Archbishop Lanfranc confirms the grant of Freckenham, 1087
Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury confirms the grant of Freckenham to the church of Saint Andrew’s, Rochester, 1087. Translation from Latin of Textus Roffensis, folio 171r-172v by Jacob Scott (pending review).
This follows on from the previous charter, but is a forgery (see Rodney M. Thomson, The Life of Gundulf, Bishop of Rochester 1977, p. 76). The rubric extends vertically into the right margin.
Transcription
171r (select folio number to open facsimile)
Quomodo lanfrancus terras extractas ęclesię sancti andreę,
PRęterea notandum et alias acquisitas monachis >contradidit, et de gundulfo episcopo.
ac fidelibus omnibus futuris maxime tem-
poribus quantę ualentię quantęue ęcclesię christi
cantuarberię necnon et ęcclesię sancti andreę hroue-
cestrię hic pię memorię lanfrancus archi-
episcopus utilitati et honori dum uixit extiterit
sciendum est. Hic nanque non solum illas quae
superius nominatę sunt terras ęcclesię christi, ue-
rum etiam ex diuersorum dominatione tyrannorum
ęcclesię hrofensi suę ratione prudentię ac
sapientię adquisiuit, a>d
antiquorum neglegentia fuerant extractę
atque dispersę contradidit. Videlicet dænitu-
nam, stoches, falcenham, et fracenham de manibus
praedicti baiocensis episcopi et hominum suorum et ali-
orum hominum, quasi quadam placitorum uiolen-
tia extorsit. Et hęc non solum sed et alia bona
ad opus monachorum quos eidem ęcclesię ipse
primum instituit, quoad uixit impendit,
institutis uero seruitio dei et sancti apostoli andreę
omnia quę illorum uictui uel uestit>ui< neces-
saria fore uidebantur certo apparatu prę-
parare procurauit. Annitente tamen ac per omnia
suffragante beatę memorię gundulfo episcopo
quem ipse monachum et sacristam sanctę mariae
beccensis ęcclesię dum ipse quoque prior eiusdem
fuit ęcclesię merito sanctitatis ac beatę religi-
onis prae cęteris omnibus adamauit, adamatum
uero post se in angliam quoque quam citius potuit
uenire fecit, et eum omni domui suę, immo
rebus omnibus suis quas in archiepiscopio
habuit solum post sese prae omnibus aliis pręposuit.
Prępositum autem atque in omni sapientię et pru-
dentię sensu diu probatum, tandem diuino ad-
monitus instinctu a sese deuote consecratum
praedictę ęcclesię praefecit antistitem. Qui xxx.ta
et uno annis inibi superstes existens, ęcclesiam
sancti andreę pene uetustate dirutam, nouam
ex integro ut hodie apparet ędificauit.
Officinas quoque monachis necessarias prout
loci capacitas pati potuit omnes construxit,
ipsos etiam monachos >xxii< suscepit, suscep-
tos uero sanctę religionis habitu induit, indutos
postmodum sacris ordinibus aptos uel sanctę religi-
onis benedictione dignos ipsemet benedixit
consecrauit, et quantacunque ualuit diligen-
tia et per se et per alios in dei timore et amore semper
instruxit, instructos quidem post deum super
omnia amauit honorauit, atque in eo quod potu-
it omnibus diebus uitę suę beneficiis multimo-
dis augmentare non cessauit. Et cum non amplius
in introitu episcopatus sui quam quinque inuenisset
in ęcclesia sancti andreę canonicos, die qua seculo
pręsenti decessit, plusquam sexaginta >monachos< bene le-
gentes et optime cantantes in seruitio dei
et apostoli sui deum timentes et super omnia aman-
tes reliquit. Sed inter cętera quę illis beneficia
nonnulla contulit, unum illis dignum memoria
fecit, fracenham quod ut supradictum est ab
alienorum iniusta potestate archiepiscopus pru-
dentię suę ratione lanfrancus extorsit,
et ad uictum monachorum ęternaliter fore consti-
tuit, gundulfus episcopus quia ipsum manerium
longinquis regionibus a hrouecestra nimis
erat remotum, ipsum manerium in sua ac suorum
omnium retinuit manu successorum, atque pro illo
licentia et consilio sepedicti archiepiscopi lan-
franci, Wldeham monachis ęternaliter dedit,
malens quidem sese ac suos successores annu-
is laboribus equitando uictum ibi tam longe
quęritare, quam monachos uel eiusdem uillę pau-
peres homines singulis annis in annonam de-
portando fatigare.
Translation
How Lanfranc handed over the extracted lands of the church of Saint Andrew, and other items acquired by the monks, and from Gundulf to the bishop:
Moreover, it is to be noted and to all the faithful to come, especially in times it is to be known how great the value of the Church of Christ of Canterbury as well as the Church of Saint Andrew at Rochester, here in memory of Archbishop Lanfrancus, stood for utility and honour while he lived. Here, too, not only the lands of the Church of Christ which have been named above, but also the Church of Christ, from the dominion of various tyrants, the church of Rochester acquired prudence and wisdom by its own account, he acquired the church from which the negligence of the ancients had drawn it and scattered it. Evidently, he wrested the Denton, Stoke, Falcenham, and Fracenham from the hands of the aforesaid Bishop of Bayeux and of his men and other men, as if by a kind of violence of the pleas. And not only this, but also other goods for the work of the monks whom he himself first established in the same church, as long as he lived, he expended, having established the true service of God and the holy apostle Andrew, he managed to prepare with certain equipment everything that seemed to be necessary for their feeding or clothing. However, cheering and supporting in everything the blessed memory of Gundulf the bishop, whom he loved as a monk and sacristan of the church of Saint Mary of Becce, while he was also the prior of the same church, because of the merit of sanctity and the holiness of religion above all others, he made the beloved come after him also to England as quickly as he could, and He preferred him to all his house, and indeed to all his possessions which he had in the archbishopric, only after himself above all others.
Now the prefect, having long been proved in all sense of wisdom and prudence, at last, prompted by divine instinct, presided over the aforesaid church, devoutly consecrated by himself. Having survived there for 30 years and one year, the church of Saint Andrew, which was almost demolished in old age, built a new one from the whole as it appears today.
He also built all the workshops necessary for the monks, as the capacity of the place could bear, and he received the monks themselves; he always trained others in the fear and love of God, indeed, he loved those trained after God above all things, he consecrated, and with all his diligence always in the fear and love of God, both by himself and by others he arrayed himself, indeed arrayed after God above he loved and honoured everything, and in what he could he did not cease to increase his life in many ways every day as much as he could. And when, at the beginning of his episcopate, he found no more than five canons in the Church of Saint Andrew, on the day he died in the present century, he left more than sixty "monks" who read well and sang very well in the service of God and his apostles, fearing God and loving God above all. But among the other benefits which he brought to them, he did one thing worthy of their memory, that of Francenham, which, as has been said above, the Archbishop Lanfranc, with his prudence, extorted from the unjust power of foreigners, and determined that it should be eternally at the disposal of the monks, Bishop Gundulf, because the manor itself was too far away from Rochester removed, he retained the manor itself in the hands of his successors and those of all his people, and for that license and advice of the late Archbishop Lanfranc, he gave Wldeham to the monks in perpetuity, preferring indeed that he and his successors should suffer as far as the monks or the poor people of the same town to tire every year by bringing in the goods.
