Page "Edward the Martyr" Paragraph 17

Very few charters survive from Edward's reign, perhaps as few as three, leaving Edward's brief reign in obscurity.

By contrast, numerous charters survived from the reigns of his father Edgar and half-brother Æthelred.

All of the surviving Edward charters concern the royal heartland of Wessex ; two deal with Crediton where Edward's former tutor Sideman was bishop.

During Edgar's reign, dies for coins were cut only at Winchester and distributed from there to other mints across the kingdom.

Edward's reign permitted dies to be cut locally at York and at Lincoln.

The general impression is of a reduction or breakdown of royal authority in the midlands and north.

The machinery of government continued to function, as councils and synods met as customary during Edward's reign, at Kirtlington in Oxfordshire after Easter 977, and again at Calne in Wiltshire the following year.

During the meeting at Calne, some councillors were killed and other injured by the collapse of the floor of their room.