S 106
A.D. 764 for 767. Offa, king of Mercia, to Stithberht, abbot; grant of 30 hides (manentes) between Harrow and the Lidding (Wealdstone Brook) and east of the Lidding, Middx., in exchange for 30 hides at Wicham in Ciltinne. Latin.
Archive: Canterbury, Christ Church
MSS: BL Cotton Aug. ii., 26 (s. viii2; BM Facs., i. 9; Ch.L.A., iii, no. 186)
Printed: K 116; B 201; Earle, p. 47; Pierquin, Recueil, pt 1, no. 53.
Translated: Whitelock, EHD, no. 73 (p. 500).
Comments: Sweet, OET, p. 430 (no. 11); Lowe 1935, pp. xiii-xiv, trustworthy; PN Middx, pp. 1, 7, 51; Ch.L.A., iii, no. 186, contemporaneous, very probably original; Bruckner 1965, pp. 26, 28, on script, p. 43 n. 162, p. 45; Ch.L.A., iv, p. xvi, opisthograph, pp. xvii, xviii, on script, p. xxiii, on production; Stenton 1971, p. 205, orginal; Sawyer 1978, p. 101, contemporary, note on political background; Gelling, ECTV, no. 202, original, suggests Wicham may be Wickham in Hurstpierpoint, Sussex, and a district-name Ciltinne may be preserved in nearby East and West Chiltington, p. 188, discussion of Ciltinne; Whitelock, EHD, p. 500, contemporary; Scharer 1982, pp. 233-4, genuine and contemporary; Brown 1986, p. 134, on script; Kelly, Selsey, p. lxxxi n. 69, on Gelling's identification, p. 49, on script; Bailey 1996, p. 66.
Notes: See S 1186a for endorsement, c. 799 x 801.
Written on the face, s. xii:
Offa Rex dedit Stidberhto abbati terram in Middelsexe.
In nomine trino divino .
Regnante in perpetuum domino nostro . Ego . Offa . divina gubernante gratia rex Merciorum . Stidberhtæ venerabili viro atque abbatis cura prædito . terram . xxx. manentium in Middil Saexum . bituih . gumeninga hergae end liddinge . et est vi . manentium et habitatio ab oriente torrentis . Lidding . libentissime concedens donabo . et iste præfatus Stidberht mihi terram totidem manentium id est . xxx . in Ciltinne . in loco ubi dicitur . Wichama . in vicem commutationis perdonavit .
Si quis autem quod absit hanc nostram commutationem infringere pertemtet sciat se coram Christo et angelis ejus rationem redditurum .