Heafodbotl

This term was translated into the Latin of English law as capitale mesuagium = a chief *messuage. It was a broad term which referred to the hall or home of a *thegn; certainly, someone of higher status than his neighbours. It was used also of an ancestral home. In time, as English and Norman usage blended, this term was replaced by *manor. [OldEngl. heafod = head, chief + botl = building, place] -

Cf. Caput honoris