5
S 1169

King Berhtwald grants forty hides (cassati) at Somerford Keynes, Gloucestershire, to Abbot Aldhelm for the monastery at Malmesbury. A.D. 685 (30 July)

Archive: Malmesbury

Ea que secundum timorem et amorem Domini, religosa largitionis deuotione, definiuntur, quamuis solus sermo sufficeret, tamen, pro incerta futurorum temporum conditione, scriptis publicis et documentorum gestis sunt confirmanda. Quapropter ego Berhtwaldus, regnante Domino rex, pro remedio anime mee et indulgentia commissorum criminum, aliquam terram conferre largirique Aldhelmo abbati decreueram, id est illam de orientali plaga fluminis cuius uocabulum est Temis, iuxta uadum qui appellatur Sumerford, .xl. <cassatos>; ea scilicet definitione, ut omni seruitute secularium potestatum portio terre illius perpetualiter sit libera, ad seruiendum necessitatibus monachorum Deo seruientium in monasterio quod nominatur Maeldubesburg. Et ut firmius ac tenacius hec deuotio inperpetuum roboretur, etiam precellentissimum monarchum Æthelredum regem ad testimonium asciuimus, cuius consensu et confirmatione hec munificentia acta est. Si quis contra hanc donationem uenire temptauerit aut tyrannica fretus potestate uiolenter inuaserit, sciat se in tremendo cunctorum examine coram Christo rationem redditurum. Actum publice in synodo, iuxta uadum Berhgford, mense Iulio, tricesima die mensis eiusdem, indictione .xiii., anno ab incarnatione Domini <dclxxxv>

Edition: Charters of Malmesbury Abbey, ed. S. E. Kelly, Anglo-Saxon Charters 11 (Oxford: Published for The British Academy by Oxford University Press, 2005), pp. 138-9 (no. 5). For apparatus criticus see ibid., p. 139, and for a detailed commentary see ibid., pp. 140-1.

Those things that are defined according to the fear and love of God through a religious devotedness to generosity, although speech alone should suffice, yet, because of the uncertain nature of future times, should be confirmed with public writings and documentary records. Wherefore, I, Beorhtwald, king under the rule of the Lord, for the salvation of my soul and remission for sins committed, have decided to grant and bestow some land on Abbot Aldhelm, that is, 40 hides on the eastern bank of the river whose name is Thames, near the ford that is called Sumerford; with this condition, that a proportion of that land should be free in perpetuity from all servitude to secular powers in order to serve the needs of the monks serving God in the monastery that is called Maeldubesburg [i.e., Malmesbury]. And in order that this offering be more firmly and tenaciously strengthened in perpetuity, we have received the most excellent monarch, King Æthelred, as a witness, with whose agreement and confirmation this munificent deed was executed. If anyone should attempt to act against this gift or, relying on tyrannical power, should violently attack it, let him know that he will render account before Christ in the fearful Judgment of all. Executed publicly in a synod nearby the ford at Berhgford, in the month of July, on the thirtieth day of that same month, in indiction 13, in the year from the incarnation of the Lord 685.

Translation: David A. E. Pelteret.