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Esbern 14 was a small landowner in north-west Lincolnshire whose holding of 3½ bovates was worth 10 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
Lincolnshire
57,5
Normanby
Sbern
Esbern 'of Normanby'
-
Guy de Craon
Alfred de Chancé
0.44
0.50
0.38
C
Map
Total
0.44
0.50
0.38
Esbern 14 had a very small joint holding near the mouth of the Trent, at some distance from the other Lincolnshire Esberns (and with a different successor), and it is not likely that he was identical with any of them.
General remarks applicable to Esbern 11–18. Estates ascribed to Esbern are especially thick on the ground in north Lincolnshire and present great difficulties in identification. Seventeen small or very small holdings were involved, with an average assessment of less than 1 carucate, and at their extremities situated 50 miles apart. It is inconceivable that they belonged to one man. It is also clear from the identifications of Esberns 7–10 that the name was common enough in the Danelaw for a multiplicity of Lincolnshire Esberns to be plausible.
These Lincolnshire estates were held by eight different successors in 1086. All eight had very scattered fiefs in Lincolnshire, none of which was constructed on a geographical basis, thus ruling out the possibility that the properties of a super-Esbern had been divided up for that reason.
We have judged it most likely that each of the tenants-in-chief succeeded to one distinct Esbern, but it is possible that there were fewer, especially in the 15-mile stretch of country between the Wolds and the mouth of the Humber, where the estates concerned clustered and overlapped most densely.
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