King Wihtred's Charter of A.D.699

rrteokgia d|aittira* KING WIHTRED'S CHARTER OF A.D. 699 BY GORDON WARD, M.D., E.S.A. BY the excellent gift of Sir Albert Stern, the County of Kent has become possessed of a more ancient charter than even the British Museum can show in the original form as it was first written. It takes us back to far off times when Kings of the line of Hengest reigned at Canterbury—and found their subjects far less docile than we are today. Translated into English, with the names of the witnesses omitted, the charter reads as follows :— In the name of the Lord God our Saviour Jesus Christ. I, Wihtred, King of Kent, considering the future of my soul, have been careful to make this provision because of various calamities threatening the churches of God and the monasteries which exist in this (kingdom of) Kent, with the consent of my chief men whose names are to be written below. That they may be free, from the present day and time, from all demand for public taxation and charge or vexation. They are to show to me and my posterity such honour and obedience as they used to show to my royal ancestors, under whom justice and liberty were secured to them. And I decree that both I and my posterity shall hold fast in this pious determination : nor are those things which have been rightly allowed by us and our predecessors to be brought to nought by any chicanery whatsoever, but, as is now said at this time, they are to be preserved with the Lord's guidance from henceforth and for ever. In full confirmation whereof I have with my own hand portrayed the sign of the Holy Cross and have called upon the most reverend Beorhtweald, the archbishop, to subscribe, together with the most holy bishop Gemmund, as well as venerable presbyters and religious abbots, in the presence of the renowned abbesses, that is, Hirminhilda, Irminburga, Aeaba and Nerienda. Done on the sixth day of the Ides of April in the eighth year of our reign, in the twelvth induction, in the place named Cilling. It is now proposed to discuss the particular points of interest which are to be found in this Charter. 2 KING WDZTRED'S CHARTER OF A.D. 699 I. Is IT AN ORIGINAL ? The first question to be decided about this charter is the fundamental question of whether it is an original writing of the date which appears upon it or whether it is a later copy, or even a contemporary copy— for such copies were quite often made. The best proof that it is original is to be found in the character and spacing of the letters and words in the charter. These documents were written by clerks, i.e. by the religious. The first stage was to prepare, in anticipation of a Royal Council, so much of the charter as could be foreseen. Most of this would be taken from a book of formulae applicable to such grants as were usually made. Since the names of grantor and grantee were likely to be known beforehand these could be incorporated in the chosen formula and the first few lines of the charter could then be completed without difficulty. Often enough the clerk knew so much about the proposed grant that he could complete the body of the charter also, in time to present it to the king on the morrow. But he could never be quite sure if it was really complete, for Kings sometimes change their minds and he might have to put in something more. It was, therefore, very usual to leave a space between the charter proper and the names of the witnesses. In later days this space was often used for the insertion of the boundaries of any land granted. In the time of King Wihtred it seems to have been no more than a general precaution in case the king might choose to amplify his grant. This space occurs in the charter before us and it is worth noting that it also appears in our only other original charter of Wihtred (BCS 98) whereas it is absent from a strictly contemporary copy of the same charter (BCS 97) (Arch. Cant. XLVI). Consideration of the manner in which the names of witnesses are recorded gives further evidence of originality. The first two names, those of the king and archbishop, with their words of attestation, stretch right across the parchment and were certainly inserted before the others. Then we come to three columns of names. The first column reads as follows: Ego gemmundus epls rogatus testis subscripsi Ego tobias pfb rogatus testis subscripsi. Ego aeana prb rogatus testis subscripsi. Ego uinigeld prb rogatus testis subscripsi. The spacing is roughly represented here. It is the spacing whioh would be adopted by a clerk who was not worrying about how muoh room was available, and this particular column of names was probably inserted before the Council met. It comprises the clerics not attached to monastic houses and they are in order of seniority, first the bishop (of Rochester), then Tobias who was later to succeed • ifm.^ CifiiltK iMt>tni|irtr/iir|iniiiMinir| [ | " p 1 " ' ! f". IT*T~*~">"iy fiiw»wRi>