Tepekin 2

Tepekin ‘of Henley’ (Suff.), fl. 1066
Male
DWP
4 of 5

Name

Tepekin

Summary

Tepekin 2 held three estates in south-east Suffolk TRE assessed at 31/5 carucates and with a value of £5 4s; he was commended to Earl Harold (Harold 3).

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
Suffolk 29,11 Henley Tepechinus Tepekin 'of Henley' Harold, earl Roger d'Auberville Eudo the steward 2.00 4.00 3.00 B Map
Suffolk 29,14 Finesford Tepekin Tepekin 'of Henley' - Roger d'Auberville - 0.20 0.20 0.20 B Map
Suffolk 40,4 Barkestone Depekin Tepekin 'of Henley' Harold, earl Robert fitzCorbucion - 1.00 1.00 0.60 B Map
Totals

Profile

There are only three estates recorded in DB as being held TRE by someone with the continental and rare name Tepekin, all in south-east Suffolk and in two instances the holder’s commended lord was Harold, probably Earl Harold (Harold 3). Despite each instance of the name being spelled differently from the others, there is a prima facie case for regarding all as referring to the same man, Tepekin 2.

Tepekin 2’s largest estate was at Henley, overlooking the upper valley of the River Finn (or Fynn). A much smaller estate was at Fin(l)esford (Rumble 1986: 21,70 Notes), by a crossing of the Finn about 2 miles south-east of Henley, while the third estate was 6 miles further on at Barkestone, beside the Deben estuary and just to the south of its confluence with the Finn. There was, therefore, a certain geographical cohesion as well as close proximity to the three estates; and this, together with the rarity of the name Tepekin and the association with Earl Harold, renders it very probable that all three estates were held TRE by the same man even though that at Barkestone passed to a different post-Conquest tenant-in-chief than did the other two.

Tepekin 2 held Henley and Barkeston as manors but the former was presumably his main estate, not only because was it the largest of the three (and also the largest of the eight or nine TRE estates at Henely) but Tepekin also because held the vill’s church. On both manors he practiced a mix of arable and pastoral farming. At Henley he had three ploughs working his demesne and a further four ploughs on the land of his men, who comprised sixteen bordars and who with their households and Tepekin’s four slaves provided the manor’s workforce; there was also a small extent of meadow and wood along with a small flock of sheep and a few pigs and cattle and, presumably, the oxen for the plough-teams. At Bakeston the emphasis was more on arable farming, because although Tepekin had just one plough on his demesne his six bordars had seven ploughs on their part of the land and the manor possessed only a handful of sheep. The third and smallest estate, at Fin(l)esford, had just half a plough (presumably one with a team of only four rather than eight oxen, provided for by the single acre of meadow) and was entirely arable.

Tepekin’s continental name, with its distinctive diminutive ‑kin, almost certainly indicates that he also was of continental rather than insular origin, although how he arrived in Suffolk and then became a moderately well-off farmer there remains a matter for speculation.

Bibliography


Rumble 1986: Domesday Book 34: Suffolk, ed. A. Rumble (Chichester, 1986)

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