First Published: 2010
In this book we learn the origins of British surnames, and through the origin we learn about some historic facts in Britain
The Romans denominated different names: praenomen, nomen, cognomen and agnomina.
The praenomen was a first name chosen by the parents of a Roman child. Most praenomina were so common that most people were called by their praenomina only by family or close friends. For this reason, although they continued to be used, praenomina gradually disappeared from public records during imperial times.
The nomen gentilicium ( was a hereditary name borne by the peoples of Roman Italy and later by the citizens of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. It was originally the name of one's gens (family or clan) by patrilineal descent. However, as Rome expanded its frontiers and non-Roman peoples were progressively granted citizenship and concomitant nomen, the latter lost its value in indicating patrilineal ancestry.
A cognomen was the third name of a citizen of ancient Rome, under Roman naming conventions. Initially, it was a nickname, but lost that purpose when it became hereditary.
An agnomen in the Roman naming convention, was a nickname, just as the cognomen had been initially. However, the cognomina eventually became family names, and so agnomina were needed to distinguish between similarly-named persons. However, as the agnomen was an additional and optional component in a Roman name, not all Romans had an agnomen.
Domesday Book was where the Normans recorded names of landowners. Domesday Book is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of King William the Conqueror. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle states that in 1085 the king sent his agents to survey every shire in England, to list his holdings and dues owed to him.
The king's Tenants-in-Chief held estates called Manors. In medieval and early modern Europe, a tenant-in-chief (or vassal-in-chief) was a person who held his lands under various forms of feudal land tenure directly from the king or territorial prince to whom he did homage, as opposed to holding them from another nobleman or senior member of the clergy.
Free tenants, also known as free peasants, were tenant farmer peasants in medieval England who occupied a unique place in the medieval hierarchy. They were characterized by the low rents which they paid to their manorial lord. They were subject to fewer laws and ties than villeins.
In this group we have the franklins and husbandmen.
In the Kingdom of England from the 12th to 15th centuries, a franklin was a member of a certain social class or rank. In the Middle English period, a franklin was simply a freeman; that is, a man who was not a serf. In the feudal system under which people were tied to land which they did not own serfs were in bondage to a member of the nobility who owned that land.
A husbandman in England in the Middle Ages and the early modern period was a small landowner. The social status of a husbandman was below that of a yeoman.
The serfs worked for other peasants. Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism, and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery. It developed during late antiquity and the Early Middle Ages in Europe and lasted in some countries until the mid-19th century.Unlike slaves, serfs could not be bought, sold, or traded individually, though they could, depending on the area, be sold together with land.
In the Middle Ages the miller was a tenant, entitled to collect one sixteenth of the flour he milled. Medieval millers operated grain mills, which were used to grind wheat, barley, and oats into flour. Millers were an essential component of the community in the Middle Ages, as grain was a staple food, and flour was used to bake bread – one of the most important foods of the time.
The smiths were iron-workers, making tools and implements. A 'Smith' was described according to the metals that he worked such as a goldsmith, silversmith or a blacksmith.
Dying wool was an important occupation in the Middle Ages. The plants that were used to dy were woad, madder and corkir.
Madder roots produce a variety of reds including orange reds, brick red, blood red and fiery reds. The colour depends on the soil the roots where grown, their age, the mineral content of the water used for dyeing, the temperature of the dye pot, and how much madder you use in relation to the fibre.
In Medieval times the bailiff was the one to supervise the peasants. In medieval England there were bailiffs who served the lord of the manor. The bailiffs of manors were, in effect, superintendents; they collected fines and rents, served as accountants, and were, in general, in charge of the land and buildings on the estate.
The reeve was the foreman working under the direction of the bailiff. In Anglo-Saxon England, a reeve was an administrative official serving the king or a lesser lord in a variety of roles. After the Norman Conquest, it was an office held by a man of lower rank, appointed as manager of a manor and overseer of the peasants.
The hayward was responsible for keeping the hedges in order so that the cattle won't wander off. This was an unpopular job at the time. Hayward, or "hedge warden", was an officer of an English parish dating from the Middle Ages in charge of fences and enclosures; also, a herdsman in charge of cattle and other animals grazing on common land. Their main job was to protect the crops of the village from livestock.
Robin Hood was first mentioned in a York assize document in 1226. He seems to have lived in the forests around Barnsdale in Yorkshire. However, from the 15th century stories proliferated and placed him near Nottigham. The historicity of Robin Hood has been debated for centuries. A difficulty with any such historical research is that Robert was a very common given name in medieval England. The oldest references to Robin Hood are not historical records, or even ballads recounting his exploits, but hints and allusions found in various works. From 1261 onward, the names "Robinhood", "Robehod", or "Robbehod" occur in the rolls of several English Justices as nicknames or descriptions of malefactors. The majority of these references date from the late 13th century. Between 1261 and 1300, there are at least eight references to "Rabunhod" in various regions across England, from Berkshire in the south to York in the north.
We also discover in the book what is called the ceremony of the boy bishop which began in York in 1221. Boy bishop or Chorister Bishop is the title of a tradition in the Middle Ages, whereby a boy was chosen, for example, among cathedral choristers, to parody the adult bishop, commonly on the feast of Holy Innocents on 28 December.
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