British Academy - Royal Historical Society

ANGLO-SAXON CHARTERS

AN ATLAS OF ATTESTATIONS
in Anglo-Saxon Charters
c. 670 - 1066

SIMON KEYNES

The Atlas of Attestations is a set of 78 tables showing attestations of all types of witnesses (kings, queens, æthelings, bishops, abbots, priests, ealdormen, and thegns, etc.) in all surviving charters issued between c. 670 and 1066. Most of the tables occupy one or two pages; but some of them necessarily extend over several pages, horizontally and vertically. The atlas comprises about 200 pages of tables in all.

The tables were generated with a standard spreadsheet programme (Microsoft Excel 4.0), and have been set up for printing on A3 sheets, for the sake of greater legibility. The Atlas was first issued in experimental form in 1993. The layout of certain tables was revised in 1996. In June 1998 the Atlas was revised again, and supplied with a preface, pp. 1-15, explaining the principles of compilation and enlarging upon the intended purpose of each table. Copies have been made available to interested parties; others have been placed in the library of the Institute of Historical Research, London, and elsewhere. It is intended that the Atlas will be published more formally in due course, probably under the auspices of the British Academy - Royal Historical Society Joint Committee on Anglo-Saxon Charters, as the second volume in the 'Supplementary Series'; it will be accompanied in that form by a booklet explaining the principles which lie behind the construction of the tables, and offering some form of extended historical commentary on each.

Pending its proper publication (with accompanying booklet), copies of the Atlas (tables only, with preface of 15 pp.) are available from its compiler (e-mail) in two forms:

• on paper, in A3 format, reproduced from laser-printed originals and fastened in a wire ring-binding (£25, to cover the cost of production, packaging, and postage);
• on three floppy disks (Apple Macintosh only; user will need access to Microsoft Excel 4.0 in order to read the files) (£5).

The compiler of the Atlas will be happy to provide photocopies of any table, on request.

• List of Tables in the Atlas of Attestations

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