Cartularium (Cartulary)
Med. Lat. cartularium / chartularium < charta ('paper, charter')
A bound codex or register volume into which a cathedral chapter or monastery transcribed its original single-sheet diplomas and charters for safe preservation and institutional administration.
Because numerous original single sheets were destroyed during the Viking wars, Dissolution of the Monasteries, or Cotton Library fire (1731), great cartularies like the *Textus Roffensis* and *Hemming's Cartulary* are our primary surviving witnesses.
Chirographum (Cyrograph / Indenture)
Gr. cheirographon < cheir ('hand') + graphein ('to write')
A legal document written in multiple identical copies on a single skin of vellum, separated by a cut made through a large capital word (such as CYROGRAPHUM) or decorative zigzag flourish.
Each party received one portion; authenticity was proven beyond dispute if the wavy or cut edges of the parchment halves fitted together seamlessly like a puzzle.
Cwide (Anglo-Saxon Will)
OE cwide ('speech, saying, testament') < cweþan ('to say, speak')
A testamentary settlement recorded in the vernacular detailing the post-mortem devolution of landed estates, precious manuscripts, ecclesiastical vestments, weapons, gold, and the manumission of slaves.
Wills were formally declared before family and confirmed by the king in return for the payment of a military death-duty (*heriot* / *heregeatwe*).
Diploma (Royal Landbook / Boc)
Gr. diploma ('folded document') / OE bōc ('book, charter')
The highest and most solemn class of legal instrument in pre-Conquest England: a single-sheet parchment recording a perpetual royal grant of bookland accompanied by fiscal immunities and witnessed by the witenagemot.
Unlike continental private charters, royal diplomas were issued exclusively in the king's name and possessed quasi-sacral authority, transforming customary tenure into permanent ecclesiastical or secular patrimony.
Foreweard (Covenant / Agreement)
OE foreweard ('covenant, treaty, agreement') < fore ('before') + weard ('guard, condition')
A bilateral covenant or dispute settlement agreed between two individuals, families, or institutions, ratified by mutual pledge (*wed*) before witnesses at a public meeting.
Foreweards covered dowries, leasehold duties, grazing rights, and the surrender of disputed estates in exchange for life-interests.
Gewrit (Royal Writ)
OE gewrit < gewrītan ('to write, carve letters')
A concise, sealed administrative mandate in the vernacular addressed by the king to the bishop, ealdorman, and thegns of a shire-gemot, announcing a grant of land or judicial privilege.
Developed in late Anglo-Saxon England and sealed with the royal two-sided Great Seal, the writ revolutionised administrative governance and became the ancestor of all Anglo-Norman executive instruments.
Lænland (Leasehold Estate)
OE lǣnland < lǣn ('loan, lease') + land ('land')
Land granted on temporary loan or lease—typically for one, two, or three specified lives—reverting automatically to the grantor (usually a cathedral or monastery) upon expiration of the term.
In contrast to perpetual bookland, lænland could not be sold or alienated, and was frequently used by bishops like Oswald of Worcester to secure military and administrative services from local thegns.
Pancarta (General Confirmation)
Late Lat. pancarta < Gr. pan ('all') + charta ('parchment, charter')
A cumulative confirmation charter in which a king or bishop recites, confirms, and ratifies in a single comprehensive document multiple disparate parcels of land previously granted to a religious community.
Monasteries often fabricated or requested pancartae during political crises or Viking incursions to consolidate their title-deeds into an impenetrable omnibus defence against predatory local magnates.