The ownership of the manor of Monks Eleigh: A bequest from Byrhtnoth, A.D. 991

The estate that became the manor of Monks Eleigh was bequeathed to the monks of the priory of Christ Church, Canterbury, by its last secular lord, Byrhtnoth, ealdorman of Essex, who was killed at the battle of Maldon in 991. Monks Eleigh had belonged to Byrhtnoth’s father-in-law, Ælfgar, the previous ealdorman of Essex, who bequeathed it in c. 958 to his younger daughter, Ælflæd, with reversion to her husband Byrhtnoth and any children they might have. If they had no children (as was indeed the case), the estate was to revert, under Byrhtnoth’s will, to the convent of Christ Church, Canterbury.

Byrhtnoth was one of the most powerful ealdormen of his day and achieved lasting fame as the hero of an ill-fated conflict against Viking raiders that led to a major change in royal policy to deal with such raiders. According to the commemorative heroic Old English poem ‘The Battle of Maldon’, Byrhtnoth, at the head of an English army, allowed a band of Viking raiders, which had already plundered Ipswich, to advance across a causeway near Maldon in order to have room to fight. The English lost the ensuing battle and Byrhtnoth was killed, but his retainers fought on, choosing to die in battle avenging their lord, rather than to survive him. The poem celebrates their loyalty and sacrifice and Byrhtnoth’s inspiring leadership as ideals of Anglo-Saxon warrior heroism. Although the poem acknowledges that Byrhtnoth’s decision to allow the Vikings to cross the causeway to engage in battle was controversial, it is now generally accepted that it was a strategic necessity, as it prevented the enemy from leaving and raiding elsewhere, where there might not have been armed men to counter them. Even though the Vikings won the battle, their forces were so depleted, according to the poem, that they could barely crew their ships to sail home after it. Their victory was pyrrhic, whereas Byrhtnoth’s memory remains evergreen in Maldon, where a statue of him was erected in 2006, as well as in Monks Eleigh, which commemorated 1,000 years of association with Canterbury as a result of his gift in 1991.