Esbern 17

Esbern ‘of Scawby’ (Lincs.), fl. 1066
Male
CPL
4 of 5

Name

Esbern
Esbern 16
Esbern 18

Summary

Esbern 17 was a small landowner in north-west Lincolnshire whose two holdings were together assessed at under 1½ carucates and worth 15 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
Lincolnshire 48,2 Scawby Sbern Esbern 'of Scawby' - Odo the crossbowman - 1.19 0.75 0.63 C Map
Lincolnshire 48,3 Redbourne Sbern Esbern 'of Scawby' - Odo the crossbowman - 0.16 0.00 0.00 C Map
Totals

Profile

Esbern 17 held property in two vills where Grimbald also held land; they were just 4 miles apart in the valley of the Ancholme and passed to the same Norman successor. The pairing of Esbern and Grimbald at both these places but nowhere else makes it unlikely that this Esbern should be identified with any of the others, though Esbern 18 had a joint holding not far away with a Grimkell, whose name included the same first element as Grimbald.

General remarks applicable to Esbern 11–18. Estates ascribed to Esbern are especially thick on the ground in north Lincolnshire and present great difficulties in identification. Seventeen small or very small holdings were involved, with an average assessment of less than 1 carucate, and at their extremities situated 50 miles apart. It is inconceivable that they belonged to one man. It is also clear from the identifications of Esberns 7–10 that the name was common enough in the Danelaw for a multiplicity of Lincolnshire Esberns to be plausible.

These Lincolnshire estates were held by eight different successors in 1086. All eight had very scattered fiefs in Lincolnshire, none of which was constructed on a geographical basis, thus ruling out the possibility that the properties of a super-Esbern had been divided up for that reason.

We have judged it most likely that each of the tenants-in-chief succeeded to one distinct Esbern, but it is possible that there were fewer, especially in the 15-mile stretch of country between the Wolds and the mouth of the Humber, where the estates concerned clustered and overlapped most densely.