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Leofrun 10

Name

Summary

Leofrun 10 was the mother of Sigeweard who held property in Winchester c.1057.

Profile

Leofrun 10 is known only from the matronymic of her son Sigeweard, whose property on the south side of the High Street in Winchester (Hampshire) in c.1057 was recorded as Domus Siwardi Leuerunessone ‘the tenement of Sigeweard son of Leofrun’ in Winton Domesday (Barlow 1976: 42-3; von Feilitzen 1976: 172).  The use of the strong masculine genitival inflection ‑es with Leofrun’s name, rather than the appropriate strong feminine inflection -e, is unusual but does not affect the identification and may simply be a scribal error.  

It cannot be presumed that Leofrun was still alive in c.1057, or that she ever held her son’s tenement in Winchester; but that her son was an adult holding property by that date does provide a rough indication of Leofrun’s age.  A floreat of c.1030 for her is therefore suggested here, although this is conservative and it could be as much as three decades earlier than this.  It is therefore possible that Leofrun 10 is the same woman as Leofrun 1, recorded as a benefactor of the New Minster, Winchester, at some point between c.980 and c.1030.  There is no reason to consider Leofrun 10 in connection with anyone else.

Bibliography

Barlow 1976: ed. F. Barlow, ‘The Winton Domesday’, in ed. M. Biddle, Winchester in the Early Middle Ages: An Edition and Discussion of the Winton Domesday, Winchester Studies 1 (Oxford, 1976), 1-141

von Feilitzen 1976: O. von Feilitzen, ‘The personal names and bynames of the Winton Domesday’, in ed. M. Biddle, Winchester in the Early Middle Ages: An Edition and Discussion of the Winton Domesday, Winchester Studies 1 (Oxford, 1976), 145-229