Medievalists.net

Where the Middle Ages Begin

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Home
  • Features
  • News
  • Online Courses
  • Podcast
  • Patreon Login
  • About Us & More
    • About Us
    • Books
    • Videos
    • Films & TV
    • Medieval Studies Programs
    • Places To See
    • Teaching Resources
    • Articles

Medievalists.net

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Home
  • Features
  • News
  • Online Courses
  • Podcast
  • Patreon Login
  • About Us & More
    • About Us
    • Books
    • Videos
    • Films & TV
    • Medieval Studies Programs
    • Places To See
    • Teaching Resources
    • Articles
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
Articles

Hosting the king: hospitality and the royal iter in tenth-century England

by Sandra Alvarez
July 31, 2013

Aethelread the UnreadyHosting the king: hospitality and the royal iter  in tenth-century England

Levi Roach (Trinity College, Cambridge)

The Journal of Medieval History, 37.1 (March 2011), 34-46

Abstract

Traditional studies of royal itinerancy have depended on locating the king’s progress through his kingdom(s) as precisely as possible and it should therefore not surprise that the iter regis in pre-Conquest England has received relatively little attention, since Anglo-Saxon diplomas only rarely record their date and place of issue, making the establishment of the royal itinerary all but impossible. However, more recent studies, particularly by German scholars, have moved away from the earlier attention to the concrete details of the royal iter and focus more on the effects of itinerancy as a method of rulership, viewing itinerancy as a central part of royal ritual. This study argues that if we investigate itinerancy in tenth-century England from this standpoint, we can throw new light onto subject. Contemporary sources reveal that in England as in France and Germany the iter regis was of great importance, with symbolic acts of feasting and gift-giving accompanying royal visits. The attention given to these ritualized acts in contemporary sources suggests, moreover, that Anglo-Saxon kingship possessed an important ‘charismatic’ quality, which deserves further investigation.

The study of royal itinerancy in Anglo-Saxon England has not enjoyed much popularity: with the exception of Thomas Charles-Edwards’ remarks on the earlier Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and Alban Gautier’s treatments of feasting and hospitality across the Anglo-Saxon period, the topic has been largely over- looked. The reasons for this are not difficult to find: Anglo-Saxon diplomas rarely specify where or when they were produced, and thus it is generally impossible to establish the royal iter with any certainty. The feeling has apparently been that, since the particulars of where and when the king was to be found cannot be reconstructed with any certainty, further research was unlikely to reap dividends. It is my hope to challenge this view by a reconsideration of contemporary narrative sources, which reveal a society in which the movement of the king and his court was an essential feature of the passing of the year and the presence or absence of the king was of utmost importance in a society in which kingship was ‘charismatic’.

Click here to read this article from the The Journal of Medieval History

Subscribe to Medievalverse




Related Posts

  • The Evolution of Iter
  • Creating a Gateway to the Renaissance: The Iter Project
  • Do Manuscripts Burn? Royal Diplomas in Late Pre-Norman England (871–1066)
  • For the Glory of England: The Changing Nature of Kingship in Fourteenth Century England
  • The Four Portraits of Het‘um II: New Observations Regarding the Royal Portrait of the Lectionary of 1286
TagsAethelred The Unready • Christianity in the Middle Ages • Cnut • Early Medieval England • Early Middle Ages • Kingship in the Middle Ages • Medieval England • Medieval Manuscripts and Palaeography • Medieval Politics • Medieval Social History • Tenth century • Travel in the Middle Ages

Post navigation

Previous Post Previous Post
Next Post Next Post

Medievalists Membership

Become a member to get ad-free access to our website and our articles. Thank you for supporting our website!

Sign Up Member Login

More from Medievalists.net

Become a Patron

We've created a Patreon for Medievalists.net as we want to transition to a more community-funded model.

 

We aim to be the leading content provider about all things medieval. Our website, podcast and Youtube page offers news and resources about the Middle Ages. We hope that are our audience wants to support us so that we can further develop our podcast, hire more writers, build more content, and remove the advertising on our platforms. This will also allow our fans to get more involved in what content we do produce.

Become a Patron Member Login

Medievalists.net

Footer Menu

  • Privacy Policy
  • Do Not Sell My Personal Information
  • Copyright © 2025 Medievalists.net
  • Powered by WordPress
  • Theme: Uku by Elmastudio
Follow us
  • Facebook
  • Twitter