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Epi 2

Name

Summary

Epi 2 held two estates in Buckinghamshire and Surrey TRE assessed for a total 1 hide.

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
Shire Buckinghamshire	Phil. ref. 36,3	Vill Chesham	DB Spelling Epy	Holder 1066 Epi 'of Chesham'	Lord 1066 Beorhtric, man of Queen Eadgyth	Tenant-in-Chief 1086 Thurstan Mantel	1086 Subtenant -	Fiscal Value 0.50	1066 Value 0.25	1086 Value 0.25	Confidence D	Map
Shire Surrey	Phil. ref. 5,12	Vill Wallington	DB Spelling Epi	Holder 1066 Epi 'of Chesham'	Lord 1066 -	Tenant-in-Chief 1086 Odo, bishop of Bayeux	1086 Subtenant Ansgot 'of Streatham'	Fiscal Value 0.50	1066 Value 0.25	1086 Value 0.25	Confidence E	Map
Totals								Fiscal Value	1066 Value	1086 Value

Profile

Both of Epi’s estates were of the same size and probably the same value TRE but the only one that can be identified securely was that at Chesham, in the hills and valleys of the Chilterns in eastern Buckinghamshire. DB states that Epi ‘could sell’, indicating that he was not a dependent tenant, and that he was the man of Beorhtric 37, presumably by commendation.

The details of Epi’s other estate are less clear. DB states only that it was in Wallington Hundred in north-east Surrey and that Epi ‘could go where he wished’, again indicating that he had the power of alienation over his land. There is no indication as to his lord, and the fact that the estate passed to Bishop Odo (Odo 3), who was elsewhere one of Beorhtric’s successors (Clarke 1994: 262-4; Palmer et al. 2010: DB Bucks. 4,24 Notes), is of little if any consequence. Since this estate will have been about 30 miles away from that at Chesham and both estates were only ½ hide in size, the case for them being close enough to have been held by the same person is borderline. The best evidence in favour of the identification is that Epi was an extremely rare name, that these are the only two instances of it in DB, and that the distance between the estates doesn’t actually preclude it. On balance, this just about tips the probability in favour of identifying the holder of both estates as the same man.

Bibliography

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

Palmer et al. 2010: J. Palmer, F. Thorn, C. Thorn and N. Hodgson, Electronic Edition of Domesday Book: Translation, Databases and Scholarly Commentary, 1086, 2nd edn (2010), published online by the UK Data Service, SN: 5694, currently at http://dx.doi.org/10.5255/UKDA-SN-5694-1.