The Lund Gift Charter: Canute the Holy's Gift Charter of 21 May 1085

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The Lund Gift Charter

Canute the Holy's Gift Charter of 21 May 1085

Author: Royal Chancery of King Canute IV
Translation: Daniel Holm Frandsen
Year: 1085

The Lund Gift Charter is the earliest surviving royal charter issued by King Canute IV and the oldest surviving continuous text of Danish origin.

Drawn up at Lund on 21 May 1085, it records the king's endowment of St. Lawrence's Church and offers rare evidence of royal administration, landholding, justice, and relations between crown and Church in the medieval Danish kingdom.

Contents

  1. Invocation and Royal Declaration
  2. Witnesses
  3. The Endowment
  4. The Anathema
  5. Royal Jurisdiction
  6. Dating Clause