Little-known panel in the Bayeux Tapestry! |
For several years, I’ve collected interesting descriptive
names of medieval personages. In the hundreds of years and countless generations
before surnames became popular in the 1200s, it was necessary to distinguish
one Charles or Robert from another. It looks as if the French culture was much
more nickname-oriented than other areas of Europe and Asia.
It would be fun to know if the nicknamed ones knew about their descriptors, and how one hairy man came to deserve his name more than some other bearded, pelted man.
This is not every
medieval epithet or nickname, but as I come across them, I’ll add to this list.
In the meantime, enjoy!
Wilfred the Hairy, Count of
Barcelona (etc.), died 897.
King of France
Charles Martel the Hammer, 676-741
Charles Martel the Hammer, 676-741
Clovis the Riparian
Sigebert the Lame, King of
Cologne, died 509
Louis the Stammerer, King of France
Louis VI the Fat, King of France
Eystein the Fart
Alfred the Great
Carloman the Great (Charlemagne)
William I the Bastard / William the Conqueror
Charles III the Simple, King of France, 879-929
Robert the Strong, Duke of Neustria
Fulk the Rude
Geoffrey le Bel (the Handsome)
Hugh Lusignan le Brun (the Brown)
Edward I, Longshanks, King of England
Ivan the Terrible was not an ancestor! |
Edward I, Longshanks, King of England
Walter d’Espec / Walter the Woodpecker 1066-1153
Louis the Pious / Louis the Debonnaire, King of France
Robert the Pious, King of France
Louis IV d’Outre-Mer (Exile), King of
France, 920-954
Yaroslav the Wise, Prince of Novgorod and Kiev,
980-1054
Edward the Elder, King of England
Edmund Ironside, King of England
Lambert I The Bearded Count
of Mons and Louvain, 950-1015
Malcom II the Destroyer or Avenger, King of Scots
Strange name: Elena Rotenhering
de la Pole b. 1287 at Hull, Yorkshire. |
Malcolm III Canmore (Longneck or Big Head), King of Scots
Géza I Magnus King of Hungary, 1040-1077
Béla II The Blind of
Hungary
Simon le Scrope (the Crab)
Louis VIII the Lion, King of France,
1197-1226
Philip III the Bold, King of France,
1245-1285
Philip IV le Bel/the Fair, King
of France,
1268-1314
William I the Lion, King of Scotland
1165-1214
William Longespee (Long-Sword), son of Henry II
Hugh de Moray, Lord of Duffus, 1162-1214
Hamo Dentatus de Creully, Hamo the Toothy (maybe bucktoothed) 1050-1107
Roger de Bully,
Norman
landowner in Nottinghamshire 1028-1098
Reverend
Richard P. Goodenough married the daughter of Archbishop of York
Garcia IV the
Tremulous, King of Pamplona, Count of Aragon
d. 1000
Adam le Fuckere, William le Fuckere, and Jordan le Cok. Oh, dear. Apparently, the F-word is a very, very old word. Hat tip to historian Kathryn Warner (Edward II blog) for this image. |
Christy K Robinson is the author of five-star nonfiction and fiction historical books, as well as author of Rooting for Ancestors and William and Mary Barrett Dyer websites. You will find her books at http://bit.ly/RobinsonAuthor.
·
We
Shall Be Changed (2010)
· Mary Dyer Illuminated (2013)
· Mary Dyer: For Such a Time as This (2014)
· The Dyers of London, Boston, & Newport (2014)
· Effigy Hunter (2015)
· Anne Marbury Hutchinson: American Founding Mother (2018)
· Mary Dyer Illuminated (2013)
· Mary Dyer: For Such a Time as This (2014)
· The Dyers of London, Boston, & Newport (2014)
· Effigy Hunter (2015)
· Anne Marbury Hutchinson: American Founding Mother (2018)
Christy the chronicler
ReplyDeleteNice alliteration. Thanks!
Delete