Ine's Laws, Northleoda Laga and the Dunsæte Ordinance

Question 1

Date of Ine’s laws

Answer 1

Ine was King of Wessex 688-726 and his laws are generally believed to have been written c. 694, making him the first non-Kentish legislator

Question 2

Date of Northleoda Laga

Answer 2

• Has been argued that it was the work of Wulfstan but Wormald disagrees, he highlights that it references the need for a weregild of a Northumbrian king, of which the last died in 952- so must be 10th century?

Question 3

Date of Dunsaete ordinance

Answer 3

• debatable
• Originally Liberman, and more recently Pratt and Fordham have associated the D.O. with Aethelstan b
• But could argue that it is odd for him to be interested in equality on both sides of the border, considering his often harsh treatment of the welsh.
• Molyneux argues it was later 10th century and there is a similarity in terminology used in Aethelred’s law codes

Question 4

transmission of Northleoda laga

Answer 4

from CCCC MS 201 that is associated with wulfstan, but it is also extent in several other MS collections

Question 5

transmission of dunsate ordinance

Answer 5

is in old English in one encyclopedia version and also survives in another Latin encyclopedia version, dating to the 11th and 12th centuries respectively. Both versions are very similar- so likely back to point of production?

Question 6

how do ine’s laws survive?/ transmission of Ine’s laws

Answer 6

survive only as transmitted as an appendage to King Alfred’s laws.

• this means it is possible we do not have them in their original 7th-century form, only from the 9th century
• It is possible that Alfred edited Ine’s code to suit his own purpose and indeed Alfred mentions something like that in the prologue.
• Wormald argues that Alfred would have ‘neither motive or opportunity to create artificiality’ but provides no evidence for his claim

Question 7

What region/ peoleps do Ine’s laws cover?

Answer 7

english and welsh

Question 8

What region/ peoples does the dunsaete ordinance cover?

Answer 8

b

Question 9

What region/ peoples does Northleoda L. cover?

Answer 9

b

Question 10

Form of Northleoda Laga

Answer 10

• Wormald calls it, along with Gencytho, a ‘promotion law’. It is difficult to know how much they reflect reality, but it is clear that they give great insight into the understanding of social status in anglo-Saxon England.
• they record no official enactments but seem to record what the complier understood to be church and customary law.

Question 11

Form of Ine’s laws

Answer 11

• It is a ‘law code’- to the extent that that word can be used
• It is issued by a king, and so is top-down legislation
• Wormald argues it was reactive- ‘live’

Question 12

what is the issue with legislation as a form of evidence (especially pertaining to Ine’s law)

Answer 12

we don’t know the extent to which it was enacted and it could just be idealistic.
- in the 8th century anglo-saxon world, writing down law was still a new thing. indeed, Ine’s laws are quite disorganised in terms of topic

Question 13

Scholars to cite for Ine’s laws

Answer 13

Woolf

Wormald

Question 14

What is arguably the main point to extrapolate from Ine’s laws?

Answer 14

That Ine sought to regulate relations between the Welsh and the English by making the Welsh legally inferiror

Question 15

What does Woolf argue that Ine was trying to do by making the welsh legally inferiror? (main argument)

Answer 15

• Woolf argues that Ine was trying to extinguish the race/ identity of the welsh in England through economic apartheid
• He argues that the decrease in wergeld would have prompted a lower social status which would have afforded them fewer opportunities and thus encouraged them to leave for British controlled kingdoms
• argues that Ine’s measures pushed the Britons into taking on the Anglo Saxon identity
• • he even goes so far as to argue that this form of thinking goes someway to explaining the disappearance of the Britons.

Question 16

What does Woolf argue that Ine was trying to do by making the welsh legally inferior? (secondary argument)

Answer 16

• Woolf argues that by Ine giving them a status under law, however reduced, that this prevented wholesale resistance

Question 17

Where do Wormald and Woolf both believe Ine got his ideology from?

Answer 17

both argue that Ine got the ideology of encouraging ethnic separation from similar Frankish law, in particular the Lex Salica which gave the franks higher status than that of the native gallo-Roman population

Question 18

EVIDENCE of Ine’s laws for the comparitive lack of welsh status

Answer 18

• • The welsh are deliberately given half the legal status of ine’s English subjects
• A Welshman who owns five hides of land has a wergeld of 600 shillings, whereas the English equivalent rank as a wergeld of 120 shillings, and his son 100.
• • Also, a welsh taxpayer (gafolgelda) has a wergeld of 120 shillings, and his son 100. whereas the English equivalent ranks equate to 1200 and 200 shillings respectively.

Question 19

What does Ine getting his ideas from the Lex Salica imply/ tell us?

Answer 19

Implies 1) that regulating relations between ethnic groups was not an issue confined to the British isles
2) that the same strategies could be used with efficacy in the British isles and on the continent.

Question 20

What does wormald argue regarding Ine’s motivations for lawmaking?

Answer 20

• Initially argued that Ine’s law codes were reactive and still very much feud centred, but later argued that Ine was in fact taking up a new position as a royal law maker
• – Should ask why Ine would have taken this position upon himself? Reaction to the continent?
• • there does seem to have been a need to regulate ethnic groups?- so still reactive in part?

—- Describes them as ‘remedial legislation’

Question 21

A point to note regarding the efficacy of laws for regulating ethnic regulations?

Answer 21

their efficacy might have depended on how people conceptualised their ethnic identity and the importance they placed on it– for example, for the british under Ine’s rule; was losing their British identity a big deal?

Question 22

What are Woolf’s general arguments on ethnic identity

Answer 22

• argues that a society which regulates ethnic affiliation is unlikely to be one which is in the process of transforming ethnic identity en masse as there is no blurring of identity
• argues that 7th century wessex was not a multi ethnic state but a patchwork of different regions held together by the overall supremecy of the English

Question 23

2 main topics from ine’s laws

Answer 23

• regulating welsh and english through lower wergelds

- welsh obtaining status through association with the king

Question 24

what is the exception for the law on wergeld for Ine’s laws?

Answer 24

• “The king’s welsh horseman… his wergeld is 200 shillings”
• • 200 shillings is the same as that of an english freeman

Question 25

What does the exception on the king’s welsh messenger tell us?

Answer 25

• argue that through association with a king a welshman could increase his status
• • this also promulgates the notion that ine is the giver of status

Question 26

What does Northleoda laga say about a king’s wergild?

Answer 26

“The payment for the king of the North people is 30,000 thrymsas” then it goes gradually down from there in order of societal importance

Question 27

What indicates that Northleoda laga is local rather than royal?

Answer 27

the fact that it refers to the king in the third person

Question 28

Discuss the use of the word ‘hold’ in Northleoda laga

Answer 28

the word ‘hold’ is Old Norse

• Scandi title applied to a class of noblemen
• • so could say a valid comparative point with LBS is that it uses different terms from different languages for ranks in society

Question 29

What does Northleoda laga say on welsh people?

Answer 29

• “If a Welshman prospers” his wegild is 80 shillings, but if he does not prosper it is 80
• a ceorls’ weregeld is 266 thyrmsas

Question 30

What is Northleoda laga? (form)

Answer 30

• A statement of the wergilds of various classes from king downwards in Northumbrian and Mercian society. the text also distinguishes between 4 different types of thegn and their qualifications
• its trying to find an

Question 31

Discuss the claiming of a king’s wergild from Northleoda laga and what this implies

Answer 31

• Don’t think there is any instance of a king’s wergeld being claimed- disparity between reality and the code

Question 32

aim of Northleoda laga?

Answer 32

to find an equation between different names for the same position

Question 33

These sources in terms of pan-british action?

Answer 33

• Should be cautious of drawing conclusions from these sources about the treatment of ethnicity in the early middle ages as this would imply too much in terms of pan-british action

Question 34

use of Northleoda laga as a source

Answer 34

it is impossible to know how much it reflected reality, but the text is still useful as it allows us to understand social status in Anglo-Saxon England, and how different societal positions were conceptualised and understood in relation to others within the same hierarchy, and in relation to those of another group.

Question 35

What is the striking thing about the D.O. (especially compared to Ine’s laws)

Answer 35

• the level of equality between the english and welsh
• The motivation here seems to be peace, unlike Ine’s laws where you can see him trying to benefit from his power
• It seems to take practicality into account, which many law codes do not

Question 36

What is the main concern of the D.O.?

Answer 36

Cattle thieving and tracking cattle across the river- a very specific issue that was to be dealt with locally

• Also homicide
• but these crimes happened elsewhere, so not like these crimes themselves relate to ethnic tensions.

Question 37

Similarity between the D.O. and Icelandic law?

Answer 37

Icelandic law also has a focus on just finding a solution, rather than being primarily concerned with abstract notions of justice or royal authority; both have practicality at their centre

Question 38

How does Keynes summarise the D.O?

Answer 38

“a short statement of current legal practice written down without official involvement”– but then it says witan at the begining?

Question 39

First section of the D.O. and it’s implications

Answer 39

” This is the agreement which the English witan and the councillors of the Welsh people have established amonst the Dunsaete”

– Implies that the dunsate were/ regarded themselves as a unified people, despite being ‘english’/’welsh’– local identity more important than ‘national’?

Question 40

How does the D.O say cases were dealt with

Answer 40

• “Twelve lawmen shall declare what is just to welsh and English; six of them English, six of them Welsh”
• also says that clearing oneself through ‘ordeal’ is the only way to be acquitted of a crime

Question 41

Discuss the provision for limiting wergilds and what this implies

Answer 41

One provision limits wergilds to half the normal sum for Welshman killed by an Englishman (and vice versa) within the vicinity of the boundary river
– Practical? Could happen a lot and a lower wergild could mean that the payment was paid more frequently, and thus more peaceful resolutions

Question 42

What does Fordham argue for the context of the D.O’s production?

Answer 42

Fordham strongly argues that the document was not born out of a long established border arrangement but rather particular political needs of the early 10th century, and had been royally arranged
- Argues that the document is part of a royal defensive peacekeeping reform on the welsh frontier

Question 43

Scholars to cite for the D.O

Answer 43

• Liberman
• Pratt
• Fordham
• Keynes
• Molyneux

Question 44

Alongside halved payments, what else in the D.O. is very lenient (indicating a preoccupation with peace)

Answer 44

• Says that people could clear themselves if they didn’t know any better
• If convicted of theft, they were to just pay ‘simple compensation… and no other payment or penalty’

Question 45

Who are the ‘dunsate’?

Answer 45

• this is the only text in which the Dunsaete are recorded
• the ordinance seems to concern welsh and english territories seperated from the river wye, with the river being the agreed boundary between the two communities

Question 46

What does the text imply about Anglo-Welsh relations?

Answer 46

• Makes it clear there was Anglo-Welsh interaction
• Evidence of non-miliary contact across the Anglo-Welsh frontier can also be seen in archaeology– finds in wales of english coins and pottery could reflect trade