Æthelfrith 40

Æthelfrith ‘of Worth’ (Dors.), fl. 1066
Male
DWP
4 of 5

Name

Æthelfrith
Æthelfrith 41

Summary

Æthelfrith 40 was a substantial landholder in Dorset and east Somerset TRE whose five estates and share of a sixth probably had a combine assessment of 55⅛ hides and a total value of nearly £45.  He was probably a royal official, although his precise rôle is unknown.

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
Dorset 47,3 Chelborough Aluert Æthelfrith 'of Worth' - Roger Arundel - 5.00 2.50 2.50 B Map
Dorset 47,4 Langton Long Blandford Aieluert Æthelfrith 'of Worth' - Roger Arundel Robert de Tilly 5.00 4.00 4.00 B Map
Dorset 47,9 Worth Matravers Ailuert Æthelfrith 'of Worth' Edward, king Roger Arundel - 16.63 16.38 16.38 B Map
Dorset 9,1 Piddletrenthide Aluerd Æthelfrith 'of Worth' Edward, king Riwallon, abbot of Winchester New Minster - 15.00 15.00 0.00 B Map
Somerset 22,24 Beckington Ailuert Æthelfrith 'of Worth' - Roger Arundel - 10.00 10.00 6.00 B Map
Somerset 22,26 Marston Bigot Æluert Æthelfrith 'of Worth' - Roger Arundel - 3.50 6.00 7.00 B Map
Totals

Profile

All of the estates held TRE in Dorset and Somerset wholly or in part by someone called Æthelfrith passed through the hands of Roger Arundel (Roger 12) at some point after the Conquest.  All of these estates were substantial, with assessments of between 3½ and 30 hides, and none lay more than 18½ miles away from at least one of the others.  Furthermore, although Æthelfrith had been a fairly common name earlier in the Anglo-Saxon period it was apparently less so by the eleventh century.  Taking these factors together it is very probable that all of these estates in Dorset and Somerset were held TRE by the same man, Æthelfrith 40, and that he was one of the antecessors of Roger Arundel.

The largest estate of which Æthelfrith 40 was the sole TRE holder was one of 16 hides and ½ virgate at Worth Matravers, above the limestone cliffs of the Isle of Purbeck in south-east Dorset; for this reason it has been adopted here as his toponymic byname for identification purposes.  DB states simply that Æthelfrith held it of King Edward (Edward 15) but the Exon entry (51b1) adds that he ‘could not be separated from the king’s service’, implying that he held Worth by dint of some rôle as a royal official.

Another estate that Æthelfrith held of King Edward TRE and without power of alienation was one of 30 hides shared with Æthelmær at Piddletrenthide (literally ‘the thirty hides by the [river] Piddle’), in central Dorset about 6 miles north of Dorchester and 22½ miles to the north-west of Worth.  This estate was in the hands of St Peter’s Abbey, Winchester, by 1086, but the DB entry notes that Roger Arundel had held it previously.  The TRE co-tenant, Æthelmær, was another of Roger’s antecessors and had a total holding of very similar size and geographical spread to that of Æthelfrith, which led Clarke (1994: 52, 234-5) to suggest that the two men were probably brothers.  The suggestion is reasonable and gains further support from the two men sharing the first element of their names, this often being a feature of familial naming patterns.

The remaining four of Æthelfrith’s TRE estates were at Chelborough and Langton Long Blandford in Dorset and at Beckington and Marston Bigot in east Somerset.  All were fairly substantial, with assessments of between 3½ and 10 hides, and the DB entries for them make no reference to them having been held in exchange for royal service or the like; they were probably lands that Æthelfrith held in his own right.

It is quite likely that Æthelfrith 40 was the same person as Æthelfrith 25, who as Æthelfrith minister witnessed two royal grants, the first to the abbot of Bath in 1061 (S 1034) and second to the bishop of Wells in 1065 (S 1042).  Round (1906: 419) saw no need to hesitate in identifying the TRE landholder with the witness to the Bath charter; but neither charter is beyond reproach and no direct connection between the two men is apparent, so the identification cannot be regarded as more than likely without further evidence.

Bibliography


Clarke 1994: Peter A. Clarke, The English Nobility under Edward the Confessor (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1994)

Round 1906: J. H. Round, ‘Domesday Survey’, in W. Page, ed., The Victoria History of the County of Somerset: Volume One (London, 1906), pp. 383-432

S: P. H. Sawyer, Anglo-Saxon Charters: An Annotated List and Bibliography, Royal Historical Society Guides and Handbooks 8 (London, 1968), revised by S. Kelly, R. Rushforth et al., The Electronic Sawyer: Online Catalogue of Anglo-Saxon Charters, published online through Kemble: The Anglo-Saxon Charters Website, currently at http://www.esawyer.org.uk/about/index.html