An authentic Anglo-Saxon charter records a grant by Wihtred, king of the people of Kent (south-east Britain), of land to the church at Lyminge, Kent, dedicated to *Mary (mother of Christ, S00033). Written in Latin, probably in Kent, July 697 or 712.
E05868
Documentary texts - Donation document
Late antique original manuscripts - Parchment sheet
Documentary texts - Charter or diploma
Charter of King Wihtred (Sawyer 19, excerpted)
☩ In nomine Domini Dei nostri Iesu Christi Ego Uithredus rex Cantuariorum prouidens mihi in futuro decreui dare aliquid omnia mihi donanti et consilio accepto bonum uisum est conferre bassilicae beatae Mariae genitricis Dei quae sita est in loco qui dicitur Lymingae terram .iiii. aratrorum quae dicitur Pleghelmestun [...] Actum in mense Iulio indictione xma.
'☩ In the name our Lord God Jesus Christ. I, Wihtred, king of the people of Kent, mindful of the future, have resolved to give something to the one who grants all things to me, and having received counsel, it seems good to grant to the basilica of blessed Mary, mother of God, which is situated in the place which is called Lyminge, three sulungs of land at the place called Pleghelmestun... Enacted in the month of July, in the tenth indiction.'
Text: Brooks and Kelly 2013, no. 5, 286-7.
Translation: B. Savill.
Cult building - independent (church)
Places Named after SaintChurch
Non Liturgical ActivityBequests, donations, gifts and offerings
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesMonarchs and their family
Source
This charter survives as a single-sheet, parchment manuscript (London, British Library, Stowe Ch. I), apparently an original production (or contemporary copy) of the late 7th or early 8th century (Brooks and Kelly 2013, i. 287-93).For further details, see this charter's entry on the Electronic Sawyer: http://www.esawyer.org.uk/charter/19.html
Discussion
This is the third earliest Anglo-Saxon charter to survive as an apparently original manuscript (Brooks and Kelly 2013, i. 290), and the first to record a dedication to a saint.Bibliography
Edition:Brooks, N.P., and Kelly, S.E., Charters of Christ Church, Canterbury, 2 vols. (Oxford, 2013).
Further reading:
Sawyer, P.H., Anglo-Saxon Charters: an Annotated List and Bibliography (London, 1968); revd. S.E. Kelly and R. Rushforth et al. online at http://www.esawyer.org.uk
Benjamin Savill
22/06/2018
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00033 | Mary, Mother of Christ | Maria | Certain |
|---|
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Benjamin Savill, Cult of Saints, E05868 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E05868