3 Review(s)

This collection of nineteen early English charters, in Old English and Latin, was formed in the eighteenth century, lost from sight for one hundred years in Ireland, and sent for auction in the early 1890s, when it was purchased by the Bodleian Library, Oxford. It includes original charters of Anglo-Saxon kings including Aethelstan and Aethelred, and refers to estates as far apart as Cornwall and St Albans. The documents were edited by A. S. Napier (1853-1916) and W. H. Stevenson (1858-1924), and published in 1895. The book contains thorough notes on historical and philological aspects of the texts, and a detailed index. The editors set new standards, voicing stern criticism of the pioneering works of Kemble and Birch (also reissued in this series) as regards authenticity and dating. Their work inspired new editions of the Anglo-Saxon charters, one in the first half of the twentieth century, the other still ongoing.