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This section transcluded to Talk:Little_Thetford/Archive 1
-- Senra ( talk) 17:36, 23 June 2010 (UTC)
Sir Edmund Knyvet (d. 1539), the second son of Edmund Knyvet of Buckenham Castle and his wife, Eleanor, a sister of Sir James Tyrell. This Sir Edmund, the younger brother of Sir Thomas Knyvet, was sergeant-porter to Henry VIII and received several grants from the king, including an annuity of 50 marks, a manor in Northamptonshire, a lease of land in Shropshire, and the office of receiver of revenues from Denbigh. Through his marriage to Joan, the only surviving child of John Bourchier, second Baron Berners, he acquired the manor of Ashwellthorpe, Norfolk. He was a great-nephew of Christian Knyvet, the mother of John Colet, the dean of St Paul's, and was named in Colet's will as his chief heir should the dean's mother not survive him (which she did). As porter at the gate he attended Henry VIII at the Field of Cloth of Gold. He died in 1539 and was buried at Ashwellthorpe.
— Stanford Lehmberg, DNB
'Aethelstan Mannesson was himself a major benefactor of Ramsey and a minor benefactor of Ely; it is perfectly likely, therefore, that his daughter should similarly have bequeathed property to both houses, but it has to be admitted that of the estates which our Aelfwaru gave to Ely, none can be shown to have come to her from Aethelstan Mannesson, and that her identification with the Ramsey Aelfwaru thus rests solely on the common name.' Has new evidence come to light that these lands were inherited from her mother's side of the family? I seem to recall reading this in The Danelaw, but cannot get to the library until mid-week.
There is one possible tenurial link between Aelfwaru and Aethelstan Manneson. Hart suggested (`The Danelaw', p. 617) that the `Chinnora' of her will `is to be equated with part of the Owra which Aethelstan left to his wife'. Owra (OE `ofer' = over) is Over, Cambs, in which parish runs a stream called in the C20 Chain Brook and in the C19 Over Chain. Hart suggests that this preserves the name of Chinnora': OE cinu = ravine, plus ofer = over, hence `Over Chain'. If he is right - and it sounds possible, at least - then there is a direct link between Aelfwaru and Aethelstan, which reinforces the theory that she was one of his daughters.
1 (and 2). Extracts from Aelfwaru's will appear both in the 'Liber Benefactorum' of Ramsey Abbey (in W.Dunn Macray (ed.), Chronicon Abbatiae Rameseiensis, Rolls series 83, 1886, pp. 84-5), and in the Liber Eliensis. She is identified as Aethelstan Mannesunu's daughter in the Ramsey extract by the fact that she left to the abbey lands at Holywell and Elsworth (and the disputed Chinnora), which Aethelstan Mannesunu had bequeathed to his (unnamed) wife (said, in the Liber Benefactorum, pp. 59-60, to have been a kinswoman.of Archbishop Oswald). Her death in 1007 is recorded in the obituary lists of Ramsey Abbey (this is the reference you cite), but this gives only the year, not the day and month. The day (27 February) must come from another source - perhaps an obituary list from Ely, but I'm afraid I don't have information on this.
3. Aelfwaru's identification as the 'first-born daughter' (unnamed) of Aethelstan Mannesunu's will (he left her land at Gransden, Cambs, given to her by her godmother Aethelswith) does not rest entirely on her disposal of land left to Aethelstan's widow (see 1. above). She was also a kinswoman of Eadnoth, a monk of Ramsey who became bishop of Dorchester (as Eadnoth II) in 1034; he died in 1049 and left to Ramsey lands at Over (land there was left to Aethelstan's widow, possibly identical with Aelfwaru's Chinnora), and Knapwell, Cambs**, (land there also bequeathed to Aethelstan's widow); see Chronicon Rameseiensis, pp. 84-5,148, 159. These bequests suggest that Eadnoth was a member of Aethelstan's family, as does the fact that (though the name is common) one of Aethelstan Mannesunu's sons was also called Eadnoth (later abbot of Ramsey, and bishop of Dorchester (c. 1007-1016), and his second son Godric was the father of a third Eadnoth (see the pedigree in C.R. Hart, The Danelaw, p. 614).
Aelfwaru is described as a widow both in the Ramsey Liber Benefactorum and Liber Eliensis, but husband's name is unknown, as is the name of her mother. Hart suggested that the Norfolk lands left by Aelfwaru to Ely came to her from her mother's kin, since Aethelstan Mannesunu left his Norfolk estates to his widow. But this is conjecture.Aelfwaru might just as well have married a Norfolk man who predeceased her, and the bequest to Ely could be the fulfilment of his will.
NOTE** Land at Knapwell was also bequeathed by Aethelstan Mannesunu to his kinsman Leofsige; it is this Knapwell subsequently found in the possession of Thurstan Lustwine's son (Liber Eliensis, p. 188; S 1531 - this Knapwell passed to Ely, whereas the other was held by Ramsey).
When she comes briefly into historical focus Ælfwaru of Bridgham was, it would seem, a very wealthy and pious widow. She appears in LE ii 61, as a person who bequeathed an estate at Bridgham (Shropham Hundred, Norfolk) to Ely, together with other properties. LE ii 61 implies that Ely had still in its archives her will, written in Old English rather than Latin, as documents of this kind usually were. The estate at Bridgham was retained in Ely hands through the eleventh century, being part of farming arrangements organised c. 1029 - 1035 (LE ii 84) and held as 4 carucates (hides) TRE (1066) and TRW (1086): Little Domesday Book 213v.
There is also a lady of similarly elevated status called Alfwaru a notice of whose will appears in the Ramsey Chronicle (pp. 84-5). According to this report she gave Ramsey several properties when she died, apparently in 1007 (Ramsey Cartulary iii 167). Wealthy and noble Anglo-Saxons often arranged for the production of duplicates of their wills which would then be held by several interested parties. Both Ely and Ramsey could therefore have had duplicates of the one will from which abstracts were produced. The Alfwaru of the Ramsey Chronicle is very likely the same person as the Ely Ælfwaru and, as well, the eldest daughter of the prominent thegn Æthelstan son of Mann: see C.R. Hart, 'Eadnoth, First Abbot of Ramsey, and the Foundation of Chatteris and St Ives', Proceedings of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society 6-7 (1964), pp. 61-7. I am unaware of any information concerning her husband.
Æthelstan son of Mann was an important regional figure and a very wealthy man but there is no evidence that he was ever an ealdorman. He is thought to have died in 986 (Ramsey Cartulary iii 166). A supposed Latin version of his will survives in the Ramsey Chronicle (pp. 59-61). It is probably abbreviated.
Dear Alan, Thank you for all of this. Just one question. How do we (and by 'we' I mean Simon Keynes) know that Bridgham's Aelfwaru died (or at least was celebrated in Ely) on 27 February? With best wishes David
Dear David, This is because her obit appears for that day among many others for other days in a calendar being the first item in MS Cambridge, Trinity College O. 2.1 The text (expanded for abbreviations) is '... et soror nostra Ælfwara que dedit nobis Bregeham. Wetinge. Hengeham. Radlesdene. Mundeford. et scrinium cum reliquis' . The Ely obits are edited, among others, by Jan Gerchow, Die Gedenküberlieferung der Angelsachsen (Berlin, 1988), pp.343-50. I owe the transcription to Simon Keynes with whom I have been working on an edition of the Libellus Æthelwoldi for some years now, which we are hoping to complete soon. Best regards,Alan
...and there is more... Regesta Regum Anglo-Noermanorum By Charles Johnson, H. A. cronne, H. W. C. Davis
1502. [1127, c. Aug. 26.] Eling 'in transitu'
Notification by Henry I to the Bp of Ely and the Prior and convent of Ely and the barons of the honour of Ely: That he has granted to his chaplain, William Archdeacon of Ely, the royal manor of Pampisford (Pampesworda); and that of Little Thetford which William's uncle, Bp. Hervey of Ely, gave to William in the presence of Bp. Roger of Salisbury, with the consent of the Prior and convent of Ely. These to be held by hereditary right; the manor of Pampisford for the service of one knight; that of Little Thetford by the service of 5s. to be rendered annually to the monks of Ely. William is to hold them with sac and soc, toll and team and infangthief, and all customs which Bp. Hervey possessed.
Witness: Roger Bp. of Salisbury; A[lexander] Bp. of Lincoln; Geoffrey (T.) the chancellor; Robert de Sigillo.
-- Senra ( talk) 23:15, 23 June 2010 (UTC)
Little Thetford may have been the early site of worship BEFORE Ely!
Lat. apud Ely: 'at the (monastic) house of Ely'. With reference to the question of the site of Cratendune [ Eni of East Anglia— Ely] and the monastery reputedly founded by St Augustine, note the existence of a large early Anglo-Saxon cemetry on the Isle of Ely between Witchford and Little Thetford.
-- Senra ( talk) 10:55, 24 June 2010 (UTC)
There was a certain widow, named AElfwaru [d. 27 February 1007], who was noble by birth and extremely rich. ... she had her will confirmed ... She also laid down, moreover, that land at [Little] Thetford and fisheries around those marshes and ... should be handed over to the church. ...
The name of the village of
Alverstoke in
Hampshire, derives from the name Ælfwaru plus OE stoc.Mills, A.D. ((1991, 1998)). A dictionary of British place-names:Alverstoke. Oxford University press.
ISBN
0198527586. {{
cite book}}
: Check date values in: |date=
(
help) --
Senra (
talk)
11:09, 2 July 2010 (UTC)
![]() | This article is rated Start-class on Wikipedia's
content assessment scale. It is of interest to the following WikiProjects: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
![]() | A fact from Ælfwaru appeared on Wikipedia's
Main Page in the
Did you know column on 8 July 2010 (
check views). The text of the entry was as follows:
| ![]() |
This section transcluded to Talk:Little_Thetford/Archive 1
-- Senra ( talk) 17:36, 23 June 2010 (UTC)
Sir Edmund Knyvet (d. 1539), the second son of Edmund Knyvet of Buckenham Castle and his wife, Eleanor, a sister of Sir James Tyrell. This Sir Edmund, the younger brother of Sir Thomas Knyvet, was sergeant-porter to Henry VIII and received several grants from the king, including an annuity of 50 marks, a manor in Northamptonshire, a lease of land in Shropshire, and the office of receiver of revenues from Denbigh. Through his marriage to Joan, the only surviving child of John Bourchier, second Baron Berners, he acquired the manor of Ashwellthorpe, Norfolk. He was a great-nephew of Christian Knyvet, the mother of John Colet, the dean of St Paul's, and was named in Colet's will as his chief heir should the dean's mother not survive him (which she did). As porter at the gate he attended Henry VIII at the Field of Cloth of Gold. He died in 1539 and was buried at Ashwellthorpe.
— Stanford Lehmberg, DNB
'Aethelstan Mannesson was himself a major benefactor of Ramsey and a minor benefactor of Ely; it is perfectly likely, therefore, that his daughter should similarly have bequeathed property to both houses, but it has to be admitted that of the estates which our Aelfwaru gave to Ely, none can be shown to have come to her from Aethelstan Mannesson, and that her identification with the Ramsey Aelfwaru thus rests solely on the common name.' Has new evidence come to light that these lands were inherited from her mother's side of the family? I seem to recall reading this in The Danelaw, but cannot get to the library until mid-week.
There is one possible tenurial link between Aelfwaru and Aethelstan Manneson. Hart suggested (`The Danelaw', p. 617) that the `Chinnora' of her will `is to be equated with part of the Owra which Aethelstan left to his wife'. Owra (OE `ofer' = over) is Over, Cambs, in which parish runs a stream called in the C20 Chain Brook and in the C19 Over Chain. Hart suggests that this preserves the name of Chinnora': OE cinu = ravine, plus ofer = over, hence `Over Chain'. If he is right - and it sounds possible, at least - then there is a direct link between Aelfwaru and Aethelstan, which reinforces the theory that she was one of his daughters.
1 (and 2). Extracts from Aelfwaru's will appear both in the 'Liber Benefactorum' of Ramsey Abbey (in W.Dunn Macray (ed.), Chronicon Abbatiae Rameseiensis, Rolls series 83, 1886, pp. 84-5), and in the Liber Eliensis. She is identified as Aethelstan Mannesunu's daughter in the Ramsey extract by the fact that she left to the abbey lands at Holywell and Elsworth (and the disputed Chinnora), which Aethelstan Mannesunu had bequeathed to his (unnamed) wife (said, in the Liber Benefactorum, pp. 59-60, to have been a kinswoman.of Archbishop Oswald). Her death in 1007 is recorded in the obituary lists of Ramsey Abbey (this is the reference you cite), but this gives only the year, not the day and month. The day (27 February) must come from another source - perhaps an obituary list from Ely, but I'm afraid I don't have information on this.
3. Aelfwaru's identification as the 'first-born daughter' (unnamed) of Aethelstan Mannesunu's will (he left her land at Gransden, Cambs, given to her by her godmother Aethelswith) does not rest entirely on her disposal of land left to Aethelstan's widow (see 1. above). She was also a kinswoman of Eadnoth, a monk of Ramsey who became bishop of Dorchester (as Eadnoth II) in 1034; he died in 1049 and left to Ramsey lands at Over (land there was left to Aethelstan's widow, possibly identical with Aelfwaru's Chinnora), and Knapwell, Cambs**, (land there also bequeathed to Aethelstan's widow); see Chronicon Rameseiensis, pp. 84-5,148, 159. These bequests suggest that Eadnoth was a member of Aethelstan's family, as does the fact that (though the name is common) one of Aethelstan Mannesunu's sons was also called Eadnoth (later abbot of Ramsey, and bishop of Dorchester (c. 1007-1016), and his second son Godric was the father of a third Eadnoth (see the pedigree in C.R. Hart, The Danelaw, p. 614).
Aelfwaru is described as a widow both in the Ramsey Liber Benefactorum and Liber Eliensis, but husband's name is unknown, as is the name of her mother. Hart suggested that the Norfolk lands left by Aelfwaru to Ely came to her from her mother's kin, since Aethelstan Mannesunu left his Norfolk estates to his widow. But this is conjecture.Aelfwaru might just as well have married a Norfolk man who predeceased her, and the bequest to Ely could be the fulfilment of his will.
NOTE** Land at Knapwell was also bequeathed by Aethelstan Mannesunu to his kinsman Leofsige; it is this Knapwell subsequently found in the possession of Thurstan Lustwine's son (Liber Eliensis, p. 188; S 1531 - this Knapwell passed to Ely, whereas the other was held by Ramsey).
When she comes briefly into historical focus Ælfwaru of Bridgham was, it would seem, a very wealthy and pious widow. She appears in LE ii 61, as a person who bequeathed an estate at Bridgham (Shropham Hundred, Norfolk) to Ely, together with other properties. LE ii 61 implies that Ely had still in its archives her will, written in Old English rather than Latin, as documents of this kind usually were. The estate at Bridgham was retained in Ely hands through the eleventh century, being part of farming arrangements organised c. 1029 - 1035 (LE ii 84) and held as 4 carucates (hides) TRE (1066) and TRW (1086): Little Domesday Book 213v.
There is also a lady of similarly elevated status called Alfwaru a notice of whose will appears in the Ramsey Chronicle (pp. 84-5). According to this report she gave Ramsey several properties when she died, apparently in 1007 (Ramsey Cartulary iii 167). Wealthy and noble Anglo-Saxons often arranged for the production of duplicates of their wills which would then be held by several interested parties. Both Ely and Ramsey could therefore have had duplicates of the one will from which abstracts were produced. The Alfwaru of the Ramsey Chronicle is very likely the same person as the Ely Ælfwaru and, as well, the eldest daughter of the prominent thegn Æthelstan son of Mann: see C.R. Hart, 'Eadnoth, First Abbot of Ramsey, and the Foundation of Chatteris and St Ives', Proceedings of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society 6-7 (1964), pp. 61-7. I am unaware of any information concerning her husband.
Æthelstan son of Mann was an important regional figure and a very wealthy man but there is no evidence that he was ever an ealdorman. He is thought to have died in 986 (Ramsey Cartulary iii 166). A supposed Latin version of his will survives in the Ramsey Chronicle (pp. 59-61). It is probably abbreviated.
Dear Alan, Thank you for all of this. Just one question. How do we (and by 'we' I mean Simon Keynes) know that Bridgham's Aelfwaru died (or at least was celebrated in Ely) on 27 February? With best wishes David
Dear David, This is because her obit appears for that day among many others for other days in a calendar being the first item in MS Cambridge, Trinity College O. 2.1 The text (expanded for abbreviations) is '... et soror nostra Ælfwara que dedit nobis Bregeham. Wetinge. Hengeham. Radlesdene. Mundeford. et scrinium cum reliquis' . The Ely obits are edited, among others, by Jan Gerchow, Die Gedenküberlieferung der Angelsachsen (Berlin, 1988), pp.343-50. I owe the transcription to Simon Keynes with whom I have been working on an edition of the Libellus Æthelwoldi for some years now, which we are hoping to complete soon. Best regards,Alan
...and there is more... Regesta Regum Anglo-Noermanorum By Charles Johnson, H. A. cronne, H. W. C. Davis
1502. [1127, c. Aug. 26.] Eling 'in transitu'
Notification by Henry I to the Bp of Ely and the Prior and convent of Ely and the barons of the honour of Ely: That he has granted to his chaplain, William Archdeacon of Ely, the royal manor of Pampisford (Pampesworda); and that of Little Thetford which William's uncle, Bp. Hervey of Ely, gave to William in the presence of Bp. Roger of Salisbury, with the consent of the Prior and convent of Ely. These to be held by hereditary right; the manor of Pampisford for the service of one knight; that of Little Thetford by the service of 5s. to be rendered annually to the monks of Ely. William is to hold them with sac and soc, toll and team and infangthief, and all customs which Bp. Hervey possessed.
Witness: Roger Bp. of Salisbury; A[lexander] Bp. of Lincoln; Geoffrey (T.) the chancellor; Robert de Sigillo.
-- Senra ( talk) 23:15, 23 June 2010 (UTC)
Little Thetford may have been the early site of worship BEFORE Ely!
Lat. apud Ely: 'at the (monastic) house of Ely'. With reference to the question of the site of Cratendune [ Eni of East Anglia— Ely] and the monastery reputedly founded by St Augustine, note the existence of a large early Anglo-Saxon cemetry on the Isle of Ely between Witchford and Little Thetford.
-- Senra ( talk) 10:55, 24 June 2010 (UTC)
There was a certain widow, named AElfwaru [d. 27 February 1007], who was noble by birth and extremely rich. ... she had her will confirmed ... She also laid down, moreover, that land at [Little] Thetford and fisheries around those marshes and ... should be handed over to the church. ...
The name of the village of
Alverstoke in
Hampshire, derives from the name Ælfwaru plus OE stoc.Mills, A.D. ((1991, 1998)). A dictionary of British place-names:Alverstoke. Oxford University press.
ISBN
0198527586. {{
cite book}}
: Check date values in: |date=
(
help) --
Senra (
talk)
11:09, 2 July 2010 (UTC)