S 2

A.D. 605 (Canterbury). Æthelberht, king of Kent, to St Peter; grant of land to the east of Canterbury for the foundation of a minster. Latin with English bounds.

Archive: Canterbury, St Augustine's

MSS: 1. Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, 111, p. 310 (s. xvi)
2. Cambridge, Trinity Hall, 1, 21v (facsimile of lost single sheet, s. xv; Hunter 1973, pl. 1; Kelly, St Augustine's, pl. 1)
3. Cambridge, Trinity Hall, 1, 21v (s. xv)
4. Canterbury, City Archives, Roll I/Z/1 m. 3 (s. xvi)
5. BL Add. 53710, 221v (s. xiv)
6. BL Add. 53710, 253v-254r (s. xvi)
7. BL Cotton Claudius D. x, 61r (s. xiv)
8. BL Cotton Cleop. F. i, 236r (s. xvi)
9. BL Harley 358, 47v (s. xvi)
10. BL Lansdowne 447, 23v (s. xvii)
11. PRO Ch.R 20 Edw. II, m. 2
12. PRO Ch.R. 36 Edw. III, m. 7
13. PRO Ch.R. 8 Hen. IV, m. 6
14. PRO Pat. R. 2 Hen. VI, pt 3, m. 5
15. PRO Pat. R. 4 Edw. IV, pt 4, m. 29
16. PRO Pat. R. 14 Hen. VII, pt 1, m. 16
17. Bodleian, Dodsworth 10, 7r (s. xvii)
18. Bodleian, Dodsworth 120, 115rv (s. xvii)
19. Bodleian, Dugdale 11, 20r (s. xvii)
20. Bodleian, Engl. Hist. C. 241, 21v (s. xvi)
21. Winchester, Cathedral Library, XXB, 157r (s. xvi)

Printed: Spelman, Concilia, i. 118-19; Twysden, X Scriptores, col. 2123 ex MS 5; Mon. Angl., i. 23, ex ? MS 7; Alford 1663, ii. 76; Somner 1703, Appendix, p. 6, ex ? MS 5; Wilkins, Concilia, iv. 728, ex Spelman; K 2 ex MS 3; Mon. Angl. (rev. edn), i. 126 (no. 1); Hardwick, Elmham, pp. 109-10, ex MSS 2, 3; HS, pp. 54-5, ex K etc.; B 4 ex K, HS etc.; Pierquin, Recueil, pt 1, no. 2; Kelly, St Augustine's, no. 1, ex MSS 2, 7, 21; Morris 1995, pp. 102-3, ex B.

Translated: Davis, Thorne, pp. 565-6 (ex Twysden, X Scriptores).

Comments: HS, pp. 54-5, spurious or questionable; Turner 1915, p. xx, suspicious; Wallenberg, KPN, pp. 4-5, on place-names; Deanesly 1941/1, pp. 53-9; Deanesly 1942, p. 104 n. 7; Levison 1946, pp. 174-233, spurious, probably forged in late 11th century; Hunter 1973, on MS 2; Scharer 1982, p. 59, spurious; Kelly 1988, perhaps forged shortly before Conquest; Kelly, St Augustine's, pp. 4-9, fabrication partly modelled on a lost charter of Æthelberht II (725-62), witness-list may derive from a lost 7th-century source; Morris 1995, pp. 89-98, some authentic basis.

+ In nomine Domini nostri Iesu Christi. Omnem hominem qui secundum Deum uiuit et remunerari a Deo sperat et optat, oportet ut piis precibus consensum hilariter ex animo prebeat, quoniam certum est tanto facilius ea que ipse a Deo poposcerit consequi posse, quanto et ipse libentius Deo aliquid concesserit. Quocirca ego Æthilberhtus rex Cantie, cum consensu uenerabilis archiepiscopi Agustini ac principum meorum, dabo et concedo Deo in honore sancti Petri aliquam partem terre iuris mei quæ iacet in oriente ciuitatis Dorobernie, ita dumtaxat ut monasterium ibi construatur, et res quæ supra memoraui in potestate abbatis sit, qui ibi fuerit ordinatus. Igitur adiuro et precipio in nomine Domini Dei omnipotentis qui est omnium rerum iudex iustus1 ut prefata terra subscripta donatione sempiternaliter sit confirmata, ita ut nec mihi nec alicui successorum meorum regum aut principum siue cuiuslibet conditionis dignitatibus et ecclesiasticis gradibus de ea aliquid fraudare liceat. Si quis uero de hac donatione nostra aliquid minuere aut irritum facere temptauerit, sit in presenti separatus a sancta communione corporis et sanguinis Christi, et in die iudicii ob meritum malitie suæ a consortio sanctorum omnium segregatus. Circumcincta est hec terra his terminibus: in oriente ecclesia sancti Martini, in meridie uia oþ burhgat, in occidente et in aquilone drutingestræte. Acta in ciuitate Dorouerni anno ab incarnatione Christi .dcv., indictione .vi.

+ Ego Æthelbertus rex Cancie sana mente integroque consilio donacionem meam signo sancte crucis propria manu roboraui confirmauique.
Ego Ægustinus gratia Dei archiepiscopus testis consenciens libenter subscripsi.
Eadbald. Hamigils. Augemund referendarius. Hocca. Grafio. Thangil. Pinca. Geddi.

1 Ps. vii. 12: qui est omnium iudex iustus