Editing Hereward the Wake (section)

==Name==
{{lang|ang|Hereward}} is an [[Old English name]], composed of the elements {{langnf|ang|here|army}}, and {{lang|ang|ward}} (meaning 'guard'). It is cognate with the [[Old High German]] name {{lang|goh|Heriwart}}.<ref>Room, Adrian (1992) ''Brewer's Names'', London: Cassell, {{ISBN|0-304-34077-4}}</ref> Within the 12th-century ''Gesta'', Hereward is given the epithet 'outlaw'.

The epithet 'the Wake' is first attested in the late 14th-century ''Peterborough Chronicle'', as the Old English {{lang|ang|wæcnan}}. The 18th-century first editor of the chronicle, [[Joseph Sparke]], ascribed the epithet to a 'John of Peterborough', who is otherwise unknown to history.<ref>"Obiit etiam Brando abbas Burgi, patruus dicti Hereward le Wake, cui ex regis collatione successit Turoldus." ''Chronicon Angliae Petriburgense'' AD 1069, ed. [[J.A. Giles]]. ([[Caxton Society]]; 2.) 1845. p. 55. [https://books.google.com/books?id=UN4uAAAAMAAJ Available from Google Books]. The work was edited in the 18th century by J.&nbsp;Sparke in ''Historiae Anglicanae Scriptores Varii'', (London, 1727).</ref> Two potential [[etymologies]] have been suggested:

The most common interpretation is that {{lang|ang|wæcnan}} means 'the watchful', by comparison with [[Dutch language|Dutch]] {{lang|nl|waken}} which means 'to guard' or 'to watch over'.<ref>"Hereward the Wake" entry in Elizabeth Knowles, (2006), ''Oxford Dictionary of Phrase And Fable''. Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|019920246X}}</ref> This interpretation was adopted by the later mythology. In [[Charles Kingsley]]'s 1865 novel ''[[Hereward the Wake (novel)|Hereward the Wake: the Last of the English]]'', Hereward acquires it when, with the help of his servant Martin Lightfoot, he foils an assassination attempt during a hunting party by a group of knights jealous of his popularity.<ref>{{cite book|title=Hereward the Wake: the Last of the English|first=Charles|last=Kingsley|publisher=T. Nelson & Sons Ltd|pages=75–78}}</ref>

The alternative theory is that the name originated from the [[Baron Wake of Liddell|Wake family]], the Norman landowners who gained Hereward's land in [[Bourne, Lincolnshire]], after his death. The Wakes may have applied their name to Hereward to imply a family connection and therefore legitimise their claim to the land. The family claimed descent from Hereward's daughter by his second wife, Alftruda.<ref>See King, E. "The Origins of the Wake Family: the early history of the barony of Bourne in Lincolnshire." ''Northamptonshire Past and Present''; 5 (1973–77), pp. 166–76.</ref>