The Laws of Alfred: The Domboc and the Making of Anglo-Saxon Law (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. 01.0_pp_i_vi_Frontmatter 2 02.0_pp_vii_viii_Frontmatter 8 03.0_pp_ix_x_Contents 10 04.0_pp_xi_xi_List_of_Figures 12 05.0_pp_xii_xii_List_of_Tables 13 06.0_pp_xiii_xix_Preface 14 07.0_pp_xx_xxii_Acknowledgments 21 08.0_pp_1_2_Backgrounds 24 08.1_pp_3_41_The_Emergence_of_Written_Law_in_Early_England 26 08.2_pp_42_77_Legal_Erudition_in_Seventh-_and_Ninth-century_Wessex 64 08.3_pp_78_112_Reshaping_Tradition_Oaths_Ordeals_and_the_Innovations_of_the_Domboc 101 08.4_pp_113_145_The_Transmission_of_the_Domboc_Old_English_Manuscripts_and_Other_Early_Witnesses 136 08.5_pp_146_174_Reception_Editorial_History_and_Interpretative_Legacies 169 09.0_pp_175_176_Editions 198 09.1_pp_177_180_Editorial_Procedure 200 9.1.1_pp_181_219_Rubrics_Edition_and_Translation 204 9.1.2_pp_220_273_Alfreds_Prologue 243 9.1.3_pp_274_363_The_Laws_of_Alfred 297 9.1.4_pp_364_437_The_Laws_of_Ine 387 10.0_pp_438_442_Appendix_Handlist_of_Prior_Editions 461 11.0_pp_443_466_Bibliography 466 12.0_pp_467_469_Topical_Index_to_the_Laws_of_Alfred_and_Ine 490 13.0_pp_470_472_Index_Nominum_et_Rerum 493