Misplaced Pages

#140859

110-461: The Richmond Charities is an almshouse charity based in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames with its origins dating back to 1600. The charity provides affordable housing for people in housing need. It also administers two relief-in-need welfare charities, a relief-in-sickness charity and a very small charity that awards small quarterly grants to four deserving spinsters . The charity

220-489: A "U" shape around a communal courtyard. Some facilities included a chapel for religious worship. The Bakewell Almshouses in Derbyshire, England – dating from 1709 – were six separate homes, hence the six front doors visible today. Each home had one tiny room downstairs and one upstairs, with no bathroom, toilet or kitchen. The Manners family, Dukes of Rutland from 1703, maintained the building until 1920. They gave it and

330-560: A Breton. Israel and "a certain Frank" drew a board game called " Gospel Dice " for an Irish bishop, Dub Innse, who took it home to Bangor . Æthelstan's court played a crucial role in the origins of the English monastic reform movement. Few prose narrative sources survive from Æthelstan's reign, but it produced an abundance of poetry, much of it Norse-influenced praise of the King in grandiose terms, such as

440-620: A Welsh poet foresaw the day when the British would rise up against their Saxon oppressors and drive them into the sea. According to William of Malmesbury, after the Hereford meeting Æthelstan went on to expel the Cornish from Exeter , fortify its walls, and fix the Cornish boundary at the River Tamar . This account is regarded sceptically by historians, however, as Cornwall had been under English rule since

550-502: A branch of the Syracuse State School. It was located on 104 acres of land within the town of Newark, New Jersey, and held around 853 patients. The nine dormitory buildings that housed the patients were able to hold anywhere from 45 to 130 people. There was also a small hospital within the almshouse that could hold up to 30 patients. There were not many employees, only about 110, to take care of the hundreds of young women admitted to

660-480: A charitable trust and do not have security of tenure. There are no longer any qualifications with regard to gender or religion. Richmond Charities has an endowment that has to be used for the benefit of its residents. The governing body of the charity is a board of twelve trustees . Trustees are unpaid and must live or work in Richmond or have special knowledge of it. The Board comprises one ex-officio trustee who

770-682: A decade later. In 1884, the statistical analysis of the Massachusetts almshouses showed four in the city of Boston and 225 almshouses throughout the state. These almshouses housed nearly 7,000 people. Of these residents, 700 were believed to have a mental illness. Half of these almshouses did not house children. Upon entering the almshouses in Connecticut, patients were whipped ten times. There were similar institutions developed from 1725 to 1773 in Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, and New York. At

880-561: A division that gave the Anglo-Saxons western Mercia, and eastern Mercia to the Vikings. In the 890s, renewed Viking attacks were successfully fought off by Alfred, assisted by his son (and Æthelstan's father) Edward and Æthelred, Lord of the Mercians . Æthelred ruled English Mercia under Alfred and was married to his daughter Æthelflæd . Alfred died in 899 and was succeeded by Edward. Æthelwold ,

990-487: A gift, and in his covering letter he wrote: "we know you value relics more than earthly treasure". Æthelstan was also a generous donor of manuscripts and relics to churches and monasteries. His reputation was so great that some monastic scribes later falsely claimed that their institutions had been beneficiaries of his largesse. He was especially devoted to the cult of St. Cuthbert in Chester-le-Street, and his gifts to

1100-476: A great victory. A generation later, the chronicler Æthelweard reported that it was popularly remembered as "the great battle", and it sealed Æthelstan's posthumous reputation as "victorious because of God" (in the words of the homilist Ælfric of Eynsham ). The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle abandoned its usual terse style in favour of a heroic poem vaunting the great victory , employing imperial language to present Æthelstan as ruler of an empire of Britain. The site of

1210-463: A large scale so late in the year. He seems to have been slow to react, and an old Latin poem preserved by William of Malmesbury accused him of having "languished in sluggish leisure". The allies plundered English territory while Æthelstan took his time gathering a West Saxon and Mercian army. However, Michael Wood praises his caution, arguing that unlike Harold in 1066, he did not allow himself to be provoked into precipitate action. When he marched north,

SECTION 10

#1732858929141

1320-459: A monarchy invigorated by success and adopting the trappings of a new political order. The style influenced architects of the late tenth-century monastic reformers educated at Æthelstan's court such as Æthelwold and Dunstan, and became a hallmark of the movement. After "Æthelstan A", charters became more simple, but the hermeneutic style returned in the charters of Eadwig and Edgar. The historian W. H. Stevenson commented in 1898: The object of

1430-431: A much wider area, a change probably introduced by Æthelstan to deal with the problems of governing his extended realm. One of the ealdormen, who was also called Æthelstan , governed the eastern Danelaw territory of East Anglia, the largest and wealthiest province of England. He became so powerful that he was later known as Æthelstan Half King. Several of the ealdormen who witnessed charters had Scandinavian names, and while

1540-516: A role in European politics as Æthelstan, and he arranged the marriages of several of his sisters to continental rulers. By the ninth century the many kingdoms of the early Anglo-Saxon period had been consolidated into four: Wessex, Mercia, Northumbria and East Anglia . In the eighth century, Mercia had been the most powerful kingdom in southern England, but in the early ninth, Wessex became dominant under Æthelstan's great-great-grandfather, Egbert . In

1650-451: A scarlet cloak, a belt set with gems, and a sword with a gilded scabbard. Medieval Latin scholar Michael Lapidge and historian Michael Wood see this as designating Æthelstan as a potential heir at a time when the claim of Alfred's nephew, Æthelwold, to the throne represented a threat to the succession of Alfred's direct line, but historian Janet Nelson suggests that it should be seen in the context of conflict between Alfred and Edward in

1760-416: A scribe known to historians as " Æthelstan A ", showing an unprecedented degree of royal control over an important activity. Unlike earlier and later charters, "Æthelstan A" provides full details of the date and place of adoption and an unusually long witness list, providing crucial information for historians. After "Æthelstan A" retired or died, charters reverted to a simpler form, suggesting that they had been

1870-523: A third wife, Eadgifu , probably after putting Ælfflæd aside. Eadgifu also had two sons, the future kings Edmund and Eadred . Edward had several daughters, perhaps as many as nine. Æthelstan's later education was probably at the Mercian court of his aunt and uncle, Æthelflæd and Æthelred, and it is likely the young prince gained his military training in the Mercian campaigns to conquer the Danelaw . According to

1980-513: A time in 925 when his authority had not yet been recognised outside Mercia, was witnessed only by Mercian bishops. In the view of historians David Dumville and Janet Nelson he may have agreed not to marry or have heirs in order to gain acceptance. However, Sarah Foot ascribes his decision to remain unmarried to "a religiously motivated determination on chastity as a way of life". Æthelstan's coronation took place on 4 September 925 at Kingston upon Thames , perhaps due to its symbolic location on

2090-476: A transcript dating from 1304, in 925 Æthelstan gave a charter of privileges to St Oswald's Priory, Gloucester , where his aunt and uncle were buried, "according to a pact of paternal piety which he formerly pledged with Æthelred, ealdorman of the people of the Mercians". When Edward took direct control of Mercia after Æthelflæd's death in 918, Æthelstan may have represented his father's interests there. Edward died at Farndon in northern Mercia on 17 July 924, and

2200-703: A well-organized system of relief". A number of hofjes are still functioning as accommodation for elderly people. Most residents are women. In 1269 or 1270, an almshouse was established in Stavanger , the first known in Norway . The English tradition of almshouses was introduced to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania by its founder, William Penn . The Maryland legislature created almshouses in Anne Arundel County, financed by property taxes on landowners throughout

2310-429: Is a chapel dedicated to St Francis of Assisi , the chaplain's house and two lodges for staff. The almshouses are for local people aged over 65, who are of limited means and require an improvement in their living conditions. The charity's area of benefit is London Borough of Richmond upon Thames , in which the majority of the almshouse residents will have been living at the time of their appointment, but limited provision

SECTION 20

#1732858929141

2420-519: Is an amalgamation of five Richmond almshouse charities and a Twickenham almshouse charity that was itself formed from 27 united charities. Richmond Charities manages 124 almshouses, mainly of one-bedroom cottages and bungalows, in Richmond and Twickenham: 50 at Hickey's Almshouses ; 9 at Houblon's; 10 at Bishop Duppa's (founded by Brian Duppa , Bishop of Chichester); 4 at Queen Elizabeth's ; 18 at Michel's; 5 at Benn's Walk, 18 at Church Estate and 10 at Candler (Twickenham). In addition at Hickey's, there

2530-620: Is an important delineation between almshouses and other forms of sheltered housing in that almshouse residents generally have no security of tenure, being solely dependent upon the goodwill of the administering trustees. Some 2,600 almshouses continue to be operated in the UK, providing 30,000 dwellings for 36,000 people. Almshouses were first founded in Holland in the Middle Ages. Usually founded by rich citizens or guilds , these almshouses "constituted

2640-582: Is dismissed by most historians. Edwin might have fled England after an unsuccessful rebellion against his brother's rule, and his death may have put an end to Winchester's opposition. Edward the Elder had conquered the Danish territories in east Mercia and East Anglia with the assistance of Æthelflæd and her husband Æthelred, but when Edward died the Danish king Sihtric still ruled the Viking Kingdom of York (formerly

2750-498: Is known about Ecgwynn, and she is not named in any contemporary source. Medieval chroniclers gave varying descriptions of her rank: one described her as an ignoble consort of inferior birth, while others described her birth as noble. Modern historians also disagree about her status. Simon Keynes and Richard Abels believe that leading figures in Wessex were unwilling to accept Æthelstan as king in 924 partly because his mother had been Edward

2860-448: Is made for the appointment of residents irrespective of their former place of residence. Preference is given to applicants living in private rented property. As recently as 1943, the residents of Richmond Charities' Almshouses received a monthly allowance of £2 5s. (£2.25p), together with three tons of coal a year, a dress or suit of clothes every other year, or a great coat every fifth year. Pensions continued to be paid for some years, but

2970-408: Is probably Hiram's Hospital, the centrepiece of Anthony Trollope 's novel The Warden , which is also featured in the sequel Barchester Towers . Athelstan of England Æthelstan or Athelstan ( / ˈ æ θ əl s t æ n / ; Old English : Æðelstān [ˈæðelstɑːn] ; Old Norse : Aðalsteinn ; lit.   ' noble stone ' ; c.  894 – 27 October 939)

3080-677: Is the Hospital of St. Cross in Winchester , dating to about 1132. In the Middle Ages , the majority of European hospitals functioned as almshouses. Many of the medieval almshouses in England were established with the aim of benefiting the soul of the founder or their family, and they usually incorporated a chapel. As a result, most were regarded as chantries and were dissolved during the Reformation under

3190-461: Is the gulf dividing its exalted aspirations from his spasmodic impact." In his view, "The legislative activity of Æthelstan's reign has rightly been dubbed 'feverish'   ... But the extant results are, frankly, a mess. In the view of Simon Keynes, however, "Without any doubt the most impressive aspect of King Æthelstan's government is the vitality of his law-making", which shows him driving his officials to do their duties and insisting on respect for

3300-521: Is the leader of the Richmond team ministry, two trustees nominated by Richmond upon Thames London Borough Council , one trustee nominated by the Parish of St Mary's, Twickenham and eight co-opted trustees. The board of trustees meets six times a year. Sub-committees meet to deal with finance, property, risk management, welfare, interviewing and grants. Juliet Ames-Lewis is the Director. The staff employed on

3410-638: The Abolition of Chantries Acts of 1545 and 1547 . The legal basis for civil almshouses and workhouses in England was the Act for the Relief of the Poor . These institutions underwent various population, program, and name changes, but by 1900, the elderly made up 85 percent of the residents of these institutions. Almshouses generally have charitable status and aim to support the continued independence of their residents. There

Richmond Charities - Misplaced Pages Continue

3520-458: The Battle of Tettenhall . Æthelred died in 911 and was succeeded as ruler of Mercia by his widow Æthelflæd. Over the next decade, Edward and Æthelflæd conquered Viking Mercia and East Anglia. Æthelflæd died in 918 and was briefly succeeded by her daughter Ælfwynn , but in the same year Edward deposed her and took direct control of Mercia. When Edward died in 924, he controlled all of England south of

3630-630: The Humber . The Viking king Sihtric ruled the Kingdom of York in southern Northumbria, but Ealdred maintained Anglo-Saxon rule in at least part of the former kingdom of Bernicia from his base in Bamburgh in northern Northumbria. Constantine II ruled Scotland, apart from the southwest, which was the British Kingdom of Strathclyde . Wales was divided into a number of small kingdoms, including Deheubarth in

3740-522: The Old English meaning of his name, "noble stone". Lapidge and Wood see the poem as a commemoration of Alfred's ceremony by one of his leading scholars, John the Old Saxon . In Michael Wood's view, the poem confirms the truth of William of Malmesbury's account of the ceremony. Wood also suggests that Æthelstan may have been the first English king to be groomed from childhood as an intellectual, and that John

3850-563: The 10th century in Britain, to provide a place of residence for poor, old, and distressed people. They were sometimes called bede-houses, and the residents were bedesmen or bedeswomen. Bede is the Anglo-Saxon word for prayer, and the almsmen and women were obliged to pray for the founder of the charity. The first recorded almshouse was founded in York by King Athelstan ; the oldest still in existence

3960-473: The 890s, and might reflect an intention to divide the realm between his son and his grandson after his death. Historian Martin Ryan goes further, suggesting that at the end of his life Alfred may have favoured Æthelstan rather than Edward as his successor. An acrostic poem praising prince "Adalstan", and prophesying a great future for him, has been interpreted by Lapidge as referring to the young Æthelstan, punning on

4070-579: The Anglo-Saxon peoples, and in effect overlord of Britain. His successes inaugurated what John Maddicott , in his history of the origins of the English Parliament, calls the imperial phase of English kingship between about 925 and 975, when rulers from Wales and Scotland attended the assemblies of English kings and witnessed their charters. Æthelstan tried to reconcile the aristocracy in his new territory of Northumbria to his rule. He lavished gifts on

4180-464: The Anglo-Saxon period, both socially and politically. Churchmen attended royal feasts as well as meetings of the Royal Council. During Æthelstan's reign these relations became even closer, especially as the archbishopric of Canterbury had come under West Saxon jurisdiction since Edward the Elder annexed Mercia, and Æthelstan's conquests brought the northern church under the control of a southern king for

4290-516: The Brunanburh poem. Sarah Foot even makes a case that Beowulf may have been composed in Æthelstan's circle. Æthelstan's court was the centre of a revival of the elaborate hermeneutic style of later Latin writers, influenced by the West Saxon scholar Aldhelm ( c.  639  – 709), and by early tenth-century French monasticism. Foreign scholars at Æthelstan's court such as Israel

4400-457: The Elder's concubine. However, Barbara Yorke and Sarah Foot argue that allegations that Æthelstan was illegitimate were a product of the dispute over the succession, and that there is no reason to doubt that she was Edward's legitimate wife. She may have been related to St Dunstan . William of Malmesbury wrote that Alfred the Great honoured his young grandson with a ceremony in which he gave him

4510-560: The Elder's younger brother, Æthelweard . The battle was reported in the Annals of Ulster : A great, lamentable and horrible battle was cruelly fought between the Saxons and the Northmen, in which several thousands of Northmen, who are uncounted, fell, but their king Amlaib [Olaf], escaped with a few followers. A large number of Saxons fell on the other side, but Æthelstan, king of the Saxons, enjoyed

Richmond Charities - Misplaced Pages Continue

4620-471: The Grammarian were practitioners. The style was characterised by long, convoluted sentences and a predilection for rare words and neologisms. The "Æthelstan A" charters were written in hermeneutic Latin. In the view of Simon Keynes it is no coincidence that they first appear immediately after the king had for the first time united England under his rule, and they show a high level of intellectual attainment and

4730-686: The Pennsylvania Hospital, some "lunatics" were chained to a cellar wall or made to wear a primitive straitjacket . Before the American Civil War, local officials regulated almshouses and did not ensure the people inside them were being cared for in the proper way or given the time they needed for help. It was not until the 1860s that more progressive states such as New York began to create boards that regulated, inspected, and reported on almshouses. The Newark almshouse opened in September 1878 as

4840-549: The Viking part of Ireland, and he promptly launched a bid for the former Norse kingdom of York. Individually Olaf and Constantine were too weak to oppose Æthelstan, but together they could hope to challenge the dominance of Wessex. In the autumn they joined with the Strathclyde Britons under Owain to invade England. Medieval campaigning was normally conducted in the summer, and Æthelstan could hardly have expected an invasion on such

4950-468: The Vikings in 919. He made a confraternity agreement with the clergy of Dol Cathedral in Brittany, who were then in exile in central France, and they sent him the relics of Breton saints, apparently hoping for his patronage. The contacts resulted in a surge in interest in England for commemorating Breton saints. One of the most notable scholars at Æthelstan's court was Israel the Grammarian , who may have been

5060-462: The Welsh did not join him, and they did not fight on either side. The two sides met at the Battle of Brunanburh , resulting in an overwhelming victory for Æthelstan, supported by his young half-brother, the future King Edmund. Olaf escaped back to Dublin with the remnant of his forces, while Constantine lost a son. The English also suffered heavy losses, including two of Æthelstan's cousins, sons of Edward

5170-499: The abbey's annalist, Folcuin—who wrongly believed that Edwin had been king — thought he had fled England "driven by some disturbance in his kingdom". Folcuin stated that Æthelstan sent alms to the abbey for his dead brother and received monks from the abbey graciously when they came to England, although Folcuin did not realise that Æthelstan died before the monks made the journey in 944. The twelfth century chronicler Symeon of Durham said that Æthelstan ordered Edwin to be drowned, but this

5280-485: The adjacent former town hall to the trustees who had been running the charity. The town hall was sold at a 1966 auction for £1,137. Financial problems caused the homes to become derelict and unfit for habitation by 2001. They were rescued and restored by the trustees in 2004–2006 at a cost of £325,000, which was raised through donations and grants. They are now three larger homes, combining modern facilities with many historical features. The most famous almshouse in literature

5390-456: The advice of Wulfhelm and his bishops. The first asserts the importance of paying tithes to the church. The second enforces the duty of charity on Æthelstan's reeves, specifying the amount to be given to the poor and requiring reeves to free one penal slave annually. His religious outlook is shown in a wider sacralisation of the law in his reign. The later codes show his concern with threats to social order, especially robbery, which he regarded as

5500-590: The almshouse. Patients were committed to the Newark State School by superintendents of the poor as well as judges who declared them insane or feeble-minded in court. Many of the patients of the New York Custodial Asylum for Feeble-Minded Women were falsely considered to be mentally ill. Mary Lake was the daughter of a young woman who had been sentenced to 10 years in a state prison. Mary and her other siblings were split up and put into almshouses. She

5610-568: The almshouses estates consists of a chaplain, scheme managers, home-help, health & safety officer, caretaker and decorator. The role of the scheme manager is to look after the almshouse estate and act as a facilitator, monitoring the well-being of the residents and to call in the appropriate services when required. Almshouse Many almshouses are European Christian institutions though some are secular. Almshouses provide subsidised accommodation , often integrated with social care resources such as wardens. Almshouses were established from

SECTION 50

#1732858929141

5720-454: The approval of the king, but they were treated as guidelines which could be adapted and added to at the local level, rather than a fixed canon of regulations, and customary oral law was also important in the Anglo-Saxon period. More legal texts survive from Æthelstan's reign than from any other tenth-century English king. The earliest appear to be his tithe edict and the "Ordinance on Charities". Four legal codes were adopted at Royal Councils in

5830-657: The battle is uncertain, however, and over thirty sites have been suggested, with Bromborough on the Wirral the most favoured among historians. Historians disagree over the significance of the battle. Alex Woolf describes it as a " pyrrhic victory " for Æthelstan: the campaign seems to have ended in a stalemate, his power appears to have declined, and after he died Olaf acceded to the kingdom of Northumbria without resistance. Alfred Smyth describes it as "the greatest battle in Anglo-Saxon history", but he also states that its consequences beyond Æthelstan's reign have been overstated. In

5940-576: The biggest problems with almshouses is that they were rarely self-sustaining. They were costly to run, and the capacity of the inmates to pay for their own keep by working at the farm, or working at the almshouse itself, was greatly overestimated. There were not enough staff, facilities were not kept up, and the poor kept coming. By the end of the 1800s, almshouses began to be replaced by asylums and institutions. Almshouses are often multiple small terraced houses or apartments providing accommodation for small numbers of residents. The units may be constructed in

6050-473: The border between Wessex and Mercia. He was crowned by the Archbishop of Canterbury , Athelm , who probably designed or organised a new ordo (religious order of service) in which the king wore a crown for the first time instead of a helmet. The new ordo was influenced by West Frankish liturgy and in turn became one of the sources of the medieval French ordo . Opposition seems to have continued even after

6160-442: The circulation and production of books, of the shattered ecclesiastical culture". He was renowned in his own day for his piety and promotion of sacred learning. His interest in education, and his reputation as a collector of books and relics, attracted a cosmopolitan group of ecclesiastical scholars to his court, particularly Bretons and Irish. Æthelstan gave extensive aid to Breton clergy who had fled Brittany following its conquest by

6270-400: The community there included Bede 's Lives of Cuthbert. He commissioned it especially to present to Chester-le Street, and out of all manuscripts he gave to a religious foundation which survive, it is the only one which was wholly written in England during his reign. It has a portrait of Æthelstan presenting the book to Cuthbert, the earliest surviving manuscript portrait of an English king. In

6380-424: The compilers of these charters was to express their meaning by the use of the greatest possible number of words and by the choice of the most grandiloquent, bombastic words they could find. Every sentence is so overloaded by the heaping up of unnecessary words that the meaning is almost buried out of sight. The invocation with its appended clauses, opening with pompous and partly alliterative words, will proceed amongst

6490-558: The coronation or witness any of Æthelstan's known charters until 928. After that, he witnessed fairly regularly until his resignation in 931 but was listed in a lower position than he was entitled to by his seniority. In 933 Edwin was drowned in a shipwreck in the North Sea. His cousin, Adelolf, Count of Boulogne , took his body for burial at the Abbey of Saint Bertin in Saint-Omer . According to

6600-566: The coronation. According to William of Malmesbury, an otherwise unknown nobleman called Alfred plotted to blind Æthelstan on account of his supposed illegitimacy, although it is unknown whether he aimed to make himself king or was acting on behalf of Edwin, Ælfweard's younger brother. Blinding would have been a sufficient disability to render Æthelstan ineligible for kingship without incurring the odium attached to murder. Tensions between Æthelstan and Winchester seem to have continued for some years. The Bishop of Winchester , Frithestan , did not attend

6710-626: The early 930s at Grateley in Hampshire, Exeter, Faversham in Kent, and Thunderfield in Surrey. Local legal texts survive from London and Kent, and one concerning the 'Dunsæte' on the Welsh border probably also dates to Æthelstan's reign. In the view of the historian of English law Patrick Wormald , the laws must have been written by Wulfhelm , who succeeded Athelm as Archbishop of Canterbury in 926. Other historians see Wulfhelm's role as less important, giving

SECTION 60

#1732858929141

6820-415: The end of the ninth century, was also written in the vernacular, and he expected his ealdormen to learn it. His code was strongly influenced by Carolingian law going back to Charlemagne in such areas as treason, peace-keeping, organisation of the hundreds and judicial ordeal . It remained in force throughout the tenth century, and Æthelstan's codes were built on this foundation. Legal codes required

6930-417: The enlargement of the kingdom under Edward the Elder gave way to large bodies attended by bishops, ealdormen, thegns , magnates from distant areas, and independent rulers who had submitted to his authority. Frank Stenton sees Æthelstan's councils as "national assemblies", which did much to break down the provincialism that was a barrier to the unification of England. John Maddicott goes further, seeing them as

7040-520: The ensuing events are unclear. Ælfweard, Edward's eldest son by Ælfflæd, had ranked above Æthelstan in attesting a charter in 901, and Edward may have intended Ælfweard to be his successor as king, either of Wessex only or of the whole kingdom. If Edward had intended his realms to be divided after his death, his deposition of Ælfwynn in Mercia in 918 may have been intended to prepare the way for Æthelstan's succession as king of Mercia. When Edward died, Æthelstan

7150-518: The extent, either of my wishes, or of the provisions laid down at Grateley, and my councillors say that I have suffered this too long." In desperation the Council tried a different strategy, offering an amnesty to thieves if they paid compensation to their victims. The problem of powerful families protecting criminal relatives was to be solved by expelling them to other parts of the realm. This strategy did not last long, and at Thunderfield Æthelstan returned to

7260-449: The first time. Æthelstan appointed members of his own circle to bishoprics in Wessex, possibly to counter the influence of the Bishop of Winchester, Frithestan. One of the king's mass-priests (priests employed to say Mass in his household), Ælfheah , became Bishop of Wells , while another, Beornstan , succeeded Frithestan as Bishop of Winchester. Beornstan was succeeded by another member of

7370-522: The fleet raided Caithness , then probably part of the Norse kingdom of Orkney. No battles are recorded during the campaign, and chronicles do not record its outcome. By September, however, he was back in the south of England at Buckingham , where Constantine witnessed a charter as subregulus , thus acknowledging Æthelstan's overlordship. In 935 a charter was attested by Constantine, Owain of Strathclyde, Hywel Dda, Idwal Foel, and Morgan ap Owain. At Christmas of

7480-455: The hard line, softened by raising the minimum age for the death penalty to fifteen "because he thought it too cruel to kill so many young people and for such small crimes as he understood to be the case everywhere". His reign saw the first introduction of the system of tithing , sworn groups of ten or more men who were jointly responsible for peacekeeping (later known as frankpledge ). Sarah Foot commented that tithing and oath-taking to deal with

7590-565: The head of the list of laity (apart from the kings of Scotland and Strathclyde), showing that their position was regarded as superior to that of the other great men present. The alliance produced peace between Wales and England, and within Wales, lasting throughout Æthelstan's reign, though some Welsh resented the status of their rulers as under-kings, as well as the high level of tribute imposed upon them. In Armes Prydein Vawr (The Great Prophecy of Britain),

7700-506: The king's wise men that was useful and profitable to him". Oda , a future Archbishop of Canterbury, was also close to Æthelstan, who appointed him Bishop of Ramsbury . Oda may have been present at the battle of Brunanburh. Æthelstan was a noted collector of relics, and while this was a common practice at the time, he was marked out by the scale of his collection and the refinement of its contents. The abbot of Saint Samson in Dol sent him some as

7810-505: The law, but also demonstrates the difficulty he had in controlling a troublesome people. Keynes sees the Grateley code as "an impressive piece of legislation" showing the king's determination to maintain social order. In the 970s, Æthelstan's nephew, King Edgar , reformed the monetary system to give Anglo-Saxon England the most advanced currency in Europe, with a good quality silver coinage, which

7920-520: The lay officials worked closely with their diocesan bishop and local abbots, who also attended the king's royal councils. As the first king of all the Anglo-Saxon peoples, Æthelstan needed effective means to govern his extended realm. Building on the foundations of his predecessors, he created the most centralised government that England had yet seen. Previously, some charters had been produced by royal priests and others by members of religious houses, but between 928 and 935 they were produced exclusively by

8030-448: The localities they came from cannot be identified, they were almost certainly the successors of the earls who led Danish armies in the time of Edward the Elder, and who were retained by Æthelstan as his representatives in local government. Beneath the ealdormen, reeves—royal officials who were noble local landowners—were in charge of a town or royal estate. The authority of church and state was not separated in early medieval societies, and

8140-418: The main credit to Æthelstan himself, although the significance placed on the ordeal as an ecclesiastical ritual shows the increased influence of the church. Nicholas Brooks sees the role of the bishops as marking an important stage in the increasing involvement of the church in the making and enforcement of law. The two earliest codes were concerned with clerical matters, and Æthelstan stated that he acted on

8250-509: The marriage alliance, and German names start to appear in English documents, while Cenwald kept up the contacts he had made by subsequent correspondence, helping the transmission of continental ideas about reformed monasticism to England. Æthelstan built on his grandfather's efforts to revive ecclesiastical scholarship, which had fallen to a low state in the second half of the ninth century. John Blair described Æthelstan's achievement as "a determined reconstruction, visible to us especially through

8360-551: The meeting at Eamont Æthelstan summoned the Welsh kings to Hereford, where he imposed a heavy annual tribute and fixed the border between England and Wales in the Hereford area at the River Wye. The dominant figure in Wales was Hywel Dda of Deheubarth, described by the historian of early medieval Wales Thomas Charles-Edwards as "the firmest ally of the 'emperors of Britain' among all the kings of his day". Welsh kings attended Æthelstan's court between 928 and 935 and witnessed charters at

8470-403: The mentally ill, and the developmentally disabled from all almshouses and increase the number of institutions, hospitals, and asylums for them to reside in. As her movement gained momentum, she played a vital role in the establishment and expansion of over 30 hospitals for the treatment of the mentally ill. Her efforts removed specific groups from almshouses, leaving the elderly to remain. One of

8580-461: The mid-ninth century. Thomas Charles-Edwards describes it as "an improbable story", while historian John Reuben Davies sees it as the suppression of a British revolt and the confinement of the Cornish beyond the Tamar. Æthelstan emphasised his control by establishing a new Cornish see and appointing its first bishop , but Cornwall kept its own culture and language. Æthelstan became the first king of all

8690-466: The middle of the century, England came under increasing attack from Viking raids, culminating in invasion by the Great Heathen Army in 865. By 878, the Vikings had overrun East Anglia, Northumbria, and Mercia, and nearly conquered Wessex. The West Saxons fought back under Alfred the Great, and achieved a decisive victory at the Battle of Edington . Alfred and the Viking leader Guthrum agreed on

8800-493: The minsters of Beverley , Chester-le-Street and York , emphasising his Christianity. He also purchased the vast territory of Amounderness in Lancashire, and gave it to the Archbishop of York , his most important lieutenant in the region. But he remained a resented outsider, and the northern British kingdoms preferred to ally with the pagan Norse of Dublin. In contrast to his strong control over southern Britain, his position in

8910-475: The most important manifestation of social breakdown. The first of these later codes, issued at Grateley, prescribed harsh penalties, including the death penalty for anyone over twelve years old caught in the act of stealing goods worth more than eight pence. This apparently had little effect, as Æthelstan admitted in the Exeter code: "I King Æthelstan, declare that I have learned that the public peace has not been kept to

9020-491: The north was far more tenuous. In 934 Æthelstan invaded Scotland. His reasons are unclear, and historians give alternative explanations. The death of his half-brother Edwin in 933 might have finally removed factions in Wessex opposed to his rule. Guthfrith, the Norse king of Dublin who had briefly ruled Northumbria, died in 934; any resulting insecurity among the Danes would have given Æthelstan an opportunity to stamp his authority on

9130-408: The north. Whereas Æthelstan was the first English king to achieve lordship over northern Britain, he inherited his authority over the Welsh kings from his father and aunt. In the 910s Gwent acknowledged the lordship of Wessex, and Deheubarth and Gwynedd accepted that of Æthelflæd; following Edward's takeover of Mercia, they transferred their allegiance to him. According to William of Malmesbury, after

9240-886: The north. An entry in the Annals of Clonmacnoise , recording the death in 934 of a ruler who was possibly Ealdred of Bamburgh , suggests another possible explanation, a dispute between Æthelstan and Constantine over control of Bamburgh. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle briefly recorded the expedition without explanation, but the twelfth-century chronicler John of Worcester stated that Constantine had broken his treaty with Æthelstan. Æthelstan set out on his campaign in May 934, accompanied by four Welsh kings: Hywel Dda of Deheubarth, Idwal Foel of Gwynedd, Morgan ap Owain of Gwent, and Tewdwr ap Griffri of Brycheiniog. His retinue also included eighteen bishops and thirteen earls, six of whom were Danes from eastern England. By late June or early July he had reached Chester-le-Street , where he made generous gifts to

9350-408: The position has now entirely changed, in that, where necessary, residents receive financial support within the state welfare system. They pay for the provision of central heating, where this is provided, and in addition pay a subsidised weekly maintenance contribution (WMC) towards the maintenance of the almshouses. Residents pay their own household bills. They occupy the almshouses as beneficiaries of

9460-450: The problem of theft had its origin in Frankia: "But the equation of theft with disloyalty to Æthelstan's person appears peculiar to him. His preoccupation with theft—tough on theft, tough on the causes of theft—finds no direct parallel in other kings' codes." Historians differ widely regarding Æthelstan's legislation. Patrick Wormald's verdict was harsh: "The hallmark of Æthelstan's law-making

9570-501: The royal household, also called Ælfheah . Two of the leading figures in the later tenth-century Benedictine monastic reform in Edgar's reign, Dunstan and Æthelwold , served in early life at Æthelstan's court and were ordained as priests by Ælfheah of Winchester at the king's request. According to Æthelwold's biographer, Wulfstan , "Æthelwold spent a long period in the royal palace in the king's inseparable companionship and learned much from

9680-570: The same year Owain of Strathclyde was once more at Æthelstan's court along with the Welsh kings, but Constantine was not. His return to England less than two years later would be in very different circumstances. In 934 Olaf Guthfrithson succeeded his father Guthfrith as the Norse King of Dublin. The alliance between the Norse and the Scots was cemented by the marriage of Olaf to Constantine's daughter. By August 937 Olaf had defeated his rivals for control of

9790-566: The son of Æthelred , King Alfred's older brother and predecessor as king, made a bid for power, but was killed at the Battle of the Holme in 902. Little is known of warfare between the English and the Danes over the next few years, but in 909, Edward sent a West Saxon and Mercian army to ravage Northumbria. The following year the Northumbrian Danes attacked Mercia, but suffered a decisive defeat at

9900-476: The south, including London and Kent, but not northern Wessex or other regions. Early in Æthelstan's reign, different styles of coin were issued in each region, but after he conquered York and received the submission of the other British kings, he issued a new coinage, known as the "circumscription cross" type. This advertised his newly exalted status with the inscription, "Rex Totius Britanniae". Examples were minted in Wessex, York, and English Mercia (in Mercia bearing

10010-446: The southern Northumbrian kingdom of Deira ). In January 926, Æthelstan arranged for his only full sister to marry Sihtric. The two kings agreed not to invade each other's territories or to support each other's enemies. The following year Sihtric died, and Æthelstan seized the chance to invade. Guthfrith , a cousin of Sihtric, led a fleet from Dublin to try to take the throne, but Æthelstan easily prevailed. He captured York and received

10120-458: The southwest, Gwent in the southeast, Brycheiniog immediately north of Gwent, and Gwynedd in the north. According to the Anglo-Norman historian William of Malmesbury , Æthelstan was thirty years old when he came to the throne in 924, which would mean that he was born around 894. He was the oldest son of Edward the Elder. He was Edward's only son by his first consort, Ecgwynn . Very little

10230-467: The start of centralised assemblies that had a defined role in English government, and Æthelstan as "the true if unwitting founder of the English parliament". The Anglo-Saxons were the first people in northern Europe to write administrative documents in the vernacular, and law codes in Old English go back to Æthelberht of Kent at the beginning of the seventh century. The law code of Alfred the Great, from

10340-505: The state. Massachusetts also had a long tradition of almshouses. In the United States, aid tended to be limited to the elderly and disabled, and children had to sleep in the same rooms as adults. The first almshouse in United States history was founded in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1622. The original Boston Almshouse was burned down in 1682 and was rebuilt away from the heart of Boston nearly

10450-661: The submission of the Danish people. According to a southern chronicler, he "succeeded to the kingdom of the Northumbrians", and it is uncertain whether he had to fight Guthfrith. Southern kings had never ruled the north, and his usurpation was met with outrage by the Northumbrians, who had always resisted southern control. However, at Eamont , near Penrith , on 12 July 927, King Constantine II of Alba , King Hywel Dda of Deheubarth, Ealdred of Bamburgh, and King Owain of Strathclyde (or Morgan ap Owain of Gwent) accepted Æthelstan's overlordship. His triumph led to seven years of peace in

10560-478: The threat they posed to social order. His legal reforms built on those of his grandfather, Alfred the Great . Æthelstan was one of the most pious West Saxon kings, and was known for collecting relics and founding churches. His household was the centre of English learning during his reign, and it laid the foundation for the Benedictine monastic reform later in the century. No other West Saxon king played as important

10670-646: The title "Rex Saxorum"), but not in East Anglia or the Danelaw. In the early 930s a new coinage was issued, the "crowned bust" type, with the king shown for the first time wearing a crown with three stalks. This was eventually issued in all regions apart from Mercia, which issued coins without a ruler portrait, suggesting, in Sarah Foot's view, that any Mercian affection for a West Saxon king brought up among them quickly declined. Church and state maintained close relations in

10780-431: The tomb of St Cuthbert, including a stole and maniple (ecclesiastical garments) originally commissioned by his step-mother Ælfflæd as a gift to Bishop Frithestan of Winchester. The invasion was launched by land and sea. According to Symeon of Durham, his land forces ravaged as far as Dunnottar in north-east Scotland, the furthest north that any English army had reached since Ecgfrith 's disastrous invasion in 685, while

10890-502: The view of Janet Nelson, his "rituals of largesse and devotion at sites of supernatural power ... enhanced royal authority and underpinned a newly united imperial realm". Æthelstan had a reputation for founding churches, although it is unclear how justified this is. According to late and dubious sources, these churches included minsters at Milton Abbas in Dorset and Muchelney in Somerset. In

11000-424: The view of Sarah Foot, on the other hand, it would be difficult to exaggerate the battle's importance: if the Anglo-Saxons had been defeated, their hegemony over the whole mainland of Britain would have disintegrated. Anglo-Saxon kings ruled through ealdormen , who had the highest lay status under the king. In ninth-century Wessex they each ruled a single shire, but by the middle of the tenth they had authority over

11110-456: The view of historian John Blair, the reputation is probably well-founded, but "these waters are muddied by Æthelstan's almost folkloric reputation as a founder, which made him a favourite hero of later origin-myths". However, while he was a generous donor to monasteries, he did not give land for new ones or attempt to revive the ones in the north and east destroyed by Viking attacks. He also sought to build ties with continental churches. Cenwald

11220-557: The work of an individual, rather than the development of a formal writing office. A key mechanism of government was the king's council ( witan in Old English). Anglo-Saxon kings did not have a fixed capital city. Their courts were peripatetic, and their councils were held at varying locations around their realms. Æthelstan stayed mainly in Wessex, however, and controlled outlying areas by summoning leading figures to his councils. The small and intimate meetings that had been adequate until

11330-457: Was King of the Anglo-Saxons from 924 to 927 and King of the English from 927 to his death in 939. He was the son of King Edward the Elder and his first wife, Ecgwynn . Modern historians regard him as the first King of England and one of the "greatest Anglo-Saxon kings". He never married and had no children; he was succeeded by his half-brother, Edmund I . When Edward died in July 924, Æthelstan

11440-526: Was a royal priest before his appointment as Bishop of Worcester , and in 929 he accompanied two of Æthelstan's half-sisters to the Saxon court so that the future Holy Roman Emperor , Otto , could choose one of them as his wife. Cenwald went on to make a tour of German monasteries, giving lavish gifts on Æthelstan's behalf and receiving in return promises that the monks would pray for the king and others close to him in perpetuity. England and Saxony became closer after

11550-591: Was accepted by the Mercians as king. His half-brother Ælfweard may have been recognised as king in Wessex , but died within three weeks of their father's death. Æthelstan encountered resistance in Wessex for several months, and was not crowned until September 925. In 927, he conquered the last remaining Viking kingdom, York , making him the first Anglo-Saxon ruler of the whole of England. In 934, he invaded Scotland and forced Constantine II to submit to him. Æthelstan's rule

11660-524: Was apparently with him in Mercia, while Ælfweard was in Wessex. Mercia acknowledged Æthelstan as king, and Wessex may have chosen Ælfweard. However, Ælfweard outlived his father by only sixteen days. Even after Ælfweard's death there seems to have been opposition to Æthelstan in Wessex, particularly in Winchester, where Ælfweard was buried. At first Æthelstan behaved as a Mercian king. A charter relating to land in Derbyshire, which appears to have been issued at

11770-532: Was committed to the almshouse in Newark as feeble-minded. It was not until years later that she was pronounced not mentally ill and was able to leave the almshouse. Throughout the 19th century almshouses were a last resort for those who were poor, disabled, and elderly. Residents experienced mistreatment, destitution, and inhumanity. As almshouses continued into the 19th century, activists such as Dorothea Dix fought for institutional reform. Dix sought to remove children,

11880-471: Was probably his tutor. However, Sarah Foot argues that the acrostic poem makes better sense if it is dated to the beginning of Æthelstan's reign. Edward married his second wife, Ælfflæd , at about the time of his father's death, probably because Ecgwynn had died, although she may have been put aside. The new marriage weakened Æthelstan's position, as his step-mother naturally favoured the interests of her own sons, Ælfweard and Edwin . By 920 Edward had taken

11990-865: Was resented by the Scots and Vikings, and in 937 they invaded England. Æthelstan defeated them at the Battle of Brunanburh , a victory that gave him great prestige both in the British Isles and on the Continent. After his death in 939, the Vikings seized back control of York, and it was not finally reconquered until 954. Æthelstan centralised government; he increased control over the production of charters and summoned leading figures from distant areas to his councils. These meetings were also attended by rulers from outside his territory, especially Welsh kings, who thus acknowledged his overlordship. More legal texts survive from his reign than from any other tenth-century English king. They show his concern about widespread robberies and

12100-407: Was uniform and abundant. In Æthelstan's time, however, it was far less developed, and minting was still organised regionally long after Æthelstan unified the country. The Grately code included a provision that there was to be only one coinage across the king's dominion. However, this is in a section that appears to be copied from a code of his father, and the list of towns with mints is confined to

#140859