Will of Æthelwold

Overview

The will of Æthelwold is a late 10th-century document concerning tracts of land given to Æthelwold by King Æthelred the Unready in 987 CE. Recorded in the Liber de Hyda, the document details how King Æthelred granted the land of Manningford, Wiltshire, to his servant Æthelwold. Consequently, the will must have been written sometime afterward. In his will, Æthelwold bequeaths a portion of the land to his wife and the remainder to the Abbot of Hyde Abbey in Winchester. Additionally, he leaves his heriot—a customary death gift where a nobleman bequeaths military equipment to his lord—to King Æthelred.

This is the will of Æthelwold. First, he prays his royal lord, for the love of God and the sake of his kingship, that his will relating to those things which he has acquired from you and from your predecessors may stand.

First, he grants for his soul twenty mancuses of gold to the New Minster, and a cup as his burial fee, and twenty mancuses of gold to Abingdon for his brothers. And he has given to his royal lord as his heriot* a torque worth thirty mancuses, and two scabbards, two horses, two swords, two shields, and two spears.

And he has bequeathed the ten hides at Manningford to his wife for as long as her life shall last, and after her death, to the New Minster for the souls of us both. And he has given her thirty mancuses of gold and a cup. And I grant to my son one hide of land at Upton and one scabbard. And I grant to the ealdorman a fur robe, and I grant the other fur robe to Leofwine.

 

 *a death custom where a nobleman would leave his lord military equipment

Further Research & Sources

Edwards, Edward. Liber Monasterii de Hyda. London: Longman. 1866.

History of the Manningfords – Manningford Abbots

Whitelock, Dorothy, ed. Anglo-Saxon Wills. Cambridge University Press, 1930.

This page was last updated on July 23, 2024.