S 327

A.D. ? 860 (altered to 790). Æthelberht, king of Wessex and Kent, to Wærmund, bishop; grant of land at Rochester with a marsh, in return for 15 pounds and 30 mancuses. Latin with English bounds.

Archive: Rochester

MSS: 1. BL Cotton Ch. viii. 29 (s. ix2; BM Facs., ii. 35)
2. Maidstone, Kent Archives Office, DRc/R1 (Textus Roffensis), 134r-135v (s. xii1; facsimile)
3. Maidstone, Kent Archives Office, DRb/Ar2 (Liber Temporalium), 3v (s. xiv)

Printed: Hearne, Textus Roffensis, pp. 91-4; Thorpe, Reg. Roff., p. 18-19; K 285; HS, pp. 651-2; B 502; Pierquin, Recueil, pt 2, no. 27; Pierquin, Conciles, pp. 506-7; Campbell, Rochester, no. 24.

Comments: Bond 1878, p. 7, probably 11th century; Stevenson 1904, p. 230 n. 2, an 11th-century copy, clearly genuine despite error in date; Stevenson 1914, p. 703 nn. 75, 76, date altered from 860 to 790, perhaps to identify it with S 130, hand somewhat later than 860 but not 11th-century; Wallenberg, KPN, pp. 205-7, on place-names; Deansley 1942, p. 107 n. 11, citing Ker, 10th- or 11th-century imitation of 8th-century charter; Campbell, Rochester, pp. xiv, xxiv, crude forgery, scribe of MS 1 may also have written S 331; O'Donovan 1973, pp. 93, 96, 99-100, suspect, date altered from 860, witness-list looks genuine; Brooks 1984, pp. 360-1 n. 70, MS 1 is 9th-century, scribe also wrote S 331, 1276; Dumville 1987, p. 158 n. 53, cited; Keynes 1993/1, pp. 128-9, on witness-list and historical background; Smyth 1995, p. 378.

Notes: Original charter, probably in favour of a lay beneficiary, was tampered with to create a direct grant to Rochester. The name and style of the beneficiary were erased and replaced with Wærmundo episcopo; the assessment was altered from .xx. to .lxxx.; the dated was altered to 790, probably from 860; one subscription was erased (probably that of Bishop Cuthwulf of Rochester); the original endorsement was replaced by one in a 10th-century hand referring to Bishop Wærmund. The two boundary clauses appear to have been written by the 9th-century scribe of the text.

A. BL Cotton Ch. viii. 29: parchment, s. x.2 (?), 345 x 180 mm. Three horizontal and three vertical folds. Ruled with a stylus. No pricking.
Endorsements:
(1) in a hand of s. x: lxxx . æcera boc be eastan porte 7 ðæs mersces. Wærmundes biscopes.
(2) in a hand of s. xiv: Ethelbertus Rex.
(3) in a hand of s. xv: . . . . . . . . in roff'

+ In nominæ domini nostri Iesu Christi saluatoris si ea que sæcundum decreta canonum ac statuta synodalia salubriter definuntur quamuis sermo solus ad testimonium sufficere possit attamen ob incertam futurorum temporum condicionem firmissimis scripturarum indiciis æt cautionum chyrographis sunt roboranda quoniam quidem sepe ex ignorantia sepe quod est execrabilius ex inprobitate contingit ut denegatio rerum uere æt ræcte gestarum nascatur, quapropter ego Aeðelbearht rex Occidentalium Saxonum seu Cantuuariorum Wærmundo episcopo trado terram iuris mei id est . lx . xx . æcra et unum uiculum dimidium ciuitatis Hrobi et unum mariscum que ad illum pertinet , pro eius pecunio quam ab eo accepi hoc est . xv . pund' 7 . xxx . mancuso , Ut habeat et possideat et cuicumque uoluerit illo uiuente seu moriente ætærnaliter tradendam concedo cum omnibus ad eas rite pertinentibus in minimis et in maximis notis et ignotis sine fine in euum permaneat liuera , Siquis uero quod absit heredum successorumque meorum hanc nostram piam donationem inmutare aliter uel minuere studeat sciat se inprimis omnipotentis dei iram incurrere et uiuentem in hac uita benedictione carere et in nouissimo maledictione subiacere . qui uero hæc augenda custodierit nihilque inrogarit aduersi sit benedictus a domino , Scripta est hæc cartula , anno dominice incarnationis , dccclx . His testibus qui hæc consentientes subscripserunt quorum hic nomina infra tenentur adscripta ,

+ Ego Aeðelbearht rex hanc meam donationem signo sancte crucis Christi roboraui et subscripsi
+ Ego Ciolnoð archiepiscopus consensi et subscripsi
+ Ego Ealhstan episcopus consensi et subscripsi
+ Ego Swiðhun episcopus consensi et subscripsi
+ Ego Guðheard episcopus consensi et subscripsi
+ Ego Dioruulf episcopus consensi et subscripsi
+ Ego . . . ulf consensi et subscripsi
+ Ego Eanuulf dux consensi et subscripsi
+ Ego Oric dux consensi et subscripsi
+ Ego Uulfhere dux consensi et subscripsi
+ Ego Aeðæluulf dux consensi et subscripsi
+ Ego Humbearht dux consensi et subscripsi
+ Ego Uullaf dux consensi et subscripsi
+ Ego Aldred dux consensi et subscripsi
+ Ego Æðælred dux consensi et subscripsi
+ Ego Dryhtwald dux consensi et subscripsi
+ Ego Biorhtuulf dux consensi et subscripsi
+ Ego Æðelred filii regis
+ Ego Ælfræd filii regis
+ Ego Uullaf abbas
+ Ego Uuerferð abbas
+ Ego Uulfhelm presbyter
+ Ego Uuerenberht minister
+ Ego Ciolmund minister

Ðanne is ðer se leah ðe man ðet lond mid friðe haldan scæl , an easthealfe sio ealdæ stret , an suðhalfe horsum styde , an westhalfe Biddanstiorf , an norðhalfe Pumelond ,

Ðanne sint ðes londes gemæra an westhealfe Scipfliot an norðhalfe Meodowæge an easthalfe Liofwynnemearc ðanne fram Cioldryðelonde west be ðaræ aldan stræte swæ sio twoentig ecra ,