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    7 views8 pages

    Other Prose OE

    Uploaded by

    Silvia Saporta Tarazona

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    of 8
    Zi Legal, Scientific, and Scholastic Works 1 Legal Texts Before Christianity intoxduced records on pacha, English aw was secesanly oral I fundamentally oa aaure was infact never lost, ‘most legal proceedings coniauel to be conducted orally in ont of ‘witness, with no written record ~ ake might expect in clare in Which tracy belonged tothe Church, The intrxinction of wring on parchment, however, enabled some legal innovations, one ofthe most lnnportant of which was he char In eae scholarly wage the term “charters” may refer loosely to tte- deeds of property or privilege in regard to land, inthe form of “wits, will, records of disputes snd miscellaneous memoeanda, a6 well a landbooks ad leases” (Sawyer 1968: vi)~ chough technically “charters” ought to refer only to royat documents, in Tato, of ths type and “writs” eo shorter vernactlae ‘ones dealing with a wider range of administrative matters (Keynes 19994). Based on Roman dle deeds and introduced to England i the seventh century as documentation forthe estate of and aod ranted in perpetuity originally only tothe Church ~ dey eventually included not just royal diplomas but records of phate wanssctions. Te wef nes of charters in an oral culture i plain: witneses grow old and die, bur charters continue to prove the right of inci and religious houses tothe estates in thir postion, Ara consequence ofthe large ‘umber of properties in the tenre of some Fligios establishments, eluates, which are nomally on single sheets, were offen copied into ‘artlaies (monastic o eathedal register), the most Eas of which are te Tests Rotfenss fase ed. Sawyer 1957-62), an imporeant ‘volume of avs and legal documents male at Rochester after te Con ‘quest (where the manuscript til sides), and Hemmings Carly Les clin Seboise Works Ms (BL, Conon Tibesins A. si, a collection of royal chasers, episcopal Teast, and documents pertaining othe eights and pivileges of Woes tee Given the imporiance of chartes, iis not surprising thar there vas rch resopying of them ta ater date ad many patent forgeries (see Franzen 1996), Ths for mest linguistic and many histories parpones ‘nly charters om single sheets are of vale, an then only if they are ‘originals ornear-contemporay copies? There are about 20 such out ‘of compas of more than 1,000 chars. Te oles ignal charter ‘of Hlohhere, king of Kent, dated 679 (no. 8} moet dat othe petiod 940-70. Charters usualy are composed offxed elements arranged in2 rig formula inluding an tocation, proc, and s0 forth, ending ‘oth sit of witness (not sly signatories, as only svibes could ‘rite. One stand elements the bora law the benands ‘ofthe property are detailed in an ambulatory eel, proceeding fom Tandmsre to landmark, ven when the bouncy cise is written in [tin a most wete Before the tenth century, it wil generally contin place'names and topographical Teanves in English and hus charters preserve many archale forms and attest o dialect features, Charter ate sho usefil for tracing the developmest of sept and gauging the qual ‘ny of Latin at varios times a places, Yer their evidence ite ‘ofthe seving boundary causes, of which there are more tha a thon sand, just 35 are found in what are generally egarded 2s orignal docu ‘ments dating before 900, mostly ftom Kent, and documents of any date fom nowt and east of Watling Stteet are vanishingly eae ‘Writs are much shorter, less formal documents in the forma of a0 acide by the grantor (royal or private) tothe assembly ofthe sive ‘court or hundred court, an they are exclusively in Okt English, They developed from the late ninth century and were use for vais pur ose, although most of those tha survive are rom he eleventh cen "uy and were written asa public declaration ofa change in vnesship ‘or privileges oftnd, Weis ually have a el alied asthe authority of the grantor, «feature which was never pat of the charter, but it sible thit both royal writs and charters, while the exclusive creation DF churchmen, wre a various Himes in vais pars of England the product of royal chances, consisting of group of ecclesiastical seribes "tached t the royal houschod forthe purpose of ecoring sich eg ‘documents? "Two other sorts of records of legal transactions are manunision| documents and will. Manumissions record the lal emancipation ofa person from servitade, and about 120 of them survive Rom the 150 Le Sinica Scholae Works sgospelbooks af churches a Bath, Bodmin, Exeter, and Dushan, pre ‘sumably because ofthe requirement, st expressed in Wits I that person be fied ina church The earliest surviving manumision Aocstent (ed, Harmer 1914 32) that of King thelstan upon his ‘coronation in 925, preserved in an cighth-century Norehumbian gospelbook (BL, Royal 1. B. vi), in which he mannmits one Fadel, The most celebiaed Old English wil is tha of King Aled? but re cored testators span the scale fom kings 10 commoness, in some 60 Alocuments (many ed. Whitlock 1980) begueathing everything from states 0 a single sheep. About a quarter of these ace preserved in con temporary frm on single shets of patchiment, one ear than the frst half the ninth century, and theres are copies, often in eatuae ies Regardless of how they are preserved, however, near all survive nly because they contain Bequests to one oF another majoe southern abbey. They diffe rom modern wil in several cespects, one of which is that they rarely catalogue the bestowal ofthe testator ete peop <2); but hey supplement oral arrangements” Many wil of strats {sce plate) in et sem tobe merely temizatons of properties dab ted during the testator’ ieeime The relations between oral radon andthe writen ls ae yet 1 be filly explained. Almost certainly there was a body of avs uansmit ted orally before dhe Conversion, though there 90 evidence for any ‘thing lke such a fgute as the medical Leland fapginad “lw speaker’ an electe oficial wit rected ane ehied ofthe fea year st the Alpin, dhe annual gonetl assembly. The fst law code to be re ‘corded (ca 602) was tht of the fist Chistian king, thelbeshe of Kent (a 616). Its preserved only in a manuscripe made half mille nium late, the Texts Roffensis~ neal Old English la sin et preserved Only in post-Conguest manuscps*~ but the sebally up fated language retains suit archos to prove that thi ally fs ‘he eavlest English text of any lengeh? Bee tls ws hat Athelberht's ove was male insta esmpla Romanaram ater te examples ofthe Romans’ (Hinoriaecesiasticn 1, v), a phrase of disputed meaning, though it may refer to Frankish cores sed a models, Pethape che chet purpose of recoding the code, then, wast confer upon thelr a sats equal to that of his in-laws, the Merovingian Kings, and to signal Kents membership in the community of cuilzed, la abiding Chri tian nations (Wormald 1999e: 94). For Augustine and his mission, though, doubles the urgency of having the Inws recorded as that they insured che safety and security of God's servants in Kent. Being ve ‘ i i Sees eee g E i 4 182 Le Scie and Schotte Werk unable ro engage in rewibutiveFeding, they had 20 peotetion in lw until thelberhe placed them under his ot protetion by copying Jno his code provisions for ther sceuriy inspired by rankish law, Te ‘most elstinctive aspect of thelberht' code, and of Anglo Saxon le sn general, is that they were written in the veracul, though Cont ‘ental eds el se ovelth century ae all in Latin. Wesemald (19996 101) ha argued tha one reason may beth ls in Latin would have been incomprehensible to the ney converted Kentish court If he right, thong, thatthe lavs represent ot so much the King’s decrees ay the traditions ofthe people of Kent, veraacularity maya signal thet consensual nature, or asic an early date, Latin ws won doubles have seemed the produer ofa centr state that didnot eles the acta ‘extent of hebere's authority.” Aheberht's code inspired tradition of vernacular avs ised der the name of successive kings. But while the chief motive for ‘thelbet's laws seems to have heen the protection of leis, ther tionale bend subsequent codes is dicl to intepee. Above al hei ‘natu isfandamentalyconsenstive, nd thei resstance to innovation 'o doubt was designed ta secure for each sieessve monarch place among his lav giving predecessors (Wortmald 19773). The laws” ays ‘em in any ease, has to bases ire fed, which, with i attendant ‘meni of weg se section 1 of the introduction), ensured domestic ‘ner by sanctioning reibution ar eesttution. The greater pat ofthe surviving codes, both in England and on the Continent, i in fact 3 record of compensations w be pad for various ofense, especially per sonal injures, with the inte party's wergld 35 the highest tai a lowed ~for example, fom the code of Alfed, 30 shilings for eiking ‘offs man’ ear, 30 fora thumb, fora back tooth, 20 fora big toe and 20 for ettng off commoners heard, Wergldsate separate on fines (sce below), since they ate not established by official ordinances, being based in rational law. Second is deal, 2 divine te forthe proof of innocence, which placed Godin the position of judge a Fate of ae ‘that probably does oe date tothe pagan period, but which nanctheles developed esl, ats pecibe already inthe laws of the West Sao ne (reigned 688-726), Ordeal at which bishop presided, might in wolve the stualized inficton of burs, with judgment predated on whether they hale or soppurtedsorie might nvoleobeving whether the accused snk ox Heated in 3 tank of old wats, ‘Ahelberh's code was augmented by his suceaors, Hlothere and adi (c2 673-88) and Wihtrl (ca, 690-725;ed. Liebermann 1903- Le Sli an Scholase Works 19 16: 19-14). The influence ofthis Kentish leiltion may be seen in the code of ne (above), as chapter 20 of Ines laws i almost identical to chapter 28of Witt’ Ye Ine’ laws survive ony Because led incded them as an appendix to his cwa laa two cence later ‘There is no ieftable evidence that any royal codes were ised in the two intervening centres not even by the great OF (reigaed 757-86). Tha iti only during the reign of Alfred that a new set ‘of laws was issued coniems thie politcal significance, in this instance contributing tothe corpus of texts, including Asser fe of the king, Scemingly designed wo exer hisauthority and build hisealt (se chapter 2). Alfed’s laws demonstrate the sani Kind of historical perspective ‘and nation-building tendencies tha his other works evince. Hix cde ‘precede by an expansive translation ofthe Ten Commandments and ‘other parts of Exodus histo ofthe Apotes, ad history of Char lnw and doctrine promulgated throug various councils (Liebermann 1903: 16-123). Thus Alfred positioned his lavs within the continuum ‘of Western ecclesiastical history, 2t once invoking and reinforcing the authority of dat history. ‘Already i the eatest suecesors co Athelberh's code we see the sada strengthening ofthe hand ofthe monarch, with de addition of terer more fines fr offenses resied be pi othe King, Thi trend ‘continues throughout the period, and inthe series of codes issued in2 nearly unbroken sequence of kings from Alfred to Caut we find ev ‘dence of an unprecedented centralization of power. The fundamental ‘iechanist enabling this tenis the institution ofan oath abjuring all ‘aims, tobe sworn byl ice men 12 years of age, Ae consequence, tsimes were no longer simply offense against society but acts of doy tly, and therefore the penalty even fr crimes ike altery demanded the payment of fins tothe king The legal system itself acquired peat force, wth a more elaborate system of courts and much harsher penal tes (Wormald 19990), "This wend Bol i zenith inthe legion drafted for Aheleed 1 an Cout by the homalit Wallan, The kang opeing section of Fand 11.Gne ed. Licbermann 1903-16: 1.278-370,38 278-307), *amount- ing to more than a quarter of the hoe, was intended to remind the ‘lergy and ly of the igous dics, and to secre the maintenance fof. ecclesiastical interests” (F. Stenton 1971: 408). Under Walitan's tzecion the law thus became an instment for God ro rule the Eng Ish people aeordingto his wll Wormald 19994, 1999: 27). [is not the case, ofcourse, that religious and ecaisittions had been etily 14 Le Sci nd Schone Werke segregated before this in Haglan’ polices economy. But with these laws it becomes exceptionally clear to what exten oyal authority had scqiced 1 thenratic Basi, eden for example lo inthe crescent hab of burying kings a mona centers, and in the growing impor tance of coronation ceremoaies, wis the inviolable authority that con- sccration bestowed, acconding to lic (Cathalic Homi 1,14). ‘Wallan politcal views ae lsd ut in detail ia his Tutte of Paty {ed. Jost 1959), found in two versions (I and 17 Folin), the Iter 2 substantial expansion, Via lit’ Leer t Sieneard he borrows Alfred's division ofthe just society into three estates, comprising en lof prayer labor and warfare (a scheme chat was to dominate politcal thought in Europe uni the eighteenth century). The wholes organ ized to outline the responsiilis of ecclesiastical and secur posts, andit concludes with an exposition ofall of society's duty to sustain the Church. Secular law i portrayed as an extension of Chistian etic, a theme evident inal ofthe Anglo-Saxon law codes. Of particular inter ‘xt i the beginning ofthe wor, since t opens with a setion on the Ineavenly king followed by one on the earthly, defining the laters chief ties as promotion ofthe aims ofthe former an his servants.” In addon tothe nw codes of kings, there are several anonymous ‘ordinances concerning sch matters a adultery, asylum, beta, the spoiling ofthe dead, andthe administration of ordeal, OF parce fnucrest te the Reeondinesinglara pesnaruny, which seen the rightsand obligations ofthe various orders and occupations oF peasants ‘ith respect to their fords, coupled with Gav, on the responsblis| ‘ofthe reeve (state administrator) There also the treaty between Aled and Guthrum (aD 8862) establishing the border ofthe Danelaw and sting English and Danish werglds athe same vale; andthe text Called Dunes, an agreement forthe avs ofthe Wels marches Also fof ote i the pont Conquest interest n Anglo-Saxon la. Large por tions of the Old English laws were ransated into obscure Latin inthe ‘welt century, and at particular length inthe Quedriparsts anim ‘mense collection compiled during the rign of HentyTand now ds ‘buted among several manuscrps Is purpose seems to have been to ‘seabsh whar laws were currently in effec (under the assumption that ny Anglo-Saxon laws no abrogated by Edvard the Confer legis lation Were sil in force) and to prove the continuity of English law fiom Edwards day to Henrys thus establishing the validity oF the la ters extensive leiition Legal Senile and Scholae Works Iss 2 Scenic Literature Even more complex than Anglo-Saronlegilaton i the body of tera- ture devoted ¢o consputs, a term that refers to both the scence of| Computation and an individual work on that subject The cic use oF Comput wast calelate the date of Easter, on which the dates oF ‘movable fasts depended ~ a determination with considerable politial “igileance nthe seventh century (on the Paschal controversy see se tion 2of the inrodction), Buti was soa paca problem through: ‘tthe period, since the elculaton depends upon the ater complex inse of how to predict the phases of the moon with pression. The ‘more elaborate computa texts thus may inelade a perpetalcalen dar, an Easter table, tables for determining the moon's age and the tweedy, arithmetic tables, instructions fr calculating, nd docements Feitng tothe history ofthe ealendar (Baker 1999), The east compu sre leters on competing Paschal eels; Bede wrote the fst fil length tress onthe ject, Detemporibny(703) and thelonger De tompors ‘tone (725; both ed. Chale Jones 1943). Despite it atin, Found in woof the eight manuscripts, lives early Work De somporibu ans is inthe main a vernacular preci of theater, thoup ae i made of te Facer, and alo of Bee's De natu rerum forts selection on celestial bodes” Te sa compendium of cosmological information, inciding the typological gnifeanc ofthe phases ofthe moos, the date of Cre on, the seven divisions ofthe night, the signs ofthe zodiac, and Ich besides, For what audience i wis intended is uncext, though ‘ils other teansltons are chil forthe iy. Byrne oF Ramsey's Enchividon (or Handboe Mana), on which ne was a¢ work a 1011, ‘is compose alternately in Latin and English, the later explaining the Focrerin simpler terms o “the ignorant rral ergy" (I, 1.172), "tose who slo not nderstand Latin® (Hf, 1421-2)" Te is'a miscellany of slvagations on rhetoric, metres lle gory, grammar, and measurement, but ti designed to serve primary a 3 commentary on his Lain Compureus(veconstucted in Baker and Lapidige 1995: 373-427), ‘which relies hey on Bede and the comput of the great schol ‘Abbo of Fleury (aaryced 1004 at La Role), who taught Byehferth when he was in residence at Ramsey Abbey 985-7. Byrhtferh’s ‘overpartculardncourse ad hermeneutic style, modeled on Aldheln's, ‘offen make for torre reading, but his earning was obviously second to none during the late Anglo Savon period and 352 computs he is 16 Leg Sli an Shoe Works unsurpassed even by Rede, In addition there are quite 2 Few shorter texts in Old English devoted ro aspects of comput (most ed. Fine 1934), dsibuted ia more than 18 manuscripts, thus stating its Importance to the very end ofthe period. They are mostly devoted to pacts (charting the difference betwen the lunar ad soe years) and rales for finding movable feats.” Asillarated above in regard to charms (chapter 1), the categories that we distinguish a folklore, theology, and scence tend to overly in Old English, and so the group of tests designated here as “sie tile” is heterogeneous ~and pethaps would have seemed so ro Anglo- ‘Saxon readers 4s wel, An extensive subgroup comprises medical erature, again remarkable a this eal date for the use ofthe ver racolar Te may be that composition in English isan aecommoda tion not for “ignorant priests” burt for hy person, and pariclry ‘women, who were perhaps the chief practitioners ofthe Anglo Saxon redico'magial tition, given chat by the time of Alred’s reign the evidence for womes’s literacy in Latin has evaporated” ‘The most Important Old English medical texts Bald Leechbwok (OE. Lachoc, fer “doctor, quite probably dating tothe tine of King Alfed, ‘tough preserved in a tet century manuscript It comprises three books: the fist addreses the exteral manifestations of diseases inthe trons head to foot order of Clasical meal treaties the se ‘onal deals with internal ailment, borrowing extensively from Greek and Roman texts and followed by acolophon which names one Bald (Bol, an Anglian or Early West Saxon speling) asthe owner ofthe ‘book; and the third contains magical remedies and charos rooted in ‘ative fk medicine and Christin fth® In addition to i fle and religious sources, the text demonstrates the compilers faba with {range of Mediterranean medicl works through widely known com pilations ofthe fourth co the seventh centuries. Inthe Leechbot, a tlsewhere, the chief componens of medicine ar herbal ecipes, payers, incanations, and bloating. “acnunga (‘Cure’), preserved in BL, Harley 585, while resembling the Lerch in some places, sa rather chaotic assemblage of some 200 remedies, some of identifably lasical extraction. * In its begin hing, Lounge mircors the traditional hexd-to-foot arrangement found inthe Lethboo, but this is abandoned within the fist 20 en tres. The folkloric sun ofthe compiler of Liens is bes ils trated by the inclusion of some of the most interesting of the sea-metial charms: Te Nine Herbs Charm, Againt'a Dwarf, Fora Leg Scie and Sehoastie Works 17 Sudden Sesh For Ls of Cale and Por Delay Birsh(ASPR 6.119. 124), Compson with the more rational, classical Lzcbbot has con tributed eo scholar’ generally low regard Tor Laenunga: M. Cameron (1998: 47), for example, considers it valeable "asa source of supers tious aneizine, and although it nowhere reflects the best i Anglo- ‘ton medical practice, it gives fcnatnginsight into testinal spect,” The comparison has also led to «considerable amount of Fraitlessaument about supprested paganism in these texts and about the degree of sophistication of rypicl medical practice of the period (sce Hollis and Wright 1992: 221-9). “Three other surviving Old English medical eats ave ranslations of Latin works, The fourth-century Herbavin of Pseudo-Apuleius is teanslaed in no fewer than four manssrpt, the oldest of which also ‘contains Lacnngn An eleventh century Canterbury mansript, BL, Cotton Vitel C. i (simile ed. D'Aronco and Cameron 1998), is richly designed with ilustrations ofthe plan species named in its hethal remedies (soe plate 9), while another manuscript, BI, Harley 62588, has the Latin names forthe herbs ananged in alphabetical onde, making it an eminently Fencional reference text. The work Contains 4 treatise on betony, am herbal of 132 plants, and a sup. plement of 33 other plants rom the Liber mediinge cx eri fominins ff Pyeudo-Dioscorides (unidentified, before 600) ll writen together a ied work with continuous chapter numbering.” Preserved long withthe Herrin inthe same manuscripts the Old Englist translation (ed. de Vriend 1984) of che fith-century compilation ‘Medicina de quadrnpedibns, which contains a leer ona fetitions pharaoh named Idpareus to Octavian on the medial uss of badges, {treatise om the mulberry, and a version of the Liber medicinte <= ‘nnimalibus of Sextus Plactus (unidentified), isting medicines to be tracted, somtimes brutally, from 3 dozen wild and domestic an tals One sorviving text ftom as late a 1200, an incomplete transla ‘ion of Per didaseon “About Medical Schools ed. Cockayne 1864-6: 5381-145), is closely related tothe sources ofthe Leeiat. The lan {guige ofthis wor realy Midale English, and most seis connec tion with the pee-Conguest period as tenuous. Buti demons that the Anglo-Saxon tadition of vernaclar medical tests wa ‘more than a centr after the Conquest. Tike the Herdnvio in method and atrangenent isthe brief Old “English Lapidary (ed. Evansand Serjeant 1933: 13-15, eter Kitson 1978. 32-3) preervedina Latin and English miscelany showing Kent Iss Lap Sli ea fee iter pemee Mane a gs e oa) crear care Ferre qrareree tgp ene ope D pampered st ate jbooreame na terran p Siem mer fr Selatan pers a vee Z foward c Sees cen ow ater pare Torker ye bae sl egafrn a F tn Spier Te [)"Bineoer tate = Ligier 1 mbes eile Sere eli hap Posen er ripegpone mC esr mstoons ) 2 ‘Pte om the bean in BL, Coton Velo C5 9, Shot saterpamip ab compion and act sper, aot whee be the het ‘mentioned on he evs ter) al fac © Reh Leg Seni and Schoase Works 159 ‘sh features (BL, Cotton Tiberias A. ii). The ealest vemacular lap dary trom Europe, i begins with a desctiption of the 12 apocalyptic ‘ones bated on Scripture (Exodus 28:17-20, 39:10-13, Ezea 28:13, find Revelation 21-19-20), once thought wo deve fiom Isidore, and From Bee's Explanatio Apualpsis in which he sigs allegorical ig rience tthe stones" New intend it hasbeen argc thatthe sources ‘of the txt ae cloely bound up with Archbishop Theodore’ cl, though the translator himself ws not expert in Lain (Kitson 1978) “The Lopilarys move designedly taxonomic than Bede's work, simply

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