Appendix: Post-conquest forgeries of charters

Westminster Abbey Charters, 1066 - c.1214. Originally published by London Record Society, London, 1988.

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'Appendix: Post-conquest forgeries of charters', in Westminster Abbey Charters, 1066 - c.1214, (London, 1988) pp. 321-322. British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/london-record-soc/vol25/pp321-322 [accessed 27 April 2024]

APPENDIX

There survive some genuine pre-Conquest charters for Westminster Abbey, but the majority purporting to date from before the reign of W I have subsequently been amended to a greater or lesser extent, even when they are not complete forgeries. These texts include one charter of Offa of Mercia; two of Edgar; one of Ethelred Unraed; two of St Dunstan and thirty-three of King Edward. From the commentaries listed by Sawyer, it will be apparent that there is often disagreement on the authenticity of the texts. Some may represent genuine grants, copied in the decades after the Norman Conquest; others have clearly been amended and expanded, while some are outright forgeries, reflecting the activities of Osbert de Clare and the scribes who were influenced by him.

WRITS AND CHARTERS ALLEGEDLY DATING FROM BEFORE THE NORMAN CONQUEST, BUT CONTAINING INDICATIONS Of POST-CONQUEST HANDIWORK:

GRANTOR HARMER SAWYER HARVEY, WA
Offa of Mercia 501 no. 124 345
Edgar 338–9 no. 774 341–2; 344–6; 349, 351, 354, 358
Edgar no. 1450 21, 352
Ethelred Unraed 287 no. 894 350, 352–4
St Dunstan no. 1293 21, 23, 37, 350, 352–4, 359
St Dunstan no. 1295 352
Edward (First Charter) 288–9 no. 1043
Edward (Second Charter) 59n.1 no. 1011
Edward (Third Charter) 290 no. 1041
Edward (Telligraphus) 290 no. 1039
Edward no. 100 no. 1144 344, 363
Edward no. 84 no. 1128 343
Edward no. 80 no. 1124
Edward 291 no. 1040
Edward no. 93 no. 1137 358
Edward no. 101 no. 1145 344, 363
Edward no. 89 no. 1133 351
Edward no. 103 no. 1147 356 and n.
Edward no. 92 no. 1136 359 and n.
Edward no. 81 no. 1125
Edward no. 104 no.1148 356 and n.
Edward no. 98 no. 1142 354
Edward no. 97 no. 1141 338, 354
Edward no. 85 no.1129 345
Edward no. 76 no.1120
Edward no. 78 no.1122 345
Edward no. 91 no.1135 72, 74
Edward no. 90 no.1134
Edward no. 79 no.1123 346
Edward no. 74 no.1118 342
Edward no. 73 no.1118 344
Edward no. 86 no.1117 354
Edward no. 77 no.1121 349
Edward no. 94 no.1138 47
Edward no. 102 no.1146 344, 363
Edward no. 82 no.1126
Edward no. 105 no.1149
Edward no. 75 no.1119
Edward no. 106 no.1150