The name Esbern was Scandinavian in origin, normalized in ON as Asbiorn and in ODan as Esbiorn. It became current in England chiefly in its Danish form: there are no spellings in As– in DB, and most instances outside DB are spelled Es–. The handful of exceptions are all from Yorkshire, where a Norwegian origin seems likely for the persons called Asbeorn and Asbearn (PASE: Asbeorn 1; Fellows Jensen 1968: 18). The Scandinavian name was formed from words meaning ‘a god’ (OIcel áss) and ‘a bear’ (OIcel bjorn).
In DB the final element of Esbern appears consistently as –bern, –berne, or (Latinized) –bernus; for that reason the name has been normalized here as Esbern. Spellings starting in S– are more common in DB than Es–, oddly inverting the usual Norman tendency to add an E– at the start of a name where it helped French-speakers to pronounce an awkward cluster of consonants (von Feilitzen 1937: 72 §51).
By the mid eleventh century at latest, the Anglicized form Esbern was distinct from the original Danish name. Danes from Denmark called Esbiorn who appear in English sources before 1100 had their names written as Osbearn or Osbeorn (PASE Osbeorn 2, Osbeorn 3, Osbern 1), assimilating the elements of the name with the OE elements ōs ‘a god’ and beorn ‘man, warrior’ (the latter used only as a first element in native English names).
The Scandinavian name was also adopted in Normandy, in the form Osbern, and was very widely used there, being probably the commonest of all the Norman names of Scandinavian origin (Adigard des Gautries 1954: 78–81, 253, 275–87). Several Normans called Osbern settled in England after Edward the Confessor’s return as king in 1041.
The Norman name Osbern and the Anglicized name Esbern were readily distinguishable in most contexts, but there is one exception which affects the identifications adopted here. The name Osbernus occurs three times in ExonDB, once explicitly for 1086 as Osbernus episcopus, that is Osbern fitzOsbern, bishop of Exeter (ExonDB 121v), and twice TRE as Osbernus (ExonDB 233v, 252). The scribe of GDB left the bishop’s name in its Exon form (Cornw. 5.1:3) but changed the other two to Sbern (Cornw. 5.2:10; 5.11:1). The second of those, however, can be confidently identified as the later Bishop Osbern (until 1072 a priest in the king’s household) (see Osbern 8), so that in this instance the GDB scribe’s correction of the name to Sbern for Esbern was a mistake. The other instance is here treated as an Esbern (following the DB form), but may have been another mistaken correction by the DB scribe, in reality referring to another Osbern or an OE Osbeorn.
Alecto renders the name Esbiorn; Phillimore variously as Osbern (Cornw. and Hants), Esbjorn (Lincs. and Yorks.), and Esbern (elsewhere). Von Feilitzen discusses it under the normalized ON form Ásbiorn. Esbern Bigga (Esbern 3) occurs frequently in the secondary literature, where he has sometimes been called Osbern (e.g. Brooks 1984).
Adigard des Gautries 1954: Jean Adigard des Gautries, Les noms de personnes scandinaves en Normandie de 911 à 1066, Nomina Germanica 11 (Lund: Carl Bloms, 1954)
Brooks 1984: Nicholas Brooks, The Early History of the Church of Canterbury: Christ Church from 597 to 1066 (Leicester: Leicester University Press, 1984)
Fellow Jensen 1968: Gillian Fellows Jensen, Scandinavian Personal Names in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire (Copenhagen: I Kommission hos Akademisk Forlag, 1968)
Von Feilitzen 1937: Olof von Feilitzen, The Pre-Conquest Personal Names of Domesday Book, Nomina Germanica 3 (Uppsala: Almqvist and Wiksells, 1937)
Spellings in Domesday Book: Esbern, Esber, Sbern, Sberne
Forms in modern scholarship:
von Feilitzen head forms: Ásbiorn
Phillimore edition: Osbern (Cornw. and Hants), Esbjorn (Lincs. and Yorks.), and Esbern (elsewhere)
Alecto edition: Esbiorn
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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Derbyshire | 17,9 | Calow | Sberne | Esbern 'of Calow' | - | Stenulf 'of Sutton Scarsdale' | - | 0.50 | 0.75 | 0.50 | A | Map |
Lincolnshire | 3,16 | Covenham St Mary | Esbern | Esbern 'of Covenham St Mary' | - | William de Saint-Calais, bishop of Durham | unnamed monks of Saint-Calais | 2.50 | 3.00 | 4.00 | E | Map |
Lincolnshire | 3,17 | Skidbrooke | Esbern 'of Covenham St Mary' | - | William de Saint-Calais, bishop of Durham | unnamed monks of Saint-Calais | 0.88 | 0.00 | 0.00 | E | Map | |
Lincolnshire | 14,3 | Holton le Clay | Esbern | Esbern 'of Elkington' | - | Ivo Taillebois | Hermer 'of Holton le Clay' | 1.00 | 2.00 | 2.00 | E | Map |
Lincolnshire | 14,84 | Elkington | Esbern | Esbern 'of Elkington' | - | Ivo Taillebois | Geoffrey 'the man of Ivo Taillebois' | 4.00 | 3.00 | 6.00 | E | Map |
Lincolnshire | 14,86 | Sloothby | Esbern 'of Elkington' | - | Ivo Taillebois | - | 0.88 | 0.00 | 0.00 | E | Map | |
Lincolnshire | 26,3 | Faldingworth | Sberne | Esbern 'of Faldingworth' | - | Colswein 'of Lincoln' | - | 0.50 | 0.50 | 0.27 | C | Map |
Lincolnshire | 26,10 | Cammeringham | Sbern | Esbern 'of Faldingworth' | - | Colswein 'of Lincoln' | - | 1.13 | 0.75 | 1.00 | C | Map |
Lincolnshire | 22,33 | Fotherby | Sberne | Esbern 'of Fotherby' | - | William de Percy | Fulk fitzRainfrid | 0.50 | 0.50 | 0.15 | E | Map |
Cornwall | 5,2,10 | Lanhadron | Sbern | Esbern 'of Lanhadron' | - | Robert, count of Mortain | Reynold de Vautortes | 0.25 | 0.50 | 0.25 | A | Map |
Yorkshire | 1N71 | Little Barugh | Esbern | Esbern 'of Little Barugh' | - | William, king | - | 1.50 | 0.00 | 0.00 | A | Map |
Lincolnshire | 57,5 | Normanby | Sbern | Esbern 'of Normanby' | - | Guy de Craon | Alfred de Chancé | 0.44 | 0.50 | 0.38 | C | Map |
Leicestershire | 14,23 | Swepstone | Sbern | Esbern 'of Oadby' | - | Henry de Ferrers | Nigel 'of Stafford' | 2.00 | 0.01 | 0.40 | B | Map |
Lincolnshire | 48,2 | Scawby | Sbern | Esbern 'of Scawby' | - | Odo the crossbowman | - | 1.19 | 0.75 | 0.63 | C | Map |
Lincolnshire | 48,3 | Redbourne | Sbern | Esbern 'of Scawby' | - | Odo the crossbowman | - | 0.16 | 0.00 | 0.00 | C | Map |
Cheshire | FD8,2 | Soughton | Sberne | Esbern 'of Soughton' | - | Hugh, earl | Ralph the huntsman | 1.00 | 0.25 | 0.25 | A | Map |
Lincolnshire | 12,17 | Swallow | Sbern | Esbern 'of Swallow' | - | Alan, count | Picot of Lascelles | 1.50 | 1.00 | 3.00 | E | Map |
Lincolnshire | 12,19 | Fulstow | Sbern | Esbern 'of Swallow' | - | Alan, count | Picot of Lascelles | 1.13 | 1.00 | 2.00 | E | Map |
Nottinghamshire | 30,35 | Willoughby-on-the-Wolds | Sbern | Esbern 'of Willoughby-on-the-Wolds' | - | Alwine 'of Willoughby-on-the-Wolds' | - | 0.19 | 0.26 | 0.10 | A | Map |
Lincolnshire | 47,1 | Willoughton | Sberne | Esbern 'of WIlloughton' | - | Waldin the engineer | - | 0.25 | 0.36 | 0.31 | D | Map |
Kent | D17 | Esber | Esbern Bigga | - | - | - | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | A | Map | |
Kent | 5,37 | Keston | Sberne | Esbern Bigga | Edward, king | Odo, bishop of Bayeux | Gilbert, bishop of Lisieux | 1.00 | 3.00 | 2.00 | A | Map |
Kent | 5,42 | Ditton | Sbern | Esbern Bigga | Edward, king | Odo, bishop of Bayeux | Hamon the sheriff | 2.00 | 8.00 | 8.00 | B | Map |
Kent | 5,57 | Birling | Sbern | Esbern Bigga | Edward, king | Odo, bishop of Bayeux | Ralph de Courbépine | 12.00 | 12.00 | 12.00 | A | Map |
Kent | 5,86 | Thurnham | Sbern | Esbern Bigga | Edward, king | Odo, bishop of Bayeux | Ralph de Courbépine | 6.00 | 10.00 | 12.00 | A | Map |
Kent | 5,87 | Fairbourne | Sbern | Esbern Bigga | Edward, king | Odo, bishop of Bayeux | Ralph de Courbépine | 2.00 | 1.50 | 1.50 | A | Map |
Kent | 5,168 | Pivington | Sbern | Esbern Bigga | Edward, king | Odo, bishop of Bayeux | Ralph de Courbépine | 2.00 | 8.00 | 6.00 | A | Map |
Kent | 9,16 | Postling | Sbern | Esbern Bigga | - | Hugh de Montfort | Roger de Candos | 5.00 | 10.00 | 14.00 | A | Map |
Sussex | 11,36 | Compton | Sbern | Esbern Bigga | Godwine, earl | Roger, earl | Geoffrey the sheriff | 10.00 | 8.00 | 8.00 | D | Map |
Surrey | 5,22 | Fetcham | Biga | Esbern Bigga | Edward, king | Odo, bishop of Bayeux | Richard fitzGilbert | 8.50 | 3.00 | 3.00 | C | Map |
Surrey | 18,1 | Woking | Esbern Bigga | Edward, king | Roger, earl | - | 1.00 | 1.00 | 0.75 | D | Map | |
Hampshire | 69,6 | Preston Candover | Sberne | Esbern Bigga | Eadgyth, queen | Cypping, king's thegn | - | 2.25 | 3.60 | 2.25 | D | Map |
Hampshire | 69,6 | Preston Candover | Sberne | Esbern Bigga | Eadgyth, queen | Cypping, king's thegn | Earnwulf 'of Preston Candover' | 0.25 | 0.40 | 0.25 | D | Map |
Warwickshire | 4,2 | Atherstone-on-Stour | Sberne | Esbern Bigga | - | Odo, bishop of Bayeux | Corbin | 4.00 | 4.00 | 4.00 | E | Map |
Essex | 47,3 | Fordham | Esbernus | Esbern Bigga | - | Hugh de Gournai | Geoffrey Talbot | 2.00 | 7.00 | 7.00 | B | Map |
Kent | C5 | Canterbury | Sbern | Esbern Bigga | - | William, king | Odo, bishop of Bayeux | 0.00 | 0.56 | 0.56 | A | Map |
Nottinghamshire | 21,1 | East Stoke | Sbern | Esbern Croc | - | Berenger de Tosny | Ralph 'the man of Berenger de Tosny' | 0.31 | 0.60 | 0.50 | A | Map |
Nottinghamshire | 21,2 | Syerston | Sbern | Esbern Croc | - | Berenger de Tosny | Godwine 'of Syerston' | 0.31 | 1.50 | 1.00 | A | Map |
Kent | D25 | Sutton and Aylesford lathes | Esbern | Esbern of Chelsfield | - | - | - | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | - | Map |
Total | 80.12 | 97.29 | 104.05 |
Shire | Phil. ref. | Vill | Lord 1066 DB Spelling | Holder 1066 | Lord 1066 | Tenant-in-Chief 1086 | 1086 subtenant | Fiscal value | 1066 value | 1086 value | Lord 1066 ID conf. | Show on map |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lincolnshire | 3,18 | Grainthorpe | Esbern | - | Esbern | William de Saint-Calais, bishop of Durham | - | 0.56 | 0.00 | 0.00 | E | Map |
Lincolnshire | 3,19 | Little Grimsby | Esbern | - | Esbern | William de Saint-Calais, bishop of Durham | - | 0.25 | 0.00 | 0.00 | E | Map |
Lincolnshire | 14,85 | Little Grimsby | Esbern | - | Esbern | Ivo Taillebois | - | 1.50 | 0.00 | 0.00 | E | Map |
Kent | 7,6 | Garrington | Sbern | Eadric of Elham | Esbern Bigga | Scotland, abbot of St Augustine's Canterbury | Ralph de Saint-Wandrille | 1.47 | 4.00 | 4.00 | A | Map |
Total | 3.78 | 4.00 | 4.00 |
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