The Laws of Alfred: The Domboc and the Making of Anglo-Saxon Law

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Stefan Jurasinski (State University College, Brockport, New York) Lisi Oliver (Louisiana State University)

The Laws of Alfred

The Domboc and the Making of Anglo-Saxon Law

Stefan Jurasinski (State University College, Brockport, New York), Lisi Oliver (Louisiana State University)

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English

Cambridge University Press
07 December 2023

British & Irish history; Early history: c 500 to c 1450&1500; Legal history

Series: Studies in Legal History

Alfred the Great's domboc ('book of laws') is the longest and most ambitious legal text of the Anglo-Saxon period. Alfred places his own laws, dealing with everything from sanctuary to feuding to the theft of bees, between a lengthy translation of legal passages from the Bible and the legislation of the West-Saxon King Ine (r. 688–726), which rival his own in length and scope. This book is the first critical edition of the domboc published in over a century, as well as a new translation. Five introductory chapters offer fresh insights into the laws of Alfred and Ine, considering their backgrounds, their relationship to early medieval legal culture, their manuscript evidence and their reception in later centuries. Rather than a haphazard accumulation of ordinances, the domboc is shown to issue from deep reflection on the nature of law itself, whose effects would permanently alter the development of early English legislation.

By: Stefan Jurasinski (State University College Brockport New York), Lisi Oliver (Louisiana State University)
Imprint: Cambridge University Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Weight: 1.125kg
ISBN: 9781108744379
ISBN 10: 1108744370
Series: Studies in Legal History
Pages: 494
Publication Date: 07 December 2023
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

List of Figures; List of Tables; Acknowledgments; Preface; Part I.: 1. The emergence of written law in early England; 2. Legal erudition in seventh- and ninth-century Wessex; 3. Reshaping tradition: oaths, ordeals, and the 'innovations' of the domboc; 4. The transmission of the domboc: old English manuscripts and other early witnesses; 5. Reception, editorial history, and interpretative legacies; Part II. Editions: 6. Rubrics in Cambridge, Corpus Christi College MSS 173 and 383; 7. Alfred's prologue; 8. The laws of Alfred; 9. The laws of Ine; Appendix I: handlist of prior editions; Bibliography; Index.

Stefan Jurasinski is Professor of English at State University College, Brockport, New York. He is the author of The Old English Penitentials and Anglo-Saxon Law (Cambridge, 2015) and, with R. D. Fulk, The Old English Canons of Theodore (2012). With Andrew Rabin, he edited Languages of the Law in Early Medieval England: Essays in Memory of Lisi Oliver. Lisi Oliver, author of The Beginnings of English Law (2013) and The Body Legal and Barbarian Law (2011), was Houston Alumni Professor of English and Distinguished Research Master at Louisiana State University. With Andrew Rabin and Stefan Jurasinski, she edited English Law Before Magna Carta.

Reviews for The Laws of Alfred: The Domboc and the Making of Anglo-Saxon Law

'Written by two leading specialists in early medieval legal studies, this book offers a rigorous re-evaluation of West Saxon law in its historical context, together with a new edition that will undoubtedly become a primary source of reference in the field.' Carole Hough, University of Glasgow 'This impressive new edition of Alfred's laws locates them, all 120 clauses, more fully than before within the 'Alfredian achievement'. Its editors bring to their task a mastery of relevant literature, not just historical studies but, because their training was primarily literary and linguistic, a deep knowledge of the whole Old English corpus.' Paul Hyams, Cornell University 'Come for the critical edition and stay for the commendable exegesis of Alfred's prologue and laws. Jurasinski and Oliver's masterful work is bound to become the definitive scholarly edition. It will be an essential text for scholars of Old English literature as well as legal historians interested in the medieval reception of the domboc and its later life in the age of print.' Elizabeth Papp Kamali, Harvard Law School 'This book will transform the field of early English law. Jurasinski and Oliver's excellent critical edition provides faithful, readable translations in modern English alongside meticulously researched contextual essays. The Laws of Alfred makes the complete ninth-century text newly accessible to specialists and students alike.' Nicole Marafioti, Trinity University 'A reliable and richly annotated text suitable for both the seasoned historian of early medieval Britain and the student reader. … This is a remarkable volume, without which no shelf of early medieval European history or legal history will be complete.' Roy Flechner, Speculum: A Journal of Medieval Studies