diff --git a/Lib/test/output/test_minidom b/Lib/test/output/test_minidom
index fc1017b..1612f10 100644
--- a/Lib/test/output/test_minidom
+++ b/Lib/test/output/test_minidom
@@ -98,6 +98,9 @@
 Passed Test
 Test Succeeded testElementReprAndStr
 Passed assertion: len(Node.allnodes) == 0
+Passed testEncodings - encoding EURO SIGN
+Test Succeeded testEncodings
+Passed assertion: len(Node.allnodes) == 0
 Test Succeeded testFirstChild
 Passed assertion: len(Node.allnodes) == 0
 Test Succeeded testGetAttrLength
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_minidom.py b/Lib/test/test_minidom.py
index 4483fc5..d398d73 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_minidom.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_minidom.py
@@ -606,6 +606,14 @@
 
     doc.unlink()
 
+def testEncodings():
+    doc = parseString('<foo>&#x20ac;</foo>')
+    confirm(doc.toxml() == u'<?xml version="1.0" ?>\n<foo>\u20ac</foo>'
+            and doc.toxml('utf-8') == '<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>\n<foo>\xe2\x82\xac</foo>'
+            and doc.toxml('iso-8859-15') == '<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-15"?>\n<foo>\xa4</foo>',
+            "testEncodings - encoding EURO SIGN")
+    doc.unlink()
+
 # --- MAIN PROGRAM
 
 names = globals().keys()
diff --git a/Lib/xml/dom/minidom.py b/Lib/xml/dom/minidom.py
index cb2c4d2..33ad736 100644
--- a/Lib/xml/dom/minidom.py
+++ b/Lib/xml/dom/minidom.py
@@ -65,16 +65,22 @@
     def __nonzero__(self):
         return 1
 
-    def toxml(self):
-        writer = _get_StringIO()
-        self.writexml(writer)
-        return writer.getvalue()
+    def toxml(self, encoding = None):
+        return self.toprettyxml("", "", encoding)
 
-    def toprettyxml(self, indent="\t", newl="\n"):
+    def toprettyxml(self, indent="\t", newl="\n", encoding = None):
         # indent = the indentation string to prepend, per level
         # newl = the newline string to append
         writer = _get_StringIO()
-        self.writexml(writer, "", indent, newl)
+        if encoding is not None:
+            import codecs
+            # Can't use codecs.getwriter to preserve 2.0 compatibility
+            writer = codecs.lookup(encoding)[3](writer)
+        if self.nodeType == Node.DOCUMENT_NODE:
+            # Can pass encoding only to document, to put it into XML header
+            self.writexml(writer, "", indent, newl, encoding)
+        else:
+            self.writexml(writer, "", indent, newl)
         return writer.getvalue()
 
     def hasChildNodes(self):
@@ -934,8 +940,12 @@
         return _getElementsByTagNameNSHelper(self, namespaceURI, localName,
                                              NodeList())
 
-    def writexml(self, writer, indent="", addindent="", newl=""):
-        writer.write('<?xml version="1.0" ?>\n')
+    def writexml(self, writer, indent="", addindent="", newl="",
+                 encoding = None):
+        if encoding is None:
+            writer.write('<?xml version="1.0" ?>\n')
+        else:
+            writer.write('<?xml version="1.0" encoding="%s"?>\n' % encoding)
         for node in self.childNodes:
             node.writexml(writer, indent, addindent, newl)