Edith was a very wealthy woman for her times: in the Domesday Book of 1086 she is recorded as the richest woman under the rank of Earl. Most of this wealth came from her vast land estates which are documented in that book.
Research has shown she possessed over 130 estates/manors – mostly under her Latin name of Eddeva Pulchra (Edith the Fair) – in the east of England: Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, Essex, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire. She also had a few estates in Sussex, Kent and Somerset. These are shown on the map and table below.
For a large proportion of these estates she was ‘Overlord’ of incumbent tenants who were the main residents. However, nearly 50 of the manors were owned by her directly as ‘Lord’ and a number of these would have formed her regular domiciliary residences where she and her family would have spent a lot of their time (probably for short periods as part of her regular domestic circuit) when not residing elsewhere (eg on one of Harold’s estates/customary circuits as part of his own holdings).
A further 50 or so estates, in Lincolnshire, Yorkshire and other counties, may have been hers, but it has not so far been possible to confirm her identification with them.
An idea of what a typical manorial estate of Edith’s may have looked like is given below. Her larger manors would have comprised a Main Hall and some outbuildings (eg: kitchen, store/barn and separate Bower Houses for accommodation) and a small chapel or church.
The following extract from Domesday Book for her most valuable, and perhaps central, estate – Exning in Suffolk – also gives a more detailed description of what such an estate might or could contain.
You can find out more in our 160-page publication ‘The Landboc of Eddeva Pulchra’ which describes all of Edith’s estates with detailed maps and extracts and data from Domesday Book. See our Merchandise page to order your copy now.