S 234

A.D. 688 (19 Aug.). Cædwalla, king, to Aldhelm, abbot; grant of 140 hides (manentes) on both sides of the wood called Kemele (Kemble, Gloucs.), 30 on the east side of the wood of Braydon, Wilts., and 5 at the confluence of the rivers Avon and Wylye. Latin.

Archive: Malmesbury

MSS: 1. BL Lansdowne 417, 10rv (s. xiv/xv)
2. PRO E 164/24, 123v (s. xiii)
3. Bodleian, Wood empt 5, 16v-17v (s. xiii)
4. Oxford, Magdalen College, 172, 83rv (s. xii)

Printed: Wharton, Anglia Sacra, ii. 11; K 29 ex MS 1 and Wharton; Hamilton, William of Malmesbury, G.P., pp. 352-3 ex MS 4; Brewer, Reg. Malm., pp. 284-5 ex MS 2; B 70 ex Brewer, Hamilton, K and MS 1.

Comments: Stenton 1918, p. 438, of ill repute (= Stenton 1970, p. 52); Grundy, Gloucs., pp. 146-7; Darlington 1955, pp. 4, 90, spurious but with genuine elements; Watkin 1956, p. 211 and n. 21, dubious; Finberg, ECW, no. 185, spurious; Finberg, ECWM, no. 4A, spurious; Edwards 1988, pp. 97-100, authenticity uncertain, may represent a conflation of S 231 with a charter of Centwine.

+ In nomine domini nostri Jhesu Christi ! Omnia 'quæ videntur temporalia sunt , et quæ non videntur æterna sunt.'1 Et iterum lubrica sæculi fragilitas ostenditur , cum per eundum apostolum dicitur : 'Nichil intulimus in hunc mundum , nec auferre quid possumus.'2 Iccirco caducis et terrenis æterna celestis infulæ corona comparanda est . Quamobrem ego Ceduualla , regnante domino , rex aliquam terram , pro animæ meæ remedio et indulgentia piaculorum meorum , conferre ac donare abbati Aldelmo decreveram , id est , ex utraque parte silvæ cujus vocabulum est Cemele , de orientali parte termini stratarum , usque famosum amnem qui dicitur Temis . cxl.ta manentes , et in alio loco . xxxa . de orientali parte silvæ Bradon , et . vque . manentes in loco ubi conjunguntur duo flumina Aven et Wileo , et hoc maxime ad piscationem fratrum . Ita ergo firmiter et immobiliter hæc largitio in futuram progeniem permaneat , ut nullus frangere huius donationis privilegium præsumat . Si quis vero contra hanc munificentiam , tirannica postesta inflatus , venire temptaverit , sciat se obstaculum iræ Dei incurrere , et ultimo examine coram Christo et angelis ejus rationem reddere . Scripta autem est hæc munificentia indictione . i ., anno ab incarnatione domini sexcentesimo octogesimo octavo, mense Augusto , quarta decima kalendarum Septembrium die , feliciter .

+ Ego Haeddi episcopus subscripsi .
+ Signum manus Centuuini .
+ Signum manus Ceduuallan .

1 II Cor. 4: 18.
2 I Tim. 6: 7.