value	1066 Value	1086 Value

Profile

Topi 5 held the smaller of two estates at Digswell, extending either side of the River Mimram (or Maran) in central Hertfordshire; no record of it occurs after DB and it was probably absorbed into the larger estate (Page 1912: 81). DB states that Topi was the man of Almær, a local magnate TRE, but also notes that he ‘could sell’ his land, which indicates that he was not a dependent tenant and hence that Almær was presumably his lord by commendation.

The name Topi was extremely rare, but there is no obvious reason to consider him in connection with anyone else. His estate was small and the nearest other one held TRE by someone of that name was more than 25 miles away, had no connection with Almær and passed to a different successor after the Conquest. It is probable that Digswell was Topi 5’s only holding.

Bibliography

Page 1912: A History of the County of Hertford: Volume 3, ed. W. Page (London, 1912)