The Cradle of England - The Athelney Abbey Cartulary
Charters and other types of documents from monastic archives provide the main source for the history of religious houses and their place in society. In many cases monks copied these important records into a volume known as a cartulary.
The Athelney cartulary was last seen in 1735. Investigations into its whereabouts were begun in the early 1990s by Professor Simon Keynes of the University of Cambridge. Remarkably, in 2001 the volume came to light in the archive at Petworth House, West Sussex, home of the Earl of Egremont. The cartulary, which is almost 500 pages long, was compiled in the 15th century and contains copies of documents ranging in date from the 9th century onwards. In years to come it will undergo detailed study and new information about the history of Athelney Abbey and medieval Somerset will emerge.
The cartulary formed the centrepiece of an exhibition at the Somerset County Museum in the summer of 2002 and was one of the focal points of Her Majesty the Queen's visit to Taunton in May of that year.
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