This article surveys the historiography of the tenth-century kingdom of the English from the 1970s to the present. Foundational interventions by James Campbell and Patrick Wormald framed the period as decisive for the consolidation of royal authority, legislative ambition, and administrative sophistication. Subsequent scholarship, however, drawing on advances in charter studies, numismatics, prosopography, and legal history, has complicated this picture. Scholars have emphasised regional variation, legal pluralism, and the selective character of royal intervention, while studies of ritual, queenship, and political communication have further unsettled narratives of English exceptionalism. The tenth century now appears less as a linear moment of state consolidation than as a period of experimentation in authority, identity, and governance, whose historiography reflects broader methodological transformations within medieval studies.
King’s College London, United Kingdom - ORCID: 0000-0002-9511-964X
Chapter Title
The Making of the Tenth-Century Kingdom of the English in Historiography: 1974-2025
Authors
Alice Hicklin
Language
English
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-1094-2.11
Peer Reviewed
Publication Year
2026
Copyright Information
© 2026 Author(s)
Content License
Metadata License
Book Title
Repenser le Xe siècle. États des lieux et perspectives / Ripensare il X secolo. Bilanci e prospettive
Editors
Gianmarco De Angelis, Tiziana Lazzari
Peer Reviewed
Number of Pages
490
Publication Year
2026
Copyright Information
© 2026 Author(s)
Content License
Metadata License
Publisher Name
Firenze University Press
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-1094-2
ISBN Print
979-12-215-1093-5
eISBN (pdf)
979-12-215-1094-2
eISBN (xml)
979-12-215-1096-6
Series Title
Reti Medievali E-Book
Series ISSN
2704-6362
Series E-ISSN
2704-6079