Charters, Northumbria and the unification of England in the tenth and eleventh centuries

Abstract

The extent to which southern kings of England, from the tenth century onwards, were able to claim authority over the kingdom of Northumbria, is a question of considerable importance in any consideration of the unification of England in the Anglo-Saxon period. Scholars have previously made use of a range of historical evidence in the pursuit of answers, including the testimony of, for example, narrative texts, coins and place-names. But the royal charters and diplomas of Anglo-Saxon Northumbria have never before been harnessed in such discussions and this article examines what they reveal about structures of power within England and likewise within Northumbria itself.