Brictric was a powerful English

thane Thane (; previously known as Thana, List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1996) is a metropolitan city located on the northwestern side of the list of Indian states, state of Maharashtra in India and on ...

whose many English landholdings, mostly in the

West Country The West Country is a loosely defined area within southwest England, usually taken to include the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset and Bristol, with some considering it to extend to all or parts of Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and ...

, are recorded in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

of 1086.

Life

According to the account by the ''Continuator of

Wace Wace ( 1110 – after 1174), sometimes referred to as Robert Wace, was a Medieval Norman poet, who was born in Jersey and brought up in mainland Normandy (he tells us in the ''Roman de Rou'' that he was taken as a child to Caen), ending his car ...

'' and others, in his youth Brictric declined the romantic advances of Matilda of Flanders (c. 1031 – 1083), later wife of King

William the Conqueror William the Conqueror (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), sometimes called William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England (as William I), reigning from 1066 until his death. A descendant of Rollo, he was D ...

, and his great fiefdom was thereupon seized by her. Whatever the truth of the matter, years later when she was ruling England as

regent In a monarchy, a regent () is a person appointed to govern a state because the actual monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge their powers and duties, or the throne is vacant and a new monarch has not yet been dete ...

, she used her authority to confiscate Brictric's lands and threw him into prison, where he died.

Samuel Lysons Samuel Lysons (1763 – June 1819) was an English antiquarian and engraver who, together with his elder brother Daniel Lysons (1762–1834), published several works on antiquarian topics. He was one of the first archaeologists to investiga ...

in his '' Magna Britannia'' refers to a Godeva as being the "widow of Brictric, in dower" of two manors in Devon in a footnote to his table of the general division of property at the time of the Domesday survey. Brictric's other lands were granted after Matilda's death in 1083 by her eldest son King

William Rufus William II (; – 2 August 1100) was King of England from 26 September 1087 until his death in 1100, with powers over Normandy and influence in Scotland. He was less successful in extending control into Wales. The third son of William the Co ...

(1087–1100) to Robert FitzHamon (died 1107), the conqueror of

Glamorgan Glamorgan (), or sometimes Glamorganshire ( or ), was Historic counties of Wales, one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolishment in 1974. It is located in the South Wales, south of Wales. Originally an ea ...

, whose daughter and sole heiress Maud (or Mabel) FitzHamon brought them to her husband Robert de Caen, 1st Earl of Gloucester (pre-1100 – 1147), a natural son of Matilda's younger son King Henry I (1100–1135). Thus Brictric's fiefdom became the

feudal barony of Gloucester The feudal barony of Gloucester or Honour (feudal barony), Honour of Gloucester was one of the largest of the mediaeval English feudal barony, English feudal baronies in 1166, comprising 279 knight's fees, or Manorialism, manors. The constituent ...

Landholdings

Brictric held manors in several counties in the West Country and elsewhere in England. In the Domesday Book he is rarely named in full as "Son of Algar", and thus references to plain "Brictric" cannot be assumed to relate to him unless suggested by circumstantial evidence, namely the manor's subsequent descent to Queen Matilda and/or to the feudal barony of Gloucester. The feudal barony of Gloucester was one of the largest in the kingdom, and in the '' Cartae Baronum'' return of 1166 comprised 279

knight's fee In feudal Anglo-Norman England and Ireland, a knight's fee was a unit measure of land deemed sufficient to support a knight. It would not only provide sustenance for himself, his family, and servants, but also the means to furnish himself and h ...

s, or separate manors.

In Devon

Brictric's certain landholdings in Devon are listed in the Domesday Book consecutively within the first chapter ''Terra Regis'' ("Land of the King") under the Latin heading: ''Infra scriptas terras tenuit Brictric post Regina Mathildis'' ("Below are written the lands Brictric held, later Queen Matilda") and comprise the following:Thorne & Thorne, part 1, chap. 1, 57–71 * Northlew (''Levia'') * Halwill (''Halgewelle'') *

Clovelly Clovelly () is a privately owned harbour village in the Torridge District, Torridge district of Devon, England. The settlement and surrounding land belongs to John Rous, who inherited it from his mother in 1983. He belongs to the Hamlyn family ...

(''Clovelie'') *

Bideford Bideford ( ) is a historic port town on the estuary of the River Torridge in north Devon, South West England. It is the main town of the Torridge District, Torridge Districts of England, local government district. Toponymy In ancient records Bi ...

(''Bedeford'') * Littleham (''Liteham'') * Langtree (''Langetrev'') * Iddesleigh (''Edeslege'') *

Winkleigh Winkleigh is a civil parish and small village in Devon, England. It is part of the local government area of Torridge District Council. The population of the parish at the 2011 census was 1,305, compared to 1,079 in 1901. The population of the el ...

(''Wincheleie'') * Ashreigney (''Aisse'') * Lapford (''Slapeford'') * High Bickington (''Bichentone'') * Morchard Bishop (''Morchet'') * Holcombe Burnell (''Holecu_be'') * Halberton (''Halsbretone'') * Ashprington (''Aisbertone'')

References

External links

Domesday search for Beorhtric
* ; also {{PASE, 19805, Beorhtric 39 Anglo-Saxon people 11th-century English landowners