Translation
To all sons of Mother Church present and future, Roger of Skelbrooke sends Greeting: Know that I have granted and given, and by this my charter made firm, to God and to the church of St Mary at Melrose and to the monks there serving God, for the souls of the kings of Scotland, David and Malcolm, and Earl Henry, and for the soul of GIlbert son of Fergus, my lord, and of his wife, and for the soul of my father and my mother and of all my ancestors, and for the salvation of my lord, King William, and of Earl David his brother, and of Earl Duncan, and Duncan son of Gilbert, my lord, and for my own salvation and of all my successors, in free and pure and perpetual alms, the whole land of Drumeteisuiene, and of Alesburc, and of Authnephur, by these boundaries, that is, as one burn descends from the moss that is between Largas and Beoch, and divides between Dunduff and Drumeteisuiene and by the same burn as far as the place where the same burn falls into the sea, and thence by the sea shore as far as Alesburc, and from Alesburc as far as the syke that descends from the wood on the eastern side of the wagon road that ascends to Authnephur, and by the same syke ascending by a deep valley as far as an old castle, and on the eastern side of the same old castle by the syke upwards as far as Tilliforde, from the northern side of the spring, and thence upwards and across as far as the syke which runs from the north side of Farnileie, and thence upwards by the syke as far as the path, and by the path upwards as far as the head of the syke that falls into the Polnesalahari to Thauenegaith; this whole land and whatsoever is contained within the aforenamed boundaries in wood and plain, in meadows and pastures, in moors and marshes, in mines and saltpans, and in all other easements I have given to the said monks and church of Melros, to be held and possessed in perpetuuity as freely and quietly, fully and honourably, loosed from all tenurial service and custom and secular exaction, just as any alms is freely and quietly, fully and honourably held and possessed by monks of the Cistercian Order, provided that they shall give me and my heirs one merk of silver only each year for recognition in respect of the alms of Authnephur, that is, half a merk at Pentecost, and half a merk at the feast of St Martin, and they shall make use of this tenement at their pleasure and will, by all means, as it might seem good and profitable to them and their men. And since I have willed that this my alms be firm and established and by no means able to be brought to nought, I have placed the bishop and church of Glasgow, and Earl Duncan and his heirs, as witnesses and sureties of all these things, so that if I or my heirs at any time deviate from the terms of this charter, this church and its bishops should recall us by ecclesiastical censure to correction. I have sworn all these things with my own hand in the hand of the lord Jocelin, bishop of Glasgow, for myself and for my heirs, without evil intention to be held and observed. And I and my heirs shall maintain and warrant this same alms to the monks against all men, with all its liberties and pertinents, and we shall discharge every service in respect of our lords in perpetuity, with my lord, Duncan son of Gilbert, assenting and bearing witness. With these witnesses, the lord Jocelin, bishop of Glasgow, Simon the archdeacon, Herbert the dean of Glasgow, Gilla na Náem Accoueltan, Gilledoueng’ his brother, Gilchrist mac Maken, Murdoch mac Gilla Martain, Gilla Asaild mac Gillanders, Gilla M’Ernóic his brother.