Anglo-Saxon Final Exam
Helgo buddha
A 6th c. silver statue of the Buddha in lotus position from North India found in the Swedish municipality of Helgo in 1954. An important trading and manufacturing center, the archaeological finds on Helgo indicate the existence of intricate and long-range trading networks with both the East via Russian Rivers and Western Europe. With other objects as diverse as a Coptic Egyptian bowl and Irish bishops crozier, the finds on Helgo indicate wide ranging trade and raiding by the Vikings.
Burghal Hidage
A document listing 33 places marked as fortified burghs. Part of Alfred's military reorganization of Wessex in the late ninth century, he wanted to create proper defensive networks and effective forces to deal with threats from returning Vikings. In doing so he fortified his towns and burghs, created garrisons and supply stores. Each of the 33 places was ascribed a hidation, which was used to determine the size of the place and how many men it would take to effectively defend it. Alfred spaced them out so that each was within a day's ride away from another fortified burgh, some were existing or refortified old Roman towns, others were brand new sites, and he incorporated existing Roman roads into the system and developed a beacon watch system. As Wessex reconquered parts of England from the Danes in the 900s, they created more burghs.
Ottonian Dynasty
A dynasty that came to power in East Francia in the aftermath of its split with West Francia in 843 and after the Carolingian line died there. The tenth century has come to be known as the Ottonian Century. With an open frontier and warlike culture, this dynasty was able to centralize power after its first member, Henry the Fowler, defeated the Magyars. His son Otto came to power in 936 and was made Holy Roman Emperor in 962. During his reign, there was a proliferation of intellectual and monastic centers, which maintained close connections with Anglo-Saxon England during Aethelstan's reign and served as the model for monastic reform there. Aethelstan also married his sister Eadgyth to Otto in 936.
Great Heathen Army
A great army of Vikings, primarily Danes, that arrived in England in 865 and 866 on a campaign to conquer the country that lasted 14 years. Also known as the mycel hæþen here, the army took down many Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and invaded Wessex until it was weakened by internal divisions and ultimately defeated by Alfred at the Battle of Edington in 878. Marking a shift from the earlier raiding tactics against monasteries and trading centers, the army set out with the intent to conquer and settle England. Although eventually defeated, the Vikings settled and continued to control most of Eastern and Northern England from their base at York into the 900s. This would lead to the consolidation of Anglo-Saxon power in Wessex, and changes in language, place names, legal practices, and culture in the Danelaw.
Sihtric
A member of the important Hiberno-Scandinavian clan Ivar, he was ruler of Dublin and the important trading city of Jorvik in the Danelaw from 921-927. In 926 he made peace with Aethelstan through marriage to his sister, which was an unprecedented marriage between Anglo-Saxon and Viking royal families. After his death in 927, Aethelstan took over York and brought Northern rulers under his control at Eamont.
Anti-Monastic Reaction
A reaction to the Monastic Reform Movement of mid to late tenth century, particularly during Edgar's reign, it began after Edgar's death in 975 and sparked a period of confusion lasting until 978. Primarily caused by local nobles trying to take back control of monastic lands and monasteries as they had before the reforms, this reaction led to internal divisions that left England wide open to outside attackers, particularly during the reign of Aethelred the Unready and the Second Viking Age of the late tenth and early eleventh centuries.
Inchmarnock Stone
A stone found at a monastery on the Western Scottish Isle of Inchmarnock discovered during excavations in the early 2000s. Known as the hostage stone, it is a piece of slate that depicts a figure who is clearly a Viking leading a hostage carrying what looks to be a silver reliquary onto a long ship. This stone, most likely from the ninth century, depicts a Viking attack and, along with physical evidence of destruction, serves as a clear indication of the extent of Viking raids on monasteries in England, Scotland, Ireland, and Francia from 793 to 833. Located near the coasts as a means to live on the periphery of society, monasteries were usually centers of wealth and provided easy prey for Viking raiders in the early part of the ninth century.
Dunstan
Abbot of Glastonbury, bishop of Worcester and London and later Archbishop of Canterbury, he was an extremely important clerical figure in the latter half of the tenth century and a key figure in the Monastic Reform Movement during the reign of Edgar the Peaceful. Brought back from exile by Edgar, along with other figures such as Oda, Aethelwold, and Oswald, he served in high positions of power. Fitting the model of monks being made bishops, he oversaw the Regularis Concordiae, in which the Church and state worked closely together.
Aestel
Along with translated manuscripts of Latin works, these were distributed by Alfred to his bishops during the Alfredian Renaissance in the late ninth century. Created by craftsmen under his patronage, they were used as pointers when reading the manuscripts. Embodying his love for artistic and scholarly revival, one of the most famous and ornate examples, the Alfred Jewels, was unearthed in Somerset in 1693, and says "Alfred ordered me made." The Alfred Jewel has come to symbolize the Alfredian Renaissance, and Anglo-Saxon England more broadly.
Egil Skallagrimsson
An Icelandic psychopath poet, he is the focus of a famous Norse saga. Enemies of Eric Bloodaxe and Eric's wife Gunhild because he killed their relations, in the late 940s he shipwrecked off the Northumbrian coast and was brought before Eric and brokered a deal. If he could compose a good poem within the night, he would be free to go. Creating a metrically complex poem called Head Ransom, the poem contains a fusion of pagan and Christian values and is similar in theme to the Brunanburh poem. Since it was pleasing to Eric, he was allowed to go.
Dorestad
An important Frankish trading and manufacturing center located in what is today the Netherlands. The port was sacked continuously in 834, 5, 6, and 7, and represented the early stage of Viking raids against wealthy coastal monasteries and trading centers from 793 to the early 800s. The raids on Dorestad also show the extent to which the Frankish civil wars of the early ninth century left Francia an easy target for Viking depredations which would last well into the ninth century.
Alcuin
An important Northumbrian deacon and intellectual who was employed at the court of Charlemagne in the late eighth century until his death in 804. A leader of the Carolingian Renaissance, his many letters are a huge historical source from the time, and he wrote extensively to the Northumbrian king, bishops, and monks. Giving advice and lessons on the raid on Lindisfarne, he attributed the pagan attack to a decline in morality and piety amongst the Northumbrians.
Lindisfarne
An important and wealthy monastery located on a tidal island off the coast of Northumbria. Mentioned in Bede's history as an important monastic center, it was recorded as raided by the Vikings in 793 AD, marking the first real Viking attack against Anglo-Saxon England. The attack on Lindisfarne was attributed to a decline in morality and piety amongst the Northumbrians and seen as a sign of the end times. The raid also kicked off nearly a century of continual Viking attacks, invasions, and settlement of Western Europe.
Wessex
Anglo-Saxon kingdom that arose in the South, West, and Southwest of England in the 6th century. Always a large and powerful player in Anglo-Saxon politics, Wessex really found its stride and began to dominate the Anglo-Saxon world beginning with Egbert in the early ninth century. Consolidating power and chipping away at Mercia's declining authority, Ecbert passed a powerful kingdom on the his son Aethelwulf, and by the time Alfred came to the throne in 871 Wessex was the most powerful Anglo-Saxon kingdom. The only Anglo-Saxon kingdom that survived the ravages of the Great Heathen Army intact, Wessex became the focal point for the coalescing English identity and opposition to the Vikings in the Danelaw during Alfreds reign in the late ninth century. The remainder of Anglo-Saxon history until 1066 was primarily a history of Wessex and its kings.
Aethelstan Half-King
Appointed ealdorman of East Anglia by King Aethelstan in 932, he had such a significant degree of local authority that he gained the epithet "Half-King". Highly involved in the politics of the mid-tenth century and a supporter of the Monastic Reform Movement, after Eadred's death in 955 he was forced to retire by Eadwig and become a monk at Glastonbury Abbey where he died the next year.
Wulfstan
Archbishop of York in the mid-tenth century, he was a hugely important figure in the power politics involving the Anglo-Saxons and Vikings. Continually switching his allegiance between the two factions, he was not trusted by Eadred. He attempted to betray Eadred with several Northern rulers, and Eadred proceeded to suppress them with extreme violence. Died in exile in 956.
Eadwig
At Eadred's death in 955, he was made King of the English. His efforts to consolidate control and reset the power structure through land redistribution and banishing his grandmother and Aethelstan Half-King alienated many of Eadred's old supporters, and issues arose over consanguinity with his wife to be and the marriage was annulled. Losing support in Mercia, he remained titular full king and King of the West Saxons, while his younger brother Edgar was made King of the Mercians, indicating the identity fault line that still persisted from Alfred's time. The two kingdoms were formally divided in 957. He soon died in 959, allowing the kingdom to be reunified under his brother Edgar.
Second Viking Age
Attracted by the vast accumulation of wealth in English monastic centers that had occurred during the Monastic Reform Movement, and enabled by the internal divisions caused by the anti-monastic reaction and political centralization in the Scandinavian world, the Vikings returned in force in the 980s and 990s. With a powerful monarchy that had received the subordination of Norway, Denmark led the way in this latest round of attacks.
Strathclyde
Britonnic kingdom in Southwestern Scotland and Northwestern England (Cumbria) from the collapse of Roman power in the 5th century until the 11th century. Part of the Hen Ogledd, or Old North, Strathclyde survived for a long time after the Anglo-Saxon settlement of England. Eventually, it would form part of the Northern coalition of Britons, Scandinavians, and Northumbrians that resisted attempts at expansion by Edward the Elder and Aethelstan during the tenth century, at different times submitting to their rule or opposing it. Its forces participated in the disastrous Battle of Brunanburh in 937.
Repton
Center of Mercian royal power and crypt built in the Roman style in the eighth century, Repton had already declined in significance by the early ninth century after the death of Offa and the end of the Mercian Supremacy. It would later be occupied and converted into a fortress by the Viking Great Heathen Army in the winter of 873-874. Completely sacked by the Vikings, the once great royal center was left in ruins.
Grimston hybrids
Combinations of earlier Anglo-Saxon place names with newly incorporated Scandinavian ones. Beginning with the invasion of the Great Heathen Army in 865 and especially after Alfred and Guthrum's Treaty c.880, Scandinavian settlement began in the East and North of England known as the Danelaw. In this area, place names began to become more Scandinavian east and north of the territorial division. Usually the ending would remain Anglo-Saxon, such as -tun which meant elite center, but the beginning parts became Scandinavian. This change in place names was part of a wider linguistic, cultural, and legal shifts seen in the Danelaw in the late 800s and 900s.
Angelcynn
Concept of a united English identity that emerges during Alfred's reign in the late ninth century. First mentioned in Alfred's treaty with Guthrum c.880 AD, Alfred became the representative of the English nation and was the first king to call himself King of the Anglo-Saxons.
Cnut the Great
Considered one of the greatest English kings of the eleventh century, Cnut finished the business of conquering England after his father's death in 1014 and Aethelred's return to power from 1014-1016. Ruling as King of England from 1016-1035, King of Denmark from 1018, and later as King of Norway, after receiving his last tribute from the English in 1017 he returned to Scandinavia to deal with arising political and dynastic problems in his bid to maintain a centralized North Sea Empire. Keeping Wessex for himself, he wisely divided the rest of England up amongst his close supporters, including the Godwin family in Wessex. Seen as a great Christian king, he lavishly supported monasteries, the Church, and learning throughout his Empire, particularly in England, and maintained the peace through a combination of patronage and military force. He reissued Aethelred's laws with the help of Archbishop Wulfstan of York. Initially marrying Aelgifu of Northampton, she was the mother of future English King Harold Harefoot (1035-1040). He later married Aethelred's widow Emma of Normandy, and by her had Harthacnut, who would rule in Denmark while Harold ruled in England and later ruled England from 1040-1042.
Judith
Daughter of West Frankish king Charles the Bald, she was married to Aethelwulf on his return from a pilgrimage to Rome in 856. This marriage, most likely purely political, shows the esteem in which the West Saxon royal house was held amongst the powerful Carolingians and growing political connections between the two kingdoms . After Aethelwulf's death in 858, she married his son Aethelbald, which raised a stir amongst the Anglo-Saxon clergy.
Edward the Martyr
Elder half-brother of Aethelred the Unready, he was initially selected to be King of the English from 975-979, and crowned by his supporters Dunstan and Oswald. Although only a child, factions soon developed around him and the young Aethelred, and in 979 he was assassinated by Aethelred's faction when still a teenager. After his murder he was venerated as a saint by his people.
Burgh
Fortified towns with garrisons and supply stores created by Alfred in the late ninth century as part of his military reorganization. 33 are mentioned in the Burghal Hidage, which ascribed them a hidations used to determine the size of the place and how many men it would take to effectively defend it. Alfred spaced them out so that each was within a day's ride away from another fortified burgh, some were existing or refortified old Roman towns and others were brand new sites. Many more were constructed as Wessex reconquered parts of England in the 900s from the Danes.
Sweyn Forkbeard
Grandson of Gorm the Old and son of Harald Bluetooth, he forcibly deposed his father in 987 and ruled as King of Denmark and also King of Norway from 1000 until his death in 1014. During his reign, he spearhead the second wave of Viking attacks against England to capture the silver requisite to remedy the economic crisis caused by the cut off flow of Islamic silver, and he also pushed hard to conquer the country for himself. Landing in the North of England, he soon gathered support from the inhabitants of the former Danelaw, invaded and ravaged the Anglo-Saxon part, and captured the important city of Bath. Driving Aethelred the Unready out of power in 1013, he ruled as King of England from 1013-1014. His son, Cnut, would continue his unfinished business after Aethelred returned to the throne in 1014.
Sherborne
Important Anglo-Saxon bishopric and royal center in Wessex. It was home to the important Sherborne Abbey, founded in 705 by King Ine, and was capital of Wessex in the ninth century before Alfred moved it to Winchester. Many of Alfred's predecessors, including his brothers, are buried at the abbey, but he and his successors are buried at Winchester. In 933 King Aethelstan granted land there to nuns.
Eadred
King from 946-955, he employed extreme violence in his campaign to subdue Northern England. Burning the church at Ripon, he also took back York from the Vikings by driving Eric Bloodaxe out in 954. Facing very violent people in the form of the Vikings, he employed extreme violence in his dealing with them and in suppressing a potential betrayal by Archbishop Wulfstan of York and other Northern rulers. He also laid the foundations for the Monastic Reform movement of the late ninth century as a patron of monastic and intellectual life. In his will he left significant amounts of money to monasteries and nunneries.
Aethelbald
King of Mercia from 716-757, he called himself Rex Britanniae and Rex Sutangli, king of the South Angles. Also called himself king not only of the Mercians but also of the surrounding peoples. Descended from Penda, he was the first Mercian king to begin the century of domination that would come to be known as the Mercian Supremacy. He set up his capital at Repton, and ruled Mercia until he was assassinated in 757. He was succeeded by Offa.
Olaf Tryggvason
King of Norway from 995 to 1000. Converting his people to Christianity and founding the city of Trondheim, he also ravaged the coast of England in 991 with 93 ships and defeated Earl Byrthnoth at the Battle of Maldon. He mostly disappears from the record after his kingdom was subordinated to Danish control under Sweyn Forkbeard in 994 and was completely deposed by Sweyn in 1000. This shows the political centralization of Scandinavia under Denmark and enabled Sweyn and his son Cnut to launch organized attacks and later full scale invasion of England using large reserves of manpower.
Constantine II
King of Scotland from 900-943, he fought against Edward the Elder and Aethelstan in their attempts to extend Anglo-Saxon power into northern Britain. Originally submitting to the authority of Aethelstan as high king in 927 at Eamont with several other Northern kings, Aethelstan ravaged his kingdom in 934 with a land and naval force after he turned on him. Aethelstan again defeated him and a coalition of other Northern peoples at the Battle of Brunanburh in 937. He is a major figure in the epic poem of the same name, where he is depicted as fleeing while his army and son are slaughtered by the Anglo-Saxon forces.
Edward the Elder
King of Wessex and of the Anglo-Saxons from 899-924. A rather shadowy figure in the historical record, he was not as interested in intellectual pursuits as his father Alfred was and thus there is not much available information pertaining to his reign, and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, particularly the Mercian copy, offers a very thin record. Heads off a challenge by Aethelwold, son of Alfred's elder brother Aethelred, who was accepted by the Danes in Northumbria as king, he finally killed him in 902. A very martially competent king, he went on an offensive with his older sister Aethelflaed and her husband the ealdorman Aethelred of Mercia. Trying to subordinate Mercia and unite it with Wessex into a common English identity, he launched a ruthless joint attack against the Five Boroughs. He signed a treaty with the East Anglians and Northumbrians in 906, and the record picks up in 909 with lots of fighting recorded. In 911 Aethelred died, after which power in Mercia fell to Aethelflaed, showing no attempt to find a Mercian king, and she ruled from 911-918 with her brother until her death. After this he took full control of Mercia. Constructing many burghs in the course of his conquest, he maintained many dealings with the Welsh and people of the North, and a coalition of northern peoples recognized his authority.
Aethelstan
King of Wessex and of the Anglo-Saxons from 924-939. Brought up at the Mercian court, he was championed by Mercia in the contest for power with the West Saxon supported Aelfweard, who ruled for only 16 weeks. Although older than Aelfweard, there were concerns about his legitimacy, and Aelfweard was born while their father Edward was king. Coronated in 925, there is a much richer record during his reign, especially from the Mercian Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Known as the English Charlemagne, he inherited a unified but not a cohesive kingdom. During his reign war and conquest continued, but he also increased intellectual and political ties to the Continent. A great patron of the Church and the arts, he propounded intense political ideology on Continental lines and exchanged many books, relics, and royal children with rulers on the Continent, also married 5 sisters to Continental rulers to ensure alliances. Early in his reign he moved north, was originally diplomatic but later warlike. He pushed the Britons out of Devon, took over Cornwall fully, campaigned in Wales, in 926 made peace with Sihtric ruler of York through marriage, after his death in 927 he took over York and brought Northern rulers under his control at Eamont. Operating deep in the North, his large army enforced ritual submission of the Northern rulers to him, ravaged Scotland in 934 and defeated a Northern coalition at the epic Battle of Brunanburh in 937. When he died in 939 he was buried at Malmesbury, which was a site associated with the great Mercian king Offa.
Charles the Bald
King of West Francia from 843-877, he faced continuous Viking raids and invasions throughout his reign. The worst period lasted from the 840s to the 860s. Beginning with the attack on Paris in 845, the Vikings began overwintering in Francia from the 850s. Moving deep into the Paris Basin, the Vikings burned Paris in January 861. Initially struggling to stop the attacks against coastal targets and large scale raids up Frankish rivers, he tried to buy the Vikings off. Eventually, he ended the devastating Viking raids by placing fortifications and armored bridges and pontoons along the rivers. Trapping many Vikings inland, he eventually defeated them in 862 and forced them to swear allegiance to him and hand over hostages. They then were allowed to leave. He still had to pay tribute in in 866, returned slaves to Vikings, and paid them back for losses, eventually leave though so ultimately successful.
Aethelred Unraed
King of the English from 978-1016, he was ruler during the period of a second wave of Viking attacks beginning in the 980s and was the last king over a united Anglo-Saxon England. After his father Edgar's death in 975, a period of confusion lasted until 979 in which land disputes and political control were central. His elder half-brother, Edward the Martyr, was initially selected to be king, but soon factions developed around him and Edward. In the struggle, Aethelred's faction assassinated Edward, and Aethelred assumed the throne and was consecrated king in 979 while still a child. His first wife, Aelgifu of York, would provide him with the son Edmund Ironside. In a bid to solidify a political alliance with the powerful dukes of Normandy, he married Emma of Normandy, and had Edward the Confessor by her. With bad omens in the sky portending the trouble that was to come during his reign, Aethelred turned out to be a very unsuccessful king who did not meet the expected standard of kingship. Attracted by the vast accumulation of wealth in English monastic centers and enabled by the internal division caused by the anti-monastic reaction, the Vikings returned in force in the 980s and 990s and Aethelred proved inadequate in stepping up to the task of defending his kingdom from their depredations. Surrounded by bad advisors in the early years of his reign, he nevertheless ratified lots of charters during his reign and sustained a bureaucracy effective enough to raise the large sums of ransom money needed to pay off the Viking raiders. A better bureaucrat than warrior, his policy of paying the Vikings off only resulted in them coming back for more. With his reign also marked by famine and plague, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle presents a very bleak image, and second generation reformer Aelfric was compelled to write, "The Writers of History" as a defense for his performance. Driven into exile in Normandy by Sweyn Forkbeard in 1013, he would return to England as king from 1014 until his death in 1016.
Powys
Kingdom in central Wales along the border with Mercia, constantly at war with Mercians and rising power of Gwynedd under Merfyn Frych r.825-844. Offa's Dyke marked demarcation between its territory and that of Mercia in the 700s. Under attack from Gwynedd and Mercia with the help of West Saxon King Ecgberht who defeated it in 830, the last effective king was Cyngen ap Cadell d.854/5. Like many Anglo-Saxon rulers, he fled to Rome, but erected a pillar, the Pillar of Eliseg, before he left claiming descent from historical Celtic and Romano-Briton characters. This shows similarities in increasing political imagery to the Anglo-Saxons in the ninth century, who claimed descent from the early conquerors, and illuminates the world of Asser, who wrote the Life of Alfred and likewise included a long genealogy, and led to increasing political connections with West Saxons, particularly under Alfred.
York
Known as Jorvik under Viking control, it was a major center of political control in the Danelaw and a huge trading center in the wider Scandinavian world. A hybrid of Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian culture and Christianity and paganism is evident in the archaeological record. The largest excavations occurred when a manufacturing neighborhood was unearthed during the construction of a shopping mall. The clan Ivar from Dublin controlled Jorvik for a signifiant amount of time. The city was a constant target of attack by the West Saxons, and was continually involved in the political jockeying between Viking royal houses. It was taken successively by kings Aethelstan, Edmund, and Eadred in the tenth century.
Aethelflaed
Known as Lady of the Mercians, she ruled Mercia with her husband alderman Aethelred under the larger control of her younger brother Edward the Elder. Supporting her brother in his military campaigns against the peoples of the North, she was able to mobilize Mercian support and manpower. In 911 Aethelred died, after which power in Mercia fell to Aethelflaed,which she ruled effectively and with popularity until her death in 918. Participating in the growth of Anglo-Saxon power and creating burghs in her kingdom in accordance with the policy laid down by her father, she even led Mercian forces into battle against a Welsh queen. After her death, Edward removed her daughter Aelfwyn from power and took direct control of the kingdom, solidifying the end of Mercian autonomy.
Guthrum
Leader of the Great Heathen Army when it invaded Wessex from 875-878, he was finally defeated by Alfred at the Battle of Edington. With his men surrounded, he was forced to surrender, hand over hostages, and he and his men were converted to Christianity. Adopting the name Aethelstan, Alfred became his godfather. Signing a treaty with Alfred c. 880, Guthrum was given control of the Eastern half of England known as the Danelaw, where Danish law and custom would predominate. Allowed to pull out of Wessex, part of his army went on to raid Ghent while a large part followed him and settled in East Anglia.
Dublin
Major center of Scandinavian rule in Ireland in the ninth and tenth centuries, known as the Hiberno-Norse, base of the royal clan Ivar which controlled York at different times. Provided forces to the northern coalition that was defeated by King Aethelstan at the Battle of Brunanburh.
Emma of Normandy
Married to Aethelred the Unready in a bid to solidify a political alliance between England and Normandy, she was the mother of future English King Edward the Confessor by him. After his death in 1016, she was married to Cnut the Great, and was mother to future King Harthacnut of Denmark and England. Through her marriage to Aethelred, she gave the dukes of Normandy claim to the Anglo-Saxon throne. In 1066, Duke William of Normandy would use this claim to justify his invasion of England, and after victory in the Battle of Hastings he became the first Norman King of England.
Brunanburh
Massive battle in Northern England between the Anglo-Saxons and their allies under King Aethelstan and a coalition of northern forces of Vikings, Northumbrians, Hibero-Norse, and Scots in 937. Although the location is unknown, the battle became the focus of the epic Anglo-Saxon poem of the same name. The battle showed the extent of Anglo-Saxon power in the North under Aethelstan, solidified his control over the regions, and ensured the submission of the northern kings.
Fyrd
Part of Alfred's military reorganization in the late ninth century, it involved breaking up the West Saxon army in two. Rather than having a core bodyguard with the rest of the army called up seasonally as needed, this system allowed for half of the army to be in the field and the other half to be at home at any one time. They would then be switched out after their terms ended. This system enabled rapid response and defense, in case the Vikings, who did not follow the seasonal nature of warfare, attacked, and the reserves would be called up. This system proved effective when the Vikings returned in 892 after defeat on the Continent in 891 when Alfred intercepted and beat them at Farnham.
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
Produced at the court of Alfred the great beginning in 890-92, the chronicle marks the history of England on a year by year basis from the departure of the Romans through the entire Anglo-Saxon period, especially from the time it was begun forward. Serving as one of the greatest existing historical sources for Anglo-Saxon England, there are several existing copies today which show geographic differences in the way history was recorded, particularly in the kingdoms of Wessex and Mercia. Recording the raid at Lindisfarne in 793, the chronicle records the long period of constant Viking raids and invasions in the eighth, ninth, and tenth centuries. It ends in the decades after the Norman Invasion in 1066.
Benedictine Rule
Promulgated by Italian nobleman turned monk Benedict of Nursia (480-543/7), this rule attempted to end extreme forms of ascetic Christian practice while maintaining ordered humility. Organizing around monastic communities, the rule called for the standardization of monastic practice. Although there were many other competing monastic rules, Benedict's was favored by Pope Gregory. Seen as the figure who introduced Christianity to the Anglo-Saxons, it was readily adopted in monasteries throughout England. Many rules were later added to it, especially during the reign of Carolingian ruler Louis the Pious by Benedict of Aniane in the 800s. It became the gold standard at the huge monastic centers in Francia and Germany, such as Cluny, Fleury, St. Peter's in Ghent, Gorze, and St. Bertin, and played a significant role in the Anglo-Saxon Monastic Reform Movement of the late tenth century.
Reeve
Senior local officials appointed by the king to administer royal control, enforce laws, and collect taxes on a local level, they became ubiquitous during the tenth century, especially during the reigns of kings Aethelstan and Edmund. Passing three law codes, Edmund saw law as an active process that involved application and revision and oversaw the emergence of court and shire systems. Creating a bureaucracy to enforce these laws, reeves played a central function in this system at the level of the shire. Deriving their power from official roles rather than landed wealth, they were symbolic of a growing role of the state.
Alfred-Guthrum Treaty
Signed c. 880, the treaty divided England into a Western Anglo-Saxon dominated part ruled by Wessex and an Eastern and Northern part known as the Danelaw. Originally divided along the Thames and Wattling Street, fairly strict rules governed interaction between citizens on either side of the boundary and cultural, legal, and linguistic differences soon emerged. It is a rather brief and non-descriptive treaty other than setting boundaries and establishing wergilds, but it would soon be breached as the Anglo-Saxons and Vikings resumed fighting and the Anglo-Saxons conquered back large parts of the Danelaw in the late 800s and 900s.
Edith
Sister of English King Aethelstan, she was married to Otto the Great in 930 after he chose her over her sister. This marriage secured an important political alliance with the most powerful dynasty in Europe at the time and supported Aethelstan's legitimacy. In 2008, her remains were exhumed in Magdeburg, the center of Ottonian power, and tests were run on them. Using strontium analysis of her teeth, they did indeed confirm that the remains were of a lady from Southern England that had a primary fish based diet. Connected to the revered St. Oswald by lineage, she helped in the development of a huge cult of the saint in Germany.
Harthacanut
Son of Cnut the Great and his second wife Emma of Normandy. After his father's death in 1035, he was selected to be King of England but remained in Scandinavia where he had been since the 1020s. Focused on settling dynastic issues and centralizing political control there, he had no choice but to let his hated half-brother Harald Harefoot rule in England. Making an agreement with Magnus of Norway, promising that one would inherit the other's holdings in the event that they didn't have offspring, this gave the Norwegians a claim to the throne of England, one which Harald Hardrada would try to assert in his failed invasion of England in 1066. After Harald's death in 1040, he took control of England and ruled from 1040-1042. Strongly disliked by the English by his harsh rule and heavy taxation, his mother Emma of Normandy offered for her son by Aethelred, Edward the Confessor, to rule alongside him in England while he focused on Scandinavia. Raised at the Norman court and used as a front for Harthacnut, Edward the Confessor would later assume the throne but was a complete stranger to the Anglo-Saxons and had no strong contacts to effectively rule.
Harald Bluetooth
Son of Gorm the Old, the first recognized king of a unified Denmark, he ruled Denmark from c. 958 to 986 and was also king of Norway. Ruling from the dynastic center of Jelling, he converted to Christianity in 965 and repurposed the pagan site as a Christian center, constructing a church and moving his pagan father's body from the burial mound and into the church in the process. There is also a famous rune stone dedicated to him at the site. He also oversaw an era of the constriction of military fortifications throughout his kingdom with circular castles and standardized barracks. Defeated by Otto II in 974 and losing the important trading center of Hedeby, an economic crisis was sparked when the flow of Islamic silver through trade dried up. This eventually led to a political crisis when he couldn't sustain the political system by distributing silver, and he was forcibly deposed by his son Sweyn Forkbeard in 987.
Edmund Ironside
Son of King Aethelred the Unready by his first wife Aelfgifu of York, he assumed control of the throne and English army after the death of his father in April 1016. After Cnut's invasion in 1015, Edmund fought several battles against the Danes. Only king for a period of months, initially Cnut and Edmund's supporters wanted a settlement in which Edmund would get Wessex and Cnut would get Mercia and the old Danelaw. Unfortunately he died in November a month after the treaty partitioning England was signed.
Edgar the Peaceful
Sub-king in Mercia after the division with Wessex in 957, he was elevated to full kingship after the death of his brother Eadwig in 959, received a second coronation in 973 at Bath reaffirming his power, and ruled until 975. A feared ruler, his epithet was a product of his ability to keep the peace through the harsh enforcement of law and order, and unlike his brother he worked through the system and with reformers. It was also during his reign that the Promissio Regis was promulgated, which involved an oath by the king to uphold the peace, forbid robbery and unrighteous deeds, and promising justice and mercy in judgment. He ruled during the heyday of the Monastic Reform Movement of the late tenth century, scriptoria, which were centers of high Christian learning and culture, and monasteries proliferated and became extremely wealthy during his reign. Highly interested in correcting the liturgy, purifying monastic life and the Church, and standardizing religious practice across his kingdom, he donated lots of money to these institutions and developed a sophisticated bureaucracy to collect taxes. Notionally in control from Wessex to Northumbria, he was obsessed with titular Northern submission to his authority, which he reinforced annually by having the Northern kings symbolically row him in a boat. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle has lots of positive things to say about his reign, but criticizes him for his tastes in foreign and heathen customs and lists them as a direct cause of the return of the Vikings in the 980s.
Aethelwulf
Sub-king of Kent from 825 and King of Wessex from 839 to 858. Son of Egbert, who fought against a declining Mercia and helped establish Wessex as a strong kingdom and key player, Aethelwulf was the first West Saxon king to succeed his father since 641. During his reign he did not have to fight against the Vikings very much but did so rather effectively, and mostly focused on consolidating Wessex's growing power. Maintaining friendly relations with Mercia, he was a very pious king and had many sons who would succeed him. Going on pilgrimage to Rome with his youngest son Alfred, he donated one tenth of his wealth to his subjects and married Judith, daughter of Charles the Bald, on the way home. Upon returning home, his eldest son Aethelbald refused to give up control of Wessex, and he agreed to divide his kingdom and ruled in the East until his death.
Danelaw
The Eastern and Northern half of England settled by the disbanded Great Heathen Army and Scandinavian settlers after the treaty between Alfred and Guthrum c. 880. Founded on top of the conquered Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of East Anglia, Eastern Mercia, Lindsey, and Northumbria, the Vikings established their primary power center at the large trading center of Jorvik, or York. Composed of Scandinavians and Anglo-Saxons, the Danelaw was where Danish law and custom predominated, and changes in language, place names, and culture occurred in an Anglo-Scandinavian synthesis with effects lasting to the present day.
Winchester
The capital of Wessex and burial place of West Saxon kings from Alfred forward. He shifted the political center from Sherborne in the late ninth century, and created a large burgh on the site that would remain the center of English political power until the Norman Conquest.
Mercian Register
The copies of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle located and updated in Mercia during the ninth and tenth centuries. Highly invested in and giving more reporting of events regarding Mercia, a clear example of this is it's different treatment of the reigns of Edward the Elder and Aethelstan. Reporting very little on Edward's reign and accomplishment compared to the copies of the chronicle located in Wessex, it only mentioned him briefly and mostly regarding his efforts to dominate Mercia by taking direct control of the kingdom in 918. For Aethelstan, however, it has far more to say whereas the Wessex annals are more silent. Raised at the Mercian court, Aethelstan was the Mercian champion for the throne who eventually won out against his West Saxon supported brother, Aelfweard. Very nationalistic, the register shows how the Mercian identity survived the amalgamation of the two kingdoms and the difficulties posed to creating a larger English national identity.
Eric Bloodaxe
The last Viking king of York, he was from Norway and the elder brother of King Hakkon. Ruling in 948 and again from 952-954, he was eventually pushed out by King Eadred during his conquest of the North. A bitter enemy of Egil Skallagrimsson, he had him compose a poem in return for sparing his life. He eventually died in battle against the Northumbrians.
Malmesbury
The location of an important abbey, it was associated with the great Mercian king Offa and became a fortified burgh during Alfred's reign. Favored by and receiving significant patronage from King Aethelstan during his reign. When he died in 939, he chose to be buried there over Winchester, indicating his connections to Mercia over the Wessex royal line. It was also the location of the later monk and writer William of Malmesbury, who wrote a detailed although factually inaccurate account of Aethelstan's life in the 12th century.
Excommunication
The practice of removing people from the Church, it became very important in the tenth century. It is seen during the reign of King Edmund in the mid tenth century, in which his laws stipulated it as the punishment for failure to pay tithes and Church dues.
Jelling
The tenth century dynastic center of the Kingdom of Denmark beginning with Gorm the Old, it had been the site of ancient pagan burial grounds. Harald Bluetooth repurposed the pagan site as a Christian center, constructing a church and moving his pagan father's body from the burial mound and into the church in the process. It is also known for its rune stones, one of which is dedicated to Gorm and another to Harald. Harlad's stone had a very stylized depiction of Christ, representing a synthesis of pagan designs and Christian themes.
Alfredian Renaissance
Ushered in by Alfred in the late ninth century, he was obsessed with emulating biblical King Solomon. Sponsoring a revival and purification of the Church, monastic centers, and a literary and artistic revival, Alfred organized a team of learned scholars from all over to translate works from Latin, and he personally worked to translate several. Hoping to reverse ecclesiastical and scholarly decline, especially in Latin, literacy, and liturgy, he used Charlemagne as his model for reform.
Reform Movement
With its roots in the early tenth century during the reign of Aethelstan and his connections to religious scholars all over Europe, the movement really took off in the latter part of the tenth century during the reign of Edgar the Peaceful. Involving church reform and the reinvigoration of monastic life and centers. This is seen in the religious nature of King Edmund's laws, which called for the clergy to remain celibate, men to pay tithes and Church dues lest they face excommunication, and the collection and sending of Peter's Pence to Rome. During this period scriptoria, which were centers of high Christian learning and culture, proliferated across Southern and Middle England, and manuscripts, including that of Beowulf, were being produced in large quantities. The primary centers of reform were at Winchester, Abingdon, and Glastonbury. These reinvigorated and enriched monastic centers would serve as attraction for a second prolonged period of Viking attacks against Anglo-Saxon England.
Alfred
Youngest son of King Aethelwulf of Wessex by his first wife Osburh, he would rule Wessex from 871 to 899. The best source for his reign comes from Asser's biography of him, which depicts him as a great war leader, scholar, patron of the arts, and highly pious and humble man. First driving off an attack by the Great Heathen Army with his brother King Aethelred in 871, he would again defend his kingdom from an invasion by the army from 875 until he defeated it at Edington in 878. He made the men and their leader Guthrum convert to Christianity, and signed a treaty with him dividing England. Developing an extensive system of fortified burhs and fortresses, this would later form the basis of the consolidation and expansion of Wessex. Following the Carolingian mold, Alfred sponsored a revival and purification of the Church, monastic centers, and a literary and artistic revival that has come to be known as the Alfredian Renaissance. Although later in his reign he would deal with some Viking incursions, most of his reign after 878 was peaceful, with him controlling the Anglo-Saxon West and the Vikings ruling in the Danelaw. He was the first king to claim the title "King of the Anglo-Saxons", showing an increasingly cohesive English identity.