Algar was an Anglo-Saxon personal name, frequently mentioned in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manus ...

of 1068. it is impossible to determine whether the many mentions of the name in that record refer to a single person or to several people of the same name. Some mentions of the name have an identifying suffix, such as "Algar Long" and "Algar the Priest". Certainly one of the men of this name was one of only twenty Saxon thanes in Devonshire who survived the

Norman Conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Norman, Breton, Flemish, and French troops, all led by the Duke of Normandy, later styled William the Con ...

in 1066 and retained their antiquated high status as thanes under the new Norman King from whom, according to the

he held two manors as

tenant-in-chief In medieval and early modern Europe, the term ''tenant-in-chief'' (or ''vassal-in-chief'') denoted a person who held his lands under various forms of feudal land tenure directly from the king or territorial prince to whom he did homage, as opp ...

called Chenudestane and Chenuestan (with the probable meaning 'Canute Stone'), at today's

Knowstone Knowstone is a village and civil parish situated in the North Devon district of Devon, England, halfway between the Mid Devon town of Tiverton, Devon and the North Devon town of South Molton. The hamlet of East Knowstone lies due east of the vi ...

South Molton South Molton is a town in Devon, England. It is part of the North Devon local government district. The town is on the River Mole. According to the 2001 census the civil parish of South Molton had a population of 4,093, increasing to 5,108 at the ...

in North Devon.Thorn, Caroline & Frank, (eds.) Domesday Book, (Morris, John, gen. ed.) Vol. 9, Devon, Parts 1 & 2, Phillimore Press, Chichester 1985, part 1, 52:-53: Colwin, Godric, Godwin, Odo, Aldred, Alward, Ansgot, Dunn, Alnoth, Alwin, Edwin, Ulf, Algar, Alric, Aelfric, Leofric, Saewulf, Aelfeva, Alfhild, Godiva One of the wealthiest and most powerful Saxon thanes living at the time of the Norman Conquest was Brictric, son of Algar.

References

Anglo-Saxon people