c. A.D. 1045. Agreement between Archbishop Eadsige and Æthelric concerning land at Chart, Stowting, Milton and a haga in Canterbury, all in Kent. The land at Chart had been purchased by Archbishop Ceolnoth wth his own money from the thegn Hæletha and granted to him by charter by Æthelwulf, king of Wessex (A.D. 839 x 856; cf. CCC 18, S 1625). Old and Middle English versions

Archive:

Canterbury, Christ Church

MSS:

1. London, British Library, Cotton Augustus ii. 70 (s. xi med.; Old English; BM Facs., iv. 27)
2. London, British Library, Stowe 853, ff. 30v-31v (s. xvii; Old English)
3. Canterbury, D.C., Reg. A, f. 143r-v (s. xiii; Middle English)
4. Canterbury, D.C., Reg. E, f. 44r (s. xiii ex.; Middle English)

Printed:

K, 773, both versions; Earle, pp. 243-5, both versions

Printed and Translated:

Thorpe, pp. 354-7, both versions; Robertson, Charters, no. 101 (pp. 188-91), Old English only

Comments:

BM Facs., iv, p. 7, MS 1 contemporary; Wallenberg, KPN, pp. 324-5, on place-names; Barker 1949, p. 107, original; Harmer, Writs, p. 51, not earlier than 26 Dec. 1045; Oleson 1955, p. 154, authentic, dates it 1045; Robertson, Charters, pp. 436-8; HRH, p. 236, probably original, dates it 1045 x 1047; Brooks 1984, pp. 105, 148, 302-3, 354-5 n. 65; Ker, Catalogue, p. xxxii, on script; Lowe 1993a, pp. 10-15, on MSS 3, 4; Kennedy 1995, p. 141 n. 43, on detail of witness-list; Pelteret 1995, p. 167

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    • + Her swutelað on þisum gewrite embe þa forewyrd þe Ægelric worhte wið Eadsige arcebisceop æt þam lande æt Cert . þe Ceolnoð arcebisceop gebohte æt Hæleþan þam þegene mid his agenan sceatte . 7 Aþelulf cing hit gebocode Ceolnoþe arcebisceope on ece yrfe . Þis synd þænne þa forewyrd þæt Ægelric hæbbe þæt land æt Cert his dæg . 7 æfter his dæge ga þænne þæt land þam arcebisceope Eadsige on hand . swa gegodod swa heom bam gerisan mage . 7 syððan heora begra dæg agan si . Ægelrices 7 þæs arcebisceopes Eadsiges . þænne ga þis foresprecene land into Cristes cyricean mid mete 7 mid mannan eal swa hit stande . for Ægelrices saðle . 7 for Eadsiges arcebisceopes . þam Godes þeowan to fostre . 7 to scrude . þe þærinne Godes lof dreogan sceolan dæges 7 nihtes . 7 Ægelric gifð þa landboc þe þærto gebyreð on his life Criste . 7 þam hirede him to ecere ælmessan . 7 bruce Ægelric . 7 Esbearn his sunu þara oðra landa heora twegra dæg to þam ilcan forewyrdan þe Ægelnoð arcebisceop 7 Ægelric ær geworhtan . þæt is Stuting . 7 Melentun . 7 se haga binnan port þe Ægelric himsylfan getimbrod hæfde . 7 æfter heora twegra dæge fo se arcebisceop Eadsige þærto . gyf he leng libbe þænne hi . oððe loc hwa his æftergencga þænne beo . butan sum heora freonda þa land furþor on þæs arcebisceopes gemede ofgan mage . to rihtan gafole . oððe to oþran forewyrdan . swa hit man þænne findan mage wið þone arcebisceop þe þanne libbe . 7 þises is to gewitnesse Eadweard cyncg . 7 Ælfgyfu seo hlæfdige . 7 Ælwine bisceop . 7 Stigand bisceop . 7 Godwine bisceop . 7 Godric decanus . 7 eal se hired æt Cristes cyricean . 7 Wulfric abbud . 7 eal se hired æt sancte Augustine . 7 Ælfwine abbud . 7 Siweard abbud . 7 Wulfnoð abbud . 7 Godwine eorl . 7 Leofric eorl . 7 Atsur roda . 7 Ælfstan steallære . 7 Eadmær æt Burhham . 7 Godric æt Burnan . 7 Ælfwine se reada . 7 mænig man þærto eacan ge gehadude ge læwede . binnan burgan 7 butan . 7 gif ænig man on uferan dagan gehadud oððe læwede þisne cwyde wille awendan . awendse hine God ælmihtig hrædlice of þisan lænan life into helle wite . 7 þær a wunige mid eallan þam deoflan þe seo laðlice wunung betæht is . buton he þe deoppor hit gebete ær his ende . wið Crist sylfne 7 wið þone hired . Nu synd þissa gewrita þreo . an is innan Cristes cyricean . 7 oþer æt sancte Augustine . 7 þæt þridde hæfþ Ægelric mid him sylfan.
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    Translation

    • + Here is announced in this document the agreement which Æthelric has wrought with Archbishop Eadsige concerning the estate at Chart, which Archbishop Ceolnoth bought from the thegn Hæletha with his own money, and which King Æthelwulf ‘booked’ to Archbishop Ceolnoth in perpetual inheritance. This then is the agreement: that Æthelric is to hold the estate at Chart for his day, and after his day the estate is then to pass into the hands of Archbishop Eadsige, so stocked as they may both consider appropriate. And after both their days – Æthelric’s and Eadsige’s – be over, then this fore-mentioned estate is to pass to Christ Church with produce and men, just as it stands, for the souls of Æthelric and of Archbishop Eadsige, to feed and clothe the servants of God who must perform God’s praise therein day and night. And Æthelric presents the charter that pertains thereto during his life to Christ and to the community as perpetual alms for them. And Æthelric and his son Esbearn shall enjoy the use of their other estates during both their lives on the same terms that Archbishop Æthelnoth and Æthelric had previously made, namely at Stowting and Milton and the town-plot, which Æthelric had himself built. And after both their lives Archbishop Eadsige is to succeed to them, if he were to live longer than they, or whoever his successor then may be, unless one of their friends may acquire it once more with the archbishop’s approval at a fair rent or by such other terms as may then be fixed upon with the archbishop who may then live. As witness to this there is King Edward and the lady Ælfgifu, and Bishop Stigand and Bishop Godwine, and Godric the Dean and all the community at Christ Church, and Abbot Wulfric and all the community at St Augustine’s, and Abbot Ælfwine and Abbot Siweard and Abbot Wulfnoth, and Earl Godwine and Earl Leofric, and Atsur the Red and Ælfstan the Staller and Eadmær of Burhham and Godric of Bourne and Ælfwine the Red, and many men besides, both ecclesiastical and lay, within the borough and beyond. If anyone, ecclesiastic or lay, shall in later days try to deviate from this bequest, may Almighty God forthwith remove him from this transitory life into the torment of Hell, and there he shall ever remain with all the devils to whom that loathsome dwelling is assigned, unless before his death he were to make amends more deeply to Christ himself and to the community. Now there are three of these documents: one is at Christ Church, the second at St Augustine’s and Æthelric himself has the third.
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    Old Text

    • + Her swutela∂ on ˇisum gewrite embe ˇa forewyrd ˇe Ægelric worhte wi∂ Eadsige arcebisceop æt ˇam lande æt Cert . ˇe Ceolno∂ arcebisceop gebohte æt Hæleˇan ˇam ˇegen