The Laws of Hlothere and Eadric, c.673-c.686
These are the judgements which Hlothere and Eadric, kings of the Kentish people, set down.
The text is known only through the copy that survives in Textus Roffensis (c.1123). Hlothere reigned as king of Kent between July 673 and February 685, when he was killed by the South Saxons led by his nephew, Eadric. Eadric then reigned for about a year and a half, until the summer or autumn of 686. Though the laws, in the form in which they survive, might be interpreted as evidence of joint rulership of the two kings, not uncommon in late seventh-century Kent, it is nowhere stated in early histories that this was the case. It is probably more accurate to say that the text we now have is a conflation of their laws, originally issued separately by each king but, at some point, collated together. It is possible that Eadric reissued his uncle’s law code during his own reign and augmented it.1
Transcription
3v (select folio number to open facsimile)
Þis syndon þa domas ðe hloþhæ-
re 7 eadric cantwara cyningas asettoN. hloþhære, 7 eadric cantwara cyningas ecton þa
æ, þa ðe heora aldoras ær geworhtoN
ðyssum domum þe hyr efter sægeþ. Gif man-
nes esne eorlcundne mannan ofslæhð, þane ðe
sio þreom hundum scll gylde, se agend þone
banan agefe, 7 do þær þrio manwyrð to. Gif
se bane oþbyrste feorþe manwyrð he to gedo,
7 hine gecænne mid godum æwdum, þæt he þane
banan begeten ne mihte. Gif mannes esne
frigne mannan ofslæhð þane þe sie, hund scillin-
ga gelde, se agend þone banan agefe, 7 oþer man-
wyrð þærto. Gif bana oþbyrste, twam manwyr-
þum hine man forgelde, 7 hine gecænne mid go-
dum æwdum, þæt he þane banan begeten ne mihte.
Gif frigman mannan forstele, gif he eft cuma,
stermelda secge an andweardne, gecænne hine
gif he mæge, hæbbe þare freora rim æwdaman-
na, 7 ænne mid in aþe, æghwilc man æt þam tune
þe he tohyre gif he þæt ne mæge gelde swa he gono
hage.2 Gif ceorl acwyle be libbendum wife 7 bearne,
riht is þæt hit þæt bearn medder folgige, 7 him man
an his fæderingmagum wilsumne berigean ge-
felle3 his feoh to healdenne, oþ þæt he ·x· wintra sie.
Gif man oþrum mæn feoh forstele, 7 se agend hit
eft ætfo, geteme to cynges sele gif he mæge,
7 þane æt gebrenge þe him sealde, gif he þæt ne
mæge læte an, 7 fo se agend to. Gif man oþerne
sace tihte, 7 he þane mannan mote an medle oþþe an þin-
ge, symble se man þam oðrum byrigean, gesel-
le 7 þam riht awyrce þe to hiom cantwara de-
man gescrifen. Gif he ðonne byrigan forwær-
ne ·xii· scillingas agylde þam cyninge, 7 sio se4
sacy swa open swa hio ær wes. Gif man oþerne
tihte siþþan he him byrigan gesealdne hæbbe,
7 ðonne ymb ·iii· niht gesecæn hiom sæmend bu-
ton þam, ufor leofre sio þe þa tihtlan age. Siþ-
þan sio sace gesemed sio an seofan nihtum se
man þam oþrum riht gedo, gecwime an feo
oððe an aþe, swa hwæder swa him leofre sio,
gif he þonne þæt nylle, gelde þonne ·c· buton aðe,
siþþan ane neaht ofer þæt, gesem hie. 5Gif man
mannan an oþres flette manswara hateþ, oððe
hine mid bismærwordum scandlice grete, scil-
ling agelde þam þe þæt flet age, 7 ·vi· scill, þam þe
he þæt word togecwæde, 7 cyninge ·xii· scll for-
gelde. Gif man oþrum steop asette, ðær mæn
drincen buton scylde, an eald riht, scll agelde
þam þe þæt flet age, 7 ·vi· scll þam þe man þone
steap aset, 7 cynge ·xii· scll. Gif man wæpn
abregde þær mæn drincen, 7 ðær man nan
yfel ne deþ, scilling, þan þe þæt flet age, 7 cynin-
ge ·xii· scll. Gif þæt flet geblodgad wyrþe, for-
gylde þem mæn his mundbyrd, 7 cyninge ·L·
scill. Gif man cuman feormæþ ·iii· niht an
his agenum hame, cepeman oþþe oðerne þe
sio ofer mearce cuman, 7 hine þonne his mete
fede, 7 he þonne ænigum mæn yfel gedo se man
þane oðerne æt rihte gebrenge oþþe riht forewyrce.
Gif cantwara ænig in lundenwic feoh gebycge, hæbbe
him þonne twegen oððe ðreo unfacne ceorlas to
gewitnesse, oþþe cyninges wicgerefan, gif hit man
eft æt þam mæn in cænt ætfo þonne tæme he
to wic to cyngæs sele to þam mæn ðe him sealde, gif
he þane wite 7 æt þam teame gebrengen mæge, gif
he þæt ne mæge, gekyþe ðanne in wiofode mid his
gewitena anum oþþe mid cyninges wicgerefan,
þæt he þæt feoh undeornunga his cuþan ceape in wic
gebohte, 7 him man þanne his weorð agefe, gif he
þanne þæt ne mæge gecyþan mid rihtre canne, læte
þanne, an, 7 se agend tofo.
Translation
These are the judgements6 which Hlothere and Eadric, kings of the Kentish people, set down.7
Hlothere and Eadric, kings of the people of Kent, added to the law which their predecessors had made these judgments, which are stated hereafter:
If someone’s unfree labourer8 slays a man of noble birth – for whom one compensates with three hundred shillings9 – the owner should give up the killer and also add the value of three men.10
If the killer escapes, he should add the value of a fourth man and clear himself, with good oath-supporters,11 [swearing] that he could not seize the killer.
If someone’s unfree labourer slays a free man – for whom one compensates with a hundred shillings – the owner should give up the killer and also the value of a man.
If the killer escapes, one should compensate with the value of two men and clear himself, with good oath-supporters, [swearing] that he could not seize the killer.
If a freeman steals someone, if the latter afterwards comes as informer, he should state what happened in front of him.12 If he is able, he [the accused] should clear himself. Each man should have a number of free oath-supporters, and one with him during the oath [should be] from the village to which he belongs;13 if he cannot do that, he should compensate according to what he has.14
If a man15 should die leaving a wife and child, it is right that the child goes with the mother;16 and for him there should be one from among his father’s kin who willingly gives surety to uphold his property,17 until he is ten winters old.
If a person steals another person’s property, and the owner afterwards claims it, he [the accused] should vouch to warranty in the king’s hall, if he is able to, and bring there the one who sold it to him;18 if he cannot do that, let him relinquish [the property] and the owner take possession of it.
If anyone brings a charge against another, and he meets that person at an assembly or meeting, that person should always give surety to the other, and act according to the ruling which the judges of the Kentish people impose upon them.
If he then refuses surety, he should pay to the king 12 shillings,19 and the charge is to remain open as it was before.
If anyone brings a charge against another, after surety has been given him, then they should seek for themselves an arbitrator within three nights, unless the one who brings the charge prefers it to be later.
After the charge is settled, within seven nights the person should make it right by the other, satisfying him with property or an oath, whichever is preferable to him. If then he will not do that, he then should give 100 [shillings], without oath,20 one night following the arbitration.
If anyone in another’s dwelling calls a person a perjurer or addresses him with shameful insults, he must pay a shilling to him who owns that dwelling, and 6 shillings to the one to whom he spoke that utterance, and he should pay to the king 12 shillings.
If, where people are drinking, anyone takes away the cup of another, who is without guilt,21 he should according to ancient rights give a shilling to the one who owns the dwelling, and 6 shillings to the one from whom the cup was taken, and to the king 12 shillings.
If anyone draws a weapon where people are drinking, but no harm is done there, a shilling to the one who owns the dwelling, and to the king 12 shillings.
If blood is shed at that dwelling,22 he should pay the man the fine for the breach of the peace,23 and to the king 50 shillings.
If anyone provides for a stranger in his own home for three nights – a merchant or another who has come across the border – and he feeds him his food, and he [the guest] then does harm to any person, the man [the host] should bring the other to justice otherwise make forfeiture.24
If any Kentish person buys property in London,25 he should then have for himself two or three unblemished men,26 or the king’s town-reeve, as witness. If a person afterwards lays claim to it [the goods] from the man in Kent, then the latter should, in the king’s hall of that town [i.e., in London], vouch to warranty concerning the person who sold it to him,27 if he knows that one and is able to bring him to that vouching. If he cannot do that, then he should declare at the altar, along with one of his witnesses or with the king’s town-reeve, that he bought that property and be given back the price paid. If then he cannot declare that, in the knowledge of the law, he should relinquish the property, and the owner is to take possession.
Cited works
DOE, The Dictionary of Old English: A to I online, ed. Angus Cameron, Ashley Crandell Amos, Antonette diPaolo Healey et al. (Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project, 2018); for limited online access to the dictionary Click here
Kelly, S. E. (ed.), Charters of St Augustine’s Abbey Canterbury and Minster-in-Thanet (Oxford University Press, 1995).
Oliver, Lisi, The Beginnings of English Law (University of Toronto Press, 2002).
Whitelock, Dorothy, English Historical Documents, Volume I c.500-1042, second edition (Eyre Methuen/Oxford University Press, 19789).
Footnotes
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1 See the introduction to the laws in Whitelock, p. 394; and, more broadly, on the chronology of the Kentish kings, Kelly, pp. 195-203.
2 Lisi Oliver amends this to ‘gonah age’: Oliver, p. 128.
3 Oliver corrects this to ‘geselle’: Oliver, p. 128
4 Oliver amends this to seo: Oliver, p. 130.
5 Oliver amends this to ‘gesem[eþ] hie’: Oliver, p. 130 and p. 131, note b.
6 Or ‘decrees’.
7 The heading is provided by the Textus Roffensis scribe; it is not thought to be part of the original text of these laws.
8 The esne, here translated as ‘unfree labourer’, but for which ‘servant’ is also possible, was in early Kentish society someone who, though not a full slave, was nevertheless ‘owned’, or temporarily bonded to a master. For more information, see: Slaves and the Unfree in the Laws of Æthelberht.
9 The amount of compensation due any free person, sometimes called a wergild or ‘man-price’, is fixed by law according to rank.
10 Literally, ‘three man-worths’.
11 The oath-supporter, or oath-helper, publicly vouched for the truthfulness of the one swearing an oath. For further information, see Oliver, pp. 144-46.
12 I.e., the victim (or perhaps his owner, if he is unfree) is to make the accusation in the ‘presence’ (see and-weardnes DOE) of the perpetrator. Dorothy Whitelock captures the sense rather nicely: ‘he is to accuse him to his face’; see Whitelock, p. 394.
13 This clause is difficult to translate and interpret. I lean towards Oliver’s interpretation that the accused is ‘supported by a number of free oath supporters, at least one of whom must be from the accused man’s township’. Alternatively, as Liebermann, one of the earliest editors of this text, has it, ‘each of the oath supporters must be from the village to which the accused man belongs, but that only one of the oath-swearers is actually required to stand with the defendant in the oath’. See Oliver, pp. 145-46.
14 Oliver, p. 146, explains: ‘If the defendant is unable to swear that he is guiltless, he pays the fine to the extent to which he is able.’
15 The word ceorl is used, which has various meanings depending upon context. Oliver, p. 129, offers ‘freeman’; Whitelock, p, 394, gives ‘husband’.
16 Literally, the meaning is the child should ‘follow’ or ‘accompany’ the mother; the sense seems to be that the child remains under the protection of the mother. In other words, the mother takes on the role attributed legally to the father, i.e., that of protector.
17 Or, ‘maintain his property’.
18 He must publicly swear that he was openly, hence lawfully, sold the goods; see below for the similar scenario in London.
19 In effect, the fine is paid to the public coffers of the King.
20 Oliver, p. 140, explains that ‘without oath’ means the guilty person ‘gives up his right to swear his innocence at a later time’, which is the same conclusion Whitelock, p. 395, n. 2, reaches. Oliver, pp. 139-41, discusses and lays out the process of bringing a charge.
21 I.e., the act is unprovoked. To take someone’s cup is akin to a verbal insult, to dishonouring someone.
22 More literally, ‘if that dwelling should become bloodied’.
23 Mundbyrd more simply means ‘protection’, and is used in a legal sense to refer to the price for violating someone’s protection. In this case, according to the long-standing cultural traditions of the Kentish people, the owner of the dwelling owes his guests protection, so the act of violence is an infringement of this protection, therefore the perpetrator must compensate him for dishonouring the owner. There is no mention here of compensation for the victim which would have undoubtedly been due to any innocent person, so it seems, as Oliver notes, that we should understand the reckoning of such compensation as subsumed under the existing personal injury laws laid out in the laws of Æthelberht of Kent, for which see: Æthelberht’s Code, c.600 CE. For the full discussion of disturbances of the peace, see Oliver, pp. 136-38.
24 The phrase ‘riht forewyrce’ more literally has the sense of ‘for-work what is right’, that is, one should face justice on behalf of, or instead of, the wrongdoer.
25 The use of ‘feoh’ alludes to ‘property’ such as livestock or any moveable goods. London was a centre of commerce even in the seventh century. Though part of the kingdom of the East Saxons, it was subject to overlordship of Kent during the seventh century. For more on this, see Oliver, pp. 142-44.
26 Translating ‘ceorlas’, in this context indicating free men.
27 The purchaser must bring the seller to the king’s hall so that the seller can publicly confirm that he was the seller of the goods in the London market.
