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Liber Secundus
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 December 2009
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- Type
- Liber Eliensis
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- Copyright
- Copyright © Royal Historical Society 1962
References
page 63 note 1 Et … compererat: abridged from the Libellus. Cf. infra, App. A, p. 395.
page 63 note 2 The reference seems to be to Wulfstan's Vita Ethelwoldi with which the Libellus has a few passages in common. See ibid. Æthelwold was bishop of Winchester from 963 to 984, and the L.E. does not exaggerate the part which he played in the movement for monastic reform. For a concise appreciation of his character and career see D. Knowles, The Monastic Order in England, pp. 38–59.
page 64 note 1 The name given to the Libellus, the prologue of which should be compared with this proem. See supra, Introduction, p. xxxiv and infra, App. A.
page 72 note 1 For the relationship of cc. 1–4 to the Libellus and B (Book of Miracles) see supra, Introduction, p. xxxiii and infra, Apps. A and B.
page 72 note 2 restat … serviebat: cf. B (Book of Miracles).
page 73 note 1 tempore … renovavit: from Libellus, ch. 1.
page 73 note 2 ut … patebat: cf. B (Book of Miracles).
page 73 note 3 Passages within pointed brackets are from Libellus, ch. 2.
page 73 note 4 This reference to the presence of a Greek bishop in England, if true, is very interesting. I have found no evidence to corroborate it. For a critical account of the refoundation of Ely see J. A. Robinson, The Times of St Dunstan (1923). Robinson plausibly suggests—against the view expressed in The Crawford Collection of Early Charters and Documents (ed. A. S. Napier and W. H. Stevenson), no. v, pp. 10–11—that Thurstan may have ‘ derived his interest in Ely from Archbishop Oda ’, who had been granted 40 manses æt Helig in 957. According to the anonymous Life of St Oswald (Historians of the Church of York, ed. J. Raine, R.S., 1879, i, 427) Edgar also offered Ely to Oswald.
page 73 note 5 Wulfstan of Dalham is mentioned also infra, cc. 7, 18, and 35. He is probably the Wulfstan, sequipedus of Eadred's charter (ch. 28) and perhaps the Wulfstan of cc. 32 (who died before Bishop Æthelwold) as well as the Wulfstan preposituram agens of ch. 34, whose widow was named Wulfflæd. For comments on him see supra, Foreword, p. xiii; cf. Chadwick, , Studies in Anglo-Saxon Institutions (1905), p. 231Google Scholar; Robertson, Charters, pp. 124, 367.
page 74 note 1 Cf. Libellus, nam antea latebat regem.
page 74 note 2 Prov., xxi, 1.
page 74 note 3 This probably refers to annals kept at Ely. See supra, Introduction, p. xxv. The reference cannot be to Florence, who does not mention the restoration of Ely, nor to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, which has the entry only in a Peterborough interpolation in E and s.a. 963. The notice of Æthelwold's appointment to the see of Winchester in that year seems a natural place for a comment on his restoration of Ely and Peterborough and need not be taken to imply that Ely was restored and Brihtnoth appointed abbot in that year rather than the traditional date of 970 (cf. Robertson, Charters, p. 346). The order of events as described in the Libellus and Edgar's charter of confirmation (infra, ch. 5) makes it difficult to say at what stage in the transactions Edgar's charters were issued, but both his extant charters (infra, cc. 9 and 39), apart from his suspect general confirmation (ch. 5), and a lost charter granting Bishampton (infra, ch. 8) are dated 970.
page 75 note 1 This sentence is modelled on Wulfstan's account (Vita Ethelwoldi, col. 91) of Æthelwold's expulsion of the clerks from Winchester (cf. Florence, s.a. 963), and as neither Wulfstan nor the Libellus speak of any expulsion of clerks in relation to Ely the L.E. tradition must be considered with suspicion. It may, however, accurately represent the local recollection, preserved in a miracle book, that in the time of Eadred the relics of St Etheldreda were in the keeping of a community of priests. See supra, Book I, cc. 41–49 and Foreword, p. xii. Eadred's charter (infra, ch. 28) cannot be taken as evidence that a community existed at Ely during his reign, since it is spurious in its surviving form, but ibid., ch. 18 records a gift to Etheldreda, which is said in ch. 24 to have been made about fifteen years ‘ antequam episcopus Æðelwoldus Ely possedisset’.
page 75 note 2 Cf. infra, Apps. A and B.
page 75 note 3 For an interesting parallel see infra, App. B.
page 75 note 4 A number of Æthelwold's gifts are entered in the inventory made in 1134, infra, Book III, ch. 50.
page 75 note 5 Libellus, ch. 4 has the same heading. Since in this and later chapters F produces a faithful copy of the Libellus, divergences are most conveniently shown with other variant readings in the textual notes from this point. Only the occasional verses, appended to some of the chapters of the Libellus, and not in F, are printed separately, infra, App. A.
page 75 note 6 The details which follow cannot be derived from the version of Edgar's charter which follows, as the latter does not give all the details. See infra, App. D, p. 414.
page 76 note 1 The compiler's authority for this statement, which does not derive from the Libellus, has not been identified. He may have based his identification of the unnamed dominus of the Libellus on no stronger evidence than his knowledge from Wulfstan's Vita Ethelwoldi (col. 86) that Æthelwold had spent part of his youth at King Æthelstan's court.
page 76 note 2 See the inventory, infra, Book III, ch. 50.
page 76 note 3 subsequens … innitatur: cf. B (Book of Miracles), infra, App. B.
page 76 note 4 This is the end of the passages which the L.E. has in common with B (Book of Miracles), except for miracle stories found in both works and Edgar's privilege which follows. The Libellus omits sicut … innitatur and Edgar's charter but adds four lines of verse, printed infra, App. A.
page 76 note 5 Date: 970.
Printed: K., no. 563; B.C.S., no. 1266, where other printed editions and the main transcripts are listed. For later confirmations see e.g. Brit. Mus., MS. Add. 9822, fos. 13–14V and Landon, Cartæ Antiquæ Rolls, no. 47 and cf. infra, ch. 92. For a facsimile version see Ordnance Survey Facsimiles, Pt. iii, no. xxxii. For a comment on the privilege see infra, App. D, p. 414.
page 79 note 1 Luc, xii, 42.
page 79 note 2 Infra, ch. 56.
page 79 note 3 Infra, ch. III.
page 79 note 4 This chapter is copied from Libellus, ch. 5.
page 79 note 5 Hatfield, Herts. For a comment on this transaction see infra, App. D, p. 419.
page 79 note 6 Perhaps the Ordmær, who is said to have been the father of King Edgar's first wife, Æthelflæd, in William of Malmesbury (Gesta Regum, i, 180).
page 79 note 7 Æthelwine, ealdorman of East Anglia from c. 962 to 992, and his brothers, Æthelwold whom he succeeded in office, Ælfwold and Æthelsige, were sons of Æthelstan ‘ half-king ’, also ealdorman of East Anglia, who died during the reign of Edgar (see Whitelock, Wills, p. 119; Robinson, The Times of St Dunstan, p. 45 f.). Æthelwine was a firm friend of monasticism and particularly of Ramsey abbey, but did not rank as a benefactor at Ely. See Whitelock, Wills, p. 125; Robertson, Charters, p. 306; Vita S. Oswaldi, pp. 428 f., 445, 467 1, 474 f.; Ramsey Chronicle, pp. 11, 30–31.
page 80 note 1 Hemingford Abbots, Wennington and Yelling (Hunts.). See infra, App. D, p. 419.
page 80 note 2 See supra, Foreword, p. ix.
page 80 note 3 Lower and Upper Slaughter, Gloucs., where King Edward held 7 hides (Dd, i, fo. 162b, Sclostre).
page 80 note 4 Ealdorman of Mercia, d. 983 (Robertson, Charters, p. 319).
page 80 note 5 Presumably not the ealdorman who is concerned in this dispute. He could be the son of Æthelmær, ealdorman of Hampshire, who died in 982 or 983 (Whitelock, Wills, p. 126).
page 80 note 6 He succeeded Ælfhere as ealdorman of Mercia. For a note on his career see Robertson, Charters, p. 369.
page 80 note 7 This could be the Ælmær Cild who witnesses a grant of Ælfhelm Polga, in which case Ælfwold might be Ælfhelm's nephew, but the names are too common to allow identification.
page 80 note 8 The Libellus adds five lines of verse, printed infra, App. A.
page 80 note 9 This chapter is copied from Libellus, ch. 6.
page 80 note 10 Luc, xiv, 28 f.
page 81 note 1 See infra, cc. 10, 35.
page 81 note 2 The name is preserved in Linden End, Cambs. See infra, App. D, p. 415.
page 81 note 3 Cf. infra, ch. 10, where Æthelwold is reported to have bought Linden ‘ cum c tripondiis auri’. For a comment on this equation and on the monetary units mentioned in the L.E. see supra, p. xvii.
page 81 note 4 Bishampton, Worcs. (cf. Bisantune, Dd, i, fo. 173, among the lands of the church of Worcester). See infra, App. D, p. 416.
page 81 note 5 The rhyming prose of this introductory passage is unusual for Book II. It closely resembles that of the passage introducing Edgar's Stoke charter (infra, ch. 39) and may have been taken from a collection of Edgar's charters (see ch. 39). Unless we are to assume that an Old English version existed of cc. 9 and 39, as of Edgar's privilege (ch. 5), the publica lingua must refer to the Old English description of the boundaries.
page 81 note 6 Date: 970.
Printed: K., no. 1269; B.C.S., no. 1268; Gale, Scriptores XV, i, 519; Monasticon, i, 475. For a comment on this charter see infra, App. D, p. 415.
page 82 note 1 This chapter is copied from Libellus, cc. 7, 8, 9.
page 82 note 2 In 1066 Ely held 5 hides at Stretham, Cambs. Perhaps one of the sisters retained her share and no claim on behalf of Ely was made or has survived.
page 83 note 1 It may be that the translator has incorrectly written eius for sue and that the sisters had Leofric of Brandon for their brother as well as the other Leofric who had bequeathed them their 8 hides. This would supply a reason why the permission of Leofric of Brandon had to be sought. But by a strictly grammatical rendering eius should refer to the other Leofric whose name may have been repeated here in the Old English original. The names Leofric and Æthelflæd are too common to risk identification, but it may be significant that a Leofric of Stretham is mentioned in a document, printed as Robertson, Charters, App. II, no. IX, part of which deals with an assignment of property to Thorney and part with miscellaneous entries concerning Ely. A payment is made to Leofric of Stretham for corn and an Æthelæd gave a sum of money of which 60 pence were given to Brandon for sheep (ibid., p. 256).
page 83 note 2 Cf. supra, ch. 8.
page 83 note 3 The Libellus here adds ten lines of verse, printed infra, App. A, and with the words Evoluto post begins a new chapter, headed De eodem.
page 83 note 4 Probably Mardleybury, Herts.
page 83 note 5 For Ælfhelm Polga and his brother see infra, cc. 11, 73.
page 83 note 6 Cf. a miscellaneous document, preserved on the fly-leaf of a gospel-book once belonging to Ely (printed in B. Thorpe, Diplomatarium Anglicum Aevi Saxonid, 1865, pp. 649–51 and Earle, J., Handbook to the Land-Charters and other Saxonic Documents, 1888, p. 275Google Scholar), which gives the genealogical details on a few families of innati of Hatfield. See also supra, Foreword, p. xii.
page 84 note 1 Libellus, ch. 9, headed De eodem.
page 84 note 2 The Libellus adds eleven lines of verse, printed infra, App. A.
page 84 note 3 This chapter is copied from Libellus, cc. 10, 11, 12, 13.
page 84 note 4 Downham, Cambs., where Ely held 4 hides in 1066 (Dd, i, fo. 192).
page 84 note 5 Presumably Clayhithe, which was part of 7 hides held by Ely in Horningsea, Cambs., in 1066 (Dd, i, fo. 191).
page 84 note 6 Bishop Æthelwold had granted Medeshamstede (Peterborough), Oundle, and Kettering to Peterborough. Cf. Robertson, Charters, no. XXXIX, p. 73. According to Hugh Candidus the name Medeshamstede was changed to Burch soon after the refoundation of the monastery there. He inserts this information in his chronicle (ed. W. T. Mellows, 1949, p. 38) immediately after Edgar's charter of confirmation, dated 972.
page 85 note 1 Presumably not before 977, if the verdict in favour of Æthelwold ended the two-year period during which these estates were not cultivated. For a similar great meeting in London of c. 989–90, attended among others by Abbot Brihtnoth, the ealdormen Æthelwine and Brihtnoth, and several thegns connected with Ely, see Robertson, Charters, no. LXIII, p. 130.
page 85 note 2 I.e. wergild.
page 85 note 3 Libellus, ch. 11, headed De eodem.
page 85 note 4 Cf. the famous council after Edgar's death, at which Æthelwine and others spoke in defence of the monasteries, where Æthelwine's brother Ælfwold killed a man who had unjustly laid claim to some Peterborough land (Vita Oswaldi, p. 446). See supra, Foreword, p. xii.
page 85 note 5 Wansford, Northants. Cf. Robertson, Charters, p. 76, 1. 8, ‘ on æhte hundred gemote æt Wylmesforda ’. Cf. supra, Foreword, p. ix.
page 86 note 1 The Libellus adds twenty-two lines of verse, printed infra, App. A.
page 86 note 2 The Libellus here begins a new chapter, 12, but without a heading.
page 86 note 3 If this is an exact translation of the Anglo-Saxon original the descriptio of Downham cannot have been composed before the accession of Æthelred, but the translator may be expanding some such phrase as ‘ ealdorman Æthelred, the king's son ’. The reference clearly is to the future king, but the title comes is surprising, since Æthelred was only a child in his brother's reign.
page 86 note 4 Gretton, Northants. Cf. Ramsey Chron., pp. 65–66, where his son Alfnoth witnesses a sale of land. The family must have been connected with, or held land of, the family of Wulfstan of Dalham, since Alfnoth successfully challenged the gift of some land in Swaffham to Ramsey which Ælfwold, Æthelwine's brother, had bought from Æthelwoldo cognato Wulfstani de Delham. Ealdorman Æthelwine intervened on behalf of Ramsey, but after his death Alfnoth regained possession (ibid., pp. 79–80). For Æthelwold cognatus or chusin cf. infra, ch. 32. Goding may have become a monk at Ely shortly before his death (infra, ch. 26).
page 87 note 1 This place has not been identified. The domus of Siferth must have been, not in Downham, but in Linden End or Stretham where he died and where Upware lies and where his widow sold land to Ely (supra, p. 84). There is a Stow Bridge in Stretham, or perhaps there is some connection with the neighbouring parish of Wicken. But as Upware is mentioned in the boundaries of the Isle of Ely as one of the limits of one of the two Ely hundreds, the provincia ultra Upware may refer to the hundred of Witchford as distinct from that of Ely (where Siferth had already made known his intention). In this case the two Ely hundreds may not have been so much of a single unit of administration at this time as is usually thought.
page 87 note 2 Eadric, a king's reeve, presided over a plea concerning Alfnoth, son of Goding, with Ealdorman Æthelwine (Ramsey Chron., pp. 79–80), but it is doubtful whether a king's reeve could be described as one of the ealdorman's proceres.
page 87 note 3 Witness in the company of Alfnoth, son of Goding, Leofsige, son of Gode, Abbot Brihtnoth and others to a gift of land in Gretton (ibid., p. 66 and infra, ch. 33).
page 87 note 4 The use of a coloured initial at the beginning of this paragraph in the Libellus has been taken, in the numbering of chapters in C, to indicate the beginning of a new chapter, numbered 13, although there is no new heading.
page 88 note 1 Chippenham, Cambs.
page 88 note 2 An interesting reference to Cambridge customs soon after the re-conquest of the Danelaw. Cf. infra, ch. 24. On the indices in this and other Danelaw boroughs see F. M. Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, pp. 525–26.
page 88 note 3 Of these witnesses Ælfelm Polga is discussed infra, p. 143; Uvi and Oswi infra, p. 138. As Lefsius Alfwii filius follows Ælfelm Polga in this list, he may be the Lefsius whom Ramsey Chron., p. 193 calls Ælfelm's cognatus. For Alfnoth see supra, p. 86.
page 88 note 4 One of several instances in this chapter and elsewhere which show that in the Libellus the shilling is reckoned as twelve pence. See Professor Whitelock's foreword, supra, p. xvii.
page 88 note 5 Probably a brother of the priest Æthelstan, infra, p. 106, and perhaps to be identified with the Bonda who witnesses Robertson, Charters, no. LXIII, p. 131, with other thegns familiar to Ramsey and Ely. For Wacher of Swaffham see supra, ch. 33.
page 88 note 6 Perhaps Brunstan of Soham, mentioned infra, p. 89.
page 89 note 1 In the Libellus a coloured initial has, in the numbering of chapters in C, been taken to indicate the beginning of a new chapter, numbered 14, although there is no heading nor room left for one, and from this the L.E., ch. 11a is copied.
page 89 note 2 Res … videtur: cf. Sallust, Bellum Catilinae, v, 9.
page 89 note 3 Horningsea, Cambs.
page 89 note 4 Exning, Suffolk.
page 89 note 5 Soham, Cambs.
page 89 note 6 Fulbourne, Cambs.
page 89 note 7 Perhaps the homo Æurici of supra, p. 88.
page 89 note 8 See supra, Foreword, p. xvi.
page 90 note 1 For Ulf's deal in Milton see infra, ch. 31, but this debt is not mentioned there.
page 90 note 2 Freckenham, Suffolk.
page 90 note 3 Hinton Hall in Haddenham (Cambs. Place-names, p. 233).
page 90 note 4 Perhaps the Osmund Hocere of infra, ch. 12.
page 91 note 1 Even if Wine's 110 acres are included, this whole transaction accounts for only 2 hides and 14 acres of the 3 hides given to Ælfric. The Old English source probably recorded this transaction separately, without reference to these 3 hides, and it was added to the descriptio of Downham by the compiler of the Latin Libellus to explain their descent as far as possible.
page 91 note 2 This chapter is copied from Libellus, cc. 15, 16, 17.
page 91 note 3 Witchford, Cambs. See infra, ch. 14.
page 91 note 4 A Sumerlida of Stoke and a priest of the same name occur as sureties for Bishop Æthelwold in Robertson, Charters, nos. XXXIX and XL, pp. 75, 77. But the estates concerned lie in Northants. and Hunts.
page 91 note 5 The Libellus here begins a new chapter, numbered 16 and headed De eodem.
page 91 note 6 Libellus, ch. 17, headed De eodem.
page 91 note 7 Wilburton, cf. supra, ch. 8.
page 91 note 8 Libellus, ch. 18.
page 91 note 9 Æthelstan, Mann's son, was a benefactor of Ramsey and had some connection with Ælfelm Polga. An abstract of his will, including this bequest, is given in Ramsey Chron., pp. 59–61. The date of his death was recorded at Ramsey under the year 986 (Ramsey Cart., iii, 166). Cf. Whitelock, Wills, p. 134.
page 91 note 10 Wold near Witchford.
page 92 note 1 This chapter is copied from Libellus, ch. 19.
page 92 note 2 This must be the same Witcham, as that mentioned supra, ch. 8, and part of it must have belonged to Linden, part to Witchford. Cf. also infra, cc. 17, 20.
page 92 note 3 The 3 hides are made up of 373 acres. Ely held 3 hides at Witchford in 1066 (Dd, i, fo. 192).
page 92 note 4 This may be the Ælfsige who sold land in Hill and Haddenham, infra, ch. 16.
page 92 note 5 Sutton, Cambs. It may have been acquired after the death of Bishop Æthelwold, since it was not included in the Libellus. But it may merely have been omitted from surviving versions of the Libellus and have been restored to its proper place by the scribe of E. Cf. infra, ch. 24.
page 92 note 6 This chapter is copied from Libellus, cc. 20, 21, 22.
page 92 note 7 Hill and Haddenham. Cf. supra, ch. 8, and Foreword, p. ix.
page 92 note 8 Leofwine may be the same as the prepositus Leo of infra, ch. 54, who was active about this time.
page 92 note 9 Perhaps Hyll rendered into Latin.
page 92 note 10 The Libellus here begins a new chapter, numbered 21, and headed De eodem.
page 92 note 11 See supra, ch. 15.
page 92 note 12 Libellus, ch. 22, headed De eodem.
page 92 note 13 The presence of barones and urbani suggests that this is not Thetford, Cambs., but Thetford, Norfolk,
page 93 note 1 Probably not bishop of Hereford (see Robertson, Charters, p. 373), but the first bishop of Elmham after the Viking age, usually referred to as Eadulf, but called Athulf in Florence of Worcester's list of East Anglian bishops.
page 93 note 2 This chapter is copied from the Libellus, cc. 23, 24, 25, 26.
page 93 note 3 These are probably the 2 hides which Siferth (i.e. Sigeferth) of Dunham left to his daughter (supra, ch. 11), since his wife was called Wulfflæd and, if their daughter was called Sifled (i.e. Sigeflæd), she would have one name element from each parent. See also supra, Foreword, p. ix.
page 93 note 4 Libellus, ch. 24, headed De eodem.
page 93 note 5 Libellus, ch. 25, headed De eodem.
page 93 note 6 Libellus, ch. 26, headed De eodem.
page 93 note 7 Ely held 5 hides there in 1066 and Miller, Ely, p. 18, n. 1, suggests that ‘ the record may have been doctored to bring it into line with the assessment of 5 hides attributed to Wilburton in Domesday ’. But it is more likely that the translator had before him, and abbreviated, a record which omitted the names of the vendors but gave the acreage of the other lands sold. See Introduction, supra, p. lii and cf. ch. 8.
page 93 note 8 The chapter is copied from Libellus, cc. 27, 28.
page 94 note 1 Cf. infra, ch. 24, where Æscwen's gift of Stonea is said to have been made about fifteen years before Æthelwold had come into possession of Ely. If the Libellus is right in saying that Wulfstan's and Ogga's grants to St Etheldreda were also made at this time, there must have been a community of some kind there to tend her relics. See supra, ch. 3.
page 94 note 2 See supra, ch. 2.
page 94 note 3 Cf. III. Æthelred, cap. 14, ‘ And if anyone dwells undisturbed by charges and claims on his estates during his lifetime, no-one is to bring an action against his heirs after his death ’. See supra, Foreword, p. xv.
page 94 note 4 Libellus, ch. 28, without heading.
page 95 note 1 This chapter is copied from Libellus, ch. 29, which has no heading.
page 95 note 2 This recalls the long hundred (120) of ores of 16 pence, which makes the well-known Danelaw fine of ‘ a hundred of silver ’, but in the L.E. the aureus must be equated with the mancus. See Foreword, supra, p. xvii.
page 95 note 3 This chapter is copied from Libellus, cc. 30, 31.
page 95 note 4 Libellus, ch. 31, headed De eodem.
page 95 note 5 Bishop Ægelmaer, who cannot at this date be the brother of Archbishop Stigand, is otherwise unknown.
page 96 note 1 This chapter is copied from the Libellus, ch. 32.
page 96 note 2 Wine, son of Osmund, is called de Ely supra, ch. ii. As he is there shown to be in the abbot's service, he is probably the same also as the Wine who is given a hide for his clothing infra, ch. 22.
page 96 note 3 Doddington and Wimblington, Cambs.
page 96 note 4 This chapter is copied from Libellus, ch. 33.
page 96 note 5 The name of the abbey must have been wrongly recorded. Ramsey had no abbot of that name. The Ramsey monks did lay claim to a hide at Doddington which they no longer held in 1066, but Ramsey Chron., p. 117 states that it was given to them by Ealdorman Brihtnoth ex ictu belli morti dispositus, i.e. in 991. Thurcytel must be the abbot of Bedford (infra, ch. 31), who was related to Archbishop Oscytel and possessed estates in Cambs. and Northants. He has been plausibly identified with the Thurcytel who re-founded Crowland and Bebui must be Beeby, Leics., which he is known to have granted to Crowland (Monasticon, ii, 95; cf. Dd, i, fo. 231 Bebi). See Whitelock, D., ‘The Conversion of the Eastern Danelaw’, Saga-Book of the Viking Society, xii (1941), pp. 170, 174–75Google Scholar.
page 96 note 6 This reference to Bishop Oscytel, taken together with another infra, ch. 32, where he is acting in the capacity of bishop of Dorchester, supports the evidence that Oscytel did not relinquish Dorchester on his accession to York, but continued to hold Dorchester in plurality until his death in 971. See Whitelock, D., ‘ The Dealings of the Kings of England with Northumbria in the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries ’, The Anglo-Saxons: Studies in some aspects of their History and Culture presented to Bruce Dickins, ed. Clemoes, P., 1959, p. 75Google Scholar.
page 96 note 7 See supra, ch. 21.
page 97 note 1 This chapter is copied from the Libellus, but although the chapter begins with a coloured initial and has left a space for a heading, it has not there been separately numbered.
page 97 note 2 See infra, ch. 24.
page 97 note 3 This chapter is copied from Libellus, ch. 34. Cf. supra, ch. 18.
page 97 note 4 See supra, ch. 18.
page 97 note 5 See supra, ch. 11.
page 97 note 6 These names are discussed in Cambs. Place-names, p. 39, where they are thought to refer to the area of the fortifications on the Castle Hill.
page 98 note 1 The total number of hides acquired infra aquas et paludes et mariscum de Ely, as listed in the Libellus, adds up, not to the round figure of half a long hundred, as suggested here, but only to 57 hides 73 acres to which must be added a few unspecified acres in Hill and Haddenham (supra, ch. 15). We arrive more nearly at a round 60 hides if we add the three hides at Sutton which were given to Ely before the death of Abbot Brihtnoth and are not mentioned in the Libellus. This suggests that either the surviving versions of the Libellus are incomplete and that the Sutton chapter was included in the original, or that the 60 hide total was given in the Old English original, having been calculated from information somewhat fuller than that which the Latin Libellus contains. See Introduction, supra, p. lii.
The Libellus adds ten lines of verse, printed infra, App. A.
page 98 note 2 This chapter is copied from Libellus, ch. 35.
page 98 note 3 Probably Taunton, Somerset.
page 98 note 4 Bluntisham, Hunts. Ely held 6½ hides there in 1066 (Dd, i, fo. 204).
page 98 note 5 The claim of the sons of Boga was based on their right to inherit the lands of their maternal uncle, Tope. They held that he ought to have had Bluntesham as part of the estate of his grandmother and that it had been wrongly forfeited to the crown, although she, before her marriage, had made the required submission to Edward the Elder. But the jurors refused to accept this plea because it was claimed that she made the submission at Cambridge, and, since Edward had recovered Huntingdonshire before Cambridgeshire, a submission at Cambridge would not have been in time to save her Huntingdonshire land. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle supports the jurors on the order of events in Edward's reconquest of the eastern Danelaw. Toli must be the Toglos of A.S.C. The sons of Boga must have been young in 975, but the chronology is nevertheless possible, for marriages took place at an early age, and the eldest son of Boga could have been about twenty. He could however have claimed the land on behalf of himself and his younger brothers at a younger age than this. On the historical importance of this chapter see Professor Whitelock's foreword, supra, p. xi.
page 99 note 1 Wrongly translated from Tempsford. See A.S.C. (A), s.a. 921; Florence, s.a. 917.
page 99 note 2 This is the Brihtnoth who was killed at Maldon (see infra, ch. 62), perhaps acting here as ealdorman of Huntingdonshire. See H. M. Chadwick, Studies in Anglo-Saxon Institutions, p. 177.
page 99 note 3 See supra, Foreword, p. xvi.
page 100 note 1 This chapter is copied from Libellus, cc. 36, 37.
page 100 note 2 According to the I.C.C. (ed. Hamilton, p. 87), Toft was assessed at 8 hides 40 acres T.R.E., but of these Ely then had 3 hides, 1 virg. and 12 acres in demesne and another hide and 10 acres, as well as a holding of ½ hide and 6 acres, held by the abbot's sokemen. In Dd, i, fo. 191b the 3 hides, 1 virg. and 12 acres and the 10 acres are listed under Hardwick, and the remaining hide and the ½ hide and 6 acres (which the I.E., p. 110 enters also under Hardwick) under Toft.
page 100 note 3 See Professor Whitelock's foreword, supra, p. xvi.
page 100 note 4 Goding of Gretton, supra, ch. 11. The Libellus here begins ch. 37, headed De eodem.
page 100 note 5 This chapter is copied from Libellus, ch. 38.
page 100 note 6 For other references to the keeping of documents with the king's relics see Whitelock, Wills, p. 151.
page 100 note 7 Hauxton with Newton, Cambs., where Ely held 8½ hides in demesne in 1066 (Dd, i, fo. 191).
page 101 note 1 Perhaps part of the 6 hides at Wangford, Suffolk, which Æthelwine gave to Ramsey (Ramsey Chron., p. 54). Cf. infra, ch. 30 and also ch. 55, where the gift of Wangford is wrongly connected with the Hatfield plea (supra, ch. 7).
page 101 note 2 Hart, Essex Charters, i, 16, suggests that this is Sproughton, Suffolk, about fifteen miles north of Holland. It probably derives its name from the Sprow who sold Holland, infra, ch. 31. The Libellus does not say how the cyrograph of Sproughton and Ramsey, Essex, came into the hands of the Ely monks; perhaps along with the gift of Holland.
page 102 note 1 Date: ? 954 × 955.
Printed: B.C.S., no. 1346.
For a comment on this charter see infra, App. D, p. 416.
page 102 note 2 Matth., x, 8.
page 102 note 3 Ely held 10 hides at Stapelford, Cambs., in 1066 (Dd, i, fo. 191).
page 102 note 4 See supra, Book I, cc. 41–49.
page 102 note 5 Bardfield, referred to as a minor name in Stapleford in Essex Place-names, p. 505.
page 102 note 6 Dernford Farm and Mill (Cambs. Place-names, p. 97).
page 102 note 7 This is not true of Bishop Hervey's time. Stapleford was not one of the priory's estates in either of his charters and was restored to the monks by Bishop Nigel (infra, Book III, cc. 26, 54).
page 102 note 8 Eynesbury, Hunts. Of the two manors there one became a separate parish known as St Neot's (V.C.H. Hunts., ii, 273). See infra, App. D, p. 420.
page 103 note 1 Waresley (Hunts.) and Gamlingay (Cambs.). See infra, App. D, p. 420.
page 103 note 2 Bishop of Dorchester 975 × 979 to 1002.
page 103 note 3 Ps., lxxxii, 5.
page 104 note 1 See infra, ch. 108.
page 104 note 2 This chapter is copied from Libellus, ch. 39.
page 104 note 3 Since cc. 28 and 29 are not in the Libellus, Alio tempore refers back to ch. 27, an earlier instalment in the dispute over Wangford.
page 104 note 4 See supra, Foreword, p. xv.
page 104 note 5 This chapter is copied from Libellus, cc. 40, 41.
page 104 note 6 Cf. infra, ch. 33, where Grim, son of Osulf, acts as a witness many years after the death of King Edgar.
page 104 note 7 In Cambs. Cf. Robertson, Charters, App. II, no. IX, pp. 253–57 for a rent which Ely derived from the fen at Fordham.
page 104 note 8 Milton, Cambs., where Ely had 12 hides in 1066 (Dd, i, fo. 201b). See infra, p. 105, n. 2. Ulf was expected to find another 37 acres to balance the exchange completely (see supra, ch. 11).
page 105 note 1 Libellus, ch. 41, headed De eodem.
page 105 note 2 Abbot Thurcytel's estate cannot have been in Milton Ernest, Beds., as has been suggested (Gibbs, M., Early Charters of St Paul's, Camden Third Series, lviii, 1939, pp. xxxviii–xxxixGoogle Scholar; cf. Hart, Essex Charters, no. 22, p. 17), since it was in eadem villa as Ulf's estate which the abbot required propter introitum et exitum. It was presumably from one of these estates that Ely provided 80 swine and a swineherd for Thorney (Robertson, Charters, App. II, no. IX). For Thurcytel, abbot of Bedford and perhaps later of Crowland, see supra, ch. 22.
page 105 note 3 This transaction is discussed with reference to the constitution of St Paul's by M. Gibbs, loc. cit.
page 105 note 4 This chapter is copied from Libellus, ch. 42.
page 105 note 5 Horningsea, Cambs. On the existence of religious communities in East Anglia in the middle of the tenth century see Whitelock, D., Saga-Book of the Viking Society, xii (1941), p. 173Google Scholar; also supra, Foreword, p. xi.
page 106 note 1 Presumably 870 when Ely is also said to have been sacked.
page 106 note 2 For a comment on the transaction recorded in cc. 32, 33, 45 and 49 see infra, App. D, pp. 420–21.
page 106 note 3 A priest Æthelstan, germanus of Archbishop Oda, occurs in Ramsey Chron., p. 49, claiming Burwell against Ramsey.
page 106 note 4 See D. Whitelock in The Anglo-Saxons: Studies … presented to Bruce Dickins, p. 79 for the interesting conjecture that this Oslac, Thored's father, is to be identified with the earl of Southern Northumbria and that the Thored who had succeeded Oslac by 979—and perhaps immediately on the latter's expulsion after the death of Edgar—might be the son mentioned here. But Professor Whitelock prefers the identification of the later earl Thored with Thored, Gunner's son.
page 106 note 5 See ibid., p. 75 where this reference to Oscytel acting in the official capacity of a bishop in Cambridgeshire during the reign of Edgar is used to support the argument that Oscytel did not relinquish Dorchester on his appointment to York. See supra, ch. 22. It also indicates that Dorchester was the diocese to which Cambridgeshire at this time belonged.
page 107 note 1 This chapter is copied from Libellus, cc. 43, 44.
page 107 note 2 See supra, ch. 13.
page 108 note 1 Snaihvell, Cambs.
page 108 note 2 Libellus, ch. 44, without a heading.
page 108 note 3 Fen or Wood Ditton, Cambs., probably the former which belonged to Brihtnoth's wife, Ælfflæd, or her sister, at this time and which was assessed with Horningsea in 1066 (Dd, i, fo. 191; Whitelock, Wills, pp. 35, 41; infra, p. 421). See supra, Foreword, p. xiii.
page 108 note 4 See supra, ch. 32.
page 109 note 1 This chapter is copied from Libellus, ch. 45.
page 109 note 2 The descent of the 2 hides at Swaffham seems clear. They must have passed from Wulfstan, perhaps of Dalham (see supra, ch. 2), to Æthelwine, thence to King Edgar, and on to Æthelwold, who would thus have them in quarta manu. The history of Berelea is the same except that, while Wulfstan bought Swaffham, Berelea seems to have come into his possession in the course of his official duties as reeve. No reason is given why Æthelwold did not attempt to retrieve Berelea, but no estate with that name was to be connected with Ely. No minor place-name in Swaffham is recorded which could correspond to it. It may be Barley, Herts., where Chatteris held 3½ hides in 1066 (Berlai, Dd, i, fo. 136). The 2 hides at Swaffham could have lain at either Swaffham Prior or Bulbeck, Cambs., in each of which Ely held 3 hides in 1066 (Dd, i, fo. 190b, 196).
page 109 note 3 A Wynsigus about this time deprived Ramsey of some land at Burwell, which borders on Swaffham (Ramsey Chron., pp. 49–50).
page 109 note 4 See supra, Foreword, p. ix.
page 109 note 5 See infra, ch. 60.
page 109 note 6 See supra, Foreword, p. xvi.
page 110 note 1 This chapter is copied from Libellus, ch. 46.
page 110 note 2 Brandon, Suffolk, where Ely held 5 carucates in 1066 (Dd, ii, fo. 381b), and Livermere, Suffolk, where Guthmund held the abbey's 2 carucates in 1066 (infra, ch. 97).
page 110 note 3 Cf. the generate placitum at London, supra, p. 85 and Robertson, Charters, p. 130.
page 110 note 4 Leofric of Brandon, supra, cc. 8, 10.
page 110 note 5 Willingham, Cambs.
page 111 note 1 This chapter is copied from Libellus, ch. 47.
page 111 note 2 A dux of this name witnesses B.C.S., nos. 674, 675, 677, in 931; 689 in 932; 702, 703 in 934 (as well as no. 701, wrongly dated 930 for 934, and a dubious text, no. 716, which, if genuine, belongs to 935 rather than 937). There is then a gap until B.C.S., no. 779 (942–46), no. 820 (947), and no. 883 (949) which he witnesses as eorl. Cf. also B.C.S., no. 882 (949), where the same name occurs without title as do others which usually have dux, and no. 812, subscribed by Acule dux. In spite of the gap in the signatures it does not follow that two men of this name are involved; for there is evidence that the large councils with magnates from all over the country, to which the early group of signatures belongs, were discontinued after about 935, and the signatures of men from the Danelaw occur only sporadically after that time. This comment is based on information from Professor D. Whitelock.
page 111 note 3 Numbered as a separate chapter, 48, in the Libellus, where a space is left for a heading.
page 111 note 4 This chapter is copied from Libellus, ch. 49.
page 111 note 5 For a comment on cc. 37, 38, 39 and 41 see infra, App. D, p. 421.
page 111 note 6 See supra, ch. 36.
page 111 note 7 Æthelwold's translation is said to survive in the text printed by A. Schröer, Die Angelsächsischen Prosabearbeitungen der Benedictiner Regel (1888), or at least that which survives in Brit. Mus., MS. Cotton, Faustina A.x. See Ker, N., Catalogue of Manuscripts containing Anglo-Saxon (1957), pp. 194–96Google Scholar.
page 111 note 8 This chapter is copied from Libellus, ch. 50.
page 111 note 9 See supra, ch. 37. For Wulfflasd cf. supra, ch. 34, from which it can be inferred that she was the widow of Wulfstan of Dalham.
page 111 note 10 This chapter is copied from Libellus, ch. 51.
page 111 note 11 If this is the Ælfthryth who married Edgar, the grant to Æthelwold was presumably made before their marriage in 964 or 965.
page 112 note 1 Stoke near Ipswich. See infra, App. D, p. 416.
page 112 note 2 The language of this introductory paragraph in its rhyming prose closely resembles the paragraph introducing Edgar's Linden charter (see supra, ch. 8). This resemblance along with the reference here to exemplo precedentis privilegii may suggest that the passage derives from a collection of charters including cc. 5, 9, and 39, in that order. Unless we are to assume that an Old English version existed also of cc. 9 and 39, as for Edgar's privilege (ch. 5), the phrase gemina lingua, like publica lingua in ch. 8, must refer to the Old English description of the boundaries.
page 112 note 3 Date: 970.
Printed: K., no. 1270; B.C.S., no. 1269; Monasticon, i, 475; Gale, Scriptores XV, i, 520.
For a comment on this charter see infra, App. D, p. 416.
page 112 note 4 Ps., lxi, 11.
page 114 note 1 East Dereham, Norfolk, with its appurtenances of the hundred and a half of Mitford. This entry is not in the Libellus and may therefore represent a later tradition. East Dereham had certainly been granted to the abbey in time to be made responsible for providing a farm for the monks in the time of Abbot Leofsige (infra, ch. 84). Cf. Miller, Ely, p. 31; H. M. Cam, Liberties and Communities of Medieval England (1944), p. 185.
page 114 note 2 This chapter is copied from Libellus, ch. 52.
page 114 note 3 Apparently identical with the 5½ hundreds of Wicklow (Cam, op. cit., p. 101), Plumesgate, Loes, Wilford, Carlford and Colneis and the Thredling of Winstow. Cf. supra, ch. 37 and Edgar's privilege, ch. 5.
page 114 note 4 This chapter is copied from Libellus, ch. 53.
page 114 note 5 See supra, ch. 5.
page 114 note 6 This chapter is copied from Libellus, ch. 54. It reads like an abstract of an unsuccessful plea which outlined the descent of the estate. The land at Northwold and Pulham seems to have been recovered by the time of Abbot Leofsige's allocation of farms (infra, ch. 84) and in 1066 Ely held 6 carucates and 34 sokemen at Northwold (I.E., pp. 132, 139) and 15 carucates and 4 sokemen at Pulham (I.E., p. 135).
page 114 note 7 An error for Eadred.
page 115 note 1 This chapter is copied from Libellus, ch. 55.
page 115 note 2 Weeting, Norfolk. See infra, ch. 61. Perhaps Ægelwardus is the brother of Æthelstan, mentioned in ch. 45, which would connect him with Wulfstan of Dalham. See supra, ch. 32.
page 115 note 3 This chapter is copied from Libellus, ch. 56.
page 115 note 4 These are presumably the 2 hides which Wulfstan had given to Æthelstan chusin. See supra, ch. 32.
page 115 note 5 This chapter is copied from Libellus, ch. 57.
page 115 note 6 Little Gransden, Cambs. The grant must have been made sometime between Æthelwold's appointment to Winchester in 963 and Edgar's death in 975, in which period Ælfhere of Mercia, Æthelwine and Brihtnoth all sign as ealdormen. Ely held an estate there in the time of Abbot Leofsige (infra, ch. 84) and 5 hides and 1 virg. in 1066 (Dd, i, fo. 191b). But cf. the suggestion by C. Hart in his forthcoming Early Charters of Eastern England that this estate includes Great Gransden (Hunts.), the subject of a grant to Thorney (C.U.L., MS. Add. 3020–21, fos. 13–13V), which might explain Ely's loss.
page 116 note 1 This chapter is copied from Libellus, ch. 58.
page 116 note 2 Marsworth, Bucks. Ælfgifu left this estate to Edgar in her will (Whitelock, Wills, no. viii, p. 20). By 1066 the only estate there belonged to King Edward's thegn Britric (Dd, i, fo. 149b, Misseuorde).
page 116 note 3 This chapter is copied from Libellus, ch. 59.
page 116 note 4 Identified as Kelling, Norfolk, in Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names.
page 116 note 5 This chapter is copied from Libellus, ch. 60.
page 116 note 6 See supra, ch. 32.
page 116 note 7 Chapters 49a and 49b are copied from the Libellus, where they are not numbered as separate chapters and have no heading, although a space has been left for one.
page 117 note 1 Kensworth, which was in Beds, before the Norman conquest, when it was added to Herts., not to be restored to Beds, until 1897 (V.C.H., Herts., ii, 231). There were 10 hides there in 1066 which were held of King Edward (Dd, i, fo. 136, Canesworde). Hohtune is Houghton Regis, a royal manor of 10 hides in 1066 (Dd, 1, fo. 209b). Cf. Monasticon, vi, 239, where Henry I is said to have held Houghton and Kenesworth ‘ in dominio ’.
page 117 note 2 The name survives in Armingford Hundred, Cambs., according to Cambs. Place-names, pp. 50–51 (cf. Anderson, O. S., The English Hundred Names, 1934, pp. 103–04Google Scholar). This hide and a half was presumably part of the land there given by King Edgar. See supra, ch. 4.
page 117 note 3 The Libellus ends here.
page 118 note 1 Ps., cxliv, 20.
page 118 note 2 tanta … turbati and other passages enclosed within pointed brackets to aream complent are from Osbern, Vita Dunstani, p. 112.
page 119 note 1 The following verses are written in the margin of F in a hand of the fourteenth century, with an accompanying note in a fifteenth-century hand, ‘ Isti versus scripti sunt juxta crucem argenteam in refectorio Winton ’:
Humano more crux presens edidit ore
Celitus afflata, que prespicis hie subarata,
Absit hoc ut fiat, Absit hoc ut fiat, Absit hoc ut fiat.
Judicastis bene, mutaretis non bene.
page 119 note 2 For this sentence cf. Florence, s.a. 969.
page 119 note 3 Brithnotus … tenuerunt: derived from Florence, i, 144. Cf. Vita Oswaldi, pp. 443–46.
page 119 note 4 Ps., xxxiii, 17.
page 119 note 5 Ps., cvi, 13.
page 119 note 6 Sap., x, 21; Rom., viii, 28.
page 119 note 7 Judith, vi, 15.
page 119 note 8 Ps., lxxi, 18.
page 120 note 1 The rest of the chapter is abridged from infra, ch. 144, whence the phrase illi … presumpsit is derived verbatim.
page 120 note 2 This account of the translation of St Wihtburga from Dereham on 8 July 974 occurs also in the Life in C.C.C. 393, where it follows the miracles and precedes the story of her second translation to the new church in 1106. It is included as one of the miracles in B (Book of Miracles) and may once have followed also in the Life in Trinity, O.2.1 which ends abruptly. All these accounts are probably derived from an older Life (see Introduction, supra, p. xxxvii). Cf. Bollandist Acta Sanctorum Martii, ii, 603–06; Bentham, Ely, i, 76–78; also Nova Legenda Anglie, ii, 468–70.
page 121 note 1 This reference to Dunstan's prophecy recalls the words used by Florence, i, 133, already quoted supra, Book I, ch. 42.
page 121 note 2 Cf. supra, ch. 40.
page 123 note 1 The name is preserved in Turbutsey Farm, Ely (Cambs. Place-names, p. 219).
page 123 note 2 Cf. Osbern, Vita Dunstani, p. 103: ‘ Eadgarus … ut David pietate ac fortitudine, atque ut Salomon sapientia, divitiis, gloria.’.
page 123 note 3 Probably the Leofwine prepositus of supra, ch. 16, if Leo may be taken as the latinised form of Leofwine.
page 124 note 1 Cf. supra, p. 3 and Bentham, Ely, i, 79.
page 124 note 2 Book III, cc. 78, 79.
page 124 note 3 De Situ, supra, p. 3.
page 124 note 4 This interpretation of the liberties of Ely belongs not to the tenth but to the twelfth century and is based, as the author says, on scriptis et brevibus of the abbey, belonging mainly to the periods after the Norman conquest and after the creation of a bishopric at Ely. The particular concern of the author with the archdeacon's rights in the Isle connects him with the monk Richard who tried to reclaim the abbey's rights on behalf of the new cathedral priory in a case at Rome in 1150, and suggests that the latter part of this chapter has been taken from Richard's opuscula. See Introduction, supra, pp. xxxviii–ix. A note in a hand probably of the fourteenth century adds excerpts of this chapter and the De Situ (supra, p. 2) to a copy of the ‘ discussio libertatis ’ (infra, ch. 116)—an account of an inquest into the abbey's liberties in 1080. These excerpts may be derived from the L.E. and have no independent value. But it is also possible that the liberties described in them were those discussed at Kentford and that the compiler of the L.E. found them in a memorandum together with a record of the discussio, from which he extracted the relevant portions in the De Situ and for this chapter. See Introduction, supra, p. liii.
page 125 note 1 The nature of these is discussed by Miller, Ely, pp. 30 ff. Modich may be identifiable with Mudeke which is mentioned among the fisheries of Littleport (ibid., p. 32; Cambs. Placenames, p. 213). The phrase que quarta pars est centuriatuum is applied also to Wisbech (infra, p. 144) and Miller believes that Modic may have been a ‘ court for the Wisbech district ’ and that this phrase is the Latin rendering of the Old English ferding (op. cit., pp. 32–33). For the functions and organisation of a ferding see Stenton, F. M., Engl. Hist. Rev., xxxvii, p. 227Google Scholar.
page 125 note 2 This may be derived from William I's writ, infra, p. 207.
page 125 note 3 See supra, ch. 5.
page 125 note 4 The hundred and a half of Mitford (Norfolk). See supra, ch. 40.
page 125 note 5 Described as the ‘ Trilling or Thredling of Winstow which was added to the Wicklow group ’ and as clearly the third part of Cleydon hundred (Cam, Liberties and Communities, p. 101).
page 125 note 6 This liberty was disputed by the archdeacons of Ely in the twelfth century (infra, Book III, ch. 37) and was the subject of a claim made by the priory in the time of Prior Alexander in 1150. This reference to Henry of Huntingdon therefore fits the calculations of T. Arnold that he was born before 1084 and survived into the reign of Henry II. He was the son of Nicholas whom he may have succeeded as archdeacon on his death in 1110 (Henry Hunt., Hist. Anglorum, pp. xxxi–xxxiii; infra, Book III, cc. 37, 101 and App. C).
page 126 note 1 This refers to a phrase in Edward the Confessor's charter of confirmation and the privilege of Pope Victor II, infra, cc. 92 and 93 and App. D, pp. 417–18.
page 126 note 2 O adds a chapter De obitu regis Ædgari, et quam viriliter rexit et de Edwardo et Ethelredo filiis suis, qui ei successerunt. This is made up of extracts from Florence (cited as Cronica Mariani), annals for the years, 975, 963, 959, 979, 994, 1002, 1007, and 1014, interspersed with passages from Osbern, Vita Dunstani, pp. 114–15, Henry Hunt., Hist. Anglorum (cited as Cronica Henrici), pp. 167, 174, to give a summary of Edgar's reign and the monastic foundations of Dunstan, Oswald and Æthelwold; of the succession of Edward and his martyrdom; of the succession of Æthelred, Dunstan's prophecy concerning his reign, the Danish raids and the massacre of St Brice's day; and of the death of Sweyn of Denmark. The summary includes William of Malmesbury's famous reference to the tribute of 300 wolves which King Edgar exacted from the Welsh (Gesta Regum, i, 177, but not verbatim).
page 126 note 3 I.e. the Libellus (see supra, ch. 7). The account of the Hatfield plea is clearly taken from the Latin, which it reproduces verbatim, and not from the Old English original. This chapter has probably been extracted by the compiler of Book II from some intermediate source which had itself made use of the Libellus. He is not likely himself to be transcribing from the Libellus which he has already incorporated in full and from which he would have been expected to copy the name Æ ðelwinus correctly rather than write Æwinus. Cf. two miracle stories in Book III, infra, cc. 119, 120, which, with this chapter, may have formed part of an opusculum of the monk Richard on the malefactors of Ely. See Introduction, supra, p. xxxix.
page 127 note 1 Cf. Eccl., xxxiv, 24.
page 127 note 2 Æwinus … Winningetune: from Libellus, ch. 5 (supra, ch. 7).
page 127 note 3 This reference to Wangford conflicts with the testimony of the Libellus, where Æthelwine receives this estate on a different occasion (supra, cc. 27, 30).
page 127 note 4 Ælfthryth, second wife of King Edgar. This legend is fully discussed by C. E. Wright (The Cultivation of Saga in Anglo-Saxon England, 1939, pp. 157 ff.). He prints an abstract from F (ibid., App. no. 33, pp. 278–79) with a translation into English (pp. 158–60). Cf. also Sisam, K. in Medium Aevum, xxii (1953), p. 24CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
page 128 note 1 Cf. Genesis, xxxix, on which part of this story seems to be modelled. Cf. Wright, op. cit., p. 161.
page 128 note 2 Job, xv, 35.
page 128 note 3 For the date of his death see infra, App. D, p. 411.
page 128 note 4 Ælfthryth's share in the murder of Edward the Martyr is fully discussed by Wright, op. cit., pp. 162–70, with references to the relevant sources, including this account. The wording of this passage cannot be traced back to any known source, but its contents add nothing to the legend as known to writers of the twelfth century.
page 129 note 1 For the date of his accession see infra, App. D, p. 411.
page 129 note 2 The same phrase is used in the description of Æthelred–s death, infra, ch. 79.
page 129 note 3 Date: 1004. Printed, K., no. 711; Monasticon, i, 476; Gale, Scriptores, XV, pp. 521–22. For a comment on this charter see infra, App. D, p. 417.
page 130 note 1 Thaxted, Essex. There seems no strong reason to identify Æfeliva with Æthelgifu, second wife of Ealdorman Æthelwine, as tentatively suggested by Hart (Essex Charters, no. 26, p. 18), particularly as the traditional date for the accession of Abbot Ælfsige (981) must be discarded (supra, ch. 56) and she died in 985 while Brihtnoth was still alive.
page 131 note 1 Leofwine, Æthulf's son, is one of the witnesses of Robertson, Charters, no. LXIII, p. 130, and was also a benefactor of Thorney. See Whitelock, Wills, p. 173, where it is suggested that he was the father of Leofmær of Bygrave. This grant to Ely must have been made after 1002 when Archbishop Wulfstan succeeded to York and before the death of Abbot Æsige (infra, App. D).
page 131 note 2 Kingston, Suffolk, where Ely held 2 carucates in 1066 (Dd, ii, fo. 386).
page 131 note 3 The Rodings, Essex, in which Ely held land, are difficult to identify. The 3 hides 45 virgates of Dd, ii, fo. 19 have been tentatively identified with Aythorp Roding, and the 2½ hides of Dd, ii, fo. 36b (to which 1 hide was attached in alia Rodinges) with High Roding (V.C.H., Essex, i, 450, 474). Cf. Miller, Ely, p. 71, n. 2, where he speaks of two Rodings, (?) Aythorp and (?) Morel; also Hart, Essex Charters, no. 35, p. 20.
page 131 note 4 Undley, Suffolk, where Ely held 1 carucate in 1066 (Dd, ii, fo. 382).
page 131 note 5 Lakenheath, Suffolk. Ely held 3 carucates there in 1066, but this includes the estate at Lakenheath granted by Edward the Confessor (Dd, ii, fo. 382; infra, ch. 92).
page 132 note 1 Whittlesea, Cambs., where Ely held 2 hides in 1066 (Dd, i, fo. 191b) out of a total of 6 hides (Dd, i, fo. 192b, Thorney 4 hides).
page 132 note 2 Eastrea, part of the island of Whittlesea (Cambs. Place-names, p. 259).
page 132 note 3 Cottenham, Cambs., where Ely held 10 hides in 1066 (Dd, i, fo. 191b). But Ely received land there also from another source, infra, p. 138.
page 132 note 4 Cf. note b, but the land of Holborn is said to have been given to the church of Ely by Bishop John Kirkby (Bentham, Ely, i, 151).
page 132 note 5 Glemsford, Suffolk, where Ely held 8 carucates in 1066 (Dd, ii, fo. 382).
page 132 note 6 Now represented by Starnea Dyke (Cambs. Place-names, pp. 15–17).
page 132 note 7 Probably Hatfield Regis, Essex, since Hatfield, Herts., then already belonged to Ely (se infra, ch. 64). But it is not clear why Leofwine should have been in the position to grant a far from a royal vill.
page 132 note 8 Infra, ch. 111.
page 133 note 1 Ramsey Chron., pp. 84–85 gives an abstract of the will of matrona Alfwara, genere nobilis sed fidei devotione nobilior who died in 1007 (Ramsey Cart., iii, 167) and who is probably to be identified with the Æ of this chapter.
page 133 note 2 Bridgeham (Norfolk), where Ely held 4 carucates in 1066 (Dd, ii, fo. 213b).
page 133 note 3 This is not easily identifiable with any of the Domesday holdings of Ely and it is not mentioned in Edward the Confessor's charter of confirmation (infra, ch. 92). Perhaps Ingham or Hingham, Norfolk (Dd, ii, 148b, 110b).
page 133 note 4 Weeting (Norfolk), where Ely held the commendation and soke over 9 liberi homines with 5½ carucates in 1066 (Dd, ii, fo. 162). Cf. supra, ch. 44.
page 133 note 5 Rattlesden (Suffolk), where Ely held 6 carucates in 1066 (Dd, ii, fo. 381b).
page 133 note 6 Mundford (Norfolk), where Ely held 3 carucates and 7 sokemen in 1066 (Dd, ii, fo. 213b).
page 133 note 7 See infra, Book III, cc. 78, 89.
page 133 note 8 Presumably Little Thetford, where Ely held 1 hide in 1066 as a berewick of Ely (Dd, i, fo. 191b).
page 133 note 9 The death of Brihtnoth, ealdorman from about 956, perhaps of Huntingdon and later certainly of Essex, at the battle of Maldon was made the subject of legend and song, of which the Old English poem is the most notable and the Ely tradition an interesting variant. See C. E. Wright, The Cultivation of Saga in Anglo-Saxon England, pp. 23–24; E. V. Gordon, The Battle of Maldon (revised edn. 1957) ; Vita Oswaldi, pp. 455–56. For a note on his career see Ashdown, M., English and Norse Documents (1930), pp. 274–77Google Scholar; also Whitelock, Wills, p. 106.
page 134 note 1 There is no evidence that he was ever ealdorman of Northumbria; perhaps the Ely writer saw the words ‘ on Norðhymbron ' in the poem, if he knew it, where it refers to a hostage fighting to avenge Brihtnoth's death, and drew a wrong conclusion.
page 134 note 2 Cf. Ezech., xiii, 5.
page 134 note 3 in … regno: derived from Florence, i, 144; cf. supra, ch. 51.
page 134 note 4 The names of the leaders are not given in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. They may be derived from the account of the battle in Florence, i, 149. If there is any truth in the legend that they came to avenge an earlier defeat, no record of it has survived. No raid is recorded for the year 987. The raids were not resumed until 988, and, if the compiler is thinking of 991 as the fourth year in a series, the first would fall in that year. But the only attack on which we have any information was directed against the West coast of England and cannot be considered as a prelude for the battle of Maldon. Cf. Florence, s.a. 988; also Vita Oswaldi, p. 456, which follows up the battle of 988 in Occidente immediately—transactis non plurimis mensibus—with the battle, in oriente huius inclytae regionis, in which Brihtnoth was killed. It is also possible that the Ely writer gained a false idea of two battles if he had, and could only partially understand, the Old English poem.
page 134 note 1 For a comment on the circumstances and details of Brihtnoth's bequest see infra, App. D, p. 422.
page 136 note 1 This account of Brihtnoth's death is independent of other known versions and presumably represents the local tradition. Æthelred's regnal year is probably reckoned from Florence, who places Æthelred's accession in 978 (cf. Plummer, Two Saxon Chronicles, ii, 166). The form of the dating clause combined with the phrase inter alios locatus indicates that this version of the Brihtnoth legend was compiled to form part of an account of the benefactors of Ely whose relics were translated by Prior Alexander in 1154 (cf. infra, cc. 65, 71, 72, 75, 86, 87, 99 and Introduction, supra, p. xxxviii). The beginning of this account is given as part of infra, da. 87. These relics were reported by James Bentham to have been discovered in 1769 when the North wall of the choir, in which they were then immured, was removed. His report made to the Society of Antiquaries in 1772 and a description of the bones is printed in Bentham, Ely, i, Addenda, pp. 23–24. Brihtnoth's obit is recorded in the Ely kalendar in E on 10 August, where reference is also made to his will. Cf. B. Dickins,‘ The Day of Byrhtnoth's death and other obits from a twelfth-century Ely kalendar’, Leeds Studies in English and Kindred Languages, no. vi (1937), pp. 15–17. Cf. also the kalendar in Brit. Mus., MS. Cotton, Titus D.xxvii, fos. 3–8v, where the obit is given under 11 August (discussed ibid., p. 14).
page 136 note 2 See infra, App. D, p. 422. The death of Ælfflæd and her sister were commemorated, according to the kalendar in E, on 20 May (Dickins, op. cit., p. 18).
page 136 note 3 See infra, App. D, p. 423.
page 137 note 1 Bishop of Elmham, c. 995–1001. The signature of his predecessor Theodred occurs for the last time in 995 (K., no. 688), while Æthelstan first signs in 997 (K., no. 698). He last signs in 1001 (K., no. 705), and if., no. 706, dated 1001, is witnessed by his successor.
page 137 note 2 This chapter is not reliable evidence for the abbey's immunity from episcopal control in the Anglo-Saxon period. See infra, App. C, p. 403.
page 137 note 3 Drinkstone, Suffolk, where Ely held 2 carucates in demesne in 1066 (Dd, ii, fo. 381b).
page 138 note 1 Infra, Book III, cc. 78, 89.
page 138 note 2 The loss of two chalices is blamed on Gocelin but neither of these is to be identified with Æthelstan's. Infra, Book III, cc. 50, 92.
page 138 note 3 See supra, ch. 62, note. His death was commemorated at Ely on 7 October (B. Dickins, op. cit., p. 22).
page 138 note 4 Uvi of Willingham, brother of Oswi, infra, ch. 67, and witness to at least two transactions concerning Ely (supra, cc. 11, 33). His death was commemorated at Ely on 16 February (Dickins, op. cit., p. 18).
page 138 note 5 Willingham, Cambs., where Ely held 7 hides in 1066 (Dd, i, fo. 191b).
page 138 note 6 There is no reason to suppose that this is the same estate as one already granted there by Leofwine, Æthulf's son (supra, ch. 60). Perhaps it is to be identified with the 3½ hides less 14 acres which Oswi, sokeman of Ely, held there in 1066 (Dd, i, fo. 201b).
page 138 note 7 The dates of Leofsige, ealdorman of Essex, witnessing charters from 994 to 1001 and banished 1002 (Whitelock, Wills, p. 149), establish the certain terminal dates for Uvi's will, but the limits are narrowed if Æsige did not succeed before 996 (supra, ch. 56).
page 139 note 1 Husband of Leofflæ, daughter of Ealdorman Brihtnoth (infra, ch. 88). His death was commemorated at Ely on 5 May (Dickins, op. cit., pp. 16–17, where he is identified with the Oswi who fell in battle against the Danes at Ring-mere, A.S.C., C, D, E, s.a. 1010), and Leofflæ's death on 12 October (Dickins, op. cit., p. 18).
page 139 note 2 Stetchworth, March, Kirtling, Dullingham and Swaffham (Cambs.). See infra, App. D, P. 423.
page 139 note 3 Leicester had been the centre of the diocese of the Middle Angles until the kingdom of Mercia succumbed to Danish attack. By the time of Æscwig its place had been taken by Dorchester-on-Thames. See F. M. Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England (2nd ed. 1947), p. 431. 4 The terminal dates of Oswi's will, 995 × 1001, are determined by the dates of Bishop Æthelstan (995–1001). Ælfric was archbishop of Canterbury from 995 to 1002 and Æscwig bishop of Dorchester from 975 × 79 to 1002.
page 139 note 5 The name is too common and occurs too frequently in the L.E. to identify him for certain with any one of the witnesses to transactions concerning Ely (e.g. supra, p. 88). Perhaps it was he who was granted land at Swaffham, where his brother held 1 virgate, for life by Abbot Brihtnoth (supra, p. no). It is probably his obit which was recorded at Ely under 24 September and that of his son on 22 July (Dickins, op. cit., p. 16).
page 140 note 1 Chedburgh, Suffolk, where Ely held 2 carucates belonging to two freemen in demesne in 1066 (Dd, ii, fo. 384b).
page 140 note 2 In Suffolk. Ely held 3 carucates there in 1066 (Dd, ii, fo. 388).
page 140 note 3 This record cannot be correct as it stands. Even the traditional date of Abbot Brihtnoth's death (981) would not allow Æsige to succeed during the reign of Edward the Martyr. Perhaps Godwin had made a bequest in favour of Ely in King Edward's time but was not admitted to the monastery until the time of Ælfsige.
page 140 note 4 Hitcham, Suffolk, where Ely held 11 carucates and 5 sokemen in 1066 (Dd, ii, fo. 384b), granted between 995 and 1001 during Æthelstan's pontificate.
page 140 note 5 Eadnoth, a monk at Worcester, was brought to Ramsey by Oswald, but according to the Ramsey tradition he was not made abbot until 992, when he was consecrated by Archbishop Æfheah (Ramsey Chron., p. no). The L.E. here recalls the Ramsey record, not of Eadnoth's appointment, but of the dedication of the church at Ramsey (ibid., pp. 39, 90 ff.) and the honourable mention of Æthelwine recalls his reputation at Ramsey (‘ vir Domini Oswaldus et gloriosus dux Æthelwynus ’, ibid., p. 44) rather than that at Ely (supra, ch. 55). His accession to the bishopric of Dorchester is usually placed in 1006 but charter evidence does not support 1006 as a firm date. Eadnoth signs as abbot in 1007 (K., nos. 714, 1304), and as bishop not before 1012 (K., nos. 719, 1307). He was killed in 1016, and Chatteris must therefore have been founded between 1007 and 1016. This account of its foundation was copied later into the Chatteris cartulary, Brit. Mus., MS. Cotton, Julius A.i, fos. 73–74, with no further detail (cf. Monasticon, ii, 616; V.C.H., Cambs., ii, 220). It is difficult to tell to what extent the rest of the information given about Eadnoth is independent of other sources. The note on the death of Archbishop Ælfheah in 1012 adds nothing which is not earlier recorded elsewhere (e.g. A.S.C., C, D, E, F and Florence, s.a. 1012; Osbern's Vita S. Dunstani, p. 127 and Vita S. Elphegi, printed Wharton, Anglia Sacra, ii, 112–42; Eadmer, Hist. Novorum, p. 4, which alone mentions Greenwich as the place of the martyrdom. Cf. Freeman, Norman Conquest, i, 352, 658–63). The reference chronica for Eadnoth's presence at Assandun is to Florence, i, 178, and a similar account of death and removal to Ely is given in Ramsey Chron., pp. 118–19. The whole of this chapter is probably taken from a booklet on the Ely confessors, referred to supra, ch. 62, and it was taken as the basis for the chapter De Sancto Eadnodo in Nova Legenda Anglie, App. II, pp. 540–41. Eadnoth's death was commemorated at Ely on 18 October (Dickins, op. cit., p. 21).
page 141 note 1 This account of the translation of St Ive is not related to that given in Ramsey Chron,, pp. 114–15, which has less detail. It seems to be an abstract from Goscelin's Vita S. Ivonis Episcopi (see Migne, Pat. Eat., CLV, pp. 85 ff.), which gives the date for the inventio as 1001.
page 141 note 2 ad … convenerant: from Florence, i, 178. Cf. infra, ch. 79.
page 142 note 1 Ælfgar was bishop of Elmham from 1001–1020 (A.S.C., D, Florence, s.a. 1021. He is described as ‘ Beati [Dunstani] curialis presbyter ’ in William of Malmesbury's Life of St Dunstan (Memorials of St Dunstan, p. 317). See infra, cc. 72 and 75, where it is suggested that Ælfgar may have retired to Ely in or before 1016.
page 142 note 2 For his account of Ælfgar's vision the compiler of the L.E. has used Osbern's Life of St Dunstan (Memorials of St Dunstan, pp. 120–23). The correspondence of occasional words which are not in Osbern with the Lives by Eadmer and William of Malmesbury (noted infra, in the textual notes) are probably coincidental. The same is presumably true of echoes from the Life by Adelard, but it is interesting that supra, ch. 51, also seems to imply a knowledge of this Life.
page 143 note 1 The A.D. is probably derived from Florence or A.S.C., D, where Ælfgar's death is entered s.a. 1021. A.S.C., D, states, however, that he died on the morning of Christmas Day and this, by our reckoning, is 1020. His death was commemorated at Ely on 24 December (Dickins, op. cit., p. 22). See infra, ch. 75 for the suggestion that he retired to Ely in or before 1016. See also supra, cc. 62 (notes) and 72.
page 142 note 2 Ælfelm Polga, who occurs in the Libellus (supra, p. 88). A copy of his will has survived (printed in Whitelock, Wills, no. xiii, pp. 30–34), in which this bequest is mentioned (p. 31).For a note on the date of the will (after 975 and before 1016) see ibid., p. 133, and pp. 133–34 for what is known of Ælfelm's life.
page 143 note 3 West Wratting, Cambs., where Ely held 4½ hides and 10 sokemen with 3 hides in 1066 (Dd, i, fo. 190b). Ælfelm owned part of this estate by the gift of King Edgar (B.C.S., no. 1305). The 2 hides excepted from this bequest were left to Æthelric, probably the son of Ælfelm's brother (Whitelock, Wills, pp. 134–35).
page 143 note 4 Luc, xvi, 9.
page 143 note 5 For Abbot Leofsige see infra, ch. 84.
page 144 note 1 For a comment on this grant see infra, App. D, p. 424.
page 144 note 2 See supra, ch. 72.
page 144 note 3 Walpole, Norfolk.
page 144 note 4 Wisbech, Cambs., where Ely held 10 hides in 1066 (Dd, i, fo. 192). For a discussion of the ferding of Wisbech see Miller, Ely, p. 33.
page 144 note 5 All in Suffolk. In Debenham and Woodbridge Ely held small groups of sokemen in 1066 (Dd, ii, fos. 384, 388b), in Brightwell 2 carucates (Dd, ii, fo. 386). But for Woodbridge see also supra, ch. 38.
page 144 note 6 Thren., iii, 27.
page 144 note 7 If appointed at the command of King Æthelred, Ælfwine must have become bishop of Elmham in or before 1016. But we are told at the beginning of this chapter that he succeeded Ælfgar on his death and Ælfgar died in 1020. The most plausible explanation is that Ælfgar retired to Ely before 1016 (when he secured the body of Bishop Eadnoth for Ely (supra, ch. 71)) and that Ælfwine did succeed him before Æthelred died. A.S.C., D, and Florence, assuming that Ælfwine did not succeed before Ælfgar's death, would have placed his accession in 1020, and the compiler of the L.E. may have erroneously combined the Florence entry with the more precise local tradition that Ælfwine succeeded in the reign of Æthelred. Evidence from charters is not conclusive either way. K., no. 727 of 1018, witnessed by Ælfgar, is of doubtful authenticity. The signature of a Bishop Ælfwine in 1019 (K., no. 729), on the other hand, seems to advance Ælfwine's accession at least to that year. The estates given with Ælfwine show that he must not be identified with Ælfwine, son of Oswi, mentioned supra, ch. 67.
page 146 note 1 See infra, ch. 86.
page 146 note 2 St Wendred is the patron saint of March; apart from this nothing seems to be known about her (V.C.H., Cambs., iv, 119).
page 146 note 3 Date: 1008. Cadenho is Hadstock, Essex, where Ely held 2 hides in 1066 (Dd, ii, 19; Cadenhou.) In Linton (Great and Little), Ely held no land in 1066 (see Farrer, Feudal Cambridgeshire, p. 65), and no estate there is mentioned in Edward the Confessor's charter (infra, ch. 92). For Strethle (Stretley Green, Strathall) see supra, ch. 58. Printed: K., no. 725.
page 146 note 1 This claim that abbots of Ely, St Augustine's and Glastonbury from c. 970 to 1066 regularly performed a service which could be described as cancellarii dignitatem finds no confirmation elsewhere. There is no reference to such a privilege in the recorded tradition of St Augustine or Glastonbury and it is not likely to be confirmed by modern students of diplomatic. Yet the story is sufficiently detailed to warrant some kind of foundation. The last sentence of the chapter suggests that this may be the liberty, said to have been granted by Æthelred, when the abbey was trying to recover its customs after the conquest, and similarly referred to in Edward the Confessor's alleged charter of confirmation (infra, cc. 116, 92). It may be that Ely was, at least in the reign of ^Ethelred, associated with two of the most ancient English foundations in a right to have the custody of the royal sanctuary and that this privilege was referred to after the conquest by the then appropriate name of cancellarii dignitas. It is only once again mentioned explicitly in the L.E. (infra, ch. 85), in the reign of Cnut, and then in the less precise terms of ministerium in curia regis. Cf. Galbraith, V. H., Studies in the Public Records (1948), pp. 39–40Google Scholar, and for the evidence concerning ‘ chancery ’ practice in the reign of Edgar cf. Drogereit, R. in Archiv für Urkundenforschung, vol. xiii (1935)Google Scholar.
page 147 note 1 Thren., i, 1.
page 147 note 2 defunctus … sullimatus: derived from Florence, i, 172–73. The wording of Dunstan's prophecy is as found in Osbern's Vita Dunstani, pp. 114–15. Æthelred's death was commemorated at Ely on 23 April (Dickins, op. cit., p. 19).
page 148 note 1 O here adds a note on the progeny of Æthelred adapted from Ælred's Vita S. Edwardi, col. 741. The description of the accession of Edmund in 1016 is in the words of Florence, but omits his account, given at this point of the narrative, of the election of Cnut at Southampton. It is unlikely that the election of Cnut was also omitted in the version of Florence used by the compiler (which would bring it in line with the order of events as described in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (C and D, s.a. 1016), since he was acquainted with the version in Bodl. MS. 297 which —as other surviving MSS. of Florence—includes it. The compiler of the L.E. may have decided to retain the words of Florence while preferring the order of events in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. But it is more probable that he intended to extract from Florence primarily the account of the battle of Assandun and used the rest merely as a brief introduction to it, omitting everything not immediately relevant to his purpose. Cf. Introduction, supra, p. xxix.
page 148 note 1 This account of the battle of Assandun is derived from.Florence, i, 177, 175, 178, and common passages are shown within pointed brackets. Cf. Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (C, D, E), s.a. 1016. The place at which this battle was fought is usually identified with Ashingdon, Essex (Essex Placenames, p. 177) and the obit of Bishop Eadnoth in the Ely kalendar fixes its date as 18 October (B. Dickins, op. cit., pp. 20, 21). Wulfsige was the second abbot of Ramsey and the Ramsey Chronicle (p. 118) accounts for his and Eadnoth's presence at the battle in words similar to those of the L.E. ‘qui cum multis aliis religiosis personis, juxta morem Anglorum veterem, ibidem convenerant … ’
page 147 note 3 post … portionem: the passages shown within pointed brackets are from Florence, i, 179, but he does not record the manner of Edmund's death. The L.E. here gives a version of the legend found in Will. Malmesbury, Gesta Regum, i, 217–18 and Henry Hunt., Hist. Anglorum, p. 186, as well as in Walter Map, De Nugis Curialium, Dist. v, ch. 4 and Gaimar, Lestorie des Engles, 11. 4399–4428. The development of the legend is discussed by C. E. Wright, op. cit., pp. 198–205. Edmund's death was commemorated at Ely on 29 November (Dickins, op. cit., p. 19).
page 149 note 1 reginam … accepit: from Florence, i, 181, except for the second version of her name.
page 149 note 2 Listed in the inventory of 1134, infra, Book III, ch. 50.
page 149 note 3 The Ely tradition of the date of the death of Abbot Æfsige is confused. See infra, App. D, p. 411.
page 149 note 4 This reference must be to A.S.C., where the entry is found in E and F, s.a. 1022. It occurs elsewhere only in Henry Hunt., Hist. Anglorum, p. 187 and Waverley Annals, p. 178. Presumably the compiler used E or, like these others, a predecessor of it. For the suggestion that this entry in A.S.C., E, was written after the York clergy had been to Ely for the burial of Archbishop Wulfstan, see The Peterborough Chronicle (Early English Manuscripts in Facsimile, vol. iv, 1954), p. 30.
page 150 note 1 On the dates of Abbots Leofwine and Leofric see infra, App. D, p. 411.
page 150 note 2 If the references to Abbot Leofric and Cnut are correct the bequest must have been made between c. 1022 and c. 1029 and this cannot be the famous Godgifu, the wife of Earl Leofric of Mercia, as he did not die before 1057, nor the Godgifu, wife of Earl Siward mentioned in K., no. 927. Cf. Miller, Ely, p. 22, n. 10; Hart, Essex Charters, no. 44, p. 23.
page 150 note 3 High Easter, Essex, which Esgar the Staller held pro manerio in 1066 and which Ely reclaimed from his successor Geoffrey de Mandeville (Dd, ii, fo. 60). See infra, ch. 96. South Fambridge, Essex, where Ely claimed 3½ hides in 1086 (Dd, ii, fo. 97b). Terling, Essex, identified with an unnamed hide in Witham hundred which Ely claimed in 1086 (V.C.H., Essex, i, 429). Cf. Hart, op. cit., p. 23.
page 150 note 4 Date: 1022. Printed: K., no. 734; Monasticon, i, 475–76; Gale, Scnptores XV, pp. 522–23. For a comment on this charter see infra, App. D, p. 417.
page 151 note 1 Perhaps the same as the Godgifu of ch. 81. The bishop is probably Ælfric II of Elmham who succeeded sometime after 1022 and died in 1038 (Anglo-Saxon Chron. E and Florence, s.a.), and the outer limits for the date of this bequest are no more closely defined than by the probable dates of Leofric's tenure of the abbacy 1022 × 1029. For another grant of land at Barking (Suffolk) see supra, p. 144.
page 152 note 1 For the dates of Abbots Leofric and Leofsige see infra, App. D, p. 411.
page 152 note 2 Cf. Matth., xvi, 6, 11; Marc, viii, 15; Luc, xii, 1.
page 152 note 3 Both gifts are listed in the inventory of 1134, infra, Book III, ch. 50.
page 152 note 4 Infra, ch. 111.
page 152 note 5 This system of farming the demesne manors at Ely is fully discussed by Miller, Ely, pp. 38–39. It must have been imposed before the death of Cnut in 1035. Most of the estates listed here have already been mentioned as acquired before the time of Abbot Leofsige. Of the others, Stetchworth and Balsham were left to Ely before the death of Cnut (infra, ch. 88); of Marham and Colne we do not know how or when they came to Ely. An estate at Nedging (Suffolk) was left to Bury St Edmunds by Ælmaed, wife of Ealdorman Brihtnoth, but St Edmunds owned no land there in 1066 (Whitelock, Wills, pp. 38, 143) and it may have found its way to Ely. But if Brecheham is Barham (Suffolk), where Ely held 4 carucates in 1066 (Dd, ii, fo. 383b), some suspicion must attach to this version of Leofsige's allocation of farms, as Barham was not bought until the time of his successor Wulfric (infra, ch. 97). The inclusion of Wetheringsett also creates difficulties. It may have been bequeathed to Ely before the death of Cnut by Leofwaru, but what is probably the same estate is left to Ely in the will of her son Thurstan, which can be dated 1043 × 1045 (Whitelock, Wills, pp. 192–93). See infra, ch. 88. For a general comment on the system of farming out demesne manors see R. Lennard, Rural England 1086–1135 (1959), pp. 118 ff., and esp. p. 131, n. 1, where he points out that item may have dropped out of the L.E. text since the listed farms amount to only 51 weeks.
page 153 note 1 This story of Cnut's visit to Ely has often been printed, especially by C. E. Wright, op. dt., where it is discussed and in part translated (pp. 36–38 and App. no. 5, pp. 251–52) and by C. W. Stubbs, Historical Memorials of Ely Cathedral, pp. 49–52, which includes W. W. Skeat's comments on the language of the Old English song.
page 153 note 2 See supra, ch. 78.
page 154 note 1 No such charter of confirmation is known to exist.
page 154 note 2 Cant., viii, 6; Sap., vi, 19.
page 154 note 3 Marc., ix, 22.
page 154 note 4 This holding cannot be identified. Cf. O. v. Feilitzen, The Pre-Conquest Personal Names of Domesday Booh, Nomina Germanica, 3 (1937), Boddus liber homo in Essex (p. 204, Dd, ii, fo. 26b); Brictmarus, a sokeman of St Etheldreda in Suffolk (p. 195, Dd, ii, fo. 388b); Brictmarus bubba liber homo Haroldi in Suffolk (p. 195, Dd, ii, fo. 323b).
page 155 note 1 Supra, ch. 75.
page 155 note 2 This account of the foundation of Bury St Edmunds is partly derived from the version of Florence, with additions, contained in Bodl., MS. 297, p. 350, s.a. 1020 (printed in Memorials of St Edmund's Abbey, ed. T. Arnold, R.S., 1890, i, 341–42). Exact parallels are shown within pointed brackets; the rest is less close, and there is no suggestion there that any of the monks came from Ely.
page 155 note 3 The date of Ælfwine's death is not recorded except in the inscription in Ely cathedral made at the time of the translation of 1771. It is there given as 1029. But if he retired to Ely some time before his death, this does not help us to date the end of his pontificate and the accession of his successor Ælfric (Bentham, Ely, i, Addenda, p. 24). Cf. Robertson, Charters, p. 425. His death was commemorated at Ely on 12 April (Dickins, op. cit., p. 22). This chapter and ch. 75 form the basis of the chapter De Alwino in Nova Legenda Anglie, ii, App. II, p. 541. See also supra, ch. 62.
page 156 note 1 The inscription as copied in 1771 gives the date of this translation as 1154. The relics were again translated, this time to the North wall of the choir, in the reign of Edward III, and the new repository seems to have been modelled on the old. When they were removed from the choir in 1769 they were found to be placed in ‘ seven distinct cells or cavities ’, and ‘ there were the traces of their several effigies on the wall, and over each of them an inscription of their names ’ (Bentham, Ely, i, Addenda, p. 23). Bentham's description, apart from their effigies, recalls the singulorum loculos cum scriptionibus nominum. For Prior Alexander see infra, p. 316.
page 156 note 2 In the source used by the compiler this chapter must have formed the beginning of an account of the benefactors of Ely from which he derived cc. 62, 65, 71, 72, 75, 86, 87 and 99. The order in which their names occur in the list given in F, fo. 1, i.e. Wulfstan, Osmund, Ælfwine, Ælfgar, Eadnoth, Æthelstan, and Ealdorman Brihtnoth—a list which refers to their translation in the reign of Edward III—probably represents the order of the original narrative (cf. Bentham,Ely, i, 85, n. 2 and supra, ch. 62). Wulfstan was bishop of London from 996 to 1002, when he was translated to Worcester and York. For a discussion of his career see Whitelock, Sermo Lupi ad Anglos (1952), pp. 5–12 and 29–31, and D. Bethurum, The Homilies of Wulfstan (1957), PP. 54–68. His death was commemorated at Ely on 28 May (Dickins, op. cit., p. 23). There is an extract of this chapter in Diceto, i, 172.
page 156 note 3 Only one Ely charter survives (supra, ch. 82) where Wulfstan's signature heads the list of bishops.
page 157 note 1 Supra, ch. 67, and for a comment on this grant see infra, App. D, p. 423.
page 158 note 1 Coveney, Cambs.
page 158 note 2 Some of her work is noted in the inventory of 1134, infra, Book III, ch. 50.
page 158 note 3 For a comment on this chapter see infra, App. D, p. 423. 4 See infra, App. D, p. 423.
page 158 note 4 This chapter illustrates one of the points of difference between E and F. In E the story of Alfred's betrayal is derived directly from Florence, i, 191–92. After the passage innocents … retinuit (Florence, i, 191) E and Florence continue et arcta in custodia posuit; sociorum vero … remisit. Deinde Godwini … ad monasterium ductus (infra, p. 159, n. p; Florence, i, 191–92), monachis … amenitate. F inserts Quem nefario … mucro, derived from William of Poitiers, Gesta Guillelmi, ch. 3, pp. 8–10, and slightly cuts the extracts from Florence. BG follow F, but O places the insertion from the Gesta Guillelmi at a different point retaining a few more words from Florence. For a discussion of these sources see Introduction, supra, pp. xxviii ff.
page 159 note 1 From Gesta Guillelmi, ch. 3, pp. 8–10.
page 159 note 2 From Florence, i, 191–92.
page 160 note 1 Cf. Encomium Emmae, p. 46, ‘ in loco autem sepulcri eius multa fiunt miracula, ut quidam aiunt, qui etiam se haec vidisse saepissime dicunt ’. But there is no reason to assume that the compiler is in any way dependent on the Encomiast, since he could have had this information at first hand. Alfred died in 1036 and his death was commemorated at Ely on 5 February (Dickins, op. cit., p. 19).
page 160 note 2 multo … regem: excerpted from Florence, i, 196–97, annals for 1041 and 1042, except for the passage qui … successerat. This passage is unlikely to have been abridged from the description of the succession of Harthacnut in Florence, s.a. 1040, which is much more detailed and does not refer to Harold as his brother. It may have been taken from the regnal list in Florence, but if so the addition cognomento Harefah is the compiler's own contribution-perhaps the result of confusion with Harold ‘ Fairhair ’ of Norway.
page 160 note 3 O gives a fuller account of Edward's coronation and the death of Godwin. Omitting ipse … regem, it continues with the opening sentence of the Florence annal for 1043, which records Edward's consecration, and then with Edward's repudiation of his wife, Edith (from the annal for 1051), and her return to favour (from the annal for 1052). It then tells the story of Godwin's death in the words of Silred's Vita S. Edwardi, p. 766 and returns to Florence (annal for 1053) to describe how Godwin's sons carried him from the kingés chamber, how Godwin died and Harold succeeded to his earldom and ælfgar, son of Leofric, to Harold's. With the words Rex autem Edwardus non immemor beneficiorum it rejoins the version of E and F. Harthacnut's death was commemorated at Ely on 8 June (Dickins, op. cit., p. 19).
page 160 note 4 An interesting reference to Edward's upbringing which is not found elsewhere. Cf. Harmer, Writs, p. 222.
page 161 note 1 Date: (?) 1042 × 1057.
Printed :K., no. 907; Bentham, Ely, i, App., p. 2, no. ii; Monasticon, i, 476. This charter, like King Edgar's privilege, has been frequently confirmed. See e.g. Landon, Cartae Antiquae Rolls, no. 48, pp. 26–28; Calendar of Charter Rolls, ii, 398 (1318), iv, 79–80 (1329); and copies in the Ely cartularies, MSS. Add., 9822, fos. 5V ff., 41612, fos. 55 ff., and Egerton, 3047, fos. 2–5.
For a comment on this privilege see infra, App. D, p. 417, and for the date see infra, ch. 93.
page 163 note 1 Date: (?) 1055 × 1057.
Printed: Bentham, Ely, i, App., p. 3, no. iii; Monasticon, i, 477.
For a comment on this privilege see infra, App. D, p. 418.
page 164 note 1 Date: November 1044 x 5 January 1066. The terminal dates are set by the accession of Wulfric, be it 1044, 1045, or 1055 (see infra, App. D, p. 412).
Printed: Harmer, Writs, no. 47, pp. 224–25 (Old English and Latin versions), with notes (p. 464); K., no. 885.
page 165 note 1 Miss Harmer suggests that the translator here ‘ fails to render the idiomatic sitte his man … wyrce, and substitutes a clause which is more commonplace ’ (Writs, p. 224). Perhaps in his attempt to interpret the phrase he fell back on the wording of William I's confirmation at Kentford (infra, ch. 117).
page 165 note 2 For the acquisition of High Easter see supra, ch. 81. It descended to Geoffrey de Mandeville with Esgar's estates and became the site of his castle at Pleshey. Ely was to reclaim it in 1086, but without success (Dd, ii, fo. 60). Esgar, said to have been a grandson of Tofi the Proud, was a prominent landowner in several counties in addition to Essex. For a brief note on him see Harmer, Writs, p. 560, Robertson, Charters, p. 464, V.CH. Essex, i, 343. The outside limits for the date are set by the accession and death of Abbot Wulfric, ?1044 × 1065.
page 165 note 3 It is translated by the term constabularius below. He is elsewhere referred to in Latin as regis dapifer (K., no. 808), regiae procurator aulae (K., no. 813, spurious), or simply minister, but not as dux. On the meaning of the term ‘ staller ’ see F. M. Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England.
page 165 note 4 Isai., xiv, 13, 14.
page 165 note 5 Dei iudicio: part of the excerpt from the addition to Florence in Bodl. 297 as given infra, ch. 101.
page 166 note 1 This can refer only to King Edward's general charter of confirmation (supra, ch. 92) and, if the statement is founded on fact, would imply that the document from which ch. 92 has been adapted contained a list of the possessions of Ely. But it is impossible to say how much of the detail in this chapter is derived from the antiqua loci scripta and how much from the twelfth century writer's inference and objection to Abbot Wulfric's alienation of church lands. The reference to the charter may well have been added by him to strengthen his case that the agreement with Esgar had not been voluntarily made, and in this case may therefore be evidence only of the use made of King Edward's charter in its twelfth century form and not proof of its authenticity. Even if the chapter as a whole is derived from the antiqua loci scripta, these may not go back to a date earlier than the Norman conquest, since the details of this transaction with Esgar, as of that with Guthmund (ch. 97), may have been put into writing to substantiate the abbey's plea against Geoffrey de Mandeville and Hugh de Montford (ch. 97).
page 166 note 2 Ælfgar, son of Earl Leofric of Mercia, and himself earl first of East Anglia (1051–52 and 1053–57), then of Mercia (1057–62). The date of his death is not known, except that he must have died before January 1066, the date of Edward the Confessor's death. For a brief note on his career see Harmer, Writs, pp. 546–47. Cf. supra, ch. 84, where Brecheham is listed among the food farms allocated by Abbot Leofsige.
page 166 note 3 Presumably Barham, Suffolk, where Ely had 4 carucates in 1066 (Dd, ii, fo. 383b).
page 166 note 4 This must refer to King Edward's general charter of confirmation, supra, ch. 92.
page 167 note 1 For Guthmund's dominium see infra, App. D, p. 424.
page 167 note 2 For the date of his death see infra, App. D, p. 412.
page 167 note 3 The same phrase is used in the account of Esgar the Staller (supra, ch. 96).
page 167 note 4 On Hugh de Montford, one of the chief despoilers of Ely, see Davis, Regesta, i, p. xxvi. He attests as late as 1092, but seems to have been succeeded by his son immediately after this. Therefore if this phrase is interpreted precisely, this chapter is based on an account written in the period immediately after the Norman conquest (cf. supra, ch. 96). But it is perhaps more probable that the compiler means only that these estates were never recovered. This is true of all the estates mentioned (with the possible exception of Marham, if the estate which Bishop Nigel retrieved there included Hugh's share as well as that of William of Warenne; cf. Miller,Ely, p. 169), and, taken in this sense, hactenus could apply to the latter end of the twelfth century when the L.E. itself was compiled.
page 168 note 1 On the date of Thurstan's accession see infra, App. D, p. 412.
page 168 note 2 On Stigand's relations with Ely see infra, App. D, p. 425.
page 168 note 3 Infra, ch. 111.
page 168 note 4 None of these gifts is mentioned among the treasures removed by Bishop Nigel (infra, Book III, cc. 78, 89) and only the cope is listed as Stigand's in the inventory of 1134 (Book III, ch. 50).
page 168 note 5 Osmund occurs c. 1050 as a bishop of Skara in Sweden under King Emund Slemme, but his reputation stood less high with Adam of Bremen than at Ely. Osmund is reproved in the Gesta Hamburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum (Scriptores Rerum Germanicarum), lib. iii, cap. xv, pp. 155–56, for improperly seeking episcopal consecration at Rome. Having failed there and succeeding only to have himself consecrated by the archbishop of Gnesen, he is then shown as boasting of consecration at the hands of the pope and of vaunting himself as archbishop, and, in spite of having been a pupil of the school of Bremen, he is accused of corrupting new converts by ‘ non sana fidei nostrae doctrina’. Presumably he fell from favour on the death of King Emund c. 1060.
page 169 note 1 On the claim to this privilege see supra, ch. 65, and infra, App. C, p. 402.
page 169 note 2 Anglorum … insinuavit: from the version of Florence, with additions, as found in Bodl., 297. Florence, as represented by the MSS. underlying Thorpe's edition (i, 224), recorded King Edward's death in the words ‘ Anglorum decus, pacificus rex Eadwardus, Ægelredi regis filius, postquam xxiii annis, mensibus vi et xxvii diebus potestate regia praefuit Anglo-Saxonibus, indictione iv, Epiphaniae Domini vigilia, feria v, mortem obiit Lundoniae ’. In Bodl., 297 this entry is preceded by King Edward's vision of the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus and by his prophecy of imminent disasters, i.e. a passage beginning (p. 373), ‘ Quamvis Eaduuardus … insinuavit’. Bodl., 297 (p. 375) then inserts the passage ‘ Quid de Anglia dicam ? … exhereditati sunt’, which the L.E. uses in the next chapter (infra, p. 171, n. 2). On the relationship between Bodl., 297 and the L.E. see Introduction, supra, p. xxviii. The death of King Edward was commemorated at Ely on 5 January (Dickins, op. cit., p. 19).
page 169 note 3 morte … mox: from Florence, as printed, i, 224.
page 169 note 4 O here gives the full dating clause as found in Florence (cited supra, n. 2), except the indiction, but adds ‘ sepultus est in ecclesia sancti Petri apud Westmonasterium quam ispe restauravit et possessionibus ditavit ’.
page 169 note 5 Cf. infra, ch. 105 and App. D, p. 412.
page 170 note 1 mox … desudare: from Florence, as printed, i, 224–25, continuing the passage extracted in ch. 101.
page 170 note 2 The phrase leges … exosos habere is also used to describe the acts of Stephen after his accession. See Book III, ch. 46.
page 170 note 3 regnum … perdidit: this passage seems to be in the compiler's own words. But cf. the phrase in William of Poitiers, Gesta Guillelmi, p. 2, describing the death of Cnut, ‘ cum vita regnum amisit’, and the phrase in Florence, s.a. 1087 for the death of William I.
page 170 note 4 nuntiatum … Anglie: almost word for word from Florence, as printed, i, 227. In taking extracts from the annal for 1066 the L.E. has omitted the lengthy account of the return of Tosti and the invasion of Harold Hardrada which in Florence comes between the accession of Harold and the battle of Hastings. Differences between Florence and the L.E. are shown infra in the textual notes.
page 170 note 5 The dating clause added in O is not derived from Florence which gives the length of Harold's reign correctly as 9 months and 9 days and does not have the explanatory detail. Harold's death was commemorated at Ely on 14 October (Dickins, op. cit., p. 20).
page 170 note 6 comes … interdicere: abbreviated from Florence, i, 228–29. Only O includes the account, which in Florence follows the battle of Hastings, of the retreat of the Earls Edwin and Morcar to London and of William's ravaging of Sussex, Kent and other counties, beginning ‘ Interea comes Willelmus ’ …
page 171 note 1 Et … educati: probably derived from the addition to Florence found in Bodl., 297, p. 370, ‘ Gloriosus rex Willelmus qui primus ex Normannorum gente prudentia sua et fortitudine totam Angliam suo subiugavit imperio ’ … (printed in Memorials of St Edmund's Abbey, i, 344).
page 171 note 2 The L.E. here makes nonsense of the additions to Florence in Bodl., 297. After interdicere Bodl., 297 inserts a long passage from Eadmer, Hist. Novorum (pp. 5–9, beginning Regnante autem Edwardo …), describing the exile and return of Earl Godwin, Harold's visit to Duke William, his oath, succession to the kingship on Edward's death, and the battle of Hastings. It ends with the passage De ipso quidem praelio … omitto (infra). Bodl., 297 then continues with a passage not in Eadmer or Florence, Quid enim prodesset … incredibile, followed by a second excerpt from Eadmer (pp. 9–10), Usus ergo … poena constringeret, whereupon it reverts to the Florence annal for 1067.
The L.E. extract follows Bodl., 297 from De ipso quidem proelio, breaking off before the end of the second excerpt from Eadmer at nutum spectabat. But by omitting the account of Harold's perjury and replacing it by the passage Et nunc de Anglia quid dicam ? … exhereditati sunt (another addition to Florence placed earlier in Bodl., 297; see supra, p. 169, n. 2) it loses the very point of the additions in Bodl., 297 and also of the phrase Quod quidem non subito eventu aut incerto casu, sed provido Dei iudicio ipsa rerum series indicat contigisse—the point being that Harold's failure in battle was the divine judgement for his perjury. O has restored the sense of the passage by including Eadmer's account of Harold's exploits, omitting Et nunc … exhereditati sunt and adding (infra, p. 172, n. 5) the reasons given by Henry of Huntingdon (Hist. Anglorum, p. 199) for William's anger (cf. Freeman, Norman Conquest, iii, 283–84) as well as a reference to the banner sent by the pope, which is probably derived from William of Malmesbury (Gesta Regum, ii, 299Google Scholar). The source of the phrase Quod quidem … series indicat contigisse has not been traced. It is used in the same context by Diceto, i, 198–99, but he could have found it in the L.E. (see Introduction, supra, p. lviii). On Eadmer's account see Freeman, op. cit., iii, 682–88.
page 172 note 1 Quid … incredibile: see supra, p. 171, n. 2.
page 172 note 2 Usus … spectabant: see supra, p. 171, n. 2.
page 172 note 3 The addition to Florence in Bodl., 297, p. 379, here continues the extract from Eadmer, Hist. Novorum, p. 10, on William's relations with the English church. The L.E. omits not only this but the annals for 1067–69 and rejoins Florence, as printed (ii, 5), with an extract from the annal for 1070, Monasteria … deferre.
page 172 note 4 Abbreviating Florence, as printed (ii, 5), ‘ Concilium magnum in octavis Paschae Wintoniae celebratum est … In quo concilio Stigandus … ’ etc. as here.
page 172 note 5 O here adds the reasons for William's action. See supra, p. 171, n. 2.
page 172 note 6 eius … regni: derived from Florence, as printed (ii, 5). After degradatur Florence first gives the reasons for the deposition of Stigand, which E and F omit but O restores (tribus ex causis … suscepit), and then continues Eius quoque … novi regni, as given here (except for the passage Efferato … agere).
page 173 note 1 Comites … conclusos: derived from Florence, s.a. 1071 (as printed), ii, 9, but by his addition of the words in Elyensis insula (supra, n. c) the compiler reconciles the information from Florence with the local tradition that Earl Edwin also sought refuge on the island of Ely. Similarly the insertion of iterum (supra, n. e) may be intended to transform Florence's account of a single siege in 1071 to two separate operations of 1069 (infra, p. 174) and 1071. After conclusos Florence tells of the capture of the rebels, with the exception of Hereward who escaped, and of the punishment meted out to them. The compiler of the L.E. on the other hand at this point brings together all information available to him on the siege itself. The resulting narrative account is far from reliable and the chronological order is confused. The sources used, as far as they have been identified, will be indicated in the footnotes. For a fuller discussion of this story of the siege of Ely see Introduction, supra, pp. liv-vii. Edwin and Morcar were the sons of jElfgar, earl of Mercia, to whose earldom Edwin had succeeded sometime between 1062 and 1066, while Morcar succeeded Tosti who was ejected from his earldom of Northumbria in November 1065. The account of their rebellion and death found in Florence is derived largely from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, with a few additional details, as e.g. William's intention to place the earls under guard and Edwin's plan to join King Malcolm, which are not found in the surviving versions of the Chronicle (DE). Æthelwine had been bishop of Durham since 1056 and outlawed in 1069 (A.S.C., E). For his further adventures see Simeon, ii, 189–90, and for his capture infra, p. 175. Siward Barn was identified by Round with a Warwickshire landowner (V.C.H., Warwick, i, 327, 283 and cf. Feilitzen, op. cit., pp. 362–63). But see infra. Book III, ch. 50, which records a gift from Siward de Maldune, socius Mrewardi. Siward of Maldon was a great landowner in Essex and Suffolk (V.C.H., Essex, i, 346; V.C.H., Suffolk, i, 400).
page 173 note 2 The rest of the chapter is taken up with a summary of William I's attack on the island of Ely, based on local tradition. This summary is modelled unusually closely, as shown by the italicised passages, on a single literary source, i.e. I and II Mac, which suggests that it existed as an opusculum independently of the L.E. and was incorporated as a whole by the compiler of the latter. See supra, Introduction, p. lv.
page 173 note 3 Cf. Gesta Herwardi, p. 377 (infra, p. 178), Fecerant enim eis quidam ex acervatione cespitum super ripam praedicti fluminis antemuralia et propugnacula …
page 173 note 4 Cf. I Mac, vi, 31; vi, 52.
page 173 note 5 I Mac, iii, 10, et congregavit … virtutem multam et magnam ad bellandum contra Israel.
page 174 note 1 I Mac, vi, 19, ‘ et cogitavit Iudas disperdere eos …’ cf. infra, p. 178, where the account of William's attack begins with the words ‘ Rex vero semper cogitavit disperdere eos … ’
page 174 note 2 I Mac, ii, 43.
page 174 note 3 Cf. I Mac, xiv, 47.
page 174 note 4 I Mac, ii, 50, Nunc ergo, 0 filii, aemulatores estate legis, et date animas vesiras pro testamento patrum vestrorum.
page 174 note 5 I Mac, iii, 59.
page 174 note 6 Cf. I Mac, v, 39, et castra posuerunt trans torrentem …
page 174 note 7 Cf. infra, p. 178, where the place of attack is given as Alrehede ubi ague insule minus late sunt, but the river Ouse is not mentioned. For a discussion of the site of William I's operations see supra, p. lvii.
page 174 note 8 Cf. infra, p. 178. ‘ arbores multas et ligna non modica, pellibus ovium … arena repletis … tota multitudo supergressa est struem …’; also Gesta Herwardi, p. 377, ‘ structuris lignorum et lapidum et ex omni genere struis … ’
page 174 note 9 I Mac, v. 30, Et factum est diluculo, cum elevassent oculos suos ecce populus multus, cuius non erat numerus, portantes scalas et machinas, ut comprehenderent munitionem ….
page 174 note 10 See Introduction, supra, p. lvi.
page 174 note 11 I Mac, iii, 16.
page 174 note 12 I Mac, iii, 26–27, Et pervenit ad regent nomen eius, et de praeliis Judae narrabant omnes gentes. Ut audivit autem rex Antiochus sermones istos, iratus est animo; et misit, et congregavit exercitum universi regni sui ….
page 174 note 13 Cf. infra, ch. 106.
page 174 note 14 I Mac, v, 38, Et misit Judas … quia conveneiunt ad eum omnes gentes quae in circuitu nostro sunt, exercitus multus nimis ….
page 175 note 1 I Mac, iii, 17.
page 175 note 2 Cf. infra, ch. 107.
page 175 note 3 I Mac., x., 38.
page 175 note 4 Cf. I Mac, vii, 50.
page 175 note 5 I Mac, vi, 57–58. Cf. infra, ch. 106; also Gesta Herwardi, p. 383, Tamen cogitabat cum illis pacem facere, insulam natura … munitissimam sciens …; p. 382, … cum illis pacem facere … et nil penitus prevalere.
page 175 note 6 I Mac, vi, 60.
page 175 note 7 Florence twice refers to the fate of Bishop Æthelwine. In the annal for 1071, quoted verbatim by the L.E. above, he surrendered with the others, ‘ ubi se viderunt sic esse conclusos ’, and was sent to Abingdon where he died. This accords with the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (E 1071, D 1072), from a version of which it is translated, as also with the Abingdon tradition (Abingdon Chron, i, 485–86). But under 1070 he has the entry Ælwinus Dunholmi episcopus ab hominibus regis Willelmi capitur, et in carcerem truditur: ubi dum ex nimio cordis dolore comedere nollet, fame et dolore moritur and under 1072 he enters the death of Bishop Æthelric, quondam Dunholmensis episcopus, apud Westmonasterium, quo rex Willelmus ilium miserat custodiendum … The most likely explanation of the relationship between the L.E. and Florence is that the L.E. has borrowed from all three entries and failed to distinguish between the two bishops of Durham. The 1070 entry in Florence is probably the result of a similar mistake and should also be taken to apply to Athelric, not vEthelwine (Freeman, Norman Conquest, iv, 812–13; but cf. Plummer, , Two Chronicles, ii, 267Google Scholar).
page 175 note 8 There is no indication in the fuller accounts of Hereward's adventures in the Gesta Herwardi or the L.E. that Hereward was ever called back to Ely after the rebels surrendered. This passage in fact recalls the words in the Gesta, not found in the corresponding section of the L.E., At vero Mi qui in Elyensi insula erant … tanti viri videlicet Herwardi reversionem audientes, pro eo statim miserunt (p. 374) and Concives vero patriae et sui cognati … ad eum confluebant … Igitur Herwardus dum se talium virorum praeceptorem conspiceret ac dominum, et quotidie ex effugatis et praejudicatis et ab exhaereditatis manum suam non minime crescere cerneret … (pp. 367–68). But in the Gesta these words are used to describe Hereward's first—and only—summons to Ely and the gathering of his supporters when he returned from Flanders and planned to avenge his brother. It is possible that the author of this summary of Hereward's adventures misinterpreted his source. But it is more likely that this passage originally was placed somewhere at the beginning of the summary as a prelude to the siege and that the compiler changed the order to account for Hereward's presence in the Isle in ch. 104. Revocant, like in Elyensi insula and iterum (supra, p. 173, n. 1), may have been interpolated by him for this purpose. Cf. Introduction, supra, pp. liv–vii.
page 176 note 1 Cf. I Mac, vi, 57–58.
page 176 note 2 Ps., lii, 6.
page 176 note 3 See Introduction, supra, pp. lvi–vii.
page 176 note 4 For Stigand's visit to Ely see infra, App. D, p. 425.
page 176 note 5 For the claim that Ely possessed the relics of St Alban see Introduction, supra, p. xxxvii.
page 177 note 1 rex … primatibus: derived from Florence, ii, 1, s.a. 1067, ‘ Adveniente Quadragesima rex Willelmus Normanniam repetiit, ducens secum Dorubernensem archiepiscopum Stigandum … et multos alios de primatibus Angliae… ’
page 177 note 2 usque … tenuit: probably derived from Florence, ii, 5, et usque ad finem vitae custodiae mancipatos detinuit, where the passage refers to the prelates condemned at the council of 1070.
page 177 note 3 This opening sentence is not borrowed verbatim, but the only one of William's recorded returns from Normandy to which it can refer is that of 1085 (Florence, ii, 18), when he brought over a large force prepared to meet an expected attack from the Danes. See supra, Introduction, p. Iv.
page 177 note 4 No writ or other evidence of such an order is elsewhere recorded. This sentence may well have been the original connecting link between the end of ch. 102, recording events of 1067 and early 1070, and the account of William's attack beginning in this chapter. The compiler may then have confused the chronological order by inserting extracts which he misguidedly considered appropriate.
page 177 note 1 Anglis … imposuit: from Florence, ii, 2, s.a. 1067.
page 177 note 6 Angliam describi, quantum … procedentibus: derived from Florence, ii, 18–19, sa. 1086, and not therefore eodem anno. It refers of course to the Domesday inquest.
page 177 note 7 Cf. Matth., xxiv, 21.
page 178 note 1 devastare … humanam: abbreviated from Florence, ii, 4, describing William's campaign in Yorkshire of 1069.
page 178 note 2 Cf. supra, ch. 102, where the account of William's siege begins with a similar phrase: ‘ et cogitavit malum ad versus locum sanctum et disperdere eum … ’
page 178 note 3 The section of the L.E. from nimium to the end of ch. 107, with the exception of part of ch. 107, is derived, according to the compiler's own statement (infra, ch. 107), from a fuller account in a book de gestis Herewardi, composed by Richard, a monk of Ely, and is related to a work which has survived under that title. See Introduction, supra, pp. xxxiv-vi. This Richard must belong to an older generation than the Richard who dealt with the Stetchworth case, since the former must have been dead when L.E., Book II, was still being written, while the latter probably lived longer than that. See supra, p. xlvii. For a discussion of the sources and contents of the Hereward legend see H. W. C. Davis, England under the Normans and Angevins (13th edn., 1949), App. III, pp. 525–26; Freeman, , Norman Conquest, iv, note 00, pp. 804–12Google Scholar, and Liebermann, Über Ostenglische Geschichtsquellen, para. 21 ff.
nimium … susceptus: cf. Gesta Herewardi, pp. 376–77.
page 178 note 4 The topographical details are not precise enough to permit William's line of approach to be reconstructed with any degree of certainty. See Introduction, supra, p. lvii.
page 178 note 5 pellibus … extrahi cernimus illustrates the relationship between the L.E. and the Gesta. See supra, Introduction, p. xxxv.
page 178 note 6 Nomen … concipit: cf. Gesta Herwardi, p. 378, beginning a new chapter. The next passage Quod … egressum corresponds to the closing passage of the old chapter in ibid., pp. 377–78.
page 178 note 7 Usually identified as the Ely manor of Brandon, Suffolk, but perhaps the royal manor of Brampton, Hunts. See supra, Introduction, p. lvii.
page 179 note 1 For this chapter cf. ibid., pp. 377–78.
page 179 note 2 ora resolvit: Virg., Georg., iv, 452.
page 179 note 3 In the Gesta Herwardi (p. 379) Deda's report is more tersely rendered and in indirect speech, e.g. ‘ recensuit, et quomodo insignium militum catervis valde roborati sunt …’
page 179 note 4 The same list is given ibid., p. 379. Edwin may have been included because he and Morcar tend to be thought of as a pair (cf. Freeman, , Norman Conquest, iv, 810Google Scholar), but on the authority of the A.S.C. (E 1071, D 1072) and Florence, s.a. 1071 Edwin separated from Morcar before the latter took ship to Ely and was killed by his own companions while on his way to King Malcolm of Scotland. Even Orderic Vitalis, who makes Edwin survive Morcar (Hist. Eccl., ii, 216–17), does not count him among the rebels at Ely. Tosti at another point in the Gesta Herwardi (p. 373) is listed after Godricus de Corbi, nepos comitis de Warewic and called Tosti de Davenesse, cognatus comitis eiusdem cuius et nomen in baptismo suscepit (pp. 372–73), and ibid., p. 376, there occurs a Tosti comes who, in company with Edwin and Morcar, welcomes Hereward to Ely. Cf. Freeman, op. cit., iv, 811. It is impossible to identify Ordgar and Turkitel on the strength of the information here given. An Ordgar was sheriff of Cambridgeshire in the time of King Edward (Dd, i, fos. 197, 199) and, on the grounds that Siward Barn, another Ely rebel, may be identified with a Warwickshire landowner of that name, J. H. Round suggested that Turkitel may ‘ not impossibly ’ be the well-known Turkitel of Warwick (V.C.H., Warwick, i, 277, 283).
page 179 note 5 Quibus to the beginning of William de Warenne's speech has no exact parallel in the Gesta Herwardi. But cf. Hereward's speech, supra, ch. 102, ‘ emulate libertatem patrie ’ … etc. and Gesta Herwardi, p. 374, relating Hereward's summons to Ely, ‘ illi qui in Elyensi insula erant … pro eo statim miserunt, atque ei … exponunt, ut ad eos simul cum omnibus suis veniat, una cum eis in defensionem patriae et paternae libertatis consors effecturus …’
page 180 note 1 Cf. e.g. Jerem., xxxviii, 18, 23; Is., xx, 6.
page 180 note 2 Cf. I Mac., vi, 57–58, ‘ Festinavit ire, et dicere ad regem et duces exercitus: Deficimus quotidie, et esca nobis modica est, et locus quem obsidemus est munitus, et incumbit nobis ordinare de regno … et faciamus cum illis pacem.’ Cf. also supra, ch. 102, where the same passage is used for the truce which led to the surrender of the island.
page 180 note 3 Cf. Gesta Herwardi, p. 379, ‘ comes de Warenne, cuius fratrem, sicut superius explanavimus’ (referring to an earlier chapter, p. 369) ‘ Herwardus dudum occiderat, prae ira commotus et gravi indignatione exstimulatus, intulit’. His accusation then follows, but in direct speech.
page 180 note 4 See Introduction, supra, p. xxxv.
page 180 note 5 Cf. ibid., p. 382, ‘ semine etiam et germine uberimam … ’ The Gesta lacks the detailed list of animals and the common passages are arranged in a different order.
page 180 note 6 gleba … fertilis: derived from Abbo, Vita S. Edmundi, p. 7, and not in the Gesta Herwardi.
page 180 note 7 Presumably the winter of 1070–71.
page 181 note 1 See Introduction, supra, p. xxxv.
page 181 note 2 See supra, ch. 54.
page 181 note 3 Gloriam … incurrat has no corresponding passage in the Gesta Herwardi. The reference is to Edward the Confessor's charter of confirmation (supra, ch. 92), from which the phrases shown within pointed brackets are derived. Cf. also supra, ch. 54. For the last sentence of the chapter cf. Gesta Herwardi, p. 382.
page 181 note 4 Et … palam fieret: Cf. ibid., pp. 382–84, where this action occupies a separate chapter.
page 182 note 1 Burwell, Cambs.
page 182 note 2 Reach lies alongside the Devil's Dyke and now partly in Burwell and partly in Swaffham Prior. According to the Gesta only ten of the party at Reach went to intercept the raiders, whose names are given and include Hereward himself and ‘ Turstanus iuvenis, qui post praepositus cognominatus est ’. Of these ten only one escaped with his life, Richard, ‘ nepos vicecomitis Osberti’, but the main party at Reach then drove the raiders back to their boats. It is one of this party, not the sole survivor of the ten, who is made to tell the story in the Gesta.
page 182 note 3 Cf. ibid., p. 383, which reports William's reaction without resorting to direct speech and, with few exceptions, in different words. It also adds, as reasons for the projected truce, that William did not wish to leave so well-defended a stronghold in his rear ‘ cum iam contra exercitum Danorum ire deberent et post statim necessitate in Normanniam proficisci’. If this is intended to refer to 1070 or 1071, the Gesta could be interpreted as looking forward to William's campaigns in Normandy in 1072. But we should then expect to hear of an army of the Scots rather than the Danes (Simeon, ii, 190 ff.). If, on the other hand, the reference to the Danes is to be taken seriously, it would presumably apply to the Danish contribution to the rising in Northumbria which was put down in 1069/70. See Introduction, supra, p. lvi.
page 182 note 4 For Ivo's record as oppressor of English monasteries see Fulman, Rerutn Anglicarum Scriptorum Veterum, i (1648), Historia Ingulphi, pp. 71‘73.
page 183 note 1 Cf. Gesta Herwardi, p. 384, which adds that William again collected a large force and set a watch on all the exits from the island to prevent news of the forthcoming attack from reaching the rebels. Hereward's reconnaissance is there left to a new chapter (pp. 384–88).
page 183 note 2 For the rest of the chapter cf. Gesta Herwardi, pp. 385–86.
page 183 note 3 Cf. ibid., p. 385, ad fontes aquarum in orientem affluentes juxta hortum domus.
page 183 note 4 Cf. ibid., p. 386, omnia haec fictilia vasa peroptima. This cry has been translated back into Anglo-Saxon as follows:
Greofan, greofan, gode greofan and croccan,
Ealle þas laemenan fatu þa selestan
(Paul, Grundriss der Germanischen Philologie, 2nd edn., ii, 1088), and it has been suggested that it preserves a reminiscence of one of the popular ballads sung about Hereward or, alternatively, that it is ‘ yet another instance of the use of verse for speech, where the narrative is in prose ’ in Anglo-Saxon saga (C. E. Wright, Cultivation of Saga, p. 38).
page 184 note 1 Cf. Gesta Herwardi, p 386, ‘ sicut egenus assimilari potest ingenuo et rusticus militi’.
page 184 note 2 Cf. ibid., p. 386, ‘ alii dicebant hominem tarn mediocri staturae non esse tantae virtutis nee fortifudinis … ’
page 184 note 3 Ille … intelligeret: there is no corresponding passage in the Gesta nor does it mention that Hereward replied in English.
page 184 note 4 Hereward's reply in the Gesta (p. 386) is similar, but not identical.
page 184 note 5 Cf. ibid., p. 386, garciones coquinae.
page 184 note 6 In the Gesta (p. 386) they unsuccessfully try to make Hereward drunk and, while the instrument with which he is struck is not specified, he defends himself arrepto de foco hastile.
page 184 note 7 The Gesta Herwardi (p. 387) adds: ‘ per sepes et foveas extra clam ad inferiorem curiam domus descendit, ubi jumentum suum repperit …’, and the pursuit is described in greater detail.
page 184 note 8 Somersham, Hunts.; see supra, p. lvii.
page 185 note 1 Cf. ibid., p. 388, ‘ admirantibus cunctis de Herwardo et rege etiam eum magnanimum contestante et praeclarissimum militem ’. The king's command ‘ Herwardum produci ad se vivum et incolumem semper servave ’ is included in the following chapter (p. 389).
page 185 note 2 For this chapter see Gesta Herwardi, pp. 388–90, which has important variants, e.g. the beginning: ‘ Rex autem, sicut disposuerat, et pro quo illuc suum iter direxerat, praeparatis instrumentis praeliandi, aggressus est praeficere, omnem suum exercitum conducens ad Alrehethe; fecit quoque illo etiam advehi multam struem lignorum et lapidum atque ex omni materia aggerationem, et omnes piscatores provinciae cum naviculis ad Cotingelade adesse jussit, ut illuc quae adduxerant transfretarent, unde globos et montanas cis Alrehethe facerent, super quos bellare deberent'. This version sounds much less like the description of a second attack on the island than like another aspect of the operation already described in ch. 104. In the Gesta, in fact, Hereward's successful attack on the boats is only one particular incident in William's preparations to enter the island which altogether take seven days to complete, and the battle in which the phitonissa is killed is not the consequence of any attack by Hereward, but is William's grand assault on the island. See Introduction, supra, p. lvi.
page 185 note 3 Iterum … transvadere: there is no corresponding passage in the Gesta to indicate that this is a second assault.
page 185 note 4 Mox … triumphus: cf. ibid., p. 388, which disposes of this action briefly in a sentence, ‘ imposito igne in eo, unde totum combustum est, et nonnulli etiam ab eo occisi et dimersi’. The longer account in the L.E. does not represent a fuller version of the legend, but has been filled out with borrowings from II Mac., x, 30–38, and from William of Poitiers, Gesta Guillelmi.
page 185 note 5 Cf. II Mac., x, 30.
page 185 note 6 Cf. II Mac., x, 38, more fully cited at the corresponding point in the summary given supra, ch. 102.
page 185 note 7 fugam … terga: the phrases are adapted from William of Poitiers' description of the battle of Hastings (Gesta Guillelmi, pp. 200, 202), ‘ In fugam itaque conversi quantotius abicerunt, alii raptis equis, nonnulli pedites; pars per vias, plerique per avia … Normanni licet ignari regionis avide insequebbantur, caedentes rea terga … The next phrase, ‘ cucurrit maturando triumphus ’, also sounds as though borrowed, but the source has not been identified. Cf. also Ord. Vit., Hist. Eccl., ii, 149, ‘ Alii raptis equis, nonnulli pedites pars per vias plerique per avia sese salvare conati sunt ’, which is also derived from the Gesta Guillelmi.
page 186 note 1 See Gesta Herwardi, loc. cit., which supplies more detail for this battle.
page 186 note 2 Cf. ibid., p. 390, which here has no words in common with the L.E. and makes no mention of Cambridge, but adds William's speech reproaching himself for accepting bad advice. In the Gesta the chapter ends with a reference to the rebellion of Ralph Waher which is assumed to have taken place at this time and to have attracted the three earls from the island, leaving only Hereward and his companions to defend it. The king's decision to confiscate the abbey lands outside the island is mentioned at the beginning of the following chapter as a prelude to the surrender (pp. 390–91).
page 186 note 3 tenui … intelligant: derived from William of Poitiers' eulogy on King William (Gesta Guillelmi, p. 230), ‘ Vivet, vivet in longum rex Guillelmus, et in paginis nostris, quas tenui orationis figura scribere placet, ut res pulcherrimas dilucide plures intelligant’. The rest of the chapter is taken up with excerpts from pluribus historiis, cited out of their context and with no regard for chronology. The sources, as far as they have been identified, are indicated in the footnotes.
page 186 note 4 If this is meant to be a colloquium in which William himself took part it is not recorded. Perhaps it is meant to refer to the revolt in Flanders in 1071 in which William Fitz Osbern and King Philip were involved. For a possible source of the words cf. Gesta Guillelmi, p. 58 (used for other borrowings infra, p. 187, n. 3), ‘ praesidioque imposito, aliis postea negotiis invitantibus, ipse recessit …’
page 187 note 1 The source for these references to an alliance with Scots, Welsh and Danes has not been identified. These phrases may merely summarise events reported by Orderic Vitalis under the year 1069 (Hist. Eccl., ii, 185–93), which present a remote echo: ‘ Multotiens enim pecuniis Anglorum et obnixis precibus fuerat sollicitatus ’, i.e. the king of the Danes); or, as Orderic was still using William of Poitiers at this point and as William of Poitiers is cited elsewhere among these extracts in the L.E., the phrases may be derived from the lost portion of the Gesta Guillelmi, which would deal with the years 1067–71. Cf. also Orderic's account of Edwin's quest for help ‘ a Scotis et Guallis vel Anglis ’ after the capture of Morcar (Hist. Eccl., ii, 216) and see supra, Introduction, p. lvi.
page 187 note 2 Sed … habuit: a not uncommon phrase. It occurs in the Gesta Guillelmi, p. 72, relating to events in Normandy in 1054.
page 187 note 3 Quoniam … affliget: cf. ibid., p. 58, ‘ Rem vere gestam et quid prope gestum erat memorabimus … Exilio, carcere, item alia animadversione, quae vitam non adimeret, ulcisci malebat ’ ; the passage refers to the rebellion of William of Arques and to William's humane policy in the treatment of prisoners.
page 187 note 4 Soli … bellica: the source has not been identified, but the phrase Sed rex noster … recalls William of Poitiers, who is fond of these comparisons, e.g. p. 256, ‘ Nullius unquam regis aut imperatoris largitatem … majorem comperimus ’.
page 187 note 5 consurgere … nocendum: from William of Poitiers' account of the rule of Bishop Odo of Bayeux and William Fitz Osbern during William's absence in Normandy in 1067.
page 187 note 6 Andegavi … praecipienti: cf. the verbal parallels in Ord. Vit., Hist. Eccl., ii, 198, describing William's march to Chester in January 1070, ‘ Andegavi, Britones et Cenomanni servitiis … gravabantur, unde pertinaciter a rege missionem petentes conquerebantnr. Sui nimirum ad expurgationem depromebant non posse domino semper nova et immoderata audenti, nimiaque praecipienti obsequi’. See supra, p. xxviii.
page 187 note 7 The L.E. here reverts to the sequence of the Gesta Herwardi (p. 390), which also inserts the account of Ralph Waher's rebellion of 1075 (A.S.C., E; D, 1076; Florence, s.a. 1075) between the battle for Aldreth and the abbot's surrender, but differs in phrasing and detail. The Gesta also, wrongly, brings ‘ tres memorati comites et omnes majores natu qui in insula erant ’ to the assistance of Ralph, but leaves Hereward behind to guard Ely. The names of the earls (presumably Edwin, Morcar and Tosti) are not mentioned and we are given the additional detail that William laid waste the country from Norwich to Thetford and Sudbury. It is clearly impossible, as Freeman pointed out (Norman Conquest, iv, 811), for Edwin and Morcar to have been involved in Ralph's rebellion. The mistake may be due to the natural tendencies of the growth of legend, but it may also owe something to the confusion with the landing of the Danes which Ralph repulsed (1069), and the compiler may be wrongly applying an extract belonging to the latter context (i.e. 1069) from Orderic Vitalis (Hist. Eccl., ii, 192) ‘ Jam Adelinus, Guallevus, Siguardus, aliique praepotentes Angli ad Danos contulerant se …’ In the L.E. account the names Edgar and Æðelinus presumably both refer to the Ætheling Edgar, unless the latter is a corruption of the name Æthelwine.
page 188 note 1 Predam … arbitrantes: either abridged from Ord. Vit., Hist. Eccl., ii, 196 (describing events of 1069), ‘ praedam abundantem contraxerant, securi agitabant, nullam sibi vim nocere posse putabant …’, or derived by both from the lost portion of the Gesta Guillelmi.
page 188 note 2 On the authorship of these gesta see Introduction, supra, p. xxxvi.
page 188 note 3 In 1086 the manor of Eynesbury was in the hands of Rohais, wife of Richard Fitz Gilbert. The new community was probably established about 1079, ‘ endowed by Richard, his wife Rohais, and their dependants, and for several centuries supported from twelve to eighteen monks and a prior ’ (Morgan, M., The English Lands of the Abbey of Bec, 1946, p. 11Google Scholar; cf. Porée, Histoire de l'Abbaye du Bec, 1901, i, 453–54). The expulsion of the Ely monks is not elsewhere recorded and Ely laid no claim, apart from the statement in this chapter, to the lands once allocated for their community at Eynesbury (see supra, ch. 29). The L.E. consistently uses the name Gilbert de Clare, when Richard Fitz Gilbert, the founder of the house of Clare, must be meant.
page 189 note 1 Supra, ch. 104; but the account of the famine is abridged from sources referring to the year 1069. The Gesta Herwardi (pp. 390–92) has a different version of the surrender of the island. Here Abbot Thurstan, on his return from Angerhale (in Bottisham, Cambs. Place-names, p. 131), was persuaded to come to terms by William's threat to confirm his followers in their title to the abbey lands outside the island. There is no mention of Warwick, and the chief point of the story is to relate how Hereward was warned of the truce when the king was already at Witchford and how he made good his escape towards Upwell. For another, and late, version of the surrender—the ‘ Story found in the Isle of Ely ’—see infra, p. 217.
page 189 note 2 Cf. Gen., xli, 47–56.
page 189 note 3 By no calculation can the seventh year ex quo seditionem adversus novum regem commoverunt be made to coincide with 1071, the accepted date for the surrender of Ely. See infra, App. D, p. 430, and I Mac, vi, 53.
page 189 note 4 Urgebat … audebant: cf. Ord. Vit., Hist. Eccl., ii, 197, referring to the Danes during the winter of 1069–70, ‘ Urgebat eos non minus fames quam tempestas … Egredi ad comportandum rapinas non audebant’.
page 190 note 1 Richard Fitz Gilbert, founder of the house of Clare, must be meant. Both he and William of Warenne had connections with Ely (supra, ch. 108; infra, cc. 111, 119). During the king's absence in 1075 they are said to have acted as his deputies in England (Ord. Vit., Hist. Eccl., ii, 262). Cf. supra, ch. 108.
page 190 note 2 rex … excursionem: cf. Ord. Vit., Hist. Eccl., ii, 184.
page 190 note 3 Presumably in 1016 when he was raiding Bedfordshire and Huntingdonshire (A.S.C., s.a.), but no specific attempt on Ely is elsewhere recorded.
page 190 note 4 The rest of this chapter shares words and passages with Orderic's description of the march to Chester in January 1070, which have been independently adapted from the portion of William of Poitiers' Gesta Guillelmi which has not survived. Cf. Hist. Eccl., ii, 198, ‘ Indefessim itaque pergit via equiti nunquam ante experta, in qua sunt montes ardui et profundissimae valles, rivi et amnes periculosi, et voraginosa vallium ima …’
page 191 note 1 Cf. ibid., ii, 198, ‘ saepe nimio vexabantur imbre, mixta interdum grandine …’
page 191 note 2 Cf. ibid., ii, 198, ‘ Exercitus autem qui dura toleraverat, in hoc itinere multo duriora restare timebat’.
page 191 note 3 Cf. ibid., ii, 197, ‘ Anxius pro sua quisque salute extitit, dominique parum aut amici meminit ’.
page 191 note 4 This reference to the withdrawal of the Bretons corresponds in general to the passage (ibid., ii, 198), ‘ Andegavi, Britones et Canomanni … conquerebantur ’ which is echoed more clearly supra, ch. 107, but there is no close parallel. Perhaps William of Poitiers gave a fuller account, or, more probably, a local legend has been interpolated among these excerpts.
page 191 note 5 Cf. ibid., ii, 198, ‘ Ipse rex multoties pedes cunctos agiliter procedebat’.
page 191 note 6 Cf. ibid., ii, 198, ‘ Aliquando praestabant cunctis usum equi in paludibus enecti ’.
page 191 note 7 Cf. ibid., ii, 198, ‘ Rex autem constantiam Julii Caesaris in tali necessitate secutus est, nee eos multo precatu seu novis promissis retinere dignatus est. Audacter incoeptum iter init, fidasque sibi cohortes se sequi praecepit, desertores vero velut inertes pavidosque et invalidos, si discedant, parvipendit’.
page 191 note 8 Tandem … incolumem: cf. ibid., ii, 198, ‘Tandem exercitum incolumem usque Cestram perduxit …’
page 191 note 9 The phrase recalls the language and sentiment of William of Poitiers, but has no echo in Orderic Vitalis (cf. Hist. Eccl., ii, 215–16). The story which follows is yet another version of the siege of 1070–71, as already recorded in cc. 102, 104 and 107, but this time described from the Norman point of view. The opening phrase, and the closing sentences which are derived verbatim from William of Poitiers, suggest that it may owe something to him, but there is no evidence that the lost portion of the Gesta Guillelmi included the siege of Ely and, if it did, it is surprising that there are no passages in common with Orderic Vitalis. See Introduction, supra, pp. liv–v.
page 192 note 1 This detail is not found elsewhere.
page 192 note 2 ipsumque … formidabant. This phrase recalls Orderic Vitalis, Hist. Eccl., ii, 196, describing William's activities at the end of 1069, ‘ Rursum comperit hostile collegium in angulo quodam regionis latitare, mari vel paludibus undique munito. Unicus aditus per solidum intromittit latitudine tantum viginti pedum patens ’. In Orderic the phrase is followed by ‘ Praedam abundantem …’, cited supra, ch. 107. This angulus seems to have been somewhere between York and the river Tees (cf. Freeman, Norman Conquest, iv, 302).
page 193 note 1 Exardentes … diffugerent: derived from William of Poitiers' description of the battle of Hastings (Gesta Guillelmi), p. 192, ‘ Exardentes Normanni et circumvenientes aliquot millia insecuta se, momento deleverunt ea, ut nequidem unus superesset ’.
page 193 note 2 Cor … militem: from ibid., p. 198.
page 193 note 3 Egit … prosequeretur: derived from ibid., p. 192, … ‘ egit quod (etc. as here) cum legione, quam in dextro cornu duxit, (etc. as here) nec permittit intentio nostra singulorum fertia facta pro merito narrare (etc. as here) oculis didicerit, difficillime (etc. as here) persequeretur ’.
page 193 note 4 Scriptor … excepit: derived from ibid., p. 200, ‘ Scriptor (etc. as here) de magnis majora canunt ex actibus huius viri aeque magnum considerent ’ (emended in the printed text to conficerent) ‘ opus (etc. as here) dignatas materiae suppeditaret carminibus ediscerent condecentibus (etc. as here) prosa, titulatura. ipsius humillime regnantibus pietatem in cultu veri Dei, qui solus ab aeterno in finem seculorum et ultra Deus est, praelium quo tam fortiter quam juste vicit, veraci termino breviqae concludat ’.
page 193 note 5 This account of the final defeat of the rebels cannot be traced to any known source. It may be derived from a confused local tradition. The punishment recorded in general agrees with Florence, ii, 9, but there are no verbal parallels. There is no corroboration for the legend that Edwin was one of the besieged and was captured at Ely, and that Morcar escaped. See supra, ch. 105. Only in Orderic's version of the siege does Edwin survive this long, but here too it is Morcar who is captured, while Edwin, not included among those at Ely, plans to avenge his fate (Hist. Eccl., ii, 216–17).
page 194 note 1 27 October. The year, in accordance with A.S.C. and Florence, must be 1071.
page 194 note 2 See supra, ch. 109.
page 194 note 3 Solito … relinquitur: derived from Gesta Guillelmi, p. 54, describing the rebellion of William of Arques, ‘ Solito mox acriores intromissum furiae incendunt, ultionem quoque sui (etc. as here) ambitu pagi vicini multa (etc. as here) minantes … Paci et otio locus nullus relinquitur ’.
page 195 note 1 Supra, ch. 60.
page 195 note 2 Thurstan must have died before 1076, as his successor Theodwin attended the London council of 1075. See infra, App. D, p. 412.
page 195 note 3 Presumably the council of 1070, and this summons may have prompted Thurstan to side with the rebels in the island. Cf. supra, ch. 105.
page 195 note 4 Theodwin, who succeeded him (infra, ch. 113).
page 196 note 1 Supra, ch. 98.
page 196 note 2 Cf. infra, Book III, cc. 50, 89.
page 196 note 3 For the date of his death see infra, App. D, p. 412.
page 196 note 4 Date: See infra, p. 197, n. 1. Printed: Monasticon, i, 477.
page 197 note 1 The addition of this incrementum which was not in Abbot Baldwin's breve suggests that the breve abbatis Sancti Ædmundi was a return made after the death of Theodwin in 1075, while the inventory as given in this chapter was the result of an inspection by Eudo dapifer and the others made some time during Godfrey's time and perhaps at the end of his tenure of the custody of the abbey in 1081.
page 197 note 2 For the length of Godfrey's term of office see infra, App. D, p. 413.
page 198 note 1 Date: The indiction for 1080 should be the third, and the mistake may have arisen from a scribe's reading xi for iii. This report must not be regarded as a formal document, but it may include extracts from authentic records embellished by the use of rhyming prose. See infra, App. D, p. 426.
Printed: Hamilton, I.C.C., p. xvii, no. i; Bigelow, Placita, pp. 22–23.
Cf. Davis, Regesta, i, 32, no. 122.
page 198 note 2 Odo, bishop of Bayeux. For his part in these proceedings see Miller, Ely Land Pleas, p. 443.
page 198 note 3 Baldwin, abbot of Bury St Edmunds, 1065–1097 or 1098 (D. C. Douglas, Feudal Documents from the Abbey of Bury St Edmunds, pp. xlviii–ix).
page 198 note 4 Wulfwold, abbot of Chertsey, probably appointed 1058, died 1084. See Harmer, Writs, p. 580.
page 198 note 5 Wulfcytel, abbot of Crowland, probably appointed in 1061 or 1062, deposed 1085–86. See Robertson, Charters, p. 468.
page 198 note 6 Ælfwold, abbot of Holme, probably ruling already in 1066 and died 14 November 1089 (Stenton, , Engl. Hist. Rev., xxxvii, 1922, pp. 228, 233CrossRefGoogle Scholar).
page 198 note 7 He occurs in a charter of 1069, served as sheriff of Kent and died some time before 1100 (Davis, Regesta, i, xxiii).
page 198 note 8 The caput of the honor of Tihel de Helium lay in Essex. See J. H. Round, in V.C.H., Essex, i, 350, and in ‘ Helion of Helion Bumpstead ’, Essex Arch. Trans, (n.s.), viii, 187–91.
page 198 note 9 The sheriffs belong to Cambs., Hunts., Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk; the knights named, where they can be identified, held lands in 1086 in Cambs., Suffolk, Norfolk, and Hunts, (if Odo is the tenant holding of Eustace the sheriff). If Godric is the dapifer of that name he farmed king's land in Essex as well as Norfolk and Suffolk (V.C.H., Norfolk, ii, 13) and the name Godwine occurs in Beds, and Herts, as well as in the above-named shires.
page 199 note 1 Cf. the preamble to King Edward's charter, supra, ch. 92.
page 199 note 2 Cf. ibid., ‘ sine aliqua exceptione secularis vel ecclesiastice iustitie ’.
page 199 note 3 Date: 1080 × 87. To suit the dates of Abbot Æthelsige of Ramsey, who seems to have succeeded Ælfwine in 1079/80 (Harmer, Writs, p. 551) and died in 1087 (Ramsey Cart., iii, 174), and of Abbot Wulfwold of Chertsey (supra, p. 198, n. 4), the plea referred to in this writ must have been heard between 1080 and 1084, and there are reasons for placing it early in 1081. See infra, App. D, p. 427. The writ itself may have been issued soon after this, but the reference in it to the Kentford settlement reads like an appeal to the authority of the latter made on some later occasion. Such an occasion may have arisen in 1086 or 1087 when Abbot Simeon complained to the king of the decline of the abbey's liberties (infra, ch. 134). The rights confirmed are those granted to Wulfric by Edward the Confessor in ch. 95, with the addition of sake and soke, which are mentioned in his charter of confirmation (ch. 92). Cf. Harmer, Writs, pp. 222–25.
Printed: Hamilton, I.C.C., p. xviii (no. ii); Bentham, Ely, i, App., p. 9, no. v (1); Monasticon, i, 477, no. x; Bigelow, Placita, pp. 23–24. The writ has been the subject of frequent confirmations, noted in Davis, Regesta, i, 34, no. 129, and has been the model for charters of Henry I (infra, Book III, ch. 7), Henry II (Ely, D. and C., Cart. no. 10, printed Delisle-Berger, Recueil des Actes de Henri II, i, no. lx, and Cartae Antiquae Rolls 1–10, Pipe Roll Soc, 1939, no. 64), and John (Ely, D. and C., Cart. no. 16, printed Miller, Ely Land Pleas, p. 455).
page 200 note 1 The lands of the barons here named lay in the counties where Ely held its lands and rights—Cambs., Suffolk, Norfolk, Essex, Herts.—and also in Lines, (e.g. Dd, i, fos. 132, 140b, 201b; ii, 78, 88, 187, 256, 278b, 337, 420b, 427b).
page 200 note 2 For the date of Simeon's accession see infra, App. D, p. 413.
page 200 note 3 Bishop of Winchester 1070—95.
page 200 note 4 The style of this chapter resembles that of infra, Book III, cc. 44 and 45, which are known to be derived from the opuscula of the monk Richard. Note especially ‘ interiorem affectum exterior … effectus, degeneris otii sed spiritualis negotii, regio et religio’, and ‘ portas offirmant … ’ to the end of the chapter.
page 201 note 1 For the bishop of Lincoln's rights over the abbey, see supra, ch. 65. The details given in this chapter may represent a late phase in the quarrel between Simeon and Bishop Remigius which led to William I's writ ordering Lanfranc to see whether the Ely charters allowed the king to determine by whom the abbots should be consecrated (infra, ch. 125). Cf. infra, App. D, pp. 429–32.
page 201 note 2 Supra, cc. 92, 93.
page 201 note 3 Supra, cc. 57, 65.
page 201 note 4 Quo … benedixil: verbatim as supra, ch. 57.
page 201 note 5 Cf. supra, ch. 75.
page 201 note 6 Unde … precipiente: almost verbatim as supra, ch. 80, which shows clearly that the phrase et hoc Cnut rege precipiente belongs to this clause and does not begin a new sentence referring to the appointment of Leofsige (as interpreted by Stewart's edition, p. 197).
page 201 note 7 quem … precepit: almost verbatim as supra, ch. 84.
page 201 note 8 Quo … fecit: almost verbatim as supra, ch. 94, which among other slight differences omits the word bis. It is difficult to see why Stigand should be called twice archbishop of Canterbury. A possible explanation may be that the compiler is copying from a source which called Stigand twice bishop of Elmham, which would be correct as Stigand's tenure of the see of Elmham falls into two periods, 3 April 1043 to November 1043 and again 1044–47 (cf. Harmer, Writs, pp. 572–73). Cf. supra, ch. 94.
page 201 note 9 Cf. supra, ch. 98.
page 202 note 1 For what is known of the career of William I de Warenne see Early Yorkshire Charters (ed. C. T. Clay), viii, 2–7. According to the Chronica Monasterii de Hyda (Liber Monasterii de Hyda, ed. E. Edwards, R.S., 1866, p. 299) William died in 1088 at Lewes of wounds received at the siege of Pevensey.
page 203 note 1 Date: 1080 × 1087. Cf. Miller (Ely Land Pleas, pp. 447–49) who argues that this writ may have set on foot the plea at Kentford referred to in ch. 117, in which case it could be placed in 1081. But if the placitum at which the shires were present, which are here commanded to be re-assembled, is that recorded in ch. 121, then ch. 120 cannot have been issued before Simeon's accession and probably not before Queen Matilda's return to Normandy some time in 1082. Cf. Davis, Regesta, i, 43, no. 155, where it is dated 1082, and see infra, App. D, p. 428.
Printed: Monasticon, i, 478; Bentham, Ely, i, App., p. 10, no. v (2); Hamilton, I.C.C., p. xviii, no. iii; Bigelow, Placita, p. 24.
page 204 note 1 Date: 1082 × 1087. Miller (Ely Land Pleas, p. 449) suggests soon after Simeon's accession ‘ at least by 1082 ’. Cf. Davis, Regesta, i, 72, no. 276, dated 1082 × 1087. See infra, App. D, pp. 428, 431.
Printed: Bentham, Ely, i, App., p. 10, no. v (3); Hamilton, I.C.C., p. xix, no. iv; Bigelow, Placita, pp. 25–26.
page 204 note 2 Those named are prominent among ‘ invaders ’ of the abbey lands, as listed in the I.E. and the summaries included in it, as also in the plea of 1071 × 1075, all printed in Hamilton, I.C.C.
page 204 note 3 Date: 1082 × 87. It presumably belongs to Abbot Simeon's time. If Frodo's manor is Chedburgh (infra, p. 205, n. 6) the writ antedates the Domesday returns, since in 1086 he held it of the abbot (I.E., pp. 155, 181, 195; Dd, ii, fo. 384b). Cf. Miller, Ely Land Pleas, p. 451. Cf. also Davis, Regesta, i, 43, no. 156, dated 1082, and see infra, App. D, p. 431.
Printed: Bentham, Ely, i, App., p. 10, no. v (4); Hamilton, I.C.C., p. xix, no. v; Bigelow, Placita, p. 26.
page 204 note 4 This must be Barham, Suffolk, but in Domesday the manor is listed among the lands of St Etheldreda and there is no reference to any usurpation (Dd, ii, fo. 406; V.C.H., Suffolk, i, 394)
page 205 note 1 In 1086 Ely held 3 hides at Broxted, Essex, of which, according to the entry under St Etheldreda's terra, 9 acres had been taken away and were held by Eudo Dapifer (Dd, ii, fo. 18b). These Richard Fitz Gilbert held of Eudo (Dd, ii, fo. 50).
page 205 note 2 Ely had claimed 3 demesne hides from Picot in the plea of 1071 × 1075, but there is no evidence that they had been restored by 1086 (Dd, i, fo. 201; I.E., p. 192; cf. Miller, Ely Land Pleas, p. 442).
page 205 note 3 Presumably part of the berewick of 5 hides at Strethall, Essex, which in 1086 Hugh now held of the abbot (Dd, ii, fos. 19–19b).
page 205 note 4 In Histon, which had not been recovered by 1086 (Dd, i, fo. 190b).
page 205 note 5 Ely claimed 2 hides and 3 virgates at Hanningfield (South) against the bishop of Bayeux. These were not of the demesne, but held, according to the testimony of the hundred, by two men who were only commended to Ely (Dd, ii, fo. 25; I.E., p. 128).
page 205 note 6 Probably Chedburgh, which Ely had claimed against Frodo, brother of Abbot Baldwin of Bury in the plea of 1070 × 1075 (Hamilton, I.C.C., p. 195), and which in 1086 was held of the abbot (Dd, ii, fo. 384b; I.E., pp. 155, 181).
page 205 note 7 The only Ely lands elsewhere recorded to have been held by the carpenters are 3½ hides at Landbeach, but these were not of the demesne, having been held by Oswi, the abbot's man, in 1066, and had not been recovered by 1086 (Dd, i, fo. 202; I.E., pp. 114, 177).
page 205 note 8 Date: 1082 × 1087. Miller suggests soon after Simeon's accession as for ch. 121 (Ely Land Pleas, p. 449). Cf. Davis, Regesta, i, 43, no. 157, under 1082, and infra, App. D, p. 431.
Printed: Bentham, Ely, i, App., p. 10, no. v (5); Hamilton, I.C.C., p. xx, no. vi; Bigelow, Placita, p. 26.
page 206 note 1 Date: 1082 × 1087. Miller suggests ‘ before the departure of Robert of Mortain for Normandy in the early summer of 1082 ’ (Ely Land Pleas, pp. 449–50). Cf. Davis, Regesta, i, 42, no. 154, under 1082; also infra, App. D, p. 429.
Printed: Bentham, Ely, i, App., p. 10, no. v (6); Hamilton, I.C.C., p. xx, no. vii; Bigelow, Placita, p. 27.
page 206 note 2 Neither Domesday nor the Ely records throw any light on the subject of this plea. William of Eu, Ralph Fitz Waleran and Robert Gernon are not listed among the despoilers of Ely in 1071 × 1075 or in 1086, nor did they hold lands in any of the abbey's hundreds, as far as is known.
page 206 note 3 Date: 1082 × 1087. According to Miller (Ely Land Pleas, pp. 450–51) this writ asks for a report of the findings of the Kentford inquest referred to in ch. 117 and would follow in 1082 or soon after; cf. Davis, Regesta, i, 42, no. 152, under 1082. Both reject the argument of J. H. Round (Feudal England, p. 133), who dates it 1086 or 1087, but for reasons which lend support to the later date see infra, App. D, pp. 428–32.
Printed: Bentham, Ely, App., p. n, no. v (7); Hamilton, I.C.C., p. xxi, no. viii; Bigelow, Placita, p. 27; H. Hall, Formula Book of Legal Records, p. 24; J. H. Round, loc. cit.
page 207 note 1 Date: 1082 × 1087. Miller suggests soon after Simeon's accession, as for ch. 121 (q.v.). Cf. Davis, Regesta, i, 42, no. 153, under 1082, and infra, App. D, p. 429.
Printed: Bentham, Ely, i, App., p. 11, no. v (8); Hamilton, I.C.C., p. xxi, no. ix; Bigelow, Placita, p. 28.
page 207 note 2 Date: 1082 × 1087. ‘ Issued upon or soon after the king's departure in 1082 ’, according to Miller's suggestion (Ely Land Pleas, p. 450). Cf. Davis, Regesta, i, 42, no. 151, under 1082, and infra, App. D, p. 429.
Printed: Bentham, Ely, i, App., p. 11, no. v (9); Hamilton, I.C.C., pp. xxi-xxii, no. x; Bigelow, Placita, pp. 28–29.
page 207 note 3 Date: 1096 × 1098, probably 1097. Davis (Regesta, i, 99, no. 389) identifies the addressees plausibly as Walkelin, bishop of Winchester (1070–98), Samson, bishop of Worcester (1096–1112), and Ranulf Flambard (who was made bishop of Durham in 1099) and suggests that the writ was issued in 1097 when, according to the Winchester Annals, Rufus left the kingdom in the care of Bishop Walkelin and Ranulf Flambard. The manor is probably Aston Somervile, Gloucs. The Ely monks later claimed that it had been given to Ely, but this writ shows that Bishop Hervey had first received it ten years before he had any connection with the abbey. Cf. infra, Book III, ch. 38, and see Rudder, , A New History of Gloucestershire (1779), p. 241Google Scholar.
page 211 note 1 Prov., xxii, 28.
page 211 note 2 For Picot of Cambridge, sheriff and prominent landowner of Cambridgeshire, see Farrer, W., Feudal Cambridgeshire (1920)Google Scholar, passim. Of the seven villages in which he held lands of the abbey at the time of the plea of 1071 × 1075, Impington, Milton, Cottenham and Westwick had not been recovered by 1086 (Dd, i, fos. 201, 201b; I.E., pp. 113–15; Miller, Ely Land Pleas, p. 442). The same is true of thegnlands and sokelands, e.g. in Oakington, Landbeach (Dd, i, fo. 201, 201b), while those at Harston, Rampton, Quy, Lolworth, Madingley, seem to have been retrieved at some stage during the Domesday inquest (I.E., pp. 102, 106, 112–14).
page 211 note 3 inimicus … nomen tuum: cf. Ps., lxxiii, 18.
page 211 note 4 Respice … tuum: ibid., 20.
page 211 note 5 ne … tuorum: ibid., 23.
page 211 note 6 qui … Dei: Ps., lxxxii, 13.
page 211 note 7 Dixit … Deus: cf. Ps., lii, 1.
page 211 note 8 avertit … finem: Ps. H., s., 11.
page 211 note 9 contere … maligni. Queretur … peccatum illius et non invenietur: Ps. H., x, 15.
page 211 note 10 Cf. Eccli., xlv, 22.
page 211 note 11 Cf. Dan., iv, 28.
page 212 note 1 Ps., i, 4.
page 212 note 2 Cf. Is., xiv, 12.
page 212 note 3 Perhaps he had died before 1086. His name does not occur among the Cambridgeshire tenants in Domesday Book, and he is unlikely to be the Gervase whose death was recorded under III Id. Februarii in the kalendar in E.
page 212 note 4 A hexameter, the source of which has not been traced. Confundit … nefasque is used also infra, Book III, ch. 37.
page 213 note 1 I Reg., ii, 6–7.
page 214 note 1 Cf. S. Gregorii Magni XL Homiliarum in Evangelia, Lib. ii, Homil. xxxiii, 1597, Migne, Pat. Lat., lxxvi, 1243.
page 215 note 1 Monk of St Bertin and later of St Augustine's, Canterbury. According to William of Malmesbury he was brought over to England by Bishop Herman of Salisbury: ‘ Is multos episcopatus et abbatias perlustrans tempore, praeclarae scientiae multis locis monumenta dedit, in laudibus sanctorum Angliae nulli post Bedam secundus, musicae porro palmam post Osbernum adeptus. Denique innumeras sanctorum vitas stylo extulit, veterum vel hostilitate amissas, vel informiter editas comptius renovavit’ (Gesta Regum, ii, 389). Of the Lives ascribed to his authorship the most important are a Life and Translation of St Augustine of Canterbury, St Swithin, St Ive and St Werburg. His prosa of St Etheldreda does not seem to have survived. Cf. Hardy, Desc. Cat., I, i, nos. 515–19, 538–58, 948–54, 1017–18, 1078–89; Migne, Pat. Lat., vols. lxxx, cl, civ.
page 216 note 1 cum … devenit: abridged from Florence, ii, 9, s.a. 1072 (following his account of the surrender of Ely), ‘ cum navali et equestri exercitu Scottiam profectus est, ut eam suae ditioni subiugaret; cui rex Scottorum Malcolmus, in loco qui dicitur Abernithici, occurrit, et homo suus devenit’. The compiler's chronology is confused. He is probably rendering correctly the tradition that the servitium debitum was exacted for the Scottish campaign of 1072 (cf. Round, Feudal England, p. 298; Hist. Mon. de Abingdon, ii, 3–4, 9–10; Matth. Paris, Hist. Anglorum, i, 13; also Miller, Ely, pp. 67–68, and H. M. Chew, English Ecclesiastical Tenants-in-Chief and Knight Service (1932), pp. 2–3, 114–15). But these events belong to the time of Abbot Thurstan. At what stage the chapter begins to treat of events in Simeon's time the compiler does not indicate, but it must be Simeon who reminded the king ‘ cum quanta preditum libertate acceperit ab illo locum ’. The demand, therefore, for a service of forty knights must also have resulted from negotiations between Simeon and the king, which apparently took place shortly before William's last campaign in 1087. A possible explanation may be that the compiler has here conflated this account of Simeon's negotiations with a similar account of negotiations between the king and Abbot Thurstan (in 1072, and probably resulting in the plea of 1071 × 1075, cf. supra, ch. 109). See infra, App. D, p. 430.
page 217 note 1 The reference seems to be to the last sentence of the discussio libertatis (ch. 116), Est autem libertatis huius veneranda quietatio … etc.
page 217 note 2 The legend has also survived that when Godfrey had the custody of the abbey, at least up to the time of William's campaign of 1078 against his son Robert (see F. M. Stenton, Anglo-Saxou England, p. 600; Florence, s.a. 1077), the Ely garrison took their meals at the refectory table with the monks (as the rebels in the island were also said to have done, supra, ch. 105). See the ‘ Story found in the Isle of Ely ’ in Brit. Mus., MS. Royal, 18. C. i, 3; Bentham, Ely, i, 104 and Pl. xiii and App., pp. 3–9, no. iv.
page 217 note 3 For the knights' fees created in the lands ‘ invaded ’ by Picot, Hardwin de Sealers, Roger Bigod, Hervey de Bourges and others (including Ralph de Savigny, Godric dapifer, Ralph de Belfou, Frodo, brother of Abbot Baldwin of St Edmund's, Eudo dapifer, Rainald balistarius and Hugh de Berners), see Miller, Ely, pp. 68–69. The liber terrarum is probably the I.E. which records the alienations.
page 217 note 4 in Franciam … Cadomi: abridged from Florence, ii, 20, s.a. 1087.
page 218 note 1 discordia … cupiebant: abridged from Florence, ii, 21–22.
page 218 note 2 On the later history of the knight service due from Ely see Miller, Ely, pp. 155 ff.
page 218 note 2 The compiler's habit of calculating in terms of seven years makes it difficult to arrive at an exact chronology. But if the abbey was vacant for seven years until 1100 and Simeon died in 1093 and had ceased to be in effective control seven years before that (infra, ch. 137), this period of senility must date from 1087 at the latest, which brings us barely into his seventh year if we reckon from Godfrey's departure for Malmesbury in 1081.
page 218 note 4 Perhaps a reference to the plea of 1071 × 1075. For this and the descriptio in Simeon's time see the comments in App. D, infra, pp. 429–32.
page 218 note 5 Cf. I Mac., vi, 8, ‘ et decidit in lectum, et inciditin languorem … ’
page 219 note 1 Probably the first holder of a fee in Littlebury (cf. Miller, Ely, p. 171, n. 4, and p. 224, n. 1).
page 219 note 2 Perhaps to be identified with Osmund de Wicheham, one of the jurors for the Ely hundreds in 1086 (Hamilton, I.C.C., p. 100).
page 219 note 3 Thurstan was one of the monks who is said to have fought at Hereward's side in 1071–72 (Gesta Herwardi, p. 383). He was dead by 1134 when Bishop Nigel's inventory of the church treasures was compiled (infra, Book III, cc. 50, 92).
page 219 note 4 For an account of Ranulf Flambard, later made bishop of Durham (1099), see Southern, R. W., ‘ Ranulf Flambard and Early Anglo-Norman Administration ’, Trans. R. Hist. Soc., 4th ser., xvi (1933), 95–128CrossRefGoogle Scholar; also Poole, A. L., From Domesday Book to Magna Carta (1951), p. 170Google Scholar, and infra, p. 220, n. 1.
page 219 note 5 Cf. I Reg., xxviii, 5; Job, xxxvii, 1.
page 220 note 1 Date: It is impossible to decide for certain on which of three occasions this allocation was made. According to the oldest Ely tradition (the cartularies CD) it belongs to the reign of William I, and this bears out the compiler's opinion that it was part of a voluntary arrangement between Simeon and the king made necessary by Simeon's increasing incapacity in 1086–87. On this interpretation this annona represents an early attempt at dividing the monks' victus from the abbot's mensa, the latter being administered by the king's officials, and is to be compared with the first attempts of Bishops Hervey and Nigel to devise a similar arrangement (cf. infra, Book III, cc. 25, 54. and Introduction, supra, pp. 1–li). At this time Ranulf was already a king's chaplain (A. L. Poole, loc. cit.). On the other hand, this division is typical of a method devised by Ranulf apparently not before the reign of William Rufus, when he occupied a more prominent position. In this case it would fit the place assigned to it in the L.E., soon after the new king's accession, and could still belong to 1087, leaving Simeon roughly seven years to live until his death in 1093. Thirdly, as this method is typical also of the procedure employed by Ranulf for administering vacant abbeys in the king's custody, the arrangement may follow Simeon's death in 1093, lasting until the accession of Richard in 1100. Cf. D. Knowles, The Monastic Order in England, pp. 435–36, 612–13, where further references are given, and Miller, Ely, pp. 39–40.—Printed: Monasticon, i, 478.
page 220 note 2 confectus … opem: an elegiac couplet. If it is borrowed, the source has not been identified.
page 221 note 1 20 November.
page 221 note 2 The comparison is drawn with the passage on St Simeon in Luc, ii, 25–35.
page 221 note 3 Cf. Luc., ii, 28–29, ‘ accepit in ulnas suas et benedixit Deum et dixit nunc dimittis servum tuum … ’
page 221 note 4 Cf. Luc, ii, 26, ‘ non visurum se mortem nisi prius videret Christum Domini …’
page 221 note 5 Philip., i, 23.
page 221 note 6 Cf. Matth., vii, 7–8; Luc, xi, 9–10.
page 221 note 7 For the dating of Simeon's death see infra, App. D, p. 413.
page 221 note 8 Ps., lxxviii, 10.
page 222 note 1 According to the Vita Botulphi by Folcard of St Bertin, this would be the abbot who is recorded in Florence and A.S.C. to have begun building a minster at Icanho, s.a. 654 (perhaps Iken, Suffolk; see D. Whitelock, English Historical Documents, c. 500–1042, p. 152, n. 7), and whose relics are said to have been distributed at the command of King Edgar. The head only —no maiora ossa—went to Ely, with half of the remainder going to Thorney, while the rest were retained by the king (Brit. Mus., MS. Harl. 3097, fo. 66). But Peterborough and Bury St Edmunds are also mentioned as resting-places of a St Botulph and a twelfth-century charter of Bishop Nigel claimed that an Abbot Botulph was buried in their church at Hadstock (see infra, Book III, ch. 90).
page 223 note 1 The document from which E or its source took their copy may not have ascribed this inventory to Ranulf Flambard as E omits his name, and it is impossible to say on what authority the name was added by the scribe of F. It is certain only that in many of the items which can be compared it represents an increase on the inventory said to have been taken by the monk Godfrey (supra, ch. 114). Even if it was compiled at Ranulf's command, the date is uncertain. Like the annona (supra, ch. 136), it may belong to the last year of William I's reign or to the year 1093 when Ranulf took over the custody of the abbey. The opening sentence in E seems to refer to a descriptio of the abbey lands, which the position occupied by the chapter in the index and the text of E would place in the time of the monk Godfrey. But see infra, App. D, p. 427.
page 224 note 1 ea … pecunie: derived almost verbatim from Florence, ii, 46, s.a. 1100, which reviews the main features of William II's reign.
page 224 note 2 In 1100 eleven abbeys and three bishoprics were in the king's hands (A. L. Poole, op. cit., p. 170).
page 224 note 3 astutia … consecratus: derived almost verbatim from Florence, ii, 46.
page 224 note 4 sed … coronatur: from an addition to Florence in Bodl., 297, p. 402. Freeman attached no importance to this passage, since Archbishop Thomas is not mentioned in this capacity in A.S.C. or Florence, occurring only in later and less reliable accounts, of which the most important are Will. Malmesbury, Gesta Pontificum, p. 258, and Diceto, i, 233, and made the ‘ natural inference ’ that Thomas was too sick to come as he died soon afterwards. The passage in fact deserves more respect since Thomas attested a charter in favour of St Peter's, Bath, dated 14 September at Westminster (Regesta, ii, 492), and in view of his presence at court so soon after Henry's accession it is more than likely that he would have asserted his position as the only archbishop then in office. See Freeman, The Reign of William Rufus (1882), ii, 680–82. But see Cantor, N. F., Church, Kingship and Investiture in England, 1089–1135 (1958), pp. 135 ffGoogle Scholar.
page 225 note 1 Qui … retinuit: from Florence, ii, 46–47.
page 225 note 2 Deditque …filio: from an addition to Florence, s.a. 1100, in Bodl., 297, p.402 (cf. Memorials of St Edmund's Abbey, i, 353). Cf. Ord. Vit., Hist. Eccl., iv, 93–94.
page 225 note 3 Abbot Richard, a monk of Bec, was, as is here correctly stated, the son of Richard ‘ Bienfait’, son of Gilbert de Brionne, and of Rohaise, daughter of Walter Giffard. See Round, J. H., ‘ The Family of Clare ’, Arch. Journ., lvi (1899)Google Scholar, and in D.N.B.; also Ord. Vit., Hist. Eccl., iii, 344.
page 225 note 4 Apparently a book devoted to the gesta of Abbot Richard, perhaps the booklet concerning the second translation of St Etheldreda. See Introduction, supra, p. xxxix.
page 226 note 1 Juvenal, Satires, xv, 72.
page 226 note 2 Infra, ch. 142.
page 226 note 3 The Ricardi were descended from Gilbert de Brionne (a few miles south of Rouen), and the caput of the Giffard fee was at Longueville-sur-Scie (L. C. Loyd, The Origins of Some Anglo-Norman Families, ed. C. T. Clay and Douglas, D. C., Harl. Soc. Publ., ciii, 1951, p. 45Google Scholar), a few miles north of Rouen.
page 227 note 1 Cf. Matth., xxii, 21; Marc, xii, 17; Luc, xx, 25.
page 227 note 2 Cf. Matth., xi, 7; Luc, vii, 24.
page 227 note 3 Cf. Matth., vii, 25–26.
page 227 note 4 Cf. IV Reg., ii, 9.
page 227 note 5 Cf. Judith, v, 2.
page 227 note 6 For a comment on Richard's deposition see infra, App. D, p. 413.
page 228 note 1 There are two other accounts of this translation. The version in B (fos. 33 ff. printed in Bollandist Acta Sanctorum (3rd edn.), Junii, v, 456–58) forms a separate libellus and is, apart from a brief introduction summarising the early history of the abbey and Abbot Simeon's foundation of a new church, identical with that given in the L.E. from which it is probably derived. The other version is in the Vita S. Wihtburge (C.C.C., MS. 393), where it follows the story of Wihtburga's translation from Dereham (supra, ch. 53). See supra, Introduction, pp. xxxvi–vii, where it is suggested that the L.E. and this Vita are derived from an older Vita of Wihtburga which has not survived. The main similarities and divergences between those accounts are shown in the textual notes.
page 228 note 2 Cf. Gen., 1, 5–14.
page 228 note 3 Cf. Matth., v, 15; Marc., iv, 21; Luc, xi, 33.
page 228 note 4 The correct form of the dating clause should be XVI Kal. Novembris to concur with the date of the first Translation. Supra, Book I, ch. 28.
page 229 note 1 In the Vita S. Wihtburge this list comes later and enumerates those who inspected Wihtburga's body. The compiler of the L.E. found it in the corresponding place in his source and moved it to the beginning of his account (cf. infra, ch. 147).
page 229 note 2 Cf. the miracles recorded supra, Book I, cc. 41–49.
page 230 note 1 Cf. Prov., xiv, II.
page 230 note 2 Cf. Apoc, viii, 5. According to the Epistola Luciani, ‘ De Revelatione Corporis Stephani Martyris et aliorum ’ (Migne, Pat. Lat., xli, coll. 807 ff.), when Stephen's body was found statim terre motus factus est.
page 230 note 3 If this means that scarcely one of them survived this translation for a whole year, the statement is true only of Abbot Richard who died on 17 June 1107 and perhaps Geoffrey, treasurer of Winchester. Of those who, according to the Vita Wihtburge, inspected the body, the first to die was Archdeacon Nicholas in 1110, followed by Abbots Aldwin of Ramsey and Gunter of Thorney in 1112, Bishop Herbert and Abbot Richard of St Albans in 1119, and Abbot Wido of Pershore, mentioned only in the L.E. version, survived to 1138. Anselm's prophecy is not mentioned in Eadmer's Hist. Novorum.
page 230 note 4 Cf. Exod., xvii, 3–6.
page 231 note 1 Æthelwold's translation of Sexburga and Ærmenilda is not elsewhere recorded. Cf. supra, ch. 52, where a reference to it might have been expected.
page 231 note 2 For the verses added here in Stewart's edition see infra, ch. 150.
page 232 note 1 This chapter occurs, with few exceptions, verbatim in the Vita Wihtburga, where it follows domo sua periit (supra, ch. 144, p. 229, n. d).
page 233 note 1 This entry occurs s.a. 798 in A.S.C. (F only) and also in Florence, but as the passage in the L.E. is excerpted from a Life of Wihtburga it cannot be unreservedly used to help determine which version of the A.S.C. was used by the L.E.
page 234 note 1 See infra, ch. 149.
page 234 note 2 Date: Romsey, (February or March) 1105. The date is discussed by H. E. Salter, loc. cit. Cf. Regesta, ii, no. 684, and Farrer, Itinerary, no. 115. William Giffard should more correctly have been styled electo, as he was not consecrated before 1107 (Eadmer, Hist. Novorum, pp. 144, 187; cf. Farrer, loc. cit.). The place is (Little) Hadham, Herts. The bishop of London held land in the same vill, now Much Hadham. Brooke, C. N. L. (‘ The Composition of the Chapter of St. Paul's, 1086–1163 ’, Cambridge Hist. Journ., x, 1950–52, p. 131Google Scholar) suggests plausibly that the estate was seized during the vacancy at Ely from 1093 to 1100 and uses this writ to show that Ranulf Flambard held a position of authority at St. Paul's. See supra, ch. 64, and for a similar charter in favour of Bishop Hervey see infra, Book III, ch. 20.
Printed: Bigelow, Placita, p. 124; Engl. Hist. Rev., xxvi, 487–89.
page 235 note 1 He died in 1107 (Florence, s.a.) on XVI Kal. Julii according to the kalendar in E.