not built in his time. We may provisionally place his death in 705. The list of abbots, compiled about the year 990, begins with the name of Hemgisl. The absence of Beorhtwald from the first place is probably due to the confusion between his name and that of Hemgisl's successor Beorhwald. Moreover, if the list was drawn up in part from sepulchral monuments, Beorhtwald's burial at Canterbury would further help to account for the omission of his name. As a matter of fact, 'Beorhtwald' does appear in the fourth place in this ancient list; but probably it is only a scribe's error for Beorhwald.
When we come to Hemgisl's successor, Abbot Beorhwald, we have for the first time the advantage of evidence from outside, not derived from Glastonbury charters or traditions. About the year 710 some trouble in Wessex led to the meeting of a council of ecclesiastics, who finally sent a trusty messenger to Beorhtwald, the archbishop of Canterbury, to seek his approval of their action. The messenger was Winfrid, afterwards famous as St Boniface, the Apostle of Germany. He was commended to K. Ina for this purpose by Winbert his own abbot of Nutscelle, Wintra the abbot of Tisbury in Wilts, and Beorhwald the abbot of Glastonbury.[1] We meet with Abbot Beorhwald again in the Collection of Letters which preserves the correspondence of St Boniface.[2] Archbishop Beorhtwald writes to Forthere bishop of Sherborne (709-36), requesting him to intercede with Beorhwald the abbot of Glastonbury on behalf of a captive Kentish girl. This letter must fall between 709, the accession of Forthere, and 731, the death of Archbishop Beorthwald.
We now come to charters. K. Ina's privilege to the churches of Wessex (B. C. S. 108) contains a long list of abbots, including Wintra, whom we have mentioned above as the abbot of Tisbury, and 'Beornuuald'. It is dated 704, but no reliance can be placed upon it in its present form. Two charters of K. Ina (B. C. S. 112, 113), one granting land on the Doulting, the other lands there and at other places, are dated 702 and 705 respectively; but the indiction in both is the fourth, which points to 706. The charters are not genuine in their present form, but the mention of Abbot Beorhwald in connexion with these gifts need not be rejected. William of Malmesbury has worked from these charters and others, but he adds nothing serviceable in the way of dates. Provisionally we may date
