Law, Literature, and Social Regulation in Early Medieval England

Valuable new insights into the multi-layered and multi-directional relationship of law, literature, and social regulation in pre-Conquest English society. Pre-Conquest English law was among the most sophisticated in early medieval Europe. Composed largely in the vernacular, it played a crucial role in the evolution of early English identity and exercised a formative influence on the development of the Common Law. However, recent scholarship has also revealed the significant influence of these legal documents and ideas on other cultural domains, both modern and pre-modern. This collection explores the richness of pre-Conquest legal writing by looking beyond its traditional codified form. Drawing on methodologies ranging from traditional philology to legal and literary theory, and from a diverse selection of contributors offering a broad spectrum of disciplines, specialities and perspectives, the essays examine the intersection between traditional juridical texts - from law codes and charters to treatises and religious regulation - and a wide range of literary genres, including hagiography and heroic poetry. In doing so, they demonstrate that the boundary that has traditionally separated "law" from other modes of thought and writing is far more porous than hitherto realized. Overall, the volume yields valuable new insights into the multi-layered and multi-directional relationship of law, literature, and social regulation in pre-Conquest English society. Front Cover 1 Table of Contents 6 Acknowledgments 8 List of Contributors 9 List of Abbreviations 10 Introduction: Law as Literature/Literature as Law 12 PART I - LAW AND LITERATURE: NORMATIVE ALLIANCES 40 1. The Alfredian Prose Psalms and a Legal English Identity 42 2. Cynescipe, Bishop Æthelwold, and the Spread of Legal Language 65 3. Traces and Supplements:Literary Prose in Sawyer 404 79 4. The Curious Incident of the Monster in the Night-Time 100 5. Uncertain Judgment: The Ordeal in Hagiography and Law 126 PART II - LITERATURE AND LAW: NORMATIVE RENEWALS 146 6. The Historical and Literary Context of the Legatine Capitulary of 786 148 7. Liturgy as Law: Coronation Ordines in Tenth-Century England 162 8. Juxtaposing the Later Old English Law Codes and the “Dispute Narratives” 187 9. Royal Reeves, Royal Authority, and the “Holy Society” in Wulfstan’s Writings 209 10. Laying Down the Law? Bishop Headda’s Visit to Saint Guthlac 233 11. The Terms of Hypocrisy in Early English Law and Literature 247 Bibliography 270 Index 300 Anglo-Saxon Studies 310