THE DOMESDAY SURVEY Eudo, who is also in the Hertfordshire Domesday styled Eudo son of Hubert (de Ryes), was the founder of St. John's Abbey, Colchester, on which he bestowed lands in Barkway and Barley. His tenant at Knebworth as in Hertford itself was Humfrey d'Ansleville, who also held of him at Wimpole and Clopton in Cambridgeshire and was a Domesday juror for the Hundred of Arningford in that county. Ralf Bainard, who had a large fief in the three eastern counties, would seem to be the only other Norman baron calling for mention in the county. It is when we turn to the tenants-in-chief of native origin that we meet with two names of exceptional interest. The first of these is Eadgar the jfEtheling (' Edgarus Adeling '), the unfortunate representative of the Anglo-Saxon kings, who was elected to the throne on Harold's death, but never crowned. Eadgar's estates at Hormead and Barkway amounted in all to little more than 8 hides and had been formed out of the small holdings of about a dozen Englishmen. It is noteworthy that his manor had been increased more than fourfold by Ilbert the Norman sheriff, who had added to it the lands of men who had held them independently. 1 At both places Eadgar's tenant was a man who bore the name of Godwine. Mr. Freeman ingeniously conjectured that this Hertfordshire tenant is the Godwine who figures in a semi-legendary tale preserved by the Scottish chronicler as fighting on behalf of his lord Eadgar in a trial by combat, and afterwards taking active part in the ./Etheling's expedi- tion to Scotland and obtaining a fief there. He also saw in him the father of that ' Robert son of Godwine ' who, after great exploits on crusade, was captured by the Saracens at Rama and martyred for the faith. 2 The other English tenant of interest was Derman, who, although he is only entered among ' the king's thegns,' held very nearly 1 6 hides, mainly in Walkern and Watton. The whole estate had been held under Edward the Confessor by a certain jElfwine Home, who is entered as ' a thegn of king Edward' under Middlesex (fo. 128^), in which county he had held land in mortgage at Kingsbury. He had also, as ./Elfwine ' horim,' held a Bedfordshire manor at Flitton (fo. 215^) ; but it was only in Hertfordshire that Derman succeeded him. The interest attaching to Derman is due to the fact that he may have been identical with that ' Derman of London ' who held of the king half a hide at Islington (fo. 130) and whose descendants have been there traced by means of the cartulary of Clerkenwell. 8 And it can scarcely be doubted that the ' Deorman ' whom the Conqueror speaks of as his ' man,' in a writ in his favour relating to Essex which is still preserved at the Guildhall, was our Hertfordshire ' king's thegn.' 4 He is, somewhat oddly, associated by Domesday with a certain ' Alward ' 1 Compare his action at Hitchin (p. 273 above). This action of Ilbert seems to imply that the Crown had held these estates for a while before they were given to Eadgar. 8 Reign ofWilRam Rufus, ii. 115-22, 615-8. 8 See Tomlin's Perambulation of Islington, pp. 604 (where the identification is doubted) ; also The Commune of London, p. 106.
- See Loftie's London, pp. 1303, for a discussion of this 'Deorman' question.
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