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Edgar, King of the English:
Grant of Exemption from Taxation to Glastonbury, 965


The varieties of taxes and tolls from which a monastery might be exempt were specifically mentioned in King Edgar's charter to Glastonbury.

In consequence, it seems proper that the church of the most blessed mother of God, the eternal virgin Mary, of Glastonbury, inasmuch as it has always possessed the chief dignity in my kingdom, should be honoured by us with some especial and unusual privilege. Dunstan, therefore, and Oswald, archbishops of Canterbury and York, exhorting thereto, and Brithelm, bishop of Wells, and other bishops, abbots, and chiefs assenting and approving, I, Edgar, by the grace of God, King of the English, and ruler and governor of the adjacent nations, in the name of the blessed Trinity, for the soul of my father who reposes there, and of my predecessors, do by this present privilege decree, appoint, and establish, that the aforesaid monastery and all its possessions shall remain free and exonerated from all payments to the Exchequer now and forever: they shall have soc and sac, on stronde and on wude, on felde, on grithbrice, on burghrice, hundredsetena, and mortheras, athas, and ordelas, ealle hordas bufan corthan, and beneothan: infangentheof, utfangentheof, flemenefertha, hamsocne, friderbrice, foresteal, toll and team, just as free and peaceably as I have in my kingdom: let the same liberty and power also as I have in my own court, as well in forgiving as in punishing, and in every other matter, be possessed by the abbot, and monks of the aforesaid monastery within their court....


Source:

J. A. Giles, ed., William of Malmesbury's Chronicle of the Kings of England, (London: H. G. Bohn, 1847), Book II, p. 150; reprinted in Roy C. Cave & Herbert H. Coulson, A Source Book for Medieval Economic History, (Milwaukee: The Bruce Publishing Co., 1936; reprint ed., New York: Biblo & Tannen, 1965), p. 361.

Scanned by Jerome S. Arkenberg, Cal. State Fullerton. The text has been modernized by Prof. Arkenberg.


This text is part of the Internet Medieval Sourcebook. The Sourcebook is a collection of public domain and copy-permitted texts related to medieval and Byzantine history.

Unless otherwise indicated the specific electronic form of the document is copyright. Permission is granted for electronic copying, distribution in print form for educational purposes and personal use. If you do reduplicate the document, indicate the source. No permission is granted for commercial use.

© Paul Halsall, October 1998
[email protected]

 



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© Site Concept and Design: Paul Halsall created 26 Jan 1996: latest revision 11 March 2024 [CV]