medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Two points:
First:
I seem to recall the the name of ODERICUS VITALIS (the Norman Benedictine
monk-historian) is similar to that suggested for Stephen Harding - (and my
problem with this is that I thought the -ING ending meant 'son of' as in
the place name 'Wilmington' = 'the fortified dwelling of the sons of
William' which would make Harding a patronymic.) Was not 'Oderic' his
original Saxon name and 'Vital' his name-in-religion given him when he
became a child oblate ?
Second:
In 11th / 12th century Brittany / Anjou I have come across a crop of
'proto-surnames' where the second name seems to get attached to a specific
and very popular Christian name presumably to distinguish this chap from his
like named contemporaries in other families.
I have found 2 dynasties who give these 'proto-surnames' to the Geoffreys of
their families but NOT to other members of the same family who have a
different Christian name.
They are
GEOFFREY BOTTEREL OF PENTHIEVRE IN BRITTANY x 3
Geoffrey Botterel I before 1056 - 24 Aug 1091 or 3.
Geoffrey Botterel II died 1148
Geoffrey Botterel III died 1205
GEOFFREY MARTEL OF ANJOU x 4 or 5
Geoffrey Martel I 938-987/8
Geoffrey Martel II 1000 - 1060
Geoffrey Martel III deposed 1067 (aka Geoffrey the Bearded ?)
Geoffrey Martel IV died 1106
additionally, Geoffrey the Angevin, Count of Nantes died July 1158 is also
called 'Geoffrey Martel' by one chronicler, as if the said chronicler cannot
conceive of a Geoffrey of Anjou who is not a Geoffrey-Martel.
Other Christian names which are equally regularly used in these families
(Fulk, Stephen, Henry, &c to not seem to have attracted this permanent
epithet or surname or whatever.
I offer no explanation: I have just recorded the phenomenon.
Martel presumably = hammer and must originally have referred to fighting
prowess. Does Botterel refer to capacity for drink ??????
----- Original Message -----
From: John M McCulloh <[log in to unmask]>
> R. W. Southern in The Making of the Middle Ages says that an Englishman
> with a name something like Hearding apparently changed his name to Stephen
> on or after his entry into Molesme. Southern continues, "Stephen Harding,
> as he is known to later historians (though his contemporaries knew him
> only by one or the other of these names according as they were French or
> English)...."
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