New Minster Charter

In approximately 963 AD, Bishop Æthelwold of Winchester required the monks of New Minster, under threat of eviction, to adopt Benedictine rule.

[4] The charter was officially created as a codex to compile and present the royal grants which established the new laws of the New Minster, later to become Hyde Abbey.

[7] It additionally explains why Edgar made the change from secular clerics to Benedictine monks, and references the relationship between the king and the abbey as a cycle of protection from spiritual and physical threats.

Although Edgar appears to be kneeling, the use of gold on his feet and the edge of his cloak may have been applied with the intention of having the king standing and facing forward.

However, it more specifically displays the trademarks of the Winchester style of the tenth century, with its wide use of gold as well as the presence of a border of wild acanthus leaves.

Portrait of the Virgin Mary, Edgar and St Peter
Frontispiece of the New Minster Charter. Edgar is flanked by the Virgin Mary and St Peter , and he is offering the charter to Christ, who sits enthroned above, surrounded by four angels. [ 1 ]