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Beorhtgifu 7 was a small landowner in south Essex with 2½ virgates worth about 20 shillings.
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
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
Essex
24,9
Wickford
Bricteua
Beorhtgifu 'of Wickford'
-
Swein of Essex
Thorkil the reeve
0.63
1.00
0.84
B
Map
Total
0.63
1.00
0.84
The name Beorhtgifu appears twice in Essex, at places 23 miles apart, but there is no reason to think that the same woman was involved at both (contra Freeman: IV, 723, 736). The larger of the two holdings was ½ hide and 15 acres at Wickford, on the river Crouch in south Essex. Wickford was divided in 1066 into as many as twenty separate holdings, all but one of which were of 1 hide or less. Beorhtgifu’s was one of six which fell into the hands of the sheriff Swein of Essex (Swein 9) and were merged as a single manor for Swein’s tenant Thorkil, kept distinct from two other smaller holdings and the principal manor at Wickford, also in Swein’s hands (Essex 24:9–12).
In 1066 Beorhtgifu farmed her land with 1 plough and had 20 acres of wood and 2 bordars and a villan as tenants.
Bibliography
Freeman: Edward A. Freeman, The History of the Norman Conquest of England, its Causes and its Results, 6 vols, revised edn (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1875–9 [I and II in 3rd edn, 1877; III and IV in 2nd edn, 1875–6; V and VI, 1876–9]
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