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Name
Summary
Distribution Map
Property List
Profile
Bibliography
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Earnwulf 4
Earnwulf ‘of Longdon’ (Warws.), fl. 1066
Male
DWP
4 of 5
Summary
Earnwulf 4 held an estate in west Warwickshire TRE assessed at 2½ hides and with a value of 2s; his lord may have been Æthelwine 58.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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Warwickshire | 17,8 | Longdon | Arnul | Earnwulf 'of Longdon' | - | Thorkil of Warwick | Almær 'of Ratley' | 2.50 | 1.00 | 1.00 | E | Map |
| Totals | ||||||||||||
Profile
Earnwulf 4’s estate was the only one recorded by DB at Longdon, which as its name (Old English lang-dūn ‘long hill’) suggests occupies a low ridge between two tributary streams of the River Blythe in west Warwickshire. By 1086 Earnwulf’s former estate was held by a subtenant of Thorkil of Warwick (Thorkil 3), which suggests that Earnwulf’s lord could have been Thorkil’s father, Æthelwine 58, the sheriff of Warwickshire in the years either side of the Conquest (Williams 1989: 287-8). If so, however, then whether that lordship was one of commendation or dependent tenure is unknown.Earnwulf 4’s estate lay only 16¾ miles from the tiny estate of Earnwulf 7 at Bidford and, given the rarity of the name, it is possible that they were the same person. However, the names were spelled differently in DB (Arnul and Ernulf respectively), the estates passed to different post-Conquest successors and that at Bidford was only a quarter of the size of that at Longdon. None of these factors is conclusive on its own, but when taken together they just tip the balance of probability in favour of regarding Earnwulf 4 and Earnwulf 7 as different people. There is no reason to consider either man in connection with any other TRE or TRW landholder of that name.
Bibliography
Williams 1989: A. Williams, ‘A vice-comital family in pre-Conquest Warwickshire’, Anglo-Norman Studies 11 (1989), 279-95