Charter of Glastonbury
from Cnut
Overview
This charter is found in William of Malmesbury’s Chronicles of the Kings of England, written in the 12th century. According to Malmesbury, King Cnut was visiting the grave of King Edmund at the church of Glastonbury when he was approached by Æthelnoth, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who had previously been a monk at Glastonbury. Æthelnoth asked Cnut to reaffirm the immunities that the abbey had enjoyed under previous kings. Cnut granted this request and issued the charter in the wooden church at Glastonbury Abbey.
The Lord, reigning forever, who disposes and governs all things by His unspeakable power, who wonderfully determines the changes of times and of men, and justly brings them to an uncertain end according to His pleasure, and who from the secret mysteries of nature mercifully teaches us how lasting, instead of fleeting and transitory, kingdoms are to be obtained by the assistance of God. Therefore, I, Cnut, king of England, and governor and ruler of the adjacent nations, by the counsel and decree of our archbishop Æthelnoth, and of all the priests of God, and by the advice of our nobility, do, for the love of heaven, and the pardon of my sins, and the remission of the transgressions of my brother, King Edmund, grant to the church of the Holy Mother of God, Mary, at Glastonbury, its rights and customs throughout my kingdom, and all forfeitures throughout its possessions, and that its lands shall be free from all claims and vexations as my own are.
Moreover, I especially prohibit, by the authority of the Almighty Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and the curse of the eternal Virgin, and command it to be observed by the judges and primates of my kingdom for their safety, that no person, regardless of their order or dignity, shall enter that island for any reason; all causes, both ecclesiastical and secular, shall await the sole judgment of the abbot and convent, as my predecessors have ratified and confirmed by charters—namely, Centwine, Ine, Cuthred, Ælfred, Edward, Æthelred, Æthelstan, the most glorious Edmund, and the equally glorious Edgar. And should anyone hereafter endeavor, on any occasion, to break or void the enactment of this grant, let them be driven from the communion of the righteous by the fan of the last judgment. But should anyone endeavor diligently, with benevolent intention, to perform these things, to approve, and defend them, may God increase their portion in the land of the living, through the intercession of the most holy Mother of God, Mary, and the rest of the saints. The grant of this immunity was written and published in the Wooden Church, in the presence of King Cnut, in the year of our Lord 1032, the second indiction.
Further Research & Sources
Malmesbury, William. The Chronicles of the Kings of England: From the Earliest Period to the Reign of King Stephen. Translated by J. A. Giles. London: Bohn’s Antiquarian Library. 1847.