Alongside Eadric ‘the Wild’, Hereward ‘the Wake’ occupies a semi-mythological status. Rising in rebellion in 1070 against Norman occupation following the English defeat at Hastings in 1066 Hereward, so the legend goes, made his heroic stand at Ely (in modern Cambridgeshire). He has become something of an ‘English’ hero in later fiction, embodying the myth of the ‘Norman yoke’.

The now-famous rail advert, featuring a (wildly fictionalised) Hereward. Source: https://chandlerozconsultants.wordpress.com/2019/06/03/who-was-hereward-outlaw-legends-and-the-myth-of-the-norman-yoke/

Who was Hereward? Accounts of his resistance are found in the E Manuscript of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and the Liber Eliensis, a twelfth-century product of Ely. The most extensive treatment, however, is given by the Gesta Herewardi, surviving in a thirteenth-century manuscript but likely written in the early twelfth century. This purports to have copied an earlier (now lost) manuscript by Leofric, in conjunction with a number of eye-witness testimonies.

The Gesta includes a rather fanciful set of stories involving exile, shipwreck, a duel and fight with a bear. Hereward returns to England and runs merry rings around the Normans from Ely, sneaking into their camp, and William’s siege is unsuccessful, despite (or perhaps because of) the use of a witch. Somewhat disappointingly (or, given the source, perhaps entirely as expected), Hereward ultimately reconciles with William. Certainly, Hereward appears in Domesday Book, holding land primarily in Lincolnshire and Warwickshire.1

You can find a (substantially abridged) translation of the Gesta here, and a wonderful article on it here.

Photo Source: Wikipedia

The Nicknames

As ever, what we’re specifically interested in here is the nicknames. Hereward himself is not given the nickname ‘the Wake’ until the thirteenth century, and it is not entirely clear what this name denotes, although it may denote ‘the wakeful one’.2 Within the Gesta, Hereward is given the nickname ‘the Outlaw’.3

But I’d like to draw your attention to a single passage of the Gesta which is remarkably onomastically dense for its size and is, by my reckoning, the single most interesting extract in studying nicknames within early medieval England (caveats noted below). In this scene, after returning to England from his exile, Hereward draws together a number of his supporters to organise his rebellion against the Normans. It is worth looking at a few of Hereward’s supporters in more depth.

Photo Source: Wikipedia

Some nicknames come in a pair. We are told that the two nephews of Hereward are called Siward ‘the Blond’ and Siward ‘the Red’, presumably in a reference to hair colour. Returning to this point writing this blog post strikes me as interesting - why do two (presumably) sibling have the same name? This pattern of differentiation is mirrored in Wulfric ‘the Black’ and Wulfric ‘the Blond’, who we also find among the rebels.

Hereward’s servant, we are told, is names Martin ‘Lightfoot’, presumably in reference to his speed. Interesting parallels may be drawn here with Harald ‘Harefoot’, son of Cnut and later king of England, whose nickname may denote a similar meaning.

But what’s really interesting here is the uniquely large number of explicit explanations and ‘meanings’ of nicknames in the Gesta.

Leofwine ‘Sickle’, the text suggests, got his nickname

‘chancing to be alone in a meadow cutting grass, he had been set upon by a score of local peasants with iron pitchforks and spears in their hands, whereupon quite alone with only his sickle he wounded many and killed some, chargin among them like a reaper, and finally putting them all the flight’.4

Wulfric ‘Heron’ was

‘so-called because he once happened to be at Wroxham Bridge where four brothers were brought who, although innocent, were, to be executed; and terrifying the hangmen who had called him 'heron' in mockery, he manfully caused the inncoent men to be released,a nd killed some of their enemies’.5

Leofwine 'the Dodger’

‘was called this because although often captured by enemies he had astutely escaped, frequently killing his guards’.6

Wulfric ‘the Black’

‘got his name because he had once daubed his face with charcoal and gone unrecognized into a garrison’.7

Chronology

Explicit explanations of nicknames are infuriatingly rare among early medieval English texts. That’s one of the great pleasures of researching them - trying desperately to guess what on earth a medieval author might have meant by the obscure, offensive or ludicrous names. So why the substantial number of indepth explanations here? I think we might be able to find some explanation for the remarkable frequency of explanation in the Gesta in its date and theme.

What the example of Hereward’s companions and their nicknames explores best is the question of chronology - this is a crucial and underappreciated topic in the study of historical nicknames. When we’re looking at historical nicknames, it’s imperative to know when they were used. If a nickname appears with a witness in a charter, we have evidence for its contemporary use. We still don’t know if it was used by the named individual themselves, or if they approved of the name, but the use of the nickname can be understood within contemporary social systems. But if we have a nickname existing only in later sources, we have no proof of its contemporary use. Instead, it might therefore be more useful to understand these names within the context of retrospective remembrance; in creating images of the past.

It’s clear that most of the nicknames employed in the Gesta are intended to stress the bravery of Hereward’s followers, already by the 12th century a semi-mythological tale. Are the nicknames themselves a creation of later authors to emphasise that bravery? What I think is more likely, however, is that these nicknames are genuine, but that the explicit explanations of their origin are retrospective, in order to further the text’s themes. The author of the Gesta, met with the host of nicknames we have evidence of existing before the Conquest, must have sought a (now lost) explanation for them, while appreciating their use to him as a storyteller.

Certainly, all of these nicknames have viable explanations other than those provided, contextualised in other examples of pre-Conquest nicknames. Leofwine ‘Sickle’ is more likely named after employment, as appears often in early medieval English nicknames. Wulfric ‘Heron’ is among a number of bird-themed nicknames (eg. Ælfric ‘Kite’ and Godwine ‘Hedge-Sparrow’), and may denote a physical or characteristic similarity to the bird, or perhaps employment in fishing. ‘The Black’ appears often as a nickname, in reference to hair colour and general swarthiness.

So, what me might have in this passage is a perfect example of the process of time on the use of nicknames in history. Did a set of nicknames emerge for Hereward’s rebel companions during their lifetime, the product of community interactions? Were those nicknames, now lost, co-opted by the author of the Gesta in order to improve their story, adding in fictitious back-story to provide explanations? These are, sadly, unknowable questions, but the case provided by Hereward’s companions illustrates an important set of questions about how we understand and use historical nicknames.