Wulfstan, archbishop of York between 1002 and 1023, held his office during an incredibly tumultuous time in English history. Beginning in the 980s and continuing intermittently until the reign of Cnut in 1016, England suffered serious devastation at the hands of the Vikings. These attacks had reached their pinnacle of destruction and brutality during the last decade of Æthelred II's reign, and with the English resistance amounting to something altogether ineffective, enormous sums of money were paid to the Danes in tribute on several occasions. Contemporary sources suggest that this was a period when the people of England were plunged into despair and fear, with diminishing faith in their state and the ability of the king to defend it and its people. As archbishop of York and close advisor to two kings, Wulfstan was well positioned to articulate measures intended to improve England's dire situation. Wulfstan was deeply concerned for the state and wellbeing of the English people. The disasters they faced in the form of Viking attacks he viewed as a result of their having fallen away from God and Christian conduct; accordingly, Wulfstan believed it necessary to reform English society if it were to endure, and to regain God's favor. Wulfstan's writings suggest that the archbishop saw the restoration of order to society as the key to solving England's crises. He attempted, in his homiletic and legal works, to create prescriptions for an ordered, holy, Christian society in order to redeem the English in the eyes of God, and to ensure lasting peace and prosperity. The vision of an ordered, “holy society” that emerged from these works was multifaceted and its execution involved the work of both secular and ecclesiastical entities. This chapter demonstrates that the work of royal officials figured prominently in Wulfstan's vision of reform. In the centralization of these officials (and especially of the secular figure of the reeve) can be seen not only the archbishop's recognition of the importance of secular figures to the support of the Church within a holy society, but the varied legal and literary means by which Wulfstan wove the persuasions, exhortations, and regulations through which he sought to realize his vision.

Wulfstan, Reformer and Writer

Wulfstan first makes an appearance in the historical record in 996, when he was appointed as the bishop of London, though nothing about him prior to that year is known.