Esbern 7

Esbern ‘of Oadby’ (Leics.), Earl Waltheof’s man, fl. 1066
Male
CPL
4 of 5

Name

Esbern
Esbern 6
Esbern 8

Summary

Esbern 7 held one Leicestershire estate on his own account and others of uncertain extent as a tenant of Earl Waltheof. At most he had the rather large holding of 39 carucates worth almost £8, but he might have had as little as 3 carucates worth only a few shillings.

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
Leicestershire 14,23 Swepstone Sbern Esbern 'of Oadby' - Henry de Ferrers Nigel 'of Stafford' 2.00 0.01 0.40 B Map
Totals

Profile

The run of entries found at the start of Countess Judith’s fief in Leicestershire, ends with the information that ‘Earl Waltheof held all this land, & Esbern, a free man’ (Hanc terram totam Wallef comes tenuit. 7 Sbern .ius. liber homo), leaving the relationship between the earl, Esbern, and the estates tantalizingly unclear. Judith was Waltheof’s widow, and the earl had clearly had an interest in all seven places, but DB is less explicit about Esbern. He has been taken here as holding them under the earl, though it is conceivable that he had a more limited interest, not extending to the whole group of places and perhaps in just one of them.

Oadby was 3 miles south-east of Leicester, and lay a few mile from a cluster to the south-west, towards Watling Street, but Heather stood 15 miles away in the higher country west of Charnwood; Heather was immediately adjacent to Swepstone, showing that the two Esberns named in Leicestershire were identical even though their estates passed to different Normans.

These Leicestershire estates are far enough from others in the east Midlands for it to be unlikely that Esbern 7 held elsewhere.