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TEXT Gospatrik greot ealle mine wassenas and hyylkun mann freo and Örenge peo woonan on eallun pam landann peo weoron Combres and eallun mine kynling freondlycc, and ic cyde eoy pæt myne mynna 1 is and full leof pæt Thorfynn 2 Thore beo swa freo on eallan dynges peo beo myne on Alnerdall swa ænyg mann beo oder ic oder ænyg myne wassenas on weald 3 on frey on heyninga 5 and æt allun Ŏyngan peo byn eorde bonand and deoronder to Shauk to Wafyr to poll Waðeen to bek Troyte and peo weald æt Caldebek and ic wille pæt peo mann bydann mið Thorfynn æt Cardeu and Combedeyfoch beo swa freals my hem swa Melmor and Thore and Sygolf weoron on Eadread dagan and ne beo neann

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TRANSLATION

I Gospatrik greet all my vassals and each man free and serf that dwell in all the lands that were Cumbrian and all my kindred kindly, and I do you to wit that my desire is—and it is most completely to my wish-that Thorfynn mac Thore be as free in all things that are mine in Alnerdall' as any man is either I or any of my vassals, on field on frith on enclosed land, and in regard to all things that dwell on the earth and under, as far as Shauk, Wafyr," Pool Watheen,* bek Troyte' and the open field at Caldebek," and I will that the men that dwell with Thorfynn at Carðeu and at Combeðeyfoch be as free together with him as Melmor and Thore and Sygolf were on Eadread's days; and let no man be

a Combres. Mr. Bevan-Petman thought this might be the genitive of a personal name, but it seems more natural to me to take it as an adjective with the ending lost or omitted by the copyist, viz. Combresc (for Combraisc)=Cumbrian.

b Alnerdall Uldale, the dale of the river Ellen.

e Shauk. The 'sh' is difficult. Its representative in Anglo-Saxon is 'Sce,' but the identification is easy. Chalkbeck discharges itself into the Wampool near Thursby (Thoresby).

d Wafyr (f soft as in Welsh ?)=river Waver near Wigton in the same district.

e Pol Watheen. River Wampole. The loss of th' in the name will not offer difficulty to students of Gaelic nor students of Cumbrian place names. Analogies are in Welsh Pwl-heli, Pwlcrochan and Welshpool as an Anglicised form. Pwll=pool (turbid ?).

fbek Troyte. Troytebeck or Troutbeck. I have not been able to identify this in that district.

Caldebek. In Caldbeck Fell and near it the above streams rise.

h Cardew and Cumdivock are both in the district where the above streams are, near Thursby and Dalston. Combeðeyfoch I am tempted to suggest=Cwmbetheyfach, Cwmbethey the little, like Y Glyder fach (the little Glyder) near Snowdon.

i Eadread should, I think, be Ealdread, who was Earl of Northumberland after Uhtred, i.e. after 1016. He was of Gospatrik's kindred.

mann swa deorif" (b)ehat 8 mið þæt ic heobbe gegyfene to hem ne ghar brech seo gyrth dyylc Eorl Syward and ic hebbe gecyden hem cefrelycc swa ænyg mann leofand peo welkynn deoronder and lot 10 hyylkun i byn par bydann geyldfreo beo swa ic byn and swa willann 12 Waltheof and Wygande and Wyberth and Gamell and Knyth 13 and eallun mine kynling and wassenas and ic wille pæt Thorfynn heobbe soc and soc toll and theam ofer eallun pam landan on Cardeu and on Combeðeyfoch pet weoran gyfene Thore on Moryn dagan freols myd bode and wytnesmann on pyylk

stow.

7 deorif, I think, is an error for deorof, 'thereof'; compare deoronder above.

8 The text is here confused, I think, by omissions, and I conjecture it might run : 'swa deorof behat mið þæt þæt ic heobbe gegyfene swa he to hem nahwar brech seo gyrth'; and translated as I have rendered it. gyrth-grith, grið, and the first letter of behat is blotted.

• cefrelycc, I think, is a copyist's error for swa freolicc (i.e. freolice).

10 lot, probably error for 'let.'

11 be is apparently omitted.

12 willann I thought at first was a personal name and that 'and' was omitted. But Mr. Bevan-Petman comparing woonan above takes it for a verb. To this after some thought I have consented.

But a

personal name or family name Willan occurs in Westmorland documents much later.

13 Kunyth I took as being probably= Knut (Canute); Mr. Bevan-Petman suggested Kenneth.

so angred (?) on account of this that I have bestowed this on him that he anywhere breaks the peace which Earl Siward and I have proclaimed to him as freely as any man living under heaven, and let each that dwells there be geld free as I am. And so will Waltheof and Wygande and Wyberth and Gamell and Kunyth and all my kindred and vassals; and I will that Thorfynn have soc and sac and toll and team over all the lands at Cardeu and Combeðeyfoch that were given to Thore in Moryn's days by proclamation and before witnesses at that place.

FREDERICK W. RAGG.