Estate Given by
Ine to Aldhelm
Overview
Before becoming the Bishop of Sherborne, Aldhelm served as the abbot of Malmesbury Abbey and was possibly a distant relative of King Ine of Wessex. Renowned for his significant contributions to monastic life, Aldhelm’s influence extended well beyond his own lifetime through his important writings. His presence and counsel were highly valued at King Ine’s court, as evidenced by the charters that show Ine’s deep reverence for him. Around 676, Aldhelm dedicated Malmesbury Abbey as a Benedictine Abbey, cementing its religious and cultural importance. His leadership and scholarship left an enduring legacy on the ecclesiastical landscape of Wessex.
Estate Given by Ine to Aldhelm
In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour! In the reign of our Lord, I, Ine, king of the Saxons, having in mind the reward of eternal life and fearing the endless punishments of hell, for the salvation of my soul and forgiveness of my sins have decided to give to the revered abbot Aldhelm a parcel of land for the increase of his monastery at Malmesbury. It consists of forty-five hides in various places, as named below by their inhabitants: five hides in the place called Garsdon, twenty hides at the source of the stream called the Gauze brook; ten hides in another place near the same stream; and ten hides near the spring called Rodbourne. Given in 701, Indiction 14.
✠ Ine, king of the Saxons
✠ Bishop Hæddi
✠ Wynberht [clerk to the king]
Further Research & Sources
Bede. Ecclesiastical History of the English People. Trans. and ed. by Judith McClure and Roger Collins. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. 208.
Malmesbury, William. The Deeds of the Bishops of England (Gesta Pontificum Anglorum). Translated by David Preest. Rochester, NY: Boydell Press. 2002.