Anglo-Saxon Laws  

(From English Historical Documents, Volume 1, General Editor David C. Douglas; New York, Oxford University Press, 1955.)

A few general explanations on the working of the Anglo-Saxon legal system are desirable as an introduction to the laws themselves. Lawsuits were brought before the public assemblies, before something which is simply denoted by 'folk-moot' in the earlier laws, but before the assembly of the hundred, borough or shire at any rate from the mid-tenth century onwards, except when the right to hold a court had been granted to some private magnate, lay or ecclesiastical. Even when a thief had been caught in the act and killed, it was necessary for the slayer to declare with a public oath that he had slain him as a thief. In all other suits, the plaintiff summoned the defendant to answer to a charge, and failure to appear after due summons meant outlawry. In the majority of cases, the defendant in criminal suits, the possessor of the disputed property in civil cases, was allowed to produce and oath with the help of compurgators, who were willing to swear with him to his innocence in a criminal charge, or to his rightful ownership in a civil suit. There was little attempt to investigate the facts and weigh the evidence, as in modern suits, but there were, however, certain circumstances which would rob the defendant of his right to come to the oath and allow this to the plaintiff instead. If the man accused had been found in possession of stolen goods, or in other suspicious circumstances, or if he were a notorious bad character; or if the claimant of land h ad the title-deeds in his possession; in cases such as these the plaintiff with his oath-helpers was allowed to produce his oath, and if he did so successfully, all that was left for the defendant was to pay the penalties or to go to the ordeal. The same alternative was open for the defendant who, having the right to produce an oath, proved unable to get the full number of oath-helpers. The number of these required, no matter which party had the right to bring the oath, varied with the charge; it is fixed by the laws, usually in relation to the amount of the penalty attached to the particular crime, as, for example, when we are told in Ine 30 that the accused is to clear himself by his wergild, and if he cannot, to pay his wergild. The size of the oath is often expressed in hides in Ine's law, and once in Alfred's, and it is clear that when it is, the number of hides in the oath is the same as the number of shillings in the fine for the offence in question; but what is not clear is the precise meaning of an oath expressed in hides, or, rather, what it was that entitled a man to swear for a certain number of hides. It was certainly not simply the possession of land of that amount. The value of a man's oath was graded on the same ratio as his wergild; thus we are told that in Mercian law, the oath of a man with a twelve hundred wergild is worth that of six ceorls, and there are signs that the ceorl was entitled to swear for five hides, (See H.M. Chadwick, Studies on Anglo-Saxon Institutions, pp.143-153.) though it could only have been a rare occurrence that a man of this class would possess so much land as this, an amount which was believed in some quarters to entitle a man to some of the privileges of a thegn. (See No.52.) Liebermann and Glossar, s.v. Eideshufen, suggest that the ceorl swore for five hides because he was regarded as representing a community of this size, just as in later times, at any rate, one man represented five hides for the performance of military service. Early Northumbrian law probably expressed oaths in terms of hides, like that of Wessex, to judge by the Dialogue of Egbert, Archbishop of York (732-766), which declares the values of the oaths of the clergy as 120 tributarii for a priest, 60 manentes for a deacon, 30 tributarii for a monk, (Haddan and Stubbs, III, p.404.) thus using the same Latin terms for hide as do Latin charters. The Kentish laws, on the other hand, state the actual number of helpers required, and so to the later laws from the "Treaty of Alfred and Guthrum" on, except for a reference to an oath of a pound in I Ethelred I.3, a mode of reckoning which occurs also in charters. If, as seems likely, the correspondence of one shilling to one hide seen in the laws of Ine still holds, and the amount became traditional at the time when fourpence was calculated to the shilling in Wessex as well as Mercia, (The West Saxon shilling was later calculated as equivalent to fivepence, while that of Mercia remained at fourpence.) the oath of one pound would be the same thing as an oath of 60 hides, probably equivalent to an oath sworn by twelve ceorls.

If the accused went to the ordeal, it was left for the accuser to decide whether this was to be the ordeal of water or of iron. In the former case, the cold water ordeal might be chosen, in which the accused was thrown, fastened on a rope, into some convenient tank, pond or river, after this had been adjured in God's name to accept the innocent and cast out the guilty. If he floated, his guilt was considered established. In the hot water ordeal, the accused had to seize a stone from the bottom of a cauldron of water, in the ordeal of iron, he had to carry a heated weight of iron a certain distance; in either case he was considered cleared if after three days his hand had healed without festering. Both these forms of ordeal took place within a church, and elaborate rituals for their performance are preserved in various ritual books. Just as the size of oath required for compurgation increased in proportion to the seriousness of the charge, so also the ordeal could be simple or threefold; in the latter case, the hand must be plunged into the cauldron up to the elbow, instead of the wrist, in the ordeal of hot water, while the weight of iron was three pounds instead of one in the ordeal of iron. Another form of ordeal, the swallowing of a consecrated morsel, after it had been adjured to choke the guilty, was used when the accused was a cleric. In all cases, if the accused were convicted at the ordeal, he must then pay the penalty laid down by the law for the offence in question, but one should note that this was sometimes lighter than that imposed for the same act if the criminal had been caught red-handed.

Occasional mention is made of a 'fore-oath'. This was produced by the plaintiff to prove that he had a bona fide case sufficient to force the defendant to come to answer to the charge, and that he was not merely trumping one up out of envy or malice.

After a conviction, the majority of offences could be compounded for, if the accused-or his kinsmen or his lord, if they were willing to assist him-could discharge all the claims, namely the fine to the king (or to the holder of the profits of jurisdiction if these had been granted into private hands), and the compensation to the injured parties, which in many cases included not only those who had been injured or robbed, but also persons whose surety or rights of protection had been violated by the action. In a case of homicide, the wergild had to be paid to the kindred, and it took precedence over the other claims, e.g. that of the lord to compensation for his man, that of the State to the fine for fighting, that of the owner of the house if the killing had taken place in one. (At least, this seems implied by Ine 71, but in a later tract, called Wergild, it is only the healsfang which must be paid before the compensation to the lord and the fine for fighting.) If the accused could not satisfy all claims, he went into penal slavery, to work for those whose claims he could not satisfy. If the crime were one which incurred the death penalty, the criminal's goods were forfeit, but the widow retained her third of them if she were innocent of complicity. The few great crimes for which the penalty was death, with no option of redemption, were sometimes called botleas crimes, i.e. crimes beyond compensation. Naturally nothing more could be paid than life and all possessions, but all other offences could be aggravated by involving breach of sanctuary, breach of the special Church festivals, or breach of the king's peace.

If, after these few paragraphs of explanation, one reads the extracts here chosen, it is obvious that the main difficulties with which the legislators were concerned were twofold: to bring to justice men of small competence who had little to lose by flight, and to make difficult the disposal of stolen property, especially cattle. The first members of artificial associations, responsible with their possessions for the production of an offender, and also to regulations which would make an employer think twice before he took an unknown man into his service, and thus would make it difficult for the fugitive from justice to get a living anywhere. The second consideration produced masses of regulations about the need for witnesses at purchases, and the procedure of vouching the vendor to warranty when goods in one's possession were attached. With these preliminary explanations, it is best to let the laws speak for themselves.

29. From the laws of Ethelbert, king of Kent (602-603?)

This code is mentioned in Bede's Ecclesiastical History (see No. 151, p. 610), and can be dated between the adoption of Christianity in 597 and the king's death in 616. Liebermann suggests 602-603 as a likely date. Like all the Kentish laws, it is found only in the Textus Roffensis. I have omitted the section dealing with compensations for injuries. The text is in Liebermann, I, pp. 3-8; Attenborough, pp. 4-17; Thorpe, I, pp. 2-25. The two last contain an English translation.

I. The property of God and the Church [is to be paid for] with a twelve-fold compensation; a bishop's property with an eleven-fold compensation; a priest's property with a nine-fold compensation; a deacon's property with a six-fold compensation; a cleric's property with a three-fold compensation; the peace of the Church with a two-fold compensation; the peace of a meeting with a two-fold compensation.

2. If the king calls his people to him, and anyone does them injury there, [he is to pay] a two-fold compensation and a 50 shillings to the king.

3. If the king is drinking at a man's home, and anyone commits any evil deed there, he is to pay two-fold compensation.

4. If a freeman steal from the king, he is to repay nine-fold.

5. If anyone kills a man in the king's estate, he is to pay 50 shillings compensation.

6. If anyone kills a freeman, [he is to pay] 50 shillings to the king as 'lord-ring'. (Presumably what is called elsewhere a manbot. The term used here is obviously ancient, belonging to a time when payments were more often in rings than in currency. Several of the words in this code are either unique, or used otherwise only in poetry, which was conservative in its vocabulary.)

7. If [anyone] kills the king's own smith (Literally, 'service-smith'.) or his messenger, (The word ladrinc, 'leading-man, escort' is unique, and its meaning therefore uncertain; one is tempted to compare the official called in Beowulf 'herald, messenger', who escorts strangers into the king's presence, but he is clearly of noble rank, whereas the point of the present law seems to be to give an ordinary man's wergild to persons who-but for their service to the king-would not be entitled to so much; presumable, therefore, they are not freemen.) he is to pay the ordinary wergild. (The term used, leodgyld, differs from that used for wergild elsewhere.)

8. The [breach of the ] king's protection, (Offences against anyone or any place under the king's protection, but also including various acts showing lack of respect. Other persons than the king had their mund(byrd) ('right of giving) protection'.)

9. If a freeman steals from a freeman, he is to pay three-fold, and the king is to have the fine or (As Liebermann suggests, the and in the text is probably used with an alternative sense. The king has all the goods if these are not enough to cover the fine.) all the goods.

10. If anyone lies with a maiden belonging to the king, he is to pay 50 shillings compensation.

11. If it is a grinding slave, he is to pay 25 shillings compensation; [if a slave of] the third [class], 12 shillings.

12. The king's fedesl (Liebermann interprets this as 'Kostganger', i.e. 'boarder', and this derives support from the 25, where a ceorl receives compensation if his 'loaf-eater' is slain. Fedesl occurs elsewhere only in the sense 'a fatted animal'.) is to be paid for with 20 shillings.

13. If anyone kills a man in a nobleman's estate, he is to pay 12 shillings compensation.

14. If anyone lies with a nobleman's serving-woman, (Literally, 'a female cup-bearer'.) he is to pay 20 shillings compensation.

15. The [breach of a] ceorl's (Though Modern English 'churl' is the direct descendant of this word, the sense has changed so much that to use it would be misleading. Its normal Old English meaning is a peasant proprietor.) protection: six shillings.

16. If anyone lie with a ceorl's serving-woman, he is to pay six shillings compensation; [if] with a slave-woman of the second [class], 50 sceattas; (A sceat was a coin later replaced by the penny. A Kentish shilling was made up of twenty of them.) [if with one of] the third [class], 30 sceattas.

17. If a man is the first to force his way into a man's homestead, he is to pay six shillings compensation; he who enters next, three shillings; afterwards each [is to pay] a shilling.

18. If anyone provides a man with weapons, when a quarrel has arisen, and [yet] no injury results, he is to pay six shillings compensation.

19. If highway-robbery is committed, he (The man who provided the weapon.) is to pay six shillings compensation.

20. If, however, a man is killed, he (The man who provided the weapon.) is to pay 20 shillings compensation.

21. If anyone kills a man, he is to pay as an ordinary wergild 100 shillings.

22. If anyone kills a man, he is to pay 20 shillings at the open grave, and within 40 days the whole wergild.

23. If the slayer departs from the land, his kinsmen are to pay half the wergild.

24. If anyone binds a free man, he is to pay six shillings compensation.

25. If anyone kills a ceorl's dependant, (Thus Attenborough translates hlafoeta 'loaf-eater'.) he is to pay six shillings compensation.

26. If [anyone] kills a loet, (Only in Kent is there reference to classes of men lower than the ceorl, but above the slave. Liebermann translates 'half-free'. A loet may be a manumitted slave, or perhaps a member of a subject (pre-English) population.) he is to pay for one of the highest class 80 shillings; if he kills one of the second class, he is to pay 60 shillings; if one of the third class, he is to pay 40 shillings.

27. If a freeman breaks an enclosure, (Or perhaps already eodor means a homestead, as probably in Alfred 40.) he is to pay six shillings compensation.

28. If anyone seizes property inside, the man (The one who broke the enclosure?) is to pay three-fold compensation.

29. If a freeman enters the enclosure, (The difference from the offence in 27 presumably lies in the unauthorized entry not being accompanied by breaking of the fence. But cf. chap. 17.) he is to pay four shillings compensation.

30. If anyone kill a man, he is to pay with his own money and unblemished goods, whatever their kind.

31. If a freeman lies with the wife of a freeman, he is to atone with his wergild, (Grammatically, it is possible that her wergild is meant.) and to obtain another wife with his own money, and bring her to the other's home.

32. If anyone thrusts through a true hamscyld, (This is obscure. Attenborough suggests tentatively, "damages the enclosure of a dwelling". See also Leibermann, Archiv. fur das Studium der neueren Sprachen, cxv, pp. 389-391.) he is to pay for it with its value.

33. If hair-pulling occur, 50 sceattas [are to be paid] as compensation. (The next 39 chapters deal with the compensations for wounds and injuries of all conceivable kinds.) 

73. If a freewoman, with long hair, (This is generally taken to be a distinguishing feature of a free, as opposed to a bond, woman.) commits any misconduct, she is to pay 30 shillings compensation.

74. The compensation for [injury to] a maiden is to be as for a freeman.

75. [Breach of] guardianship over a noble-born widow of the highest class is to be compensated for with 50 shillings;

75.I. that over one of the second class, with 20 shillings; over one of the third class, with 12 shillings; over one of the fourth, with six shillings.

76. If a man takes a widow who does not belong to him, the [penalty for breach of the] guardianship is to be doubled.

77. If anyone buys a maiden, she is to be bought with a [bride] payment, if there is no fraud.

77.I. If, however, there is any fraud, she is to be taken back home, and he is to be given back his money.

78. If she bears a living child, she is to have half the goods, if the husband dies first.

79. If she wishes to go away with the children, she is to have half the goods.

80. If the husband wishes to keep [the children], [she is to have the same share] as a child.

81. If she does not bear a child, [her] paternal kinsmen are to have [her] goods and the 'morning gift'. (The gift made by the husband to the bride the morning after the consummation of the marriage.)

82. If anyone carries off a maiden by force, [he is to pay] to the owner 50 shillings, and afterwards buy from the owner his consent [to the marriage].

83. If she is betrothed to another man at a [bride] price, he (The man who ran off with her.) is to pay 20 shillings compensation.

84. If a return (Liebermann considers the possibility that this word means that the woman came to meet him willingly. It glosses obviatio in the Durham Ritual. But, as he says, it is difficult to see why a fine should be paid to the king only if the woman is a willing victim.) [of the woman] takes place, [he is to pay] 35 shillings and 15 shillings to the king.

85. If anyone lies with the woman of a servant (esne, a word of vague meaning, in legal use normally denotes an unfree labourer, and sometimes seems interchangeable with peow 'slave', though Alfred 43 seems to distinguish the two, placing them, however, on a level with regard to holidays. Outside the laws the meaning 'slave' can be found: Bede's servus is translated esne, and elsewhere the word esnecund glosses condictiorius; but it also means 'young man' or simply 'man', especially when qualified by some complimentary adjective, such as 'bold' or 'learned'.) while her husband is alive, he is to pay a two-fold compensation.

86. If one servant kills another without cause, he is to pay the full value.

87. If a servant's eye or foot is destroyed, the full value is to be paid for him.

88. If anyone binds a man's servant, he is to pay six shillings compensation.

89. Highway robbery of [or by?] a slave is to be three shillings.

90. If a slave steals, he is to pay two-fold compensation.

  On Alfred as a law-giver, see p. 331 above. His laws survive in full in two manuscripts, the early tenth - century C.C.C.C., MS. 173, and the twelfth-century Textus Roffensis. The twelfth-century C.C.C.C., MS. 383 has lost the introduction and the beginning of the laws themselves, while only fragments are now left of what were doubtless complete versions in the early eleventh-century British Museum manuscripts, Cott. Otho B. xi and Cott. Nero A.i; there was probably once a version also in the pre-Conquest British Museum manuscript Burney 277, for, though only a fragment of the laws of Ine now survives, it is likely that this code was preceded by Alfred’s, as in all other manuscripts which contain it. The code probably belongs to the middle of thereign.Alfred's laws were used by later Saxon codes, and were translated into Latin in Quadripartitus. The editor here has given only a small selection from the introduction, but a full version of the laws themselves, except for some details on the tariffs for injuries. The text is edited by Liebermann, I, pp.15-89; with English translation by Attenborough, pp. 62-93, Thrope, I, pp.44-101. Attenborough omits Alfred's introduction.

Int. 28.(Cf. Exodus xxii. 7, 8, 10, 11.) If anyone entrusts property to his friend, if he steal it himself, let him repay two-fold. If he knows not who stole it, let him clear himself, that he committed no fraud there. If it then were livestock, and he says that an army took it, or that it killed itself, and he has witness, he need not pay for it. If then he have no witness, and he [the owner] will not believe him, let him bring an oath.

Int. 30. (From Exodus xxii. 18, but only wizards are mentioned there.) The women who are in the habit of receiving wizards and sorcerers and magicians, thou shalt not suffer to live.

Int. 40. (This and the next clause are from Exodus xxiii. 1, 2.) Do not thou heed the word of the false man, to obey therefore, nor consent to his judgments, nor say any witness after him.

Int. 41. Do not thou turn thyself to the folly and unjust will of the people in their speech and clamour, against thy right [judgment], and do not yield for them to the teaching of the most foolish.

Int. 43. (Elaborated from Exodus xxiii. 3.) Judge thou very fairly. Do not judge one judgment for the rich and another for the poor; nor one for the one more dear and another for the one more hateful.

Int. 49.6. A man can think on this one sentence alone, that he judges each one rightly; he has need of no other law-books. Let him bethink him that he judge to no man what he would not that he judged to him, if he were giving the judgment on him.

Int. 49.7. After it came about that many peoples had received the faith of Christ, many synods were assembled throughout all the earth, and likewise throughout England, after they had received the faith of Christ, of holy bishops and also of other distinguished wise men; they then established, for that mercy which Christ taught, that secular lords might with their permission receive without sin compensation in money for almost every misdeed at the first offence, which compensation they then fixed; only for treachery to a lord they dared not declare any mercy, because Almighty God adjudged none for those who scorned him, nor did Christ, the Son of God, adjudge any for him who gave him over to death; and he charged [everyone] to love his lord as himself.

Int. 49.8. They then in many synods fixed the compensations for many human misdeeds, and they wrote them in many synod-books, here one law, there another.

Int. 49.9. Then I, King Alfred, collected these together and ordered to be written many of them which our forefathers observed, those which I liked; and many of those which I did not like, I rejected with the advice of my councilors, and ordered them to be differently observed. For I dared not presume to set in writing at all many of my own, because it was unknown to me what would please those who should come after us. But those which I found anywhere, which seemed to me most just, either of the time of my kinsman, King Ine, or of Offa, king of the Mercians, or of Ethelbert, who first among the English received baptism, I collected herein, and omitted the others.

Int 49.10. Then I, Alfred, king of the West Saxons, showed these to all my councilors, and they then said that they were all pleased to observe them. 

1. First we direct, what is most necessary, that each man keep carefully his oath and pledge.

1.1 If anyone is wrongfully compelled to either of these, promising treachery to his lord or any illegal aid, then it is better to leave it unfulfilled than to perform it.

1.2 [If, however, he pledges what it is right for him to perform,] (Supplied from Textus Roffensis to fill a lacuna in the oldest MS.) and leaves it unfulfilled, let him with humility give his weapons and his possessions into his friends' keeping and be 40 days in prison at a king's estate, ensure there what penance the bishop prescribes for him, and his kinsmen are to feed him if he has no food himself.

1.3 If he has no kinsmen and has not the necessary food, the king's reeve is to feed him.

1.4 If he has to be forced thither, and will not go otherwise, and he is bound, he is to forfeit his weapons and his possessions.

1.5 If he is killed, he is to lie unpaid for.

1.6 If he escapes before the end of the period, and he is caught, he is to be 40 days in prison, as he should have been before.

1.7 If he gets clear, he is to be outlawed, and to be excommunicated from all the churches of Christ.

1.8 If, however, there is secular surety for him, he is to pay for the breach of surety as the law directs him, and for the breach of pledge as his confessor prescribes for him.

2. If anyone for any guilt flees to any one of the monastic houses to which to king's food-rent belongs, (Asser mentions that the king gave part of his income to monasteries.) or some other privileged community which is worthy of this humor, he is to have a respite of three days to protect himself, unless he wishes to be reconciled.

2.1 If during that respite he is molested with slaying or binding or wounding, each of those [who did it] is to make amends according to the legal custom, both with wergild and with fine, and to pay to the community 120 shillings as compensation for the breach of sanctuary, and is to have forfeited his own [claim against the culprit].

3. If anyone violates the king's surety, he is to pay compensation for the charge as the law directs him, and for the breach of the surety with five pounds of pure pennies. The breach of the archbishop's surety or of his protection is to be compensated with three pounds; the breach of the surety or protection of another bishop or an ealdorman is to be compensated with two pounds.

4. If anyone plots against the king's life, directly or by harboring his exiles or his men, (Liebermann takes this to mean the men of any one of the exiles, but the natural antecedent is the king, as Attenborough takes it. Presumably disloyal men are meant.) he is liable to forfeit his life and all that he owns.

4.1. If he wishes to clear himself, he is to do it by [an oath equivalent to] the king's wergild.

4.2. Thus also we determine concerning all ranks, both ceorl and noble: (An old rhyming formula, ge ceorle ge eorle, is used, in which eorl retains its otherwise obsolete sense of nobleman.) he who plots against his lord's life is to be liable to forfeit his life and all that he owns, or to clear himself by his lord's wergild.

5. Also we determine this sanctuary for every church which a bishop has consecrated: if a man exposed to a vendetta reaches it running or riding, no one is to drag him out for seven days, if he can live in spite of hunger, unless he himself fights [his way] out. (According to Liebermann, commits himself a breach of sanctuary by fighting in the doorway to defend himself.) If then anyone does so, he is liable to [pay for breach of] the king's protection and of the church's sanctuary--more, if he seizes more from there.

5.1. If the community have more need of their church, he is to be kept in another building, and it is to have no more doors than the church.

5.2. The head of that church is to take care that no one gives him food during that period.

5.3. If he himself will hand out his weapons to his foes, they are to keep him for 30 days, and send notice about him to his kinsmen.

5.4. Further sanctuary of the church: if any man has recourse to the church on account of any crime which has not been discovered, and these confesses himself in God's name, it is to be half remitted.

5.5. Whoever steals on Sunday or at Christmas or Easter or on the Holy Thursday in Rogation days; each of those we which to be compensated doubly, as in the Lenten fast.

6. If anyone steals anything in church, he is to pay the simple compensation and the fine normally belonging to that simple compensation, and the hand with which he did it is to be struck off.

6.1. And if he wishes to redeem the hand, and that is allowed to him, he is to pay in proportion to his wergild.

7. If anyone fights or draws his weapon in the king's hall, and he is captured, it is to be at the king's judgment, whether he will grant him death or life.

7.1. If he escapes, and is afterwards captured, he shall always pay for himself with his wergild, and compensate for the crime, with wergild as with fine, according to what he has done.

8. If anyone brings a nun out of a nunnery without the permission of the king or the bishop, he is to pay 120 shillings, half to the king and half to the bishop and the lord of the church which had the nun.

8.1. If she outlives him who brought her out, she is to have nothing of his inheritance.

8.2. If she bears a child, it is not to have any of the inheritance, any more than the mother.

8.3. If her child is killed, the share of the maternal kindred is to be paid to the king; the paternal kindred are to be given their share.

9. If a woman with child is slain when she is bearing the child, the woman is to be paid for with full payment, and the child at half payment according to the wergild of the father's kin.

9.1. The fine is always to be 60 shillings until the simple compensation rises to 30 shillings; when the simple compensation has risen to that, the fine is afterwards to be 120 shillings.

9.2. Formerly, [the fine] for the stealer of gold, the stealer of stud-horses, the stealer of bees, and many fines, were greater than others; now all are alike, except for the stealer of a man: 120 shillings.

10. If anyone lies with the wife of a man of a twelve-hundred wergild, he is to pay to the husband 120 shillings; to a man of a six-hundred wergild 100 shillings is to be paid; to a man of the ceorl class 40 shillings is to be paid.

12. If a man burns or fells the wood of another, without permission, he is to pay for each large tree with five shillings, and afterwards for each, no matter how many there are, with fivepence; and 30 shillings as a fine.

13. If at a common task a man unintentionally kills another [by letting a tree fall on him] the tree is to be given to the kinsmen, and they are to have it from that estate within 30 days, or else he who owns the wood is to have the right to it.

14. If anyone is born dumb, or deaf, so that he cannot deny sins or confess them, the father is to pay compensation for his misdeeds.

15. If anyone fights or draws a weapon in the presence of the archbishop, he is to pay 150 shillings compensation; if this happens in the presence of another bishop of an ealdorman, he is to pay 100 shillings compensation.

16. If anyone steals a cow or a brood-mare and drives off a foal or a calf, he is to pay a shilling compensation [for the latter], and for the mothers according to their value.

17. If anyone entrusts to another one of his helpless dependants, and he dies (So Liebermann, but the dictionaries and Attenborough take the expression hine forferie, which seems unique, to mean `cause or allow to die', and the subject would then be the guardian.) during the time of fostering, he who reared him is to clear himself of guilt, if anyone accuses him of any.

18. If anyone in lewd fashion seizes a nun either by her clothes or her breast without her leave, the compensation is to be double that we have established for a lay person.

18.1. If a betrothed maiden commits fornication, if she is of ceorl birth, 60 shillings compensation is to be paid to the surety; and it is to be paid in livestock, cattle (feogodum. Liebermann suggests that this was originally only a gloss to cwicoehtum `livestock', or alternatively, that it is an antithesis to this and means `valuables (other than livestock)' with a preceding `and' omitted.) [only], and one is not to include in it any slave.

18.2. If she is a woman of six-hundred wergild, 100 shillings are to be given to the surety.

18.3. If she is a woman of a twelve-hundred wergild, 120 shillings are to be paid to the surety.

19. If anyone lends his weapon to another that he may kill a man with it, they may, if they wish, join to pay the wergild.

19.1. If they do not join, he who lent the weapon is to pay a third part of the wergild and a third part of the fine.

19.2. If he wishes to clear himself, that in making the loan he was aware of no evil intent, he may do so.

19.3. If a sword-polisher receives another man's weapon to polish it, or a smith a man's tool, they both are to give it back unstained, (Without it having been used to commit a crime.) just as either of them had received it; unless either of them had stipulated that he need not be liable to compensation for it.

20. If anyone entrusts property to another man's monk, without the permission of the monk's lord, and it is lost to him, he who owned it before is to bear its loss.

21. If a priest slays another man, he is to be handed over, and all of the [minster] property which he bought for himself, (Or "and everything with which he bought for himself a living" (or a place in a monastery). Thus Liebermann interprets it. In either case, the intention is to give the man his property for him to use it towards paying the wergild. Liebermann compares the Dialogue of Egbert, chap. 14, which, in treating of this very situation, says that the man cast out is to have any things he offered to the church "that he may have something to redeem him with". Later MSS. have `brought' for `bought'.) and the bishop is to unfrock him, when he is to be delivered up out of the minster, unless his lord is willing to settle the wergild on his behalf.

22. If anyone brings up a charge in a public meeting before the king's reeve, and afterwards wishes to withdraw it, he is to make the accusation against a more likely person, if he can; if he cannot, he is to forfeit his compensation.(The Textus Roffensis adds: "and he [the reeve] is to succeed to the fine".)

23. If a dog rends or bites a man to death, [the owner] is to pay six shillings at the first offence; if he gives it food, he is to pay on a second occasion 12 shillings, on a third 30 shillings.

23.1. If in any of these misdeeds the dog is destroyed, (Perhaps merely `escapes'.) nevertheless this compensation is still to be paid.

23.2. If the dog commits more offences, and the owner retains it, he is to pay compensation for such wounds as the dog inflicts, according to the full wergild.

24. If a neat wounds a man, [the owner] is to hand over the neat, or to make terms.

25. If anyone rapes a ceorl's slave-woman, he is to pay five shillings compensation to the ceorl, and 60 shillings fine.

25.1. If a slave rape a slave-woman, he is to pay by suffering castration.

26 (29). (The figures in brackets are those retwined by Liebermann from earlier editors who rearranged the MS. order. Attenborough numbers straight on.) If anyone with a band of men kills an innocent man of a two-hundred wergild, he who admits the slaying is to pay the wergild and the fine, and each man who was in that expedition is to pay 30 shillings as compensation for being in that band.

27 (30). If it is a man of a six-hundred wergild, each man [is to pay] 60 shillings as compensation for being in that band, and the slayer the wergild and full fine.

28 (31). If he is a man of a twelve-hundred wergild, each of them [is to pay] 120 shillings, and the slayer the wergild and the fine.

28.1 (31.1). If the band of men does this and afterwards wishes to deny it(i.e. each wishes to deny being the actual slayer.) on oath, they are all to be accused; and then they are all collectively to pay the wergild, and all one fine, as is accordant to the wergild.

29 (26). If anyone rapes a girl not of age, that is to be the same compensation as for an adult.

30 (27). If a man without paternal kinsmen fights and kills a man, and if then he has maternal kinsmen, those are to pay a third share of the wergild, [and the associates (On the gegildan, see p. 366, n. 2. Here, at any rate, persons who are not kinsmen are meant.) a third; for the third part] (From the Textus Roffensis, since it has been omitted in the oldest MS.) he is to flee.(This shows that the payment of their proper share frees the kinsmen from the dangers of a vendetta, even if the whole wergild is not paid. The slayer himself remains exposed if his own third is unpaid.)

30.1 (27.1). If he has no maternal kinsmen, the associates are to pay half, and for half he is to flee.

31 (28). If anyone kills a man so placed, if he has not kinsmen, he is to pay half to the king, half to the associates.

32. If anyone is guilty of public slander, and it is proved against him, it is to be compensated for with no lighter penalty than the cutting off of his tongue, with the proviso that it be redeemed at no cheaper rate than it is valued in proportion to the wergild.

33. If anyone charges another about a pledge sworn by God, and wishes to accuse him that did not carry out any [promise] of those which he gave him, he [the plaintiff] is to pronounce the preliminary oath in four churches, and the other, if he wishes to clear himself, is to do it in twelve churches.

34. Moreover, it is prescribed for traders: they are to bring before the king's reeve in a public meeting the men whom they take up into the country with them, and it is to be established how many of them there are to be; and they are to take with them men whom they can afterwards bring to justice at a public meeting; and whenever it may be necessary for them to have more men out with them on their journey, it is always to be announced, as often as it is necessary for them, to the king's reeve in the witness of the meeting.

35. If anyone binds an innocent ceorl, he is to pay him six shillings compensation.

35.1. If anyone scourges him, he is to pay him 20 shillings compensation.

35.2. If he places him in the stocks, (hengen; perhaps it should be rendered `prison'.) he is to pay him 30 shillings compensation.

35.3. If in insult he disfigures him by cutting his hair, he is to pay him 10 shillings compensation.

35.4. If, without binding him, he cuts his hair like a priest's, he is to pay him 30 shillings compensation.

35.5. If he cuts off his beard, he is to pay 20 shillings compensation.

35.6. If he binds him and then cuts his hair like a priest's, he is to pay 60 shillings compensation.

36. Moreover, it is established: if anyone has a spear over his shoulder, and a man is transfixed on it, the wergild is to be paid without the fine.

36.1. If he is transfixed before his eyes, he is to pay the wergild; if anyone accuses him of intention in this act, he is to clear himself in proportion to the fine, and by that [oath] do away with the fine,

36.2. if the point is higher (C.C.C.C., MS. 383, and the Latin translation known as Quaddripartitus add here: "three fingers".) than the butt end of the shaft. If they are both level, the point and the butt end, that is to be [considered] without risk.

37. If anyone from one district (boldgetale, literally `a number of houses'. Bishop Waerferth uses it several times to translate provincia.) wishes to seek a lord in another district, he is to do so with the witness of the ealdorman, in whose shire he previously served.

37.1. If he do it without his witness, he who accepts him as his man is to pay 120 shillings compensation; he is, however, to divide it, half to the king int eh shire in which the man served previously, half in that into which he has come.

37.2. If he has committed any wrong where he was before, he who now receives him as his man is to pay compensation for it, and 120 shillings to the king as fine.

38. If anyone fights in a meeting in the presence of the king's ealdorman, he is to pay wergild and fine, as it is fitting, and before that, 120 shillings to the king as a fine.

38.1. If he disturbs a public meeting by drawing a weapon, [he is to pay] 120 shillings to the ealdorman as a fine.

38.2. If any of this takes place before the deputy of the king's ealdorman, or before the king's priest, [there shall be] a fine of 30 shillings.

39. If anyone fights in the house of a ceorl, he is to pay six shillings compensation to the ceorl.

39.1. If he draws a weapon and does not fight, it is to be half as much.

39.2. If either of these things happens to a man of six-hundred wergild, it is to amount to three-fold the compensation to a ceorl; [if] to a man of twelve-hundred wergild, to double that of the man of the six-hundred wergild.

40.Forcible entry into the king's residence shall be 120 shillings; into the archbishop's, 90 shillings; another bishop's or an ealdorman's, 60 shillings; that of a man of a twelve-hundred wergild, 30 shillings; of a man of a six-hundred wergild, 15 shillings; forcible entry into a ceorl's enclosure, five shillings.

40.1. If any of this happens when the army has been called out, or in the Lenten fast, the compensations are to be doubled.

40.2. If anyone openly neglects the rule of the Church in Lent without permission, he is to pay 120 shillings compensation.

41. The man who holds bookland, which his kinsmen left to him-then we establish that he may not alienate it from his kindred if there is a document or witness [to show] that he was prohibited from doing so by those men who acquired it in the beginning and by those who gave it to him; and that is then to be declared (By whoever is contesting the alienation of the land.) in the witness of the king and of the bishop, in the presence of his kinsmen.

42. Moreover we command: that the man who knows his opponent(A man against whom he has a legitimate blood-feud.) to be dwelling at home is not to fight before he asks justice for himself.

42.1. If he has sufficient power to surround his opponent and besiege him there in his house, he is to keep him seven days inside and not fight against him, if he will remain inside; and then after seven days, if he will surrender and give up his weapons, he is to keep him unharmed for 30 days, and send notice about him to his kinsmen and his friends.

42.2. If he, however, reaches a church, it is then to be [dealt with] according to the privilege of the church as we have said above.

42.3. If he [the attacker] has not sufficient power to besiege him in his house, he is to ride to the ealdorman and ask him for support; if he will not give him support, he is to ride to the king, before having recourse to fighting.

42.4. Likewise, if a man run across his opponent, and did not previously know him to be at home, if he will give up his weapons, he is to be kept for 30 days and his friends informed; if he will not give up his weapons, then he may fight against him, he [who does] is to pay wergild or compensation for wounds according to what he has done, and a fine, and is to have forfeited [the right to avenge] his kinsmen.(Accepting Liebermann's interpretation of this passage.)

42.5. Moreover we declare that a man may fight on behalf of his lord, if the lord is being attacked, without incurring a vendetta. Similarly the lord may fight on behalf of his man.

42.6. In the same way, a man may fight on behalf of his born kinsman, if he is being wrongfully attacked, except against his lord; that we do not allow.

42.7. And a man may fight without incurring a vendetta if he finds another man with his wedded wife, within closed doors or under the same blanket, or with his legitimate daughter or his legitimate sister, or with his mother who was given as a lawful wife to his father.

43. These days are to be given to all free men, but not to slaves or unfree laborers: (esnewyrhtan. See p. 359, n. 6.) 12 days at Christmas, and the day on which Christ overcame the devil,(15 February.) and the anniversary of St. Gregory,(12 March.) and seven days at Easter and seven days after, and one day at the feast of St. Peter and St. Paul,(29 June.) and in harvest-time the whole week before the feast of St. Mary,(15 August (the Assumption) or 8 September (the Nativity).) and one day at the feast of All Saints.(1 November.) And the four Wednesdays in the four Ember weeks are to be given to all slaves, to sell to whomsoever they choose anything of what anyone has given them in God's name, or which they can earn in any of their leisure moments. (The rest of the code merely consists of a tariff of the compensations to be paid for wounds of various kinds and for other injuries.)

This extremely interesting document, which, since London is left on the English side of the boundary, was probably drawn up after Alfred obtained London in 886, survives in two versions, both in C.C.C.C., MS. 383. I give here the longer of the two versions, which also occurs in the Latin of Quadripartitus. The code is certainly no later than 890, for in this year Guthrum died. The text is edited by Liebermann, I, pp. 126-129; and with English translation by Attenborough, pp. 98-101, Thorpe, I, pp. 152-157.

PROLOGUE. This is the peace which King Alfred and King Guthrum and the councilors of all the English race and all the people which is in East Anglia have all agreed on and confirmed with oaths, for themselves and for their subjects, both for the living and those yet unborn, who care to have God's grace or ours.

1. First concerning our boundaries: up(For up on meaning `up' cf. the Chronicle 895.) the Thames, and then up the Lea, and along the Lea to its source, then in a straight line to Bedford, then up the Ouse to the Watling Street.

2. This is next, if a man is slain, all of us (Lieberman, however, takes `all' as adverbial, i.e. `precisely we estimate'.) estimate Englishman and Dane at the same amount, at eight half-marks(A mark was a Scandinavian weight, by the end of the next century, and perhaps already, about 3440-3520 grains. The amount here stated may represent a recognized Scandinavian wergild, but, if the ratio of gold to silver was approximately 10:1 at this time, it would not be very far from the wergild of the highest English class. See Chadwick, Studies on Anglo-Saxon Institutions, pp. 50f.) of refined gold, except the ceorl who occupies rented land,(It is perhaps best to interpret this, as does Sir Frank Stenton (Anglo-Saxon England, pp. 258f.), as meaning all of the ceorl class who do not farm land of their own. Those of this class who do are then classed with Englishmen of noble rank as level with all free classes of Danes. One should perhaps compare the treaty with the Danes in Ethelred's reign (see p. 402), where similarly Danish and English free men are set level and paid for at the highest wergild (L25=1200 West Saxon shillings). It would not be in itself inconceivable that the Danes might insist, in the land they had conquered, on lowering all English ceorlas to the level of their own half-free class, but if that was meant here, the relative clause would seem redundant.) and their [the Danes'] freedmen; these also are estimated at the same amount, both at 200 shillings.

3. And if anyone accuses a king's thegn of manslaughter, if he dares to clear himself by oath, he is to do it with 12 king's thegns; if anyone accuses a man who is less powerful then a king's thegn, he is to clear himself with 12 of his equals and with one king's thegn-and so in every suit which involves more than four mancuses-and if he dear not [clear himself], he is to pay three-fold compensation, according as it is valued.

4. And that each man is to know his warrantor at [the purchase of] men or horses or oxen.

5. And we all agreed on the day when the oaths were sworn, that no slaves nor freemen might go without permission into the army of the Danes, any more than any of theirs to us. But if it happens that from necessity any one of them wishes to have traffic with us, or we with them, for cattle or goods, it is to be permitted on condition that hostages shall be given as a pledge of peace and as evidence so that one may know no fraud is intended.(Literally, "that one has a clean back".)

This is a comprehensive code, covering many of the main problems faced by English kings in their attempt to preserve good order, and reference is made back to it in other legislation of this reign. The exact date of the code cannot be ascertained. It has been preserved for us in the Textus Roffensis and the C.C.C.C., MS. 383, and fragments of it survive in the remains of Brit. Mus. Cott. Otho B. xi. These are written in a later hand than that which wrote the laws of Alfred and Ine in this manuscript, and probably should be dated late eleventh century. A Latin version is in Quadripartitus.

The text is edited by Liebermann, I, pp. 150-167; and with English translation by Attenborough, pp. 126-143, Thorpe, I, pp. 194-215.

(This heading is in the Textus Roffensis only. C.C.C.C., MS. 383, has "Concerning Thieves".)

Concerning thieves. First, that no thief is to be spared who is caught with the stolen goods, [if he is] over twelve years and [if the value of the goods is] over eightpence.

1.1. And if anyone does spare one, he is to pay for the thief with his wergild-and the thief is to be no nearer a settlement on that account-or to clear himself by an oath of that amount.

This important document, which shows how widely current was the practice of private vengeance in the mid-tenth century, survives in the early twelfth-century manuscripts, C.C.C.C., MS. 383, and the Textus Roffensis, and in the Latin of Quadripartitus. It is edited by Liebermann, I, pp. 186-191; and with English translation by Robertson, pp. 8-11, Thrope, I, pp. 246-251.

PROLOGUE. King Edmund informs all people, both high and low, who are in his dominion, that I have been inquiring with the advice of my councilors, both ecclesiastical and lay, first of all how I could most advance Christianity.

Prol. 1. First, then, it seemed to us all most necessary that we should keep most firmly our peace and concord among ourselves throughout my dominion.

Prol. 2. The illegal and manifold conflicts which take place among us distress me and all of us greatly. We decree then:

1. If henceforth anyone slay a man, he is himself to bear the feud, unless he can with the aid of his friends within twelve months pay compensation at the full wergild whatever class he [the man slain] may belong to.

1.1. If, however, the kindred abandons him, and is not willing to pay compensation for him, it is then my will that all that kindred is to be exempt from the feud, except the actual slayer, if they give him neither food nor protection afterwards.

1.2. If, however, any one of his kinsmen harbors him afterwards, he is to be liable to forfeit all that he owns to the king, and to bear the feud as regards the kindred [of the man slain], because they previously abandoned him.

1.3. If, however, anyone of the other kindred takes vengeance on any man other than the actual slayer, he is to incur the hostility of the king and all his friends, and to forfeit all that he owns.

2. If anyone flees to a church or my residence, and he is attacked or molested there, those who do it are to be liable to the same penalty as is stated above.

3. And I do not wish that any fine for fighting or compensation to a lord for his man shall be remitted.

4. Further, I make it known that I will allow no resort to my court before he [the slayer] has undergone ecclesiastical penance and paid compensation to the kindred, [or] (Following the interpretation of a rather corrupt passage, given by Liebermann, III, p. 127.) undertaken to pay it, and submitted to every legal obligation, as the bishop, in whose diocese it is, instructs him.

5. Further, I thank God and all of you who have well supported me, for the immunity from thefts which we now have; I now trust to you, that you will support this measure so much the better as the need is greater for all of us that it shall be observed.

6. Further, we have declared concerning mundbryce (This term means the violation of anyone's right of protection over others, but here it is clearly the king's right which is meant. This is the first occurrence of the term in the laws.) and hamsocn, (Literally, `attack on a homestead'. It includes forcible entry, and injury of persons inside a house. The term is a Scandinavian loan-word and this is its earliest occurrence.) that anyone who commits it after this is to forfeit all that he owns, and it is to be for the king to decide whether he may preserve his life.

7. Leading men (witan `wise men' seems here to be used more widely than its usual meaning of `councilors'.) must settle feuds: First, according to the common law the slayer must give a pledge to his advocate, and the advocate to the kinsmen, that the slayer is willing to pay compensation to the kindred.

7.1. Then afterwards it is fitting that a pledge be given to the slayer's advocate, that the slayer may approach under safe-conduct and himself pledge to pay the wergild.

7.2. When he has pledged this, he is to find surety for the wergild.

7.3. When that has been done, the king's mund (`Protection.' This clause means that any act of violence after that will be regarded as a breach of the king's special protection.) is to be established; 21 days from that day healsfang (A part of the wergild which went to the nearest kin. See p. 363, n. 3.) is to be paid; (It is possible that the clause "twenty-one days from then the fine for fighting" has been omitted at this point. It occurs in a document of very similar content to much of this code usually cited as Wergild. Nevertheless, it remains a possibility that an intentional alteration is being made by one of these texts.) 21 days from then the compensation to the lord for his man; 21 days from then the first installment of the wergild.

As family law and inheritance are subjects on which we are particularly badly informed, this short text, which survives in the Textus Roffensis and the C.C.C.C., MS. 383, and in Latin in Quadripartitus, is particularly welcome. The text bears no clear indication of date. Liebermann would place it 975-1030, with a preference for the latter part of this period. The stressing of the need that the woman herself accept the suitor suggests that it is not early. It is edited by Liebermann, I, pp. 442-444. and with English translation by Thorpe, I, pp. 254-257.

How a man shall betroth a maiden, and what agreement there ought to be.(This heading is only in C.C.C.C., MS. 383.)

1. If a man wishes to betroth a maiden or a widow, and it so pleases her and her kinsmen, then it is right that the bridegroom first according to God's laws and proper secular custom should promise and pledge to those who are her advocates, that he desires her in such a way that he will maintain her according to God's law as a man should maintain his wife; and his friends are to stand surety for it.

2. Next, it must be known to whom belongs the remuneration for rearing her. The bridegroom is then to pledge this, and his friends are to stand surety for it.

3. Then afterwards the bridegroom is to announce what he grants her in return for her acceptance of his suit, and what he grants her if she should live longer than he.

4. If it is thus contracted, then it is right that she should be entitled to half the goods- and to all, if they have a child together-unless she marries again.

5. He is to strengthen what he promises with a pledge, and his friends are to stand surety for it.

6. If they then reach agreement about everything, then the kinsmen are to set about betrothing their kinswoman as wife and in lawful matrimony to him who has asked for her, and he who is leader of the betrothal is to receive the security.

7. If, however, one wishes to take her away from that district into that of another thegn, then it is to her interest that her friends have the assurance that no wrong will be done to her, and that if she commits an offence, they may be allowed to stand next in paying compensation, if she has not possessions with which she can pay.

8. At the marriage there should by rights be a priest, who shall unite them together with God's blessing in all prosperity.

9. It is also well to take care that one knows that they are not too closely related, lest one afterwards put asunder what was previously wrongly joined together.

The texts I include under this heading are those called by Liebermann Gepyncdo, Nordoeoda laga, Mircna laga, Ad, and Hadbot, and printed by him, I, pp. 456-469. Thorpe has the three first, in a different order, I, pp. 186-193.

The five texts occur in C.C.C.C., MS. 201, a manuscript with connections with Archbishop Wulfstan of York (1002-1023), and Miss D. Bethurum has produced good reasons for assigning the collection to this prelate, who was deeply interested in this matter. ("Six Anonymous Old English Codes", Journ. Eng. and Germ. Phil., XLIX, pp. 449-463.) The last three are also in C.C.C.C., MS. 190, another manuscript to contain texts connected with Wulfstan. All five, but not as a group or in order, are in the Textus Roffensis, and the authors of both Quadripartitus and the Instituta Cnuti use them. Much of what is known of status in Anglo-Saxon times comes from these texts, which should not be regarded as official enactments but as a private compilation.

1. Once it used to be that people and rights (This code uses many alliterative and rhymed formulas, in which words may be used vaguely, or sometimes with an older sense than they have in separate use. The word used here is simply `law'. It is used to cover all the complex of rights and obligation which varied according to the rank of the person concerned.) went by dignities, and councilors of the people were then entitled to honor, each according to his rank, whether noble or ceorl, retainer or lord.(In this pair of formulas, ge eorl ge ceorl, ge pegen ge peoden, eorl retains its archaic meaning of `noble' not its current sense of ealdorman, and 'thegn' retains the element of service rather than of high rank.)

2. And if a ceorl prospered, that he possessed fully five hides of land of his own, (The version of the Textus Roffensis adds here: "church and kitchen".) a bell and a castle-gate, a seat and special office in the king's hall, then was he henceforth entitled to the rights of a thegn.

3. And the thegn who prospered, that he served the king and rode in his household band (The king's bodyguard.) on his missions, (The word redstesn is unique. It probably refers to important errands undertaken by a mounted messenger.) if he himself had a thegn who served him, possessing five hides on which he discharged the king's dues, (The Corpus MS. accidentally omits utware. This word means not merely military service, but all public charges.) and who attended his lord in the king's hall, and had thrice gone on his errand to the king- then he(The intermediate thegn.) was afterwards allowed to represent his lord with his preliminary oath, (The Textus Roffensis adds: "at various necessities". Cf. II Cnut 22.2.) and legally obtain his [right to pursue a] charge, wherever he needed.

4. And he who had no such distinguished representative, swore in person to obtain his rights, or lost his case.

5.(These chapters are only in the Textus Roffensis.) And if a thegn prospered, that he became an earl, then was he afterwards entitled to an earl's rights.

6.(These chapters are only in the Textus Roffensis.) And if a trader prospered, that he crossed thrice the open sea at his own expense, he was then afterwards entitled to the rights of a thegn.

7. And if there were a scholar who prospered with his learning so that he took orders and served Christ, he should afterwards be entitled to so much more honor and protection as belonged by rights to that order, if he kept himself [chaste] as he should. (The Textus Roffensis reads instead of this last part: "unless he should commit an offence, so that he could not practice that priestly office". But the original meant to allow full rights only to the celibate clergy.)

8. And if anyone, anywhere, injured an ecclesiastic or a stranger by word or deed, then it was the concern of the bishop and the king, that they should atone for it as quickly as they could.