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Godeza 2

Name

Summary

Godeza 2 held two small estates in east Kent TRE with a probable combined assessment of just over 1 sulung and with a value of about 85s; one of these she held under King Edward 15’s lordship while the other she had granted to St Augustine’s, Canterbury, but remained a tenant there.

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 Kent	Phil. ref. 5,200	Vill Betteshanger	DB Spelling Godesa	Holder 1066 Godeza 'of Elmstone'	Lord 1066 Edward, king	Tenant-in-Chief 1086 Odo, bishop of Bayeux	1086 Subtenant Osbern fitzLetard	Fiscal Value 0.75	1066 Value 3.00	1086 Value 2.50	Confidence C	Map
Shire Kent	Phil. ref. 7,24	Vill Elmstone	DB Spelling Godesa	Holder 1066 Godeza 'of Elmstone'	Lord 1066 Æthelsige, abbot of St Augustine's, Canterbury	Tenant-in-Chief 1086 Scotland, abbot of St Augustine's Canterbury	1086 Subtenant Ansfrid Masculus	Fiscal Value 1.67	1066 Value 1.25	1086 Value 1.88	Confidence B	Map
Totals								Fiscal Value	1066 Value	1086 Value

Profile

The larger of Godeza 2’s two small estates was at Elmstone, on the fertile slopes overlooking the marshes around the then still-navigable Wantsum Channel near its confluence with the River Stour in east Kent.  The DB entry relating to this estate is slightly garbled but fortunately the details are clarified by the corresponding entry in IA (19).  Godeza had held the estate in allodium and then at some point TRE she had granted it to St Augustine’s, Canterbury, albeit remaining there as the abbey’s tenant for a rent of 25d p.a.  The DB entry gives the assessment of this estate as ½ sulung while that of another estate at Elmstone held by the abbey was ½ sulung and ½ yoke; but the IA entry makes it clear that Godeza’s estate had been the more substantial at ½ sulung, 1 yoke and 20 acres while the abbey’s was only ½ sulung.

Godeza 2’s other estate comprised 1½ yokes at Betteshanger, by the old road across the downs between Eastry and Dover and 6 miles to the south-east of Elmstone; in this instance the DB assessment is confirmed by that in DM (102).  Given that female landholders were unusual and Godeza’s name was extremely rare, this very close proximity to Elmstone renders it very probable that the two estates had been held by the same woman.  She held her estate at Betteshanger from King Edward 15 TRE, although the precise nature of that lordship is uncertain.

Despite the extreme rarity of the continental name Godeza in pre-Conquest England, however, the estates of Godeza 2 were too small and, at 110 miles, too distant from that of Godeza 3 in the Isle of Wight for any connection between them to be considered.

Bibliography

IA: An Eleventh-Century Inquisition of St. Augustine’s, Canterbury, ed. Adolphus Ballard, British Academy Records of the Social and Economic History of England and Wales 4 (2) (London, 1920)

DM: The Domesday Monachorum of Christ Church, Canterbury, ed. David C. Douglas (London: Royal Historical Society, 1944)