"Dating documents in the Middle Ages presents challenges to historians because they were not yet done according to the Gregorian calendar as is widely used today," Professor Roach explained. "When I began to examine this piece, I had a 'Eureka moment' because within minutes, it was clear that modern scholars had mis-dated it, and it was, in effect, a tribute to the king's late wife and their surviving son."
"It is by no means a standard royal document," said Professor Roach. "The passage on the salvation of souls, with its strong emphasis on caring for the ruler's first wife and their son Liudolf, is clearly out of the ordinary and was already noticed by 20th-century historians, who thought that it might hint at some form of undoing of customary norms associated with such documentation."
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