The working definition of “Later Anglo-Saxon” used here stops for most purposes in about 1050, despite the now widely-accepted periodization that extends it to as late as 1100. Although the year 1066 is for us by no means without significance (clearly much in the way of decisive change begins because of the outcome of the battle of Hastings), to posit a clear break then would be specious; but extending the period under consideration here to the end of the century risks being too broad. Certain topics, most notably the work of Lanfranc and the fresh start made possible by the move of the west-Wessex cathedral site from Sherborne to (Old) Sarum around 1075, must sensibly be treated in chapters devoted to matters sequential to the Norman Conquest. In general, evidence from the fourth, and even third, quarter of the eleventh century – of which there is quite a lot, above all for the liturgical program of Leofric of Exeter – will be treated later. The present chapter will concentrate only on matters that may contribute to our understanding of the liturgy in what is clearly “pre-Conquest” England.

At the beginning of the period the picture of that liturgy is at best sketchy. The generalization that we have, as near as makes no difference, no knowledge of organized monastic life for men in the two or three decades on either side of the year 900, though much shaken by recent scholarship, still applies as regards the liturgy, and information about such women's houses as we have is tantalizing rather than conclusive.