ABSTRACT
One of the most notable features of Nicholas’ work has been his discussion of the organisation of the Anglo-Saxon state, drawing upon administrative records in order to illuminate the development of military obligations, the construction of bridges and, most notably, the establishment of a network of fortified boroughs, many of which became England’s county towns.2 These processes can be linked to a wider series of economic changes in the late Anglo-Saxon period, ranging from the invigorating consequences of foreign trade to the establishment of national legislation on weights and measures.3 Another key strand has been an interest in levels of literacy in the ninth century expressed through a detailed examination of the charters of Christ Church, Canterbury. Nicholas demonstrated that very few Canterbury scribes were able to draft charters in Latin and, when they did, they invariably demonstrated a limited knowledge of grammar and orthography.4 Vernacular speech and pronunciation, moreover, influenced Latin misspellings in the Canterbury documents,5 in the same way as anyone’s knowledge of a first language affects the types of errors and inappropriate idiomatic expressions which he or she uses in a second language. In short, ‘the pontificate of Æthelred (870-889) marked the nadir of illiteracy in the Canterbury community’.6 Yet, as Nicholas observed, the one document from the 870s and 880s which was of a slightly better quality, namely the will of Ealdorman Ælfred, was written in the vernacular.7 Thus, the relationship between the vernacular and Latin in the Canterbury scriptorium during the late ninth century was complex and evolving, and it may be erroneous to assume that a decline in Latin was matched by proportionate shortcomings in the uses of the vernacular.
