Select English Historical Documents of the Ninth and Tenth Centuries (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from Select English Historical Documents of the Ninth and Tenth Centuries

Classified according to their character seven of these documents (i, In-vi, xvi, xxm) are grants of estates or privileges (rents, etc.) made by kings or landowners. One (xvn) is a lease, another (vui) a deed of exchange. Six (vn, xu-xv, xvni) may perhaps best be described as records of negotiations, the last being in the form of a letter. Five (n, x, xi, xx, xxi) are wills, including those of two kings, Alfred arid Eadred. One (xix) is a deed of manumission. The two remaining (ix, xxn) are dedicatory inscriptions in Mss. of the Gospels, relating to their origin or history.

Apart from their historical importance these documents possess also considerable linguistic interest. Seven of them (i, II, IV, V, Vii, IX, x)are written in the Kentish dialect, of which they are probably the earliest specimens; one (ill) is in Mercian and one (xxn) in Northumbrian. The language of the rest is West Saxon, a dialect which seems eventually to have come into literary use in many parts of England. In -certain cases however the texts which have come down to us are clearly derived from older ones with different linguistic characteristics. Thus vi and vui shew evident traces of Kentish dialect, while Mercian features may be detected in Xll-xv.

There can be little doubt that, with one possible exception (xvi), all these documents are genuine records. In twelve cases (i-v, vn, ix, x, xvni, xix, xxn, xxm) either the original Mss. or contemporary copies have been preserved; the rest are known only from later, but fairly good, copies. It may be added that the Editor has spared no pains to obtain as accurate a text as possible. Except in two cases (ix and xxi) the Mss. have everywhere been submitted to careful and repeated examination, which has led to the correction of a number of erroneous readings found in previous editions.

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