Creating and curating an archive: Bury St Edmunds and its Anglo-Saxon past

This contribution explores the mechanisms by which the Benedictine foundation of Bury St Edmunds sought to legitimise and preserve their spurious pre-Conquest privileges and holdings throughout the Middle Ages. The archive is extraordinary in terms of the large number of surviving registers and cartularies which contain copies of Anglo-Saxon charters, many of which are wholly or partly in Old English. The essay charts the changing use to which these ancient documents were put in response to threats to the foundation's continued enjoyment of its liberties. The focus throughout the essay is to demonstrate how pragmatic considerations at every stage affects the development of the archive and the ways in which these linguistically challenging texts were presented, re-presented, and represented during the Abbey’s history

The register of Edmund Stafford, (A. D. 1395-1419); an index and abstract of its contents,

Mode of access: Internet.1

The register of John de Grandisson, bishop of Exeter,(A.D. 1327-1369) ...

"The cartulary of Buckfast abbey. (A fragment.)": v. 3, p. 1561-1610."A pedigree of the family of de Grandisson, by F. J. B. Winchester": pt. III, frontispiece.Paged continuously.On back: Episcopal registers. Diocese of Exeter.pt. I. 1327-1330. With some account of the episcopate of James de Berkeley (A.D. 1327)--pt. II. 1331-1360.--pt. III. 1360-1369, together with the register of institutions.Mode of access: Internet.Armorial book-plate: Uvedale Lambert