The Laws of the Earliest English KingsF. L. Attenborough Frederick Levi Attenborough (1887-1973) studied at Cambridge and was a Fellow of Emmanuel College between 1920 and 1925. He later became the Principal of University College, Leicester. In 1922 Cambridge University Press published his edition of the early Anglo-Saxon laws, with a facing-page modern English translation. A few years earlier, Felix Lieberman had published his monumental three-volume Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, which is still the definitive specialist edition of the laws (as Attenborough rightly predicted), and which is also reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection. Attenborough explains that his work is for social and legal historians who do not read German, or do not require the full critical apparatus and contextual material provided by Lieberman. Attenborough's book covers the laws from Aethelbert to Aethelstan; in 1925 Cambridge published a continuation by Agnes Robertson, The Laws of the Kings of England from Edmund to Henry I, which is also available. |
Contents
Introduction | 2 |
The Laws of Hlothhere and Eadric e | 18 |
The Laws of Wihtred | 24 |
Introduction | 34 |
Introduction | 96 |
The Laws of Edward and Guthrum s | 102 |
Introduction | 112 |
The Laws of AEthelstan I | 122 |
Of Incendiaries and those who secretly | 170 |
INDEX | 217 |
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Common terms and phrases
120 shillings 30 shillings 6aer 6aes 6aet According to Liebermann accused aelc aet pam AETHELSTAN Alfred Anglo-Saxon Athlr beforan beowas bete biö bishop bonne bote butan buton ceap ceorl church cwacdon cyng cyning cyninges declared Domesday Book Eadric ealdorman ealle eallum EDWARD THE ELDER esne feoh forfeit forgelde gerefan geselle gesylle gewitnesse gielde Gif hit Gif hwa Godes Guthrum gylde haebbe healf heora hiora hlaford Hlothhere IIAs king king's lahslit laws Liebermann suggests lord Lx scill maege manna mannes mannum monnes mundbyrd oath oböe obrum ofer offence oööe ordale ordeal paere paes paet paid as compensation pence pone ponne Quadr reeve reference riht ryht Saet sceal sceattas Schmid scillingas scll scyldig shillings compensation slain slave swa hit theft thegn thief Thorpe translates urum weoró wergeld Wihtred witan wite Wulfhelm xxx scill