S 23
A.D. 732 (Canterbury, 20 Feb.). Æthelberht II, king of Kent, to Dunn, priest and abbot, and the church of St Mary (Lyminge); grant of land by the river Limen and at Sandtun (Sampton, lost, in West Hythe), Kent. Latin with bounds.
Archive: Canterbury, Christ Church (ex Lyminge)
MSS: BL Cotton Aug. ii. 91 (s. viii1; BM Facs., i. 6; Ch.L.A., iii. no. 190)
Printed: K 77; Thorpe, pp. 20-1; B 148; Earle, pp. 24-6; Pierquin, Recueil, pt 1, no. 30.
Translated: Jenkins, Lyminge, pp. 22-3; Whitelock, EHD, no. 65 (p. 490).
Comments: Jenkins, Lyminge, pp. 23-4; Bond 1878, p. 7, contemporary; Sweet, OET, p. 428 (no. 6); Stevenson 1914, pp. 696, 703, contemporary; Stenton 1918, p. 451 n. 84, original (= Stenton 1970, p. 65 n. 8); PN Worcs., p. xxiii n. 1, original; Ward 1931/1; Lowe 1935, p. xiii-xiv, trustworthy; Parsons 1939, p. 14, genuine and contemporary; Ch.L.A., iii., no. 190, contemporaneous, very probably original; Bruckner 1965, pp. 26, 28, on script, p. 40, king's cross may be autograph, p. 44, on production; Brooks 1971, p. 75, earliest authentic charter to contain an immunity clause for a particular estate; Bischoff 1976, p. 692, original, both states may have been written by the same scribe; Sawyer 1978, p. 143, cited; Whitelock, EHD, p. 490, undoubtedly authentic; Scharer 1982, pp. 106-10, authentic; Tatton-Brown 1984, p. 24, on Sandtun; Wormald 1985, p. 25, original or early copy; Brooks 1988, pp. 95-6, on topography; Kelly, St Augustine's, pp. lxx-lxxxv passim, on Kentish formulation.
Notes: One scribe wrote the main text and the first three witnesses, leaving spaces in which another scribe entered details of a second grant and added four more witnesses.
Endorsements:
(1) early hand: Sand tunes boc
(2) later hand: Utile
+ In nomine domini Dei salvatoris nostri Jhesu Christi. Est terrula quædam id est quarta pars aratri unius juxta Liminaee sali coquendo accommoda quam ego Æthilberhtus rex Cantuariorum dudum præstiteram antecessori tuo Hymoran . et tu o abba presbyter Dun . jam per tempora plura me annuente eadem usus es præstatione . Hanc ipsam ego nunc terrulam juris mei non pro pecunia aliqua sæculari sed pro remedio tantum animæ meæ tibi et ecclesiæ beatæ Mariæ cui tua præest sollicitudo . ita tribuo et dono ut a præsenti die et tempore vestræ sit potestatis eam semper habere ac possidere qualiter vobis placuerit . Et jus regium in ea deinceps nullum repperiatur omnino . Excepto dumtaxat tale quale generale est in universis ecclesiasticis terris quæ in hac Cantia esse noscuntur . Et ut jugiter firmitatem suam hæc ipsa mea donatio habeat . subter hic signum sanctæ crucis ex[præssi] testesque illius ut subscribant petam . [Actum est] die vicesima Februarii mensis . anno regni nostri septimo . Indic[tione q]uinta decima Doroverni. Et insuper ego Æthilberhtus rex addidi huic donationi quam pro remedio animæ meæ dedi in omni anno centum xx plaustra onusta de lignis ad coquendum sal . Item dedi ei centum jugera ejusdem ruris . in loco qui dicitur . Sandtun . termini vero terræ illius hec sunt . ab oriente terra regis . ab austro fluvius qui dicitur Liminaee . ab occidente et in septentrione hudan fleot .
+ Signum sanctæ crucis quod scripsit Æthilberhtus rex atqne donator .
+ Ego Tatuuinus episcopus ad petitionem Æthilberhti regis subscripsi.
+ Ego Albinus abbas jubente piissimo rege Æthilberhto subscripsi .
+ Signum manus Balthhæardi .
+ Signum manus Bynnan .
+ Signum manus Æanberhti .
+ Signum manus Æthiliæardi .