I here break off to print, for convenience, the parallel clauses in these documents side by side.

1068.1072.
Peracta vero est hec donacio die Natalis Domini; et postmodum in die Pentecostes confirmata quando Mathildis conjux mea in basilica Sancti Petri Westmonasterii in reginam divino nutu est consecrata.Ventilata est autem hec causa prius apud Wentanam civitatem, in Paschali solemnitate, in capella regia que sita est in castello; postea in villa regia que vocatur Windisor, ubi et finem accepit, in presentia Regis, episcoporum, abbatum, diversorum ordinum, qui congregati erant apud curiam in festivitate Pentecostes.[57]

Resuming now Mr. Stevenson’s note on the documents of 1072, at the point where I broke it off, we read:

The originals of both still exist. The first, dated at Winchester at Whitsuntide,[58] is validated only by the crosses of William and his queen, the papal legate, both archbishops and four bishops (Palæographical Society, i. fol. 170). The second ... is dated at Windsor, also at Whitsuntide, and is attested by additional bishops, and by numerous abbots.

As the former document (A.2 of the Canterbury charters, apparently overlooked till some twenty years ago) could not possibly be “dated at Winchester at Whitsuntide,” one turns to the text as given by the Palæographical Society, only to find that these words are sheer imagination on Mr. Stevenson’s part. There is nothing of the kind to be found there. Owing to this incomprehensible error, he has altogether misunderstood these “supplementary confirmations.” The clauses I have printed side by side must not be broken up. The earlier, like the later, is a consistent whole, added at one time.[59]

When, then, was the “Ingelric” charter actually drawn up? Mr. Stevenson, following, we have seen, Mr. Freeman’s loose expressions, tells us that “as the present charter (sic) was peracta at Christmas, 1067, and confirmata at Whitsuntide, it was most probably written at the former date.” But it was the “donacio,” not the “charter,” which was “peracta” at Christmas. The text only tells us of the charter that it was written “anno ab incarnacione Domini MLXVIIIo.” My own view is that the charter was written not at Christmas, 1067 (which was the date of the act of gift), but at (or after) Whitsuntide, 1068. I base this conclusion on the first three witnesses:

Matilda was not “queen” till Whitsuntide, 1068, and was not even in England at Christmas, 1067. If it be urged that, even though found in this position, her name was interpolated afterwards, I reply that the name of William’s eldest son, Robert, would then have been similarly added. The fact that we find, instead, his second son, Richard (afterwards killed while hunting in the New Forest) is to me the strongest possible evidence that Robert had remained behind, as regent, in Normandy when his mother came over to England to be crowned. The most probable date, therefore, for the execution of this charter is that of her coronation at Westminster, 1068. It preserves for us, in that case, the names of the magnates present on that occasion, including Hugh bishop of Lisieux, who may well have escorted her from Normandy, and thus have attended the ceremony.[60].

My third point follows as a corollary from this conclusion. For if the charter was drawn up at Whitsuntide, 1068, not at Christmas, 1067, there is an end of Mr. Stevenson’s argument and conclusion:

The 25th December in the second year of William’s reign was in 1067 according to our reckoning. But the old system of reckoning the year “ab Incarnatione” began the year on 25th December. This was the old English system, and this charter proves that William’s chancery also commenced the year at the Nativity.[61]