S 392
A.D. 850 for 939 or 940. King Athelstan to Byrhtelm, miles; grant of 5 hides (cassati) at Eatun. Latin.
Archive: Burton
MSS: Aberystwyth, N.L.W., Peniarth 390, 173r = p. 345 (s. xiii med.)
Printed: B 746; Sawyer, Burton, no. 4.
Comments: Drögereit 1952, p. 62, spurious; Hart 1972, p. 127, cited; O'Donovan 1972, p. 42, dates 937/8 x 939; Hart, ECNE, no. 81, spurious, suggests identification with Church Eaton, Staffs.; Sawyer 1978, p. 126, cited; Sawyer, Burton, pp. xlvii-ix, on alliterative charters, pp. 8-9, authentic, date wrongly copied, no good reason to identify Eatun with one of the Staffs. Eatons; Whitelock, EHD, pp. 372-3, defends the group of alliterative charters; Keynes 1980, p. 82 n. 165, on alliterative charters; Keynes 1980/1, p. 216, probably a spurious confection, partly based on an alliterative charter, perhaps of Athelstan, and in part on a charter of Edmund dated 940; Gelling 1981, p. 6, not Church Eaton; Keynes 1985, p. 159 n. 85, on alliterative charters; Hart 1992, p. 435, spurious, location unidentified, p. 439, on dating; Kelly, Abingdon, pp. 000-000, on identification.
Carta Æþelstan Regis .
+ Eterne hereditatis territoria et perpetue prosperitatis priuilegia magnis meritorum machinamentis iam concedente Cristo Iesu mercanda sunt . quapropter videlicet Edelstan rex Angulsexna and Norþhymbra imperator . paganorum gubernator Brittanorumque propugnator larga manu confert lucra largissim vti queat firmissime regnorum regimine sublimari . Quamobrem iam nunc locupletat hunc militem Byrhtelm tribuendo ei terram . v . videlicet cassatos in loco quem ruricole Eatun vocitant . pro eius fideli obsequio . et pro eius placabili pecunia . vt possideat eam cum omnibus ad se rite pertinentibus pratis . pascuis . campis . siluis . et post eius discessum cuicumque voluerit heredi derelinquendam . Sit autem predicta tellus libera exceptis istis tribus . expedicione . pontis arcisue constructione . Si qui denique non optantibus nobis nostram hanc cartam cupiditatis liuore depressi violari satagerint agminibus tetre caliginis lapsi vocem audiant examinacionis die arbitris sibi dicentis . discedite a me maledicti in ignem eternum vbi cum demonibus ferreis sartaginibus crudeli torqueantur in pena si non ante mortem digna hoc emendauerint penitentia . Istis terminibus predicta terra circumgirata esse videtur . et cetera . Acta est hec prefata donacio anno ab incarnacione domini nostri Iesu Cristi . dccc . l . indictione . xiii .
+ Ego Æðelstan rex Anglorum prefatam donacionem cum sigillo sancte crucis confirmaui .
+ Ego Wulfhelm Dorobernensis ecclesie archiepiscopus eiusdem regis donacionem cum tropheo agie crucis consignaui .
+ Ego Þeodred Lundoniensis ecclesie episcopus consignaui
+ Ego Ælfheah Wintaniensis ecclesie episcopus triumphalem tropheum agie crucis impressi .
+ Ego Cenewald Wigarnensis ecclesie episcopus donum consensi . + Ego Oda episcopus confirmaui . + Ego Ælfric episcopus consignaui . + Ego Wulfhelm episcopus consensi . + Ego Buruhric episcopus confirmaui . + Ego Æþelgar episcopus roboraui . Et Duces . vii . et ministri . xviii .