2025/05/15 by Jonathan Tickle · 1 voice
Arts and Humanities · #Medieval Literature and History #Historical Studies of British Isles
paper · pdf · doi:10.1080/03044181.2025.2502806
King Æthelstan faced opposition to his authority in the early years of his reign, particularly concentrated in Winchester, which was bound up in the complexities of dynastic family politics. The charter known as Sawyer 1417 has typically been used by historians to identify hints of these tensions. On its surface, the document details a lease of land between the familia of the New Minster, Winchester, and the king’s thegn Ælfred, but it has been interpreted as evidence of conflict between Æthelstan and the local community. This article offers a ‘performative’ reinterpretation of Sawyer 1417, arguing that it was itself part of the process of crisis and its resolution; in other words, that it was a medium for the mobilisation, mediation and memorialisation of conflict. In doing so, it provides further insight into the role of symbolic communication and public performance within tenth-century English political culture.