Earnwulf 7

Earnwulf ‘of Bidford’ (Warws.), fl. 1066
Male
DWP
4 of 5

Name

Earnwulf
Earnwulf 6
Earnwulf 8

Summary

Earnwulf 7 and Arngrim were free men, probably related, who shared a tiny estate in south-west Warwickshire TRE assessed at 2 ½ virgates and with a value of 12d.

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 4,5 Bidford-on-Avon Ernulf Earnwulf 'of Bidford' - Odo, bishop of Bayeux Robert d'Oilly 0.31 0.03 0.25 E Map
Totals

Profile

Earnwulf 7was one of two free men holding a tiny estate at Bidford-on-Avon, where the river is crossed by Ryknild Street and the main estate was in the king’s hands both TRE and in 1086.  The TRE co-holder of the smaller estate was Arngrim , whose Old Norse name suggests that in this instance the DB form Ernulf could represent ON Arnulf rather than its Old English cognate Earnwulf (cf. von Feilitzen 1937: 244).  In either case, to have co-holders whose names shared the same or cognate first element is a strong indication that the men were related.

Palmer et al. (2007: DB Warws. 4,5 Notes) notes the possibility that Earnwulf 7 and Arngrim also correspond to the Einulf and Aregrim who held manors in the same Shropshire vill TRE, with either Ernulf or Einulf being a corrupt form.  Palmer regards the possibility as remote, however; it is also discounted here and the Shropshire Einulf regarded as a separate person, Einulf 2.

The later traditions of Evesham Abbey claimed that the smaller estate at Bidford had been acquired by Abbot Æthelwig 15 (1058-77) but was usurped by Bishop Odo 3 after the Conquest, and a charter forged c.1097x1104 under Æthelwig’s successor may be connected with this claim although there is no other evidence of the estate’s separate existence (S 81; Styles 1945: 49-57; Hart 1975: no.44).  If there was any substance to the claim, however, the nature of the possible association between Earnwulf and Arngrim and the abbey remains a matter of speculation.

Earnwulf 7’s estate lay only 16¾ miles from the larger estate of Earnwulf 4 at Longdon and, given the rarity of the name, it is possible that they were the same person.  However, the names were spelled differently in DB (Ernulf and Arnul 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 7 and Earnwulf 4 as different people.  There is no reason to consider either man in connection with any other TRE or TRW landholder of that name.

Bibliography


Hart 1975: C. R. Hart, The Early Charters of Northern England and the North Midlands (Leicester, 1975)

Palmer et al. 2002: J. Palmer, F. Thorn and C. Thorn, and N. Hodgson, Electronic Edition of Domesday Book: Translation, Databases and Scholarly Commentary, 1086, 2nd edn (2002), currently published online by the UK Data Service https://discover.ukdataservice.ac.uk/catalogue?sn=5694

Styles 1945: A History of the County of Warwick: Volume 3: Barlichway Hundred, ed. P. Styles (London, 1945)

von Feilitzen 1937: Olof von Feilitzen, The Pre-Conquest Personal Names of Domesday Book, Nomina Germanica 3 (Uppsala: Almqvist and Wiksells, 1937)