Anglo-Saxon Charters (pre-A.D. 900)

Browse the complete digital corpus of early English diplomas catalogued by Sawyer number and archive

A.D. 864 (Dorchester, Dorset, 26 Dec.). Æthelberht, king of Wessex, to the church of Sherborne; grant of privileges, with note that Æthelberht placed the charter on the high altar at Sherborne (A.D. 865, Good Friday). English.

A.D. 859 ? for 869 or 870 (Woodyates, Dorset). Æthelred, king of the Saxons, to Ælfstan, princeps; grant of 2 hides (cassati) at Cheselbourne, Dorset. Latin with English bounds.

A.D. 862 (Micheldever, Hants.). Æthelred, king of Wessex, to Æthelwulf, princeps; grant of 10 hides (cassati) at (Little) Wittenham, Berks. Latin with English bounds.

A.D. 863 (Dorchester, Dorset). Æthelred, king of Wessex, to Wulfhere, princeps; grant of 6 hides (cassati) at Buttermere, Wilts., and at Æscmere. Latin with English bounds.

Edgar (? for Æthelred), king, to St Paul's Monastery; grant of 15 hides (mansiones) at Navestock, Essex. Latin.

A.D. 867 (Canterbury). Æthelred, king of Wessex and Kent, to Wighelm, presbyter; grant of a seat in the church of St Martin, with land appurtenant. Latin with bounds.

A.D. 948 for 868 (Sutton Courtenay, Berks.). Æthelred, king of Wessex, to Cuthred, his minister; grant of 5 hides (cassati) at Balking, Berks. Latin.

Æthelred, king of Wessex and Kent, to Cuthwulf, bishop of Rochester; grant of land near Rochester. Latin with English bounds.

A.D. 868 (Dorchester, Dorset). Æthelred, king of Wessex, to Hunsige, his minister; grant of 5 hides (cassati) at Martyr Worthy, Hants. Latin with English bounds.

Æthelred, king of Wessex, to Wulfhere, his princeps; grant of 25 hides (cassati) at Winterbourne (Monkton), Wilts. Latin with English bounds.

? A.D. 869 or 870 (Woodyates, Dorset). Æthelred, king of Wessex, to Ælfstan, ealdorman; grant of 5 hides at Cheselbourne, Dorset. English with bounds.

A.D. 852 for ? 878. Alfred, king of Wessex, to Athelney Abbey; grant of 10 hides (cassatae) at Long Sutton, Somerset. Latin with English bounds.

A.D. '872'. Alfred, king of the English, to Athelney Abbey; grant of privileges in Stathmoor, Saltmoor, Haymoor and Currymoor, with other moors in North Curry, with grant to Abbot John of privileges and revenues in East Lyng, Somerset. Latin.

Alfred, king, and Æthelred, archbishop, to Liaba, son of Birgwine; grant of land at Ileden, Kent, in return for 25 mancuses of gold. Latin with English.

A.D. 882 (Epsom, Surrey). Alfred, king of the Saxons, to Athelstan, his minister; grant of 15 hides (cassati) at Cyricestun (? Somerset), in return for 30 mancuses and 2 hides at Stoce (? Stoke St Mary, Somerset). Latin with English bounds.

Alfred, king of the English and the Saxons, and Æthelred, subregulus et patricius Merciorum, to Wærferth, bishop of Worcester; grant of land æt Hwætmundes stane in London, with commercial privileges. Latin.

A.D. 891 (2 Aug.). Alfred, king of the Anglo-Saxons, to Berhtwulf, his faithful comes; grant of 12 hides (manentes) at Plush in Buckland Newton, Dorset, and 2 (? for 5) at Raddington, Somerset, in exchange for land at Sutton Poyntz, Dorset. Latin with English bounds.

Alfred, king of the Anglo-Saxons, to Æthelhelm, comes; grant of 10 hides (manentes) at North Newnton, Wilts. Latin with English bounds.

Alfred, king of the Saxons, to Burhric, bishop of Rochester; grant of land at Freckenham, Suffolk, and at Isleham, Cambs. Latin with English bounds.

A.D. 898 (Woolmer, Hants.). Alfred, king of the Saxons, to Sighelm, dux; grant of 1 hide (manens) at Farleigh, Kent, with appurtenant meadow. Latin with English and English bounds.

Alfred, king of the English, to Heahferth, minister; grant of 8 hides (mansae) at Worthy, Hants. Latin with English bounds.

A.D. 979 probably for 878 (19 Oct.). Alfred, king, to Denewulf, bishop; grant of 8 hides (manentes) at Ruishton, Somerset. Latin with English bounds.

A.D. 871 x 899. Alfred, king of the English, to Chertsey Abbey; grant of 5 hides (mansae) at Thorpe, with Getinges (cf. Eaton Farm, Chobham), Hunewaldesham (cf. Hundulsham, lost, in Weybridge) and Woodham, Surrey. Latin with English bounds.

A.D. 892 x 899. Alfred, king of the Anglo-Saxons, to Deormod; grant of 5 hides (mansi) at Appleford, Berks., in exchange for land at Harandun (Horn Down near East Hendred, Berks.) and 50 mancuses of gold. Latin with English and English bounds.

A.D. 871 x 899 (Malmesbury). Alfred, king of the Anglo-Saxons, with the consent of the familia of the church of Malmesbury, to Dudig, his minister; lease, for four lives, of 4 hides (cassati) at Chelworth, near Crudwell, Wilts., with reversion to the church of Malmesbury. Latin.

Alfred, king, to the church of Shaftesbury; grant of privileges and of land at Donhead (St Andrew and St Mary), Wilts.; Compton Abbas, Sixpenny Handley, Gussage (St Andrew), Tarrant Hinton, Iwerne Minster and Fontmell Magna, Dorset. English and Latin versions.

A.D. 670 x 676. Cenred to Bectun, abbot; grant of 30 hides (manentes) by Fontmell Brook, Dorset. Latin.

A.D. 672 x 674 (Fullingadich, 1 March). Frithuwold, subregulus of Surrey, to Eorcenwold and to St Peter's minster, Chertsey; grant of 200 (or 300) hides (manentes) at Chertsey and 5 at Thorpe, with 10 hides by the port of London. The property comprises land at Chertsey, Thorpe, Egham, Getinges (cf. Eaton Farm, Chobham), Molesey, Woodham in Chertsey and Hunewaldesham (lost) in Weybridge, Surrey. Confirmed by Wulfhere, king of the Mercians, in the royal vill at Thame, Oxon. Latin with English bounds appended.

Cenfrith, comes Merciorum, to Aldhelm, abbot; grant of 10 hides (cassati) at Wootton Bassett, Wilts. Latin.

A.D. 680 (October). Æthelmod to Bernguidis (Beorngyth), abbess, and to Folcburh, and their monastery; grant of 20 hides (manentes) by the river Cherwell. Latin.