GEN-MEDIEVAL-L Archives

Archiver > GEN-MEDIEVAL > 1995-07 > 0805967073


From: Jan Smith< >
Subject: Re: Medieval names
Date: Mon, 17 Jul 95 07:44:33 GMT


In article <3ub9tb$> (Lblanchard) writes:
>A.D.500 is about a millenium before the period I study, but the two
>chroniclers Gildas and Nennius (seventh or eighth centuries, I think)
>should be a fertile source, as would be the collection of early Welsh
>tales called The Mabinogion. Geoffrey of Monmouth's early twelfth-century
> _History of the Kings of England_ traces them back to the legendary
>Brutus.
>
Gildas is a bit earlier, mid-sixth century, I believe. If the original
poster is after mediaeval names, a good source is _Onomasticon
Anglo-Saxonicum_, which is literally a directory of all the names extant
during that period. It is essentially a list of the names found on charters
and documents of the period in England before the Norman Conquest. It may
well be hard to obtain a copy, however; try university libraries. But,
as Laura suggests, a squint at the old chronicles will provide many
names.

>Laura Blanchard

Jan.

This thread: