Exeter

Little known of the early history of religious life at Exeter. It would appear that there were at least two houses at Exeter in the first half of the tenth century, one for nuns and another for monks, perhaps sharing the same church. A house at Exeter enjoyed the patronage of King Æthelstan; but the community was in some sense refounded by King Edgar in 968, and placed under Abbot Sideman (Fl. Wig. i. 141). The continued existence of the two houses <in the late tenth century; or TR Cnut?> is suggested by S 1452, a record of sureties for an agreement between an Abbess Eadgifu and an Abbot Leofric, entered in the ‘Leofric Missal’ (see below). The bishopric of Devon had been administered from Crediton since c. 910, and that of Cornwall from St German’s and from St Petroc’s, Bodmin. The two sees were united under Lyfing, bishop of Devon and Cornwall (1027-46); but since Crediton and St German’s were vulnerable to viking attack, Lyfing’s successor Leofric (1046-72) soon obtained permission to transfer his see to Exeter. In 1050 the church of St Peter’s, Exeter, was chosen to serve as the episcopal see for the diocese of Devon and Cornwall. <Conner, pp. 215-25, on the Plegmund narrative.>

The muniments of Exeter cathedral are described by Poole, in HMC Report on Manuscripts in Various Collections IV; see also Erskine, ‘Documentation of Exeter Cathedral’. About forty pre-Conquest charters from the Exeter archive survive, for the most part in single-sheet form. For a full discussion (itself a pioneering demonstration of what can be gained from the detailed study of an archive as a whole), see Chaplais, ‘Royal Anglo-Saxon Diplomas of Exeter’.

In the light of Dr Chaplais’s analysis, basic distinctions can be made between the several component parts of the Exeter archive. (i) A number of the charters evidently pertain to the see of Devon in the tenth and first half of the eleventh century, and were presumably among muniments transferred from Crediton to Exeter in or some time after 1050; the charters in question comprise two ‘detached’ sets of bounds (S 255 (MS. 2), and S 1547), two forged charters of King Æthelstan (S 405 and 421), a charter of King Æthelred for Bishop Ælfwold (S 890), and Bishop Ælfwold’s will (S 1492). (ii) Other charters pertain to the see of Cornwall, and were presumably transferred to Crediton, and then to Exeter, from St Germans (or St Petroc’s); these comprise King Æthelred’s charter for Bishop Ealdred (S 880, MS. 1), and a copy of a letter from Archbishop Dunstan to King Æthelred, concerning the history of certain estates belonging to the diocese of Cornwall (S 1296). (iii) The Exeter archive might be expected to have contained charters which pertained to the endowment of the monastery of St Peter’s in the tenth and eleventh centuries; but if we may trust the substance of S 954 (a charter of King Cnut for Exeter, dated 1019), the charters which former kings had granted to St Peter’s had been destroyed by fire on an occasion when the monastery had been ravaged by ‘pagans’, perhaps an allusion to the events recorded in ASC, s.a. 1003. (iv) Two of the charters belong among the muniments of Leofric himself, as bishop of Exeter: King Edward the Confessor’s grant of land in Devon to Leofric, his chaplain, dated 1044 (S 1003), and the same king’s charter recording the establishment of Exeter as the see of the united diocese of Devon and Cornwall, dated 1050 (S 1021, of which the extant ‘original’ may have been one of two copies made at the time). (v) Several other tenth- and eleventh-century charters, in favour of laymen, presumably came to Exeter as title-deeds, whether for the bishopric of Cornwall, or for that of Devon, or for St Peter’s monastery: S 684 and 1019 are charters of King Edgar and King Edward the Confessor, for estates in Cornwall, and S 795, 830 and 971 (MS. 1) are charters of King Edgar, King Edward the Martyr and King Cnut, for estates in Devon. <NB S 963, a charter of Cnut for a Devon estate, written by same scribe as S 971, but apparently already at Christ Church in s. xii (Chaplais). Was it ever at Crediton? S 1474 (Sherborne): copy said to have been at Crediton. Plegmund narrative, in BL Add. 7138 (BAFacs.); see Conner, pp. 215-25.>

The most striking feature of the archive is, however, the evidence it affords for the production at Exeter, in the second half of the eleventh century, of a substantial number of forgeries (or in certain cases, later copies of authentic texts), perhaps partly in connection with Bishop Leofric’s strenuous attempts to secure the endowment of his see, and perhaps also in connection with subsequent proceedings (for example, at the time of the Domesday survey). The charters include one in the name of King Æthelheard of Wessex, granting land at Crediton to Bishop Forthhere (S 255 (MS. 1)); a curious group in the name of King Æthelstan, dated ‘670’ (S 386 (MS. 1), 387, 389 (MS. 1) and 433 (MS. 3), written by a single scribe; S 388; and S 433 (MS. 2), written by the scribe responsible for S 255 (MS. 1) and for King William I’s confirmation of a charter of Bishop Leofric (Regesta i. 28)); another in the name of King Æthelstan, dated 937 (S 433 (MS. 1)); two in the name of King Cnut, dated 1018, for the bishopric of Cornwall (S 951 and 953); a copy of a lease granted by Bishop Eadnoth of Crediton, entered on the dorse of S 405 (S 1387), presumably from the chirograph known to have been preserved at Crediton (cf. S 1387, MS. 2, itself derived from the counterpart of the Crediton copy); a charter in the name of King Edward, dated 1059, granting land in Cornwall to Bishop Ealdred of Worcester (S 1027); and a group of later copies, or forgeries, of charters in favour of laymen, for an estate in Devon (S 669; see also S 971 (MS. 2)) and for estates in Cornwall (S 755 and 770, written on the face and dorse of one sheet, and S 832, written by the same scribe on the dorse of S 1027; it is conceivable that S 1019, modelled in part on S 890, also belongs to this group). Further study of these charters in their diplomatic and palaeographical contexts, and in relation to the history of the estates concerned, will doubtless elucidate the circumstances in which they were produced.

Only three of the ‘Exeter’ charters were accorded the distinction of being entered in the cartularies. Copies of King Æthelred’s charter for the bishopric of Cornwall (S 880), of King Cnut’s charter for St Mary’s, Exeter (S 954), and of King Edward’s charter joining the dioceses of Devon and Cornwall (S 1021), were added at the end of the register of Bishop Walter Bronescombe (Exeter, D.R.O., E/R 1, 101r-104r); ptd Registers of Walter Bronescombe and Peter Quivil, ed. Hingeston-Randolph, pp. 482-7. The same three charters also occur as a group in Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS. 59 (an early fourteenth-century miscellany, of uncertain origin), 226r-228v (James, arts. 34-6). Originals of S 880 and 1021 survive; but that of S 954 does not. <NB Check Exeter 1705, s. xiv single-sheet copy of S 954; charter has apparently not been edited from this source. NB cartulary copy of S 1021 appears to have been derived from a version with a fuller witness-list (Chaplais, ‘Diplomas of Exeter’, p. 31).>

<Exeter, D. & C., 1705 and 3505 are s. xiv single-sheet copies of S 954 and 1021. Exeter, D. & C., 2105 and 2408 are s. xiii and xvi single-sheets with S 880, 954 and 1021; presumably Inspeximus charters, and source of copies of these texts in Prise-Say register. Ex. 2105 ptd Mon. Ang. (rev. ed.) ii. 535-6.>

Church of St Buryan, Cornwall. <Founded by King Æthelstan (church guide). Copy of charter of King Æthelstan (S 450) said to have been made by Bishop William Briwere (1223-44), in 1238; original burnt in Deanery House in 1287. Copy entered in a register of Bishop John Grandisson (1327-69): Exeter, D.R.O., E/R 4, 25r; ptd Register of John de Grandisson, ed. Hingeston-Randolph, pt i, pp. 84-5. Also, short version in late-fourteenth-century ‘Register of St. Buryan College’ (Cambridge, University Library, Ee. 5. 34 (Davis 850), 00); ptd in church guide. The deanery of St Buryan belonged in the fifteenth century to King’s College, Cambridge; hence s. xv single sheet, in King’s College, MS. SRU/8. Æthelstan’s charter clearly spurious; but must have been based ultimately on genuine material.>

Archival 'strays'. Many of the Exeter charters remain to this day among the episcopal muniments at Exeter Cathedral (facsimiles in OSFacs. ii); but several of them appear to have ‘strayed’. Several at Christ Church, Canterbury: S 433 (MSS. 1-2), 890, 963, 971 (MS. 2), 1019). One in the Public Record Office (S 795). Others ‘escaped’ into the hands of antiquaries, and are now to be found among the Crawford charters in the Bodleian Library (S 255 (MSS. 1-2), 405 + 1387, 1296 and 1492), or in the British Library (S 387 and 421), or in the William Salt Library, Stafford (S 433, MS. 3). <Did S 421 reach Cotton via CCC? What is history of S 387? And of S 433, MS. 3? Was S 963 ever at Crediton/Exeter? S 386 apparently seen by Joscelyn at Canterbury.>All charters demonstrably from Exeter to be edited as part of the Exeter archive.

Records in gospel-books, etc.

A number of books which are presumed or known to have belonged to St Peter’s, Exeter, were used for the preservation of records of various kinds:

(i) A fragment of an eighth-century Insular gospel-book (BL Cotton Tiberius B. v, vol. I, fol. 75 (Ker, Catalogue, no. 194)) contains a note of regulations for a guild at Exeter (Thorpe, p. 613), written in the first half of the tenth century, and a manumission entered in the gospel-book on the instructions of King Eadwig (Thorpe, p. 623), as well as an eleventh-century manumission (KCD 1353); there is no reason to assume, however, that this book belonged to St Peter’s, as opposed to a community of some other kind in the borough of Exeter. <Conner, pp. 165-70.>

(ii) A preliminary quire added to the ‘Leofric Gospels’ (Oxford, Bodleian Library, Auct. D. 2. 16 (Ker, Catalogue, no. 291)) contains a vernacular record of Bishop Leofric’s gifts to Exeter (Robertson, Charters, Appendix I, no. 1, and Lapidge 1985, pp. 64-9), as well as a vernacular list of relics given to Exeter supposedly by King Æthelstan (BCS 693; see also Keynes 1985, p. 144, n. 7). <Conner, pp. 226-35, in 4 pts.>

(iii) A gathering of eight leaves now bound up with the ‘Exeter Book’ of Old English poetry, but formerly constituting a preliminary quire in a copy of the West Saxon gospels (Cambridge, University Library, Ii. 2. 11 (Ker, Catalogue, no. 20)) contains various ‘Exeter’ additions of the later eleventh and early twelfth centuries, including another copy of the record of Bishop Leofric’s gifts to Exeter (as in the ‘Leofric Gospels’); other texts entered on leaves added at the end of the gospel-book include a series of manumissions (Earle, pp. 257-64). <Conner, pp. 173-87.>

(iv) Additions to the ‘Leofric Missal’ (Oxford, Bodleian Library, Bodley 579 (Ker, Catalogue, no. 315)) include an eleventh-century copy of a list of sureties (S 1452 (Robertson, Charters, no. 47)), and a further group of Exeter manumissions (Earle, pp. 253, 256). The record of Bishop Leofric’s gifts to Exeter states that ‘when he took over the minster the only land he found under its control was an estate of 2 hides at Ide’, and lists the estates which he recovered for St Peter’s ‘by means of his advocacy and his treasure’, providing the obvious context for the production of so many forged charters in the second half of the eleventh century; the manumissions afford valuable evidence of the relationship between the church and local society, which is lacking in so many other cases. <Conner, pp. 226-35.>

CHARTERS OF EXETER

Royal diplomas. 255, MS. 1; 386; 387; 388; 389; 390; 405; 421; 433, MS. 1; 433, MS. 2; 433, MS. 3; 450; 669; 684; 755; 770; 795; 830; 832; 880; 890; 951; 953; 954; 971, MS. 1; 971, MS. 2; 1003; 1019; 1021; 1027. (See also 963, apparently preserved at Christ Church, Canterbury.)

Miscellaneous. 1296; 1387. (See also 1452, entered in the Leofric Missal, and BL Add. 7138 (BCS 614 (BAFacs. 9)), representing a Crediton claim.)

Will. 1492.

Boundary clauses. 255, MS. 2; 1547.

Select bibliography

WM, GP, pp. 201-2; Mon. Angl. i. 213 (St Petroc’s, and St Germans) and 220-31 (Exeter); Not. Mon. (Devonshire), no. XIX; Mon. Angl. (rev. ed.) ii. 000-00 (…) and 513-45 (Exeter); VCH Devon, oo. 00-00; MRH, p. 425; HRH, p. 48. Edwards, Charters of the Early West Saxon Kingdom, pp. 254-8.

Barlow, et al., F., Leofric of Exeter (Exeter, 1972); Chaplais, P., ‘The Authenticity of the Royal Anglo-Saxon Diplomas of Exeter’, Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research 39 (1966), pp. 1-34, reptd in his Essays in Medieval Diplomacy and Administration (London, 1981), pp. XV 1-34 and Addendum; Conner, P. W., Anglo-Saxon Exeter: a Tenth-Century Cultural History, Studies in Anglo-Saxon History 4 (Woodbridge, 1993); Erskine, A., ‘The Documentation of Exeter Cathedral: the Archives and their Application’, Medieval Art & Architecture at Exeter Cathedral, British Archaeological Association Conference Transactions 11 (1992), pp. 00-00; Hingeston-Randolph, F. C., ed., The Registers of Walter Bronescombe (A.D. 1257-1280), and Peter Quivil (A.D. 1280-1291), Bishops of Exeter (London, 1889); Hingeston-Randolph, F. C., ed., The Register of John de Grandisson, Bishop of Exeter, pt i (Exeter, 1894); Oliver, G., Lives of the Bishops of Exeter and a History of the Cathedral (Exeter, 1861); Poole, R. L., in HMC Report on Manuscripts in Various Collections iv (Dublin, 1907), pp. 13-22 (Bishop of Exeter) and 23-95 (Dean and Chapter of Exeter); Rose-Troup, F., ‘The Ancient Monastery of St. Mary and St. Peter at Exeter (680-1050)’, Report & Transactions of the Devonshire Association 63 (1931), pp. 179-220.

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