DOMESDAY INTERPRETERS*

H. Tsurushima

And men alleweys fynden Latyneres to go with them in the contrees and
furthere beyonde in to tyme that men conne the language. (Sir John
Mandeville): Lyare was mi latymer, Sloth and sleep mi bedyne.1

In the courts of the Anglo-Norman period, writs were read out by the officers of
the sheriff.2 Indeed, most governmental business was transacted orally.3 This oral
tradition raises a simple question: was the clerk reading out the original Latin writ,
or was he translating it from Latin into French or English for his audience?4 Could
all those attending the county court understand Latin? This problem has been
strangely neglected for a long time.5 If we cannot solve it, we are forced to leave
one important element of medieval governance on the dusty shelf indefinitely: that
is, the element of communication between the ruler and the ruled.6
Half a century ago, Marc Bloch described the language of the Middle Ages as a
' singular dualism which prevailed almost throughout the feudal era'.7 Medieval
western civilization had two linguistic cultures: on the one hand, the written
language of the educated was almost uniformly Latin, and on the other hand,
there was a variety of tongues in daily use as vernacular speech. Translation or
interpretation between the two must have been a daily occurrence.

"' I should like to thank Professor Christopher HarperMBill for giving me a chance to read this
article to the Battle Conference. I am indebted to Matthew Bennett, Dr Marjorie Chibnall, Dr
David Dumville, Ms J. Bverard, Professor C. Warren Hollister, Dr C.P. Lewis, Dr J. Martindale, Dr
John Moore, Dr Richard Mortimer and Dr David Roffe for their comments on this paper at Battle.
I am also deeply indebted to Professor Edmund King and Professor David Crouch for providing
me with data. My special thanks are due to Dr Bill Aird and Dr Ann Williams for providing me
with materials and for reading manuscripts, discussing them and making a number of helpful
suggestions and corrections.
1 Charles Wareing Bardsley, English Surnames, 1873, with inlToduction by L.G. Pine, Devon
1969, 197.
2 Even in 1166, the writs ordering the survey of enfeoffment were read in public in the county
court. '[Baderon of Monmouth] audivi pmeceptum vestrum in Herefordia [in consulatu in
Herefordiae]': The Red Book of the Exchequer, ed. H. Hall, 3 vols, RS XCIX, ii, 280,280 n. 16.
3 For a full account of oral tradition and its transfonnation, see M.T. Clanchy, From Memory to
Written Record: England 1066-1307, 2nd edn, Oxford and Cambridge, Massachusetts, ·1993. But
he did not discuss interpretation.
4 For-the Provisions of Oxford of the thirteenth century, the letters patent, drafted in Latin, French
and English, were sent to the county: R.L. Poole, 'Publication of Great Charters by the English
Kings', EHR xxviii, 1913, 450.
S No studies have ever Uied to examine the interpreter except Constance Bullock-Davies,
Professional Interpreters and the Mauer ofBritain, Cardiff 1966.
6 Sir James Holt acutely pointed this out in a lecture given at Tokyo University on 30 May 1986.
7 M. Bloch, Feudal Society, 2nd edn, trans. L.A. Manyon, 2 vols, London 1962, i, 75.
 202 Anglo-Norman Studies XVI/I Domesday lnte1preters 203
But in the history of Anglo-Norman England, we have another knotty problem. Domesday survey, which illustrates the unique place of England in
This society had two spoken languages: English and French. The Norman Conquest eleventh-century Europe? 12 In this paper, I should like to explore the evidence for
of 1066 produced not merely linguistically mixed but also linguistically ranked those interpreters between English and French or occasionally Latin, who played
societies in England. French came to be the spoken language of noble society, the an essential part in the Survey, which to the best of my knowledge has never been
ruling class, centred on the royal court, while English was degraded to be the
language of the ruled in provincial society.8 To discuss the interpretation of French
examined properly. But how?
'
i.1
In Domesday Book there are recorded various types of bynames; local bynames,
into English, or vice versa, is to discuss the fundamental problem of government.
I
Christian names used as bynames, nicknames and bynames derived from office
Also, after the Norman Conquest, many French or Normans came to England, and occupation.13 Among the last category, the one name that really implies
interpreter is, literally, Jnterpres. Another such name is Latimer or Latner, corrupted
I
settled down and constructed a new society with the native English through
marriage, feudal ties and bonds of fraternity.9 The problem of interpretation. also forms of 'latiner' .14 Although originally latimer means a man able to speak Latin,
involves that of social reorganization, particularly in the first century after 1066. this name frequently occurs in legal documents or narrative sources from 1066
Interpreters acted as 'hinge-men', connecting the French and English elements in onwards and means little more than an interpreter.15 There occur four interpreters
post-Conquest society. and seven latimers in Domesday Book and its satellites: [1] Ansgot the Interpreter
Here I picture to myself the method of the Domesday Survey. 'The organization in Surrey, [2] David the Interpreter in Dorset, [3] Hugh or Hugolin the Interpreter
which had made the Domesday survey possible was ... the [extant] grouping of in Somerset, [4] Richard the Interpreter in Somerset, [5] Hugh Latimer in Hampshire,
local communities into shires, hundreds and vills; the practice of juries giving [6] Osmund Latimer in Wiltshire, [7] Leofwin Latimer in Herefordshire, [8] Ralph
solemn oral testimony which was binding on their communities.' 10 When the Latimer in Essex, [9] Gilbert Latimer in Oxfordshire, [10] Robert Latimer and
people of a community who called a pig 'swine' [swin] heard the Domesday [11] Godric Latimer in Kent. In addition [12] Hervey the Legate of Oxfordshire
legatus call it a pore or porcus, their reaction might simply be 'what on earth is and Buckinghamshire may have been an interpreter. As a starting point, we will
that?'u Without the interpreter, how could such a community produce the inquire into them. Th� study of the interpreter at the king's court and the trans­
lation of Latin into vernacular languages lie outside the scope of this paper.16 The
king's court was essentially a French society, which did not need permanent and
8 When Wulfric of Haselbury, a hermit,enabled a dumb man to speak bolh English and French, official interpreters.17 The king's ecclesiastics or barons might be bilingual, and
they could play the role of interpreter whenever the king needed.18 In the towns,
his friend, Brihtric, the English parish priest,complained that '[I] am forced to remain dumb in the
too, there were some bilingual people who could act as the ad hoe interpreter, and
presence of the bishop and archdeacon, you have never imparted a word o_f French': Wulfric of
Haselbury by John, Abbot ofFord, ed. Maurice Bell, Somerset Record Society lvii, 1933, 28-29.
Translation from H. MaYI"-Harting, 'Functions of a Twelfth-Century Recluse', History lx, 1975,
344. For an Englishman to speak French meant that he had social power. Wulfric could speak
English and French and act as an interpreter, who came to be a 'hinge-man' between the small and in Anglo-Norman England', Romance Philology xxxiii, 1979-80, 467-79. 'Even though many
rural local community and the wider world outside. As Mayr-Harting suggests, since 'the holy men soon became bilingual in England, French remained the badge of their superiority': Barlow, 9.
were uniquely qualified to perform' the function of hinge-man or arbitrator, to which category the Generally speaking,ordinary Englishmen could not speak French.Therefore the Domesday Survey
interpreter belonged, he enabled himself or other people to suddenly speak a foreign language. See needed interpreters.
Materials for the Hisrory of Thomas Becket, Archbishop ofCamerbury, ed. J.C. Robertson,7 vols, 12 The system of publication of the king's orders in the shire court was unique. It originated i� the
RS LXVIl, 1876, ii, 147, for the account of how a mute Welshman suddenly spoke Welsh and Anglo-Saxon period: F.E. Harmer, Anglo-Saxon Writs, Manchester 1952, 45-57. Cf. Otto Hmze,
English. Godric of Finchale used an interpreter but suddenly could speak French: Reginaldo 'Staatenbildung und Kommunalverwaltung' in Staat imd Veifassung: Gesammelte Abhandlu11ge11,
Monacho Dunelmensi, Libel/us de Vita et Miraculis S. Godrici, Heremitce de Finchale, Surtees Band i, GOttingen 1970, 216-41.
Society xx, 1845, 179-80, 203-04. 206-07. Also 'the concurrence of the three languages 13 GOsta Tongvik, Old English Bynames, Nomina Gennanica IV, Uppsala 1938.
(Latin, English and French) is shown very clearly by the happenings after the cure of a deaf 14 'Wealhstod' is another word for interpreter: J.R.R. Tolkien, Angles and Britons, Cardiff 1963,
mute at St Swithun's tomb at Winchester in Walkelin's time (1070-98). The boy who had been 23-24. 'It [Wealhstod] could not have come into use as a baptismal name until it had become
cured "loquebatur omnibus linguis ad omnem quae sibi fiebat interrogacionem, latine videlicet familiar as denoting the occupation of a professional interpreter': H.P.R. Finberg, The Agrarian
interrogacioni per latinam, per anglicam anglice,per romanam romanae respondens" .·: F. Barlow, History ofEngland and Wales, I-ii (A.D. 43-1042), Cambridge 1972, 388. 'In these linguistically
The English Church 1066-1154, London 1979, 9 n. 40. Here the important point to note is that the mixed societies translators and interpreters naturally played an essential role. Sometimes they held
interpreter was the hinge-man between the different worlds. official positions. In Yalencia, for example,there were official translators, with the title torcimana,
9 Cf. H. Tsurushima, 'The Fraternity of Rochester Cathedral Priory about 1100', ame xiv, from the Arabic tarjuman; the Prussian law code of the fourteenth century refers to the Tolcken, or
313-37. interpreter, in the law courts': R. Bartlett, The Making ofEurope, London 1993, 200, 212.
10 Clanchy,35. 15 C.M. Matthews,English Surnames, London 1966, 125.
11 It is true that the Noonan Conquest brought bilingualism into England. 'In the baronial class 16 On this subject, see Bullock·Davies.
most men, women and children picked up enough colloquial English to run their households and 17 William the Conqueror tried to learn English, but did not succeed: Orderic ii, 256. In Wales,
supervise their estates. Learning began from their English nurse, but they were soon fostered in where, unlike in England, the native aristocratic society survived, the king needed his own
other households where they mixed with French-speaking knights and ladies. Some of those who interpreter. Philip of Marcross, a Norman knight of Glamorgan, acted as English interpreter for
presided in the local courts where English was spoken may have mastered the language thoroughly; King Henry Il at Cardiff in 1172: Giraldi Cambrensis lti11erari11m Kambriae, in Opera, ed. J.S.
others relied on interpreters': M. Chibnall, Anglo-Norman England 1066-1166, Oxford 1986, Brewer, J.F. Dimock and G.F. Warner, 8 vols, RS XXI, 1861-91, vi, 65.
212-13. Also see M.D. Legge, 'Anglo-Norman as a Spoken Language', ame ii, 109; C. Clark, 18 Gilbert Foliot could-speak Latin, French and English: Gualteri Mapes De Nugis Curialium
'Women's Names in Post-Conquest England',Speculum liii, 1978, 230; I. Short, 'On Bilingualism distinctiones quinque, ed. T. Wright, Camden Society, 1st ser. l, 1850, 19-20.
204 Anglo-Norman Studies XVIII

s�ch people_ also lie outside the scope of this paper. 19 Here we are concerned only
wit? those .m�erp!eters who stood as. hinge-men between the two linguistically
I Domesday Interpreters 205

defmed soc1et:1es m the local commumties. (}LOUCE-STcRSH/Rt

[1] Ansgot the Interpreter (interpres) held Coombe, Surrey, from the King.'° His
land .is en�ered_ under. the heading 'lands of Oswald and other thegns' _21 Seven men
are hsted m this section. Four of them continued to hold their lands from the time
of King Edward: these are Oswald, Sa,man, Theodoric the Goldsmith (aurifaber)
and Wulfwig the Huntsman (venator).22 A fifth man, Ketel the Huntsman, had
succeeded to the land of his father. Only Tesselin the Cook and Ansgot the
Interpreter did n_ot hold their lands before 1066. 23 Apart from them, Domesday
shows us the extstence of a group of men retained by King William from King
Edward's service.24 Ansgot appears as a local figure' who probably served as
interpreter in the county court. 25
somtR56T
Table 1
Name Manor Hidage T.R.E.
I . Oswald Pitchingworth 1 hide Oswald
Fetcham 3 hides Oswald
Wotton 5 hides Earl Harold
Wisley l.5 hides Oswald from
Earl Harold 1 Warleigh in 13atnford
2. Saeman 1 virgate Saeman 2 Bathea,m,n
3. Theodoric the Goldsmith Kennington 1 hide +
3 C/averton
4 Bathampton
3 virgates Theodoric
5 Bath
4. Tesslin the Cook Addington I hide Godric
5. Ansgot tile Interpreter Coombe 1.5 hides Cola
6. Ketel the Huntsman Lollesworth 0.5 hide His father a llix/e O 1 2 J
7. Wulfwig the Huntsman Littleton 1 virgate Wulfwig b Tormarton 0 2 � 6 8 Rm.s

In _Dorse:, [2] David the Interpreter held Poorton, Dorset, under the chapter Pig. I. Lands ofHugo/in and Richard
headmg of Land of Hugh of Ivry and other Frenchmen'.26 Eight thegns held it
)1efore 1066. It paid geld for one hide and two and a half virgates of land." It is
19 'French was spoken in [the towns] much more than in the surrounding countryside; in the early clear that he is a minor French tenant-in-chief and served the King as an interpreter.
fourteenth century town-dwellers were five times as likely to be able to speak in French as
countryfolk. ': John Le Patourel, The Norman Empire, Oxford 1976, 38-40, 234. [3] Hugolin the Interpreter held three manors in Somerset from the King under
20 'Ansgotus interpres tenet de rege Cumbe. Cola tenuit T.R.E. Tune se defendit pro iii hidis. the chapter. heading 'the land of Humphrey the Chamberlain and of certain others
Modo pro una hida et dimidia': Domesday Book i, 36d. (Item Hunfridi terra et quorundam a/iorum)'. 28 In Exon Domesday the first two
21 In the list of tenants at the beginning of the Surrey folios, the same section appears as '(land ofJ entries of Humphrey the Chamberlain's holding [(Lytes) Cary]" are listed
Oswald, Theodoric et alii serviemes regis' (Domesday Book i, 30a).
22 ?swald was English, a brother of Abbot Wulfwold ofChertsey, who died in 1084: The Heads of
under the heading of 'Lands of the king's servants in Somerset (Terrae servitium
.
Rellglous Houses: England and Wales, 940-1216, ed. D. Knowles, C.N.L. Brooke and Vera
London, Cambridge 1972, 38.
23 The lands of Tesselin the Cook were still held by kitchen service in the reign of King John·· J·H· landholders in Dorset: Domesday Book i, 75a. This section is distinct from the 'lands of the king's
Round, King's Serjeants and Officers of Stare, London 1911, 13, 243- 3 6 . thegns' and the 'lands of the king's servants'. The same arrangement appears in Wiltshire,
24 Cf. VCH Surrey i, 1902, 283. Somerset and Devon, see Williams, 1 13-14.
25 His name, w�ich could �epresent OE Osgot. may suggest that he was·English, but not all the 27 'David Interpres tenet Povrtone. Octo taini tenuerunt T.R.E. Et geldabat pro i hida et ii virgatis
Domesday tamz _ were Englishmen: see Ann Williams The English and the Norman Conquest terrae et dimidia': Domesday Book i, 83b.
Woodbridge 1995, 110-17. ' ' 28 Domesday Book i, 99b.
26 Domesday Book i, 83b. The chapter heading, omitted in the text, is supplied from the list of 29 Domesday Book i, 98c.
 206 Anglo-Norman Studies XVIII Domesday Inte,preters 207
:. 30
Regis in Summerseta)' , and the rest of his lands, and the lands of Hugolin the
I Tonnarton Gloucestershire, from the king.40 As we have seen, legatus may
Interpreter, are given under the heading of 'Lands of French thegns in Somerset
(Terre Francorum Tegnorum in Summersete Syra)'.3 1 Hugolin was thus both a
sometimes' denote an interpreter; and Rode and Tormarton are located eight miles
south and north of Bath respectively. It has been suggested that Richard legatus
Frenchman and a king's thegn. Judging from the fact that the lands of Humphrey was one of the Domesday commissioners. He does not appear among the com­
the Chamberlain are entered both among the king's servants and among the French missioners of the west Midlands circuit (Circuit V),41 but 'this may only be
thegns, it may safely be assumed that Hugolin was recognised as a king's servant because if he was a Commissioner, it was of a different area'.42 But those
in his capacity as interpreter.32 His lands are Waxleigh in Bathford, Claverton, and commis;ioners who are recorded are all magnates, and Richard was only a minor
Batheaston, which altogether paid geld for nine hides and were concentrated
within three miles-east of Bath.33 A certain Hugh the Interpreter held three hides in tenant, like Hugolin, with three manors near Bath (See Fig. 1).
Bathampton from the church of St Peter of Bath, along with Colgrim the English­
man.34 Hugh the Interpreter also held one house, worth two shillings, in the burgh Table 3
of Bath. 35 Since Hugolin is the diminutive form of Hugh, Hugh and Hugolin are
probably the same person. 36 So, in all, Hugolin holds twelve hides concentrated Manor Hundred Lord Hidage
around the city of Bath (see Figure 1 and Table 2). Hugolin also appears in the Richard the Interpreter
geld-roll of Somerset as Hugolin the Legate (legatus),37 which suggests thatLegatus a. Rode Frome Regenbald I hide
was sometimes used to mean lnterpres, a point to which we shall return later.38 a. Rode Frame the bishop l hide
of Coutances
Table 2 Richard the Legate
b. Tonnarton Edderstone the king 8 hides
Manor Hundred Lord Hidage T.R.E. 10 hides
Hugolin the Interpreter
I. Warleigh Bath Forum the king 1 hide Azor
The only other /egatus in Domesday Book (apart from Hugh and Richard) is
2. Batheaston [12] Hervey the Legate. He held lbstone, a manor partly in Buckinghamshir� a�d
partly in Oxfordshire; both parts were held by Hervei:,43 H� also held Bix, m
Bath Forum the king 3 hides lngulf
3. Claverton Bath Forum the king 5 hides Swein Oxfordshire and his lands in that shire appear under the headmg of Land of Richard and
Hugh the Interpreter
others of th� king's officers' (Terra Ricardi et Aliorum Ministrorum Regis).� There
4. Batharnpton Bath Forum Bath Church 3 hides are twenty-one men in this section of the text, some of whom are English-men
5. a house in Bath Bath Forum (2 s.) who continued to hold lands from the king in the same capacity as before 1066.45
12 hides (+2 s.) Why were Hugh, Richard and Hervey described as legati? !h_eir status seems
too low for them to be included among the Domesday comm1ss10ners, for these
[4] Richard the Interpreter also held land in Somerset. He had one hide in Rode men were magnates. Perhaps Hugh, Rich_ard and Hervey were kin� 's _servants in
which had belonged to Regenbald the priest (presbyter) TR.E., and according to their respective localities, who acted as mterpreters for the comnuss1oners, and
Exon Domesday, Richard had either bought or leased it (emit) from Regenbald.39
He may be identical with Richard the Legate (legatus) who held eight hides at held another hide in Rode as a tenant of the bishop of Coutances: Domesday Book i, 88d;
Domesday Book: Somerset, 316, 5.54 note.
40 Domesday Book i, 168c.
41
30 Domesday Book iv, 441 (fo. 477a), 444 (fo. 479b).
c. Stephenson, 'Notes on the Composition and Interpretation of Domesday Book', Sp�ulum XXll,
..
31 Domesday Book iv, 428 (fo. 462b), 430-32 (fos 465a-467a).
32 It has been suggested that Hugolin might be the same person as Hugolin the Chamberlain, but this 1947; D. Roffe, 'Toe Making of Domesday Reconsidered', The Haskins Society Journal VI, 1994, 155
is unlikely. Hugolin the Chamberlain appears in 1()49, and he may have been too old to be the Domesday n. 16. ·
42 Domesday Book: Gloucestershire, ed. John Moore, Chichester 1982, L48 note. F or the
interpreter. See Simon Keynes, 'Regenbald the Chancellor (sic)', ame x, 190 n. 36, 206 and 207.
33 Domesday Book i, 99b. commissioners of Circuit V, see below, p. 218.
34 Domesday Book i, 89d, iv, 172 (fos 186a-b). It is Exon which reveals the bynames ofHugh and 43 Domesday Book i, 152c, 160c; VCH Bucks. i, �28. Only in the B�cks. entry, �hich app�s
Colgrim. under Hervey's own name, is he called legatus; his predecessor Tovi had been King Edv,:ard s
35 Domesday Book i, 87b. Cf. Henry Ellis, Original Letters, London 1846, i, 26. thegn. Hervey's lands in Oxfordshire did not pay geld, nor render any other custo1!1ary.s�rv1ce to
36 Domesday Book: Somerset, ed. Caroline and Frank Thorn, Chichester 1980, 1.31 note. If they the king; here his predecessor is named as Ulf. Sir Frank Stenton translated legams m thts mstance
were different individuals, Hugolin's estates amounted to no more than ten hides, but see next note. as 'king's messenger': VCH Oxfordshire i, 139, 387. . .
31 VCH Somerset i, 528. Geld had not been received from 13 hides which Hugh the Legate held; 44 In the list of tenants for Oxfordshire, Richard is identified as Richard Engaine. See Williams,
this compares with the 12 hides held by Hugh/ Hugolin. 112- 13, 116-17. . . .
38 It was J.H. Round who suggested that ' "legatus" is used by the scribe in the sense of 45 One of them was Theodoric the Goldsmith, with three manors, two of which his wife held freely
"interpreter" ': VCH Bucks. i, 215, 272n. T.RE. Ifhe is identical with Theodoric the Goldsmith who held land in Surrey (see, p. 204 above)
39 Domesday Book i, 99b; iv, 432 (fo. 466b). It is Exon which supplies Richard's byname. Richard and elsewhere (see Williams, 113), it seems reasonable to suppose that the king's servants formed a
tightly-knit group in 1086.

__ __
I.
208 Anglo-Norman Studies XVIII Domesday Interpreters 209

thus came to be styled as legati by the local juries. Their nationality must remain Other Latimers appear in Domesday Book and its satellites, but before discussing
uncertain; their names suggest that they were French, but even as early as them, let us summarise the main points that have so far been made. The interpreters
Domesday, we can find men of English descent bearing French names.46 of Domesday are minor royal tenants, some French, some English. It is not an
accident that most of them appear among the king's thegns or king's servants, for
Table 4
they probably acted as interpreters in the county courts. Some may have served
Manor Lord Hidage
as interpreters for the Domesday commissioners, but they were essentially local
I
T.R.E. men, retained by the king and holding their lands in his service. Their tenures
I
Bucks.
Ii appear to be embryonic serjeanties, but it is almost impossible to trace them into the
Ibstone the king 2 hides Tovi
t'. thirteenth century, when some professional interpreters did hold land by serjeanty.54
Oxon Not all interpreters were involved in the royal administration. Some acted in a
Ibstone the king I hide Ulf private capacity. (7] Leofwin Latimer, though he held land of the king, is one such.
Bix the king 2.5 hides He was one of the tenants of the manor of Leominster, Herefordshire.ss Leominster,
I, 5.5 hides held by the king in 1086, was a large composite manor, or, to put it another way, a
I

II large, scattered ecclesiastical hundred.56 Its structure is shown in Table 5. Before 1066 it
,, Having discussed the men described as interpres in Domesday, let us proceed to was assessed at eighty hides, and in 1086 there were sixty hides in demesne and more
:I
those called Latimer. In Hampshire, [5] Hugh Latimer held five virgates at Arnewood, than eighteen and a halfhides in various berewicks, held by five tenants: Urse d'Abetot,
in the New Forest, of the king.47 It has been suggested that he is identical with Roger of Lacy, Ralph of Mortimer, William son of Norman and Leofwin Latimer.57
Hugh or Hugolin the Interpreter of Somerset.48 The limited range of Christian names in Apart from Leofwin, all were tenants-in-chief of more than moderate wealth.
use at the time makes such identifications dubious, unless there is other supporting Domesday next enumerates twenty-six tenements which belonged to Leominster
evidence. We must suppose thatHugh inte1pres and Hugh Latimer are different people. before 1066, paying geld and customary services (consuetudines) to Leominster. In
[6] Osmund Latimer held one hide at Pomery, Wiltshire, entered in the chapter 1086 these lands were held by fourteen men, including Leofwin Latimer, who had a
headed ' [land ot] the king's servants (servientes regis)'.49 He is probably the virgate at Yarpole. At the end ofthe list Domesday records the cashpayments formerly
Osmund Latimer who appears in a charter of Henry I as the· man of Humphrey II made from each tenement and adds 'duo dies in ebdomada operantur' .58 It has been
de Bahun.so Humphrey's mother Maud was the daughter of Edward of Salisbury. suggested that only Leofwin Latimer, the last in the list, owed two days' weekwork,
Edward was sheriff of Wiltshire in 1086, and was perhaps in charge of the royal but this is unlikely. The lands were clearly tributary to Leominster, and would probably
servants in his shire. Perhaps Osmund commended himself to Humphrey I de have been described as sokeland in the eastern circuits. Before 1066 they had owed
Bahun, who married Maud, Edward's daughter, in William II's time.s1 both cash rents and weekwork to Leominster, but they had been detachedfrom theirparent
Judging by his name, Osmund was English in origin, but could probably speak manor by the 1086 holders.59 Leofwin too had owed this service before I 066, but he
French.s2 He was a minor tenant-in-chief, and king's serjeant, holding his land in also acted as interpreter, probably in the day-to-day business ofthe great royal manor
return for his service as interpreter. In his capacity, he could have played an
important role during the Domesday Survey, as well as in the county court. It is 54 In 1212, Wrenoc son of Meuric and Griffin of Sutton held lands in Shropshire by the service of
not certain whether his descendants preserved the name Latimer as a surname. s3 being Latimer between the English and the Welsh ('per servicium de esse Latinarius inter Angliam
et Walliam'; The Book of Fees, pt i, 1920, 147). In Ireland, Richard le Latimer held land near
46 See the case of Robert Latimer (below, pp. 2 1 2 -13). Dublin in return for service as a translator in the county court of Dublin; Rotu.U chartarum i11 tu.rri
Domesday Book i, 50d. The last entries in this folio (including that for Hugh's land) are misplaced; Lo11di11ensi asservati (1199-1216), ed. T.D. Hardy, London 1837, 172.
47 SS Domesday Book i, 180a, 180c. Leofwine held land worth 25 shillings at Leominster itself
they fonn an addition to the New Forest entries on folio Sid. No heading appears in the text, but in ('Leuuinus Latinarius tenet tantum de terra Leofminster quod valet xxv solidos') and a virgate at
the list of tenants for Hampshire (fo. 37d) this section appears as '[lands of] Oda of Winchester and Yarpole, held T.R.E by JBI.fric, which had once been nibutary to Leominster (seealso below p. 210).
many of the king's thegns (Odo de Wi11cestre et alij multi taini regis)'; see Domesday Book: S6 DomesdCJY. Book i, 180a-180c. The church at Leominster was in decay even before 1066 (ASC,
Hampshire, ed. Julian Munby, Chichester 1982, NFlO and note; Brian Golding, 'An Introduction to the
Hampshire Domesday', in The Hampshire Domesday, ed. Ann Williams and R.W.H. Erskine, 'C', sub anno 1046).
57 There were others who paid their dues to themanor of Leominster, but they are omitted . here for
London 1989, 3-4; Williams, 112, 115-16. the sake of clarity.
48 VCH Somerset i, 416. ss 'Quad tenet Hugo Asne reddebat v. solidos. Quad Osbemus red�t v ora�. Quad Vrso te1;1et
49 Domesday Book i, 73b; Osmund's byname is supplied by the Wiltshire Geld Rolls (VCH
Wiltshire ii, 198). reddebat XL denarios. Quad abbatissaXL denarios. Quod Rogerus de Laci ?CIII sohdos et ml�enanos
so Regesta ii, no. 1832, CCLXXXIX. By this charter, which dates from between 1129 and 1 133, et de galbo XXV denarios. Quod Radulfus de Mortemer reddebat L d�os, �odo non reddi!, Quod
Henry I confirms to the monks of St Mary Magdalen at Monk.ton Farley the gifts of Humphrey II, Radtilfus de Todeni XI solidos et X denarios. Quod Wtllelmus de Sch01es XI solidos etX denanos et II
his mother Maud, and various others, including Osmund, who gave land in Bere ('et terram quam sextarios mellis. Quod WilleImus filius Normanni:XX denarios. QuodDrogo filius Ponz VIIl solidos et
Osmundus Latimer ded.it eis in Bera assensu domini sui Hunfr'). VIII denarios. Quod Durandus uicecomes V solidos. Quod llbertus V solidos. Quad Grifi_n tenet V
5 1 VCH Wiltshire ii, 108-9, 135- 9, 147- 9, 160; I.J. Sanders, English Baronies, Oxford 1960, 91. solidos. Quod Leuuinus X denarios et duo dies in ebdomada operantur': Domesday Book :i, 180c.
s2 Olofvon Feilitzen, The Pre-Co11quest Perso11al Names ofDomesday 59 Domesday Book: Herefordshire, ed. Frank and Caroline Thom, Chichester 1983, 1-38 note; but
Book, Nomina Gennanica see C.P. Lewis, 'An- Introduction to the Herefordshire Domesday', in The Herefordshire
III, Uppsala 1937, 340.
53 Red Book of the Exchequer, 240. Domesday, ed. Ann Williams and R.W.H. Erskine, London 1988, 20.
 210 Anglo-Norman Studies XVIII Domesday Interpreters 211

of Leominster. His function seems to have been rather different from that of the king's
thegns and servants discussed above.60
Table 5 02 UlmBRJD6cSHIRE.
Tenant Manor Sub-tenant
Demesne 60 hides
Tenant lands
1. Urse d'Abetot 3 hides
2. Roger of Lacy 5 hides
3. Ralph of Mortimer 9 hides
4. William son of Norman 1.5 hides
5. Leofwin Latimer 25 shillings
18.5 hides + 25 shillings
These lands belonged to Leominster before 1066
[I] Hugh Donkey 5 hides Hatfield
[2] Osbern son of Richard 1
2 hides Wapley 0
:, [3] Urse d'Abetot
[4] The Abbess
1 hide
I free hide
Butterley 30
Fencote
[5] Roger of Lacy 2 hides Hampton
2 hides Hampton Gilbert
I! H€RTF0RDSff1R€
'

'I 1.5 hides Sarnesfield Godmund

1[
11
I hide Gattertop Walter 1 'Farnham
[6] Ralph of Mortimer 0.5 hide Wigmore
Ii 3 virgates Brimfield Ji,, 2
3
Hardwick
Albury
[7] Ralph ofTosny :!
i;
1 hide + I virgate Ford Drogo O l 2 3 4 S mls

I!
4 Pelham
I hide Broadfield Drago ! 0 2 4 6 8 kms
0.5 hide
ii
Sarnesfield Drago
1.5 hide Eaton Herbert
1! [8] William of Ecouis 2 hides Risbury Robert Fig. 2. The Lands ofRalph Latimer
I hide Wharton Bernard
0.5 hide Newton Bernard
I hide Dilwyn Richard Leominster was a royal estate, but after 1066 many Normans also settled on the
0.5 hide Hatfield Ralph lands of the Church, especially on the lands of the monasteries which owed
[9] William son of Norman 0.5 hide Broadward military service to the King. They were given in fief (in feudo) lands formerly
[!OJ Drago son of Poyntz I hide Hampton Stephen leased to English thegns.61 In such circumstances, interpreters sh� uld be_ in
1 hide Hamnish Walter demand. [8] Ralph Latimer may be one such example. He had appropnated thrrty
[ 1 1] Durand the sheriff 1.5 hide Middleton Bernard acres of land at Farnham, Essex, and also held ten acres of thegnland at Hardwick,
[12] Ilbert 2 hides Dilwyn Cambridgeshire, as a tenant of Ely Abbey.62 Since Farnham in Essex is adjacent to
2 hides Luntley Albury in Hertfordshire, he may also be the Ralph who held of the bishop of
[13] Gruffydd Boy I hide Alac Godwin
0.5 hide
[14] Leofwin Latimer 1 virgate Yarpole 61 H. Tuurushima, 'Feodum in Kent', Journal ofMedieval History xxi, no. 2, 1 995, 97-115.
35.5 hides + 1 virgate 62 Farnham (Domesday Book ii, 101a) is entered among the lnvasiones super regem in Essex: the
land was held by a free man (Uber homo) T.R.E and Ralph had 'concealed' (celavit) his own tenure.
60 There was achapel at Y�Ie in the �th century: Reading Abbey Carmlaries, ed. B.R. Kemp, For Hardwick, see Domesday Book i, 191c; Ralph's byname is omitted in the Domesday text, but
2 vols, Camde� 4th ser. xxx1, 1986, !• 141. Whether 1t went back to Domesday is uncertain, but a supplied by the lnquisitio Comitams Canrabrigiensis and lnquisitio Eliensis, ed. N.E.S.A.
small �hapel sull �tands_ at Yarpole; it appears to be much older than the parish church. It may be Hamilton, London 1876, 88, 111, 177. The lnquisitio Eliensis also reveals that the land at
that tins church existed m 1086 and thatLeofwin was its chaplain. Hardwick was thegnland (rheinfand).
212 Anglo-Norman Studies XVIII Domesday Interpreters 213

London at Albury and Pelham, Hertfordshire63 (See Fig. 2 and Table 6). We may yoke of Lenham from St Augustine's, Canterbury.73 He also held part of Otford, a
say that he was a local man, who owed military service to the abbot of Ely and manor of Canterbury, jointly with Geoffrey of Ros and shared the title ofthegn with
perhaps the bishop of London. But his byname suggests that he served his lord not the same Geoffrey and Haimo the sheriff. He does not appear in the list of the
only as a warrior but also as an interpreter. archbishop's knights but, judging from the fact that both Geoffrey and Haimo were
knights of the archbishop, he may have owed knight service to him.74 In a
Table 6 notification ofBishop Gundulf addressed to Haimo the sheriff, Robert appears as one
ofthe sheriff's officials with his brother A3Ifwine, the reeve of Chatham.75 TI1erefore he
Manor Lord Hidage T.R.E was an Englishman. His parents were Althelric the priest and Godgifu.76 Althelric had
Essex been a canon ofthe cathedral chapter at Rochester, which was replaced by a body of
1. Farnham the king 30 acres a free man Benedictine monks soon after Gundulf's accession to the bishopric.77 Thus Robert
Cambridgeshire was a member of a priestly family and a local magnate of Chatham.78 He was
2. Hardwick the abbot of Ely 10 acres Algar Cape possibly educated in Latin. But for the Norman Conquest, he would probably have
Hertfordshire succeeded to his father's benefice. Hisjointholding ofOtford with Geoffrey of Ros,
3. Albury the bishop of 2.5 hides Siward, Archbishop a Norman knight, may have caused him to learn French. He may have been appointed
London Stigand's man as interpreter by the sheriff himself and have worked as one of sheriff's officers in
4. Pelham 1 hide + 2 brothers, men of this capacity during the Survey. But he was not the sheriff's domestic interpreter.
1 virgate Asgar the staller Table 7 shows that he was one of the greatest farmers in Kent who stood as inter­
mediary between the lord and the village community. After the forfeiture of Odo's lands,
Since both royal and seignorial business was transacted orally, magnates and he became a man ofHaimo the sheriff, since after his death, his lands passed to the
administrators at all levels needed interpreters to carry out both local routine and Crevequer family, the descendants ofHaimo.79 On his death bed, Robert probably
entered into the fraternity of the monks of Rochester Cathedral. so He had no son and
was succeeded by a daughter.81 No descendants continued the name of Latimer.
special duties, one of which was the Domesday survey.64 In Oxfordshire, [9]
Gilbert Latimer held seven and a half hides in Garsington of the abbot of Abingdon.65
He appears in a list of the abbot's knights as Gilbert the Marshal, owing one Table ?
knight's service for his land in Garsington.66 Gilbert was clearly a Frenchman, able to
speak English, who served his lord the abbot both as a knight and as an interpreter. Manor Lord Hidage Value firma
After his death, about 1110 to 1116, Garsington reverted to the abbey through Tottington King (Odo) 0.5 sulungs £2 £ 2
Gilbert's eldest daughter, who married Ralph of Percehai and survived her husband.67 1 yoke £ 0.5 £ 0.5
Most ofthe interpreters who appear in Domesday Book are, as mentioned above, the archbishop £ 8 !Os
small landholders. But there is one exception. 110] Robert Latimer was a wealthy Otford
of Canterbury
sub-tenant of Odo, bishop ofBayeux, in Kent.68 I have already discussed him in an 4 sulungs £22 £30
earlier paper,69 but need briefly to review him here. Like Gilbert, he is called both Lessnes Odo
Latimer and the Interpreter,70 which suggests thatno distinction was drawn between Harbilton Odo 1 sulung £3 £ 4
latirnarius and interpres.11 He was also a tenant of the archbishop ofCanterbury.72 Broomfield Odo 1 sulung £4 £ 5
He held some lands at farm from the king and from Richard son of Gilbert and one Chatham Odo 6 sulungs £15 £35
Boxley Odo 5 sulungs £30 £55
Lenham St Augustine's I yoke 5s
63 Domesday Book i, 133c.
64 M. Chibnall, Anglo-Norman England, 211. ' unidentified Richard son of 6 acres £ 6
65 Domesday Book i, 156d. Domesday Book does not give his byname, which is supplied Gilbert (Odo)
('Gillebertus, qui cognominatur Latemer, (id est, interpres)') by the Abingdon Chronicle £137.5
(ChroniconMonasterii de Abingdon, ed. J. Stevenson, 2 vols, RS II, 1858, ii, 34).
66 'Gillebertus Maresca!, vii. hidas et dimidiam in Gersentune': Chronicon Monasrerii de 73 Domesday Book i, 7b (Tottington), llc (unidentified), 12a.
Abingdon ii, 5. The service was shared with Sweeting, avus Matthire, who held 1.5 hides in 74 See also Williams, 84, n. 63.
Wareleia: this tenement appears in Domesday Book as 1.5 hides in Garsington, held by Sweeting of 7 5 Tuxtus Roffensis, fos 21 lv-12.
Abingdon Abbey (Domesday Book i, 156d). 76 Henry Wharton, Anglia Sacra i, London 1691, 340.
61 Chronicon Monasterii de Abingdon ii, 34-35. Regesta ii, no. 1132. 77 Tuxtus Roffensis, 190v-91.
68 Domesday Book i, 6c, Sb, Sc, 8d. 78 Dr Ann Williams suggests that his 'original name may have been Leofgeat, if he is identical
69 Tsurushima,'The Fraternity', 329-31, 333. with Robert Liuegit (Leofgeat) who held half a fee of the archbishop in 1093/6': Williams, 84 n. 63.
70 Rodbertus interpres; Rodbertus Latimir: The Domesday Monachorum of Christ Church, ed. 79 Sanders, 31; H.M. Colvin, 'A List of the Archbishop of Canterbury's Tenants by Knight Service
D.C. Douglas, Royal Historical Society, 1944, 87, 101. in the Reign of Henry II',_Kem Records, ed. F.R.H. Du Boulay, xviii, 1964, 11-12.
71 Bullock-Davies, 9. 80 Tuxtus Roffensis, fos 182v-183; Tsurushima, 'The Fraternity', 329-30.
72 Domesday Book i, 3a. SI Textus Roffensis, fos 200v- 201; Tsurushima, 'The Fraternity', 330.
!
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I 214 Anglo-Norman Studies XVIII
'I

In Kent there is also another interpreter. In Domesday Book, [11] Godric holds Between 1091 and 1 102, Plein of Slepe [St Ives in Huntingdonshire], adjacent
one sulung in Buckland.82 The Inquisition of St Augustine's, Canterbury identifies to Hemingford, made an agreement with Abbot Aldwin89 by which he and his wife
him as Godric Latimer, whose predecessor was Oswy Wild the priest.83 He was with their sons and daughters were accepted into the fraternity of the monks. Here
one of the canons of St Martin of Dover and belonged to a English priestly family, Hugh the Interpreter appears as witness with his two sons, his brother and his
like Robert, and played the part of interpreter in the lands of the abbey. It is brother's son.9° Hugh's sons were named Odo and Gurner, but his brother was
impossible to tell whether he contributed much to the Domesday Survey, but he called Horulf, a variant of the Old English name Heorwulf.91 This suggests �hat
may have been an interpreter for the inquest made by the abbey, which was a Hugh came from a family of English landholders. Hugh probably attests Plem 's
charter as a man of the locality, perhaps with land in Slepe or St Ives, rather than
as an interpreter.92 Domesday Book names three of the abbot's men who held land
curtain-raiser for St Augustine's return to the Domesday inquiry.84 He might have
been an interpreter for the men of Kent.
As far as Domesday Book is concerned, there are twelve interpreters who may at St Ives in 1086: Plein, the donor of the later charter; Ingeiram, who also held
be divided into two types: (1) the king's servants; (2) the tenants of the barons. land at Hurst, which was part of St Ives; and Everard, who cannot be further
The king's servants probably played a positive role as interpreters in the county identified.93 Everard may have been Hugh's father; or he could be the son of the
court. They were minor tenants-in-chief, but it is important to bear in mind that priest at St Ives, who is mentioned (but not named) in Domesday. As we have
they were not members of the royal household but rooted in the locality. The seen, other interpreters were members of priestly families.
Interpreter of type II is the tenant of a great baron, especially an ecclesiastical
baron, although he was sometimes a minor tenant-in-chief but was not identified
as a king's servant. But he would be an interpreter in the royal business if necessary.
Since Domesday Book provides very limited evidence for us, let us now Hugh Horulf
attempt to expand the observation into other contemporary and later documents. I
In Ramsey Abbey's cartulary two Latimers appear as witness: [13] Hugh Odo Gumer Gocelin Roger
Latimer and [14] Gocelin Latimer. Between 1 114 and 1130, Abbot Reginald"
made a conventio with Hugh son of Alweald by which Hugh gave to the abbey one Fig. 3. 11,efamily ofHugh the Interpreter
hide in Hemingford in Huntingdonshire and in return the abbot gave him twenty
shillings and two summae of barley.86 In the charter appear fa� named witness_es Another interpreter for Ramsey Abbey was [14] Gocelin Latimer. In 1 1 02 - 7,
from the abbot's side; Hervey the monk, Hugh the Interpreter, Bernard and Monn. Walter Buistard deraigned land in Burwell against Abbot Bernard before the king's
They were probably members of the abbot's household. From the side of Hugh son justices, and Gocelin the Interpreter appears as a witness, �th Hervey the monk and
of Alweald four more witnesses appear: Alfred, Ingold, Ragemer and Richard of Morin the abbot's latight (miles abbatis).94 A Gocelm, the son of Hugh the
Cuninton. To judge from his name, Hugh son of Alweald87 was an Englishman: To Interpreter, appears as one of the witnesses with his father in a charter of Abb?t
him and all his witnesses English may have been the mother tongue. Both sides Reginald dated between 1 1 14 and 1 130.95 He could be the same person as Gocehn
needed an interpreter between French and English. Hervey the monk, who
frequently appears in the witness lists of the abbey's charters, was probably a
clerk. 88 After the clerk comes the interpreter, Hugh, a domestic interpreter in the 89 1091-1102; The Heads ofReligious Houses, 62. .. .
90 'Hreec est conventio quam Pleines de Slepa, cum duobus fili1s Willelmo et Ricardo, c�m
household of the abbot. It is not certain if he held lands from the abbot _
Aldwino abbate de Rameseia, totiusque capituli conventu, fecit de feudo suo, 1� est terra umus
hidre, et terra viginti et octo agrorum, quos ipse ante hanc in suo possederat dom1mo, hie autem e'!­
. _
82 Domesday Book i, ld. his decem cum prrefata hida jure hereditario possidebit, agros reliquos vero �eo, et Sancto �btulit
83 'Habet godricus latW1arius unum solin terrae in bokelande ex prebenda quam Oswynus Yvoni. Quapropter ipse et ejus conjux Beatrix, cum filiis et filiabus suis, m nostra recepti sunt
fratemitate. Post decessum vero ejus, fi.lius quern sibi elegerit heredem, bane prrefatam terram cum
silvagius presbiter tenuit tempore regis Edwardi et valet tune viij libras et modo vj libras. Finis de
omni debita sibi, absque omni relevatione, possidebit substantiam. Hujus igitur conventionis hi
prebendis sci. martini de doura.': A. Ballard, An Elevenrh-Cemury Inquisition ofSt 1ugusti11e, ed.
descripti sunt testes, Reinaldus Monachus, Herveus Monachus, �oge�s de �astel, Hugo Interp�
A. Ballard, British Academy Records and Economic History of England and Wales, iv, pt 2, 1920, et filii ejus Odo et Gurner, frater ejus Horulf, et Rogerus filius eJus, Ailfwardus de Riptuna_ .:
Cartularium Monasterii de Rameseia i, no. 40.
30.
84 An Eleventh-Ce11tury Inquisition, x, xii.
ss The Heads ofReligious Houses, 62. 91 Olofvon Feilitzen, 289.
86 'Hi sunt testes, qui fuerunt inter abbatem Reinaldum et Hugonem Alwoldi filium, ubi �le Hugo 92 He also attests a charter of c.1114 x 1130, whereby the abbot gave Reginald the monk and his
dedit Dea et Sancto Benedicto, et abbati, unam hidam apud Hemmingforde, solutam et qu1etam ab
sons land at Barnwell, in return for paying 100 shillings a year and the service of one knight:
Cartularium Monasterii de Rameseia ii, no. 370.
omni calumnia, propter penuriam. Et abbas dedit ei viginti. solidos et duas summas hordei. Testes
ex parte abbati.s hi fuerunt, Herveus Monachus, Hugo Interpres, Bemardus, Morinus, et alii. Ex
93 Domesday Book i, 204c; for Ingelram's land at Hurst (feudum apud Hyrsr), see Cartularium
Monasterii de Rameseia i, no. 79.
parte Hugonis; Alfredus, Ingoldus, Ragemerus, Ricardus de Cunintone': <:artularium Monasterii
94 Cartularium Monasterii de Rameseia i, no. 65: Morin may be the wibless of Abbot Reginald's
de Rameseia, ed. W.H. Han and P.A. Lyons, 3 vols, RS LXXIX, 1884-93, t, no. 57. conventio (see p. 214 n. 86 above).
87 Olofvon Feilitzen, 154.
88 Cartufarium Monasterii de Rameseia i, nos 40, 56, 58, 64, 65, et passim. In charter no. 56, there 95 Chronicon Abbatiae ..Rameseiensis, ed. W. Dunn Macray, RS LXXXVIlI, 1886, 261. See above
n. 92.
are three witnesses, of whom two are the abbot's relatives. Only Hervey is a clerk.

i
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216 Anglo-Norman Studies XV/II Domesday Inte,preters 217

le Latimer or the Interpreter.96 He may have succeeded to his father's position as and Oseney Abbey in Oxfordshire,103 Richard Latimer only appears in this charter
interpreter. Sometimes professions such as that of interpreter might have been handed for Sherborne Priory. He held land in south Wales, where he was a tenant of
down from father to son. Between 1 133 and 1 1 60 Gocelin, designated Latimer, was Bishop Roger in south Glamorgan; he continued to hold as tenant of William of
still among the witnesses in a conventio concerning 'land in Huntingdon' .97 He may London, who succeeded the bishop in the lordship of Kidwelly. 104 'There is
have been a minor tenant of the abbot and of the same standing as Morin the knight, insufficient evidence to prove that Richard was a Welshman, but he is almost
but we have no evidence to take this discussion further. certain to have been one, for it would be a knowledge of Welsh and French that an
The abbey of Bury St Edmunds also had an interpreter. [15] Eadric the interpreter would have needed to conduct' the bishop's itinerary in south Wales. 105
Interpreter appears as a witness in a charter of Abbot Baldwin, dating from 1087 x Since this example belongs to south Wales, it has no direct relevance to our
1089.98 He is probably Eadric Latimer, who made an agreement with Geoffrey the Domesday Interpreters. 106 But despite the silence of the evidence, there must have
treasurer in 1 1 22. Here Eadric appears as a landholder in Farnham, Suffolk, and been interpreters in the households of ecclesiastical magnates who would have
Harlow, Essex. By the permission of all the monks and the counsel of the barons co-operated with the king's local interpreters in the Domesday survey.
of the abbey, he gave his land in Farnham to the church of St Edmund in full Lay barons too may have had their own domestic interpreters in the household.
chapter of the abbey, and afterwards offered up a knife as a symbol of donation on [17] Godric Latimer, clearly an Englishman, appears as a witness in a charter of
the altar of St Edmund.99 No Eadric appears in 1086 among the tenants of the Henry de Beaumont, earl of Warwick, which dates · from after 1088. 107 Henry's
abbey in Suffolk and Essex. It might not be too far from the truth to suggest that in witnesses were Richard fitz Osbern, Turstin of Mundford, Herlewin the priest,
1086 he was a landless servant retained by the abbot, or perhaps held a plot of land William Sorel, Richard chaplain, and Godde the Interpreter. 108 They were all members
from one of the abbot's tenants. By the reign of Henry I, he probably rose to be a of Henry's household. 109 It is clear that Godric was a domestic interpreter, of
landholder. 'The witnesses to many of the early charters, consisting of the English origin, in the household of Henry, earl of Warwick. Whether he held land
Domesday "feudal men" of Baldwin, suggest the existence of an honour court in of the earl is unknown. There is a vague distinguishing line between a minor tenant
operation on the Bury lands immediately after the Conquest.' 100 In the 'feudal and a household official who accompanies his lord wherever he goes. Since we
court' or honour court, where a preliminary survey for the Domesday Inquest was
made, 101 interpreters would be in demand. Eaclric, an Englishman, speaking both
English and French, would participate actively in the court. 103 'Osmond was a frequent witness to Roger's episcopal charters and was still his steward in
Bishops as well as abbots may have had interpreters in their households. 1139.': Kealey, 233, 25'2r-55, 262--06, 268-69. This Osmund is probably a different person from
After Henry I acquired Carmarthen in about 1109, he gave the lordship of Kidwelly Osmond Latimer who would be too old to be steward in 1139 (see pp. 208-9 above).
104 'Some time between 1149 and 1183 after Richard was dead, Nicholas, bishop of Llandaff,
to Bishop Roger of Salisbury. In 1 114 Bishop Roger gave a carucate of land in issued a charter confirming to the priory ofEwenny the grant which Maurice de Landres had made
Kidwelly to the priory of Sherbome and to Turstin the prior. 100 Among the domestic of the church of Colwineston, together with "the tithes of the land which Richard the Latimer held
officers of the bishop, [16] Richard Latimer (Ricardus Latemerus) appears as a of William de Londres and his son, Maurice" ': Bullock-Davies, 13. The source is G.L. Clark,
witness to the charter, with Osmund dapifer and William of London. Whereas Cartae et alia Munimema quae ad Dominium de Glamorgancia peninem, Cardiff 1910, i, 125.
Osmund dapifer accompanied the bishop on his itinerary to be a witness in 105 Bullock-Davies, 13-14.
106 There is Bleddri ap Cydifor, another Welsh interpreter. He appears as Blechericus Walensis in
charters concerning the cathedral chapter of Salisbury, the abbey of Cirencester, Pipe Roll 31 Henry J, 89, 90. He is Bledricus Latemeri himself. He granted an estate at
Eglwysnewydd or Newchurch to Cannarthen Priory. He was clearly a local Welsh potentate who
acted as 'hinge-man' with the Nonnans: Bullock-Davies, 10-11.
96 There is some difficulty in this identification. If he is Gocelin the son of Hugh, he might, 107 Chronicon Monasterii de Abingdon ii, 8. Henry is confinning land at Chesterton and Hill
perhaps, be too young as a witness when he appears for the first time in llO'lr-7. i: previously granted to Abingdon Abbey by the Englishman, Thorkell of �den; Thorkell's lands had
91 Cartularium Monasterii de Rameseia i, no. 187. -,,,
passed into Henry's possession when he was created the earl of Warwick c.1088, but the Ardens
98 'Ad hoe testificandum assunt testes. Haldricus clericus Camotensis. Frodo frater meus. �' I
continued to hold their estates as tenants of the earls of Warwick: Sanders, 93.
Bemardus miles. Radulfus dapifer meus. Petrus Bitwicensis. Edricus interpres. Wluuardus de 108 'In comitatus supplementum, Henrici Warewicensis comitis, regis Willelmi junioris, in sui
Wamforde.': Feudal Documents from the Abbiy of Bury St Edmunds, ed. D.C. Douglas, British imperil principio, dono, patrimonium terrarum Turkilli de Ardene adjectum est. Quare idem comes
Academy Records of the Social and Economic History of England and Wales, VID, 1932, no. de terra, diebus Athelelmi, abbatis ecclesire, a prredicto viro Turkillo donata, verbum Rainaldo
105. abbati intulit, dicens ut alias possessiones illius viri, ita et illam quam ecclesia habebat, sui jam
99 'JEdricus latimarus posuit terram suam de Fomham et de Herlaue in uadimonium sub Gaufredo jwis esse. At ut ipsum comitem abbas sibi ecclesireque benevolum, et muneris Turkilli concessorem
thesaurario propler xxxv marcas argenti. Gausfredus autem postea per licentiam toti.us capituli et et confirmatorem efficeret, eidem marcam auri obtulit. Quam gratanter comes suscipiens, coram
• per consilium baronum de abbatia indulsit JEdrico omnes illas marcas et terram de Herlaue reddidit hujus ecclesire sanctuario et monachorum cretu hie cohabitantium, horum quoque suorum baronum
ei. Quare ipse JEdricus similiter per licentiam omnium monachorum et per consilium baronum prresentia, quod petebatur sua auctoritate et ipse roboravit; Ricardi filii Osbemi; Turstini de
abbatie dedit terram quam habuit in Fomham Sancto )Edmundo quietam a se et ab omnibus suis Mundford; Herleuuini presbyteri; Wuillelmi Sorel; Ricardi capellani; Godrici interpretis; et alii
heredibus et liberam ab omni seruitio in capitulo coram omnibus monachis prius et postea ipsam pluribus':Chronico11 Mo11asterii de Abingdon ii, 20-21.
optulit super altare Sancti JEdmundi cum cultello.': Feudal Documems, no. 172. 109 Herlewin the priest attests another of the earl's charters, for Abingdon, and Richard capellanus
100 Feµ.dal Documems, cxlix. On 'feudal men' [baronum abbatie], seen. 99 above. (of Leicester) attests a charter of H.enry's brother Robert, count ofMeulan:Chronicon Monasrerii
IOI Sally Harvey, 'Domesday Book and its Predecessors', EHR lxxxvi, 1971, 753-73; Roffe, de Abingdon ii, lO'lr-3, 137-8. Before 1139, Richard of Leicester, a household clerk of Robert of
156-57. Meulan, acted as agerit of St Evroult in England, because of his knowledge of the language:
�
102 Regesta ii no. 1042; Edward J. Kealey, Roger ofSalisbury, London 1972, 231- 33. Orderic vi, 488; David Crouch, The Beaumom Twins, Cambridge 1986, 148-9, 207.
•;
11
r.
i:
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Anglo-Norman Studies XVIII Domesday Interpreters
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218

have all"eady distinguished interpreters in the king's service (Type I) and baronial N

,- t
tenants . (Type II), let us call the household interpreter Type III, for the sake of

t
convemence.
Can we imagine the role of such men at the time of the Domesday survey? The
only Do�esday co:nm ! ssioners known to us by name are those who surveyed the
west Midlands (Cucmt V). 110 They are named as witnesses to the agreement
(conventio) between Bishop Wulfstan of Worcester and Abbot Walter of Evesham
as Remigius bishop of Lincoln, Walter Giffard, Henry de Ferrers and Adam
br�t�er of 1?udo the king's dapifer. Bishop Remigius was accompanied by his
officials, Nigel the clerk, Ulf the monk, Wulfsige the priest and Ranulf the
monk.1 1 1 [18] Wul�sige, who has an English name, might be the bishop's own
mterpreter, here acting as interpreter for all the commissioners of Circuit V. It does
no� seem unreasonable to suppose that when the Domesday commissioners
arrived at the county courts, they might have with them their own household
interp:eters (our type Ill); whereas in t?e county courts themselves, there might be
local mt�r - preters who held land as kmg's servants (our Type I) or as officials of
the shenff or of other barons (our Type II or III). In the honorial courts too we
might expect to find the interpreters of bishops, abbots and lay magna�s. S�me
may have been reta�ned in their households, as domestic interpreters, and some
may have been their tenants, although there was no clear distinction between
thei:n. These. in�erpreters . m�g?t also play an active part in the Domesday Survey,
bes�de the kmg s or sheriff s mterpreters. Perhaps there were many interpreters at
�ar1�us leve!s, from c?unty court to 'feudal court' and from royal business to daily

t
hfe m the village. Without them, a project such as the Domesday survey would English Channel
have been impossible.
Domesday Book does not show us actual interpreters at work. For this we have rtPEI

to turn to the records of the archbishopric of York. In 1106 Archbishop Gerald of

t
' TYl'EU

York complained to the king that Osbem I, sheriff of York, had deprived the church TYPEIII
of St Peter and the whole archbishopric of all its good customs. The king sent five
commissioners, that is, Bishop Robert of Lincoln, Ralph Basset, Geoffrey Ridel, • ••
Ranulf le Meschin and Peter de Valognes, to York to inquire into the liberties and
customs of the church of St Peter. They convoked the county court and asked the Fig. 4. Geographical Distribution ofInterpreters
twelve wisest Englishmen of that city by the fealty which they owed the king to
tell the truth about the church's customs. This procedure of inquiry resembles that
110 V.H. Galbraith, Domesday Book: Its Place in Administrative His10,y, Oxford 1974, 39. of the Domesday survey. What has to be noticed is that there was an interpreter,
1 1 1 'Hee est confirmatio conventionis, facte inter episcopum Wlfstanum et Walterum abbatem de [19] Ansketil of Bulmer, who was at that time reeve of the North Riding.m
Eovcsha�, de xv hidis _in Heamtone et iiii in Bennincwyrthe. Hoe est, quod ipse abbas recognovit, When the commissioners questioned the Englishmen in French, Ansketil
teste ?mm conventu W1gomensis ecclesie, et multis fratribus de Eovesham et Remigio episcopo et translated into English, and vice versa. Ansketil's name suggests Norman, or at
Hcnnco de Fereris et Waltero Giffardo et Adam, regis principibus, qui venerunt ad inquirendas
terras. comi�tus, quod ille xv hidcjuste pertinent ad Oswaldes !awe hundredum episcopi, et debent
cum ipso ep1scopo censum regis solvere et omnia alia servitia ad regem pertinentia et inde idem 112 Hi, cum comitatum advocassent, comitaverunt prudcntissimos Anglos illius civitatis per fidem
require� ad placit�dum et de iiii hidis �redictis in Bennincwyrthc simililer. Sed cpiscopus ibi plus quam regi debeant, quatinus de consuetudinibus illis verum dicerent; videlicet, Uttreth filium
catui:npmabatur, quia reclamabat totam 1psam terram ad suum dominium: sed quia ipse abbas hoe Alwini [Uttreth son of Alwin], Gamellum filium Swartecol [Gamel son of Swartecol], Gamellum
hum1li�er reco�novit, rog�tu ipsorum qu_i ai:rucrunt, ipse epis�opus permisit illam terram ipsi abbati filium Grym [Gamel son of Grim], Normannum presbyterum [Norman the priest], Willelmum
�t fratrtb_us, tab pacto, ut 1pse abbas faciat mde tarn honorab1lem recognitionem et servitium, sicut filiu'm Ulf (William son of Ulf], Frengerum presbyterum (Frenger the priest], Uttreth filium
tpse ab 1ps� ep1sco.� et quamdiu . requ�ere poterit. Hujus conventionis testes sunt prenominati Turkilli [Uttreth son of Turkil], Norman filium Basing [Norman son of Basing], Turstinwn filium
baro��- reg_is, et. alu quorum nomma h�c -�ab:ntur.. Serio abbas _de G\oecestre, Nigellus clericus Tunnot [Turstin son of Tunnot], Gamellum filium Onni [Gamel son of Onni), Morcar filium
Rer�ugu ep1s�op1, Ulfi monachus Rem1gn ep1scop1, Wlfi presbuer, Ranulf monachus ejusdem, Ligulf' [Morcar son of Ligulf), Ulvet filium Fomonis [Ulvet son of Forno], hereditario jure
. lagaman civitatis, quod Iatine potest dici legis lator vel judex, et tune quibus fuit praefectus qui
coram ita disseruit erA11sketi11us de Bolomer, tune quidem praepositus de Nortreding, interpres
Edric de Hmdelep, Alfwmus monachus de Sancto Remigio, Godric de Piria Ailricus
archidiaconu�, Ordric niger, Fridericus clericus, Alfwinus filius Brihtmer': English La.;,,suits from
Willam I to Richard I, ed. R.C. Van Caenegem, 2 vols, Selden Society cvi, London 1990, i, 40. fuit': English Lawsuils, 139.
 220 Anglo-Norman Studies XVIII Domesday Interpreters 221

least Scandinavian,m rather than native English descent, but he may have been
connected with one of local families of Yorkshire. Bulmer and Bramham had Table 8
belonged before 1066 to Ligulf and Northmann, and were held in 1086 by Nigel
Fossard of the count of Martain. Nigel's predecessor Ligulf may be the man Iype Circuit and Interpreter County
whose murder in 1080 provoked the killing of Bishop Walcher of Durham. His I
wife Ealdgyth was a daughter of Earl Ealdred of Bamburgh, and the aunt of Earl I
Waltheof.1 14 If Ansketil was related, either by blood or marriage, to this family, he [l] AnsgottheInterpreter Surrey
was both very well-connected, and well-placed to mediate between English and [5] Hugh Latimer Hants
French in the North. Ansketil must have had considerable linguistic talent and II, V
could translate English and French. He was both an interpreter and, as the reeve of [2] David the Interpreter Dorset
North Riding, a king's servant. He owed his social elevation to his talent and royal [3] Hugolin the Interpreter Somerset
patronage. He later came to be sheriff of York, following Osbert, between 1115 [4] Richard the Interpreter Somerset, Gloucs.
and 1129.1 15 He was also a dapifer of Robert Fossard. 1 16 He died in about 1129, [6] Osnmnd I atimer Wilts.
and Bertram, his son, succeeded to the shrievalty;117 in the 1166 Cartae Baronum, III, IV
he was a tenant- in-chief and answered for three knights' service.us [12] Hervey the Legate Oxon, Bucks.
Figure 4 shows the geographical distribution of interpreters in the Domesday VI
period. It demonstrates that there is no proof of their existence in 1086 in the [1 9] AnsketilofBulmer Yorks.
northern part of England, especially in Circuit VI. Indeed there were interpreters
in the lands of Ramsey Abbey, and in the city ofYork between 1091 and 1112. But II
in the case of York the interpreter was not a minor king's thegn; here he seems to I
[10] Robert I,atimer Kent
have belonged to a higher class of society than in the south. Table 8 suggests that Kent
the number of interpreters in the north may be much smaller than in the south. [ 1 1 ] Godde Latimer
i They are concentrated in the part of England dominated by the Channel where III, VII
[9] Gilbert Latimer Oxon
interpretation was a daily business after the Norman Conquest. These differences [8] Ralph Latimer Cambs., Herts., Essex
reflect the social differences between the north and the south, both before and after
1066. Before the curtain falls, we will discuss these differences as an epilogue. V
[7] T enfwin I atimer Herefs.
III
lll, VI
[13] Hugh Latimer Hunts.
[14] GoceJin r atimer son of[13] Hunts., Cambs.
VII
[15] Eadric I atirner Suffolk, Essex
[16] Richard Latimer Glamorgan
IV
[17] Godde T atimer Oxon
V
113 Tengvik, 171; Olof von Feilitzen, 167-68. [18] Wulfsige Worcs.
114 For Ansketil's land in Bulmer and.Bramham, see Regesta ii, nos 1016 1662; Domesday 8(1ok, i, 306a,
307c. Nigel Fossard also held the only manor in Yorkshire assigned to Ealdgyth, who may be Ligulf's Underlining means English descent witl1out doubt.
wife. Morcar, son of Ligulf and Ealdgyth, was a monk of Jarrow, and probably identical with Morcar
son of Ligulf, one of the twelve lawmen for whom Ansketil was translating in 1106: Williams, 67-8.
115 J.A. Green, The Government ofEngland under Henry I, Cambridge 1986, 238- 9; J.A. Green, The clue to solve this problem is found in one scene of the Bayeux TapeS!,IY· It
English Sheriffs to 1154, Public Record Office Handbooks xxiv, HMSO 1990, 90; Paul Dalton, was an English ship that brought the news of the coronation of Harold Godwmson
Conquest, Anarchy and Lordship: Yorkshire, 1066-1154, Cambridge 1994, 100, 104, 106-8, 221, to the duke's palace. Next to the scene of Harold wearing the king's crown, the
251, 254. Cf. W. Farrer, 'The Sheriffs of Lincolnshire and Yorkshire, 1066-1130', EHR xxx, 1915; legend of the Tapestry says: 'Her_e the English ship come� '.� th� l�nd of D�ke
C.H. Walker, 'Sheriffs in the Pipe Roll of 31 Henry I', EHR xxxvii, 1922.
116 Regesta ii, no. 1627. William (Hie navis Anglica venit in terram Wzllel':11 ducis) . , . This 1s an Engl�sh
117 PipeRoll 31 Henry I, 24, 28, 146. spy ship sent by Duke William. It would be a mistake to thmk that the Engltsh
118 Red Book of the Exchequer, 428-9. For his family tree, see Early Yorkshire Charters, 3 vols,
ed. W. Farrer, Edinburgh 1914-16, ii, 128. 119 The Bayeux Tapestry, 2nd edn, ed. F.M. Stenton, London 1965, pl. 36.
 222 Anglo-Norman Studies XVIII

Channel was an isolated and empty sea in the eleventh century. The facts would be
contrary to this. It would have been impossible for several thousand fully armed
Norman soldiers, with horses, to cfoss the Channel secretly at night and to land
exactly at Pevensey, which was in the middle of King Harold's power-base. The
Channel was a sea busy with people and goods, and constant traffic between the

t
continent and Britain. 120 This interaction of people may have produced Englishmen
who could speak French, as well as Normans who could speak English, in all the
,,.
,," districts along both sides of the Channel, which could be called the 'Channel
World'. In contrast with the southern part of England, to the people of the northern
Danelaw, French was a foreign language in every sense of the word.
The Norman Conquest dealt a catastrophic blow to the native English ruling
class. It was particularly the south that suffered from this severe damage. m Under
these circumstances, we can safely say that the Norman settlement of ordinary
men as well as great noblemen was more intense and deeper in the south than in
the north. Therefore here the Normans may have come to be members of their
local communities in the earliest stages of the settlement. 122 Since their attendance
at the shire-courts became routine in the south, the interpreter's profession was
indispensable for the social unification of the two nationes. This is why the
interpreter of type I is concentrated in circuits I and II. On the other hand, in the
north, the number of Normans was relatively smaller, so that there may have been
no official interpreter in the county. The interpreters appeared later here, possibly
since the Norman settlement started at a later stage than in the south. But what is
more important is that, as the case of York suggests, it is the upper class which
seemed to need interpreters, and linguistic talent seemed to be one factor in their
social elevation. The ratio of English to Normans in the ruling class may be higher
than in the south. The Norman Conquest compelled England to make a community
of fortune with France, drawing in the usually centrifugal north. This process also
transformed the word Latimer from its original meaning of 'a professional interpreter'
into a mere surname. 123

120 Cf. R.L.G. Ritchie, The Normans i11 England before Edward the Confessor, Exeter 1948, 8-10.
121 It is easier to understand this if we talce into consideration that all the earldoms of the Godwine
family were in the south, and the shires which sent men to Battle in 1086 are probably and mainly
those which constilllted these earldoms: E. Freeman, The History of the Norman Conquest of
England, Oxford 1869, iii, 425. Domesday Book records that the warriors who died at the battle of
Hastings were from Hampshire, Huntingdonshire, Suffolk and Norfolk: Domesday Book i, 50a,
208a, ii, 409b, 449a. Cf. 'Qure possessiones ab eis habitre fuerant, quos Thhinos dicunt, et in bello
Hastingis occubuerant':Chronicon Monasterii de Abingdon ii, 3.
122 Apart from geographical differences, on French and English in local society see C.P. Lewis,
'The Domesday Jurors', The Haskins Society Journal v, 1993, 17-44. Cf. J. Green, • Aristocratic
Loyalties on the Nort11ern Frontier of England, c.1100-1174', England in the Twelfth Century, ed.
D. Williams, Woodbridge 1990, 80.
123 The main part of the discussion in this last paragraph, which I did not read at the Conference,
still remains speculative. Moreover to discuss i t as whole is beyond the scope of this paper and
should be taken up in the future.