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The biography of the Anglo-Saxon bishop Wilfrid (d. 710) has always been prized as a rare window onto the 'real world' of the seventh- and eighth-century Church. It offers us stories of bishops arranging bribes in monastic treasuries, describes factional infighting among churchmen, and imagines ecclesiastical leaders as rulers of 'kingdoms of churches'. Its tone is so unlike that of other contemporary writings that its testimony, partisan though it may be, has always seemed a valuable corrective to the more idealised character of our other major sources. This article argues that in our enthusiasm to use the Life of St Wilfrid in this way, we have misunderstood the uses for which the text was originally written. Through a re-examination of the Life's account of Wilfrid's final years, it reconsiders the motives of the text's patrons: Tatberht, abbot of Ripon, and Acca, bishop of Hexham. The two men played an active role in the text's creation, and a great deal of the Life rests on the acceptance of secretive events to which only they could testify. Those events, in turn, underpinned their own claims to be the designated heirs of the recently deceased Bishop Wilfrid. The Life's defensively partisan tone has typically been understood as the product of a beleaguered 'Wilfridian' faction anticipating criticism from outside opponents. This article argues instead that it reflects a moment of profound disunity within the 'Wilfridians' themselves, and reveals the strategies by which ambitious ecclesiastics might sometimes seek to gain and secure their positions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A table of contents for the issue is presented.

Over 500 references survive to payment in return for control over land in Anglo-Saxon England. This article considers these documents as a source for social developments. Issues which are explored include the identities of buyers and sellers, changes in the roles of these groups over the period, and the likely aims and concerns of different individuals and institutions who paid for land. A chronology is developed for the participation of various groups in land payments. Payments emerge as a significant component in definitions of status and strategies of land management, albeit closely interwoven with other forms of transaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A carefully contextualized reading of the four surviving Anglo-Saxon law codes issued in the seventh century, three from Kent and one from Wessex, shows the body of legislation they contain to be coherent and practical, and to support subtle insights into social relationships, processes of social change, and areas of social stress in that period. The importance of archaeological evidence, in particular that concerning the use and significance of materials and artefacts, and developments in settlement structures and the overall settlement pattern, is particularly emphasized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aylett Sammes' Britannia Antiqua Illustrata, a tall folio of some 600 pages, aims to fill a gap by collecting all the then available information on early Britain. All relevant writers pass review, and the historical starting-point is Noah's Flood. The first settlers must have been the Phoenicians, then come the Greeks, and at last the British, the Romans and, on p. 350, the Saxons. The history of the Saxon kings begins on p. 389 and concludes the book. Its historical value today is nil, but even so it has its interests, which include a fascinating set of illustrations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Manuscript F of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (the ‘Domitian bilingual’) contains a laconic but tantalising addition to the annal for the year 784, stating that an obscure king named Ealhmund who ruled in Kent at that time was father of Egbert, king of the West Saxons. The claim of Kentish ancestry built primarily on this annal has provided fuel for considerable debate on the emergence and antecedents of Egbert's dynasty. This article critically re-examines the authority of this Kentish connection, and suggests that it is based on later extrapolation rather than any authentic ninth-century tradition. Other evidence for Egbert's ancestry and background is thin, but points more towards Wessex and its line of kings, especially from the time of Ine (688–726) and before. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article explores the methodology of historiography and biographical writing in medieval English history. The author reflects on the archaeological excavation of the skeleton of a seventh-century Englishwoman and aspects of the gravesite and remains that can be used to construct an historical narrative. The use of material evidence in lieu of textual sources for historical research is discussed. The article reports on isotopes found in human bones that can provide information on an individual's diet, origins, and mobility. Other topics include bone modifications, prosopography, and beds in graves.

This article discusses the possible locations of the Frenessican Sea, a body of water that is referred to in the ninth-century text "Historia Brittonum." Efforts to situate this sea within accounts of Northumbrian political history are considered. The possibility that the term Frenessican is a corruption of the Latin term freneticum, meaning enraged or maddened, that describes the North Sea is considered. The relevance to this evidence for the assessment of the historical geography of Northern Britain is noted. Corresponding evidence regarding the translation of the place name Din Gioaroi is considered.

The story of King Edgar being rowed on the River Dee at Chester in 973 by eight subordinate kings was once well known. This article examines how it was used in popular history writing from the eighteenth century onwards, with greatest development in the mid nineteenth century, and subsequent decline into its present obscurity. It served English political and cultural ends, being used to demonstrate the natural superiority of that race over the others in the Union, particularly the Scots. Decline of imperial sentiment and ignorance of pre-Conquest history have relegated it to incidental mention in county histories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The stronghold of Iudeu, which Bede called urbs Giudi, appears to have been a royal centre held by the seventh-century kings of the Bernician English, and sufficiently prominent to lend its name to the Firth of Forth in the British and Gaelic languages. The name appears not to have survived in any modern place -name, leaving us reliant on Bede's vague description of the site in Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum, as well as a few other scraps of circumstantial evidence, in seeking to locate it. The situation naturally encouraged debate among scholars until, in 1959, identification with Stirling was proposed. This article reviews both that hypothesis and the primary evidence relating to Iudeu, and argues that the Stirling identification is far from satisfactory. Two new alternatives – and a third one, discarded in 1947 – are put forward as sites most in keeping with the crucial evidence provided by Bede, but no firm decision between them seems possible in our present state of knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigates the use of the place name Hexham in four of the earliest latin narrative sources for English history, written between 699 and 731. Significance of various forms of the place name; Meaning of the name from old English texts such as Beowulf; Determination of the location of Hexam.

Discusses the surviving corpus of West Saxon charters issues in the ninth century. Evidence of West Saxon diplomatic tradition; Importance of the charter; Texts of the charter of 854; Summarization of charter substance; Identification of the agency responsible for the production of the West Saxon charters of King Aethelwulf and his sons; Aspect of West Saxon diplomatic tradition.

Considers whether or not the territorial sokes of the northern Danelaw, are comparable to other early-medieval estates. Documentary sources and the antiquity of the sokes; Problems in the spatial distribution of sokes; Changing patterns of territorial organization in the tenth century; Organization of the sokes.

Explores the meaning of midwife, a woman attendant on childbirth. Possible source of evidence of professed midwives in Britain's Anglo Saxon period.

The article looks at the adoption of Ringmere, a battle site from 1010 between the Danes and the English, as Hringmaraheiðr in several Norse sagas and poems. The author attempts to chart the history and exact location of Ringmere, believed to be near Thetford, England. The etymology of the name is discussed, with special attention given to "hring" as a word for a district or meeting place. The article mentions other English towns that incorporate "ring" into their names, such as Ringmer Hundred in Sussex and Rigslow Hundred in Kent.