Charters of the New Minster, Winchester

About this book

"The archive of the New Minster at Winchester contains 34 charters, among them four of the most important texts for our understanding of the last 150 years of Anglo-Saxon England. The two surviving wills of pre-Conquest kings are preserved only in this archive. King Alfred's will gives us further insight into the mindset of this most famous of English kings, while the likelihood that King Eadred's will was overturned by his successor gives us a window into the political turbulence of the mid-10th century. The sumptuous gold-lettered New Minster refoundation charter of 966 CE is both a beautiful object and a powerful piece of monastic propaganda; and another charter in the archive contains the famous vernacular account of the crimes of Wulfbald in King Aethelred's reign. With other texts illuminating the reigns and politics of other rulers, the archive offers a microcosm of late Anglo-Saxon history. It should be useful for scholars and students of medieval history and ecclesiastical history, and local historians."--Jacket.