Editing Pershore Abbey (section)

===Foundation===
The foundation of the minster at Pershore is alluded to in a spurious charter of King [[Æthelred of Mercia]] (r. 675–704). It purports to be the charter by which Æthelred granted 300 [[Hide (unit)|hides]] (about 36,000 acres) at Gloucester to King [[Osric, king of the Hwicce|Osric of the Hwicce]], and another 300 at Pershore to Osric's brother Oswald.<ref name=Sims94-6>Sims-Williams, ''Religion and literature'', pp. 94-6.</ref><ref>[http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=seek&query=S+70 S 70]</ref> It is preserved only as a copy in a 14th-century register of Gloucester, where it is followed by two charters listing the endowments made to the abbey until the reign of King [[Burgred of Mercia| Burgred]] (852-874).<ref>[http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=seek&query=S+209 S 209]</ref><ref name=S1782>[http://www.esawyer.org.uk/content/charter/1782.html S 1782]{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> The 300 hides mentioned here are unlikely to be a contemporary detail, as they were intended to represent the triple [[hundred (county subdivision)|hundred]] which later made up the area of Worcestershire.<ref name=Sims94-6 /> Historian [[H. P. R. Finberg]] suggests that the foundation charter may have been drafted in the 9th century, based on some authentic material.<ref>Finberg, ''Early charters'', pp. 153-66.</ref> Oswald's foundation of a monastery at Pershore is not stated explicitly in the charter, but the Worcester chronicle ''[[Cronica de Anglia]]'', written ''c''. 1150, reports it under the annal for 683, and [[John Leland (antiquary)|John Leland]], consulting the now lost ''Annals of Pershore'', places the event around 689.<ref name=Sims94-6 /><ref>John Leland, ''Collectanea'', ed. Hearne, pp. 240-1.</ref> [[Patrick Sims-Williams]] suggests that the foundation by Oswald may also represent an oral tradition at Pershore, as its archives were probably destroyed in fires of 1002 and again in 1223.<ref name=Sims94-6 />

In the 9th century, Pershore comes to light again as a minster under the patronage of [[List of monarchs of Mercia|Mercian kings]]. In other charters contained in the Gloucester register, [[Coenwulf of Mercia|Coenwulf]] (r. 796–821) and Burgred are recorded as having been patrons of Pershore.<ref name=S1782 /> A charter of [[Edgar the Peaceful|King Edgar]] refers back to a grant of privileges by Coenwulf at the request of his [[ealdorman]] (''[[dux]]'') Beornnoth.<ref name=Sims94-6 /><ref name=S786>[http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=seek&query=S+786 S 786]</ref>