Laurel Ceremony for Hroðwynn Brycgentslaga 

The text and general vibe of the ceremony is principally based on a single document: S90, A.D. 742 (Clofeshos). Æthelbald, king of Mercia, to the Kentish churches; confirmation of privilege (https://esawyer.lib.cam.ac.uk/charter/90.html). This document provides a narrative around some administrative decisions being made by the church. Within this same document, the author describes certain rights and responsibilities of the monasteries, and confirms the duties of the King towards the monastery. At the end, all parties involved signed and agreed to what was decided. This is as close as I found to a ceremony. Bonus points for being Kentish and within the correct time period.

Furthermore, there is another charter which explicitly states the Anglo-Saxon’s dedication to writing things down, stating, “We also know that all things that customarily take place in this world, sometimes somewhat slowly, sometimes rather more quickly, pass from the failing memory of mortals into oblivion, unless they are recorded in written documents.” (A.D. 903. King Edward, with Æthelred and Æthelflæd of Mercia, at the request of Æthelfrith, dux, https://esawyer.lib.cam.ac.uk/charter/367a.html)

The incident which precipitated the writing of that document was actually a fire which destroyed all the deeds of title/land records of a Dux/Duke. This was somewhat of a problem as he was having difficulty remembering whose land belonged to whom. 

I would like to note that I am capable of writing proper citations. However, I did not feel like it so I didn’t. I included links to the vast majority of the source material. In the ceremony, I have italicized any text which was directly drawn from source material.

Please see Printable Ceremony linked above.