Beorhtgifu is a feminine OE name formed from the elements beorht (‘bright, distinguished’) and gifu (‘gift’). Both elements were very widely used, though Beorhtgifu is not itself an especially common name, even allowing for the under-representation of women’s names in the sources. The two examples currently in PASE are the recipient from King Edgar of land at the unidentified Ealderescumbe in a charter of 968 preserved at Shaftesbury (Dors.) (S 762; Charters of Shaftesbury, no. 27) (Beorhtgifu 1), and the widow of a Londoner who gave property to Westminster abbey shortly before 1067 (Beorhtgifu 2). The abbess of the rich nunnery of Wilton (Wilts.) in office in 1040, who died c. 1065, was called Beorhtgifu (Foot 2000: II, 230–1), as was a nun of Romsey (LVH). The name does not appear in the original core of the Durham Liber Vitae, compiled c. 840, though there are eight examples there from the twelfth century (LVD: II, 91), evidently reflecting the spread of a name previously absent from Northumbria.
Charters of Shaftesbury: Charters of Shaftesbury Abbey, ed. S. E. Kelly, Anglo-Saxon Charters 5 (Oxford: Oxford University Press for the British Academy, 1996)
Foot 2000: Sarah Foot, Veiled Women, 2 vols (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2000)
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
DLV: The Durham Liber Vitae. London, British Library, MS Cotton Domitian A.VII: Edition and Digital Facsimile with Introduction, Codicological, Prosopographical and Linguistic Commentary, and Indexes, ed. D. W. Rollason and L. Rollason, 3 vols. (London: British Library, 2007)
NMHLV: Liber Vitae: Register and Martyrology of New Minster and Hyde Abbey, Winchester, ed. Walter de Gray Birch, Hampshire Record Society 5 (1892)
Spellings in Domesday Book: Bricteua; Bristeua, Bristiue, Briteua, Britheue
Spellings in Exon: Bristiua
Forms in modern scholarship:
von Feilitzen head forms: Beorhtgifu
Phillimore edition: Beorhtgifu (Lincs.), Bricteva (elsewhere)
Alecto edition: Beorhtgifu
Shire | Phil. ref. | Vill | Holder 1066 DB Spelling | Holder 1066 | Lord 1066 | Tenant-in-Chief 1086 | 1086 subtenant | Fiscal value | 1066 value | 1086 value | Holder 1066 ID conf. | Show on map |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Devon | 52,8 | West Heanton | Bricteua | Beorhtgifu 'of West Heanton' | - | Colwine the reeve | - | 0.25 | 0.25 | 0.25 | A | Map |
Huntingdonshire | 26,1 | Great Gidding | Britheue | Beorhtgifu 'of Gidding' | - | William Engaine | - | 4.50 | 2.00 | 4.00 | A | Map |
Lincolnshire | 28,12 | Hackthorn | Briteua | Beorhtgifu 'of Hackthorn' | - | Jocelin fitzLambert | - | 1.06 | 1.34 | 1.79 | A | Map |
Lincolnshire | 68,18 | Corby Glen | Bricteua | Beorhtgifu 'of Corby Glen' | - | Beorhtgifu 'of Corby Glen' | - | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | A | Map |
Essex | 1,19 | Stanway | Bricteua | Beorhtgifu 'of Stanway' | Harold, earl | William, king | Eustace, count | 0.15 | 0.13 | 0.13 | B | Map |
Somerset | 35,4 | Stringston | Bristiue | Beorhtgifu 'of Stringston' | - | Alfred d'Épaignes, the Breton | Ranulph 'of Stringston' | 0.13 | 0.25 | 0.25 | A | Map |
Essex | 24,9 | Wickford | Bricteua | Beorhtgifu 'of Wickford' | - | Swein of Essex | Thorkil the reeve | 0.63 | 1.00 | 0.84 | B | Map |
Total | 7.72 | 5.97 | 8.26 |
Shire | Phil. ref. | Vill | TIC DB Spelling | Holder 1066 | Lord 1066 | Tenant-in-Chief 1086 | 1086 subtenant | Fiscal value | 1066 value | 1086 value | TIC ID conf. | Show on map |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lincolnshire | 68,18 | Corby Glen | Bricteua | Beorhtgifu 'of Corby Glen' | - | Beorhtgifu 'of Corby Glen' | - | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | A | Map |
Total | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 |
Shire | Phil. ref. | Vill | Subtenant DB Spelling | Holder 1066 | Lord 1066 | Tenant-in-Chief 1086 | 1086 subtenant | Fiscal value | 1066 value | 1086 value | Subtenant ID conf. | Show on map |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Oxfordshire | 6,1b | Dorchester | Bristeua | Wulfwig, bishop of Dorchester | - | Remigius, bishop of Lincoln | Beorhtgifu 'of Dorchester' | 20.50 | 10.00 | 20.00 | A | Map |
Oxfordshire | 6,17 | Marsh Baldon | Bristeua | Wulfwig, bishop of Dorchester | - | Remigius, bishop of Lincoln | Beorhtgifu 'of Dorchester' | 2.50 | 1.33 | 2.33 | A | Map |
Total | 23.00 | 11.33 | 22.33 |
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