Edgar, King of the English, 959-975

Abstract

The posthumous reputation of King Edgar has ensured that his reign has been regarded as a golden age in English history, but reliable evidence for the period is unfortunately sparse. This book, in part the fruit of a conference held at the Manchester Centre for Anglo-Saxon Studies in 2005, assembles scholars from various disciplines to wring what can be discovered out of the intractable sources. Since no connected narrative is possible, the book is divided into thematic sections. The first, containing two studies by Simon Keynes, sets the scene. ‘Edgar rex admirabilis’ identifies significant topics: the development of Edgar's reputation; royal government and the emergence of a united English kingdom; the royal court and its members, ecclesiastical and lay; the economic and social consequences of political unification; and the monastic reform movement. Professor Keynes also examines the coronation of 973 and the subsequent events at Chester, and the consequences of the king's early death. Most of the strictly contemporary evidence consists of royal charters, and no one is better qualified to handle these than Keynes; his second contribution to the volume (and perhaps its crowning glory) is an annotated conspectus of all the known charters in Edgar's name from 957 to 975, including those which are suspect, incomplete, or lost.