The Formation of the English Kingdom in the Tenth Century

Molyneaux, George

doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198717911.001.0001

Cited by 84 publications

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“…73 VI AEthelstan's hundreds should be seen as a local innovation from an era in the early tenth century when kings encouraged peacekeeping on the basis of local initiative, but did not stipulate what form the results should take. 74 London's efforts were part of a tendency for towns or fortresses to figure prominently in local government and justice under Edward the Elder and AEthelstan, in this case with the addition of a more granular level of organization; 75 one that may have had an influence on the structure and terminology of local government in England more widely. 76 The adoption of hundreds in rural areas, including the small shire surrounding London, could have been one reason the city differentiated itself structurally from the encircling territory, especially as it grew in size and complexity and also took on greater national prominence in the late tenth and eleventh centuries.…”

Section: IIImentioning

confidence: 99%

The Origins of the Husting and the Folkmoot

Naismith

2019

History

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In the central Middle Ages, London was marked out by its idiosyncratic institutions, prominent among which were two courts or assemblies: the Folkmoot and the Husting. This article re‐examines the early history and origins of both, and suggests that they should be seen as outgrowths of the entities recorded in a legal composition from the reign of King Æthelstan (924–39). The latter describes associations formed by the people of London to defend their interests against thieves from surrounding districts. Provisions made in this text for a gathering of leaders, to be held over food and drink, may be a forerunner of the Husting, while a larger judicial body hinted at in the law‐code could represent a precursor to the Folkmoot. The internal divisions of London from the twelfth century onwards, the wards, are also considered.

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Section: IIImentioning

confidence: 99%

The Origins of the Husting and the Folkmoot

Naismith

2019

History

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“…Most mint‐places had only become active since the time of Alfred the Great (871–99), each served by a number of moneyers, and Alfred's heirs in the 10th century had imposed coinage in their names in newly won areas of eastern and northern England. But, although there were periods of more strenuous effort at standardisation in design (most notably under Æthelstan (924–39)), the main regions of the 10th‐century kingdom still tended to go their own way in a number of respects (Naismith, ; Molyneaux, , pp. 116–41).…”

Section: The Coinage Of Powermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These messages would have found a fertile reception at the court of Æthelred II. Educated by monastic reformers, Æthelred was steeped in the tradition that a king's actions and the fate of his realm were interwoven in the eyes of God (Cubitt, , ; Molyneaux, , pp. 223–30; Roach, , , , ).…”

Section: The Coinage Of Powermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Numismatic geography in late Anglo‐Saxon England was hence considerably more complicated than the traditional association of minting with urbanisation would imply. Tenth‐century legislative attempts to limit minting, like high‐value trade, to a port or burh evidently slackened over time, or fell by the wayside (Molyneaux, , pp. 106–9; Lambert, , pp.…”

Section: The Currency Of Powermentioning

confidence: 99%

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The currency of power in late Anglo‐Saxon England

Naismith

2019

History Compass

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England between the early 970s and 1066 had a remarkable monetary system, consisting of silver pennies of standardised type which were reminted frequently. Each penny carried the name of the individual responsible for its manufacture and identified where he was based. This formidable currency came about thanks to unique conditions in the late 10th and early 11th centuries. An initial reform by Edgar was followed by a rapid sequence of recoinages under his son Æthelred II, which constituted one means of asserting morally responsible governance in the face of perceived divine displeasure. It follows that the chronology and motivation behind the coinage need to be seen as products of central, courtly developments. Actual minting, however, was a matter of individual moneyers dealing with individual customers. Here, it is argued that moneyers and mint‐places need to be seen as part of the wider landscape of formal and informal social power, and that production of coin generally came about through networks of lordship and authority. Integration of the moneyers (typically drawn from the lower elite) across England into centrally controlled mechanisms such as the coinage was one of the underpinning strengths of the late Anglo‐Saxon kingdom, linking different forms of power and giving a large swathe of the political community a stake in the realm's institutions.

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“…Larger kingdoms tended to absorb smaller neighbours over time, reducing the number of independent kingdoms drastically by the ninth century, and only one of these -Wessex -was able to endure the large-scale Scandinavian attacks of the late ninth century. In the tenth century, the West Saxon royal house took advantage of the destruction of its English rivals, extending its domination over most of the territory they had once ruled and creating in the process a single kingdom of England (Yorke, 1990, Molyneaux 2015. This kingdom was to be conquered by Duke William of Normandy in 1066, the conventional end-point for the Anglo-Saxon period of English history.…”

Section: The Anglo-saxon Periodmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hospitality, Protection and Refuge in Early English Law

Lambert

2016

Journal of Refugee Studies

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This article explores the ideas and values which underpinned legally recognised practices of providing protection to the vulnerable in Anglo-Saxon England (c.500-1066). Prominent among these is sanctuary in churches but this should be understood as part of a wider tradition of offering refuge to those in danger, rooted in secular notions of hospitality and honour. Membership of a community in this period inhered in legally binding social relationships-reciprocal ties of kinship and hierarchical bonds modelled on the household-which simultaneously protected individuals from harm and established local sureties obliged to make good any harm they did. Outsiders, lacking such relationships, were both threatening and vulnerable. Hospitality was exceptional, in that hosts were entitled to protect guests without becoming liable for their actions. This allowed them to provide refuge to the vulnerable, from refugees to thieves, and the Anglo-Saxon elite may well have felt honour-bound to do so, but it was necessarily temporary. The host-guest relationship expired after a few days, theoretically leaving thieves in danger and refugees needing to form less advantageous but sustainable long-term relationships.

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The Formation of the English Kingdom in the Tenth Century

Cited by 84 publications

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The Origins of the Husting and the Folkmoot

The Origins of the Husting and the Folkmoot

The currency of power in late Anglo‐Saxon England

Hospitality, Protection and Refuge in Early English Law

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