S 1501
c. A.D. 960 x 994. Will of Æthelric, including bequest of all his land to his wife, with reversions as follows; land at Bocking, Essex, part to Christ Church and part to the church at Bocking; at Rayne, Essex, to St Paul's, London; at Copford and Glazenwood in Bradwell, Essex, to Ælfstan, bishop (of London); at Northho, part to St Gregory's, Sudbury, and part to St Edmunds at Bedericesworth (Bury). English.
Archive: Canterbury, Christ Church, and Bury St Edmunds
MSS: 1. Canterbury, D. & C., Chart. Ant. B. 2 (Red Book no. 20; s. xi, ? xi2; OS Facs., i. 16)
2. Cambridge, U.L., Ff. 2. 33, 50r (s. xiii2)
3. Canterbury, D. & C., Reg. A, 141v (s. xiii)
4. Canterbury, D. & C., Reg. E, 43r (s. xiii)
5. BL Add. 4548, 19r-21r (s. xviii; ex 1)
6. BL Stowe 853, 28rv (s. xvii)
Printed: K 699 ex MS 1; Thorpe, pp. 516-17, with translation; Earle, pp. 215-16; Whitelock, Wills, no. 16(1) (p. 42), with translation.
Comments: Whitelock, Wills, pp. 146-8; Chaplais 1968, p. 332 n. 169, step from wrapping-tie (= 1973, p. 83 n. 169); Hart, ECE, no. 27, authentic; Brooks 1978, pp. 87-91, on heriot; Fleming 1993, p. 121; Lowe 1993a, pp. 10-15, on MSS 3, 4; cf. S 939, King Æthelred's confirmation of S 1501, and also S 1218.
Her cyð 'Æþeric' on þissum gewrite hwam he geann ofor his dæig þæra æhta þe him god alæned hæfð. þæt is ærest sona minum hlaforde. syxti mancusa goldes. 7 mines swyrdes mid fetele. 7 þarto twa hors. 7 twa targan. 7 twegen francan. 7 ic geann Leofwynne minan wife ealles þæs þe ic læfe hire dæig. 7 ofor hire dæg. gange þæt land on Boccinge into Cristes circean þam hirede for uncera saule 7 for mines fæder þe hit ær begeat eall buton anre hide ic gean into þære cyrcean þam preoste þe þar gode þeowaþ. 7 ic geann þæs landes æt Rægene be westan. into sancte Paule þam bisceope to to geleohtenne. 7 þar on godes folce cristendom to dælenne. 7 ic geann þarto twegra hida þe Eadric gafelaþ ælce geare mid healfum punde 7 mid anre garan. 7 ic geann be eastan stræte ægþer ge wudas ge feldas Ælfstane bisceope into Coppanforde. 7 þæs heges on Glæsne. 7 ic geann þæs landes æt Norðho. healf into sancte Gregorie. on Suþbyrig. 7 healf into sancte Eadmunde on Bedericeswyrþe. Nu bidde ic þone bisceop Ælfstan. þæt he amundige mine lafe 7 þa þincg þe ic hyre læfe. 7 gif him god lifes geunne lencg þonne unc þæt he gefultumige þæt ælc þara þinga stande þe ic gecweden hæbbe:
Here in this document Æthelric makes known to whom after his day he grants the possessions which God has lent to him. First of all, to my lord sixty mancuses of gold, and my sword with the belt, and in addition two horses, two round shields and two javelins.
And I grant all that I leave to my wife for her lifetime; and after her death the estate at Bocking is to go to the community at Christchurch, for our souls and for that of my father who obtained it; all except one hide which I give to the church for the priest who serves God there. And I grant the estate to the west of Rayne to St Paul's for the Bishop, for the provision of lights and for the communication of Christianity to God's people there; and I grant in addition two hides for which Eadric pays a yearly rent of half a pound and one . . . . And I grant to Copford for Bishop Ælfstan both woods and open lands east of the high-road, and the enclosure at Glazenwood. And half the estate at Northho I grant to St Gregory's at Sudbury, and half to St Edmund's at Bedericesworth.
Now I pray Bishop Ælfstan that he will protect my widow and the things which I leave her, and, if God grant him longer life than us, that he will help to secure that each of the bequests which I have made may stand.