happens that the precise date of a charter is of great im- BOOK ters. I. Our earliest charters are dated simply by the year of the Dates of Incarnation, the Indiction, or the Regnal year, in which early charthey were issued; and frequently by all these terms, but they seldom contain more minute indications of their age. They, however, possess some peculiarities, which are not without interest. The most ancient written charter in England is supposed Thesaur. Diss. Epist., Tom. III., p. 63. + Macpherson, Annals of Commerce, Vol. I., p. 394. BOOK I. Charter of Ethelbert I. by Mr. Fosbrooke to be that of Withred, [Wihtred,] king of Kent, about the year 700.* This prince began to reign in 694, and in the same year, at a council held at Bapchild, confirmed the ecclesiastical possessions of the archbishop and clergy of his kingdom. The confirmation is preserved, under the form of a speech, delivered by the king on that occasion;† but, as the narrative style was frequently observed in charters published, in a different manner, there exists no sufficient reason, on this ground, to refuse the title to Wihtred's speech. It is not, however, by any means, the earliest of our charters: the apograph of a charter made by Ethelbert I., king of Kent, in the council of Laurence, the bishop and all his nobility, is extant in the Textus Roffensis, fo. 119a. His charter is the most ancient in England, and bears the date, "Mense Aprilio sub die iiii kl. Maias, indictione septima," which answers to April 28th, 619. There are also in the Cotton Library, two charters, one written by Lothaire, king of Kent in 679, and the other, written in capital letters by Sebbi, king of the East Angles about 680. In speaking of our earliest charters, it seems impossible to omit noticing that of Wulfhere to the abbey of Petersborough, which purports to be dated in the year 644, and of which the authenticity has often been asserted, and as often denied.§ If we admit its authenticity, we must also regard the confirmation by Pope Agatho as genuine; for it comes to us upon the same authority; but the former is a palpable interpolation in the Saxon Chronicle in a Normanno-Saxon dialect.|| * Encyclop. Antiquit., Vol. I., p. 369. + Chron. Saxon. ad Ann., 694. Hickes, Thes., Tom. III. Diss. Epist., p. 79. § Ibid, p. 66. || Ad Ann. 656; and ad Ann. 963 ejusdem, and Dissect. Sax. Chron., p. 160, is account of its pretended discovery, concealed in an old wall. The Latin copy is in Ingulfus, Hist. Croyland, and contains the words "Certa tenementa, longitudine xx. leugiarum," which, besides the Norman hand, learly establish it as a forgery after the conquest.-Hickes, Diss. Epist., p. BOOK I. charters. Sir Edward Coke mentions a sealed deed by king Edwin, in 596; and Sir William Blackstone observes, that the charter of Edward the Confessor to Westminster Abbey is Sealed generally considered to be the oldest sealed charter of any authority in England.† Coke, however, is no authority on subjects of antiquity, neither has he stated where he obtained his information, for in all probability he never saw such an instrument, or seeing it, would not have been able to determine whether it were genuine or not; and Blackstone's remark is limited to charters with the appendage of a seal. There is also ascribed to King Edgar, who died in 971, the famous charter, in which he is styled, "Marium Brit. Dominus," on which great stress has been laid by several writers in support of the dominion of England over the four seas, but, besides that, it is more than three centuries after Ethelbert's charter. Dr. Hickest has demonstrated it to be spurious, and to have been forged with many others after the Norman conquest.§ 67. In addition to the reasons assigned by this great scholar for rejecting it, we may notice, that where the Saxon has Єoppa, the Latin is Coppa; and where Pilbeɲht is written, Yitbert appears in the other. The Saxon annalist, under the year 1137, tells us that Martin, the abbot, obtained some privileges from Pope Eugenius. In fact, he produced the forged charter of Agatho, which Eugenius did not understand, but called for the Latin copy, which is more reasonable in its powers than the other. He refused to confirm it, but granted a new charter, still less exorbitant. See the Chron. Abb. S. Petri Burgi, edited by Sparke. Jeremy Collier has examined this charter through all its clauses, and gives six formal reasons, almost any one of which would be sufficient to annihilate its pretensions to authenticity.-Eccles. Hist., Vol. I., p. 107. One of his reasons is, that it contains the word Vassallus, quam a Nortmannis Angli habuerunt,”—Diss., p. 7. It is however to be remarked, says Mr. Hallam, that Asserius, the contemporary biographer of Alfred, uses the term: "Alfredus cum paucis, et etiam cum quibusdam militibus et vassallis," p. 166. "Nobiles vassali Sumertunensis pagi," p. 167.-Hist. Europe in Middle Ages, Vol. II., p. 413. BOOK I. It was in the early part of the seventh century, or at the beginning of the preceding, that St. Augustine introduced into England the custom of reckoning by the years of the Incarnation; but although sometimes employed in charters, it was not commonly adopted here until the eighth century.‡ The greater part of the charters, however, which were issued in the Saxon period, and for a long time after the Norman invasion were achronical. The reason of this irregularity is Sir E.Coke not apparent; and Sir Edward Coke has attempted an exon undated planation, which does not seem to be very satisfactory: charters. "The date of a deed," he says, "many times antiquity rejected; and the reason thereof was, for that limitation of prescription, or time of memory, did often in processe of time change, and the law was then holden, that a deed bearing date before the limited time of prescription was not pleadable; and, therefore, they made their deedes without date, to the end they might alledge them within the time of prescription. And the date of deedes was commonly added in the raigne of Edward II. and III., and so ever since."§ Such is the recorded opinion of this celebrated lawyer, who, by a competent judge, has been pronounced an indifferent antiquary, and it may also be considered the opinion of Mr. Chitty, who, in his edition of Blackstone, has used nearly the same words,¶ and of Mr. Cruise, who has *He arrived in 597.-Chron. Sax. ad Ann. Bed. Hist. Eccles., Lib. I., cap. 25. + Bed. de Ratione Temporum, cap. 13. Sir Henry Spelman (Concil. I., 193) says, that it is probable that the years of the Incarnation were seldom or never used in diplomas before the time of Beda. The latter died in 734; Chron. Sax. ad Ann.; but the two unquestioned charters of Ethelbert and Sebbi are of the preceding century. "At seculo viii. tritus esse cœpit calculus ab Incarnatione ut patet ex diplomatibus relatis ab Ingulfo, Dubleto, et aliis.”—Mabillon, de Re Diplom., Tom. I., p. 216, Edit. Neapol., 1789. § Co. Litt. 1 Inst., fo. 6a. || Dr. Whitaker, Hist. Whalley, p. 194 note, 3rd Edit. 4to. Comm. B. II., p. 304, n. (18). BOOK I. "Madox on undated quoted part of the passage.* Madox, profoundly versed in this branch of antiquity, dissents from Coke upon very substantial grounds; "Whether that were the true reason, he says, "may perhaps be justly doubted. It may be be- charters. fore Bracton's time, they were not so well skilled in quirks of law as this amounts to. Or if it were the true reason in cases of feoffments, or other grants of durable estates, it may still be enquired what cause there was to leave out the dates in demises, which were to commence from the time of making them, and to determine not many years after; and likewise in charters purely of confirmation, in writings obligatory, in letters of procuracy, in acquittances of money received, and some other sort of writings, which are found without date. Petersdorf has adopted the objections of this eminent author, but does not offer an explanation of this remarkable practice. donations Before the seventh century, farms, liberties, and privileges Simple were usually given without writings ;§ and Camden, quoting without a charter of the Confessor, remarks, that "such was the writings. unsuspecting honor and simplicity of that age, which founded all its security in a few lines, and a few golden crosses; for, before the Normans came in, says Ingulphus, deeds were confirmed by golden crosses and other signatures; but the Normans introduced the custom of authenticating them by a number of seals in wax before three or four witnesses. Formerly many estates were conveyed by word of mouth without writing or deed, only with the Lord's sword or helmet, a horn or cup; and many tenements with a spur, a curry-comb, a bow, and some with an arrow."|| * Digest of Laws of Engl., Vol. IV., ch. 20, p. 275. + Formulare Anglicanum, Dissert., s. xxiv., p. 30. Abridgment, Vol. VII., p. 664. Hickes, Dissert. Epist., p. 79. Britan. pp. 340, 341. Edit. 1590, 8vo.-Gough's Camden, Vol. II., p. 121.-An instance occurs in which William the Second in 1096 delivered to the abbot of Tavistock, as seisin, an ivory knife, which was afterwards deposited on the shrine of St. Rumon.-Dugd. Monast. Anglic., Tom. II., p. |