Mr. Cornwell,

let me first say, that I love your books and have given me new information to embellish my own Tidwell genealogy.  According to research, Tidwell comes from the name of a location known Tidi’s wall or Tidi’s well.  Tidi, was allegedly a Saxon Chieftan (circa 730 AD)  in the area now called Tydeswell in Derbyshire England first mentioned in the Doomsday Book of 1086.  The first recorded Tidwell is Henry de Tydeswell in 1273.   There is very little information other than this and your books have given me a wealth of information about the Saxons, Danes, etc during this period.   My question and don’t know if you can answer it or not:  I know that surnames did not come into common use until after the Norman invasion by Willian the Conqueror in 1066 (at least that’s what I remember from some source).  Assuming someone would be named Henry of Tydeswell based on being from the Saxon village of Tydeswell, would they eventually be called Henry Tydeswellf (or Tidwell) and if so how would a second Henry of Tydeswell be called….unclear on this issue.  I would appreciate your thoughts on the surname issue.  So would I be right in assuming that the Tidwell genealogy began with someone from Tydeswell (Tidi’s Wall)?  I have followup questions if you can answer this one first.  Thank you for GREAT reading.  I am reading the CD audio versions on way to and from work (2 hrs round trip) every morning.  I am on the 4th in the series for the second time around.

Michael