The Chronicle reads as if the Danes had already taken Thetford, intending to settle there for the Winter, when they were attacked by King Edmund, and his Anglo-Saxon fyrd, or army, in late November.

If King Edmund had indeed paid off the Danes to avoid war in 865, we do not know why the same thing was not attempted in 869. Perhaps the Danes now felt strong enough to take him on, or perhaps he had now resolved to resist them. He may have been given no choice, for as we have seen in Kent in 865, one band of Vikings would happily take your money, and then another band might attack you anyway.

"The Danish host rode across Mercia into East Anglia and took winter quarters in Thetford and in the same year King Edmund fought against them and the Danes had the victory. And they slew the king and overran the entire kingdom".

That description came from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, version A, written between 877 and 899, and is the first record of the death of King Edmund, later to be called St Edmund, King and Martyr.

A note to the Canterbury Version F of the Chronicles, adds that the Danish head men who slew the King were Ingware (Ivar the Boneless) and Ubba.

Version E, copied at Peterborough in 1103 also added that they destroyed, or did for, (fordiden) all the monasteries to which they came, one of which was Peterborough itself.
" The Danish took the victory and killed the king and conquered all that land, and did for all the monasteries to which they came. At the same time they came to Medeshamstede (Peterborough) : burned and demolished, killed abbot and monks, and all that they found there, brought it about so that what was earlier very rich was as it were nothing."

Asser's 'Life of King Alfred' also recorded that King Edmund died in battle, as follows:

"In the year of our Lord's incarnation 870, which was the twenty- second of king Alfred's life, the above-named army of pagans, passed through Mercia into East-Anglia, and wintered at Thetford. In the same year Edmund, king of the East-Angles, fought most fiercely against them; but, lamentable to say, the pagans triumphed, Edmund was slain in the battle, and the enemy reduced all that country to subjection."

The Danes also attacked Crowland Abbey in the Fens, and burned it down. Other monasteries assumed to have been destroyed around this time include Beodericsworth at Bury St Edmunds, Ely and Soham. Iken, Brandon and Burrow Hill were deserted, and may well have already been destroyed in the earliest attacks. Dommoc disappeared so completely that we are still debating its exact location.

The death of King Edmund is attributed to November 20th, and this remained his saint's day throughout the monastic period. The stories surrounding Edmund grew more detailed over time, and it is interesting to track the development of the legend.
The growth of the legend of St Edmund is described fully elsewhere in these pages, and can be seen by clicking here:
The Legend of St Edmund.

According to Abbo of Fleury, writing in 985, the death of St Edmund occurred at Haegelisdun Wood. According to Herman of Bury, writing in 1095, the saint was then buried nearby at Sutton. Aeldorman Aethelweard, writing at the end of the 10th century said "and his body lies entombed in the place which is called Beadoriceswyrthe".

Some modern writers now support the ideas of Dr Stanley West that the location of Edmund's death was at Bradfield St George, rather than at Hoxne, which had been the claim of the medieval bishops after 1101. Dr West has noted that there still survives an old field name Hellesden, close to a Sutton Hall six miles south of Bury St Edmunds. Two miles north are Kingshall Farm, Kingshall Street and Kingshall Green. It seems likely that St Edmund's death would not have been far from his eventual resting place.

Up to this time there had been a single kingdom of East Anglia, consisting chiefly of today's Norfolk and Suffolk. Its land frontiers were defence works on the Icknield Way facing southwest and joining up two natural boundaries. The Devil's Dyke ran 7½ miles from Reach on the edge of the marshy Fens to the dense forests still remaining at Stetchworth in the east.

The town of Thetford seems to have been attractive to these invaders as a base in East Anglia. They could bring their longboats up the Wash and follow rivers into the Little Ouse, and on to Thetford. Thetford also had ancient iron age earthworks which could be pressed into service as a camp and horse stockade. Thetford was certainly revived in importance from these beginnings as a Danish winter stronghold. For the next fifty years, East Anglia was under viking control.

The fate of the old monastic foundation at Beodericsworth, (Bury St Edmunds), is not known, and although the Chronicle says that they overran the whole kingdom, there does not seem to be any archaeological evidence yet found of any wholesale destruction by them.

King Aethelred died after Easter and was succeeded by his brother, Alfred.

Much of Wessex was taken by the Danish and their territory was expanded to its greatest ever extent. Alfred even took refuge at Athelney in Somerset, later founding a monastery there in gratitude.

By May, Alfred rallied the army and won a decisive battle over King Guthrum, or Godram, at Edington near the Bristol Channel.

The Peace of Wedmore was made following Alfred's victory at Edington, 15 miles from Chippenham. Under the Treaty the borders of Danish rule were rolled back and established east of Watling Street, along a line from London to Chester. Essex was ceded to the Danes.

The powerful kingdom of Mercia, which had dominated the country on and off for two centuries, was now divided down the middle. Mercia as a power was now finished. It would be Alfred and Wessex which would eventually rise to prominence henceforth.

Godrum converted to Christianity and changed his name to Athelstan, his new Christian name. He also agreed to pull his army back into East Anglia. Various ranks of Danish and Saxon citizens and their values were set out in this Peace, and the country was now officially partitioned. The Danish held area was to become called the Danelaw.

In many ways the Danelaw, including East Anglia, now became like a Danish province. Old allegiances to local lords were weakened. Before the Danes, land could only be transferred by the King's charter. Viking law allowed it to be bought and sold in front of witnesses, at least in the chief towns of Cambridge, Thetford, Ipswich and Norwich. Streets like Colgate and Fishergate in Norwich took their names from the Danish 'gata', meaning street. York became a Viking capital, and its well known Coppergate derives from this time.

The Suffolk town of Beccles is particularly well endowed with 'gate' street names. These include Ballygate, Becclesgate, Blyburgate, Hungate, Ingate, Newgate, Northgate, Saltgate, Sheepgate and Smallgate.

Markets were known to exist at Ipswich, Bury St Edmunds and Dunwich. By 1086, the list was joined by Haverhill, Clare, Beccles, Blythburgh, Clare, Eye, Hoxne and Thorney at Stowmarket.

However, outside the townships the Danes do not seem to have had a great impact on East Anglian place names. Only in the areas of Flegg, Blofield and Lothingland in the Broadlands area are there any number of the characteristic Viking names like Hemsby and Filby, with the 'by' ending. More places seem to end in 'thorpe', however.

Guthrum or Godrum, or Athelstan as he now was, seems to have settled into East Anglia, into the existing hundreds, with his followers, without it would seem, too much disruption. Perhaps they were quite like the Angles who were already there, and fitted in easily, or perhaps they liked the wooded river valleys where the existing people did not care to live. Guthrum had adopted Christianity and was regarded as King Alfred's godson, and no doubt this gave him some legitimacy with the English.

One imposition of Guthrum on East Anglia seems to be that the Bishoprics and their sees were abolished or set aside for next half century at least.

"Thetford-type ware is so-called because kilns for the manufacture of this Late Saxon wheelmade pottery were first uncovered in Thetford. However, it is likely that the ware developed in Ipswich, where kilns have also been excavated, and was first made by Ipswich ware potters in the late 9th century. It is a medium sandy greyware, although fine and coarse fabrics are also known.

The main forms are plain jars with everted rims, but other forms included spouted bowls and pitchers, large strapped storage jars, handled jars and lamps.

This cooking pot is typical of the Ipswich variety of Thetford-type ware. It is in a relatively fine blue-grey sandy fabric and is girth-grooved. Other forms of decoration included bands of diamond rouletting (produced using a tool similar to a pastry wheel), applied thumbed strips, and occasionally incised wavy lines.

Thetford-type ware was produced in several areas. The main kilns were in urban centres such as Ipswich, Thetford and Norwich. It is possible that pots of this type were also being made in Sudbury and possibly Bury St. Edmunds. Rural production sites have been identified at Grimston and Langhale in Norfolk, but there were probably others."

The coin shown here was found at Thetford in 2002. J North in his English Hammered Coinage describes this as possibly dating to the later period of Viking occupation of about 905 to 910, because the legend or lettering is "blundered", that is to say that it looks plausible, but makes no sense that we can discern today.

Another memorial coin, with a better legend in memory of Edmund, was copied for the 1907 Bury Pageant medallion. The moneyer was OTBERT, but the location of the mint is unknown.

It is entirely possible that the mint was in Thetford, a major town at this time. Possibly it was as big as, or bigger than, either Norwich or Ipswich in the late 9th Century.

By 890 King Alfred had held Mercia and Wessex and established a balance of power with the invaders. Alfred now found time to translate Latin texts into English and had these distributed to monasteries throughout his lands. One such text was "Pastoral Care" by Pope Gregory, which laid down the duties of priests to the people. To emphasise the importance of these texts and to encourage them to be read aloud to the monks, King Alfred would send out jewelled pointers or aestels along with the translations. This is believed to be the purpose of the so-called Alfred Jewel, illustrated here. An ivory or bone stylus was thought to be fixed to the bottom of the jewel, but is now lost. The inscription on it may be translated as "Alfred had me made".

None of these texts or artefacts would have penetrated into the Danelaw, where Christianity was becoming more acceptable to the Danes, but there were no functioning Bishoprics or monastic foundations as far as we know. It is generally thought that Sigeberht's monastery at Beodericsworth, or Bury St Edmunds, founded in 635, was defunct during these years.

The Welsh monk Asser wrote a "Life of King Alfred", in which he refers to the death of King Edmund in battle. John Asser became Bishop of Sherborne in the 890's, and worked for King Alfred in translating latin texts into English.

By about 900 the Danes of East Anglia were becoming fully Christianised and more coinage was circulated which commemorated King Edmund. Perhaps the idea of honouring him as a saint was becoming universally accepted.

At some point around AD 900, a defensive ditch was erected to protect the fords at Thetford and the growing town. Much of the land enclosed by the ditch was still undeveloped farmland at the time. Alan Crosby's map shows the likely extent of the 20 foot wide ditch and bank enclosure. Crosby recorded that the ditch and bank remained visible up to the 18th century. A section remains today between Red Castle and the London Road. Please note that some features on this map, particularly churches and the monastery, date from well over a century later.

Back in the days of King Sigbert he had set up a small monastery there, but it seems unlikely that the monastery still remained from 630 as local lay volunteers had to guard the shrine.

The acquisition of so notable a relic as a royal saint was to make the small town a place of pilgrimage and recipient of many royal grants for over 500 years.

Fortifications were also built elsewhere, and it is possible that Bedericsworth was made into a fortified burh at this time, although this privilege is also attributed to King Cnut over a century later than this. Bungay and Sudbury may have been likewise fortified. At places like Thetford and Cambridge, where the Danes already had forts, Edward may have built his own burhs or forts to face them.

In Yates' Antiquities of 1805, he quotes various monastic papers as recording that Edward the Elder marched an army into East Anglia to repress the Danes. Having ravaged the country he retreated, but his Kentish men stayed behind at Bury, desirous of more plunder. They were then attacked by an alliance of Danes and the Saxon Ethelwald who wanted to contend for Edward's crown. In the battle, Ethelwald died, but the Kentish men were routed by the Danes.

Hundreds were killed in a siege at Maldon when the vikings fought back.

King Edward the Elder then repaired and restored Colchester as part of the peace now agreed. The Danes decided to avoid a full scale invasion from Edward and his Wessex men. The chronicles say that many people submitted to him from both East Anglia and Essex which had been under Danish rule. The Danish controlled force from Cambridge also accepted Edward as Lord and Protector.

This peace treaty is interesting in that the Danes of East Anglia do not agree to surrender. They agree to "annesse", or oneness. A union of the two peoples is agreed. This allows East Anglian Danes to retain their lands and their laws, whereas the Cambridge and Essex Danes have to submit. Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire had already capitulated in 912.

Because of this peace treaty, it has been suggested that the Shires of Norfolk and Suffolk were imposed on East Anglia at this time. However, Dr Lucy Marten argues that this did not happen at this time, because of the particular type of treaty agreed. She argues that East Anglia continued as one entity until the time of King Cnut. Peter Warner in "The Origins of Suffolk", also argues that the county boundaries did not exist at this time, but he suggested that they did not come into being until the time of the Norman Conquest.

Please note that the date of this attack by Edward the Elder has been unclear to many writers, and it has been described as happening earlier, in 912, or even as late as 920. Nevertheless, by this time Edward seems to have broken up Mercia, his rival kingdom, into shires such as Cambridgeshire, Warwickshire and Staffordshire to weaken it as one unit. A Reeve or Sheriff was set up over each shire. Because of the arrangement now agreed, it seems that East Anglia was not similarly broken into Norfolk and Suffolk at this time.

The chronicles merely report that King Aethelstan won a major victory at Brunnanburh and the Northmen's lord was put to flight back to Dublin. This battle remains rather obscure to us today. We do not know where it took place but it is thought to have been the bloodiest and most important battle on British soil until the Battle of Hastings in 1066. The poem Battle of Brunanburh recounted that there were "never yet as many people killed before this with sword's edge ... since from the east Angles and Saxons came up over the broad sea".

The anglo-saxons under King Aethelstan, grandson of Alfred the Great, had to fight the combined forces of Vikings, Scots and Northumbrians. Had Aethelstan lost the battle it could have meant the end of Anglo-Saxon England.

There is no original of this document as it had been replaced by fresh versions. In later years it was normal practice for well worn and faded old records to be copied in the monastic scriptoria for everday use. So we have only a few of these later copies to consult, and they are not all consistent.

Since Lobel's day there has been much research into these early charters, and in 1968 P H Sawyer produced a catalogue called "Anglo-Saxon Charters: an Annotated List and Bibliography". This replaced earlier lists by J M Kemble, published in 1839-1848, and W Birch in 1885 to 1893. This charter of 945 is now catalogued as S 507, and further details can be seen by clicking on that reference.

In 1805, the Reverend Richard Yates provided his own translation of this charter, which may be read by clicking on the thumbnail shown adjacent to this paragraph. According to Yates, the monks stated that this was their first charter, and that, "This has the priority of all our charters." This translation does not refer solely to the freedom from taxation, but actually appears to include a gift of the land itself. If so, we must assume that the land was in the king's ownership to enable such a gift to be made. Yates's translation for this section is as follows:

".....I freely give to the monastery situated in the place called Bedericheswyrthe, where rests the body of St Edmund, King and Martyr, the land around the same place, in such a manner that the family of that monastery may possess it and eternally continue to do so; and, by the same authority, transmit it to their posterity......free from every worldly obstacle......and let it not pay any tax except to the use of the family of that church......"

Exactly what happened to Bederic's own rights as the local lord, at this time is not known. Although the documents do not seem to imply that he, (or his rightful successors), lost any of their old rights in 945, perhaps he had already lost his lands. Thus Bederic may, or may not, have continued to receive his own local dues. These may have included Landmol, a rent on farmland in the town fields, which lay outside the town boundary. Jocelin tells us that by his time, from every acre of the nine hundred that had been Bederic's, the payment was two pence. By the time of Jocelin of Brackland, in the late 12th century, this rent was collected by the reeve and paid to the sacrist.

Bederic himself was either paying some of this cash over to the Earl, who had the rights in East Anglia, or he was providing other duties and fees to him as landlord in chief. We do not know how the old Saxon system of dues had been altered by Viking rule.

Jocelin also believed that, "when the town was made free, [presumably 945] the service owed for these lands was divided into two, in such a way that the sacrist or the reeve took a levy at the rate of 2d per acre, and the cellarer had ploughing and other services." In fact, we must treat this assertion with caution, as it is doubtful whether these posts existed at this time in this pre-Benedictine community. However, Jocelin was sure that this arrangement was very old.

Jocelin also reported that by his time, (c1198) the Cellarer of the Abbey held a messuage and barns near Scurun's Well, "which had been the manor house of Beodric, lord of this town in ancient days, after whom the town used to be called Beodricsworth. His fields are now in the demesne of the cellarer, and what is now called averland was the land of his peasants. The total estate which was held by him and his men consisted of 900 acres, and these lands are still the town fields." According to Antonia Gransden the cellarer's manor was known as the grange of St Edmund, or Eastgate Barns. The Scurun's Well messuage and barns therefore seems to be identified with Eastgate Barns, sometimes referred to as Holderness barns along Holderness Lane, off Eastgate Street. On the OS map for 1955 it is named as Grange Farm.

Moving on now to the area which was included within this grant of privileges, this was described within the otherwise latin charter as a perambulation in Old English, which reinforced Hart's view that this part was, indeed, genuine. The part of the charter which deals with the boundaries of the granted area is very confusing to modern eyes. We cannot recognise many of the landmarks. In S 507 the text goes as follows:

"This sindon tha land gemere the Eadmund king gebocade in to sancte Eadmunde . thonne is thær ærest suth be eahta treowen . 7 thonne up be Alhmundes treowen . 7 swa forth to Osulfes lea . 7 swa forth on gerihte be manige hyllan . 7 thonnen up Hamarlunda . 7 swa forth æfter than we se Lytlantune . 7 thonen ofer tha ea æfter than wege to Bertenedene . 7 swa on gerichte east to Holegate . 7 swa forth an furlang be easten Bromleage 7 thonan suth to niwantune meaduwe."

This list of landmarks may be translated as follows:

1. First south by the Eight Trees
2. Then up by Ahlmunds trees
3. So forth to Osulf's meadow
4. So forth on the right by many hills
5. Then up Hamarlunde
6. To four mounds (hogas-after Hart and not in S507 version)
7. So forth after we see Little Town
8. Then over the running water
9. After then the Way to Berten or Barton Valley
10. So on right east to Hole Gate
11. So forth one furlong by Eastern Bromleage
12. Then south to Nowton Meadow

"Acta est hæc præfata donatio anno ab incarnatione domini nostri Jhesu Christi . DCCCC . XLV . Indictione . III . "

The record states that King Edmund gave these rights to the collegiate church (also called the convent) of St Edmund. It would appear that by now, the lay volunteers who had first tended the shrine since 906, had been incorporated into a college, or body, of priests. King Edmund was the son of Edward the Elder and granted the lands round Beodricsworth to the 'Familie monasterii,' or family of the monastery, as it is termed in one charter quoted by Arnold in Memorials of the Abbey of St Edmund. (See charter S 507,). At that time the household or college of clerks, to whom the duty of guarding the shrine was assigned, consisted of six persons, four priests and two deacons, according to Herman in 1095. They probably also supported their wives and families.

This area of land was later to become known as the Banleuca and its grant indicates the important status of the shrine of St Edmund and the growing importance of its monastery. The income from the Banleuca belonged, therefore, to the college of priests as a whole, and did not belong to the Abbot alone when in later years, this was to become an issue.

Most of this area was farmland at this time, with only small settlements around the farms, and Bedericsworth was just a growing village around the shrine. In later years the boundaries of the banleuca were to be marked by four stone crosses on the main roads into town. The map shown here displays the banleuca and parish boundaries by the 1990's, overlaid on features that would have existed in the 15th century, but are now gone. This grant of land by King Edmund effectively defined the administrative boundaries of Bury St Edmunds right up until 1934 when parts of Westley and Fornham were added to the town to the north west. This additional land is also outlined on this map.

One significant factor in this story may be that it was in 945 that King Edmund married the Lady Aethelflaed of Damerham. Damerham is in Wiltshire, but Aethelflaed was the daughter of Aelfgar, who had just become the Ealdorman of Essex. Aelfgar held estates in Essex, but also had lands in the county that we know today as Suffolk. In 945, however, this name did not exist. It was part of East Anglia.

Nevertheless, suddenly the King has now got a family interest in some land in East Anglia, and perhaps prompted by Aethelflaed, he made this gift to St Edmund. It was not a large area by the standards of royal monastic endowments of the period, but maybe that was all there was to give, and maybe the shrine had few needs at the time. This was a small part of the slow integration of East Anglia into the control of the Kings of Wessex and England.

Another significant factor surrounding this arrangement is the effect it must have had upon other local taxation arrangements. By 1086 we know that Sudbury was added to the Hundred of Thingoe. It seems likely that this would have taken place to compensate Thingoe Hundred for the loss of the tax revenues from the Banleuca of Bury, and thus it is likely to have been undertaken at the same time that Bury was exempted from the tax. This puts the arrangement in 945, and also leaves us with the conclusion that the Hundredal system itself was established by this time. If we accept that East Anglia was not divided into Norfolk and Suffolk until the time of Canute, c. 1021, then it follows that the Hundredal system pre-dates the introduction of Shire Counties.

Aelfgar not only held estates in Essex, but much land in today's Suffolk, south and west of Bury. It is interesting to see from this will, that the right to make a will was not easily available to everybody. Aelfgar, despite his position, had to earn the right to make his will, as follows:
"And Bishop Theodred and the Ealdorman Eadric told me, when I gave to my lord the sword which King Edmund gave to me, which was worth a hundred and twenty mancuses of gold and had four pounds of silver on the sheath, that I might have the right to make my will; and God is my witness that I have never done wrong against my lord that I may not have this right."

Aelfgar seems to have become an Ealdorman around 944, and his daughter Aethelflaed became the second wife of King Edmund in or about the same year. By this time she was, of course,a widow, King Edmund having died in 946. In his will, Aelfgar left his estates at Cockfield, Ditton and Lavenham to Aethelflaed. However, after her death, he willed that Cockfield should go to St Edmund's foundation at Bedericesworth, and Ditton should pass to "whatever holy foundation seems to her most advisable."

The sentence in Old English referring to Bedericesworth is as follows:
"And þanne ouer vre aldre day ic an þat lond at Cokefeld into Beodricheswrthe to seynt Eadmundes stowe."

Aethelflaed had a sister called Aelfflaed, and in the years between 1000 and 1002, she also left an estate at Cockfield to St Edmund's. It is not clear if this is the same land or another parcel of land at Cockfield. If it is the same land, then it shows that Aelfgar's will was slightly amended in later years to allow both sisters the benefit of the income before it passed into the hands of the monastery of St Edmund.

Aelfgar's will also said the should Aethelflaed produce a son, then he would inherit Lavenham after her death. If not, Lavenham would pass to a religious house at Stoke, presumably Stoke by Nayland. Stoke was also to inherit woodland at Ashfield from Aelfgar.

Aelfgar's connection with Stoke by Nayland is explained in Aelfflaed's later will. She asks in her will, Reference S 1486 of 1000 x 1002, that "my Lord protect the holy foundation at Stoke, in which my ancestors lay buried."

One bequest was "land at Horham, Athelington, (Suffolk), to St Æthelberht's church at Hoxne". Hoxne was the Bishop's episcopal demesne, or official church seat, and the church there was still dedicated to St Aethelbert. It was not until the 11th century that the dedication was changed to St Edmund, perhaps indicating that Edmund was not thought to be connected to Hoxne at this time.

Another bequest of importance to the monastery at Bury was as follows: "land at Nowton, Horningsheath, Ickworth and Whepstead, to St Edmund's church." Theodred does not need to mention the location of St Edmund's church, but records that the bequest is for the sake of Bishop Theodred's soul.

Another bequest of local land was "land at Barton, Rougham, Pakenham, Suffolk, to his kinsman Osgot, Eadulf's son".

In the 25 years peace that followed there was a cultural and religious revival.

The names of the first Bishops of North Elmham have been listed in Wikipaedia as Athulf, (955-962), Alfrid, (962-967) and Theodred II, (967-973).

When Edgar became sole king of England a uniform coinage was instituted throughout the country. A royal portrait was on one side. The reverse had a cross with the name of the mint as well as the moneyer. Under Eadgar most fortified towns of burghal status were allowed a mint. The number of moneyers depended on the size of the town. Thetford was certainly one of those towns allowed to produce coinage. Many of the coins of King Edgar do not include a mint mark. J J North recorded an uncertain mint mark of "THI", which he tentatively attributed to Thetford, with a moneyer called Aelferd.

Bury St Edmunds does not seem to have qualified to have a mint at this time, reflecting its comparative lack of importance as a commercial centre at this time.

King Edgar also recognised some of the old Danish liberties by now well established in East Anglia. This contrasted with the status of Englishmen who were still subject to the king's laws. The relative freedoms thus retained by the Anglo-Danish East Anglians helped to stimulate economic activity and wealth in the region. Some people hated Edgar for this tolerance of 'evil foreign customs'.

King Edgar drew up his will, (Sawyer reference S 703), and left 7 hides of land at Chelsworth to Aethelflaed of Damerham. She had been the second wife of King Edmund, and thus was stepmother to Edgar. This land seems to have later passed into the hands of Aethelflaed's sister, Aelfflaed, because Aelfflaed would in turn leave it in her will, dated between 1000 and 1002, to the holy foundation of St Edmund.

These wills are difficult to date, because they are drawn up sometimes well before the author's death, and can only be dated by the witness list attached to them. These lists were drawn up in strict order of precedence, with the most important names at the head of the list. These wills do not actually take effect until the author dies, and this date is often also unclear.

Thus we have the will of Theodred, which follows, drawn up probably before this date, but not put into effect until his demise around this year. This event was recorded by Yates, in his Antiquities of the Abbey, published in 1805.

Theodred the second, the Bishop of Hulm, (which we call Elmham), and London, left to St Edmund's the manors of Nowton, Ickworth, Whepsted, Horringer, and 'other valuable manors in the vicinity of Bury'.

These new rules led to such a well trained body of monks that monastic life remained strong throughout the Danish invasion and up to the Normans.

King Edgar actively supported and enforced all these church reforms, removing secular monks and replacing them by celibate monks with allegiance to St Benedict's rule, rather than to local landlords.

These church reforms were supported by Ealdorman Athelstan, 'Half-King' of East Anglia, who helped refound the monastic houses of Peterborough, Thorney and Ely. These houses had been ruined by the Danish invasions, and at Ramsey, a great new religious house was set up. Although nowadays we would regard these Fenland towns as part of East Anglia, in 970 they were part of Mercia. However, St Etheldreda of Ely had been a Wuffing Princess, and the area around Rendlesham had been a Wuffing royal estate since the days of King Raedwald, who died in 625. Whatever the reason, King Edgar was able to issue a charter to give Ely Abbey the rights to the Wicklaw or Wicklow, an area of five and a half hundreds in East Suffolk around Rendlesham and Woodbridge. Ely soon let them to a tenant in order to get land closer to home.

Despite the fact that the King was pushing Benedictines into minsters across the country, he did not seem to have the lands or the authority to push them into East Anglia, and in particular, into Beodericsworth, or Bury St Edmunds, as we now know it.

The clergy who were in control of St Edmund's shrine may have had wives, and did not follow the new fangled Benedictine strict codes of subjugation to the rule of a monastic order. They were only a small community and would not have been able to resist the King's will unless East Anglia was indeed still a self governing unit, only partially at one with the rest of the country.

Hundreds were first mentioned in the Laws of Edgar in 970, and by the time of Ethelred the term referred to an area of one hundred hides for the purpose of taxation. It has been suggested that originally a hundred could support 100 men, and that some, if not all, of the hundreds dated back to pre-Viking times.

King Edgar's will had left 7 hides of land at Chelsworth to Aethelflaed of Damerham. She had been the second wife of King Edmund, and thus was stepmother to Edgar. Aethelflaed herself made a will between 962 and 991, but probably after 975. This will survives as Sawyer Reference S 1494.

Many of her lands were left to her sister for life, and then to a religious institution after her sister's death. These lands included the following clauses which benefitted the monastery at Bury St Edmunds:

" And I grant the two estates, Cockfield and Chelsworth, to the Ealdorman Brihtnoth and my sister for her life; and after her death to St Edmund's foundation at Bedericesworth."

"And I grant the estate at Elmsett to the Ealdorman Brihtnoth and my sister for their lifetime, and after their death I grant it to Edmund."

Aethelred II would rule from 978 to 1016, a period afflicted by constant Danish attacks on the country. After his reign he became known as Aethelred the Unready, but the Old English word "unraed" is believed to have been best translated as 'ill-advised'.

Many types of coinage were issued over the period of his long rule, but moneyers at Thetford issued examples of all these types, as did Ipswich and Norwich. Fewer types were issued at Cambridge. Bury St Edmunds was too unimportant to be ranked as a minting borough at this time. Bury's first coins would not appear until 1048.

In 985 Abbo of Fleury wrote his 'Life of St Edmund' at Ramsey Abbey, near St Ives. The significance of this event has caused some discussion amongst historians. Was this evidence that Ramsey had some form of oversight and control of the foundation of St Edmund's community at Beodricsworth, as has been suggested? If not, then why was St Edmund's story not written up at Bury?

The answer to this may simply be that Abbo was already well known as a very learned man in a wide variety of subjects, who was eager to become an hagiographer, or writer of saints' lives. He was the best man for the job, and the job was probably commissioned by a major patron of the abbey, such as Ealdorman Aethelwine, the most important Ealdorman in the whole country, who also lived nearby. The country was being raided by Danes on an annual basis, and it would help to improve morale if the story of St Edmund's own resistance to the Danes could be more widely known.

Abbo's book was based on a story told by Archbishop Dunstan as an example to his young monks. Dunstan said that he got the tale from the eye witness report of an old soldier who claimed to have fought for St Edmund. Some translations have described this witness as armour bearer of the King himself, but another reading of "sword bearer", is simply that he carried arms into battle.

Abbo's "Life" was written 116 years after the events which it described. Nevertheless, this was to become the basis of all future lives of the saint, which were reworked many times in years to come.

The earliest texts of Abbo do not appear to mention any locations for the battle or for where the saint was laid to rest in a fine church. What he does imply is that the fine church, endowed with many gifts, was erected at the marker at which the saint was originally buried. Like Abbo, we know that the saints remains were by this time at Beodricsworth, now called Bury St Edmunds,

The illustration is from the Psychomachia of Prudentius, a popular work copied in many religious institutions from the 10th to the 12th centuries. This page shows the desire for luxury, one of the 'Spritual Combats' that the devout monk had to undergo. This particular document was in the library at Bury Abbey in the 14th century. It is possible that it had been owned, and possibly even produced, by the secular college of monks in Bury around this time. The Bury College of monks may actually have been doing a good job already, before the Benedictines came here.

In 991 a large, well organised army led by Olaf, later King of Norway, defeated the English at Sandwich, then attacked and ravaged Ipswich. Olaf Tryggvason of Norway seems to have masterminded this attack along with Svein Forkbeard of Denmark. This led finally to the famous Battle of Maldon, commemorated in an epic poem. Olaf had 93 ships and having over-run Ipswich defeated Ealdorman Byrhtnoth or Brihtnoth of Essex at Maldon. At this time Ealdorman Aethelwine was the chief man in East Anglia, but he was probably lying ill at home in Ramsey, as he would die in 992 of an affliction of the feet.

The poem records how a Danish representative stood on Northey Island and suggested that a battle could be avoided if tribute money were paid. Byrhtnoth replied from the mainland side of the causeway that the tribute would be paid in spears, deadly points and tried swords. The battle could not begin until the tide had ebbed sufficiently to allow the armies to meet. The poem records that the grey haired Byrhtnoth was hit by a spear, but continued to fight. Eventually his sword arm was disabled and he was hacked to death along with two loyal bodyguards.

By this time, Sturmer was the main centre in the Haverhill area, sending a famous battalion under their Saxon chief Leofsunu to fight at the Battle of Maldon which took place on August 11th 991.

During the battle when the English leader, Byrhtnoth, was killed, Godric, Godwine and others fled. The poem then records the last stand of the remaining army, quoting words of defiance from several loyal leaders. One such was Leofsunu of Sturmer in this dramatic translation by Bill Griffiths:

"Leofsunu spoke, raised his Linden shield
in defence, responded to his fellow fighter
I swear this. I will not step back
a foot's space. Rather I'll go further ahead
Avenge in battle my benefactor
No one round Sturmer, steady in judgement
will ever need accuse me, now my kind lord's fallen
of making for home, deserting my master
running from war. Better a weapon take me
Point or Blade. Then, in a passion
He fought fiercely. Flight he scorned."

Sturmer remained the chief settlement in the Haverhill area until about 1050.

To show that all classes of men were still willing to fight on, the poem gives more words of defiance to Dunnere, "a simple yeoman". Despite all this bravado, the English are defeated by the northmen.

Ealdorman Byrhtnoth's headless body was recovered to be finally buried at Ely, with a ball of wax to replace his head. Burying the body at the great monastery at Ely emphasises his importance as a symbol of resistance.

His widow was called Aellflaed, daughter of Aelfgar. She commissioned a hanging embroidered with the deeds of her husband. As her will (Sawyer reference S 1486) later recorded that there was a "holy foundation at Stoke (by Nayland), where my ancestors lie buried", it is quite likely that this tapestry was displayed there. No trace now remains of any monastery at Stoke by Nayland.

After these battles, the leadership of Essex and East Anglia was largely wiped out. It was left to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Sigeric, to lead an appeal to raise money to pay off the Danes. This was probably restricted to the areas mentioned, as so far there was no nationally organised way of mounting any response to the attacks. So, the invaders were paid a tribute, or "gafol" of £10,000 and a local peace was made. This was the first tribute payment that had been made for a generation. Later these tributes came to be called Danegeld.

The will of the Lady Aelfflaed still exists, and is catalogued as Sawyer S 1486. In this will, estates at Cockfield and Chelsworth are left to the monastery of St Edmund. Land at Nedging is left to her kinswoman Crawe in her lifetime, after which it will pass to St Edmund also.

The religious foundation of St Edmund at Bedericsworth had, by now, already built up a substantial endowment of valuable estates. Those nearest to the shrine are illustrated on this map by Cyril Hart, taken from his book, "The Danelaw".

In 1002 he married Queen Emma of Normandy to try to strengthen his foreign alliances. He built churches and promoted national lawcodes to promote good order and Godly behaviour. What else could he contemplate doing?

By 1002 a man called Ulfcytel was appearing in the witness lists of royal writs. These were drawn up in strict order of precedence, and Ulfcytel was listed among the Ministers. Although the later deeds of Ulfcytel make him famous, there appears to be no record of him before this date. Neither is there any indication of his ancestry or his kinships. The name is taken to be of Danish origin, and perhaps he was descended from the Danes under Guthrum who had settled around the Broads area after the Danelaw Treaty of 879. Or perhaps he was a native Dane, already well known in Scandinavia for prowess with arms, who was employed by King AEthelred as a mercenary leader to defend the English from the marauders.

In a desperate attempt to regain control of his destiny, King Ethelred ordered a general massacre of all the Danes in England on St Brice's day, November 13th. This was on a Saturday, the traditional bathing and rest day of the Danes. One victim turned out to be the sister of King Swein of Denmark.

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle tells us that under cover of the truce, the Danes marched inland to Thetford. Hearing of this, Ulfcytel sent a force to attack the Danish fleet, and destroy it at anchor. Something went wrong and the attackers failed in their duty.

Meanwhile, three weeks into the truce the force of King Sweyn Forkbeard reached Thetford and spent the night pillaging the town before they burnt it down.

Ulfcytel Snilling was apparently the local Anglo-Danish Ealderman, and by the next day he had raised a force to confront the invaders on Wretham Heath, north of Thetford, at Ringmere. However, he still did not have time to get the fyrde up to full strength. The Chronicle fails to name this fight, but later Danish sources give us the name of the battle site as Ringmere Heath.

Ringmere was a conspicuous location in the heathland of the area, having a round mere which fluctuated with the seasons. It was also the spot where five modern parish boundaries converge, and these were probably also boundaries of vills or settlements at the time. Such places were well known, and made good rallying points for the assembly of fighting men.

Nevertheless, the Chronicles tell us that the Danes had never met such stiff resistance before, and that if Ulfcytel had got more men, then he would have won.

Ulfketel or Ulfcytel took heavy casualties next day and lost the most senior of his East Anglian troops. However, although the invaders won the day, they too took heavy losses, and they ran for their ships and left the country. Ulfcytel had anticipated this and had sent orders to destroy these ships, but this never took place.

Ulfcytel had rights over sufficient property that he could grant some of it to the Abbey of St Edmund. Sawyer document reference S 1219 records the grant of Rickinghall, Rougham, Woolpit, Hinderclay and Redgrave to St Edmund. This could also indicate that he was a Christian. Cyril Hart dates this Grant to c1005. It may be translated as follows:

"Here it is declared in this document that Ulfketel has granted to God and St Edmund the estate at Rickinghall and all that belongs to it, and the estate at Rougham and the estate at Woolpit and the estate at Hinderclay and that at Redfaresthorpe, as they stand with their produce and their men and with rights of jurisdiction, as he has owned them. If anyone alters this, God Almighty shall avert his countenance from him on the Day of Judgment, unless he has made amends for it here as quickly as possible."

According to Hart the Benefactors Lists of the Abbey also record gifts from Ulfcetel of Redgrave, Bradfield, Felsham and Hesset in the years 1005 to 1009.

At the same time as passing his new law code, King Aethelred made the bold and innovative attempt to build a new fleet of ships from a national tax levy. He issued a levy on every Hide to raise the finance needed.

It may be that his title of Minister may give a clue as to his origin. Perhaps he was not seen as quite English enough to be given the title of Ealdorman, but he was undoubtedly close to the King, and had a formidable fighting reputation.

By 1009 Aethelred had built most of his new fleet of ships, and they were assembled at Sandwich, ready to attack any Danish ships that came near the coast. The fleet was said to be larger than anything seen before.

However, there was discord between the commanders, and Wulfnoth of Sussex broke away with 20 ships and raided up and down the south coast. Another 80 ships were taken under Beorhtric's leadership to try to surround Wulfnoth. While at sea these were wrecked by a great storm. Wulfnoth apparently finished off the survivors. Any remaining ships retreated to London, and the great plan fizzled out into failure.

On the 1st August, King Swein attacked England again. Canterbury and East Kent paid him £3,000 to desist. He the sailed to the Isle of Wight, attacking it, then Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. They wintered on the Thames and "lived off Essex and the neighbouring Shires." They sailed up the Thames and attacked Oxford. The English could not seem to make any effective defence.

Men like Archbishop Wulfstan urged the king to see these disasters as a punishment from God for not being holy enough. From 26th to 28th September, the King called for three days of prayer and fasting. Every hide was instructed to pay one penny to the church. In 1009 the King also issued a new coin, known as the Agnus Dei issue. Aethelred's coinage had begun with a portrait of him in a toga. As the Danes came, his portrait was changed to show him wearing a military helmet. In 1009 he ordered his portrait to be removed altogether and replaced by a lamb, symbolising the lamb of god, and a dove to invoke the holy spirit on the reverse. This coin was only issued in 1009.

The battle was described as a 'bed of death', and despite help from Cambridgeshire, whose men alone stood firm, the East Anglians were defeated and fled. "It was Thurcytel 'Mares Head' that first started the flight", says the Peterborough Chronicle, (ASC version E).

This location may well have been at Rymer Point, near Honington, about four miles south of Thetford. Rymer Point, near Honington, is illustrated here by an aerial photograph which shows only a relic of the mere that gave the place its name. This location is also extremely unusual in that nine parishes converge on the old mere, presumably to give watering, or fishing, rights to every parish in an area otherwise devoid of standing water. This would have been a well known place at which to call a rallying point for the fyrd.

Another possible location has been cited at Ringmere, four miles north-east of Thetford, but it seems more likely that an army that was intending to defend Thetford, would meet an attack from the Ipswich direction to the south of Thetford. This argument also supports an idea put forward by Alan Crosby, that part of Barnham Common was until recent times called Ringmere, and so this must also be considered a strong contender.

After the battle the Vikings got horses, and ravaged at will for three months, burning Thetford, and penetrating the Fens to burn Cambridge. In Essex, the village of Balsham was destroyed by the raiders. The village sign still commemorates the only survivor who hid in the church. Fighting also occurred at Nacton and Hadstock.

As the Peterborough Chronicle says:

" The Danes had possession of the place of slaughter, and then they were horsed and therafter had possession of East Anglia, and for 3 months raided and burned that country. They even travelled into the wild fens, and they killed men and cattle....and burned down Thetford and Cambridge."

As a symbol of a previous East Anglian resistance to Danish invaders, it was imperative to avoid the relics of St Edmund being defiled by the latest attackers. So while the Danes were moving on Thetford, the remains of St Edmund were taken to London for safekeeping out of harm's way by a clerk of the community at Bedericsworth called Egelwin or Ailwin. London had already demonstrated that its stone walls could resist Danish attackers. In London the body was lodged at the church of St Gregory the Great.

Ther are some accounts reported by Yates in his 1805 book on Bury Abbey, that Turchill, one of the Danish leaders under Sweign, having harassed and devastated the whole of East Anglia, burnt and plundered Bury. This does not seem to be an unreasonable supposition, given that the Danes spent three months raiding and burning throughout East Anglia. Bury was, after all, only a few miles south of Rymer Point. Ailwin presumably got away before this happened.

A source from Scandinavia recorded a battle in 1011 at Newemouth, thought to be near Orford, in which the Danes suffered a defeat at the hands of Ulfcytel of East Anglia. Nevertheless, the tide of war was flowing in their direction.

The Chronicles listed all the shire counties where the Danes had effectively seized control by 1011. However, there are significantly neither Norfolk nor Suffolk so named, but instead, East Anglia. So the list begins;

"They had then overrun: (i) East Anglia, and (ii) Essex, and (iii) Middlesex,and (iv) Oxfordshire, and (v) Cambridgeshire, and (vi) Hertfordshire, and (vii) Buckinghamshire, and (viii) Bedfordshire, and (x) half Huntingdonshire, and to the south of the Thames all the Kentish and South Saxons, and the Hastings district, and Surrey, and Berkshire, and Hampshire, and much in Wiltshire."

Dr Lucy Marten has pointed out that this could be strong evidence that East Anglia had still not yet been divided into shires by the Kings of England, despite the fact that this arrangement was clearly well established everywhere else in the kingdom.

Despite the defeat at Ringmere, Ulfcytel kept his reputation. By 1012 he was at the head of the witness lists for Ministers attesting to writs and charters. He still does not appear to be an Ealdorman, despite the fact that he was the leader of the East Anglian forces in battle.

The "gafol" or Danegeld was £48,000, a massive sum, the biggest ever recorded.

Swein had taken hostages from every borough under his control, and he now left them and his fleet in the hands of his son, Cnut. Cnut must have been only about 13 years old at this time.

Swein now provisioned his men, and taking horses, he marched south, and they" wrought the greatest evil that any raiding army could do." Oxford and Winchester submitted and Swein marched on London.

King Aethelred was holding London with the help of Torkyl the Tall, the Dane who was now working as a mercenary for Aethelred. London held out, so Swein marched west to Bath, where he received the submission of Ealdorman Aethelmar and his western thegns. Returning north, Swein found that he controlled nearly all of England. London now decided to submit "because they were afraid he would do for them."

Aethelred spent some time with his fleet on the Thames, while Queen Emma fled to the court of her Brother, Duke Richard II of Normandy. Aethelred then left the fleet to go to the Isle of Wight. After a season he decided that the situation was hopeless and joined Emma in Normandy.

He was said to have been struck dead while threatening to sack St Edmund's town or extract a heavy ransom from it. It did not take long for the idea to circulate that he had been struck down by St Edmund himself. A life size picture of this event, showing St Edmund impaling Swein with a spear would be be painted over Edmund's shrine by Abbot Samson. The illustration here is taken from John Lidgate's "Life of St Edmund", produced in 1434.

The local people of Bedericsworth were said to have been so pleased to be spared Swein's extortions that they voluntarily agreed to pay a carucagium, or local land tax, to the monastery. The levy was four pence on every carucate of land. In later centuries no doubt this story was produced to answer local critics who questioned why this tax should be paid.

After Swein's demise, his son Cnut (or Canute) was chosen as his replacement by the Danish forces. Canute was only 13 or 14 at this point. Although the English had accepted Swein as king, they now advised that Aethelred should be sent for, but only if he "would govern them more justly than he did before."

Aethelred agreed to return, but only if the people "would resolutely and without treachery, turn to him." Thus it was agreed, and Aethelred returned in the Spring. An agreement was drawn up with the Witan that "every Danish king (be) outlawed forever."

Meanwhile Cnut had got the men of Lindsey to support him in an attack on the south. Before he was ready, Aethelred invaded Lindsey, forcing Cnut to take his ships and hostages and escape seawards, leaving the Lindsey men to suffer the consequences of supporting him.

The unfortunate hostages were put ashore at Sandwich after having their hands and noses cut off. Cnut escaped back to Denmark.

"And besides all these evils the king ordered the raiding army that lay at Greenwich to be paid 21 thousand pounds." It is unclear what this refers to, but it could be the mercenary payment to Torkyl the Tall for his 40 ships. Torkyl now leaves the scene, only to turn up again in 1016 back on the Danish side, in support of Cnut!

The king's son, Edmund, attempted to raise an army against Cnut, but there was a lack of enthusiasm without King Aethelred, who stayed in London. He had been ill since the previous year. Edmund now joined Ealdorman Uhtred of Northumbria, where, instead of attacking Cnut, they raided south into Staffordshire, Shrewsbury and Chester.

Cnut now struck northwards through Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire and Huntingdonshire, to Stamford, Lincilnshire and up to Northumbria. Uhtred had to hurriedly return home, and he submitted to Cnut, but was subsequently killed. Cnut made Eric, son of Hakon the new Earl of Northumbria.

By Easter the Danes took ships south, while Edmund hurried to London to rejoin King Aethelred to defend London

. Before Cnut's ships had reached the Thames, the King died. Ethelred the Unready died on the 23rd April, and the Chronicles commented, "after great toil and difficulties in his life". His son, Edmund Ironside, was proclaimed King in London, but Cnut was also crowned at Southampton. The country split into two camps. Thorkill the Tall and his army, joined on the side of Cnut. Ulfcytel the Valiant, Aeolderman of East Anglia joined on the side of Edmund.

By 9th May the Danes were laying siege to London, but Edmund had escaped to Wessex where he was received as king. Queen Emma, now the widow of Aethelred, was under Ulfcytel's protection in London. Edmund now demonstrated a determination to fight off the Danish invasions.

Now followed the Battle of Peselwood near Gillingham, where Edmund fought the Danes. After midsummer came another battle at Sherston, where the Danes came off worst, despite support from the English forces of Eadric and Aelfmaer Darling. The next battle came when Edmund travelled to London, and raised the siege, driving the Danes back to their ships. Two days later came another battle at Brentford. While Edmund regrouped in Wessex, the Danes attacked London again, but they abandoned that attack and went up the Orwell in their ships, ultimately to attack Mercia. Nothing is known about this campaign, but from the Orwell they could go inland via the Stour valley, or up towards Bury and Thetford. Scandinavian sources mention another battle of Ringmere fought by Earl Earik, and it is possible that this took place on this campaign.

They now attacked into Mercia, and returned with their ships, supplies, herds and other spoils to the Medway.

Then for the 4th time King Edmund assembled the whole English nation to cross the Thames at Brentford, on into Kent, and drove the Danes back to Sheppey. Ealdorman Eadric now changed sides again, and re-joined KIng Edmund.

The Danes again drove through Essex to Mercia. Edmund raised his army for the fifth time, and pursued them into Essex, to a hill called Assendun. This name has been translated as either Ash tree Hill or Ass's Hill, and its location is still the subject of debate.

Despite the red herring of the Bartlow Hills, there must remain some possibility that Assendun was located near Ashdon. In 1020, Cnut had a memorial minster built of stone and lime at the battlefield which is also unidentified, but locating this church would also locate the battle.

At Hadstock, close by Ashdon, stands St Botolph's church, which certainly dates back to this time. The main door, dated to about 1020, remains the oldest church door still in use in this country, while local legend includes a story involving a battle with the Danes. We should also recall that, at this time, Essex was not part of East Anglia. So if Canute wanted to attack this area he would come up the Icknield Way, through Essex, and past Hadstock. Similarly, Ulfcytel would stand and defend his East Anglian Earldom on its southern border at about this point.

Ulfcytel left the manors of Redgrave, Rougham, Rickinghall, Woolpit and six others to the monastery at St Edmund's. He may have left us the villages now called the Ilketshalls in East Suffolk, in which case, he probably had a home manor and powerbase at Bungay.He was called "snilling", meaning "the valiant", and East Anglia had by now become popularly known as Ulfcytel's Land in the Skaldic verses of the time. His origins are obscure as he does not seem to have had any relatives within the local aristocracy. Like Thurkill the Tall, he may have been a mercenary, brought over to provide an army to defend East Anglia in return for lands and position.

King Cnut or Canute, was descended from a long line of Danes who had caused great misery in England. One of his ancestors was Ivar the Boneless, who had killed St Edmund. He was the son of King Sweyn Forkbeard who had died suddenly (so it was said), after threatening to sack St Edmund's town. St Edmund must have hovered in the background of Cnut's mind as a saint not to be trifled with.

Canute soon had Earl Eadric killed, along with several leaders of the old regime. He took firm control of the country.

When King Aethelred the Unready had died, he left a widow, Queen Emma. Emma and her children could have become the focus of any belated uprising, so Canute now ordered before the 1st August, that she "be fetched to him as wife."

Queen Emma was known in French as Emma, but in English as Aelfgifu. This was a common name in English aristocratic circles, so was clarified by the addition of her origins, thus she was called Aelfgifu of Normandy. Emma was the daughter of Duke Richard of Normandy, and had already had three sons by Aethelred, the eldest of whom would later become Edward the Confessor.

Cnut too, was already married to Aelfgifu of Northampton, and she had two sons by him, one of whom was Harald Harefoot. Emma, however, seems to have made a pre-nuptial agreement with Cnut that only her sons could succeed to the English throne. By this agreement, Cnut perpetuated the eventually successful Norman claim to the English throne.

Since 1909 it has been the fashion for historians to assume that when Cnut married Emma, that he gave her West Suffolk as a wedding present. However there is another explanation of how she came into control of the eight and a half hundreds of Thingoe, which is explained in the entry for 1021.

Canute was interested in religion and had already supported the cult of St Edmund. In 1020 he made a pilgrimage to the shrine at Bedericsworth.

Cnut was now consolidating his hold on the country. He had neutralised the old royal family by his marriage to Emma. He had killed off many of the old aristocracy who had opposed him. One possible issue was the cult of St Edmund. The saint had resisted previous Danish invasions by Cnut's own ancestors. There were whispers about the fate of his father Sweyn having been struck down by St Edmund. As an English martyr, Cnut needed to ensure that St Edmund did not become the focus of resistance to his rule. Having already dedicated a church in Essex to St Edmund, Cnut turned to St Edmund's shrine in Bedericsworth. He needed to embrace the saint as his own, by enriching his shrine, and gaining control over it.

At Bury, King Canute had to settle a dispute between the shrines' priests and the Bishop of Elmham whose diocese included Bedericsworth. The priests refused to pay over the normal tithes etc due to the Bishop, believing that St Edmund was exempt from such dues. Possibly in consultation with his new wife, Queen Emma, Canute tried to sort out the situation. Bury's own records state that Cnut, Emma, and Thorkill or Torkyl the Tall, now Earl of East Anglia, were all involved in this process.

In 1929 Lord Francis Hervey published some notes from MS 197 of Corpus Christi College, Oxford. This manuscript contained the Rule of St Benedict, and had been at Bury Abbey. At the back of the Rule at folio 105 is a note, translated by Hervey as follows:

The 12th century Liber Eliensis, or Book of Ely, reported this event as follows:

Book II, chapter 86 : "He (Bishop Aelfwine of Ely) also, by the decree of the King himself (Cnut), for the first time brought a contingent of monks to Bedericesworthe. He established there some monks from his own church of Ely, but others from Holm, and he supplied them with subsidies in abundance, with Earl Thorkell providing assistance, and, in addition, himself, for his own part, supplying the place with a collection of a great many goods and ornaments. He made a grant assigning it to eternal liberty and he appointed in authority over them as father and abbot, a humble, modest, pious man, named Uvi. As for the priests who used to live there without subjection to a rule: he either raised them up to the highest level of religious life in in that same monastery, or transferred them, provided with other possessions, into other monasteries."

M R James "On the Abbey of St Edmund at Bury" of 1895, referred to a document by John of Oxenedes that stated that the first books to be brought to Bury St Edmunds Abbey came from St Benet's Hulme with Uvius and the 12 monks from that place. However, it seems most likely that the church must have had some written texts already, if only for the conduct of prayers and bible readings. Other texts, like the Psychomachia of Prudentius, also seem to pre-date the coming of Benedictines to Bury.

The original 20 Benedictine monks included Uvius, Leofstan, (later abbot), Sparrowhawk, (Sparhavoc), Aethelwine, Alfweard, Leofden, Aelfric and Bondo.

The evicted secular priests numbered twelve, and Cnut gave them a privilege, or charter of their own. They were allowed to form a group known as the Duodeni, and given some recompense. They may have been allowed to keep some of the possessions of the monastery at that time, or they may have destroyed some documents in the confusion of the takeover. Certainly the Pinchbeck Register alleged later that the loss of some early charters of lands was due to this change-over of power. Abbot Baldwin would eventually make some provision for the surviving members of the group in his new church of St Denis.

Now, for the first time, Benedictines were installed within the old kingdom of East Anglia. As far back as the 970's King Edgar had wanted to put the rule of St Benedict into all the holy places in his kingdom. He had succeeded apart from in East Anglia. Cnut was now bringing this region into spiritual alignment with the rest of England.

In the Pinchbeck Register, which lists the gifts given to the shrine of St Edmund, all gifts made before 1020 are made to either "the clerks", or to the "community". After 1020 the gifts are recorded as being made to "the monks", a clear confirmation of the change to a Benedictine foundation.

With the coming to Bury of the Benedictines it is probable that the whole outlook of the monastery now changed. Whereas the old community of clerics probably had wives and some may have lived in the town, the new monks were under the strict written code of the Rule of St Benedict. The monastery now stood aside from the town, with the monastery enclosure being guarded by a gatekeeper. The brethren could not step outside the monastery without the permission of the abbot, could own no possessions without his agreement, and were sworn to reject carnal desires and to love chastity. Chapter 4 of the Rule laid down these rules, known as the Tools of Good Works. It ends with, "Now the workshop in which we make diligent use of all these tools is the enclosure of the monastery combined with stability in the community."

Chapter 66 of the Rule of St Benedict dealt with the duties of the gatekeeper who always had to be at hand to give visitors who knocked at the door a reply. This section also stated, "If it is possible, the monastery should be organised so that all its needs, that is to say, such things as water, a mill, a garden, and various crafts, may be met within its premises, so that the monks have no need to wander round outside it, for that does not profit their souls at all. This rule we wish to be read frequently in the community, so that none of the brethren may plead ignorance of it."

According to William of Malmesbury, King Canute also allowed the town of maybe a thousand people to be surrounded by a ditch and ramparts, becoming a burh or borough. However the town was of less significance than others in Suffolk. Ipswich already had a mint and had been a large trading centre for centuries. Thetford had been issuing coinage for years, and other towns important enough to have burgesses were Dunwich, Eye, Beccles, Clare and Sudbury.

Canute had given the town of St Edmunds a terrific leg up by his local reforms, and had endowed the new religious house with lavish gifts. If the name of the saint had now begun to define the town as well as the religious house, then it is likely that its new status as a burh would result in the name St Edmund's Burh now starting to be used over the next few years.

The exact organisation of local government at this time is extremely vague to us today. However, we need to remember that anglo-saxon England was a highly structured and organised society. Administration seems to have been very efficient by the standards of the time. We know that by 1097, the rents for burgage tenants, called hadgovel, had to be paid to the Reeve. This office later became called the Bailiff, and certainly by 1097, the Reeve was appointed by the abbot, and so the rents accrued to the abbey. So it is highly likely that a Town Reeve was appointed as part of the setting up of a burh.

The new burh dues payable to the town Reeve may have included Hadgovel, or the rent of one penny for each measure of land inside the town, probably for the right to occupy a burgage tenement or dwelling. This land could be inherited by its occupier's kin, but only on payment of a lump sum.

Coins issued by King Canute (1016-1035) were widely minted in places which included London, Lincoln, York, Stamford, Cambridge and Thetford.

At Thetford, the moneyers included Aelfwig, Brunston and Telfwine, and the coins were short cross type silver pennies.

Peter Warner (The Origins of Suffolk, 1996), has argued that the county boundaries of Norfolk and Suffolk did not exist until the Norman Conquest. But Dr Lucy Marten suggested in 2006 that the Shiring of East Anglia actually took place in or around 1021, instituted by King Cnut. Cnut wanted to get a firmer grip on East Anglia, which had always been somewhat apart from the rest of England. Because of the region's trade, resources and strategic location, its Ealdormen had become of the highest importance in the land under the English kings, and Torkyll had been the foremost Earl in his turn. Such powerful men were always a potential threat to any monarch.

Shires had been set up in most of the country after 917, and a century later, East Anglia was still one unit. By breaking it up, Cnut could increase his own control over it. This would mean that Suffolk and Norfolk had their official birth at this time as units of administration.

Each shire was usually made by grouping together the existing Hundreds. A hundred was an area consisting of 100 hides of land for taxation purposes.

Each shire was normally put under the jurisdiction of a Shire Reeve, (later to evolve into the word Sheriff). However, the earliest records of Norfolk and Suffolk indicate that the two Counties were under the same Sheriff until Elizabethan times. He was there to make sure local dues were paid to the King, and that the royal writ was obeyed locally. He was the King's representative in the Shire, a post which still survives today as the High Sheriff in each County. Technically it is to the Sheriff that the monarch sends a writ to institute the calling of a parliamentary election within that county in modern times.

If this monastery was originally dedicated to St George in 1021, then this would have been one of the earliest English traces of the cult of St George. St George was a soldier, and perhaps it was thought proper to commemorate a battle by a soldier saint, but it remains a question as to why it was not dedicated to St Edmund. Perhaps Cnut did not want there to be yet another reminder of Saxon resistance planted in Edmund's heartland. Or perhaps the dedication was changed, or added, later in the Norman period.

We cannot know whether this site at Thetford was truly believed to be the battle site at this time, or whether its choice was purely political in order to insert a Cnut-friendly foundation within the town. The origins of this monastery are more obscure than usual because by 1160 it had sunk into poverty and failure. It then became assigned to the Benedictine nuns of Lyng, in Norfolk, who lived there as the Priory of St George until dissolution in 1537. The attribution to St George is doubly curious, because the nuns from Lyng themselves had a chapel dedicated to St Edmund, and it would seem fitting that they should move to another site dedicated to St Edmund. Lyng is north west of Norwich, on the Fakenham road.

It seems possible that some pre-existing hundreds would have been dissected by Canute's radical new shire boundaries. This only mattered because of the distribution of the tax burdens which were associated with the hundreds. To avoid a complete re-drawing of the Hundreds, some fudges were made, examples being as follows. Diss Hundred was now found in Norfolk, but the town of Diss itself was put into the Hundred of Hartismere, which was now in Suffolk. Parts of Stoke by Nayland now lie in Essex, but were assessed into the Babergh Hundred of Suffolk.

In the absence of an Earl, Cnut could also dispose of the Earl's assets. He wanted to ensure that St Edmund's shrine did not become the focus of dissent. So the western part of his new Suffolk county was handed over to his Queen, Emma, to administer as if she were the Earl. Cnut could now keep a close eye on the shrine, while associating the royal family closely with it.

Stigand, the man in charge of the Assendun church of St Edmund, became her closest adviser over the years. By 1066 Stigand was the richest man in East Anglia, with 40% of his wealth coming from Norfolk and Suffolk holdings.

Queen Emma was also the patron of Ralph the Staller, Osgood Clapa, Eadric of Laxfield and Aelfric of Clare. Ralph may well have to come to England with her retinue when they left Normandy for her first marriage to King Ethelred. As Staller, he was one of Cnut's half dozen closest advisers.

Aelfric of Clare was given the job of Steward or manager of her interests in the Eight and a Half Hundreds of West Suffolk. Aelfric owned Clare and Hundon which were two of the biggest manors recorded in the Domesday Book. He would build a tower on Clare Common, which may have been located at what we now call Erbury Camp. Aelfric would also give Long Melford to the Abbey of St Edmund, worth a handsome £20 a year, and he would found a College of Clerks at Clare.

Osgood gained lands at Pakenham. His nickname of Clapa seems to have meant a course or rough fellow. He was, perhaps, a bit more flamboyant than his fellows. In around 1095, Herman, a monk at Bury, described him as visiting the shrine with a gilded axe slung over his shoulder in the Danish manner. Herman must have been describing a scene from the 1040's.

"The monastery at Bedericesworth shall always be inhabited by monks, and free from domination by the bishops of that shire; the monks are to elect their abbot freely, as granted by King Edmund. When censum danis is levied, either for ships or arms, the inhabitants of Bury are to pay their share to the monastery, for its own use. He grants the fish due to him annually by way of fine, and the fishery which Ulfketel had in Welle, and the profits of justice from all the vills belonging to the monastery, now or in the future. He confirms the queen's annual gift of 4,000 eels to the monastery, which was rendered to her from the villa called Lakenheath."

A fuller translation of the Old English text has been prepared by KIngs Lynn museum, who hold one of the main copies of this charter. It runs as follows, (with line breaks added for clarity):-

Around this time King Cnut gave permission for the remains of St Botolph to be translated to the Abbey church at Bury. St Botolph had died in 680 and been buried at his church in Ikenhoe. In 970, King Edgar had given permission to move the remains, and they were taken to Burgh near Woodbridge. St Botolph's church still stands at Burgh. From Burgh they were now taken to Bury, and apparently some parts of the saint also went to Ely and Thorney.

At some point in the 11th century, the remains of St Jurmin were also removed to a new shrine at St Edmunds. They had lain at Blythburgh since 654. This is how this event was recorded in the 12th century Liber Eliensis, or the Book of Ely:

Professor Eric Furnie has pointed out that there is no mention of a service of "translation", (relocation) of the saint's remains. From this omission he suggests that the new rotunda was built over the east end of the old wooden church. Part of the nave of the old church therefore probably survived to serve as a nave to the rotunda.

King Canute himself attended the consecration, having insisted that it be inaugurated on October, 18th, on the anniversary of his victory at the battle of Assendun. This battle had taken place in 1016 somewhere in Essex. The monks themselves would probably have hoped that the ceremony could take place on November 20th, St Edmunds Day, the anniversary of the Saint's martyrdom. This was Canute emphasising his attachment to St Edmund, but also making sure that it was understood that he was the chief power in the land now.

In 1929 Lord Francis Hervey published some notes from MS 197 of Corpus Christi College, Oxford. This manuscript contained the Rule of St Benedict, and had been at Bury Abbey. At the back of the Rule at folio 105 is a note which avoids this issue. It was translated by Hervey as follows:

Harold Harefoot seized the crown despite severe opposition from Earl Gowine of Wessex. Harold Harefoot was the son of Cnut and his first wife, Aelfgifu of Northampton in Mercia.

Queen Emma took up residence at Winchester, believing herself safest in the heart of Cnut's Wessex. However, the Chronicles say that Harold had taken away from her all the best treasures which King Cnut had.

Norfolk has rather more, including Ormesby, Billockby, Felthorpe, Colkirk, and Topcroft, but there are others which mainly end in -by.
Dr Rogerson also pointed out that no Viking burials are known from Suffolk. In Norfolk, a double burial of a man and woman was excavated in 1867 at Santon in Lynford parish, associated with a pair of oval brooches and a sword; and a male burial with knives, spur, buckles, whetstone and ear-scoop was excavated by Rogerson in 1983 at Middle Harling. Despite this lack of evidence, Viking metal-detector finds from East Anglia easily outnumber those from other parts of the country. For example, Viking stirrup mounts are known from 109 sites in Norfolk and Suffolk, compared to 225 in the rest of England (see Late Saxon Stirrup-Strap Mounts, David Williams, CBA 1997). The curious absence of place name evidence contrasts with the ubiquity of small finds, and is a notable feature of the viking presence in Suffolk and Norfolk.

Streets like Colgate and Fishergate in Norwich probably took their names from the Danish 'gata', meaning street. The Suffolk town of Beccles is particularly well endowed with 'gate' street names. These include Ballygate, Becclesgate, Blyburgate, Hungate, Ingate, Newgate, Northgate, Saltgate, Sheepgate and Smallgate.

However, outside these townships the Danes do not seem to have had a widespread impact on East Anglian place names. Only in the areas of Flegg, Blofield and Lothingland in the Broadlands area are there any number of the characteristic Viking names like Hemsby and Filby, with the 'by' ending. More places seem to end in 'thorpe', however.

David Parsons has mapped the viking place names which he identified, and the Suffolk distribution may be seen in more detail by clicking on the attached thumbnail map. This map includes names which are classed as "Grimston hybrids". These names seem to combine a Norse personal name with the Old English "tun" or "ton", such as Thurston, Drinkstone, Somerton, Thurston End, and Grimstone End. Coney Weston may not refer to Coneys or rabbits, but to Kings Weston, and may have been a royal estate linked to Thetford if the word derived from the Old Norse word for king. However, the Old English word for King is quite similar to the Old Norse, making it difficult to be definite about the derivation. Similarly the hundredal name of Thingoe could derive from Old Norse or from Old English.

Thus he was condemned by the Anglo-Saxon Chroniclers for increasing taxes and "he never did anything kingly." He also had Harold's body thrown into a fen. His supporters were said to now turn against him.

Emma, however, was pleased to receive the "Encomium Emmae Reginae", a book of her life story. Emma's Encomium contains many interesting details of the politics of these times.

Edward was also responsible for first bringing French ideas and Norman noblemen into English life. One such Norman was his Physician, Baldwin, eventually to become Abbot at Bury St Edmunds.

However, this must all have been a ruse to get the coronation over with as smoothly as possible, for the Chronicles say that "quickly afterwards the King had brought into his hands all the lands which his mother owned, and took from her all she owned in gold and silver and untold things, because earlier she had kept it from him too firmly."

"And quickly after, Stigand was put out of his Bishopric and all that he owned was taken into the King's hands, because he was his mother's closest adviser and because she did just as he advised her - so men supposed."

The Bishopric of East Anglia was now given to Grymketal, who was brought in from Selsey.

The Worcester Chronicle gives us more details, saying that in mid-November the King took Earl Leofric, Earl Godwine and Earl Siward and their band, from Gloucester to Winchester to take Emma by surprise and to rob her of all the treasures which she owned. The reason given here is "because earlier she was very hard on the king her son, in that she did less for him than he wanted before he became king, and also afterwards." However, they let her stay there inside afterwards.

Thus did West Suffolk pass back from Queen Emma into the hands of the crown.
Since Canute divided up East Anglia in 1021, the area of West Suffolk had been administered as a unit by Queen Emma, the mother of Edward the Confessor.

Edward the Confessor was Queen Emma's second son by King Ethelred. Emma had married Canute after Ethelred died and had other sons with Canute. Emma had supported Canute's son over Edward for the succession, and so when Edward came to the throne, he stripped his mother of her jewellery and her lands and income from West Suffolk.

When Leofstan took over, he found that the church contained ten books, consisting of 4 Gospels, one Missal, one book of Epistles, one Psalter, one gospel-book, one capitulary, and one Life of St Edmund. The Treasury contained 12 Cloaks, 9 copes, 7 stoles, 33 "costly robes", and many other items. Some of the monks had their own vestments, and occasionally a missal.

A further 30 books were recorded at the Abbot's country house, but these were noted as "not church books."

King Edward the Confessor now handed all of former Queen Emma's West Suffolk income over to the monastery at Bury under Abbot Leofstan, who was only the second Benedictine abbot there. There are 14th and 15th century manuscripts from St Edmund's abbey which attempt to explain why these awards were made.

One story is that Edward the Confessor visited the abbey, walking the last mile on foot as a mark of piety. During his visit he supposedly saw the younger monks eating barley bread, because the abbey had insufficient income to be able to afford wheaten bread with every meal. "The saintly king then said that, therefore, he gives the blessed Edmund the manor of Mildenhall lest the boys of his relative St Edmund (for thus he calls St Edmund), should in future eat barley bread." The writ itself contains no indication that the award was made in order to feed the monks.

The Writ which the King issued to carry this out may be viewed in Old English, by clicking on its Sawyer Reference number here, which is S1069.

In modern English it includes the following clauses:

The area of other lands which this grant refers to is somewhat problematic because of the old English form of "nigen half hundreda". Monks who compiled lists of property after Domesday must have had some difficulty with this writ. They believed that they had jurisdiction over eight and a half hundreds, and so their summaries of old charters stated this fact. In 1805 Yates published one such summary with his own English translation, which can be read by clicking on this illustration. You can see that the monks interpreted "nigen half hundreda", as referring to the Half Hundred of Thingoe.

There is a recent article by Professor Richard Sharpe (Oxford) in which he discusses the Bury writs and gives his own translation and interpretation of them from the point of view of the charter diplomatic forms. He notes that the Old English is slightly confused and inconsistent in the grammatical treatment of the word 'socne' or 'soke' in all the various versions of this that still exist. His translation of this writ goes as follows:

"Edward king greets Bishop Grimketel and AElfwine and AElfric and all my thegns in Suffolk friendly. And I make it known to you that I will that the land at Mildenhall and the sokes of the eight and a half hundreds pertaining to Thingoe shall belong to St Edmund with sake and soke as fully and completely as it was in my mother's possession. And I forbid anyone to take away from them any of the things that I have already granted to them."

Here we see "nigen half hundreda" translated as "nine less a half hundred". This was a crucial issue for the abbey as this writ underpinned all of its other privileges.

The Kalendar of Abbot Samson was drawn up from 1186 to 1191, and listed all the hundredal rights which the King gave to St Edmund. The land area concerned was usually later described as 8½ hundreds in size, and its shape was confirmed and fixed firmly when, with this gesture, the area became known as the Liberty of St Edmund and thus placed completely under the rule of the Abbot of the Abbey of St Edmund.

• Thingoe (with Sudbury)
• Thedwastre
• Lackford
• Risbridge
• Blackbourne
• Broadmere or Bradmere
• Babergh (valued at a double hundred, but excluding Sudbury)
• Cosford (valued at a half hundred)

However, it is clear from the many attempts made to list out the Hundreds of the Liberty, that we cannot rely totally upon this list being the eight and a half hundreds as they were understood at the time. Boundaries and names have probably changed more than once since 1042, perhaps driven by the administrative needs and financial realities of the taxation systems imposed upon the Hundreds.

Abbot Samson's Kalendar includes implications that Sudbury was excluded from the double hundred of Babergh, and included in the valuation of Thingoe. It is suggested that this transfer was made to compensate Thingoe for the loss of the Banleuca of St Edmund when it was exempted from paying any geld. This could have been as far back as 945, when King Edmund gave the town to the shrine. On the other hand, Warner thought that Bury itself was valued at one and a half hundreds, in order to get his total up to eight and a half.

The meeting place of the soke was at the Thinghoe, a hill to the north of the town. Today we locate it in the area of Northgate Avenue. It is likely that a court or courts of law for the surrounding hundred were run from here, the town itself having its own burh court. The Liberty remained as an administrative unit until 1974. It was said that when Edward the Confessor visited the Abbey he always walked the last mile on foot as a pilgrim.

The old word hadgovel or hawgable dates from the Danish years, and supports the idea that the town had an administrative life at least as old as Cnut. Hadgovel was the Bury form of the word and represents the penny rent paid for each measure, or burgage plot, of town land. This rent persisted into medieval times and was often the cause of disputes with the abbey. It was payable only in the oldest parts of the town, which dated back to the old Anglo Saxon layout, around the area of the old market, what we now call St Mary's Square.

By contrast with West Suffolk, East Suffolk apparently had no such administrative unity until the formation of the two county councils in 1888. It contained the Liberty of St Etheldreda with only 5½ hundreds based around Sudbourne before its headquarters moved to Wickham Market, then Melton, then Woodbridge, where the Shire Hall still overlooks Woodbridge Market Hill. This liberty was an endowment by King Edgar to St Etheldreda (or St Audrey) to endow her monastery at Ely in 970.

As St Edmund's Liberty was to be outside the jurisdiction of the Shire Reeve, or Sheriff, a Steward was later to be appointed to represent the interests of the Crown within it, liasing with the Sheriff, but working to the Abbot. He had to ensure law and order within the Liberty. Such a function had been held by Aelfric of Clare for Queen Emma, and it seems likely that he carried on with these functions under the Abbot. Despite this, it is not clear when a Steward was first appointed by this name, but by the time of William the Conqueror, a man called Ralph was appointed and he also held the Manors of Lidgate and Blunham in Bedfordshire as his remuneration for the job. The Stewardship of the Liberty later became in the Abbots gift, and by 1120 it had become an hereditary position.

By 1046 Osgood Clapa had somehow offended the King and was outlawed and exiled to Flanders. Osgood had lands in East Anglia, including Pakenham, and had been a staller, one of the King's closest advisers. Some time between 1044 and 1047 King Edward the Confessor issued a writ which granted Osgood's Pakenham holdings to St Edmund, "as fully and completely as Osgood had it." This writ is in Sawyers catalogue of Anglo-Saxon charters as Reference S 1074.

The evidence of the coinage clearly exists, and presumably it must have been authorised by royal writ, but none survives. The first surviving writ granting the Abbey a mint comes in 1065, as part of the authorisation of Baldwin to take up the post of Abbot after the death of Abbot Leofstan.

The name Bury is derived from the word byrig or burh, meaning a fortified town. Therefore, by now, the town had built a ditch and ramparts on its borders where it was not protected by the River's Lark and Linnet and the Tayfen. Canute had given permission for such fortifications in 1020. The town wall itself would not be built for perhaps another hundred years.

Over the next century the rise of Bury St Edmunds would be mirrored by the decline of Thetford. With an increasingly powerful resident abbot, Bury would benefit from the market privileges, royal sponsorship and powerful donors which flowed to the abbey, while Thetford had no powerful resident lord to advance its position.

The Normans claimed that William of Normandy was promised the succession to the English throne in 1051. William was supposed to have visited England to gain this promise from Edward. Other claimants were Harold Hardrada of Norway, and in England, Earl Godwine of Wessex had a claim.

The inscription is fairly easy to see, particularly if you click on it to get an enlargement.
It reads ESTMVND ON DEOT, starting at bottom left.
DEOT or DEO is the abbreviation used at the time for Thetford.
ON means "of" or "from".
Many other inscriptions on coins made by hand are harder to see as they may be quite worn, or poorly struck in the first place.

Harold Godwine, Earl of Wessex, died and King Edward's position was strengthened at home. Godwin had had a claim to the throne. King Edward now invaded Scotland and replaced Macbeth by Malcolm, a more peaceful neighbour, and partly pacified the Welsh.

At some time around 1060, Abbot Leofstan decided to ensure the saints' body was still clean and not being neglected. The old monk Ailwin was called to verify the body, as he had taken charge of it back in 1010 when he took it to London. Leofstan decided to pull at the head to see if it was still miraculously attached to the body. Shortly afterwards Leofstan suffered a stroke, losing the use of his hands. The kings' physician, a French Benedictine called Baldwin was sent to give him medical aid.

The Bayeux Tapestry says that Harold swore an oath to support William's claim, but Duke William had made the oath more serious by tricking Harold into swearing on altars containing holy relics.

Why Harold should swear to support William when he must have intended to become King himself is unknown. If he took an oath, he may have intended to ignore it later. However, the fact that an oath was taken on holy relics made it the mortal sin of perjury to ignore it. This oath was to be a powerful issue in turning the Pope and many others against Harold's later coronation.

This book was originally brought from St Denis, near Paris to Bury St Edmunds abbey in Suffolk by Baldwin, a French monk who became abbot there in 1065 and was Edward the Confessor’s doctor. Bury became an important centre of medical study under Baldwin and several scribes added to this book during the 11th century to produce a reference collection perhaps later used in the infirmary.

King Edward issued his writ appointing Baldwin as Abbot, (S 1083), together with a writ confirming to the monastery the sokes of the eight and a half hundreds, (S 1084) and a further writ granting Abbot Baldwin the right to one moneyer in the town. This last writ is reference number S 1085 in Sawyer's catalogue of Anglo-Saxon charters and can be viewed by clicking on that reference.

This hypothetical reconstruction is based around the area now called St Mary's Square, which can be made out to the right hand side, (south), of the plan. He suggested that a street extended from today's Raingate Street northwards to run along the western side of Canute's rotunda to join Eastgate Street. This street is now lost below the later abbey extensions.

Similarly, another street ran from Sparhawk Street and continued northwards to join up with Northgate Street, which may at some point have become called the High Street. Historians like Margaret Statham have previously suggested the existence of this road from the obvious alignment of today's Sparhawk Street and Northgate Street. This street was lost when the Abbey precinct was enlarged in the late 12th century, but there is now also considerable archaeological evidence for its existence. The earliest plans for the great new abbey church would respect this street line so that the abbey's west front would be built to end at this street line.

Harold was crowned on 6th January in Westminster Abbey, just one day after Edward's death.

On 25th December 1066, William the Conqueror was crowned King of England and Anglo-Saxon England was no more. The Norman Conquest had taken place, and would be followed by a great takeover of Saxon property.