A HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND 



before the Conquest by William Rufus. It can scarcely be earlier than 

 1067 when Gospatric purchased the earldom of Northumberland from 

 William the Conqueror, though it may have been issued after 1072 when 

 King Malcolm of Scotland gave him Dunbar and the adjacent lands in 

 Lothian. 



Before deductions are made from this new evidence on the political 

 condition of the district, it is desirable that the writ 1 should be printed 

 in full. 



Gospatrik greet 2 ealle mine wassenas 3 & hyylkun mann, freo & Srenge, beo 

 woonnan on eallun bam landann beo weoron Combres & eallun mine kynling* freond- 

 lycc ; & ic cySe eoy ^ myne mynna is & full leof ^ Thorfynn Mac Thore beo swa 

 freo on eallan ftynges b e o beo myne on Alnerdall swa aenyg mann beo, oiSer ic o$er 

 aenyg myne wassenas, on weald, on freyft, on heyninga & aet aellun iSyngan, beo by 

 eoriSe basnand & SeoroniSer, to Shauk, to Wafyr, to poll WaiScen, to bek Troyte & 

 beo weald aet Caldebek ; & ic wille ^ beo mann bydann mr3 Thorfynn aet CarSeu & 

 Combe'Seyfoch beo swa freals my3 hem swa Melmor & Thore & Sygoolf weoron on 

 Eadread dagan, & ne beo neann mann swa iSeorif, behat mi$ }) ic heobbe gegyfen to 

 hem, ne ghar brech seo gyrth iSyylc Eorl Syward & ic hebbe getySet hem cefrelycc 

 swa aenyg mann leofand beo welkynn 'Seoron'Ser ; & loc hyylkun by bar bySann geyld 

 freo beo swa ic by, & swa willann WalHSeof & Wygande & Wyberth & Gamell & 

 Kuyth & eallun mine kynling & wassenas ; & ic wille ^ Thorfynn heobbe soc & sac, 

 toll & theam, ofer eallun bam landan on CarSeu & on Combe'Seyfoch }} weoron 

 gyfene Thore on Moryn dagan freols myd bode & wytnesmann on J'yylk stow. 



Gospatrik greets all my dependants and each man, free and dreng, that dwell in 

 all the lands of the Cumbrians, and all my kindred friendlily ; and I make known to 

 you that my mind and full leave is that Thorfynn 6 Mac ' Thore be as free in all 

 things that are mine in Alnerdall 7 as any man is, whether I or any of my dependants, 

 in wood, in heath, in enclosures, and as to all things that are existing on the earth and 



1 This document, the existence of which has been well known to Lord Lonsdale, was submitted 

 to Chancellor Burn when he was examining the muniments at Lowther for the History of Westmor- 

 land and, Cumberland, published in 1777, and bears an endorsement in his handwriting, but he ap- 

 parently did not fully recognize its importance. The present writer's attention was called to it by 

 Canon Greenwell, at whose suggestion he examined it at Lowther and contributed an article thereon to 

 the Scottish Historical Review, October, 1903. The deed has been the subject of an article in the 

 Ancestor, October, 1903, by the Rev. F. W. Ragg, who saw it and procured a photograph of it in 

 1902. It has been also printed by Canon Greenwell in A History of Northumberland, vii. 25-6, and 

 with facsimile by Professor Liebermann in Archiv Jiir das Stadium der neueren Spracben und Literaturen, 

 cxi. pt. 3-4, 275-8. 



2 The rapid transition from the third person to the first in Gospatric's mode of address is common 

 and idiomatic. Compare the letter of ^Elfthryth to ^Elfric, Archbishop of Canterbury, and that of 

 Wulfstan, Archbishop of York, to King Cnut, for the identical phraseology of our charter (Thorpe, 

 Diplomatarium, pp. 295, 313). 



a This is a rare word and is used thrice in the writ. It cannot be Norman for vassals, for ' vassal ' 

 was not adopted into English at this date. It is apparently British, a form of the Welsh ' gwassan,' a 

 dependant or retainer, but it is from the same Celtic root as the Prankish ' vassallus.' For the use of 

 vassalus before the Conquest, see Maitland, Domesday Book and Beyond, p. 293. 



4 For the use of this word, which is of very rare occurrence, the reader may be referred to the 

 alleged charter of Edward the Confessor printed by Kemble (Codex Diplomatics, iv. 236). 



5 A personal name not uncommon in Cumberland in the twelfth century. In the Chartulary of 

 St. Bees, ' Thorfinsacre ' is named as a plot of land. The parish of Torpenhow is written ' Thorphin- 

 how ' in some early deeds. The hill overlooking the village of Thursby is still known as ' Torkin ' pro- 

 bably from this person. 



This word for ' son' is extremely rare in local evidences. We have Gospatric Mapbennoc, that 

 is, ' Mac Bennoc,' in the Pipe Roll of Cumberland of 1158 : his name appears in the Roll of 1 163 as 

 ' Gospatric fil. Beloc.' 



' The great district of Allerdale situated on the western seaboard between the Wampool and the 

 Derwent, so called perhaps because it was traversed by the river Alne or Ellen. Near its mouth is the 

 vill of Alneburg or Ellenborough. 



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