Canterbury 1070-1136

This is a unique collection of all the surviving acta, some never previously published, of the first four Norman archbishops of Canterbury - Lanfranc, Anselm, Ralph d'Escures and William of Corbeil. This period saw the development of a new sort of administrative document, and the texts in this edition are therefore of particular interest. An unusually high proportion are shown to be forgeries. The introduction provides an account of these influential archbishops and their households, and of the unusual diplomatic forms found in such early examples of the English sealed episcopal act.