Cotton Ch VIII 16

Two originally separate parchment leaves, the second labelled ‘Cott. Ch. viii. 16. b.’

(a) King Æthelstan grants nine hides (cassatae) at Ham, Wiltshire, to Wulfgar, minister; dated 12 November 931, Lifton, Devon, in Latin with English bounds (Sawyer, no. 416).

Endorsed in a contemporary hand, ‘þis is þæs landes boc æt hamme’; in a 12th-century hand, ‘Donum hamme latine et anglice’, in a 14th-century hand, ‘Adelstani regis’; and in a 16th-century hand, ‘this is the landes booke of hame in the Saxon Charater’ and ‘Wolstan Rex’.

(b) Will of Wulfgar, including bequests of land at Collingbourne Kingston, Wiltshire, to his wife Æffe, for life, with reversion to New Minster, Winchester; at Inkpen, Berkshire, to Æffe, for life, with reversion to the church at Kintbury, Berkshire; at Cræft to Wynsige and Ælfsige; at Denford, Berkshire, to Æthelstan and Cynestan; two hides at Buttermere, Wiltshire, to Brihtsige and one of Ceolstan’s sons; at Æscmere (cf. Ashmanworth, Hampshire) ‘to such of my young kinsmen as obey me best’; and at Ham, Wiltshire, to Æffe, for life, with reversion to Old Minster, Winchester; 931 x 939, probably 933 × 939, in English (Sawyer, no. 1533).

Endorsed in an early 11th-century hand, ‘Her sƿutelaþ þæt ƿulfgar geuþe hamme into ealdan mynstre æfter æffan dæge hys ƿifes.’