Update: 01FEB20
Another, slightly later, document we found is an example of this confusion. An academic paper 1)Williams, A. (n.d.) Earls, ceorls, thegns and lords. quoted: ‘between 1035 and 1044, the East Anglian lady Leofgifu gave Godric her reeve the land at Waldringfield, Suffolk, which she had previously loaned to him.’ For some time we took this to be correct but then re-checked the source 2) 30 acres Will – Electronic Sawyer S1521 A.D. 1035 x 1044. Will of Leofgifu,, which we had checked originally, and discovered it did not refer to our village. The eye plays tricks with the “r” when expecting to see it. So that was the end of lady Leofgifu (Leofgifu comes from the words for Love and Gift, a pretty name) and Godric.
From “Earls, ceorls, thegns and lords: English society on the eve of the Conquest (UEA)” – author not specified.
between 1035 and 1044, the East Anglian lady Leofgifu 3)Leofgifu comes from the words for Love and Gift, a pretty name gave Godric her reeve the land at Waldringfield, Suffolk, which she had previously loaned to him.[i]
[i] S.1458, 1503, 1536, 1521. (others don’t apply) Some of the references in Domesday Book to restrictions on the alienation of land (non potuit vendere and similar formulae) probably represent lænland tenures.
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S 1521
A.D. 1035 x 1044. Will of Leofgifu, including bequests of land at Hintlesham, Essex, and Gestingthorpe, Suffolk, to Bury St Edmunds; the minster at (? Earls) Colne, Essex, to Æthelric and Ælfric, priests, and Æthelsige, deacon; land at Belchamp (? Walter), Essex, to her lady; land at (? Great) Bentley, Essex, to Alfweard, bishop (of London); at Boreham, Essex, to her kinsman Ælfgar; at Bramford, Suffolk, to her kinsman Ælfric, Wihtgar’s son; at at Willesham, Suffolk, to Stigand; at Stonham, Waldingfield, Suffolk, and Little St Osyth, Essex, to Æthelric, her brother’s son; at Haughley, Suffolk, to her daughter Ælfflæd; 3 hides at Warley, Essex, to Godwine, her brother-in-law; land at Stonham, Suffolk, to Æthelmær, (her reeve); 30 acres at Waldingfield, Suffolk, to Godric, her reeve at Waldingfield; land at Lawford, Essex, to Æthelric, her chaplain, and Ælfric and other servants; 1 hide at Forendale to Æthelric the priest. English
Archive:
Bury St Edmunds
MSS:
1. Cambridge, University Library, Ff.2.33, f. 45r (s. xiii 2)
2. London, British Library, Add. 14847, f. 15r-v (s. xiii/xiv)Printed:
K, 931
Printed and Translated:
Thorpe, pp. 569-71; Whitelock, Wills, no. 29 (pp. 76-7)
Comments:
Whitelock, Wills, pp. 187-89; Hart, ECEE, no. 89 (pp. 65-6, 82), authentic; Hart, ECE, no. 46, authentic; Finberg 1972, p. 509, cited; Pelteret 1995, pp. 123-4, 130; Faith 1997, p. 159
References
