The Anglo-Saxon Chancery: The History, Language and Production of Anglo-Saxon Charters from Alfred to Edgar

254 Pages·2015·5.43 MB·English

by  Ben Snook

T
h
More charters survive from Anglo-Saxon england than texts of
e
any other type. In a society in which the ownership of land

was fundamental to status, wealth and power, the charters A
which gifted and guaranteed landholdings were crucial not only as legal n
documents but also as instruments of political power. As responsibility for
g
their production was increasingly centralised at the royal court in the ninth
l
and tenth centuries, charters also became vehicles for royal and religious
o
propaganda, reflecting the dynamic and creative culture of tenth-century The
england. -
S

A
Anglo-SAxon
Through an analysis of the extraordinarily sophisticated latin in which these x
documents were written, this book demonstrates the literary ambitions o
of their draughtsmen (who may certainly be considered as Anglo-latin ChAnCery
n
literary authors in their own right), and also sheds light on the political

ideologies of Anglo-Saxon england’s most powerful and enigmatic kings C
and churchmen. Most tantalising of all, perhaps, is the fact that the language
h The history, language and
of royal charters, which may preserve some of the very words uttered by
A Production of Anglo-Saxon
the king, provides an unparalleled view of the mechanisms by which the
n
developing kingdom of england was governed. not only does it indicate Charters from Alfred
C
the increasingly sophisticated bureaucracy of an administratively advanced
e to edgar
state, but it also reveals an atmosphere of literary and cultural attainment,
r
emanating directly from the king’s court, as rich as any in the early medieval
Insular world. y
Ben snook teaches history at the godolphin and latymer School, london.
Ben Snook
he is the author of several articles on Anglo-Saxon history and literature.
s
n
Cover image shows detail from S 416, a charter written by ‘Athelstan A’ in 931. © The o
British library Board. london, British library, Cotton Charters viii. 16. o
k
Anglo-SAxon STUDIeS 28
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PO Box 9, Woodbridge, Suffolk IP12 3DF (GB) and
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Anglo-Saxon Studies 28
The Anglo-SAxon ChAnCery
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Anglo-Saxon Studies
ISSN 1475–2468
generAl eDITorS
John Hines and Catherine Cubitt
‘Anglo-Saxon Studies’ aims to provide a forum for the best scholarship on
the Anglo-Saxon peoples in the period from the end of roman Britain to
the norman Conquest, including comparative studies involving adjacent
populations and periods; both new research and major re-assessments of
central topics are welcomed.
Books in the series may be based in any one of the principal disciplines
of archaeology, art history, history, language and literature, and inter- or
multi-disciplinary studies are encouraged.
Proposals or enquiries may be sent directly to the editors or the
publisher at the addresses given below; all submissions will receive
prompt and informed consideration.
Professor John hines, School of history and Archaeology, John Percival
Building, Cardiff University, Colum Drive, Cardiff, Wales, CF10 3EU, UK
Professor Catherine Cubitt, Centre for Medieval Studies, University of
York, The King’s Manor, York, England, YO1 7EP, UK
Boydell & Brewer, PO Box 9, Woodbridge, Suffolk, England, IP12 3DF,
UK
Previously published volumes in the series
are listed at the back of this book
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The Anglo-SAxon ChAnCery
The history, language and Production of
Anglo-Saxon Charters from Alfred to edgar
Ben Snook
The BoyDell PreSS
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© Ben Snook 2015
All Rights Reserved. Except as permitted under current legislation
no part of this work may be photocopied, stored in a retrieval system,
published, performed in public, adapted, broadcast,
transmitted, recorded or reproduced in any form or by any means,
without the prior permission of the copyright owner
The right of Ben Snook to be identified
as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with
sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
First published 2015
The Boydell Press, Woodbridge
ISBN 978–1–78327–006–4
The Boydell Press is an imprint of Boydell & Brewer ltd
PO Box 9, Woodbridge, Suffolk IP12 3DF, UK
and of Boydell & Brewer Inc.
668 Mt Hope Avenue, Rochester, NY 14620–2731, USA
website: www.boydellandbrewer.com
The publisher has no responsibility for the continued existence or
accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites
referred to in this book, and does not guarantee that any content on
such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available
from the British library
This publication is printed on acid-free paper
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Dans les pays où l’administration publique est déjà puissante, il naît
peu d’idées, de désirs, de douleurs, il se recontre peu d’intérêts et
de passions qui ne viennent tôt ou tard se montrer à nu devant
elle. en visitant ses archives on n’acquiert pas seulement une notion
très-exacte de ses procédés, le pays tout entire s’y révèle.
Alexis de Tocqueville, L’ancien régime et la Révolution
(Paris, 1856), p. viii
In countries where public administration is already strong, few
ideas, needs, grievances, few interests or enthusiasms fail sooner
or later to come to its notice. By examining its archives, not only
does one gain a precise idea of its public procedures but the entire
country is on display.
gerald Bevan and hugh Brogan, eds. and trans.,
Alexis de Tocqueville: The Ancien Régime
and the Revolution (London, 2008), p. 9
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Contents
Acknowledgements ix
list of Abbreviations xii
Timeline of Key Events between the Accession of Alfred xv
and the Death of edgar
Introduction 1
1 Brave New World: The Charters of Alfred and Edward 29
2 Æthelstan 57
3 ‘Æthelstan A’ 86
4 Turbulent Priests: Dunstan, Cenwald and Oda 125
5 Back to the Future: Edgar and ‘Edgar A’ 159
Conclusion 189
Appendix I: S 193 195
Appendix II: S346 197
Appendix III: S 225 199
Bibliography 201
Index of Charters 219
Index 227
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Acknowledgements
It is nearly a decade since I began the research that has finally come to
fruition in this book. It all began at the Department of Anglo-Saxon,
Norse, and Celtic at the University of Cambridge, where, in Part
II of the tripos, having proved not entirely inept as an historian of
Anglo-Saxon history in Part I, I absent-mindedly opted to take Simon
Keynes’s ‘Anglo-Saxon Chancery’ class. An MPhil and a PhD (‘The
literary Dimensions of Anglo-Saxon Charters from the Seventh
Century to the Reign of Edgar’) followed.
I probably did not fully appreciate quite how extraordinary
the ASNaC Department was until I left Cambridge. Despite its
occasional eccentricities, it nevertheless fostered an effervescent
spirit of scholarship, discussion and learning which was as intense
as it was electrifying. new and exciting ideas were as likely to be
exchanged, explored and exploded during morning coffee (or in the
pub on a Friday night) as they were during seminars and lectures.
A strikingly egalitarian atmosphere pervaded the department, within
whose walls undergraduates, postgraduates, postdoctoral researchers
and lecturing staff (not to mention the colourful crowd of emeritus
professors, visiting scholars and other assorted camp followers who
were always passing through) could talk and think together, swapping
hypotheses, comparing notes from their respective fields, telling stories
and arguing over the coveted Erik Bloodaxe mug at coffee time. The
unique, interdisciplinary approach to the Middle Ages which is at the
heart of ASnaC’s ethos underpins every aspect of my research (and is
evident on almost every page of this book). I therefore owe a consider-
able debt to those who taught me there: haki Antonsson, who took me
through my initial set of supervisions in Scandinavian history during
my first weeks as an undergraduate; Richard Dance, who tolerated
my total and persistent inability to distinguish between a strong and
a weak verb in weekly old english classes with surprising good
humour; and David Dumville, without whose inspirational teaching,
and willingness to admit to the university a somewhat dishevelled
applicant from south-east essex with a decidedly unremarkable set
of GCSEs, none of this would be possible. Simon Keynes, whose fault
it was that I got into charters in the first place, deserves a mention
as well. now and again, when I was a postgraduate, he would pass
me in a corridor and, whilst disappearing off into the distance,
ix
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