Saxon Records of Tenterden

234 SAXON RECORDS OF TENTERDEN. the .Axchbishop, and to record these consents in the charter. Those whose boundaries marched with the land conveyed were interested parties whose knowledge of the deed it might be desirable to prove. Their names might also be added to make assurance sure and, finally, there was no harm in just mentioning the various corporations which had been made aware of the transaction, e.g. the local monasteries and the city guilds. It is hardly to be supposed that all these persons were necessarily together in one place at one time. It would be easier to take this charter from Canterbury to Tenterden, securing good witnesses at either place, than to bring the folk of Tenterden out of the weald. No one will suppose that the attestation of the brotherhood of Saint Augustine· means that every soul in the convent knew of it but it may well signify that the conveyance was reported to the chapter by those who had heard it read at a more public meeting. We have therefore to approach with due caution the elucidation of the gradual building up of this charter. I suggest, but cannot prove, that the facts which may be gleaned from a study of the charter require us to suppose at least three stages. These were, I think : 0 I. The preparation, not in public, of the main body of the charter by a clerk who had already some information about the land but did not know the price, nor all the parties, nor who would be witnesses. 2. A public meeting or at least a meeting at which the King, the .Axchbishop and various officers were present for the purpose, inter alia, of such routine business as the passage of this charter represented. In view of the strong body of witnesses connected with Canterbury, I think this meeting was held in that city. It was probably called primarily to deal with matters of high policy, including, perhaps, the punishment of Thanet in the year following. 3. A meeting at Tenterden, or in its near neighbourhood, and almost certainly a meeting of the Hundred, at which the conveyance of Heronden was advertised to the