EDGAR's diploma of 958 for the minster church of St Werburgh in Chester is one of few charters of the mid-tenth century for an unreformed house of secular clerks. It opens a small window on the obscure affairs of Mercia during the period 957–9 when the English kingdom was divided, Edgar ruling north of the Thames and his brother Eadwig in Wessex. More obviously it provides evidence for the early history of the community at Chester.

Yet the charter has been relatively little studied, despite the existence of a good edition by Tait and consensus on its authenticity. And although the division of the kingdom in 957 has been a recurrent focus of interest, far less has been written on Edgar's government of Mercia or on how this period fits within the longer history of the reign. The latter is a notable gap, because the Chester charter shows Edgar, the proponent of Benedictine Reform and supporter of monks, making a major gift to a minster staffed by canons. Moreover his involvement with Chester in 958 foreshadows his later and more celebrated interaction with the city, the supposed outing on the Dee in 973.

Edgar

Edgar's position in 958 goes a long way towards explaining the particularities of the charter. What follows takes current thinking about the events of the 950s and pushes the implications for the government of Mercia as far as seems reasonable.