Leges Henrici Primi
Encyclopedia
The Leges Henrici Primi or Laws of Henry I is a legal treatise, written in about 1115, that records the legal customs of medieval England in the reign of King Henry I of England
. Although it is not an official document, it was written by someone apparently associated with the royal administration. It lists and explains the laws, and includes explanations of how to conduct legal proceedings. Although its title implies that these laws were issued by King Henry, it lists laws issued by earlier monarchs that were still in force in Henry's reign; the only law of Henry that is included is the coronation charter he issued at the start of his reign. It covers a diverse range of subjects, including ecclesiastical cases, treason, murder, theft, feuds, assessment of danegeld
, and the amounts of judicial fines.
The work survives in six manuscripts that range in date from about 1200 to around 1330, belonging to two different manuscript traditions. Besides the six surviving manuscripts, three others were known to scholars in the 17th and 18th centuries, but have not survived to the present day. Two other separate copies may also have existed. The complete work itself was first printed in 1644, but an earlier partial edition appeared in 1628. The Leges is the first legal treatise in English history, and has been credited with having the greatest effect on the views of English law before the reign of King Henry II
than any other work of its kind.
about 1115. It records the legal customs of medieval England. It was part of a small group of similar writings devoted to legal procedures that were written for royal administrators. Besides the Leges, other works of this type produced at this time were the Quadripartitus
, parts of the Leges Edwardi Regis, the Instituta Cnuti
, and the Consiliatio Cnuti. It is possible the Leges Willhelmi was also written during this time period. It is the longest of the legal tracts from its time, and made some effort to be comprehensive.
and Ivo of Chartres
, as well as legal codes such as Frankish and canon law
. Other sources include the Vulgate
edition of the Bible
and Roman law
codes, although the debt to those sources is small.
, which was King Henry's
coronation charter promising not to follow the administrative and legal policies of his predecessor, King William II
. About a third of the material in the Leges is also in the Quadripartitus. There is evidence that the author of the two works had been a member of the household of Gerard, who had been chancellor
under Kings William I
and William II before becoming Archbishop of York
under Henry I. The work was likely composed at Winchester
.
Usually the work has been known as the Leges Henrici Primi, or Laws of Henry the First. It gained that name from the inscription "De libertate ecclesie et totius Anglie obseruanda leges Henrici primi" which occurs on five of the six extant manuscripts. The sixth manuscript adds "filii conquestoris" at the end of the inscription. The historian Felix Libermann called the work Leges Henrici, but the fuller title of Leges Henrici Primi is generally used to help diferentiate which Henry is being referred to.
The law code recognised the difference between the laws of the Danelaw
, the old Kingdom of Mercia, and the lands of the Kingdom of Wessex. It also set out a list of legal proceedings that could only be tried before the king or his officials, the cases of which were known as "royal pleas" or "pleas of the crown"; they included serious crimes such as treason, murder, rape, robbery, arson, and some types of theft. Treasure trove
and salvage from wrecks were also matters of interest to the crown. Other royal cases involved counterfeiters or false judgement, or violent acts against the king himself or his household and servants. The king also reserved the right to hear appeals from other courts conducted by local authorities or by his nobles. The tract also set out who should attend the shire court
, ruling that the local bishop and earl, as well as the sheriff and local barons, among others, should attend.
The work assumes that the royal legal system would still address some issues that later would have been dealt with by ecclesiastical courts. Clergy are not only to take part in the shire court, but could be summoned to answer charges in the court. It also sets out the various courts that were established and their jurisdiction. It takes for granted that the Anglo-Saxon laws of England are still in effect. It also addresses the administration of forest law under Henry I. Another new concern in the Leges is law covering the roadways and highways.
Another area covered by the work is royal finance, with the Leges setting out the rate of Danegeld
, at a rate of one shilling per hide. It also covers judicial fines, setting forth a fine of 46 mark
s as the penalty for committing murder. The author of the work criticised the royal justices, calling them greedy. It sets out elaborate procedures for the conduct of murder cases, or murdum.
The Leges also devoted some effort to the theory of the law, and attempted to make generalisations about legal procedures and practices. It also contains a number of dicta which became cliches, such as "who unknowingly offends will knowingly amend" and "witness is not needed as to what did not occur, but as to what an accused claims did occur".
held by the Public Record Office
. Hg is held by the British Library
and is catalogued as Hargrave 313. It consists of folios 5 through 14a of the manuscript.
Four other extant manuscripts belong to the "London" tradition, and three other now-lost manuscripts are also known to have belonged to this grouping. The surviving manuscripts are known as K, Co, Or, and Rs. The three lost manuscripts have been assigned the names of Gi, Sl, and Tw. K is a manuscript currently in the British Library, and was part of the Cotton Library
before becoming part of the British Museum then the British Library. Given the catalogue name of Cotton Claudius D II, it is the only illuminated manuscript
of the Leges and dates to around 1310. Co is currently in the Corpus Christi College, Cambridge
Library and was part of the Parker Library in the 16th century before being bequeathed to Corpus Christi on Parker's
death. This manuscript dates to around 1320 and is catalogued as Corpus Christi College 70. The Leges occupies folios 108 through 170. The manuscript Or was originally part of the Oriel College, Oxford Library but is now part of the Bodleian Library
. It dates from around 1330 and is catalogued as Oriel College 46. The last extant manuscript is Rs, which is currently in the John Rylands Library
in Manchester. It was written about 1201 and is catalogued as Rylands lat.155.
The three known but now-lost manuscripts included Gi, which was known in 1721 and was owned by the London Guildhall. It was used by David Wilkins
to compile his 1721 work Leges Anglo-Saxonicae as well by Henry Spelman
to correct manuscripts used in the Epistola Eleutherii. The Sl manuscript belonged to John Selden
in the 17th century, but it is unclear when it was created. It was used by Roger Twysden in his edition of the Leges Henrici Primi. The last securely known lost manuscript is the Tw manuscript, and was used by Twysden in his edition of the Leges, and was perhaps owned by him also.
Possibly two other manuscripts existed but little is known about them. One is often designated Sp, and was used by Spelman for his 1625 Glossarium Archaiollogicum, for which he used three manuscripts of the Leges – Sc, K and one that he does not name but has subsequently been designated as Sp. It appears to have belonged to the London grouping, and may have been Gi rather than a separate manuscript, although Spelman's description and usage is unclear as to which possibility is most likely. The other possible manuscript was one that Wilkins referred to as "quod iudetur fuisse Archiepiscopi aut Monachorum Cantuar." but it has not been found in searches of the Lambeth Library and the various Canterbury repositories.
Besides the medieval manuscripts, there are three early modern transcriptions of the work – one from the 16th century now at the Cambridge University Library
as manuscript Dd.VI 38, the second at Trinity College, Cambridge
from the 17th century, catlogued as Cambridge O.10,20, and the last in the British Library as Harley 785, also dating from the 17th century.
and Spelman, had intended to produce printed editions of the Leges, but were unable to follow through on the project. A portion of the Leges had earlier appeared in Edward Coke
's Institutes of the Laws of England in 1628. Another edition appeared in 1721, with Wilkins' publication of the Leges Anglo-Saxonicae, which built on the work of William Somner
between 1645 and 1652. In 1776, David Hoüard reprinted Wilkins' text of the Leges in the Traites sur les coutumes anglo-normandes, and in 1789 another reproduction of Wilkins' text appeared in Paulus Canciani's Barbarorum Legs Antiquae.
What is considered the first scholarly discussion of the Leges appeared in 1827 by George Philips, who did not reproduce the entire text in his Englische Reichsund Rechtsgeschichte, but did provide a couple of extracts along with a discussion of the sources of the work and a description of the work. In 1840, the Record Commission published an edition of the text that had been edited by Richard Price and Benjamin Thorpe
. The next major production of the Leges was Felix Liebermann
who produced three volumes of Gesetze der Angelsachsen between 1903 and 1916, with the Leges being one of the legal treatises being reproduced in the Gesetze. A modern translation, with the original Latin text on pages facing the translation, was published in 1972 by the Clarendon Press and edited by L. J. Downer, and includes updated commentary and manuscript information.
says of the Leges that it "has had more effect on views of English law before Henry II than any other".
Henry I of England
Henry I was the fourth son of William I of England. He succeeded his elder brother William II as King of England in 1100 and defeated his eldest brother, Robert Curthose, to become Duke of Normandy in 1106...
. Although it is not an official document, it was written by someone apparently associated with the royal administration. It lists and explains the laws, and includes explanations of how to conduct legal proceedings. Although its title implies that these laws were issued by King Henry, it lists laws issued by earlier monarchs that were still in force in Henry's reign; the only law of Henry that is included is the coronation charter he issued at the start of his reign. It covers a diverse range of subjects, including ecclesiastical cases, treason, murder, theft, feuds, assessment of danegeld
Danegeld
The Danegeld was a tax raised to pay tribute to the Viking raiders to save a land from being ravaged. It was called the geld or gafol in eleventh-century sources; the term Danegeld did not appear until the early twelfth century...
, and the amounts of judicial fines.
The work survives in six manuscripts that range in date from about 1200 to around 1330, belonging to two different manuscript traditions. Besides the six surviving manuscripts, three others were known to scholars in the 17th and 18th centuries, but have not survived to the present day. Two other separate copies may also have existed. The complete work itself was first printed in 1644, but an earlier partial edition appeared in 1628. The Leges is the first legal treatise in English history, and has been credited with having the greatest effect on the views of English law before the reign of King Henry II
Henry II of England
Henry II ruled as King of England , Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Count of Nantes, Lord of Ireland and, at various times, controlled parts of Wales, Scotland and western France. Henry, the great-grandson of William the Conqueror, was the...
than any other work of its kind.
Background and similar works
The Leges Henrici Primi or Laws of Henry I is not merely a compilation of laws but an integrated legal treatise, the first such in the history of England, written in the Latin languageMedieval Latin
Medieval Latin was the form of Latin used in the Middle Ages, primarily as a medium of scholarly exchange and as the liturgical language of the medieval Roman Catholic Church, but also as a language of science, literature, law, and administration. Despite the clerical origin of many of its authors,...
about 1115. It records the legal customs of medieval England. It was part of a small group of similar writings devoted to legal procedures that were written for royal administrators. Besides the Leges, other works of this type produced at this time were the Quadripartitus
Quadripartitus
The title Quadripartitus refers to an extensive legal collection compiled during the reign of Henry I, king of England . The work consists of Anglo-Saxon legal materials in Latin translation as well as a number of Latin texts of legal interest that were produced after the Conquest...
, parts of the Leges Edwardi Regis, the Instituta Cnuti
Instituta Cnuti
The title Instituta Cnuti, in full Instituta Cnuti aliorumque regum Anglorum , refers to a legal compilation which cites, in Latin translation, selected material of Old English law. It was put together by an Anglo-Norman cleric, possibly at Worcester, sometime after the Conquest, between 1066 and...
, and the Consiliatio Cnuti. It is possible the Leges Willhelmi was also written during this time period. It is the longest of the legal tracts from its time, and made some effort to be comprehensive.
Sources
The provisions set forth in the Leges can be traced to laws of Cnut and various Anglo-Saxon codes. Some of the Anglo-Saxon codes used may have been subsequently lost. Also, certain legal terms used in the Leges, whether in their original English language or rendered into Latin, cannot be found in any extant legal code, and may be another example of preserving now-lost legal codes or provisions. It also draws upon non-English sources, including Isidore of SevilleIsidore of Seville
Saint Isidore of Seville served as Archbishop of Seville for more than three decades and is considered, as the historian Montalembert put it in an oft-quoted phrase, "le dernier savant du monde ancien"...
and Ivo of Chartres
Ivo of Chartres
Saint Ivo ' of Chartres was the Bishop of Chartres from 1090 until his death and an important canon lawyer during the Investiture Crisis....
, as well as legal codes such as Frankish and canon law
Canon law
Canon law is the body of laws & regulations made or adopted by ecclesiastical authority, for the government of the Christian organization and its members. It is the internal ecclesiastical law governing the Catholic Church , the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox churches, and the Anglican Communion of...
. Other sources include the Vulgate
Vulgate
The Vulgate is a late 4th-century Latin translation of the Bible. It was largely the work of St. Jerome, who was commissioned by Pope Damasus I in 382 to make a revision of the old Latin translations...
edition of the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
and Roman law
Roman law
Roman law is the legal system of ancient Rome, and the legal developments which occurred before the 7th century AD — when the Roman–Byzantine state adopted Greek as the language of government. The development of Roman law comprises more than a thousand years of jurisprudence — from the Twelve...
codes, although the debt to those sources is small.
Authorship and title
The Leges was written between 1114 and 1118 by an unknown Norman, who is very likely to be the author of another legal work, the Quadripartitus, although some historians, including H. G. Richardson and G. O. Sayles, argue that the two works were by different authors. The Leges was probably part of a project including the Quadripartitus, the two works being part of a planned work in four volumes to cover not only the laws of the writer's own time, but previous laws of the Anglo-Saxon monarchs, as well as how to handle legal cases. As part of both works, the author has included the Charter of LibertiesCharter of Liberties
The Charter of Liberties, also called the Coronation Charter, was a written proclamation by Henry I of England, issued upon his accession to the throne in 1100. It sought to bind the King to certain laws regarding the treatment of church officials and nobles...
, which was King Henry's
Henry I of England
Henry I was the fourth son of William I of England. He succeeded his elder brother William II as King of England in 1100 and defeated his eldest brother, Robert Curthose, to become Duke of Normandy in 1106...
coronation charter promising not to follow the administrative and legal policies of his predecessor, King William II
William II of England
William II , the third son of William I of England, was King of England from 1087 until 1100, with powers over Normandy, and influence in Scotland. He was less successful in extending control into Wales...
. About a third of the material in the Leges is also in the Quadripartitus. There is evidence that the author of the two works had been a member of the household of Gerard, who had been chancellor
Lord Chancellor
The Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, or Lord Chancellor, is a senior and important functionary in the government of the United Kingdom. He is the second highest ranking of the Great Officers of State, ranking only after the Lord High Steward. The Lord Chancellor is appointed by the Sovereign...
under Kings William I
William I of England
William I , also known as William the Conqueror , was the first Norman King of England from Christmas 1066 until his death. He was also Duke of Normandy from 3 July 1035 until his death, under the name William II...
and William II before becoming Archbishop of York
Archbishop of York
The Archbishop of York is a high-ranking cleric in the Church of England, second only to the Archbishop of Canterbury. He is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and metropolitan of the Province of York, which covers the northern portion of England as well as the Isle of Man...
under Henry I. The work was likely composed at Winchester
Winchester
Winchester is a historic cathedral city and former capital city of England. It is the county town of Hampshire, in South East England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government district, and is located at the western end of the South Downs, along the course of...
.
Usually the work has been known as the Leges Henrici Primi, or Laws of Henry the First. It gained that name from the inscription "De libertate ecclesie et totius Anglie obseruanda leges Henrici primi" which occurs on five of the six extant manuscripts. The sixth manuscript adds "filii conquestoris" at the end of the inscription. The historian Felix Libermann called the work Leges Henrici, but the fuller title of Leges Henrici Primi is generally used to help diferentiate which Henry is being referred to.
Contents
The work is not a law code issued by King Henry, but a compilation of already extant legislation that was still current during his reign. It is not a comprehensive listing of all laws that were in force during the early 11th century. It begins with Henry's Charter of Liberties, which he issued after his coronation, and this is the only actual legal document reproduced in the Leges. Some discussions of juridicial matters then follow, then a long treatment of ecclesiastical issues. The rest of the treatise is concerned with non-ecclesiastical subjects, including cases of injury, theft, murder, and feuds. Procedural topics are included, such as how summonses to court should be formed, what notices need to be made before judicial procedures, how adjournments should be handled, and other such concerns. There is no strong organizational framework to the entirety of the Leges, which leads the author to repeat subjects as well as treating some subjects less than adequately.The law code recognised the difference between the laws of the Danelaw
Danelaw
The Danelaw, as recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle , is a historical name given to the part of England in which the laws of the "Danes" held sway and dominated those of the Anglo-Saxons. It is contrasted with "West Saxon law" and "Mercian law". The term has been extended by modern historians to...
, the old Kingdom of Mercia, and the lands of the Kingdom of Wessex. It also set out a list of legal proceedings that could only be tried before the king or his officials, the cases of which were known as "royal pleas" or "pleas of the crown"; they included serious crimes such as treason, murder, rape, robbery, arson, and some types of theft. Treasure trove
Treasure trove
A treasure trove may broadly be defined as an amount of money or coin, gold, silver, plate, or bullion found hidden underground or in places such as cellars or attics, where the treasure seems old enough for it to be presumed that the true owner is dead and the heirs undiscoverable...
and salvage from wrecks were also matters of interest to the crown. Other royal cases involved counterfeiters or false judgement, or violent acts against the king himself or his household and servants. The king also reserved the right to hear appeals from other courts conducted by local authorities or by his nobles. The tract also set out who should attend the shire court
Shire Court
Shire Court or Shire Moot was an Anglo-Saxon institution dating back to the earliest days of English society. The Shire Court referred to the magnates, both lay and spiritual, who were entitled to sit in council for the shire and was a very early form of representative democracy. The practice of...
, ruling that the local bishop and earl, as well as the sheriff and local barons, among others, should attend.
The work assumes that the royal legal system would still address some issues that later would have been dealt with by ecclesiastical courts. Clergy are not only to take part in the shire court, but could be summoned to answer charges in the court. It also sets out the various courts that were established and their jurisdiction. It takes for granted that the Anglo-Saxon laws of England are still in effect. It also addresses the administration of forest law under Henry I. Another new concern in the Leges is law covering the roadways and highways.
Another area covered by the work is royal finance, with the Leges setting out the rate of Danegeld
Danegeld
The Danegeld was a tax raised to pay tribute to the Viking raiders to save a land from being ravaged. It was called the geld or gafol in eleventh-century sources; the term Danegeld did not appear until the early twelfth century...
, at a rate of one shilling per hide. It also covers judicial fines, setting forth a fine of 46 mark
Mark (money)
Mark was a measure of weight mainly for gold and silver, commonly used throughout western Europe and often equivalent to 8 ounces. Considerable variations, however, occurred throughout the Middle Ages Mark (from a merging of three Teutonic/Germanic languages words, Latinized in 9th century...
s as the penalty for committing murder. The author of the work criticised the royal justices, calling them greedy. It sets out elaborate procedures for the conduct of murder cases, or murdum.
The Leges also devoted some effort to the theory of the law, and attempted to make generalisations about legal procedures and practices. It also contains a number of dicta which became cliches, such as "who unknowingly offends will knowingly amend" and "witness is not needed as to what did not occur, but as to what an accused claims did occur".
Manuscripts
The work comes down to the present day in two manuscript traditions, neither one of which contains many manuscripts. There are six surviving manuscripts between the two traditions – that of the manuscript Sc and its copies, and the "London group". The Sc group is composed of the Sc manuscript itself, which probably dates from about 1225, and its copy, Hg, which was written about 1250. Sc is currently part of the Red Book of the ExchequerRed Book of the Exchequer
The Red Book of the Exchequer is a 13th-century manuscript compilation of the records of the English Exchequer. Made of vellum, the book was compiled by a royal clerk who died in 1246...
held by the Public Record Office
Public Record Office
The Public Record Office of the United Kingdom is one of the three organisations that make up the National Archives...
. Hg is held by the British Library
British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom, and is the world's largest library in terms of total number of items. The library is a major research library, holding over 150 million items from every country in the world, in virtually all known languages and in many formats,...
and is catalogued as Hargrave 313. It consists of folios 5 through 14a of the manuscript.
Four other extant manuscripts belong to the "London" tradition, and three other now-lost manuscripts are also known to have belonged to this grouping. The surviving manuscripts are known as K, Co, Or, and Rs. The three lost manuscripts have been assigned the names of Gi, Sl, and Tw. K is a manuscript currently in the British Library, and was part of the Cotton Library
Cotton library
The Cotton or Cottonian library was collected privately by Sir Robert Bruce Cotton M.P. , an antiquarian and bibliophile, and was the basis of the British Library...
before becoming part of the British Museum then the British Library. Given the catalogue name of Cotton Claudius D II, it is the only illuminated manuscript
Illuminated manuscript
An illuminated manuscript is a manuscript in which the text is supplemented by the addition of decoration, such as decorated initials, borders and miniature illustrations...
of the Leges and dates to around 1310. Co is currently in the Corpus Christi College, Cambridge
Corpus Christi College, Cambridge
Corpus Christi College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. It is notable as the only college founded by Cambridge townspeople: it was established in 1352 by the Guilds of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary...
Library and was part of the Parker Library in the 16th century before being bequeathed to Corpus Christi on Parker's
Matthew Parker
Matthew Parker was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1559 until his death in 1575. He was also an influential theologian and arguably the co-founder of Anglican theological thought....
death. This manuscript dates to around 1320 and is catalogued as Corpus Christi College 70. The Leges occupies folios 108 through 170. The manuscript Or was originally part of the Oriel College, Oxford Library but is now part of the Bodleian Library
Bodleian Library
The Bodleian Library , the main research library of the University of Oxford, is one of the oldest libraries in Europe, and in Britain is second in size only to the British Library...
. It dates from around 1330 and is catalogued as Oriel College 46. The last extant manuscript is Rs, which is currently in the John Rylands Library
John Rylands Library
The John Rylands Library is a Victorian Gothic building on Deansgate in Manchester, England. The library, which opened to the public in 1900, was founded by Mrs Enriqueta Augustina Rylands in memory of her late husband, John Rylands...
in Manchester. It was written about 1201 and is catalogued as Rylands lat.155.
The three known but now-lost manuscripts included Gi, which was known in 1721 and was owned by the London Guildhall. It was used by David Wilkins
David Wilkins (orientalist)
David Wilkins , originally named Wilke or Wilkius, was a Prussian orientalist, born in Memel, who settled in England. His 1716 publication of the Coptic New Testament was the editio princeps.-Life:...
to compile his 1721 work Leges Anglo-Saxonicae as well by Henry Spelman
Henry Spelman
Sir Henry Spelman was an English antiquary, noted for his detailed collections of medieval records, in particular of church councils.-Life:...
to correct manuscripts used in the Epistola Eleutherii. The Sl manuscript belonged to John Selden
John Selden
John Selden was an English jurist and a scholar of England's ancient laws and constitution and scholar of Jewish law...
in the 17th century, but it is unclear when it was created. It was used by Roger Twysden in his edition of the Leges Henrici Primi. The last securely known lost manuscript is the Tw manuscript, and was used by Twysden in his edition of the Leges, and was perhaps owned by him also.
Possibly two other manuscripts existed but little is known about them. One is often designated Sp, and was used by Spelman for his 1625 Glossarium Archaiollogicum, for which he used three manuscripts of the Leges – Sc, K and one that he does not name but has subsequently been designated as Sp. It appears to have belonged to the London grouping, and may have been Gi rather than a separate manuscript, although Spelman's description and usage is unclear as to which possibility is most likely. The other possible manuscript was one that Wilkins referred to as "quod iudetur fuisse Archiepiscopi aut Monachorum Cantuar." but it has not been found in searches of the Lambeth Library and the various Canterbury repositories.
Besides the medieval manuscripts, there are three early modern transcriptions of the work – one from the 16th century now at the Cambridge University Library
Cambridge University Library
The Cambridge University Library is the centrally-administered library of Cambridge University in England. It comprises five separate libraries:* the University Library main building * the Medical Library...
as manuscript Dd.VI 38, the second at Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Trinity has more members than any other college in Cambridge or Oxford, with around 700 undergraduates, 430 graduates, and over 170 Fellows...
from the 17th century, catlogued as Cambridge O.10,20, and the last in the British Library as Harley 785, also dating from the 17th century.
Publishing history
The first complete printed edition of the Leges was in 1644, as an appendix to a new edition of the Arcaionomia prepared by Abraham Wheelock. The actual text of the Leges was edited by Twysden. Prior to this, two other scholars, William LambardeWilliam Lambarde
William Lambarde was an antiquarian and writer on legal subjects.-Life:Lambarde was born in London. His father was a draper , an alderman and a sheriff of London. In 1556, he was admitted to Lincoln's Inn...
and Spelman, had intended to produce printed editions of the Leges, but were unable to follow through on the project. A portion of the Leges had earlier appeared in Edward Coke
Edward Coke
Sir Edward Coke SL PC was an English barrister, judge and politician considered to be the greatest jurist of the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras. Born into a middle class family, Coke was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge before leaving to study at the Inner Temple, where he was called to the...
's Institutes of the Laws of England in 1628. Another edition appeared in 1721, with Wilkins' publication of the Leges Anglo-Saxonicae, which built on the work of William Somner
William Somner
William Somner was an English antiquarian scholar, the author of the first dictionary of the Anglo-Saxon language.-Life:He was baptised in the church of St. Margaret, Canterbury, on 5 November 1598, but according to a statement of his widow and surviving relatives, the date of his birth was 30...
between 1645 and 1652. In 1776, David Hoüard reprinted Wilkins' text of the Leges in the Traites sur les coutumes anglo-normandes, and in 1789 another reproduction of Wilkins' text appeared in Paulus Canciani's Barbarorum Legs Antiquae.
What is considered the first scholarly discussion of the Leges appeared in 1827 by George Philips, who did not reproduce the entire text in his Englische Reichsund Rechtsgeschichte, but did provide a couple of extracts along with a discussion of the sources of the work and a description of the work. In 1840, the Record Commission published an edition of the text that had been edited by Richard Price and Benjamin Thorpe
Benjamin Thorpe
Benjamin Thorpe was an English scholar of Anglo-Saxon.-Biography:After studying for four years at Copenhagen University, under the Danish philologist Rasmus Christian Rask, he returned to England in 1830, and in 1832 published an English version of Caedmon's metrical paraphrase of portions of the...
. The next major production of the Leges was Felix Liebermann
Felix Liebermann
Felix Liebermann was a Jewish German historian, who is celebrated for his scholarly contributions to the study of medieval English history, particularly that of Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Norman law. Born in 1851, Berlin, he came from a Jewish-German family and was the younger brother of the painter...
who produced three volumes of Gesetze der Angelsachsen between 1903 and 1916, with the Leges being one of the legal treatises being reproduced in the Gesetze. A modern translation, with the original Latin text on pages facing the translation, was published in 1972 by the Clarendon Press and edited by L. J. Downer, and includes updated commentary and manuscript information.
Legacy and influence
The work is an important historical source for the study of the Middle Ages. An edition was published along with other 12th-century legal treatises, in the Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, and more recently it has been studied by the historian L. J. Downer. The historian Patrick WormaldPatrick Wormald
Charles Patrick Wormald was a British historian born in Neston, Cheshire, son of historian Brian Wormald.He attended Eton College as a King's Scholar...
says of the Leges that it "has had more effect on views of English law before Henry II than any other".