S 190

A.D. 836 (Croft, Leics.). Wiglaf, king of Mercia, to the minster at Hanbury, Worcs.; grant of privileges in return for the surrender to the king of 20 hides at Iddeshale (? Idsall, Salop.), land at Hæccaham (? Hanbury, Worcs.), 10 hides at Felda by Weoduman (? in Beanhall in Feckenham, Worcs.), and in return for the grant of 10 hides at Crowle, Worcs., to Mucel (ealdorman), son of Esne, and a gift of 600 shillings in gold to Ealdorman Sigered. Latin with English.

Archive: Worcester

MSS: 1. BL Cotton Aug. ii. 9 (s. ix1; BM Facs, ii. 24)
2. Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, 111, pp. 138-37 [sic] (s. xvi; incomplete)
3. BL Cotton Tib. A. xiii, 21rv (s. xi1; incomplete)
4. Bodleian, Dodsworth 78, 59rv (s. xvii; ex 1)

Printed: Mon. Angl,, i. 123; Hearne, Heming, pp. 47-9; K 237; Mon. Angl. (rev. edn), i. 588-9 (no. 16); Thorpe, pp. 88-90; B 416; Earle, pp. 111-13; Pierquin, Recueil, pt 1, n. 140.

Translated: Jones 1958, pp. 78-80; Whitelock, EHD, no. 85 (pp. 518-19).

Comments: Bond 1878, p. 7, MS 1 is contemporary; Sweet, OET, pp. 453-4 (no. 47); Stenton 1913, p. 25, cited; Stevenson 1914, p. 689 n. 2, p. 692 n. 16, original; Turner 1916, p. xxxix, citing Stevenson, genuine; Darlington 1936, pp. 425-6; Parsons 1939, pp. 14, 23-5, MS 1 is genuine and contemporary; Stenton 1971, pp. 233-4, original, p. 289, cited; Finberg, ECWM, no. 247, authentic, suggests identifications of Haeccaham and Felda on the basis of a contemporary endorsement; Sawyer 1978, p. 121, cited; Whitelock, EHD, p. 518; Keynes 1980, p. 32 n. 52, cited; Wormald 1982, pp. 138-9, original; Sawyer 1983, p. 293, on meeting-place; Fleming 1985, p. 256; PN Shrops., i. 264, queries identification with Idshall, Salop, may be a lost Iddeshale in Worcs.; Kitson 1987, p. 149 n. 11, on endorsement; Hooke 1990, pp. 97-8, queries identification of Beanhall; Sims-Williams 1990, p. 107, original; Keynes 1993/1, p. 124, cited; Cubitt 1995, p. 287, pp. 313-14, on Croft; Lapidge 1996, p. 446, notes on latinity.

Notes: In MS 1 there are additions to the text and witness-list in different (contemporary) hands, and several contemporary endorsements by different scribes. In one instance a later scribe (? 10th-century) has tampered with the text to suggest that the grant of land to the king and Ealdorman Mucel was in fact a life-lease on the estates, with reversion to Worcester.

Endorsements in contemporary hands:
(1) Px ðis is Heanbirige friodom se waes bigeten mid ðy londe aet Iddeshale 7 aet Heanbyrig ten hida ðaes londes 7 aet felda ten hida on Beansetum
(2) 7 biscop gesalde Sigrede aldormenn sex hund scillinga on golde
(3) 7 Mucele aldormenn ten hida lond æt crog lea
(4) in another hand: Wiglaf cinig

+ Regnum Dei querendum est super universa lucra terrena Paulo testante apostolo quae enim videntur temporalia sunt Sed que non videntur aeterna sunt quid prodest homini totum mundum lucrare si anima ejus detrimentum patietur ,

Quapropter ego Uuiglaf rex Merciorum cum meis episcopis et ducibus et magistratibus illut monasterium in Heanbyrg in circuitu cum silva ad eam pertinentem et cum campis et pratis 7 cum omnibus utenssilibus et cum putheis salis et fornacibus plumbis 7 villis et omnia illuc pertinentia in cælestem culmen generaliter per totum gentem Merciorum et pro absolutione criminum nostrorum liberaliter liberamus a modicis et a magnis causis a notis et ignotis praeter vallis et pontes constructionem ,

Factum est haec donatio in Craeft anno dominicae incarnationis . dccc o . xxx o . vi o , indictione vero . xiiii o regni autem nostri a Deo concessi . vii o . pro redemptione animae meae placabile atque dilectabile mente praedicta loca liberabo cum universis casallis que ipsis locis universis sunt subditi ho'c' modo per aevum liberabo a pastu regis 7 principum 7 ab omni constructione regalis ville et a difficultate illa quam nos saxonice faestingmenn . dicimus haec omnia mente concedo spontaneo , Scitote ergo vos qui hanc labens regnum post me obtineatis quare hoc munus 7 hanc libertatem scripsi 7 scribere precipi quia in Deum meum desidero et in ejus ineffabilem misericordiam confido ut dominus noster Jhesus Christus meas iniquitates quas per ignorantiam feci Deus delere faciat Credo per hoc bonum a cunctis me emundare dignetur quia scriptum est peccatum ibi emenda ubi nascitur modo posteros meos per gloriosum 7 per mirabile nomen domini nostri Jhesu Christi humiliter supplico ut elemosinam quam in altitudinem caeli culminis in manus domini datam habeo communiter pro me 7 pro totum gentem Merciorum tam benigniter stare demittetis 7 multiplicare dignemini -

+ Ego Uuiglaf rex Merciorum .
+ Cyneðryþ regina .
+ Ceolnoð archiepiscopus .
+ Cyneferð episcopus .
+ Raeþhun episcopus .
+ Eaduulf episcopus .
+ Heaberht 'episcopus' .
+ Eaduulf episcopus .
+ Alhstan episcopus .
+ Beormod episcopus .
+ Husa episcopus .
+ Cunda episcopus .
+ Ceolberht episcopus .
+ Cynred episcopus .
+ Eanmund abbas .
+ Uueohtred abbas .
+ Beornhelm abbas .
+ Ego Sigred dux hanc donationem signo crucis Christi confirmavi .
+ Mucoel dux .
+ Tiduulf dux .
+ Aeþelhard dux .
+ Cyneberht dux .
+ Aeþeluulf dux .
+ Alhhelm dux .
+ Humberht dux .
+ Aelfstan dux .
+ Mucoel dux .
+ Wicga .
+ Aldred .
+ Aldberht .
+ Aelfred .
+ Hwithyse .
+ Werenberht .
+ Wulfred .
+ Wiglaf .
+ Eanuulf .
+ Alhmund .
+ Berhtuulf .
+ Ecghard .

+ Ðes friodom waes bigeten aet Wiglafe cyninge mid ðaem tuentigum hida aet Iddes hale end ðaes londes friodom aet Haeccaham mid ðy ten hida londe aet felda bi weoduman , end Mucele Esninge ðaet ten hida lond aet Croglea , hæbbæn heora dæg 7 æfter heora dæge agefe mon ðæt land into dære halgan stowe Weogurnacestre.