Archbishop Wulfstan’s criticism of King Edgar in the Anglo‐Saxon Chronicle

Abstract

Archbishop Wulfstan of York’s interpolation in the DE version of the Anglo‐Saxon Chronicle entry for the year 959 is out of character for both the churchman himself and for the pre‐Conquest period as a whole, as it is the only text from early England critical of King Edgar. This article shows that Wulfstan’s complaints about Edgar, which focus on the king’s policies related to Scandinavians in England, are rooted in the monarch’s probable official employment of Scandinavians and in the law code IV Edgar. Ultimately, this article argues that Wulfstan’s criticisms of Edgar are best understood in relation to the archbishop’s notion that royal policy could have significant long‐term negative consequences, especially if such policy contravened Wulfstan’s understanding of the will of God.