Acta of King Henry I

This project aims to create a critical edition of the acta of King Henry I of England, and so provide a fundamental research tool for the history of the central middle ages whose absence has been lamented for decades past. The edition will integrate with the texts the contextual information on government and local affairs essential to the interpretation of the documents, and will provide a diplomatic analysis of the acta illuminating their form and use. It will therefore allow more informed and sophisticated use of the texts by non-specialists than has previously been possible.

Project

Academic field
History
Affiliation
University of Oxford
Project link
Acta of King Henry I
Funders
Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)

arts-humanities.net

Principal investigator
Professor Richard Sharpe
Principal project staff
Dr Nicholas Karn; Dr Mark Hagger; Dr Hugh Doherty; Professor Richard Sharpe
Start date
Wednesday, October 1, 2003
Completion date
Friday, September 1, 2006
Source material
The main source for these files are the 1,700 or so known acta (charters, writs, laws, letters, and other documents) of King Henry I; 189 of which survive as originals. These are found in libraries and archives across Britain and Northern France, with particularly important collections found in the British Library and Public Record Office in London, and the Blbliotheque Nationale de France and Archives Nationales in Paris. The Word files contain the texts of these documents, with editorial interventions so as to produce the best possible texts. These are then dated and annotated using the researchers' detailed knowledge of the period, so as to enhance the value of the texts for readers.
Data formats
Microsoft Word Document (DOC)
Publications

The following have appeared in print. Another four articles are currently in the press.

Sharpe, Richard, "The use of writs in the eleventh century." Anglo-Saxon England 32 (2003): 247-91

Karn, Nicholas and Sharpe, Richard, "Working with Anglo-Norman Royal Acta in MS-Access": Revue Publiée par l'Institut de Recherche et d'Histoire des textes 42 (2003): 61-5.