S 140
A.D. 765 x 792. Offa, king of Mercia, to Æthelnoth, abbot of SS Peter and Paul (St Augustine's, Canterbury); grant of 2 hides (manentes) at Beauxfield, Kent, with grazing rights in the wood called Singledge. Latin with English bounds.
Archive: Canterbury, St Augustine's
MSS: 1. Cambridge, Trinity Hall, 1, 70v-71r (s. xv)
2. BL Cotton Jul. D. ii, 133v (s. xiv)
3. PRO E 164/27, 81v (s. xiii)
Printed: K 119 and vol. iii. p. 380 ex MS 1; Hardwick, Elmham, pp. 331-2 ex MS 1; B 207 ex Hardwick, K and MSS 1, 1*; Pierquin, Recueil, pt 1, no. 56; Kelly, St Augustine's, no. 14 ex MSS 1, 2, 3.
Comments: Stevenson 1887, p. 332, if not a forgery it has been tampered with, the bounds have certainly been modernized; Turner 1915, pp. xxvi-vii; Wallenberg, KPN, pp. 51-3, on place-names; John 1966, p. 25, cited; Scharer 1982, pp. 264-5, spurious; Brooks 1984, p. 319, bounds must have been added but remainder of text seems unobjectionable, date may be miscopied; Kelly, St Augustine's, pp. ciii, 57-60, spurious, fabrication based on a genuine charter of Offa, probably from the later part of his reign and not originally in favour of Abbot Æthelnoth.
H. PRO E 164/27, 81v: copy, s. xiii
Rubric: Carta Offe regis de Beauuesfeld.
N. Cambridge, Trinity Hall, 1, 70v-71r: copy, s. xv.1
Rubric: Carta Offe regis Ethelnotho abbati de terra in Bewesfeld.
Regnante inperpetuum Domino nostro Iesu Christo. Ego Offa rex Merciorum, anno primo regni mei, do et concedo Æthelnotho abbati apostolorum Petri et Pauli, terram .ii. manentium iuris mei in loco qui appellatur Bewesfeld cum ceteris terminibus, pro expiatione criminum meorum. In ius proprium libenter concedo hoc modo, ut habeat et possideat cum campis et siluis uel omnibus ad se pertinentibus bonis, et ad pascendum porcos et pecora et iumenta in silua regali eternaliter perdono, et unius capre licentiam in silua que uocatur Saenling, ubi mee uadunt. Post obitum uero tuum habeas potestatem tradere eam homini cui tibi placuerit, pro eterna redemptione animarum nostrarum. Si quis uero regum quod non credo seu principum seu quilibet a subiectis eorum hanc nostre munificentie largitatem infringere uel minuere presumpserit, sciat se a participatione Domini nostri Iesu Christi corporis et sanguinis alienum esse in hoc seculo et in districto Dei omnipotentis iudicio coram Christo et angelis eius rationem esse redditurum, manente hac cartula in sua semper nihilominus firmitate.
Þon' sind þis þa sutulust an gedere to Beasfeld. Ærest on norþe weaswan east rihte of ellenbeorge .xv. girda, þan on suð rihte swa moulman strecte oþ landes ende, þon' west be Æwille mearce oþ þone cwichege, suð andlang heges on þane bradan hegewai, þon' on cingdene on abbudes mearce, of abbudes mearce eft on ellenbeorh.
+ Ego Offa rex Merciorum hanc donacionem confirmans propria manu signum crucis Christi infixi.
+ Ego Iambertus archiepiscopus et rector catholice ecclesie consensi et subscripsi.
+ Signum manus Kynedrithe regine.
+ Signum manus Egfridi filii regis.
+ Signum manus Brordan ducis.
+ Signum manus Ædeleardi principis.
+ Signum manus Binnan.
+ Signum manus Berhtuualdi.
+ Signum manus Ædbaldi.