A.D. 1000 x 1002. Will of Ælfflæd, including bequests of land at Dovercourt, Fulanpettæ (Beaumont), Alresford, Stanway, Byrton in Stanway (lost), Lexden, Essex; Elmsett and Buxhall, Suffolk, to the king; at Stoke, Suffolk; Hatfield (? Peverel, Essex), Stratford St Mary, Freston, Wiston, Lavenham, Balsdon, Polstead, Withermarsh, Suffolk; Greenstead (near Colchester), Peldon, (West) Mersea, Totham, Colne and Tey, Essex, to Stoke (? Stoke-by-Nayland, Suffolk); and at Monks Eleigh, Suffolk, to Christ Church, Canterbury; at Hadham, Herts., and at Tidwoldingtune (Heybridge near Maldon, Essex) to St Paul's, London; and at Baythorn, Essex, to Barking Abbey; at Woodham, Essex, to Ælfthryth, the king's mother, for life, with reversion to St Mary's, Barking; at Chelsworth and Cockfield, Suffolk, to St Edmund's Abbey; and at Nedging, Suffolk, to the same after the death of Crawe, her kinswoman; at Fingringhoe and Mersea, Essex, to the minster at Mersea; at Waldingfield, Suffolk, to St Gregory's, Sudbury, after the death of Crawe; at Rettendon, Essex; Soham, Ditton and Cheveley, Cambs., to Ely Abbey; at Lawling, Essex, to Ealdorman Æthelmær; and at Liston, Essex, to Æthelmær. With bounds of Balsdon, Withermarsh and Polstead appended. English

Archive:

Bury St Edmunds

MSS:

1. London, British Library, Harley Charter 43 C 4 (BM Facs., iii. 35)
2. Cambridge, University Library, Ff.2.33, f. 47r (s. xiii 2)

Printed:

Wotton 1737, pp. 103-4; K, 685; Sweet, Second Reader, pp. 233-5 (no. 44); B, 1289; Earle, pp. 366-9

Comments:

BM Facs., iv, p. 7, MS 1 is of the 11th century; PN Bucks., p. 41; PN Beds. and Hunts., p. 2, cited; Whitelock, Wills, pp. 141-6; Hart, ECEE, no. 64, authentic; Hart, ECE, no. 34, authentic; Boyden 1983, on Mersea; Hart 1992, pp. 132-5, on estates; Dumville 1993, p. 36, cited; Hart 1993, p. 197 n. 33, dates it 11 Aug. 991 x c. 1002; Keynes 1993b, p. 306 n. 26, on Hadham; Williams 1997b, p. 390, perhaps compiled in 1090s; Foot 2000, II. 29-30, 80