Description
Æthelstan, king of all of Britain, to Cynath, abbot; grant of 10 hides (mansiunculae) at Dumbleton, Gloucs., with 2 hides at Aston Somerville, Worcs., and woodland at Fleferth (? Kington, near Flyford Flavell,Worcs.). Latin with English bounds and a note, in Latin, recording King Edgar 2's confirmation of the land to Oswulf 3, Bishop of Ramsbury (A.D. 959 x 970).
Notes
*Stevenson 1904, p. 150-1 n. 1, spurious or much corrupted, 152 n. 3, spurious; Stenton 1913, pp. 33-4, spurious in present form; Robinson 1923, p. 35, difficult to believe it is spurious; Grundy, Gloucs., pp. 116-18, on bounds of Dumbleton; Grundy, Worcs. 1928, pp. 41-2, on bounds of Fleferth; Robertson, Charters, p. 299, probably of later date; Drögereit 1952, p. 63 n. 23, pp. 67ff., spurious; Stengel 1960, pp. 59-67, unusual but possibly authentic; PN Gloucs., ii. 11; John 1966, p. 53, on royal style; Finberg, ECWM, no. 92 (pp. 52, 108), authentic basis; O'Donovan 1972, pp. 36-7, 38, 42, citing Whitelock, much of witness-list taken from S 544; O'Donovan 1973, p. 97; Whitelock, EHD, pp. 372-3, on alliterative charters; Keynes 1980, p. 82 n. 165; Hooke 1981, pp. 354-5, on bounds; Keynes 1985, p. 157, plainly spurious but based in part on genuine charter of the 'alliterative' group issued in 940s, perhaps forged in 11th century; Hooke 1990, pp. 158-62, on bounds; Dumville 1992, p. 164 n. 153, p. 168 n. 182, troublesome; Kelly, Abingdon, no. 22, a difficult text with an impossible witness-list, but unlikely to be an outright forgery. Cynath was abbot of Evesham, not Abingdon, and the formulation fits into a recognisable West Mercian diplomatic tradition