Æthelstan A is the name given by historians to an unknown scribe who drafted charters (example pictured) for land grants made by King Æthelstan of England between 928 and 935. Providing far more information than other charters of the period, they contain the date and place of the grants and an unusually long list of witnesses, including kings of Wales and occasionally Scotland and Strathclyde. The charters commence shortly after Æthelstan conquered Northumbria in 927, making him the first king to rule the whole of England. They give him titles such as "King of the English" and "King of the Whole of Britain", reflecting his claim to a higher status than previous West Saxon kings. The charters are written in the elaborate hermeneutic style of Latin, a hallmark of the English Benedictine Reform; the style became dominant in Anglo-Latin literature in the mid-tenth century. The scribe stopped drafting charters after 935, and his successors returned to a simpler style, suggesting that he was working on his own rather than as a member of a royal scriptorium.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%86thelstan_A

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1815:

Mount Tambora in Indonesia began one of the most violent volcanic eruptions in recorded history, killing at least 71,000 people, and affecting worldwide temperatures for the next two years. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Tambora

1858:

Big Ben, the bell in the Palace of Westminster's clock tower in London, was cast after the original bell had cracked during testing. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Ben

1944:

The Holocaust: Rudolf Vrba and Alfréd Wetzler escaped from Auschwitz; their report was one of the earliest and most detailed descriptions of the mass killings in the camp. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolf_Vrba

1992:

Nagorno-Karabakh War: At least 40 Armenian civilians were massacred in Maraga, Azerbaijan. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maraga_massacre

2009:

Fijian President Ratu Josefa Iloilo announced that he had suspended the constitution and assumed all governance in the country after it was ruled that the government of Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama was illegal. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Fijian_constitutional_crisis

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

caveat: 1. (regarded by some as nonstandard) To qualify a statement with a caveat or proviso. 2. (law) To lodge a formal notice of interest in land under a Torrens land- title system. 3. (law, dated) To issue a notice requesting that proceedings be suspended. 4. (obsolete) To warn or caution against some event. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/caveat

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

The true barbarian is he who thinks every thing barbarous but his own tastes and prejudices.   --William Hazlitt https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Hazlitt