spine 23mm A 6 May 2010 T Wills o l l e r and Will-Making t o n A remarkable series of Anglo-Saxon wills, spanning the period from the in Anglo-Saxon beginning of the ninth century to the years immediately following the Norman Conquest, has survived in the archives of English religious houses. England Written in Old English, the wills reflect the significance of the vernacular not only in royal administration during this period, but in the recording of a range of individual transactions. They show wealthy men and women, including royalty and churchmen as well as those of thegnly status, disposing LINDA TOLLERTON i of land and chattels, recognising ties of kinship, friendship, lordship and nW service through their bequests. Land is of prime importance, but the inclusion A i in some wills of such valuable items as tableware, furnishings, clothing, l nl jewellery and weapons provides an insight into the values underlying an s g aristocratic lifestyle. Pious bequests are equally revealing about lay relations la on with the church. The wills engage with all aspects of contemporary society, - d S but they also allow individual voices to be heard which would otherwise be aW silent in the historical record. x oi This is the first study specifically devoted to Anglo-Saxon wills and their nl l social and historical context. The wills themselves can be vague and allusive, but - EM by establishing patterns of bequeathing and drawing on wider documentary n a evidence alongside that from other disciplines, such as archaeology and art gk history, Linda Tollerton sheds light on the factors which influenced men and l ai n women in making appropriate provision for their property. n g d Dr LiNDA TOLLErTON became intrigued by Anglo-Saxon wills during part- time research in the history of the period at the University of York. She has worked on the wills since 1996 alongside a career in school-teaching. Cover: The opening lines of the late ninth century will of King Alfred, whose name and title appear in the opening phrase (in translation: ‘I, Alfred, king of the West Saxons’). The will was copied into the early eleventh century Liber Vitae of the New Minster and Hyde Abbey, Winchester. BL Stowe 944, fol. 30v., © British Library Board. YORK MEDIEVAL PRESS BOYDELL & BREwER Ltd PO Box 9, woodbridge IP12 3DF (GB) and 668 Mt Hope Ave, Rochester NY14620-2731 (US) YORK MEDIEVAL www.boydellandbrewer.com PRESS Wills and Will-Making in Anglo-Saxon England YORK MEDIEVAL PRESS York Medieval Press is published by the University of York’s Centre for Medieval Studies in association with Boydell & Brewer Limited. Our objective is the promo- tion of innovative scholarship and fresh criticism on medieval culture. We have a special commitment to interdisciplinary study, in line with the Centre’s belief that the future of Medieval Studies lies in those areas in which its major constituent disciplines at once inform and challenge each other. Editorial Board (2011) Professor Peter Biller (Dept of History): General Editor Dr T. Ayers (Dept of History of Art) Dr J. W. Binns (Dept of English and Related Literature) Professor Helen Fulton (Dept of English and Related Literature) Dr K. F. Giles (Dept of Archaeology) Professor Christopher Norton (Dept of History of Art) Professor W. M. Ormrod (Dept of History) Professor J. G. Wogan-Browne (English Faculty, Fordham University) Consultant on Manuscript Publications: Professor Linne Mooney (Department of English and Related Literature) All enquiries of an editorial kind, including suggestions for monographs and essay collections, should be addressed to: The Academic Editor, York Medieval Press, University of York, Centre for Medieval Studies, The King’s Manor, York, YO1 7EP (E-mail: [email protected]). Publications of York Medieval Press are listed at the back of this volume. Wills and Will-Making in Anglo-Saxon England Linda Tollerton YORK MEDIEVAL PRESS © Linda Tollerton 2011 All rights reserved. Except as permitted under current legislation no part of this work may be photocopied, stored in a retrieval system, published, performed in public, adapted, broadcast, transmitted, recorded or reproduced in any form or by any means, without the prior permission of the copyright owner The right of Linda Tollerton to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1998 First published 2011 A York Medieval Press publication in association with The Boydell Press an imprint of Boydell & Brewer Ltd PO Box 9 Woodbridge Suffolk IP12 3DF UK and of Boydell & Brewer Inc. 668 Mt Hope Avenue Rochester NY 14620 USA website: www.boydellandbrewer.com and with the Centre for Medieval Studies, University of York ISBN 978 1 903153 37 6 A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library The publisher has no responsibility for the continued existence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this book, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. Papers used by Boydell & Brewer Ltd are natural, recyclable products made from wood grown in sustainable forests Printed in Great Britain by CPI Antony Rowe, Chippenham and Eastbourne CONTENTS List of illustrations vi Acknowledgements ix Abbreviations x Note on the references xiv Introduction 1 1. Anglo-Saxon written wills: the nature of the evidence 11 2. The process of will-making 56 3. Politics, power and the bequest of land 80 4. Lay bequest of land: pious gifts and family strategy 140 5. The bequest of movable wealth 180 6. Wills, commemoration and lay piety 228 Conclusion: Why make a written will in Anglo-Saxon England? 279 Appendices 1 The corpus of Anglo-Saxon wills 285 2 The evidence for wills and will-making in the Liber Eliensis and 289 Chronicon Abbatiæ Rameseiensis 3 The bequest of movable wealth 295 4 Local churches mentioned in wills 299 5 Note on unpublished material by Patrick Wormald 302 Bibliography 305 Index 321 ILLUSTRATIONS Figure 1 The single-gift bequest of Thurstan (S1530/W30, Christ Church 32 166, 1042x1043). Canterbury, DC, Chartae Antiquae C70, a contemporary single-sheet parchment (the upper portion of a chirograph). Reproduced with the permission of Canterbury Cathedral Archives Maps 1 The geographical distribution of Anglo-Saxon vernacular wills 12 by archive (drawn by C. Fern) 2 The landholding of Benedictine monasteries in East Anglia as 128 recorded in Domesday Book, reproduced with the permission of T. Pestell from his Landscapes of Monastic Foundation: The Establishment of Religious Houses in East Anglia, c. 650–1200 (Woodbridge, 2004), Fig. 24 Tables 1 The numerical distribution of Anglo-Saxon vernacular wills 13 by archive 2 Edwin’s bequests of land in Norfolk to local churches (S1516/W33) 132 3 Ælfhelm’s bequests of land to his wife (S1487/W13) 149 4 Schematic representation of lay male bequest of land to kin 154 5 A summary of the dispute concerning the estates of Snodland, 162 Bromley and Fawkham (Kt), indicating likely points for the making of the will S1511/W11, Rochester 35 6 Æthelgifu’s bequests to St Alban’s for commemoration 248 (S1497/St Albans 7) In memory of my parents, Ethel and Ronald Tollerton, and of my brother, Steven The publication of this book has been assisted by a grant from The Scouloudi Foundation in association with the Institute of Historical Research ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This book has had an extended gestation period, in the course of which I have accrued so many debts that it is impossible to acknowledge them all individually, but I am grateful to everyone who has supported my foray into Anglo-Saxon history. Academically, I have one debt outstanding from my undergraduate years in Newcastle, where the teaching of Richard Bailey inspired in me a passion for the Anglo-Saxon period which has finally, forty years later, borne fruit. More recently, my MA in History at the University of York was supervised by the late Richard Fletcher, who encouraged me to pursue my burgeoning interest in wills. I have had opportunities to air preliminary ideas at York University’s Centre for Medieval Studies, the Institute for Historical Research at the University of London, and the International Medieval Congress at the University of Leeds, and have benefited enormously from the questions and suggestions which resulted. I am grateful to Catherine Cubitt for support and wise advice over many years, and to Julia Crick, Sarah Foot and Kathryn Lowe for their generosity in sharing their research with me. I have also been grateful for the help of staff at the Brotherton Library, University of Leeds, at the British Library, Boston Spa, and particularly at York University Library. I am further indebted to those who have contributed in various ways to the completion of the final draft. Map 1 was drawn by Chris Fern, and Map 2 is reproduced with the kind permission of Tim Pestell; Lorraine Painter created the spreadsheet which is Appendix 3. Anthony Stanforth helped me with the translation of academic German. Nicholas Brooks provided me with revised texts of wills in the archive of Christ Church, Canterbury, together with related commentaries, in advance of their publication in the forthcoming volume of the British Academy series. Stephen Baxter commented on Chapter 1, and gave me access to the unpublished notes on wills of the late Patrick Wormald, with whom I was privileged to discuss my ideas on several occa- sions. The generously detailed comments of an anonymous academic reader enabled me not only to avoid a number of errors, but also to sharpen both my thinking and my text. I have also appreciated the support, advice and sharp eyes of my editors: Jocelyn Wogan-Browne and Peter Biller at York Medieval Press, and Caroline Palmer and Rohais Haughton at Boydell & Brewer. Finally, my greatest debt is to my parents, for their unfailing love and encouragement. My fascination with the past grew out of our family expe- ditions on Gliderways coaches to the ancient sites and monuments of the West Midlands. My mother taught me to imagine history, and my father was keen to help me explore it. Neither of them could have envisaged this book emerging from those childhood excursions, and it is my regret that they did not live to see its publication. ix