The Celtic Christianity of Cornwall: Divers Sketches and StudiesTaylor, Thomas
History
The Celtic Christianity of Cornwall: Divers Sketches and Studies
Taylor, Thomas
Cornwall (England : County) -- Church history
With regard to Edward’s charter, it has been pointed out by more than
one writer that Edward probably did not assume the title of King of the
English until after the death of Hardicanute in 1042, and that Robert,
archbishop of Rouen, died in 1037. It is not stated whence Dugdale
obtained his copy of the charter, but a footnote by Oliver informs us
that the MSS. of the _abbey_ of St. Michael are preserved in the public
library at Avranches; and it is noteworthy that the charter in his
_Monasticon_ is labelled Carta Edwardi regis Anglorum pro _abbatia_
Sancti Michaelis, and that the three episcopal signatories are _Norman_
ecclesiastics. It is therefore possible that during his sojourn in
Normandy Edward who:
... loved the holy company
Of people of religion,
Who loved only all that was good;
Especially a monk who led
A high and heavenly life
may have been induced to promise or to give Cornish lands to the Norman
St. Michael and that his friends may have styled him Rex Anglorum,
knowing that only when he became de facto King of the English could any
benefit accrue to the abbey. But it seems more probable that a gift of
lands was made by him to the Cornish St. Michael after Hardicanute’s
death and that after the Norman Conquest when the two religious houses
were united by the cession of the Cornish priory to the Norman abbey the
deed which may have borne the signature of Robert, archbishop of
Canterbury, was altered so as to bear that of Robert, archbishop of
Rouen. In that case the grant would have been made between 1050 and
1066. There were undoubtedly bold and fruitless attempts made on the
part of the Norman abbots to enrich the Norman at the expense of the
Cornish house, just as at a later period there were bold and successful
attempts made to enrich the latter by borrowing the legends and
traditions of the former.
The substantial genuineness of Edward’s charter will be regarded as
probable when it is remembered that no ultimate advantage can be shown
to have accrued from it to either house. A spurious document would
hardly have been preserved in the face of facts witnessing to its
failure. Neither Domesday Book nor the _Inquisitio Geldi_ makes mention
of any possessions in Meneage belonging to St. Michael.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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