Guthrum II was, according to some reconstructions, a
King of East Anglia
The kingdom of East Anglia (also known as the kingdom of the East Angles), was a small independent Anglo-Saxon kingdom that comprised what are now the English counties of Norfolk and Suffolk and perhaps the eastern part of the Fens. The kingdom ...
in the early tenth century. He should not be confused with the earlier and better-known
Guthrum
Guthrum ( ang, Guðrum, c. 835 – c. 890) was King of East Anglia in the late 9th century. Originally a native of what is now Denmark, he was one of the leaders of the "Great Summer Army" that arrived in Reading, Berkshire, Reading during April ...
, who fought against
Alfred the Great
Alfred the Great (alt. Ælfred 848/849 – 26 October 899) was King of the West Saxons from 871 to 886, and King of the Anglo-Saxons from 886 until his death in 899. He was the youngest son of King Æthelwulf and his first wife Osburh, who bot ...
.
Background
The only
Viking
Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden),
who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...
ruler of the kingdom of
East Anglia
East Anglia is an area in the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, a people whose name originated in Anglia, in ...
whose existence is beyond doubt is the earlier Guthrum. He took the
baptism
Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost inv ...
al name Æthelstan, and died in 890 after ruling East Anglia for around ten years.
Until the death of Guthrum, the
coins
A coin is a small, flat (usually depending on the country or value), round piece of metal or plastic used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order to ...
of East Anglia provide an essential guide to the rulers of the kingdom. After the killing of King
Æthelberht II of East Anglia
Æthelberht (Old English: ''Æðelbrihte'', ''ÆÞelberhte''), also called Saint Ethelbert the King (died 20 May 794 at Sutton Walls, Herefordshire), was an eighth-century saint and a king of East Anglia, the Anglo-Saxon kingdom which today in ...
in 794, only two kings—Edmund, better known as Saint
Edmund the Martyr
Edmund the Martyr (also known as St Edmund or Edmund of East Anglia, died 20 November 869) was king of East Anglia from about 855 until his death.
Few historical facts about Edmund are known, as the kingdom of East Anglia was devastated by t ...
, and Guthrum—are named in near-contemporary written records, while all others are known only from the
numismatic
Numismatics is the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, medals and related objects.
Specialists, known as numismatists, are often characterized as students or collectors of coins, but the discipline also includ ...
evidence provided by surviving coins. This evidence comes to an end at Guthrum's death as late East Anglian coins cease to name the king on whose orders they were minted and instead bear the name of King Edmund. From this time forward, kings are only known from the very limited written record.
It is believed that
Eohric was king of East Anglia. The beginning of his reign cannot be dated. He was killed in 902 at the battle of the Holme alongside
Æthelwold of Wessex Æthelwold was a common Anglo-Saxons, Anglo Saxon name. It may refer to: Royalty and nobility
*King Æthelwold of Deira, King of Deira, d. 655
*King Æthelwold of East Anglia, King of East Anglia, d. 664
*King Æthelwold Moll of Northumbria, King o ...
, fighting against the armies of Æthelwold's cousin King
Edward the Elder
Edward the Elder (17 July 924) was King of the Anglo-Saxons from 899 until his death in 924. He was the elder son of Alfred the Great and his wife Ealhswith. When Edward succeeded to the throne, he had to defeat a challenge from his cousin Æt ...
. The East Anglians are recorded by the ''
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
The ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' is a collection of annals in Old English, chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The original manuscript of the ''Chronicle'' was created late in the 9th century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of Alf ...
'' as signing a peace with Edward in 906 and submitting to Edward late in 917, but on neither occasion are their leaders named by the ''Chronicle''.
The Laws of Edward and Guthrum
In his translation of
Johann Martin Lappenberg
Johann Martin Lappenberg (July 30, 1794 – November 28, 1865) was a German diplomat and historian.
Biography
He was born at Hamburg, where his father, Valentin Anton Lappenberg (1759–1819), held an official position. He attended the Johanneum ...
's ''History of England under the Anglo-Saxon Kings'',
Benjamin Thorpe
Benjamin Thorpe (1782 – 19 July 1870) was an English scholar of Anglo-Saxon literature.
Biography
In the early 1820s he worked as a banker in the House of Rothschild, in Paris. There he met Thomas Hodgkin, who treated him for tuberculosis.
A ...
refers to King Guthrum II as having led the East Anglians in 906 when peace was made with Edward the Elder. Thorpe bases this upon one of his own earlier works, ''Ancient Laws and Institutes of England'' (1840). Here he printed the ''Laws of Edward and Guthrum'', which he presumed to be a record of the agreement in 906. He referred to the medieval historian
John of Wallingford as supporting this identification, stating that Wallingford referred to a second Guthrum being active in Edward's reign. Joseph Stevenson translated Wallingford some years after Thorpe wrote, and his edition disagrees with Thorpe's reading. According to Stevenson's translation, Wallingford wrote that the King Guthrum who had made peace with Alfred and whose death in 890 is not disputed, had left England for
Denmark
)
, song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast")
, song_type = National and royal anthem
, image_map = EU-Denmark.svg
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark
...
and returned again during the reign of Edward at the request of his son
Æthelstan
Æthelstan or Athelstan (; ang, Æðelstān ; on, Aðalsteinn; ; – 27 October 939) 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 ...
. "Here again Wallingford has fallen into error" and "These statements are to be received with caution" are Stevenson's comments.
In time the idea that the ''Laws of Edward and Guthrum'' should be dated to the reign of Edward the Elder came under scrutiny.
Frederick Attenborough
Frederick Levi Attenborough (4 April 1887 – 20 March 1973) was a British academic and principal of University College, Leicester.
Biography
He was the son of Mary (née Saxton) and Frederick August Attenborough of Stapleford, Nottinghamshir ...
's ''Laws of the Earliest English Kings'' (1921) discussed them and referred to the work of German historian
Felix Liebermann
Felix Liebermann (20 July 1851 – 7 October 1925) was a Jewish German historian, who is celebrated for his scholarly contributions to the study of medieval English history, particularly that of Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Norman law.
Born in 1851, Berl ...
. Liebermann considered the preamble to the laws to be inauthentic and dated them to the reign of King Æthelstan. Modern studies date them to later yet. The late
Patrick Wormald
Charles Patrick Wormald (9 July 1947 – 29 September 2004) was a British historian born in Neston, Cheshire, son of historian Brian Wormald.
He attended Eton College as a King's Scholar. From 1966 to 1969 he read modern history at Balliol Colle ...
wrote: "From 1568 to 1941, no one seems to have doubted that
he Laws of Edward and Guthrumwas just what it claimed to be." But, Wormald notes, since 1941, when
Dorothy Whitelock
Dorothy Whitelock, (11 November 1901 – 14 August 1982) was an English historian. From 1957 to 1969, she was the Elrington and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at the University of Cambridge. Her best-known work is '' English Historica ...
published a study of the text, this is no longer the case. Rather than being seen as a contemporary record of the peace of 906, or a document from the time of Æthelstan, the ''Laws'' are now dated to around 1000. It is believed that they were written by
Wulfstan II, Archbishop of York (died 1023).
[Wormald, ''Making of English Law'', I:389-390; Whitelock et al., EHD, I:364; ...]
Notes
References
* Abrams, "Edward the Elder's Danelaw" in Higham & Hill
* Attenborough, ''Laws of the Earliest English Kings'' (rp)
* Campbell, "What is not known" in Higham & Hill
* Davis, ''From Alfred the Great to Stephen''
* John, ''Reassessing Anglo-Saxon England''
* Keynes, "Rulers" in Lapidge et al.
* Keynes & Lapidge, ''Alfred the Great''
* Lappenberg
* Lyon, "Coinage of Edward the Elder" in Higham & Hill
* PASE, Guthrum (2)
* Ridyard, ''Royal Saints''
* Swanton, ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle''
* Thorpe, ''Ancient Laws'' (rp)
*
Wallingford, John of, in Stevenson, ''Church Historians'', v 2 pt 2
* Whitelock et al., ''English Historical Documents''
* Wormald, ''Making of English Law''
{{Kings of East Anglia
10th-century English monarchs
Norse monarchs of East Anglia
People whose existence is disputed