Select English Historical Documents of the Ninth and Tenth Centuries

This 1914 volume contains a selection of some of the most interesting Anglo-Saxon documents of the ninth and tenth centuries.

F. E. Harmer (Author)

9781107402225, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 24 November 2011

160 pages
21.6 x 14 x 0.9 cm, 0.21 kg

This 1914 volume contains a selection of some of the most interesting Anglo-Saxon documents of the ninth and tenth centuries. Included among them are the only two surviving wills of Anglo-Saxon kings, and the 'colophon' in the Lindisfarne Gospels, in which a priest called Aldred gives an account of the making of the gospel-book. The volume also includes the 'Fonthill Letter', addressed by Ealdorman Ordlaf to King Edward the Elder, to serve as evidence for use in a dispute about an estate at Fonthill in Wiltshire, and still extant in its original form. All of the documents are written in Old English, furnished here with translations and commentaries. The reissue of Dr Harmer's book is complemented by reissues of Dorothy Whitelock's Anglo-Saxon Wills (1930), and of Agnes Jane Robertson's Anglo-Saxon Charters (1939, 2nd edition 1956). Between them, the three volumes represent the surviving corpus of Anglo-Saxon documents in the vernacular.

1. Grant of land of Earl Oswulf to Canterbury Cathedral
2. Will of the Reeve Abba
3. Grant of land by Berhtwulf, King of the Mercians, to Forthred
4. Grant by Lufu to Canterbury Cathedral
5. Grants by Ealhburg, Eadweald and Ealhhere to Canterbury Cathedral
6. Grant by Ealhburg to St Augustine's, Canterbury
7. Agreement between Eadweald and Cynethryth with reference to and Estate at Chart
8. Exchange of lands between Earl Aelfred and Aethelred, Archbishop of Canterbury
9. Record of the presentation by Earl Aelfred of a copy of the Gospels to Canterbury Cathedral
10. Earl Aelfred's will
11. King Alfred's will
12. Record of negotiations between Aethelred, Earl of the Mercians, and Berkeley Abbey
13. Record of negotiations between Earl Aethelred and Aethelfled, and Werferth, Bishop of Worcester
14. Record of negotiations between Werferth, Bishop of Worcester, and the Priest Aethelwald, with confirmation by Earl Aethelred and the Mercian Council
15. Record of negotiations between Bishop Werferth and Eadnoth, with regard to Land at Sodbury
16. Foundation of the New Minster at Winchester by Edward the Elder
17. Lease of land by Denewulf, Bishop of Winchester
18. Letter recording negotiations with reference to the ownership of land at Fonthill
19. Manumission of a slave by King Aethelstan
20. Earl Aethelwold's will
21. King Eadred's will
22. Entries in the Lindisfarne Gospels
23. Grant of an estate by Queen Eadgifu to Canterbury Cathedral, with an account of its previous history
Translations
Notes
Appendix: Kentish, Mercian and Northumbrian dialects
Addenda
Index nominum
Index locurum
Index rerum.

Subject Areas: British & Irish history [HBJD1]