Royal Diplomas

Written documents of the kind recognisable as charters, written in almost all cases (though not exclusively) on single sheets of parchment, were introduced into Anglo-Saxon England in the seventh century, conceivably by the Christian missionaries in the early years of the century, perhaps some time later, but certainly by c. 670.

Over the whole period, from c. 670 to 1066, we encounter various different forms of charter, and it is not until the mid-ninth or first half of the tenth century that anything approximating to a 'standard' form emerges, whether for a grant of land, or for an act of any other kind.

A standard 'royal diploma' is a formal record, in Latin, of an act which took place in the context of a royal assembly, whereby a specified parcel of land designated (or re-designated) as an estate of 'bookland' (by powers vested exclusively in the king and his councillors) was granted, as bookland, to the person or religious house named as the beneficiary. The bounds of the estate are normally given, in the boundary-clause. In most cases, the record is dated by year only, and the location of the royal assembly is not given; in a few cases the draftsman of the charter specifies the day of the month as well, or names the place where the assembly was held (or both). The witness-list incorporated in the diploma, which is symbolic of the origin of the diploma at a royal assembly, comprises a selection of those whose presence at the assembly had been registered probably on a separate memorandum, used by the draftsman in producing a diploma. The completed diploma (folded and endorsed) would (in most cases) have been handed over to the beneficiary at the assembly itself, and retained thereafter as a title-deed for the estate in question. Subsequent or secondary transfers of the estate could be affected without any need for the drawing-up of a new diploma, by transferring the existing title-deed into the hands of the new owner in the presence of witnesses, perhaps at a royal assembly, but perhaps more often at a local assembly. In some cases, a vernacular record of a 'secondary' transfer of the property was made at the local assembly, including a list of the witnesses.

It is in the nature of the material that much remains contentious. Charters were considered by laymen and churchmen alike to be of great value as evidence of rights over land, and were forged for various purposes perhaps from the earliest times and certainly from the early ninth century onwards. The extent to which charters were fabricated in the tenth century, for one purpose or another, may be judged most easily from the evidence of documents preserved in single-sheet form; and of course the process continued into the eleventh century. Charters purporting to have originated in the Anglo-Saxon period continued to be fabricated long after the Norman Conquest. One of the challenges presented by the surviving corpus of charters thus lies in establishing the authenticity, or otherwise, of any given text in its transmitted form.

A number of individual charters, and several groups of charters, emerge from the surviving corpus, and illustrate the varied interest of this material. 

• The earliest surviving charters (s. vii/viii), representing views of kings and kingship formulated before the appearance of Bede's Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum (731); complemented by the (lost) Northumbrian charters of the same period.
• S 89 (Worcester): King Æthelbald's grant of land at Ismere to Cyneberht, dated 736, and extant in its original form; for 'spurious' monasteries, and for the 'Mercian Supremacy'
• The 'toll' charters of the eighth century (studied by Kelly) - of significance for their bearing on the control of commercial activity in London.
• S 92 (no provenance): King Æthelbald's grant of privileges for the minsters and churches (of Mercia?), issued at an assembly at Gumley, Leicestershire, and dated 749, apparently circulated in association with other significant texts, in response to Boniface's call for reform.
• Charters issued at church councils in the later eighth century and first half of the ninth century, and whatever they might signify. The documentation relating to the council at Kingston-upon-Thames, in 838, is especially important: S 1438 (CantCC 00).
• S 1184 (Sel 11): charter of Oslac, dux of the South Saxons, dated 780, with later confirmation (787 x 796) by Offa, king of the Mercians, at Irthlingborough, Northants, and other charters bearing on Offa's control over Kent and Sussex.
• Charters belonging to a 'West Saxon' diplomatic tradition, from the central decades of the ninth century, including S 298 (WinchOM), and also the so-called 'Second' decimation charters of 854 - significant for what they reveal or suggest about the kingdom of the West Saxons in times of viking attack. (The so-called 'First' decimation charters of 844 are of doubtful authenticity.)
• S 204 (CantCC 75): a royal diploma in the vernacular, issued in the name of Berhtwulf, king of the Mercians (844 x 845).
• The sequence of original charters of the ninth century from Christ Church, Canterbury, which illustrate declining standards of Latinity (studied by Brooks and Lapidge).
• The 'Mercian' charters of King Alfred, in the late ninth century.

Just over half of the surviving number of royal diplomas date from (or purport to date from) the tenth century, most from the central decades (930s-970s). The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is relatively unhelpful for this period, so the charters come into their own, in all manner of different and complementary respects.

• The 'Winchester' charters of Edward the Elder, in the first decade of the tenth century.
• The charters of 'Æthelstan A', probably a royal scribe, issued between 928 and 935, were produced at assemblies convened by Æthelstan as 'king of the English', and reflect the grandeur of his new position in various ways; in effect, he had a monopoly during these years.
• From late 935 onwards a diplomatic 'mainstream' can be identified, assuming a relatively restrained form, but at the same time developing in a number of interesting ways, into the 950s and 960s.
• The 'alliterative' charters of the 940s and 950s are quite different in form, and represent a significantly different view of the 'English' polity; possibly to be associated with the bishop of Worcester. None survives in its original form; but two or three are known from early modern transcripts of lost originals.
• The 'Dunstan B' charters of the early 950s are also quite distinctive; possibly associated in some way with Glastonbury abbey.  One survives in its original form. The formulation was used again on occasion thereafter.
• The large number of charters issued in the name of King Eadwig in 956 suggest what happened when the torch passed to a new generation; they also have a significant bearing on the production of charters at this time. The charters of Eadwig and Edgar suggest what lay behind the division of the kingdom in 957.
• A small group of 'Mercian' charter drawn up by a (?royal) scribe operating for King Edgar between 958 and 963: S 667 (Chester), S 677 (Wells 31, original), S 712a (uncertain), and S 723 (WinchOM), presenting a distinctive view.
• The charters of 'Edgar A', issued between 960 and 963. Unlike 'Æthelstan A', he did not have a monopoly, but worked in association with others. Identified by some as Æthelwold, abbot of Abingdon; by others as a royal scribe.
• A small group of charters from the period 963 x 967, in which a bishop attests with a formula indicating that he had ordered the charter to be written; the same formula is found thereafter in 1013, and again in the 1020s.

A major issue is how the monastic reform movement of the tenth century finds expression or reflection in the evidence of charters, whether genuine royal diplomas issued in favour of religious houses, or charters of various kinds fabricated within the houses themselves; and there are many complications.

• The foundation charter for Cluny (910) is instructive as an expression and symbol of monastic reform on the continent.
• There are royal diplomas from the 940s onwards which complement the narrative of monastic reform as reconstructed from Bishop Æthelwold's account of the movement, and from the later Lives of St Æthelwold, St Dunstan, and St Oswald. They include grants of particular estates to religious houses, 'for the use of the monks'. It is a matter of judgement whether any of the 'foundation' charters of reform period (940-75), or indeed any of the charters affirming privileges of one kind or another (e.g. freedom of election of an abbot) are authentic in their received form; several among them are demonstrably spurious, though no less interesting for that. For what could be the exception proving the rule, see Edgar's charter for the New Minster, Winchester (below); cf. Wulfstan's Vita S. Æthelwoldi, chs. 21 (Abingdon) and 23 (Ely).
• The 'Orthodoxorum' charters of Kings Eadwig and Edgar for Abingdon Abbey (959), grant freedom of election of an abbot from within the community, in the event of the death of Abbot Æthelwold, and freedom of the monastery itself from all worldly burdens. If genuine, the charters would be important for their bearing on the reform movement in the late 950s; complemented by similar charters of Edgar for Pershore and Romsey in the early 970s. If genuine, they would be important also for their bearing on the identity of 'Edgar A', active in the early 960s.
  • Some argue that the charters of Eadwig and Edgar for Abingdon (959) are wholly authentic, that the charter for Pershore (972) is probably an original, and that the charter for Romsey (971 x 975) may also be genuine; from which it would follow that a later charter of King Æthelred for Abingdon (993), cast in essentially the same form, was put together at Abingdon by Abbot Wulfgar, on the basis of Edgar's charter of 959 and other texts.
  • Others argue that King Æthelred's charter for Abingdon (993) is authentic and original (with significant implications for the understanding of Æthelred's reign); and that the 'earlier' charters, for Abingdon, Pershore, Romsey, and Worcester, were fabricated, directly or indirectly on this model, at different times from the late tenth century onwards.
• King Edgar's 'Altitonantis' charter for Worcester (964) - a fine example of a twelfth-century forgery, and one which as it happened achieved great fame for Edgar in the seventeenth century.
• King Edgar's 'golden' charter for the New Minster, Winchester (S 745), dated 966, in the form of a small book, and of undoubted authenticity; not in itself a foundation charter, but interesting not least because it sought to protect the New Minster, reformed in 964, from a residual threat from the disgruntled secular clergy.

Significant developments in the use and form of the royal diploma are represented among those issued in the name of King Æthelred the Unready (978-1016), especially during the 990s and into the first decade of the eleventh century:

• Affirmations or grants of privileges for well established religious houses, including charters for Abingdon Abbey (993), for the see of Cornwall (994), for Muchelney abbey (995), and for Sherborne abbey (998). (See also King Æthelred's charter for Tavistock (S 838), dated 981.)
• Grants of land, or restorations of land, or confirmations of title, made by King Æthelred in favour of particular religious houses, under special circumstances, including charters for Rochester (995, 998), the Old Minster, Winchester (996, 997), Abingdon abbey (999), Shaftesbury abbey (1001), St Frideswide's, Oxford (1004), and St Albans abbey (1005).
• 'Foundation' or confirmation charters for newly or recently established religious houses, including charters of King Æthelred for Wherwell abbey (1002), Burton abbey (1004), and Eynsham abbey (1005).

Charters of the central decades of the eleventh century.

• The formal vernacular record of the endowment of the monastery at Stow St Mary, Lincolnshire, in the mid-1050s.  S 1478 (Robertson, Charters, no. 73).
• The seemingly authentic 'pancartes' of the 1060s:
  • S 1067 (Beverley): writ of King Edward authorising Archbishop Ealdred to draw up a priuilegium for St John's minster at Beverley, Yorks.
  • S 1036 (Waltham): diploma of King Edward, dated 1062, confirming Earl Harold's foundation and endowment of a minster at Waltham, Essex, for secular clergy; apparently drawn up by Regenbald, the king's chancellor.
  • S 1038 (Malm 33): King Edward for Malmesbury Abbey, dated 1065, apparently drawn up by Abbot Brihtric.
  • S 1042 (Wells 40): King Edward for the see of Wells, drawn up by Giso, bishop of Wells.
• The dossier of charters (diplomas, writs, etc.) associated with Bishop Giso.
• The writs associated with Regenbald the priest, later of Cirencester.

The question of 'continental' influence on Anglo-Saxon charters before the Norman Conquest, especially in the household of Edward the Confessor, and the question of Anglo-Saxon influence on early Anglo-Norman charters, represented by diplomas, by writs, and by the continued employment of Englishmen for such purposes.

Fabrication of charters as part of the process of establishing title to estates at the time of the survey of 1086.

Twelfth-century forgeries (Ramsey and Westminster).

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November 2013