Early-Medieval-England.net

S 89

A.D. 736. Æthelbald, king of the Mercians and of the South Angli, to Cyneberht, comes; grant of 10 hides (cassati) at Ismere by the river Stour and land at Brochyl in Morfe forest, Worcs., for the construction of a minster. Latin with bounds.

Archive: Worcester

MSS: 1. BL Cotton Aug. ii. 3 (s. viii¹; BM Facs., i. 7; Ch.L.A., iii, no. 183; Lowe, Uncial, pl. 23; Making of England, p. 197 (no. 152); Campbell 1982, p. 96)
2. BL Cotton Vitell. C. ix, 129r (s. xvii; incomplete; ex 1)
3. Bodleian, Dodsworth 78, 1rv (s. xvii; ex 1)

Printed: Mon. Angl., i. 121; Smith, Bede, p. 786; Hearne, Heming, p. 555 ex MS 2; K 80; Mon. Angl. (rev. edn), i. 585 (no. 7); B 154; Earle, pp. 29-30; Pierquin, Recueil, pt 1, no. 33.

Translated: Whitelock, EHD, no. 67 (pp. 492-4).

Comments: Birch 1876, pp. 84-6; Bond 1878, p. 7, contemporary; Sweet OET, p. 429 (no. 9); Stenton 1913, p. 19 n. 2, cited; Stenton 1918, pp. 439-42, MS 1 contemporary, discusses royal style (= Stenton 1970, pp. 53-6); Lowe 1935, pp. xiii-xiv, trustworthy; Parsons 1939, pp. 14, 27-30, genuine and contemporary; Ker 1948, p. 65, on endorsement; Ker, Catalogue, pp. 266-7; John 1960, p. 97, on royal style; Lowe, Uncial, p. 21, MS 1 probably contemporary; Ch.L.A., iii, no. 183, MS 1 contemporaneous, very probably original; Bruckner 1965, pp. 24, 26, on script, pp. 39, 43 n. 163; Chaplais 1965, p. 53, on script, p. 54, on provenance (= 1973, pp. 34-5); John 1966, p. 8, on royal style, pp. 86-7, 105; Ch.L.A., iv, p. xvi, opistograph, p. xvii, on script; Wright 1967, p. 56, on script; Chaplais 1968, p. 333, original, 7 subscriptions added later (= 1973, pp. 84-5); Englebert 1969, pp. 406, 410, on script; Stenton 1971, pp. 286, 305, cited; Finberg, ECWM, no. 211, authentic, minster probably at Kidderminster; Harrison 1973, p. 65, first charter of undoubted authenticity to include an incarnation year; Harrison 1976, p. 118, on dating; Sawyer 1978, pp. 145-6; Whitelock, EHD, pp. 492-3; Ford 1980, on Brochyl; Scharer 1982, pp. 179-81, genuine and contemporary; Wormald 1982, pp. 95-7; Wormald 1985, pp. 23, 25, original or early copy; Scharer 1988, pp. 56-63, on royal style; Hooke 1990, pp. 61-3, on bounds, with map p. 62; Sims-Williams 1990, pp. 148-9, on beneficiary, pp. 192, 376, on topography, translation in EHD is misleading, Brochyl estate was probably of 4 hides (cf. S 1411), Foard's identification is impossible; Making of England, pp. 196-7 (no. 152); King 1996/1.

Notes: Written in two stages (main text and witnesses; further witnesses) by a single scribe; a postscript was added on the dorse by a different scribe.

Endorsement (s. x): Norð Stur

+ Ego Æthilbalt domino donante rex non solum Marcersium sed et omnium provinciarum quæ generale nomine Sutangli dicuntur pro remedio animæ meæ et relaxatione piaculorum meorum aliquam terræ particulam id est . x . cassatorum venerando comite meo Cyniberhhte ad construendum cænubium in provincia cui ab antiquis nomen inditum est Husmeræ . juxta fluvium vocabulo Stur , cum omnibus necessariis ad eam pertinentibus cum campis silvisque cum piscariis pratisque in possessionem æcclesiasticam benigne largiendo trado . Ita ut quamdiu vixerit potestatem habeat tenendi ac possidendi cuicumque voluerit vel eo vivo vel certe post obitum suum relinquendi . est autem supradictus ager in circuitu ex utraque parte supranominati fluminis habens ex aquilone plaga silvam quam nominant cynibre ex occidentale vero aliam cui nomen est . moerheb . quarum pars maxima ad præfatum pertinet agrum .

Si quis autem hanc donationem violare temptaverit sciat se in tremendo examine tyrannidis ac præsumptionis suæ Deo rationem terribiliter redditurum .

Scripta est autem hæc cartula anno ab incarnatione domini nostri Jhesu Christi septincentissimo tricessimo . ui indictione quarta .

+ Ego Ætdilbalt rex Britanniæ propriam donationem confirmans subscripsi .
+ Ego Uuor episcopus consensi et subscripsi .
+ Ego Uuilfridus episcopus jubente Æthilbaldo rege subscripsi .
+ Ego Æthilric subregulus atque comes gloriosissimi principis Æthilbal[di] huic donatione consensi et subscripsi .
+ Ego Ibe ac si indignus abbas consensi et subscripsi .
+ Ego Heardberht frater atque dux præfati regis consensi et subscripsi .
+ Ego Ebbella consensum meum acomodans subscripsi .
+ Ego Onoc comes subscripsi .
+ Ego Oba consensi et subscripsi.
+ Ego Sigibed consensi et subscripsi .
+ Ego Bercol consensi et subscripsi .
+ Ego Ealduuft consensi et subscripsi .
+ Ego Cusa consensi et subscripsi .
+ Ego Pede consensi et subscripsi .

Est autem agrum in memorata silva moreb cui vocabulum est brochyl quem ego Edilbalt rex suutanglorum fidele duce atque comite meo Cyniberhttæ in jus ecclesiasticam cum supradicto agro largiendo donavi .