Page:St. Oswald and the Church of Worcester.djvu/26



It is a perilous task for one who has not been trained in the modern school of Anglo-Saxon diplomatics to undertake such an examination as here follows. My apology must be that no one, so far as I am aware, has faced the problem of Oswald's reform from the point of view of the authenticity of the charter evidence in regard to what existed at Worcester before his time. I shall gladly welcome correction in detail; but I have an impression that a wider knowledge will only strengthen the case which I have endeavoured to put. It is only since this Note was written that I have seen the instructive article by Mr. W. H. Stevenson on the so-called 'Trinoda necessitas' in the English Historical Review for October 1914, and also Mr. F. M. Stenton's article in the same Review for October 1918 on ( The Supremacy of the Mercian Kings '. I have learnt much from both of these articles, and have made one or two references to them in my foot-notes.

This charter is accepted by Mr. W. H. Stevenson.

It is to be noted, however, that the mention of St Mary's only comes in a sentence inserted before the signatures: Haec autem testamenti traditio perpetualiter posted tradita est sanctae Mariae Uueogernensis monasterii pro ipsius regis salute. This obviously is no part of the original charter, and may have been added at quite a late date.

The bounds are dated 743, at the end in Anglo-Saxon. The statement that Ethilbald booked the land Utele bisceope into sancte Marian is unintelligible as it stands. There may be some confusion with Utel, bishop of Hereford (c. 798), and St Mary of Hereford.