There are a number of ways that people ended up with the surname Warland:
According to Paul Vinogradoff, in an essay on Villainage in England 'It is not difficult to draw the inference (that) the etymological connexion for 'wara' is to be sought in the German word for defence -- 'wehre.' The manor defends itself or answers to the king for seven hides. (Paul Vinogradoff, English society in the eleventh century: essays in English medieval history(1908)).
In the book 'The Defence of Wessex: The Burghal Hidage and Anlgo-Saxon Fortifications' (David Hill and Alexander R Rumble, Manchester University Press, 1996), the authors note that the Old English word 'waru' occurs in the first clause of the Burghal Hidage Calculation with a basic meaning of 'defence' or 'protection'. It is cognate with the Old English verbs werian and gewerian (to protect, defend) and the Old English noun weard (guard, protector). The verb werian also has the meaning of 'to be answerable for an amount of tax or dues'. Examples of Old English phrases are provided in this book.
The book 'Ecclesiatical Lordship, Seigneurial Power and the Commercialization of Milling' (Adam Lucas, University of Wollongong, 2004) notes on page 50 that in seventh-century Wessex, the core or inland of a land holding was known as the 'worthy'; the worthy was surrounded by an outer ring of hamlets, all of which were managed by a single ecclesiastical lord. The inner core was free of taxes or dues (geld) while the outer territories - 'outland' or 'warland' - were not. This model was adopted by William I; the land surrounding the core was surrounded by manors consisting of newly settled taxpaying tenants.
The meaning of 'hide'
A key concept in the Anglo-Saxon period (410 - 1066) and beyond is 'hide', a pre-defined area of land usually described as the amount of land sufficient to support a household, or around 120 acres.
Warland as a type of land
The most authoritative reference for the history of 'warland' is the book 'The English Peasantry and the Growth of Lordship' by Rosamond Faith, which devotes an entire and very detailed chapter to 'Warland'.
Faith noted the difference between the words 'inland' and 'outland' (utland in old English). 'Inland' included the manorial centre, the land of the peasants who farmed there, and peasantry of berewicks (detached portions of land where barley (bere) was grown on a 'wic'). The 'inland' was the portion of the estate over which the lord had the most immediate and direct control. Inland was an area exempt from public burdens of all kinds.
'Outland' (utland), also known as sokeland and warland was 'land regarded as belonging to the men seated upon it, but carrying a liability to services and dues to be rendered at the manorial centre to which it was appendant'. Warland was taxable land.
As noted, 'sokeland' and 'warland' have a similar meaning but the former appears to be restricted to eastern England; 'soke' had connotations of 'service due to the kind', delivered from sokeland. The word warland comes from two Old English words: 'waru' meaning 'defence'. So, to 'defend land' meant to perform the services due from it.
Services performed for the 'utware' or 'outwar' were owed in respect of the 'outland'. All 'public' obligations, whether military, judicial, or administrative, were described as 'utwaru'. Faith's book notes that, technically, 'warland' should have been 'outwarland', but somehow the former was adopted.
The people who lived on warland included royal officials and retainers, substantial lords with inlands of their own and peasants. One source suggests that these people housed 'broadly-equal, internally-ranked, patrilineal descent groups farming their own territory'.
These warland 'freemen' were typically farmers who had hides of land; one hide was generally regarded as sufficient for a single family. They were freemen, had hides, but had public obligations (including bearing arms) that people who lived on the inland didn't have.
'The military and defence organisations of both King Alfred and Edward the Elder were all based on the basic unit of the hide and thus on the resources in people, wealth and land of the warland population'.
Without going into more details, the people who lived on warland were typically responsible for bridge and fortification work; felling, dressing and hauling timber (often with 'huge haulage teams' - 'the warland population was the backbone of the long-haul transport system of Anglo-Saxon England'); shifting other heavy materials including salt, lead, hides and wool; driving large number of stock over long distances; providing food to the King. Warland tenants would also cart or lend their own carts and draught stock, a concept known as 'averian' (to supply transport); harvest and haymaking; ploughing.
A lot of this changed when the Normans took over.
According to Faith's book, the Domesday Book 'records the almost total dispossession of the Anglo-Saxon landholding class of the first rank'. King William now owned more than two thirds of all the land.
In the Norman's Domesday Book of 1086, all land was geldable (that is, for which tax or dues were owed), but hides were not the only measure of assessment; some land (such as forrests and more remote areas) had never been 'hidated'. Warland was included in the hides or land for which taxes or dues were payable.
Folio 160v of the Domesday Book states in Latin that LEOFWINE holds CHINNOR, 13 hides, of the king. [There is] land for 11 ploughs. In demesne are 2 [ploughs], and 4 slaves; and 26 villans with 2 bordars have 8 ploughs. There are 20 acres of meadow, [and] woodland 5 furlongs long and 3 furlongs broad. It was worth 6l now 10l.
It goes on to state that: The same man holds COWLEY of the king. There are 4 hides. [There is] land for 10 ploughs. There is 1 hide of warland in demesne (lordship), and 1 plough, and 2 slaves; and 20 villans with 5 bordars have 8 ploughs. There is a mill rendering 40s, and 2 fisheries [rendering] 8s , and 10 acres of meadow, [and] a grove 4 furlongs long and 2 furlongs broad. It was and is worth 100s. The same Leofwine held these lands freely TRE. (see below for further discussion about Cowley).
Cowley, a manor in medieval times, is located about 3 miles southeast of Oxford and is around 5 - 7 miles south of areas of Oxford with known Warland populations in 1600. For a brief summary of the area around Cowley from around 1000 AD, see this page. For more detailed information on Cowley see https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/oxon/vol5/pp76-96
According to A history of the County of Oxford: Volume 1 by L. F. Salzman (editor), published 1939, In contrast to inland, the lord's demesne, exempt from geld, early Norman records sometimes use the word warland to denote the peasant holdings on which this burden fell. The word, which is one of many compounds formed from the Old English waru, 'defence', is much rarer than inland, and few examples of it occur in Domesday Book. In the Oxfordshire survey it is used in the description of a manor in Cowley held by the king's English minister Lewin. The passage runs: Ibi sunt iiii hidae et dimidia. Terra x carucis. Ibi i hida de warland in dominio. It is clear that there is nothing but a difference of phrasing between this passage and words which state less concisely that a lord has taken so much land into demesne de terra villanorum. In either case, the point which the Domesday clerks wished to make was the possible reduction of the geldable area of a manor by the addition of peasant holdings to an exempt demesne.
Notes:
According to Dr Faith's research, the word 'warland' appears in the Domesday Book more frequently in the so-called Scandinavian parts of England that were subject to Danelaw (east and north east). It was often found in those areas in the form of 'scattered outlying areas - whole swarms of smaller settlements', not necessarily under a single manor. This may help to explain the origin of the Oxford Warland family (which has Scandinavian-origin DNA) and also possibly the Cambridgeshire Worland family. On the other hand, in Wessex (where the Dorset Warland family appears to have originated), the situation as described in the Domesday Book was a bit different and the peasants were more closely connected with the manor and its structure rather than living in independent outlying settlements. Dr Faith, however, notes that the way the Domesday Book portrayed the Danelaw area needs to be read carefully; in Wessex and Mercia, kings had established a strong network of well-founded centres where inlands were more common and so more noticeable in the Domesday Book in those areas. She also noted that 'outside the Danelaw many free people went unrecorded'. In other words, the peasants on warland in the non-Danelaw areas may simply have not been recorded in the Domesday Book, or were noted as 'villani' (Latin 'villanus', villeins, farm workers or bondmen).
After they documented all the land in the Domeday Book, the Normans introduced a feudal system which required all the former slaves to swear an oath of loyalty to be true to their lord which required the same level of servitude they had suffered under the Anglo-Saxons. They became 'villeins' instead. To quote one source 'the great bulk of the people scarcely suffered less under the brutal cruelty of the Norman than the Britons suffered under their Saxon ancestors'. There were two types of villein: (a) villein 'in gross' who might be sold to any person, like a horse, a cow or a sheep, and (b) villein 'regardant' who came with the land or estate.
Right up to the 15th century, visitors to Britain 'were astonished by the great number of serfs they beheld and the excessive harshness of the servitude' when compared with the situation on the continent. The system of villeinage began to die out from 1500, mostly thanks to the Catholic Church convincing the laity that it was a dangerous practice for one Christian man to hold another in bondage' It was almost completely gone by the reign of King Edward VI (reigned from 1547 to 1553), although slavery of non-Christians was still allowed.
The first known recorded Warland in England was John Warland, recorded as the clerk of Canford and St Andrew's Church Kinson in 1490. It is possible that John was formerly a 'villein regardant' who had 'belonged to bishops, monasteries or other ecclesiastical corporations' which is how he learned to read and write and become a clerk.
The Norwegian name Warland appears to have come from the Rogaland area of Norway (capital - Stavanger) and morphed over the years, possibly from Vatland (1752), then Varlandsli (1791), then Varland (1846), then Warland by the late 1800s.
The Norwegian name may be derived originally from the name given to a farming community - Varland. There are currently two places near Stavanger that still carry the Varland/Vardland name. One is in the township of Strand, the other in Finnøy (Fogn). According to a Norwegian Warland relative, farms with names ending in 'land' were typically established in Norway between 400 and 800 AD. One of two Varland farms was called Vordlandt in 1563 ('vordr' = 'warden'). This (Varland) farm has a hill behind it called 'Varlandsåsen'. The top of the hill was used to watch or guard and a fire was lit to warn others if there was any danger. Words with 'varde' and 'var' in the name hanre the same base 'var' which means attentive. People on the farm were responsible for guarding the area. (See also Leidang
It is interesting that the word 'waru' in Old English has a similar meaning of 'defend'. Is it possible that the English version, 'warland', was based on the way in which some early Viking invaders to Britain set up their own local 'varlands' and this became 'waruland' then 'warland' in both the Danelaw area and at least one area in Dorset?
For more information on the Warlands in Norway see this page.
The Warland surname in Belgium is also the result of morphing over the years. The surnames Wallerand/Walrand first appeared in the Arimont - Malmédy - Stavelot - Bellevaux area of Belgium from the early 1600s. Walrand then changed to Warland for some individuals in the early 1700s but appears again as Walrand in the late 1700s. However, it settled back to Warland by the 1800s.
Weirs and Wars
According to Harrison's Surnames of the UK, Warland "... is a dweller at the weirland, usually given to that area of a river or estuary which used to be fished...". This link to the word 'weir' is also found in place names such as Wareham ('homestead at the weir'), and Warleigh ('clearing/wood by the weir'). The weir/war connection is found mostly in the Dorset/Devon/Kent and Hertfordshire areas of Britain.
The Oxford English Dictionary complete version notes 'war' as an obsolete version of the word 'weir'. There are a number of other English surnames with links to 'war', including Anschil de Waras (1066), John de Ware (1276), and William de la War (1194), all apparently linked to the old English word 'waer', meaning 'weir'. They may also be related to the original word 'wara'.
Waleran/Walrond
Another theory proposed for the origin of the name is that it derives from the Waleran/Walrond family. There are at least two variations on this story, neither of which seems the likely origin of the name - but can't be discounted completely.
Devonshire
Prior to 1066, Fifehead Neville was held by an unnamed English thegn (nobleman), but by the time of the completion of the Domesday Book in 1087, the manor of Fifehead Neville is recorded as being in the possession of Waleran Venator. The name Waleran (meaning Wall or 'Strong' Raven the Huntsman) is Germainic, and was introduced to Britain by the Anglo-Saxons in the eighth century, but was also re-introduced at the Conquest by the Norman-French. Waleran could possibly have been a native Englishman, but it is more likely that he was a Norman invader, who accompanied William I on his Conquest, and as a favourite was rewarded with huge hunting estates. His under-tenant in Fifehead Neville was Ingelrann, who also held land in Somerset after the Conquest (see Domesday Fifehead). (Source: http://www.thefifeheadtree.btck.co.uk/Roots-WhatsinaName/WalerananddeNevilleFamilies)
The Domesday survey of 1086 noted the following:
LAND OF WALERAN THE HUNTSMAN. Waleran holds COTEFORD of the King. Erlebald held it in the time of King Edward, and it paid geld for 6 hides. The land is 6 carucates. Of this there are in demesne 3 hides, and there are 2 carucates, and 3 serfs; and there are 7 villans.
The following information is taken from the book, 'The Ancestry and Descendants of John Alexander Thompson Nexsen' by Joshua Nexsen, published in 1925, with extracts here on the Knight France website.
[The name Waldron is an] old Devonshire family, called at different times de Waleran, Walleronde, Walrond, Walrund, and Waldron, were seated at Bradfelle in the time of Henry II. The original deed of transfer of Bradfelle from Fulke Payne, Lord of Brampton, to Walerande at the time of King John is still in possession of the family. The deed is not dated, but Fulke Payne was dead previous to the first year of the reign of Henry III. The Walerans were of Baronial rank at the time of King Henry II.
Sir Walter II Waleran (abt 1160, Broad Chalk, Wiltshire - abt 1200), 'Venator' (the hunter), Lord of Grimstead. Son of Sir Walter Waleran (1120 - 1155). Married Isabel Longspee (1150/54 - ), supposedly descended from William Longspee, Earl of Salisbury. Walter and Isabel had three daughters. Walter Waleran died in around 1200.
Despite the similar sound and location, there is no reason to believe that this family is connected with the Warland name.
Isle of Wight Walerans
As noted on the Isle of Wight page on this site, the Isle of Wight Record Office holds a series of records relating to the Warland family on the island from 1617. These are recorded under the series 'JER/BAR - Barrington/Simeon Families of Swainston' > 'JER/BAR/3 - Swainston Estate' > Shalfleet Parsonage, Warlands, Mainland Properties, Family Papers, Other Properties, Miscellaneous'.
According to the source on the Isle of Wight page, for nearly three centuries from the 1100s, the Trenchard family held Shalfleet in chief. In the 13th century, the Trenchard family acquired more land. A portion of it was granted by Waleran Trenchard to one Ralph Bardolf, who sold it to Amice wife of the sixth Earl of Devon; she in about 1250 gave it to Breamore Priory to be held by them. Thus two separate manors were evolved, one the Trenchard Manor and the other that held by Breamore Priory; the overlordship of both belonged to the lords of Christchurch.(Source: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Trenchard-40)
As noted on the page, the land that was originally known as 'Waleran's Land', became known as 'Walrond's Land', and by 1837 became known as 'Warland's lands and farm'.
There is no reason to connect Waleran Trenchard, or the land that became known as Warland's Farm, to the Warland family in Dorset.
Page created 1985, updated 29 December 2024. Copyright © Andrew Warland