Editing Edgar, King of England (section)

== King of England ==
{{Further|Government in Anglo-Saxon England}}

Edmund was killed in 946 trying to protect his [[Dish-bearers and butlers in Anglo-Saxon England|seneschal]] from attack by an outlaw, and because his children were infants he was succeeded by his younger brother [[Eadred]], who ruled until his death in 955. Edgar's older brother, [[Eadwig]], then became king and in 957 the kingdom was divided, Eadwig ruling south of the [[Thames]] and Edgar north of it. Historians disagree whether this was the result of a revolt by Edgar's supporters against Eadwig's incompetent rule or had been previously agreed.

=== Administration ===
Edgar became king of the whole of England when Eadwig died on 1 October 959, and his former tutor Æthelwold became one of the most powerful figures at court. He was probably in Edgar's personal service as an adviser from 960 until 963, when the king appointed him Bishop of Winchester.{{sfn|Yorke|1988a|pp=3, 10}} Dunstan, who became Archbishop of Canterbury at the start of Edgar's reign, was diligent in attending court,{{sfn|Brooks|1984|p=247}} and in the historian Alan Thacker's view: "While Æthelwold's characteristic context is his monastic empire, Dunstan's is the royal court".{{sfn|Thacker|1992|p=244}} In the early 970s the leading secular magnates were [[Æthelwine, Ealdorman of East Anglia]] (Æthelwold's brother and successor), Ælfhere of Mercia, [[Oslac of York]] and Byrhtnoth of Essex.{{sfn|Keynes|1999|p=480}}

The charters of the 960s and early 970s are similar and do not suggest political change in the period, but from the late 960s northern magnates were more regularly represented.{{sfn|Keynes|1999|p=480}} In 954, Eadred had appointed [[Osulf I of Bamburgh|Osulf]], the ruler of the north Northumbrian territory of [[Bamburgh]], as the ealdorman of the whole of Northumbria following the expulsion of the Viking king of York, Erik Bloodaxe. Osulf did not owe his power to southern English support, and when he died in the 960s Edgar again divided Northumbria and appointed Oslac as ealdorman of York (southern Northumbria), increasing his control over the area, but he was not able to choose who held power in Bamburgh.{{sfn|Molyneaux|2015|pp=122–123, 177–179, 199}}

Ealdormen were important in providing stability in a period when kings died young, but the families of Æthelwine of East Anglia and Ælfhere of Mercia gained unassailable positions and their rivalries were a threat to the stability of the kingdom.{{sfn|Yorke|1995|p=131}} Edgar was able to keep them under control, but these tensions collapsed into open hostilities after his death.{{sfnm|1a1=Yorke|1y=2008|1pp=149–150|2a1=Hart|2y=2005}} Ealdormen for areas south of the Thames do not attest after 970, and this may be because Edgar chose to govern these areas through royal officials of lower status. [[Reeve (England)|Reeves]] may have been entrusted with duties which were previously carried out by ealdormen. This made his rule less uniform, with different methods of government in different areas.{{sfn|Molyneaux|2015|pp=181–182}} The gap was filled after his death by the appointment of three new southern ealdormen.{{sfn|Keynes|2008a|p=53}}

Kingship was peripatetic. There was no fixed capital city and the court moved from one royal estate to another, four or five times a year.{{sfnm|1a1=Stenton|1y=1971|1p=539|2a1=Keynes|2y=2008a|2p=10}} According to John of Worcester, each winter and spring Edgar would travel round the kingdom to enquire whether the statutes he had promulgated were being observed and whether the poor were being unjustly treated by the powerful.{{sfn|Darlington|McGurk|1995|p=427}} The historian Richard Huscroft describes this account as "perhaps a little rose-tinted".{{sfn|Huscroft|2019|pp=161–162}} Harrying was a standard punishment for crimes committed by communities, and in 974 Edgar ordered the people of [[Isle of Thanet|Thanet]] to be deprived of their property and some of them executed, because they had robbed passing traders from York.{{sfnm|1a1=Stenton|1y=1971|1pp=562–563|2a1=Giles|2y=1849|2p=263}} Forfeiture of land for wrongdoing gave the king opportunities for patronage or receiving payments for remission of punishment. In one case, Edgar rescinded a forfeiture for 100 [[mancus]]es{{efn|A mancus was an amount of gold in weight, coin or value worth 30 pence.{{sfn|Naismith|2014a|p=330}} }} of gold, and in another he restored several confiscated estates for 120 mancuses.{{sfn|Molyneaux|2015|pp=72–73}}

=== Charters ===
[[File:S 690 Diploma of King Edgar for Abingdon Abbey AD 961, written by Edgar A.tif|thumb|upright=1.9|Charter of King Edgar for [[Abingdon Abbey]] in 961, written by the scribe known as Edgar A. London, [[British Library]], Cotton Augustus ii. 39{{sfnm|1a1=Owen-Crocker|1a2=Schneider|1y=2013|1pp=vi, 89 (figure 1.8), 175–176|2a1=Charter S 690}}]]

Since the 930s, charters had been produced by a royal secretariat, but this probably did not survive the division of 957 to 959 in unchanged form. When Edgar succeeded in 959 he appears to have preferred to retain the secretariat he had employed as king of Mercia rather than use the one he had inherited from Eadwig.{{sfn|Keynes|1980|pp=69, 76}} Edgar's charters were written in competent but formulaic and derivative Latin, drawing on the prose of much earlier charters. They are more diverse in style than those of previous kings, and Snook argues that this does not indicate a decline in central control, but rather the increasing sophistication of the Anglo-Saxon bureaucracy. Although there is great variety in the charters' [[proem]]s (introductions), and in the sanctions against anyone defying the provisions of the charter, the political and legal protocols follow a stable tradition.{{sfn|Snook|2015|pp=160, 168, 187–188}}

The charters fall into several groups. Most belong to the "diplomatic mainstream", including those produced by the scribe known as Edgar A.{{sfn|Keynes|2013|p=97}} Scholars disagree about his location. {{ill|Richard Drögereit|de}} in the 1930s and [[Pierre Chaplais]] in the 1960s linked the scribe with Æthelwold's Abingdon, and perhaps with Æthelwold himself. Keynes argued in 1980 that he was probably a priest in the royal writing office, and Susan Kelly defended the older view in 2000.{{sfnm|1a1=Keynes|1y=1980|1pp=70–79|2a1=Kelly|2y=2000|2pp=cxv–cxxxi|3a1=Snook|3y=2015|3pp=169–170}} Edgar A started drafting when Edgar was king of Mercia and a significant proportion of charters in the early 960s were produced by him. He ceased work in 963, but some charters later in the reign were produced by scribes who adopted his style.{{sfn|Keynes|2008a|pp=14–16, 19–20}} Another group is associated with Dunstan and called the Dunstan B charters. They were produced between 951 and 975, with a break in Eadwig's reign. The ones dating to the period when Edgar was only king of Mercia were not personally attested by him.{{sfnm|1a1=Keynes|1y=1994|1pp=182, 190–191|2a1=Snook|2y=2015|2pp=161–162}} There were also charters produced by midlands and west country agencies, and in some cases the beneficiary may have played an important role in the drafting.{{sfnm|1a1=Keynes|1y=2013|1p=97|2a1=Keynes|2y=2008a|2p=22}}

Charters are problematic sources because of the difficulty of distinguishing genuine ones from the many forgeries.{{sfn|Keynes|2008a|p=12}} About 160 charters of Edgar survive, including 10 dating to 957 to 959 when he was king of Mercia. Most of the Mercian ones, and around 100 of those he issued as king of the English, are substantially genuine, the highest numbers being in 961 to 963 and 968. They are mainly standard grants of land to religious houses or individuals, with a few more complex ones such as the one granting privileges to the New Minster, Winchester (see image below).{{sfn|Keynes|2008b|pp=60–63}}{{efn|Edgar's charters are listed with comments in Keynes's "A Conspectus of the Charters of King Edgar 957–975".{{sfn|Keynes|2008b|pp=64–80}} }} Most charters are only known from later copies, but sixteen survive as single sheets which are or may be originals.{{sfn|Keynes|2013|pp=175–179}} Some give Edgar's [[regnal year]], and the start date they were based on varied, some being from 959, 960 and 973, but most often 957. Like Æthelstan, Edgar used the title king of the English in some charters and king of Britain in other ones, and Keynes comments that "the consistent usages of Edgar's reign represent nothing less than a determined reaffirmation of the polity created by Æthelstan in the 930s".{{sfn|Keynes|2008a|pp=25–26}}

=== Law ===
Four law codes have been attributed to Edgar, but the correct number is two. The ''[[Hundred (county division)|Hundred Ordinance]]'' was formerly called I Edgar by historians, but it does not say who issued it, and it may date to an earlier king. II and III Edgar are the ecclesiastical and secular sections of one set of provisions, known as the Andover Code. IV Edgar is thus the second code.{{sfnm|1a1=Wormald|1y=1999|1pp=313, 378|2a1=Whitelock|2y=1979|2pp=431–437|3a1=Robertson|3y=1925|3pp=16–39}} Edgar was more concerned with the administration of the law than its substance. His primary concern was to ensure that existing laws were properly enforced.{{sfn|Keynes|1999|p=480}} Law codes were not unilateral royal pronouncements, but issued with the advice of the king's councillors.{{sfn|Huscroft|2019|p=154}}

The legal historian [[Patrick Wormald]] describes the Andover Code as impressive and rational.{{sfn|Wormald|1999|pp=316–317}} II Edgar covers ecclesiastical matters, especially church dues.{{sfn|Williams|2014}} For the first time, a specific penalty was prescribed for non-payment of [[tithe]]s, and anyone who did not pay [[Romescot]], the penny due to the Pope, had to take it to Rome – a penalty theoretical rather than real.{{sfn|Blair|2005|p=442}} III Edgar is concerned with making justice accessible, preventing unjust judgments, standardisation of weights and measures, and that "one coinage is to be current throughout all the king's dominion".{{sfn|Williams|2014}} Plaintiffs had to exhaust other avenues before they were allowed recourse to the king, judgements had to be just and punishments had to be appropriate.{{sfn|Wormald|1999|p=315}} Courts were to be held regularly, and every man was to provide himself with a [[surety]] to hold him to his legal duty.{{sfnm|1a1=Keynes|1y=1999|1pp=480–481|2a1=Robertson|2y=1925|2p=27}} The preservation of order required the cooperation of the secular and religious authorities, but it is not until III Edgar that ealdormen and bishops were required to work together in the judgement of legal cases.{{sfn|Trousdale|2013|p=295}}

IV Edgar is more wordy than the Andover Code and more rhetorical than any previous one.{{sfn|Wormald|1999|p=318}} It has attracted the most attention by historians as it recognises the separate customs of the former Viking [[Kingdom of York]], which was to have "such good laws as they best decide on".{{sfn|Williams|2014}} [[Wapentake]]s, the name in the northern [[Danelaw]] for the administrative divisions known to the Anglo-Saxons as hundreds, are first mentioned in this law code.{{sfn|Hadley|2000|p=105}} One exception to the concession that the Danelaw was to have its own customs was a provision to make the sale of stolen goods more difficult. At least twelve sworn witnesses were to be appointed in each [[burh]], hundred and wapentake, and all transactions had to be witnessed by two or three of these witnesses.{{sfn|Molyneaux|2015|p=122}} Shires, hundreds and wapentakes began to play an important part in the king's control over the population around this time.{{sfn|Molyneaux|2015|pp=48–49}} IV Edgar refers "to all the nation, whether Englishmen, Danes or Britons, in every province of my dominion", recognising that Edgar's subjects were made up of three distinct political communities.{{sfn|Keynes|2008a|p=25}} He ordered that many copies of the code be sent to ealdormen Ælfhere and Æthelwine, so that they can be widely distributed and made known to rich and poor.{{sfn|Wormald|1999|p=317}}

The late tenth-century hagiographer, [[Lantfred|Lantfred of Winchester]], writing at about the time that Edgar died, stated:
:At the command of the glorious King Edgar, a law ... was promulgated throughout England, to serve as a deterrent against all sorts of crime ... that if any thief or robber were found anywhere in the {{lang|la|patria}}, he would be tortured at length by having his eyes put out, his hands cut off, his ears torn off, his nostrils carved open and his feet removed; and finally, with the skin and hair of his head shaved off, he would be abandoned in the open fields dead in respect of nearly all his limbs, to be devoured by wild beasts and birds and hounds of the night.{{sfn|Wormald|1999|pp=125–126}}

Edgar's known laws do not specify mutilation, although IV Edgar does refer a list of punishments which does not survive. A code of Cnut specifies similar punishments, and its author, [[Wulfstan (died 1023)|Archbishop Wulfstan of York]], stated that Cnut's legislation was based on the laws of Edgar. Wormald describes the punishments as "ghastly",{{sfn|Wormald|1999|pp=126–127}} and Keynes observes that it is no wonder that Edgar was hailed as "the strongest of all kings", but that if we are disposed to admire the peace he brought then we should bear in mind the measures he took to enforce it.{{sfn|Keynes|1999|p=481}}

[[Cnut]] held up Edgar's legislation as the precedent to be followed, and declared in a proclamation of 1020 that everyone should "steadfastly observe the law of Edgar."{{sfn|Molyneaux|2015|p=221}} ''ASC D'' states that in 1018 the [[Danes]] and the English reached an agreement "according to Edgar's law".{{sfnm|1a1=Wormald|1y=1999|1pp=129–130|2a1=Whitelock|2y=1979|2p=251 and n. 14}} In a letter from Cnut to his subjects in 1019/20, he referred to a law code agreed at Oxford, which he described as Edgar's law, and urged people to keep to it. In Wormald's view, Cnut considered that his regime was based on the Oxford agreement to keep to Edgar's law. However, the code bears little resemblance to Edgar's legislation, and the reference to him was probably symbolic as a revered lawmaker, rather than practical as a source.{{sfn|Wormald|1999|pp=131–132}} Edgar's legislation continued to be held in high regard after the Norman Conquest, and the twelfth-century historian [[Eadmer]] referred to the "holy laws" of "the most glorious king Edgar", although there is no evidence that he knew the codes.{{sfn|Wormald|1999|p=135}}

=== Coinage ===
[[File:SF-2E735D, Medieval coin of Edgar (FindID 799708) cropped.jpg|upright=1.5|thumb|Coin of Edgar, pre-reform, Bust Crowned, moneyer Levinc, East Anglia<ref>{{cite web |url=https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/799708 |series=Portable Antiquities Scheme |publisher=British Museum |title=Record SF-2E735D |access-date=20 January 2023 |archive-date=3 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230103085214/https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/799708 |url-status=live}}</ref>]]

The only coin in common use in late Anglo-Saxon England was the silver [[History of the English penny (c. 600 – 1066)|penny]],{{sfn|Naismith|2021|p=386}} but a few halfpennies were also produced and nine are known for Edgar.{{sfn|Naismith|2017|p=182}} Edgar's coinage is divided into two phases, pre-reform which broadly carried on the diverse coinage design of his immediate predecessors, and the major reform near the end of his reign.{{sfn|Naismith|2017|p=260}}

There had been an increase in regional variation in coinage in the reigns of Edmund and Eadred, especially in Northumbria, which switched back and forth between English and Viking control, and the permanent restoration of control over the north after 954 allowed a gradual return to the greater unity of Æthelstan's coinage.{{sfn|Naismith|2017|p=180}} Edgar's pre-reform coin designs included Horizontal types, which continued from Eadwig's reign. The Circumscription Cross type was introduced under Æthelstan and was rare for the next twenty years, before becoming common under Edgar. The Bust Crowned type (see image) also became much more common in Edgar's reign.{{sfn|Blunt|Stewart|Lyon|1989|pp=157, 171, 195}}{{efn|Horizontal coin types have the [[moneyer]]'s name horizontally on the [[Obverse and reverse|reverse]] in two lines. Commen horizontal types in Edgar's reign were HT (with [[Trefoil]]s top and bottom) and HR (with Rosettes instead of trefoils). The Circumscription Cross type has a cross in the middle on both sides of the coin, surrounded by the name of the king on the obverse and the moneyer on the reverse. The Bust Crowned type has the head of the crowned king on the obverse, often crudely drawn.{{sfn|Blunt|Stewart|Lyon|1989|pp=10–19}} }} Edgar's early coinage is described by Naismith as "an important step towards the fundamental change" of the reformed coinage. Æthelstan's reign and Edgar's pre-reform coinage are the only pre-reform periods when the mint place was commonly shown, and even in these periods many coins did not show the information. Thirty mint-places are named on Edgar's pre-reform coins, and another six are inferred by [[numismatists]] for coins which do not show the town.{{sfn|Naismith|2017|pp=189, 207, 210}} There was a gradual decline in the standard of coinage from the reigns of Alfred and Edward the Elder until Edgar's reform.{{sfn|Naismith|2017|p=195}} In most of the first half of the tenth century the fineness of the coinage was maintained at a high level, with over 90% silver. A few less fine coins were produced in the 950s, and the number increased significantly in Edgar's pre-reform coinage.{{sfn|Naismith|2017|p=15}} The average weight of coins had gradually declined since the reign of Edward the Elder, and this continued into Edgar's time.{{sfn|Blunt|Stewart|Lyon|1989|pp=236–237}}

Edgar's reformed coinage brought in standardised designs over the whole country.{{sfn|Naismith|2017|p=260}} It was modelled on Æthelstan's coinage and had been partly prefigured in the previous fifteen years.{{sfn|Naismith|2017|p=181}} It was of a high and uniform [[fineness]] (proportion of silver), compared both with the preceding period and with most other contemporary European coinages, with about 96% silver.{{sfn|Naismith|2017|p=252}} The weight increased, but there were still regional variations.{{sfn|Naismith|2017|p=260}} All mints used the same design, with the king's bust facing left on the obverse in an inner circle with his name around the outside as +EADGAR REX ANGLOR[UM]. On the reverse was a small cross in the middle, surrounded by the moneyer's name and the mint location. The design was not original: it was very similar to Æthelstan's Bust Crowned coinage, but uniformity over the whole kingdom was completely new. The reform of the coinage is not recorded in documentary sources until the thirteenth century, when [[Roger of Wendover]] was the only chronicler to mention it. It is not known exactly when the reform was introduced, but it was towards the end of his reign.{{sfnm|1a1=Naismith|1y=2017|1pp=260, 728–729 (coins 1764–1770)|2a1=Giles|2y=1849|2p=264}} The fineness of coins became more geographically uneven after his death.{{sfn|Naismith|2017|p=252}}

Edgar's standardization of the coinage reflects his concern with uniformity,{{sfn|Keynes|1999|p=481}} and his ability to impose the change shows the strength of his control.{{sfn|Molyneaux|2015|pp=116–117}} It was part of his determined effort towards the end of his reign to increase the secular and spiritual cohesion of his kingdom. For the first time, all of the approximately forty mints were producing a uniform design of coin.{{sfn|Naismith|2014b|pp=80, 82}} Edgar's coinage reform is described by the historian [[Levi Roach]] as "one of the crowning achievements of late Anglo-Saxon kingship".{{sfn|Roach|2016|p=28}} It lasted for more than one hundred and fifty years.{{sfn|Naismith|2014b|p=40}}

=== Religion ===
[[File:Edgar from Winchester Charter.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|Frontispiece of the [[New Minster Charter|Winchester New Minster Charter]] of 966, the only illuminated charter and the only manuscript written entirely in gold to survive from Anglo-Saxon England. Edgar is flanked by the [[Virgin Mary]] and [[St Peter]], and he is offering the charter to Christ, who sits enthroned above, surrounded by four winged angels.{{sfnm|1a1=Miller|1y=2001|1pp=95, 105|2a1=Karkov|2y=2008|2p=224|3a1=Charter S 745|3loc=London, British Library, Cotton Vespasian A, viii, fol. 2v.}}]]

As king of Mercia in 958, Edgar granted land to [[Chester Cathedral#History|St Werburgh's Minster, Chester]]. This was an unreformed community, a house of secular clergy, and would have been an unlikely beneficiary of royal patronage later in Edgar's reign. The Benedictine reformers later presented his accession as a victory for their cause, but this donation shows that monastic status was not then crucial for him and his advisers.{{sfnm|1a1=Lewis|1y=2008|1pp=104–105, 122|2a1=Charter S 667}}

Earlier kings had supported reform, but there were only two Benedictine monasteries when Edgar came to the throne,{{sfn|Roach|2016|p=35}} and his support was key to the wider success of the movement.{{sfnm|1a1=Wollasch|1y=1999|1pp=173–174|2a1=Blair|2y=2005|2p=346}} In Stenton's view, his accession to the throne of England led to few changes in secular personnel, but it caused momentous changes in the church. He comments: "There is no doubt that in the re-establishment of English monasticism, which is the principal achievement of this period, the enthusiasm of King Edgar was the decisive factor."{{sfn|Stenton|1971|pp=365, 367}} He favoured all three of the leading figures in the movement, Dunstan, [[Oswald of Worcester|Oswald]] and Æthelwold.{{sfn|Keynes|2008a|p=42}} Oda had died in 958, and Eadwig's choice of successor as Archbishop of Canterbury, Ælfsige, froze to death in the Alps on the way to get his [[pallium]] from the Pope. [[Byrhthelm (bishop of Wells)|Byrhthelm]], [[Bishop of Wells]], was Eadwig's second choice, but when Edgar succeeded, he dismissed Byrhthelm on the ground that he was too gentle to maintain discipline and appointed Dunstan.{{sfn|Stenton|1971|p=367}} 
Oswald became [[bishop of Worcester]] in 962 and then [[archbishop of York]] in 971 without relinquishing Worcester.{{sfn|Williams|2014}}

In the early years of Edgar's reign, the third monastic leader, Æthelwold, was the only abbot who attested charters, showing his special status.{{sfn|Keynes|2008a|p=29}} He was a strong critic of secular clergy (sometimes called canons), who were able to marry, unlike monks.{{sfn|Blair|2005|pp=342, 351}} Following his appointment as Bishop of Winchester in 963, Æthelwold converted the city's [[New Minster]] into an institution exclusively of monks. Edgar successfully sought papal authority for the forcible expulsion of the canons and sent an armed force under a royal official to help in carrying it out.{{sfnm|1a1=Yorke|1y=2004d|2a1=Whitelock|2a2=Brett|2a3=Brooke|2y=1981|2pp=109–113}} In 966, he granted privileges to the new community in a magnificent charter (see image), which referred to the cleansing of the church by the driving out of the canons and recorded the grant of the New Minster to Christ by Edgar, who is described as {{lang|la|vicarius christi}} (vicar of Christ).{{sfnm|1a1=Miller|1y=2001|1pp=95–111|2a1=Karkov|2y=2008|2pp=234–235|3a1=Charter S 745}} One of the main justifications for the king's involvement was that the canons' sinful nature meant that their prayers for him were worthless.{{sfn|Karkov|2004|p=85}}

Edgar and Ælfthryth granted Æthelwold an estate at [[Sudbourne]] on condition that he translate the {{lang|la|[[Regula S. Benedicti]]}} (Rule of Saint Benedict) from Latin into English to assist the religious instruction of the laity, and the translation survives.{{sfnm|1a1=Lapidge|1y=1988|1p=101|2a1=Lapidge|2y=1993|2pp=34–35}} The {{lang|la|Regularis Concordia}}{{efn|The full name of the {{lang|la|Regularis Concordia}} is given in the title of Thomas Symons's 1953 edition: {{lang|la|Regularis Concordia Anglicae Nationis Monachorum Sanctimonialiumque}}: ''The Monastic Agreement of Monks and Nuns of the English Nation''.{{sfn|Cooper|2015|p=1 n. 3}} }} laid down rules for English monasteries. It was written as a result of instructions sent by Edgar to a synod at Winchester to draw up a single monastic rule for all England, and it exhibits his desire for unity and uniformity. He urged his bishops, abbots and abbesses, "to be of one mind regarding monastic usage ... lest differing ways of observing the customs of one Rule and one country should bring their holy conversation into disrepute".{{sfnm|1a1=Keynes|1y=1999|1p=481|2a1=Cooper|2y=2015|2p=62}} The {{lang|la|Regularis Concordia}} instructed that psalms be said several times a day for the king and queen in all monasteries, and required the consent of the king for the election of abbots.{{sfn|Molyneaux|2015|p=174}} The document dates to around 973, perhaps after Edgar's coronation in Bath on 11 May.{{efn|For Edgar's coronation, see the 'Events in 973' section below.}}{{sfnm|1a1=Symons|1y=1975|1pp=40–42|2a1=Cooper|2y=2015|2p=48 n.3}}

Continental reformers accepted that secular clergy had their place in the church, and Dunstan and Oswald agreed. They did not expel the canons from their cathedral communities. Æthelwold was more extreme, and in a text known as "King Edgar's Establishment of Monasteries", he wrote that Edgar:
:cleansed holy places from all men's foulnesses, not only in the kingdom of the West Saxons but in the land of the Mercians also. Assuredly he drove out canons who abounded beyond measure in the aforesaid sins, and he established monks in the foremost places of all his dominion for the glorious service of the Saviour Christ. In some places also he established nuns and entrusted them to his consort, Ælfthryth, that she might help them in every necessity.{{sfnm|1a1=Blair|1y=2005|1p=352|2a1=Whitelock|2y=1979|2pp=921–922}}

The reformers practised personal austerity, but their masses, liturgy and prayers became more and more lavish along Continental lines, and they worked vigorously to increase the land and wealth of the monasteries to pay for the buildings and objects required.{{sfn|Cooper|2015|p=64}} The reformers did not only receive physical and financial support from Edgar and his officials, but also from other members of the laity.{{sfn|Rumble|2008|p=242}} In addition, the leaders of the movement were wealthy aristocrats who used their own resources to support the movement.{{sfnm|1a1=Naismith|1y=2021|1p=313|2a1=Blair|2y=2005|2p=350}} Æthelwold paid Edgar 200 [[Mancus|mancuses]] of gold and a silver cup worth five pounds to renew privileges of Winchester Old Minster, granted by Edward the Elder, in relation to a large estate at [[Taunton]], and Æthelwold also paid Ælfthryth 50 mancuses "in return for her help in his just mission".{{sfnm|1a1=Yorke|1y=1988b|1p=81|2a1=Robertson|2y=1956|2pp=92–95, 339–342|3a1=Charter S 806}} Æthelwold relentlessly pursued land claims through the courts on behalf of monasteries in his diocese, and Edgar frequently intervened to support him.{{sfn|Yorke|1988a|pp=5–6}} After his death landowners brought legal actions, and sometimes used violence, to recover estates lost by the aggressive and dubious claims of monasteries. Even the greatest magnates were not immune from the reformers' demands, and Æthelwine brought a successful action to recover an estate of forty hides in [[Hatfield, Hertfordshire|Hatfield]], complaining that Edgar had forced him and his brothers to surrender it to Æthelwold.{{sfnm|1a1=Fisher|1y=1952|1pp=263–264|2a1=Fairweather|2y=2005|2pp=103–104|ps= (Book II, 7) }} The anti-monastic reaction following Edgar's death shows how dependent the reformers were on the king's support,{{sfn|Karkov|2004|p=84}} but no writings survive of the reformers' opponents to show how they saw Edgar.{{sfn|Keynes|1999|p=479}}

Edgar's support for the reformers earned him extravagant praise in the works of Benedictine authors such as [[Byrhtferth]] and Wulfstan, both writing in the late 990s.{{sfnm|1a1=Keynes|1y=1999|1p=479|2a1=Keynes|2y=2008a|2pp=3–4}} The reformers gave Edgar a status which was almost theocratic, and he is compared in the {{lang|la|Regularis Concordia}} to the [[Good Shepherd]].{{sfn|Gransden|1992|p=36}} The contemporary theologian [[Ælfric of Eynsham]] also praised Edgar; he urged obedience to monarchy, which he regarded as divinely instituted.{{sfn|Nelson|1999|p=96}} The historian [[Catherine Karkov]] observes that: "From the very beginning of his reign Edgar had been portrayed as an able and powerful {{transliteration|grc|[[basileus]]}}, whose kingship derived directly from God".{{sfn|Karkov|2004|p=86}} The reform was the English branch of a European movement,{{sfn|John|1982|p=160}} and monasteries in post-[[Carolingian Empire|Carolingian]] Europe universally followed the {{lang|la|Regula S. Benedicti}}, but Wormald comments that "England was the only place in post-Carolingian Europe where monastic uniformity was a matter of political principle".{{sfn|Wormald|1988|p=32}}

Like other kings, Edgar was generous in his donations to churches. In 970 Æthelwold re-founded the community of secular priests at [[Ely Abbey]] as a house for monks with the generous support of Edgar, whose gifts included a cross covered in gold and silver gilt, together with golden images and precious stones; a cloak embellished with gold; and a gospel book gilded with precious stones and enamels.{{sfnm|1a1=Keynes|1y=2003b|1pp=17–23|2a1=Lawson|2y=2011|2p=115|3a1=Fairweather|3y=2005|3loc=pp. 140–141, 354–355 (Book II, 50 and Book III, 50) }} He was a major patron of [[Romsey Abbey]], a Benedictine nunnery which was founded or refounded in 967, and his son Edmund was buried there.{{sfnm|1a1=Coatsworth|1y=1988|1p=167|2a1=Foot|2y=2000|2pp=151–152}} Edgar also supported the [[Old Minster, Winchester]], which had the body of [[Saint Swithun]]. In 971, the saint's body was translated from its tomb in the grounds to one inside the minster, on the order of Edgar and with the support of Æthelwold. This was the start of a major new cult.{{sfn|Ridyard|1988|pp=108–109, 119}} A second translation was carried out in around 974. Swithun's relics were carried in a barefoot procession for three miles before being placed in a grand new reliquary of gold, silver and rubies which Edgar had ordered to be made.{{sfnm|1a1=Rollason|1y=1989|1p=183|2a1=Lapidge|2y=2003|2pp=492–497}} He was also the greatest benefactor of Æthelwold's Abingdon Abbey.{{sfn|Thacker|1988|pp=52–53}}

Reformed Benedictine monasteries were mainly confined to Wessex and some areas of Mercia, and they were greatly outnumbered by the many secular minsters, although the reformed monasteries were much wealthier. The reformers portrayed Edgar's reign as a golden age which fundamentally changed the English church, but the historian [[John Blair (historian)|John Blair]] is sceptical: "The polemic may belie a religious culture in Edgar's reign which, when we probe beneath the surface, starts to look less exclusive and more like that of Æthelstan's and Edmund's."{{sfn|Blair|2005|pp=351–352}}

=== Learning and art ===
When Alfred came to the throne in 871, learning had declined to a low level and the knowledge of Latin was very poor.{{sfn|Lapidge|1993|p=5}} He started the revival of learning, and it was brought to its height by Edgar.{{sfn|Keynes|1985|p=147}} Lapidge comments that his reign "marks a decisive turning-point in English literary history".{{sfn|Lapidge|1993|p=31}} No Latin works by Oswald are known, but Æthelwold and Dunstan were outstanding scholars.{{sfnm|1a1=Lapidge|1y=1993|1p=31|2a1=Leonardi|2y=1999|2p=191}} Æthelwold's translation of the {{lang|la|Regula S. Benedicti}} is of the highest standard,{{sfn|Lapidge|1993|p=35}} and his New Minster Charter was written in elaborate [[hermeneutic Latin]] to display the dazzling erudition of the Benedictine movement and glorify King Edgar and the reform.{{sfn|Snook|2015|pp=166–167}} Some of the works in Old English produced by Æthelwold are so lavishly and expensively produced that they cannot have been for the instruction of young [[oblate]]s and were probably intended for nobles and royalty.{{sfn|Lapidge|1993|pp=35–36}} There was also a great increase in Latin literature in Edgar's reign, all of it apparently associated with Æthelwold's Winchester. Much of this literature consisted of poetry, often containing many [[Ancient Greek|grecisms]].{{sfn|Lapidge|1993|pp=36–39}} The three leading reformers were strongly influenced by Continental scholarship and welcomed learned foreign clerics, such as Lantfred from [[Fleury Abbey]], to their households.{{sfn|Lapidge|1993|p=32}} The art historian [[David M. Wilson|David Wilson]] states that Edgar's reign "produced some of the highest achievements in painting and sculpture ever seen in England".{{sfn|Wilson|1984|p=153}} The [[Benedictional of St. Æthelwold]] is one of the greatest examples of English art.{{sfn|Wilson|1984|p=154}} Several half-sisters of Edgar's father had married Continental royalty, and these connections helped Edgar to bring in foreign scholars such as Radbod and painters and goldsmiths such as Benna, who made metalwork for the king and decorated the ceiling of Wilton church.{{sfnm|1a1=Hollis|1y=2004|1pp=32, 311 n. 21|2a1=Insley|2y=2012|2pp=86–87|3a1=Ortenberg|3y=2002|3p=57}}

=== Warfare and foreign relations ===
Peter Rex observes in his biography of Edgar that his reign was remarkable for the lack of opposition to his rule both from within and outside his kingdom.{{sfn|Rex|2007|pp=43–44}} Although no Viking attacks on England are recorded in his reign, there were several battles fought by ealdormen and neighbouring kings. In 966, Thored, son of Gunnar,{{efn|He may have been the [[Thored]] who became ealdorman of York by 979.{{sfn|Whitelock|1959|p=79}} }} ravaged Westmorland, perhaps as part of English resistance to the southward expansion of [[Kingdom of Strathclyde|Strathclyde]], and [[Kenneth II of Scotland|King Kenneth of Scotland]] conducted raids on Northumbria in the early 970s.{{sfnm|1a1=Huscroft|1y=2019|1p=126|2a1=Williams|2y=2014}} In the late 960s, there was dissension between the princes of the north Welsh [[Kingdom of Gwynedd]], and in 967, the English under Ælfhere laid waste to it; in the early 970s, [[Anglesey]] was twice attacked by the Vikings.{{sfnm|2a1=Williams|2y=2014|1a1=Charles-Edwards|1y=2013|1p=539}} The ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' boasted of the strength of Edgar's navy. ''ASC D'' and ''E'', after declaring that many kings honoured Edgar, go on: "Nor was there fleet so proud nor host so strong that it got itself prey in England as long as the noble king held the throne."{{sfnm|1a1=Williams|1y=2014|2a1=Whitelock|2y=1979|2p=228}} Later chroniclers made exaggerated claims, such as John of Worcester, who wrote that Edgar had 3,600 ships, and that he used to circumnavigate the island of Britain each summer, but there is evidence for naval organisation in the reign of his son Æthelred, and Edgar probably had a substantial fleet which laid the foundation for it.{{sfnm|1a1=Williams|1y=2014|2a1=Darlington|2a2=McGurk|2y=1995|2pp=425–427}}

A poem in the northern versions ''ASC D'' and ''E'', which is thought on stylistic grounds to have been written by Wulfstan, praises Edgar, but then goes on "Yet he did one ill-deed too greatly: he loved evil foreign customs and brought too firmly heathen manners within this land, and attracted hither foreigners and enticed harmful people to this country."{{sfn|Whitelock|1979|p=225}} This probably refers to Edgar hiring Viking mercenaries and their ships, an expedient which was employed by Alfred and probably Æthelstan before Edgar, and Æthelred after him.{{sfnm|1a1=Williams|1y=2014|2a1=Jayakumar|2y=2001|2pp=26–27}}

In 972/973, Edgar sent an embassy to the German emperor, [[Otto the Great]]. According to Byrhtferth:
:Edgar sent some wonderful gifts to the emperor, through the agency of [[Æscwig of Dorchester|Abbot Æscwig]] and Wulfmær, his thegn; they brought back to him even more wonderful gifts, which served to establish a treaty of steadfast peace. The king was bountiful in his generosity, as befits a king. As a result of his abundant generosity, the kings of other peoples praised him exceedingly, and because he displayed the rage of a savage lion against his enemies, neighbouring kings and princes feared him.{{sfn|Lapidge|2009|pp=102–103 and n. 39}}

=== The events of 973 ===
{{see also|King Edgar's council at Chester}}

Naismith describes the year 973 as an {{lang|la|[[annus mirabilis]]}} for the English kingdom.{{sfn|Naismith|2014b|p=39}} Edgar and Ælfryth were consecrated king and queen at [[Bath, Somerset|Bath]] on [[Whit Sunday]], 11 May 973. Kings were normally formally elected by their leading men and then crowned soon after their accession, but there is no record of Edgar being crowned early in his reign.{{sfnm|1a1=Williams|1y=2014|2a1=Yorke|2y=2008|2p=147|3a1=Nelson|3y=1977|3p=66}} The ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' implies that it was a first coronation. ''ASC A'', ''ASC B'' and ''ASC C'' say "Edmund's son, bold in battle, had spent 29 years in the world when this came about, and then in the thirtieth was consecrated king."; ''ASC D'' and ''ASC E'' describe him as "the {{lang|ang|ætheling}} Edgar".{{sfnm|1a1=John|1y=1966|1pp=278–279|2a1=Whitelock|2y=1979|2pp=227–228}} Historians debate whether it was a second coronation, and if not, the reason for the delay. One theory is that he waited until he was in his thirtieth year because thirty was the minimum age for consecration as a priest,{{sfn|Stenton|1971|p=368}} but this has been questioned because at twenty-nine he was still too young.{{sfn|Keynes|2008a|p=48}} According to Nicholas, a twelfth-century prior of [[Worcester Cathedral|Worcester]], Edgar postponed his consecration until he had outgrown the passions of his youth,{{sfn|Thomson|Winterbottom|1999|p=141}} and Stenton thinks that he may have waited "until he felt that he had come to full maturity of mind and conduct".{{sfn|Stenton|1971|p=368}} Other historians, such as [[Janet Nelson]], think that he was almost certainly crowned at the start of his reign. She argues that Edgar must have been crowned early in his reign because his legitimacy as king would otherwise have been impaired, and that the 973 consecration was intended to celebrate and display his claim to imperial status as overlord of Britain."{{sfn|Nelson|1977|pp=66–70}} The fact that it was recorded in verse in early versions of the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' (''ASC A'' and ''B''), whereas it was rare for the ''Chronicle'' to mention coronations at all, suggests that there was something special about this one.{{sfn|Williams|2014}} The German court was the leader in elaborate ritual and display, and the information learned by Edgar's embassy to Otto I may have played a major role in planning the coronation in Bath.{{sfn|Roach|2013|p=204}}

A northern version of the ''Chronicle'' dating to the second half of the eleventh or early twelfth centuries, ''ASC D'', says that Edgar then sailed with his navy to [[Chester]], where six kings promised to be his allies on land and sea.{{sfnm|1a1=Williams|1y=2014|2a1=Whitelock|2y=1979|2p=228|3a1=Cubbin|3y=1996|3p=xi}} Ælfric of Eynsham, writing no more than twenty-five years later, apparently about the same event, says that "all the kings who were in this island, Cumbrians and Scots, came to Edgar, once eight kings on one day, and they all submitted to Edgar's direction".{{sfnm|1a1=Whitelock|1y=1979|1p=927|2a1=Williams|2y=2014|3a1=Molyneaux|3y=2011|3p=67}} In the twelfth century, John of Worcester and William of Malmesbury gave accounts of the Chester meeting. They stated that the kings rowed Edgar on the [[River Dee, Wales|River Dee]] as a symbol of their submission. Unlike earlier sources, they name the kings, and the historian of Wales [[Thomas Charles-Edwards]] gives their probable identities: Kenneth of Scotland, [[Dyfnwal ab Owain|Dufnal]] and his son [[Máel Coluim, King of Strathclyde|Malcolm]] of Strathclyde, [[Maccus mac Arailt|Maccus]], [[King of the Isles]], [[Iago ab Idwal|Iacob]] and his nephew [[Hywel ap Ieuaf|Hywel]] of Gwynedd, and two who are otherwise unknown, Siferth, who may have been a Viking, and Iuchil, perhaps a version of the [[Old Welsh]] name {{lang|owl|Iudhail}}.{{sfnm|1a1=Charles-Edwards|1y=2013|1pp=543–544|2a1=Darlington|2a2=McGurk|2y=1995|2pp=423–425|3a1=Mynors|3a2=Thomson|3a3=Winterbottom|3y=1998|3pp=239–241}} John of Worcester gives the fullest account, stating that the kings, who he calls underkings:
:went to meet him, as he had commanded, and swore that they would be loyal to, and cooperate with, him by land and sea. With them, on a certain day, he boarded a skiff; having set them to the oars, and having taken the helm himself, he skilfully steered it through the course of the [[River Dee, Wales|River Dee]], and with a crowd of ealdormen and nobles following in a similar boat, sailed from the palace to the monastery of St John the Baptist, where, when he had prayed, he returned with the same pomp to the palace. As he was entering it he is reported to have declared to his nobles at length that each of his successors would be able to boast that he was king of the English, and would enjoy the pomp of such honour with so many kings at his command.{{sfn|Darlington|McGurk|1995|pp=423–425}}

Some historians see the meeting as a parley between equals.{{sfnm|1a1=Smyth|1y=1984|1p=228|2a1=Barrow|2y=2001|2pp=81–93|3a1=Williams|3y=2014}} The Chester meeting may have been a conference of kings following the English attacks on [[Wales in the Early Middle Ages|Wales]] and [[Scotland in the Early Middle Ages|Scottish]] on England. [[Lothian]] had probably been under Scottish control since the 950s, and around this time Edgar formally ceded it to them.{{sfn|Williams|2014}} Kenneth may have attended the meeting to secure this concession and in Williams's view it is unlikely that he saw himself as Edgar's subordinate.{{sfn|Williams|1999|p=88}} The historian Christopher Lewis comments: "Precisely what happened at Chester has been irretrievably obscured by the embellishments of twelfth-century historians".{{sfn|Lewis|2008|p=121}}

Other historians are more ready to accept claims of English superiority. Levi Roach and Richard Huscroft think that it makes better sense to see the events at Chester as a display of Edgar's overlordship.{{sfnm|1a1=Roach|1y=2013|1pp=52–53|2a1=Huscroft|2y=2019|2p=134}} Molyneaux agrees, arguing that the English king was able to intimidate other rulers because he possessed far greater military strength: "If Edgar's neighbours wished to avoid their lands being ravaged, the invitation to Chester was probably not one that they could decline."{{sfn|Molyneaux|2011|pp=70–71}} Edgar claimed dominion over Britain by describing himself as ruler of "[[Britannia]]" and "[[Albion]]" in charters. Such claims, which are also found in the writings of the monastic reformers, are displayed in the titles of other tenth-century kings.{{sfn|Crick|2008|pp=161–165}} They reached a peak during Edgar's reign, but in reality English power over the other nations of Britain was lower than at times earlier in the century. Scottish and Welsh kings sometimes attested Æthelstan's charters, but never those of Edgar. His coronation at Bath was only attended by English magnates, whereas at least two Welsh kings were present at that of Eadred in 946. After his reign, southern kings' hegemony over other parts of Britain weakened further, and there is no evidence of Scottish, Welsh or Cumbrian kings acknowledging English overlordship until 1031.{{sfn|Molyneaux|2015|pp=200, 212–213}}