Trial by History's Jury: Examining II Æthelred's Legislative and Literary Legacy, AD 993–1006
2014; Routledge; Volume: 95; Issue: 7 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1080/0013838x.2014.942999
ISSN1744-4217
Autores Tópico(s)Medieval and Early Modern Justice
ResumoAbstractThe sometimes unfortunate decisions made by King Æthelred II during his reign have cast him in an unsavory light, so much so that his various accomplishments have been overlooked. The negative anecdotes and unflattering legends chronicled about him after his death by medieval historians such as William of Malmesbury have left a lasting negative impression. Although detailing Æthelred's failings is a familiar subject, he installed a number of important judicial laws and ecclesiastical charters that proved beneficial to the country during and after his reign. Æthelred's legal implementations might not offer enough support to repair his reputation from the poor position it holds in the eyes of history's critics; however, some of his legislative decisions deserve critical attention and commendation. This paper examines the extent to which the medieval justice system was shaped by Æthelred's judicial policies. Additionally, this paper reconsiders the legislative decisions in the third quarter of Æthelred's reign which contributed to thriving ecclesiastical, and by association artistic, communities. Perhaps it is easier to focus on Æthelred's failures because there seems to be no shortage of them; however, the persistent focus on his shortcomings misrepresents him and deprives us of gaining a more accurate image of his character. Despite the continued Viking attacks from AD 993 to 1006, Anglo-Saxon England maintained a generally stable period of governance that contributed to a flourish of literature, liturgical texts, manuscripts and art. Therefore, this paper focuses on the rule of Æthelred II during the final decade of the 10th- century until 1006 in order to shed light on a relatively successful period in which implementation of specific legislative and ecclesiastical policies proved beneficial for Anglo-Saxon England and its future. AcknowledgementI would like to thank Professor Carole Hough for reading and commenting on a portion of this paper.Notes1According to Ryan Lavelle (272–3) William of Malmesbury's indictment of the king portrayed him as one "who would not raise himself out of the royal bed." See also William of Malmesbury, Gesta Regum Anglorum, 272–3.2Select reading that offers a more balanced view of the king include Keynes, "Declining Reputation," 227–53; Keynes, Diplomas, 186–230; William; Keynes, "Re-Reading," 77–97; Lavelle; Lemke.3Given that the king ruled for thirty-eight years, historians often divide Æthelred's reign into four stages. Simon Keynes defines these as the period of tutelage (978–84), the period of youthful indiscretions (984–93), the years of maturity (993–1006) and the closing decade (1006–16) (see Diplomas, 154–227).4See Liebermann, ed. See also n. 10.5See n. 3.6See Keynes, Diplomas, 176–85.7See Lavelle, 68, 78–9.8The Wantage Code survives in five manuscripts and can be found in MS DRc/R1, fols. 48r–9v, Medway Archive and Local Studies Centre, Strood; London, British Library, Additional 49366, fols. 74v–6v; Manchester, John Rylands University Library, Lat. 420, fols. 62r–3v; London, British Library, Royal 11 B II, fols. 155r–6v; and London, British Library, Cotton Titus A. xxvii, fols. 140r–1r. Only the Strood manuscript contains the Old English text, whereas the other four are all manuscripts of the Latin Quadripartitus. For discussion of the transmission of the Wantage Code, see Wormald, The Making of English Law, 321–3.9A jury system can be traced back to ancient Greece and was further developed in Rome. For select studies relating to the origin of the jury in ancient Rome see Jolowicz; Cracknell and Wilson; Tellegen-Couperus; Riggsby.10Blackstone, vol. 1, "Introduction," sec. iii and 67–70.11See Stubbs, 246. William Stubbs' opinion of the jury is further analyzed in Norman F. Cantor's (ed.) "Introduction." See also Brunner; Maitland, 120.12Brunner, 87. See also Glaeser and Shleifer, 1198–200.13Stubbs, I:427.14See Whitelock, ed., 7.15Text: Liebermann, I:228, 65. Unless otherwise stated, all translations by M. Rambaran-Olm.16See Brunner, 402–4.17See Stubbs, I:427. It should also be noted that Frederic W. Maitland did not fully accept Stubbs' argument. Maitland argued that the jury was not continuously in practice between the tenth to twelfth centuries that could connect the practice with Henry II's accusing juries of the twelfth century. Although Maitland claimed that Æthelred's twelve offered the possibility of the origins of the medieval jury, the significance of the twelve thegns in relation to judicial procedures was reduced because Maitland suggested that the Wantage Code's significance applied to the Danish district rather that the entire Anglo-Saxon kingdom. See Pollock and Maitland, I:142. See also Stephens.18See Stubbs; Pollock and Maitland. See also n. 4.19Wormald, Making of English Law, 18. Notably, Patrick Wormald earlier argued that there were traces of fiscal inquisitio procedure found elsewhere in Æthelred's legislation, so the twelve thegns could be understood in that context; however, Wormald shifted his position and maintained that there was evidence that linked the twelve thegns to general public duties that involved reporting crimes. See Wormald, "Maitland and Anglo-Saxon Law," 10–12.20Wormald, Making of English Law, 18.21Holdsworth, I:3–4, I:15–24.22Wormald, Making of English Law, 25. See also Holdsworth, I:15–24.23See Liebermann, II:466.24Ibid.25Ibid. Wormald (Making of English Law, 24) argues that the odds for or against Frankish or Scandinavian roots were equal given Frankish court evidence is from the ninth century and Scandinavian documents date from the twelfth.26See Hurnard.27Hurnard, n. 7, 380–96.28Helmholz, 614.29The word jury, meaning a company of persons sworn to render a verdict based on questions and evidence, comes to us from the Anglo-Norman juree with the earliest recorded evidence found in the Glanvill IX. xi manuscript from 1188. See "jury, n." OED Online.30Hurnard, 378; Kew, The National Archives, E 372, Pipe Roll 31, Henry I, pp. 28, 34, 69, 103. Naomi Hurnard identified other references to local accusing juries in the years between 997 and 1166, thus, strengthening her argument that suggested a connection between the Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Norman jury. See also Hurnard, 379, 382–3; Kew, The National Archives, Pipe Roll 2–4 Henry II, p. 127; Hurnard, n. 7, 376–8 and 407–8. It should be noted that there are other examples of the use of juries of presentment not mentioned by Hurnard. See van Caenegem, 59, 72–6. Manuscript evidence can be found in W. H. Hart and Lyons, eds., I:188, n. 115 and III:38–9, n. 544; and also in Cambridge, University Library, Additional 3020-1 II, fol. 372.31See van Caenegem, 79–80. See also Chrimes, 49–50. Scholars who supported Hurnard's claim were Richardson and Sayles (25), who argued that the legislation was in fact a Wessex custom introduced to the Danelaw, rather than a Danish custom applied to Wessex. For other supporters of Hurnard's view, see Stewart-Brown, 79; Sayles, 335. Helen Cam (52) argues that the twelve thegns were akin to doomsmen, much like the scabini of the Carolingian courts.32Hurnard, 378.33See van Caenegem, 60–1 and 69–71.34Ibid., 59. Raoul C. van Caenegem (72–6) further cites cases between 1092–1175 where similar inquests were carried out.35Ibid. 60–1.36See Helmholz, 625–7.37Turner, 10.38Davies and Fouracre, eds., 221.39Hyams.40Early legal historians like Stubbs, Maitland and Heinrich Brunner were more concerned with determining whether the origins of the medieval jury, inherited from the Roman fisc were Frankish, English or Scandinavian. Charles H. Haskins followed in the early twentieth century by focusing a study on the medieval juries supposed Norman roots, but he, too, did not define what type of jury was being examined. See Haskins, Early Norman Jury, 613–40; Haskins, Norman Institutions, 196–238; Turner, 2, n. 8. See also Vinogradoff, 6; Holdsworth; Jolliffe, 207–9; Plucknett, 107–12; Adams, 86; Lyon, 183–4. Other scholars have addressed the twelve thegns in the Wantage Code, but conclude that Æthelred's legislation cannot be credited as a reference to the origin of the jury of presentment because it was not utilized over the entire Anglo-Saxon kingdom. See Pollock and Maitland, I:142. Hurnard, 376–7, directly addresses Pollock and Maitland's claim about the Danish district.41MacNair, 546–56.42Ibid., 587, see also 542.43Liebermann, I:65.44Lavelle, 82.45Lemke, 65.46"jury, n." (OED Online).47Stenton, 17.48See Keynes, Diplomas, 186–208.49The years 991, 992, 1010 and 1015 are the only years in which charters were not written. As evidenced in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the lack of charters in those years might be a result of Viking invasions at Maldon and London in 991 and 992, Thorkell's army invading in 1010 and political upheaval between Æthelred, Edmund and Cnut in 1015. References to the charter manuscripts follow the notation in Sawyer, ed. (S and the year); and adopted by Keynes, Diplomas.50The ecclesiastical land seizure was first outlined in the reign of Æthelred's father, King Edgar (r. 959–75), but enforced in what Keynes refers to as Æthelred's period of youthful indiscretions (984–93). For further discussion of the confiscation of religious houses see Keynes, Diplomas, 176–86. Specific references to the return of land to religious houses are found in Kemble, ed., no. 698 (S 891—dated 997); Campbell, ed., nos. 31 (S 885—dated to 995), 32 (S 893—dated 998).51Roach, 260.52See Cubitt, 101.53Sawyer, S 876.54See Kelly, ed., II:503–9, no. 129 (S 937).55See Cubitt, 188. Catherine Cubitt further identifies a number of lesser donations to the continuation and support of monastic communities. Levi Roach provides further evidence of Æthelred's penitential state, as does his article in the present volume.56S 893.57Translation from Crick, ed., 190.58Keynes, Diplomas, xviii.59Keynes, "Crime and Punishment," 73.60Roach, 276.61The grants are recorded in S 884 for Muchelney; S 895 for Sherborne; S 906 for Barton (1004); and S 911 for Eynsham. For further reading on the Eynsham privilege see Keynes, "King Æthelred's Charter."62See Cubitt, 187. See also Stafford, 73–4.63Most of these events are chronicled in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle under each appropriate year. For further discussion of these events see Lavelle, 97–109. There is an absence of record for the year 989 in the Chronicle, but the French chronicler Rodulfus Glaber (985–1047) documented the event in his five series Histories, 110–1.64According to Keynes (Diplomas, 183–5) a number of the laymen responsible for leading the king astray included Ælfweard, Ælfsige, Ælfgar, Wulfsige and Æthelsige. This is not to suggest that all of the king's counsellors were ill-suited or careless in terms of national interests, but given Æthelred's moniker as one who was ill-advised, there are many prominent figures whose poor counsel negatively affected the young king and his policies.65Keynes, "Æthelred II."66Keynes, Diplomas, 188–90.67Ibid.68Keynes and Lapidge, 125.69For a full summary of the central writing office see Keynes, Diplomas, 134–53.70Ibid., 152.71Cf. Keynes, "Re-Reading," 95 and n. 89.72Dating Old English poems is almost always a complicated affair. However, it has been established that many of the extant poems in the corpus of Old English poetry were composed before Æthelred's reign.73See Gneuss, 68–83. Helmut Gneuss developed a convincing argument that the prose texts were products of Æthelwold's school. Equally important is recognizing the quality of education and writing within the school. Education in Æthelwold's school equipped Old English prose writers with the processes involved in transferring thought from one language to another with aptness and finesse, and those skills were evident in the works of many students, like Ælfric.74Clemoes, 103.75Principle studies of the poem, its heroic qualities and its connection with Æthelred include Irving; Scragg, ed.; Niles; Alexander. The original manuscript (London, British Library, Cotton Otho A. xii) that contained the Maldon-poem was destroyed in the 1731 fire in the library of Sir Robert Cotton, but a transcription made several years before the fire has partially preserved the poem.76Additionally, Andreas Lemke (15) notes that continental chroniclers like Adam Bremen, Thietmar of Merseburg, and other contemporary sources from Æthelred's reign like the Annales Cambriae, the Heimskringla and the Encomium Emmae Reginae offer praise of Æthelred's reign. Despite the quality of evidence from the period that shows Æthelred in a more positive light from the Continent, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, albeit a somewhat biased, equivocal and deficient source remains the most influential source from Anglo-Saxon England in the persistent and deep-rooted tradition of prejudice that obstructs our understanding of Æthelred's reign.77Compilation of the Exeter Book and Junius Manuscript can be dated to Æthelred's reign or within the few decades before his reign, so most of the poetry within each anthology is a collection of earlier Anglo-Saxon texts. Bernard J. Muir (ed., 1) states that the Exeter Book may very well be "the oldest surviving book of vernacular poetry from Anglo-Saxon England." Many of the poems in the codex are expressions of themes central to Christianity with Germanic themes and imagery functioning on ornamental levels to support overtly Christian subject matter. Dating of the manuscript has not gone without controversy, since it has been difficult to date the specific poetic works. Despite the dating controversy the manuscript is generally attributed to the latter half of the tenth century, and codicological and literary evidence suggests that the entire manuscript was both designed and copied c. 965–75. On the dating of the Exeter Book, see Muir, 1–3. Dating of the compilation of the Junius Manuscript has also proved difficult, but some scholars have argued that the codex was compiled c. 1050. See Krapp, ed.; Hall, n. 1 and appendix, 208; Lucas, 197–220; Remley, 264–6.78Apart from the poetic manuscripts preserved during Æthelred's reign, a large number of charters, chronicles, law-codes and homilies were written during his reign. Some 124 charters survive from Æthelred's reign. See Keynes, Diplomas, 237–68. Regarding the annals, they were most likely recorded after the king's death, yet only one chronicle from the year 989 is absent among the chronicles written between 978–1017 (with surviving copies in Old English, Latin or both). For related studies to the annals see Keynes, "Declining Reputation," 229–32; Keynes, "Tale of Two Kings," 201; C. Hart, vol. 1. The Blickling Homilies are the second largest collection of anonymous homilies written in Old English and were arguably recorded in the late tenth century (see Morris, ed. and trans.). Other homilists from the period whose work has survived include works by Dunstan, Æthelwold and Ælfric. Further reading of the homilists include Lawson, 565–86; Godden, ed.; Hussey, 681–704.79Although I have not discussed illumination and art during Æthelred's reign, there is much preserved and scholarly studies are abundant. Select studies on art and illumination include Deshman; Dumville; Gameson; Coatsworth and Pinder; Clarke. For a list and discussion of glossed texts dated to the late tenth century see Stanley, 23, 29, n. 8.80Clemoes, 104. It should be noted that periods of instability and threats of attacks on religious institutions could have also played part in the preservation of the texts. The point is that the compilation of both the Junius Manuscript and the Exeter Book are dated to Æthelred's reign and serve as a reminder that the poetry within the manuscripts was valued during that period.81By "culture" I mean the arts in various forms as well as intellectual progress and achievement.82Keynes, "King Æthelred's Charter," 451. It should also be noted that although the original charter is lost, a copy of S 911, recorded in the twelfth century, is preserved in Christ Church, Oxford. See Salter, ed., I:19–28.83Keynes, "King Æthelred's Charter," 460.84The first of a two-series compilation of homilies contains forty homilies devoted to chief events in the Christian year, while the second focuses on Church doctrine and history. According to Malcolm Godden, Ælfric was a competent Latinist, but chose to devote energies to writing in English as much as possible. His third series of homilies, dating from 996–97 is found in Lives of the Saints. See Ælfric, Lives; Ælfric, Homilies.85Ælfric's writings during 1005–10 include the following: a letter to the Monks of Eynsham which includes an abridgment of Æthelwold's De Consuetudine Monachorum in Jones, 110–149 and Logeman, 365–454; a letter to Wulfgeat of Ylmandun in Fehr; an introduction to the study of the Old and New Testaments in Marsden; a Latin life of Æthelwold in Winterbottom, 70–80; two pastoral letters written in Latin and English for Wulfstan, Archbishop of York and Bishop of Worcester in Whitelock, 242–302; and an English version of Bede's De Temporibus in Henel.86See Magennis, 27–51. See also Johnson.87The monastic revival of tenth-century England has been the subject of much research and that along with an explosion of learning has its roots in Alfred the Great's legislation. Beginning with Dunstan's revival of Glastonbury, the culmination of the "golden age" of the monastic revival reached its pinnacle in the last decade of the tenth century.88See Loyn, 94–102.89According to Keynes (Diplomas, 190, n. 128), Ælfric was also instrumental in persuading Æthelred to found the abbey of Cholsey. Henry R. Loyn (97–100) lists a number of policies created to promote the Church's integrity.90Farmer, 10.91Ælfric's teaching on the Eucharist in the Canons and in his Sermo de sacrificio in die Pascae was used by English Protestant reformers who argued that the early English Church did not hold to the Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation.92Due in part to the Viking invasions disorder within the monastic communities weakened and inhibited their development and because money that would have been allocated to ecclesiastical houses was redirected and used to buy off invaders, monasteries suffered not only from attacks, but from financial strain. See Farmer, 17. Although Æthelred had initially allowed some despoiling of ecclesiastical houses, he eventually alleviated some of the monasteries' financial pressures by enforcing mandatory tithes established by his father, King Edgar. See Loyn, 97–8.93Keynes, "Crime and Punishment," 74.
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