S 59

A.D. 770. Uhtred, regulus of the Hwicce, with the permission of Offa, king of Mercia, to Æthelmund, his faithful minister; grant, for three lives, of 5 hides (tributarii) at (Aston in Stoke Prior, Worcs.), with reversion to the church of Worcester. Latin with brief English bounds.

Archive: Worcester

MSS: 1. Worcester, D. & C., Additional MS in safe (s. viii2 or s. ix 1; OS Facs., ii. Worcester Charter; Ch.L.A., iv, no. 274; Birch 1880; Turner 1916, plates 31, 32; Brown 1996, p. 208, fig. 25)
2. BL Cotton Vitell. C. ix, 129r (s. xvii; incomplete; ex 1)

Printed: Hearne, Heming, p. 554, ex MS 2; Birch 1882/1, pp. 45-6; B 203, ex MS 1.

Translated: Whitelock, EHD, no. 74 (pp. 502-3).

Comments: Birch 1880; Sweet, OET, p. 431 (no. 13); Stevenson 1914, p. 692 n. 16, p. 696 and n. 37, 'unimpeachable'; Robinson 1919, p. 23, authentic; Stenton 1955, p. 57 n. 1, authentic; Bruckner 1965, pp. 24 28, 40; Ch.L.A , iv, no. 274, contemporaneous, probably original, p. xviii, on script; Brooks 1971, p. 78, on reservation clause; Stenton 1971, pp. 287, 292, cited; Finberg, ECWM, no. 218, authentic; Finberg 1972, p. 464, cited; Sawyer 1978, p. 102, cited; Whitelock, EHD, p. 502, undoubtedly genuine; Scharer 1982, p. 256; Wormald 1982, p. 123, cited; Brown 1986, p. 132, on script; Wormald 1986, pp. 156-7, may be forgery based on S 59; Abels 1988, p. 53; Hooke 1990, pp. 63-5, on bounds, with map p. 64; Sims-Williams 1990, p. 38, on beneficiary, pp. 154-5, may be a revised copy, not necessarily forged, of a lost charter of 770, itself an updated version of S 58; Wormald 1993, pp. 20-2, restates argument that S 59 is probably a forgery; Brown 1996, p. 165, on script, associates with S 114.

Endorsement: To Eastune . Offani regis . in Stoce.

+ In nomine domini nostri Jhesu Christi . Certissime itaque absque dubitatione constat omnia quæ videntur temporalia esse . Et ea quæ non videntur æterna esse . Idcirco ego Uhtredus Deo donante regulus Huicciorum cogitavi . Ut ex accepta portione terrigenis regni a largitore omnium bonorum aliquid quamvis minus dignum pro remedio animæ meæ in usus æclesiasticæ libertatis eroga[rem] . Unde fideli meo ministro Æðelmundo videlicet filio Ingeldi qui fuit dux et præfectus Æðelbaldi regis Merciorum cnm consi[lio] et licentia Offani regis Merciorum Simulque episcoporum ac principum ejus . Terram . v . tributariorum Id est vicum qui nomina[tur Eastun] juxta fluvium in orientale parte qui dicitur Saluuerpe jure æclesiastico possidendum libentissime pro domino omnipotenti . . . . . tenus se vivente possideat et post se cuicumque voluerit duobus heredis relinqnat Illisque e sæculo migrantibus reddatur . . . . . [vig]eranens æclesiæ agrum cum libris ad mensam eorum sine ulla contradictione mihi atque omnibus nobis in elemosi[na] . . . . . tis patriæ illorumque intercessione ad Deum vivum et verum . Insuper digno pretio a antedicto Æðelmundo suscepto . . . . . [sciat unusquisque] hanc terram liberam esse ab omni tributo parvo vel majore publicalium rerum et a cunctis operibus vel regis vel prin[cipis præter instructio]nibus pontium vel necessaris defensionibus arcium contra hostes . Omnimodo quoque in Dei omnipotentis nomi[ne interdicimus ut si] aliquis In hac prænominata terra aliquid foraras furaverit alicui aliquid nisi specialiter pretium pro pretio . . . . . . augentem hoc meum præceptum . Omnipotens Deus sua augere bona In æternum non cessat . Minuentem quod non [optamus sciat se ante] tribunal Christi rationem redditurum nisi ante ea Deo et hominibus satis emendaverit . Conscripta est [autem hæc donatio anno ab] incarnatione domini nostri Jhesu Christi . dcc . lxx . Indictione viiii . decenovi . xi . Lun' . viii .

[+ Ego Offa Dei dono rex Me]rciorum hanc donationem subreguli mei consensi et signum sanctæ crucis inposui .
[+ Ego Mildredus Christi gra]tia concedente humilis Huicciorum episcopus consensi et subscripsi .
[+ Ego Uhtredus . . . . . . di]spensatione donante regulus propriæ gentis hanc meam libertatis donationem pro domino concessam conroborans signum salutare conscripsi.
[+ Ego Aldredus subregulus H]uicciorum huic concessæ donationi fratris mei consentiendo subscribo
[+ Ego Eada consensi et su]bscripsi .
[+ Ego Brorda con]sensi et subscripsi .
+ Ego Eadbald consensi et subscripsi .

Hii sunt termini donationis istius saluuerpæ cymedes halh huitan stan readan solo .

+ Ego Cyneðryð regina Merciorum consensi ei subscripsi .
+ Ego Ecgferð filius amborum consensi et subscripsi .
+ Ego Ælfflæd filia amborum consensi et subscripsi .