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Yeavering Saxon Royal Palace: The Anglo-Saxon Royal Centre
The collection of buildings discovered at Yeavering, formed part of an Anglo-Saxon royal villa. This consisted of a
series of buildings designed to provide short-term accommodation for the king and his household. It is thought that
the king would have travelled throughout his land dispensing justice and authority and collecting rents from his
various estates. Such visits would be periodic and it is likely that he would visit each royal villa only once or
twice a year.
Yeavering's claim to fame lies in King Edwin's decision to marry a Christian princess and to invite a
missionary from Rome via Kent to baptize the local population into Christianity during just such a visit.
It was thus brought to the attention of the Venerable Bede who wrote his Ecclesiastical History of the English People
some years later.
Bede mentioned the baptism and the name of Ad Gefrin, along with sufficient topographic details to
ensure that knowledge of the site, if not its exact location, would survive for nearly one and a half thousand years.
For this reason the reconstructions here focus on Ad Gefrin around 627AD and its destruction in 633. You can
view a plan of the site showing all excavated buildings associated with
Edwin. You can also find out more about Bede and his writings.
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