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Murder and matronly mischief

25/10/2017

New translation of Ethelred the Unready's royal diploma made freely available

'De Stantune et Hiltune' ('Concerning Fenstanton and Hilton'). The opening page to Ethelred's grant of land to bishop Godwine of Rochester. Textus Roffensis, folio 159v. By permission of the Dean and Chapter of Rochester Cathedral.

Blessed readers,

Well, he's really starting to churn them out now. Dr Monk has just released his latest translation from Textus Roffensis: the 1012 royal diploma of Ethelred the Unready.

And this isn't just any old land grant. No! For this one contains the king's own account of how he was betrayed by one of his ealdormen, Leofsige, and his sister, the 'matron' Aethelflaed.

So if you want to find out more about murder and mayhem in the eleventh-century, and why good Godwine the bishop of Rochester was, ultimately, the main beneficiary of such wickedness, then follow the link below to the new translation of this charter.

Ethelred grants Godwine 15 hides

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Ethelred the Unready apologises

9/10/2017

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New translations of royal diplomas from Textus Roffensis

Textus Roffensis (c. 1123), Rochester, Cathedral Library MS A. 3. 5, folio 152r. The opening page of Ethelred the Unready's diploma restoring land at Wouldham and Littlebrook to Rochester Cathedral, dated to 995. By permission of the Dean and Chapter of Rochester Cathedral.

Blessed ones,

You may not wish to confess it, but I suspect you all like to witness a spot of repenting now and then from someone on high. Go on, admit it. Even an eleventh-century Benedictine monk gets to see quite regularly his abbot prostrate himself in acts of penance. And enjoys such moments.

Well, today you have an opportunity to read for yourself what one infamous Anglo-Saxon king had to say about his unfortunate past deeds. Dr Monk has made available his new translations of two of King Ethelred the Unready's royal diplomas.

If you manage to plough through the ridiculously grandiloquent language of Ethelred's scribe (he would have made Aldhelm proud), you will find therein words of regret from a king who seemed to feel he had genuinely angered God by his outrageous treatment of Rochester Cathedral.

Now grovel, Ethelred, grovel!

Ethelred restores land at Wouldham

Ethelred restores land at Bromley

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Murder and matronly mischief

Ethelred the Unready apologises

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