Studies in Bracton — An Addendum

Traditio ◽  
1958 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
pp. 399-400
Author(s):  
H. G. Richardson
Keyword(s):  
Old English ◽  
Twelfth Century ◽  
English Law ◽  
Direct Use

Among the sources of Old English law upon which Bracton drew was the Instituta Cnuti, a twelfth-century version of Cnut's code, which that king is believed to have issued in 1027, or perhaps nearer 1020, under the inspiration of Bishop Wulfstan of Worcester. So far as I have observed, Bracton made direct use of this source only when he was discussing theft, and he drew his scanty material from two widely separated articles of his original. The parallel passages are set out below, the words borrowed by Bracton being italicized.

Reddatur Parentibus: The Vengeance of the Family in Cnut's Homicide Legislation

2002 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 157-180 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Jurasinski
Keyword(s):  
Old English ◽  
Twelfth Century ◽  
Eleventh Century ◽  
British Library ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
Corpus Christi ◽  
The Family ◽  
Ultimate Outcome ◽  
English Law ◽  
One Year

TheAnglo-Saxon Chroniclestates that during his 1018 meeting in Oxford with the leading English ecclesiastical and lay authorities, roughly one year after his accession to the throne in England, Cnut agreed to uphold “the laws of Edgar” during his reign. The ultimate outcome of this and subsequent meetings is the code issued at Winchester in 1020, referred to by editorial convention as I and II Cnut. This code contains, respectively, the religious and secular laws of England promulgated under Cnut. The code is contained in four manuscripts in Old English. The earliest are British Library, Cotton Nero A.i and Cambridge, Corpus Christi College (CCCC) 201, both dated to the mid-eleventh century; the latest, Cambridge, Corpus Christi College (CCCC) 383 and British Library, Harley 55, belong to the early twelfth century. Cnut's code reappears in three twelfth-century Norman Latin tracts intended to acquaint French authorities with English law, theInstituta Cnuti, Consiliatio Cnuti, andQuadripartitus. TheLeges Henrici Primi, prepared by the same author as theQuadripartitus, also draws heavily on Cnut's legislation.

The Preservation of the Sources for English Medieval History in the Sixteenth Century

2020 ◽  
pp. 286-331
Author(s):  
George Garnett
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Old English ◽  
Twelfth Century ◽  
Medieval History ◽  
English History ◽  
John Bale ◽  
Ecclesiastical History ◽  
Parallel Text ◽  
English Law ◽  
John Leland

Chapter 8 opens with two events which took place in the summer of 1568: the commission to Archbishop Matthew Parker to identify and record manuscripts dispersed from monastic libraries, especially books with a bearing on English history, and the publication of William Lambarde’s APXAIONOMIA, his edition of Old English law, much of it in parallel text, Old English and Latin. The chapter then reverts to the dissolution itself, and who can be shown to have saved which particular books. It pays particular attention to the activities of John Leland, John Bale, and certain bibliophilic royal commissioners, most notably Sir John Prise. Although initial official interest in English history concentrated on the period of the conversion and before, collectors saved the great works of the twelfth century, and it was these that Prise envisaged in his will should be edited and printed. The chapter then considers the circle around Parker, most particularly John Joscelyn, and the use they made of the medieval English histories in their polemical works on ecclesiastical history. Parker’s editions of Matthew Paris were the first works of medieval English historiography to be printed, probably on account of Matthew’s anti-papal instincts. In counterpoint with all this concern for the sources, the chapter also addresses the Italian Polydore Vergil’s recently published and influential attempt to write up English medieval history, for the period in question largely on the basis of the great histories of the early twelfth century.

The Excavation, Reconstruction, and Fabrication of Old English Law in the Twelfth Century

2020 ◽  
pp. 104-131
Author(s):  
George Garnett
Keyword(s):  
Old English ◽  
Twelfth Century ◽  
Common Law ◽  
English History ◽  
English Law

Chapter 3 examines the attempt, parallel with the writing of English history, to preserve and fabricate mainly in Latin pre-Conquest English royal law codes—codes which William I and his successors were said to have endorsed. The first of these compilations of Old English law translated into Latin, dating from the very beginning of the twelfth century, was Quadripartitus. There were also many others, including Tripartita, the Leges Henrici, and the Leges Edwardi Confessoris. The chapter shows that many of these are preserved in manuscripts which also include contemporary works of history; others—most notably for the rest of this book, the codex which ended up sequentially in the hands of Archbishop Matthew Parker and of Sir Edward Coke (BL MS. Add. 49366)—were purely legal. It demonstrates that these authentic and apocryphal collections did not become obsolete with the establishment of new common law procedures in Henry II’s reign, but continued to be treated as foundational of English law. The watchword in this case too was continuity with the pre-Conquest past.

Edward the Confessor

2020 ◽  
pp. 132-172
Author(s):  
George Garnett
Keyword(s):  
Old English ◽  
Thirteenth Century ◽  
Twelfth Century ◽  
Richard Ii ◽  
Magna Carta ◽  
English Law ◽  
Edward The Confessor ◽  
King John ◽  
Papal Legate

Chapter 4 shows how during John’s reign the baronial opposition appropriated the figure of the recently canonized Edward the Confessor, and used him as a standard against which to judge the current king. A key part was played by the London Collection of the Leges Anglorum, which compiled and in important respects elaborated and extended the compilations of Old English law codes made during the twelfth century. The Collection informed opposition thinking prior to the crisis which produced Magna Carta. The chapter also subjects to minute analysis two very unusual episodes recorded in thirteenth-century annals of provincial churches. First, the St Augustine’s, Canterbury account of Duke William’s having allowed the men of Kent, uniquely, to continue to use Old English Laws and customs. This episode is supposed to have taken place at Swanscombe Down in 1066. The second is the Burton Abbey account of what purports to be a dialogue between King John and a papal legate, allegedly in 1211. The nub of the dialogue is a disagreement about the role of Edward the Confessor. The chapter then shows how Henry III re-appropriated St Edward for the royal cause, but by emphasizing his saintliness rather than his alleged legislation. Henry focussed on the development of the cult, expressed in liturgical, artistic, and architectural terms, and focussed on the rebuilt Westminster Abbey. The chapter concludes with a brief envoi on the later medieval expression of the cult, especially under Richard II.

Elizabethan Study of Old English Law and Its Post-Conquest Endorsement

2020 ◽  
pp. 332-359
Author(s):  
George Garnett
Keyword(s):  
Old English ◽  
Twelfth Century ◽  
Legal History ◽  
Medieval Manuscripts ◽  
Great Achievement ◽  
Magna Carta ◽  
English Law ◽  
Selection Of

Chapter 9 focuses on the second great achievement of 1568: the publication of William Lambarde’s edition of many Old English law codes, and two of the post-Conquest apocryphal confirmations of them, viz a code attributed to William I (Willelmi Articuli) and the Leges Edwardi Confessoris. The edition is shown to have been as much the achievement of Lambarde’s sometime tutor, Laurence Nowell, as of Lambarde. Their study of different medieval manuscripts is reconstructed, and their selection of materials for inclusion (and exclusion) is explained. The edition was heavily influenced by both a twelfth-century amplified version of Quadripartitus which had come into the hands of Archbishop Matthew Parker (and later passed into those of Sir Edward Coke), and by the London Collection of the Leges Anglorum. Both have been continuous threads running through this book since Chapter 3. This chapter makes extensive use of Nowell’s manuscript transcriptions and studies, which have hitherto been largely ignored. It also examines the manuscript collection of William Fleetwood, an MP with interest in English legal history, and of other members of the newly founded Society of Antiquaries, in particular Francis Tate and Robert Cotton. Lambarde’s other publication, notably his Archeion, are also briefly examined for their treatment of the Conquest, as are the two editions of Holinshed’s Chronicles. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the renewed interest late in Elizabeth’s reign in Magna Carta and Modus tenendi parliamentum, both of which had implications for understanding of the Conquest.

scholarly journals The Ælfrician Glossaries in Oxford, Bodleian Library, Barlow 35: A New Edition and Commentary

2020 ◽  
Vol 138 (2) ◽  
pp. 213-233
Author(s):  
Claudio Cataldi
Keyword(s):  
Old English ◽  
Twelfth Century ◽  
Bodleian Library ◽  
The Third ◽  
Plant Names ◽  
Selection Of ◽  
Comprehensive Discussion

AbstractThe present study provides a full edition and commentary of the three glossaries in Oxford, Bodleian Library, Barlow 35, fol. 57r–v. These glossaries, which were first partly edited and discussed by Liebermann (1894), are comprised of excerpts from Ælfric’s Grammar and Glossary arranged by subject. The selection of material from the two Ælfrician works witnesses to the interests of the glossator. The first glossary in Barlow 35 collects Latin grammatical terms and verbs followed by their Old English equivalents. The second glossary is drawn from the chapter on plant names of Ælfric’s Glossary, with interpolations from other chapters of the same work. This glossary also features twelfth-century interlinear notations, which seem to have a metatextual function. The third glossary combines excerpts from Ælfric’s Glossary with verbs derived from the Grammar. Liebermann transcribed only part of the glosses and gave a brief commentary on the glossaries as well as parallels with Zupitza’s (1880) edition of Ælfric’s Grammar and Glossary; hence the need for a new edition, which is provided in the present study, along with a comprehensive discussion of the glossaries and a reassessment of the correspondences concerning their Ælfrician sources.

scholarly journals Warranty and Good Lordship in Twelfth Century England

1987 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 437-503 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul R. Hyams
Keyword(s):  
Twelfth Century ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Common Law ◽  
Legal Context ◽  
The Social ◽  
English Law

This paper starts from charters. It may even be regarded as an attempt to trace and explain the rise and development of express warranty clauses in English private documents, an exercise in diplomatic. The main stimulus behind the investigation is, however, something quite different: the challenge of understanding English law before the advent of a common law. I want my explanations to be consistent not merely with the social relations that produced the charters, but also with the mental terms in which they were thought out and interpreted, their legal context.

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