Leofwaru 5

Leofwaru ‘of Leverage’ (Herts.), fl. 1066
Female
CPL
4 of 5

Name

Leofwaru
Leofwaru 6

Summary

Leofwaru 5 was a small landowner in east Hertfordshire who held 1½ hides worth 50s. from the bishop of London.

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
Hertfordshire 4,8 Leverage Leuuare Leofwaru 'of Leverage' William, bishop of London Maurice, bishop of London William 'the man of Maurice, bishop of London' 1.50 3.00 2.50 B Map
Totals

Profile

The four small manors each held by a Leofwaru in 1066 are too distant from one another for any of their holders to have been the same woman. That applies even to the manors in Hertfordshire and Suffolk, some 25 miles apart, where different lords also tell against identification.

Leverage or Levenage (both names are in current use for minor features: Phill. Herts. note 4,8) lies among the dispersed hamlets and woods of east Hertfordshire. It was named from its TRE holder, Leofwaru’s wīc (von Feilitzen 1937: 33), presumably when she became its tenant from the bishop of London. The value of 50s. was high for an estate of 1½ hides with 4 ploughlands, and perhaps represented a stiff rent exacted by the bishop’s reeves. Unusually, Leofwaru held the one estate under two different tenures, since she had the freedom to alienate ½ hide without the bishop’s permission, but not the rest of the land. The distinction may be related to the division of Leverage between two parishes (Phill. Herts. note 4,8).

Bibliography


Phill. Herts.: Domesday Book, ed. John Morris, 12: Hertfordshire (Chichester: Phillimore, 1976)

von Feilitzen 1937: Olof von Feilitzen, The Pre-Conquest Personal Names of Domesday Book, Nomina Germanica 3 (Uppsala: Almqvist and Wiksells, 1937)