Æthelwine (Warwick) of Warwick (abt. 1025 - abt. 1080)

Descendants

Died about 1080 at about age 55 in Warwickshire, England

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NOTE. The real parents of this person are uncertain, even though there are several scholarly proposals, in addition to at least one legendary account (Warwick-27 and Mercia-89). New information may arise, but until that happens it is best not attach any parents to this profile.

Biography

Alwin was an English survivor of the Norman invasion, whose family managed to integrate into the new regime with relative success. Although he was clearly dead before 1086, Alwin "the sheriff" is mentioned as a pre-1066 holder of lands in the Warwickshire Domesday. He was apparently local to that area, with both a brother and a son explicitly named, and signs that many other land-holders were relatives. The name "Alwin" is common in Domesday, so he may well appear in many counties, making it hard to know how big his lands were especially outside of Warwickshire.

Name and primary records

"Alwin" is a convenient simplified form of his name, often used in modern works and also the one found in most Norman records. However, it is not strictly-speaking his real name. There is some uncertainty, but his real name was probably "Æthelwine" ("Æþelwine" using the Old English letters).

Anglo-Saxon names were represented in simplified ways by the French-speaking officials who made Domesday book, and Alwin could represent "Æthelwine" or "Ælfwine".^[1] (Alwin can also represent "Ealdwine" or "Ealhwine".^[2]) Ann Williams, an historian specialized in this field and this family, believes the name behind this case is "Æthelwine" although other authors sometimes called him "Ælfwine".^[3][4] J.H. Round used that form in his notes on the Warwickshire Domesday.^[5] But in a footnote perhaps added later he mentions that the "priceless document" printed by Eyton makes it "appear that the right name of Turchil's father was Æthelwine ('Agelwinus'), and that he was still sheriff (vicecomes) of Warwickshire in 1072."^[6]

Round's footnote and also Williams' reasoning (1988 pp.281-2) is based upon the one medieval document signed by him which exists apart from Domesday Book, transcribed and translated into English in recent centuries, his name has been spelled there as Agelwinus. ^[7] (The "g" is seen as an indication that the "Al" in "Alwin" was actually representing 2 syllables, A-el. Old French lost its vulgar Latin "th" sounds and medieval French-speakers tended to also drop them out of foreign words, or replace them.^[8])

On the other hand, in Warwickshire Domesday the father of "Turchil de Warwic" is consistently named as "Aluuin" the sheriff, or Alwin, transcribing to the modern "double-u".

Domesday records

Alwin is named several times as father of Turchil in Domesday, and predecessor of him at some of his lands. In an entry for Barston, it is specified that he was both father of Turchil and sheriff. See details and citations below.

• Barston, Warwickshire. See 3 entries on Open Domesday. Alwin who is specifically both sheriff and father of Turchil, bought one or two parts during the time of King William, from the 1066 owner Ailmer. (The two entries are very similar, and may be duplicates because of later multiple claims.) Another part had apparently been held by Turchil already in 1066. It appears Turchil might still be holding one of several fees here in 1086. Round (1904) comments p.288 and p.296.

• Clifton upon Dunsmore, has a double entry apparently because of later multiple claims. Alwin "the sheriff" was named as pre-1066 owner. In 1086 this estate belonged to St Mary's Coventry. See 2 entries on Open Domesday. Explanation by Round (1904) p.296.

• Flecknoe. 5 entries in Open Domesday. Lewin bought one part from his brother Alwin, and also claimed he held another part as a tenant of Bishop Ulstan. The bishop disagreed, and this apparently leads to another duplication because of multiple claims. See VCH p.303 and pp.342-3 and the explanation by Round (1904) p.296. In a 4th part Alwin specified as the father of Turchil had it before 1066, and in 1086 Turchil is now overlord. Finally, the 5th part is held in 1086 by Turchil, but had been held by Edwin before 1066.

• Two places where Alwin specifically called the father of Turchil held in the time of King Edward, and in 1086 Turchil: Bericote. Open Domesday, VCH p.324 and Ryton on Dunsmore. Open Domesday, VCH p.318. Williams (1988 p.285) considers these certain to be Thorkil's father the sheriff.

• Held now by Turchil and previously held by Alwin (no relationship or other description given): "Etone" (Nuneaton?), part of Fenny Compton, and Little Lawford.

• In Warwickshire before 1066 an Alwin also had a part or all of Fillongley (Ailmar held the other), "Leth" (Lea Marston? and perhaps Ailmar held the other part), Wolford, and Whitchurch. It also seems Open Domesday might be correct that part of Harbury had been held by Alwin and not Ulwin as transcribed in VCH.

• An Alwin who was specifically a sheriff before 1066 also held Offord Darcy in Huntingdonshire, Bletchingdon in Oxfordshire, and (perhaps a different person) many lands in Gloucestershire. Williams (1988 p.285) says "Whether Æthelwine is also to be identified with Alwine the sheriff, whose lands in Gloucestershire passed, with his widow, to Richard iuvenis, must remain uncertain". On the other hand, "Feilitzen identified Æthelwine not only with Alwine vicecomes of Gloucestershire, but also with the Alwine vicecomes who appears in Herefordshire, holding Wolferlow, and in Huntingdonshire, holding Offord". Williams refers to C.P.Lewis for counter arguments against Feilitzen.^[9] According to Williams, Richard's lands passed eventually to the Earl of Warwick, like Thorkil's, but Keats-Rohan says they passed to the Earl of Leicester and that the sheriff Alwin in Gloucestershire was "certainly" not the one in Warwickshire.^[10]

• There is also a "father of Turchil" who held Ogbourne Wiltshire before 1066, whereas a Turchil did in 1086.

Ancestry

There are two competing proposals.

As an Anglo-Saxon surviving in the Norman world, there has been great interest in trying to connect Alwin to the pre-1066 Earls of Mercia, who were powerful in the same area and for whom they must have worked. In fact interest in this family started in the Middle Ages, and John Rous already published complex stories in the 15th century. Today there are many confused accounts in books and on the internet, but two scholarly modern proposals have been made by historians Ann Williams and Katharine Keats-Rohan. Usefully, the two writers have addressed each other's proposals to some extent:

1. Wigod of Wixford. Keats-Rohan developed a proposal in 1989 which accepts the popular proposal that Alwin's father was named Wigod, and a connection through his wife to the Mercian Earls. Furthermore she traces the earliest version of this account, which influenced Dugdale in the 17th century and Burkes and others in the 19th, to the "Rous Roll".^[1] The Rous Roll (Add MS 48976) can be seen online on the British Library website.^[11] Her position:

All that need concern us is Rous's statement that Alwin's predecessor was one Wigod, who married a sister of Earl Leofric of Mercia, husband of Lady Godiva and father of Earl Algar; in the 19th century Drummond provided her with the name Ermenild. Rous claims that in a charter for Evesham abbey, not now extant, Wigod described his heirs as Alwin, nephew of Earl Leofric through his sister, and Thorkil. By this charter Wigod restored to Evesham the manors of Wixford and Grafton, originally the gift of (his grandfather) Ufa the Reeve but taken away from Evesham by (his father) Wulfgeat. Much of this account can be corroborated from surviving documents.

Williams argues that the confirming evidence which Keats-Rohan refers to is itself late and suspect. For example the charter concerning Wixford is believed to be a late eleventh century forgery.^[3] (This would however not be so long after generations described, and so even if forged could contain correct genealogical information.)

NOTE, as pointed out by Williams, the proposal of Keats-Rohan does not concern Wigod of Wallingford, but another Wigod who held Wixford, which is also how the Rous roll describes him.^[3]

2. Beorhtwine. Ann Williams, on the other hand, proposed that the father of Alwin was named Brictwin or Beorhtwine, who was mentioned twice in Domesday Book as a holder of Warwickshire lands before 1066, in Chesterton, and Alveston. The reasoning is that (as mentioned above) Lewin (Leofwine) in Flecknoe, who seems to be Alwin's brother, had a dispute with the bishop of Worcester about his possession rights, whereas a Leofwine also had such a dispute in Alvestone, in which place this Leofwine is named as a son of the predecessor there, Beorhtwine. Another son named was Eadmer, and four other sons were alive in 1086 to contest this dispute.

Keats-Rohan believes that Williams "ingeniously" proposes brothers for Alwin the Sheriff: Leofwin, Æthelmar, Alsige, Ælfric, Ordric and Eadmer, but "has failed to establish that they were sons of Brictwin".^[1]

Marriages and children

There appears to be no good evidence as to the name of Alwin's wife or wives. However, based on the choice of names for their three sons, it has been suggested by Williams (1988 p.279) that his wife may have been of Norse ancestry, which would not be surprising in this region and period. Williams writes that "Earl Leofric, with whom Æthelwine's family was connected, had Danes in his entourage". Alternatively she may have come from one of the long-established Anglo-Danish families on the east coast of England.^[4]

Three sons are known from Warwickshire Domesday, and the 1072 charter mentioning "Agelwinus" their father,^[7] and these are accepted by both Keats-Rohan and Williams:

• Thorkil/Turchil
• Godmund/Guthmund, who held Great Packington, and was ancestor of the le Notte family, via his daughter Aileva.^[12]
• Ketelbern/Ketilbjorn. Round (1904 p.278) believed he was the same as Chetelbert mentioned under Radford in Warwickshire Domesday (VCH p.323). Williams (1988 p.288) says he "seems not to have any land at the time of Domesday and may have been dead".^[4]

Lifespan

Only some basic outlines can be given:

• He died after 1072 and before the Domesday survey in 1086. 1072 was the date of the Staffordshire charter.^[7] Warwickshire Domesday under Barston shows him alive during the time of King William. That is for example the interpretation of Round (1904, p.288).
• More specifically Williams (1988 p.281) says that he probably died in the period 1071-1083, which is when Æthelhelm was Abbot of Abingdon "for it was during Æthelhelm's time that Thorkil gave to the abbey three manors described as being of his patrimony".
• His son Turchil was certainly an adult by 1072, and apparently already an adult in 1066, holding land himself during the lifetime of his father, unless the 1066 Turchil was for example an uncle. The PASE and OpenDomeday websites interpret Baddesley Ensor as a manor he held in both 1066 and 1086, and it is used as an example on the internet. However the entry only says two of Turchil's men, apparently referring to their status in 1086, held it, along with Wolfhamcote. Instead, Warwickshire manors of a Turchil in 1086 which were held by Turchil in 1066 are Ashow and Brandon.^[13]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} Keats-Rohan, K.S.B. (1989) "The Making of Henry of Oxford: Englishmen in a Norman World", Oxoniensa 54, pp.287-309 pdf
2. ↑ von Feilitzen's Pre-Conquest Personal Names of Domesday Book is the authority for most such discussions.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2} Williams, Ann (1995) The English and the Norman Conquest, The Boydell Press, p.104
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2} Williams (1988) "A Vice-Comital Family in Pre-Conquest Warwickshire", in R. Allen Brown, ed., Proceedings of the Battle Conference Anglo-Norman Studies, xi, pp.279–295. pdf
5. ↑ Round, J.H. (1904) "Introduction to the Warwickshire Domesday" in Victoria County History of Warwickshire, Vol.1, p.269-99 internet archive
6. ↑ Round (1904) p.278 footnote 4.
7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1 7.2} Eyton, R.W. (1881) "The Staffordshire Cartulary" in Collections for a History of Staffordshire, William Salt Archaeological Society, 2, https://archive.org/details/collectionsforhi02stafuoft/page/178 p.178]
8. ↑ For further information on medieval French pronunciation of English "th" sounds, /θ/ and /ð/, see Faulkner "Orderic and English" in Orderic Vitalis: Life, Works and Interpretations, p.118
9. ↑ Lewis, C.P. (1985) "English and Norman government and lordship on the Welsh borders, 1039-1087" Oxford D.Phil pp101-2
10. ↑ Keats-Rohan, (1999) "Willelm Guizenbod" in Domesday People, p.491
11. ↑ Rous Roll (Add MS 48976). Summary. (Alwin is mentioned as number 28. "Alwin, in chain-mail, holding a sword (chained to a head-pieve) in his right hand and a shield in his left hand.") Scans of the roll can also be seen there. The caption itself on the roll starts, "Alwinus a noble lord succedid to lord wygode to whom in hys tyme was reteyned att the coñte of warwik". Keats-Rohan also looked at a Latin version of Rous's account which may be earlier. A coloured printed version of 1859 can be found on hathitrust For an extended discussion about Rous's work see Yin Liu (2011) "Romances of Continuity in the English Rous Roll" in Medieval Romance, Medieval Contexts pp.149ff
12. ↑ Williams (1988 p.288)
13. ↑ See the detailed Warwickshire Domesday transcriptions in VCH Warwickshire Vol.1 p.320 and p.323.