I don't think anyone alleges that 'forged' AS charters were intended to
claim any property to which the church in question wasn't entitled; at
least, not regularly. Just to replace missing documents, one assumes, by
describing the bounds (which they could reconstruct 'on the ground', I
suppose), and copying the wording of the grant and the witness lists from
surviving documents. (But some scholars believe that Worcester pulled a fast
one on William I in confirming the grant of Oswaldslow, the 'triple hundred'
that provided a large part of their income. Worcester claimed that
'traditionally' the shire reeve's writ didn't extend over Oswaldslow; but no
modern scholar, as far as I know, can find a reference to this in AS
documents. It seems
possible that Worcester just wanted to get Urse d'Abitot, contemporary shire
reeve of the county, out of their hair.) Della Hooke seems to be getting
plenty of evidence out of 'forgeries', anyway; as in Wales, scholars seem to
be teasing them out for what they can provide, and not dismissing them.
Stephen burnt the palm crosses yesterday; very boring, vicarage is still
standing, with not even a scorch mark.
Without starting a whole new strand: can anyone tell me if Puck Pitt in
Tredington parish, now Warwicks, has got into the literature? I think the
parish was once an outlier of Gloucestershire (and of Worcester diocese),
because it's in
EPNS Glos (pt. II): Poukepitte[yogh] in 1487, apparently a field name. I
don't yet know exactly where it is, but there's a tantalizing stream on the
OS map starting quite close to the Foss and joining the Stour by the old A34
south of Tredington (SP 25 42). I noticed 'Puck Pitt Farm' while driving
past, I think nearly opposite the turning to Idlicote and Whatcote.
Christine Buckley
----- Original Message -----
From: "Madeleine Gray" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, February 28, 2001 9:19 AM
Subject: Re: iffy charters
> I think we may be a bit ahead of the game in Wales in dealing with these -
> our surviving documentary evidence for the early medieval period is so
> scanty that we can't afford to reject anything: so people like Wendy
Davies
> have done remarkable work in deconstructing charters like the ones in the
> Book of Llan Daf (for many years regarded as a totally spurious document
> faked up by Bishop Urban in the early C12 to bolster his claims to
> territory)
> and identifying 'authentic' elements (whatever that means in a postmodern
> context).
>
> And I wouldn't argue with either Wendy Davies or Della Hooke. But I
suppose
> someone ought to, on principle.
>
> Happy Ash Wednesday, Chris. We will burn our palm crosses this evening and
> think of you and Stephen and hope that yours get burned safely this year!
>
> Maddy
>
>
>
> Dr Madeleine Gray, in the foothills of God's golden county of Gwent
> (Department of Humanities and Science
> UWCN Caerleon Campus
> PO Box 179
> Newport NP18 3YG
> Tel: +44 (0)1633.432675
> http://humanities.newport.ac.uk/history.html)
>
> 'Reading is sometimes an ingenious device for avoiding thought'
>
|