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Thorsten 52

Name

Distribution map of property and lordships associated with this name in DB

List of property and lordships associated with this name in DB

Tenant-in-Chief 1086 demesne estates (no subtenants)

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 Somerset	Phil. ref. 16,9	Vill Abbots Leigh	DB Spelling Turstinus	Holder 1066 unnamed father of Thorsten	Lord 1066 -	Tenant-in-Chief 1086 Thorsten, king's clerk	1086 Subtenant -	Fiscal Value 1.00	1066 Value 0.50	1086 Value 0.50	Confidence B	Map
Totals								Fiscal Value	1066 Value	1086 Value

Profile

Among a small group of king’s clerks and monastic almswomen recorded in a separate chapter in Somerset was a Thorsten (Turstinus) who had 1 hide at Abbots Leigh, on the left bank of the Avon gorge below Bristol, which his unnamed father had held in 1066. Turstinus, also the spelling in Exon (Exon: 198a1), might in theory stand for the Norman name Thurstan, and the father may conceivably have been among the Normans settled in England before the Conquest. More persuasively, however, the chapter seems to deal with the English and Norman clerks in two separate sections, and places Turstinus in a group which was clearly English, comprising Leofa, Godwine, and Eadgyth.

The absence of demesne cultivation from the manor in 1086, when the only inhabitants were 2 bordars and the only demesne livestock 2 cattle and 6 pigs, argues for Thorsten not being resident. Abbots Leigh was only 2 miles from Bristol, and the king’s clerk may well have held some position in one of the borough’s many churches.