S 264

A.D. 778. Cynewulf, king of the Saxons, to Bica, comes and minister; grant of 13 hides (manentes) at Little Bedwyn, Wilts. Latin with bounds.

Archive: uncertain (possibly Bedwyn)

MSS: BL Cotton Ch. viii. 4 (? s. x; BM Facs., ii. 3; Ch.L.A., iii, no. 194)

Printed: K 133 and vol. iii. 383; B 225; Pierquin, Recueil, pt 1, no. 66.

Comments: Sweet, OET, p. 427 (no. 3); Stevenson 1914, p. 695 n. 34, cited; Stenton 1918, p. 443 n. 48, on witnesses (= Stenton 1970, p. 57 n. 6); Grundy, Wilts. 1919, pp. 151-5, on bounds; Crawford 1921, on bounds; PN Worcs., p. xxxix, on a reading; Darlington 1955, p. 5; Finberg, ECW, no. 194, original; Ch.L.A., iii, no. 194, copy made at end of 8th or beginning of 9th century; Bruckner 1965, pp. 24, 27-8, copy of s. viii/ix; Ch.L.A., iv, pp. xvi, opistograph, p. xvii, copy of s. viii or ix; Stenton 1971, p. 307 n. 1, contemporary; Whitelock, EHD, p. 497, contemporary; Rogers 1981, pp. 265-6, on script and orthography; Dumville 1987, p. 167, script is early-10th-century, possibly written at Bedwyn; Edwards 1988, p. 59, citing T.J. Brown, 10th-century copy, pp. 59-62, apparently authentic; Dumville 1992, pp. 82-3, 109, 112, copy of early 10th century, discusses estate history; Keynes 1994/2, p. 1110 n. 2, may be original; Abrams 1996, p. 175 n. 68, on possible Glastonbury connections of beneficiary, cf. Gl **** (S 1682).

+ Hoc signum suprascriptum sacrosanctæ crucis Christi in nomine sanctæ trinitatis . ego Cynewulf rex Saxonum propria manu expressi . ad confirmandam donationem munificentiæ meæ quam dedi . Bican . comiti meo ac ministro . Donavi enim ei pro expiatione piaculorum meorum . . . . . . no terram in modum . xiii . man[entium] . Ita ut in proprio possideat perpetualiter . . . . . . . commutandi donandi vendendi cum omnibus quæ . . . . . . linquendi cuicumque voluerit heredi . . . . . . te . . . . . . sio in loco qui dicitur . Bedewinde . incola . . . ipsius curtem . . . . . . erra tuun . terminisque . istis agellus ipse . xiii . manen[tium] . me . . . . . ab oriente vallem vocatem . cymenes denu . et sic in longum vergens. . . . . nes geat et sic in affricum vergens in longum illius septi tendit ad . peadan stigele deinde per iddem sept[um] . in filiðleage . australem partem inde in longum prædicti septi in quoddam vallu in . harandene . sicque . per hoc vallum pertingit ad illum agellum qui dicitur . tatan edisc . et sic per occidentalem plagam ejusdem agelli jacet in illos tumulos . . . . torum . deinde in . bedewindan . et sic in longum illius spineti in horselget . et continuo . . . . rames dene geate . et extenso tramite ejusdem septi . to holhrygc gete . et eodem septo to hadfeld geate . et eodem septo to baggan gete . et sic in illud septum . to bradan leage . transitque . illo septo bradanleage intrans in . standene . et in longum ejus in quoddam vallum ejusque . valli serie in . puttan . . ealh . et sic in longum aggeris to bulcan pytte.indeque . in longum vallis et sic emenso spatio stratæ in quoddam petrosum clivum . et ex eo . baldwines healh . appro . . . . supremum . sic . . . quoddam vallum . ejusque . tramite progressum in illum vallem [ab] austro . bulcan pyttes . sicque . in longum valli progressa in illa antiqua monumenta in locum ubi a ruricolis dicitur . æt ðam holen stypbum . sicque ad illos gabulos . in longum gemærweges . to wadbeorge . sicque . of wadbeorge in illum fontem qui dicitur forsca burna . et ejus ex alveo intrat bedewindan . indeque [it]em in cymene[sdene] . Acta . . . . . hæc . . . scripta anno ab incar'n'[a]tione Christi . dcclxxuiii . indictione i [his] consentien[tibus u]na mecum episcopis ac principibus meis quorum nomina subter designantur . Si quis vero regum aut principum hanc donationem nostram infringere temptaverit sciat se in tremendo vivorum ac mortuorum examine rationem redditurum .

+ Ego Aðelmodus episcopus subscripsi .
+ Ego Egcbaldus episcopus consent' et subscripsi .
+ Signum manus Scillinges . . . . fecti .
+ Signum manus Ham . . . . prefecti .
+ Signum manus Æðelnoðes prefecti .
+ Signum manus Ceolbrehtes prefecti .
+ Signum manus Æðelmundes prefecti .
+ Signum manus . . . . ferdes perfecti .
+ Signum Fadol comitis regis .