Page:St. Oswald and the Church of Worcester.djvu/21

 eleven belong to 969. After this we have a gap, and the next lists of the familia come to us in 977. When we add to this that we have a single charter attested by the familia of Bishop Coenwald in 957, it will be seen that we are in a position to watch the changes which took place in the composition of the cathedral body during the important period of twenty years, from the last days of Bishop Coenwald to the middle point of Oswald's episcopate. This is first-hand evidence of the course of his reform.

Bishop Coenwald's charter of 957 (B. C. S. 993) is a semi-poetical grant, made 'with consent of the brethren to Behstan presbyter of the same monastery'; and we may note the phrase, 'by the key of the apostolic authority of Peter', as a probable allusion to the dedication of the church. Thirteen names follow that of Coenwald in the attestation. Behstan stands first and Wulfric second; but only one name is followed by a descriptive title, viz. 'Cynethegn clericus'. In Oswald's charters, on the other hand, we shall find that it is the rule to place the title presbyter, deacon, or clerk after each name. Taking B. C. S. 1088 and 1089 as the earliest of the charters issued by Oswald in 982, we can learn something by a comparison of the names there given with the names of 957. The figures in brackets after the names of the first list indicate their places in the second list.