Welcome to the Kemble Website.

This website is named after John Mitchell Kemble (1807-57), editor of Beowulf (1833), editor of the Codex Diplomaticus Ævi Saxonici (1839-48), author of The Saxons in England (1849), and author of Horae Ferales (1863). Further information about him will be found in the Hall of Fame.

Sawyer 922 face
Charter of King Æthelred for his thegn Morcar, dated 1009 (S 922)

This website is dedicated in Kemble's memory to the study of Anglo-Saxon charters. It is kindly hosted by Robinson College (Cambridge) for the Department for Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Celtic in the University of Cambridge.

Please explore the website using the headings above, and using the sub-menus which will appear to the side for each of these main sections. Information is provided about the religious houses in whose archives the documents were preserved, and about the form and content of the various different kinds of charter. Images of charters which survive in their 'original' single-sheet form (like the one shown above) are also available. Announcements, updates, and links to other resources (etc.) will be found in the 'General' section. The 'Hall of Fame' leads to information about many of those who have collected, edited and studied charters from the sixteenth century to the present day. You may return 'Home' at any point by clicking on Kemble himself in the banner above.

ASNCUniversity of Cambridge

Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Celtic, University of Cambridge.