[PRIVILEGE OF WIHTRED.] a Whether the monks of Canterbury are right in alleging Tobias to have been Bishop of Rochester as early as A.D. 694, or the Textus Roffensis in continuing Gebmund until A.D. 696, cannot be determined beyond question. A grant of Wihtred to Minster, in Thanet, dated Febr., in the 5th year of his reign and 9th Indiction (i. e. Feb. A.D. 696), at "Berkamystede" (K., C.D. XXXIX.), likewise has Gebmund as Bishop of Rochester, and some other charters, the genuineness of which turns on the subscription by Gebmund, may be in a measure rehabilitated, by dating his death after A.D. 696. See below, p. 241, note o. b Bersted, near Maidstone. See Charter of Eardulf of Kent, cir. A.D. 747 (K., C. D. MV.). a A.D. 696 × 716. Privilege granted to the Churches and Monasteries of Kent by King Wihtred at a Kentish Witenagemot at Baccanceld [Bapchild, near Sittingbourne, in Kent]. In nomine Domini Dei nostri et Salvatoris Jesu Christi, congregatum est magnum concilium in loco ubi nominatur Baccancelde. Præsidente autem eodem concilio Wihtredo clementissimo Rege Cantuariorum, necnon Berntuualdo reverentissimo Archiepiscopo Britanniæ, simulque Tobie Episcopo Hrofensis Ecclesiæ, ceterisque abbatibus, abbatissis, presbiteris, diaconibus, ducibus, satrapis in unum glomeratis: pariter tractantes, anxie examinantes de statu Ecclesiarum Dei vel monasteriorum intra Cantiam, quæ a fidelibus regibus prædecessoribus meis et propinquis Deo omnipotenti in propriam hæreditatem condonata fuerunt, quomodo vel qualiter secundum normam æquitatis stare, quidve servare a modo et usque finem sæculi, constituimus. Ideo ego Wihtred Rex terrenus a Rege regum compunctus, zelo rectitudinis accensus, ex antiqua traditione sanctorum patrum et mandatis didici non esse licitum alicui ex laico habitu sibi ipsi usurpare, vel ad se trahere, quasi suam propriam possessionem, quod ante fuerat Domino concessum, et cruce Christi firmatum atque dedicatum: quia scimus et veraciter extat, ut si quid semel acceperit homo de manu alterius in propriam potestatem, nullatenus sine ira et ultione illud dimiserit impunitus. Ideo horrendum est hominibus exspoliare Deum vivum, et scindere tunicam Ejus et hæreditatem Ejus, quotquot ex aliquo concessum Ei fuerit de terrenis substantiis ad id, ut eo facilius promereri valeant æternam retributionem percipere in cœlis: quia manifeste declaratur quanto incautius adplicaverit se homo sæcularis in hæreditatem Regis æterni quæ ad ejus imperium trahere desiderat; tanto districtius ab eodem Deo in igne inextinguibili puniatur. Pro hac re firmiter statuimus atque decernimus, et in nomine omnipotentis Dei omniumque Sanctorum præcipimus omnibus suc [PRIVILEGE OF WIHTRED.] cessoribus nostris, regibus, principibus, vel omnibus qui in habitu laico constituti sunt, ut nullus unquam habeat licentiam accipere alicujus ecclesiæ vel familiæ monasterii dominium, quæ a meipso vel antecessoribus meis priscis temporibus tradita erant in perpetuam hæreditatem, Jesu Christo et sanctis Apostolis, etiamque Maria Virgine [matri] Domini nostri sacrata. Sed magis, sicut decet, et in canonibus præcipitur, servandum est: quando quis evenerit ex numero dominorum obigere de sæculod abbas vel abbatissa: propterea immittature propriæ parochiæ Episcopus, et cum ejus consilio vel consensu, quisquis dignus inveniatur et ejus vita atque munditia ab Episcopo examinatur: talis eligatur et ab Episcopo benedicatur, sanctificetur dominus spiritalis gradui, Dei servitie et tonsuræ, seu sacro velamine mancipatus: et nullo modo sine consultu et licential Archiepiscopi in diocesi sua abbas vel abbatissa eligatur. Si quis per insipientiam aliter faciat, pro nichilo habeatur, citiusque abiciatur, neque de hac re aliquid pertineat ad regis sæcularis imperium: quia illius personis est, principes, præfectos, seu duces sæculares statuere: metropolitani Episcopi est ecclesias Dei regere, gubernare, atque abbates, abbatissas, presbiteros, diacones, elegere, statuere, et sanctificare, firmare et ammonere, ne quis ovis de ovibus æterni pastoris erret. Hoc præceptum statuimus hiis monasteriis quorum nomina hæc sunt adnotata; Primus, primi apostolorum principis Petri, id est, Upmynster, Raculf, Suomynster, Dofras, Folcanstan, Limming, Scepeis et Hoef. Hæc omnia interdicimus, sicut ante diximus, ut nullus habitus ex numero laicorum ad se pertrahat vel suscipiat ullum monasterium de hiis prænominatis. Hæc lex supradicta per ævum completa, permaneat: adhuc addimus majorem libertatem. Inprimis Christi ecclesiæ cum omnibus agris ad eam pertinentibus, similiter Hrofensi ecclesiæ cum suis, cæterisque prædictis omnibus ecclesiis Dei nostri, subjiciantur pro salute animæ meæ, meorumque prædecessorum, et pro spe cœlestis regni ex hac die, et deinceps concedimus et donamus ab omnibus difficultatibus sæcularium servitutis, a pastu Regis, principum, comitum, nec non ab operibus, majoribus minoribusve gravitatibus: et ab omni debitu vel pulsione regum tensuris liberos eos esse perpetua libertate statuimus: nisi sua spontanea voluntate, ex largitate beneficiorum, quid facere velint: tamen hoc inposterum non servetur nec habeatur in malam con [PRIVILEGE OF WIHTRED.] suetudinem: sed magis securi possint pro nobis Deo omnipotenti hostias dignas offerre, et immaculatis muneribus nostra abluere peccata, ut per eorum intercessiones, mereamur audire felicem sententiam, "Venite benedicti Patris mei, percipite regnum quod vobis paratum est ab origine mundi 5." Si quis autem Rex unquam post nos elevatus in regnum, aut Episcopus, aut abbas, vel comes, seu ulla potestas hominum contradicat huic kartulæ, aut infringere temptaverit: sciat se sequestratum a Corpore et Sanguine Domini nostri Jesu Christi, seu etiam sic excommunicatum, sicut qui non habet remissionem neque in hoc sæculo, neque in futuro, nisi ante pleniter emendaverit judicio Episcopi; manente tamen hac cartula, irrefragabilis sua firmitate, muniatur, servetur et habeatur semper ad ecclesiam Salvatoris quæ sita est in civitate Dorobernia, ubi metropolitanum capud habetur, ad exemplum atque defensionem omnibus Ecclesiis Dei quæ in hac Cantia morantur h. Hæc lex inviolabilis usque ad consummationem sæculi permaneat, quia nulli homini terreno data sunt: sed hæc omnia in manus Dei omnipotentis Sanctorumque Ejus concedimus et donamus. Ego Wihtredus auxilio Christi Rex hiis legibus constitutis pro me et Werburgai regina, itemque filio nostro Aluico subscripsi. Ego Berthuuald gratia Dei Archiepiscopus hiis legibus a nobis constitutis subscripsi k. Signum manus Æthelberhti pro se et fratre suo Eadberto. Signum manus Mildride Abbatissæ. Signum manus Ætheldridæ Abbatissæ. Signum manus Redempti Presbiteri. Signum manus Bonna Presbiteri. [MS. Lambeth, 1212, p. 385; S., I. 189, sq.; W., IV. App. 745, 746.] [PRIVILEGE OF WIHTRED.] a The best version of this Act is undated: that given in the A. S. C., under A.D. 694, has no decisive sign of date, but is placed loosely at the beginning of Wihtred's reign. The other version, below, p. 242, borrows its date from the A. S. C. The question turns on the dates of Bishop Tobias and Queen Werburga; see notes and . If the authority of the Textus Roffensis, as to Gebmund, be preferred to that of the A. S. C., the present Act must fall between A.D. 696, when Gebmund was still Bishop, and A.D. 716, when it was confirmed at Clovesho. 66 Of the various forms under which this Privilegium appears, that in the text, from an early Cartulary of Christ Church, Canterbury, claims the most respect. It was copied, about A.D. 1220, de codicellis primariis sive cartis terrarum antiquitus dictis Land boc." It says nothing about the appointment of Bishops, but only of abbots, abbesses, priests, and deacons; nothing of England generally, but of Kent alone and expressly, and limits its grant to Kentish churches and abbeys specified by name; while it is signed by Kentish Bishops, abbesses, and priests, and by those of no other kingdom. The Latin form in Wilkins's text (App. 1, p. 242 below), on the contrary, gives up all royal authority in the nomination of Bishops, as well as abbots and the rest, and is written as if Wihtred were King of the whole Heptarchy, not of one of the least of its kingdoms. The abridgment in the A.-S. Chronicle (App. 2, p. 244 below), is of the former of the two, with the exception that it extends its sweep to include Bishops. The form in the text must have escaped the notice of Kemble, who does not give it in the Codex Diplomaticus, although he used the MS. in which it is found, for the collation of the second version (K. C. D., DCCCCXCVI.). Spelman had seen two copies of it, but the reference to the Canterbury Register A. fo. 80, which he annexes to it, is a mistake. That Register, which is of the fourteenth century, and in many respects extremely valuable, does not appear to contain this form. It has the second form at fo. 88. as printed by Spelman, p. 191. The various readings given by Spelman seem to be the readings of the Lambeth MS. 1212, P. 385 and it is not known what other MS. he used. His reading of Botredi episcopi instead of Botredi presbiteri, among the attestations, has thrown unnecessary doubt on the authenticity of the document; see Wake, State of the Church, p. 142.-In the Lambeth MS. it is followed by a confirmation in synod at Clovesho, under Ethelbald of Mercia in A.D. 716.-The Cotton MS. (Domitian A. VIII.) of the Chronicle, which contains a contemporary Latin translation of the AngloVOL. III. Saxon text, departs in this case from its usual plan, and gives this Act of Wihtred very nearly at length. This version seems to have originally corresponded almost exactly with the text given above; but an attempt has been made, very early, to bring it by interpolation and erasure into close conformity with the second version, below, p. 242; so far as to extend its application to Bishops as well as Abbots, and to eliminate all special references to Kent except the first "intra Cantiam." The existence of this copy, although mutilated, gives us an authority two centuries earlier than we should otherwise have for the preferred text. It is printed, with a careful collation, by Wake, whose criticisms upon it, as against Atterbury, are very weak; State of the Church, App. p. 1; and see, also, Rights, etc., of Convocation, by Atterbury, p. 280, and Wake, State, etc., Pp. 140-143.-Spelman held this Act of Wihtred to be the most ancient English Charter, and accounted for the difference of the versions by supposing them to be translations. See Spelman, Conc., I. 125; Reliquiæ Spelmanianæ, p. 8; and against him, Hickes, Diss. Epistol., p. 79. All the MSS. of both forms, and the A.-S. Chronicle, agree in making Tobias now Bishop of Rochester, and therefore Gebmund (who was alive in A.D. 693) now dead; the Chronicle places the death of Gebmund in A.D. 693, while the laws of the Witenagemot of Berghamstede, A.D. 696 (see above, in an.), taken from the Textus Roffensis, still retain Gebmund as Bishop of Rochester; and the abridged form of Wihtred's Privilegium itself, as repeated in a (spurious) charter of A.D. 699, does the same. Charters unfortunately do not decide the question, the last signature of Gebmund to any unquestioned one dating A.D. 693 (K. C. D., XXXVI.), and the earliest of Tobias A.D. 706 (K. C. D., LVI.), but in several cases the authenticity is affected by this very question. Bede (V. 8) only mentions the consecration of Tobias in the room of Gebmund as one of the acts done by Brihtwald after he was consecrated. It is more probable that the writers of the A. S. C. have misunderstood the words of Bede, than that all the other authorities, the Textus Roffensis, the Canterbury Cartulary, and the other Charters should have been forged or garbled.-The Domitian MS. has, after the mention of Tobias, "cum cæteris Episcopis," the last word being an interpolation between the lines. a The Domitian MS. has here" Episcopus" interlined. The Domitian MS. has for immittatur, "invitetur;" the other version has "intimetur Archiepiscopo." R [PRIVILEGE OF WIHTRED.] f Of these monasteries, Sheppey, Lyminge, Folkstone, and Suthmynster (Minster in Thanet) were under abbesses. Hoe (otherwise Hogh, or Hoo) was under an abbot. Upmynster is perhaps S. Peter's in Thanet. The paragraph is erased in MS. Dom. A. VIII. The words from ut per to mundi are erased in MS. Dom. A. VIII. h The words quæ-morantur are erased in MS. Dom. A. VIII. i The Queen Werburga, in the signatures to the document in the text, and to that preferred by Wilkins, is not identical with the Æthelburga, Queen of Wihtred, who signs genuine charters in A.D. 696, although Kynygytha, in a spurious charter of A.D. 694 (S., I.192; W.,IV. App. 746; K. C.D., XXXVII.), may be set aside. Werburga is apparently the mother of Alric, Wihtred's youngest son, and therefore a later wife than the other, who was probably mother of the two elder sons. This helps to fix the date of the Act later than A.D. 696. If we could fix the date of the death of S. Mildred who signs as abbess, we should get another limit. It is commonly given loosely, cir. A.D. 700.-However, the source whence the documents come, S. Saviour's, Canterbury, is not above suspicion; and the variety of forms, some of them manifest fictions, under which it appears, throws a doubt upon all of them. That there really was such a Privilege may appear to be proved by the references made to it in acts of Councils at Clovesho of A.D. 716 and A.D. 742: but those Councils are not beyond question. See below, under those years. The signatures that follow are omitted in the MS. Dom. A. VIII. APPENDIX TO THE PRIVILEGE OF WIHTRED. 1. Form of the Privilege given by Wilkins from MS. Cant. Eccles. Anno Dominicæ Incarnationis DCXCIV. Wihtredus gloriosus Rex Cantiæ cum reverentissimo Archiepiscopo Brithwaldo, præcepit congregari concilium in loco, qui nominatur Baccancelde, præsidente eodem concilio jam nominato clementissimo Rege Cantuariorum Wihtredo et eodem venerando patre et primate totius Brittanniæ, simulque Tobia Episcopo Roffensis ecclesiæ, cum abbatibus, abbatissis, presbiteris, diaconibus, ducibus, satrapis, pariter tractantes de statu ecclesiarum Dei in Anglia, et de hiis quæ a fidelibus regibus, prædecessoribus ejus et propinquis, Athelberto videlicet posterisque ejus Deo omnipotenti in propriam hæreditatem data fuerunt, qualiter secundum veram justitiam stare et permanere valeant, vel quomodo ea servare oporteat a modo, et usque in finem seculi constituentes. Ego, inquit, Wihtredus Rex terrenus, a Rege regum compunctus, zelo rectitudinis accensus, ex antiqua traditione sanctorum patrum didici non esse licitum alicui homini in laico habitu constituto, usurpare sibi quasi propriam possessionem, quod ante fuerat Domino concessum et cruce Christi firmatum. Scimus enim et veraciter constat, quia quod semel acceperit homo donatione alterius in propriam potestatem, nullatenus sine injuria illud iterum dimittet. Horrendum est itaque hominibus Deum vivum exspoliare, tunicamque Ejus et hæreditatem scindere. Cum ergo Deo oblatum faliquid fuerit de |