ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2548 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2548 ************************************ 24 Sep 2002 From: "Brian M. Scott" Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel! You asked for help in identifying the two names appearing in the inscription MENRIC FIL' IEDRIVEU on a 13th or 14th century seal matrix found near Lindisfarne. In particular, you wondered whether might be a form of the name or perhaps of the Welsh name . [1] First let me apologize for taking so long to reply. Summer doldrums are partly to blame, but mostly I had hoped that with further examination of the photograph of the seal we might be able to offer more definite suggestions. Unfortunately, this proved not to be the case, and what we have to offer is less than satisfying. Neither nor appears to be a variant of any familiar name. In particular, we are very doubtful that is a form of the Latinized German name . If the transcription MENRIC FIL' IEDRIVEU is accurate, there's nothing more that we can say. However, we are not sure that the transcription is entirely correct: our best efforts with the photograph of the seal matrix, including applying various filters, adjusting brightness and contrast, inverting to get a negative, converting to greyscale, etc. have not entirely convinced us of the reading, especially the sequence DR and the last U. The U is especially troublesome: in this script we would expect V, as indeed appears earlier in the name. In particular, we wonder whether the R and U could in fact be N. On this reading the patronym could perhaps be a variant of the Welsh masculine name , for which we have the following attested 13th and 14th century spellings: [2, 3, 4] Edenewein 1292 Edenewen 1292 Edeneweyn 1292 Edenewint 1292 Edenowein 1292 Edenowen 1292 Edenoweyn 1292, 1325 Edenewyn 1315 If the final letter of the patronym were in fact D rather than U, the name might also be a variant of the common Welsh masculine name , for which we have the following 13th and 14th century forms: [2, 5, 6] Edeneuet 1292, 1294, 1295 Edenevet 1295 Edenuet 1292 Edneuet 1318 Ednyued 1283 These suggestions would be more plausible if we could justify reading the forename as MEURIC, an expected 13th and 14th century form of the Welsh masculine name ; unfortunately, that reading seems incompatible with the rather clear letter shape and also runs into the objection that one would expect the shape V, not U. I wish that we could be more helpful, but failing a sudden brainstorm, these very tentative suggestions are as far as we can go. Heather Rose Jones, Josh Mittleman, Jeannette Hill, Lisa Theriot, and Wes Will also contributed to this letter. We apologize again for the delay. For the Academy, Brian M. Scott 25 September 2002 ===== References and Notes: [1] You actually asked about a name , which you said that you had found in our report 2482; I've substituted , the form cited in the report. [2] Williams-Jones, Keith. The Merioneth Lay Subsidy Roll 1292-3 (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1976). Also the source of the 1318 citation. [3] Lewis, E.A. 'The Proceedings of the Small Hundred Court of the Commote of Ardudwy in the County of Merioneth from 8 October, 1325 to 18 September 1326' in BBCS Vol. 4 Part 2 (May 1928), pp. 153-166. [4] Ellis, T.P. 1924.  The First Extent of Bromfield and Yale, A.D. 1315. Cymmrodorion Record Series No. 11. London. [5] Roberts, Richard Arthur ed. The Court Rolls of the Lordship of Ruthin or Dyffryn-Clwydd of the Reign of King Edward the First. Cymmroddorion Record Series, No. 2. London, 1893. Source of the 1294 citation. [6] Jones, Francis. 'Welsh Bonds for Keeping the Peace, 1283 and 1295' in Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies 13 (1950), pp. 142-144.