Medieval Craven

There are several theories regarding the origin of the name Craven. One suggestion is that it derives from the Welsh prefix craf which is used in words such as crafu 'to scratch/to scrape', crafwr 'a scratcher/a scraper' and crafanc 'a claw/talon'. This would suggest a meaning something like 'scraped land/scratched land', likely relating to the limestone features which are common to much of the area. This derivation corresponds with other known early British kingdom names. An alternate proposal is that the name derives from the Middle Welsh crav, which commonly refers to wild garlic but may also have been used for various related plants such as other members of the onion and garlic families. ==History==

Medieval Craven extended much further than modern Yorkshire, even today the Church of England's Deanery of South Craven, extends far beyond the borders of the historic county. Although the boundaries of Medieval Craven are the subject of much speculation, it seems that its south-eastern boundary was another British realm, the Kingdom of Elmet. With the conquest of Scandinavian York, the area that is today's Yorkshire was divided into three Ridings (from Old Norse þriðjungr meaning "a third part"), each administered by its own thing (governing assembly). It has been suggested that the West Riding comprised the upland areas still occupied by Celtic Britons but under Viking control. This unified the Kingdom of Elmet with the areas of Craven that fell within modern Yorkshire. Although the West Riding was created during the Scandinavian period, it continued as an effective unit of administration until 1974, when it was abolished following the Local Government Act 1972. Alternatively, it has also been suggested that numerous areas of Northern England were attached to Yorkshire as an administrative convenience by the compilers of the Domesday Book. This would suggest that the original boundaries of Viking Yorkshire were much smaller, and that Craven could have been a separate polity until the Norman Invasion of England. ==Craven in the Domesday Book==

The Domesday Book (1086) was essentially an economic census of England, completed during the reign of William the Conqueror, to find out how much each landholder had in arable land and what that land was worth in terms of the taxes they used to pay under Edward the Confessor. The areas of ploughland were counted in carucates: the land a farmer could manage throughout the year with a team of eight oxen. That area varied with the local soil but on average it was 120 acres, (50 hectares). Some carucates are designated Waste, many of these were devastated and depopulated by the Norman army during the Harrying of the North 1069–70, ca.17 years prior to this survey. The Land of the King in Craven, Domesday Book folio 301v Mostly in Airedale but also in Lonsdale for that was then considered part of Yorkshire. The Land of William de Percy in Craven, Domesday Book folio 322 William de Percy was the founder of the powerful English House of Percy. } waste||Beornwulf||William de Percy The Land of Gilbert Tison in Craven, Domesday Book folio 327 By 1118 Tison had suffered a demotion and his lands returned to the king then given to the Houses of Romille, Percy, Fitz John and d'Aubigny }||Gamal Bern||Gilbert Tison The Land of Hugh fitzBaldric in Craven, Domesday Book folio 327v An "in crave" entry in this folio is difficult to explain. It is followed by Holecher, Bretebi which Robert H Skaife identified with Holker Hall and neighbouring Birkby Hall east of Grange-over-Sands (now in Cumbria), ignoring the Craven title. William Farrer had connected them with Craven as parts of Kettlewell, although no longer traceable. All the rest of Hugh fitzBaldric's land were in East Yorkshire, and he was High Sheriff of Yorkshire 1069–1086. The Land of Erneis du Buron in Craven, Domesday Book folio 327v In 1066 a nephew of Ralph Tesson, Ernies de Buron, from Beuron near Mantes, Normandy provided William the Conqueror with money, men and the ships for the invasion of England. Ernies fought at the Battle of Hastings and is named in the Falaise Roll and in the Rolls of Battle Abbey. He settled in England 1068. The Domesday Book lists that he had seventy-two properties in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire. In 1086 he succeeded Hugh fitz Baldric as High Sheriff of Yorkshire. However between 1102 and 1118 his lands were confiscated by King Henry I and given to the House of Romille. These lands formed the basis of the Honour of Clitheroe. == References ==