Dunsæte
- Old English, Latin
- prose
- Anglo-Saxon texts
Dunsæte is an anonymous legal document which calls itself an agreement (gerædnes) between English witan and Welsh people (Wealhðeode).
The text appears to have been the product of an Anglo-Welsh meeting, possibly in c. 930, when the "North Welsh" had to strike a hard bargain with King Æthelstan (r. 924-939) and the River Wye was chosen to represent the natural border between Wales and England. It has been suggested that this particular meeting took place in the town of Archenfield, near Hereford, close to the River Wye.(1)n. 1 Patrick Wormald, The making of English law. King Alfred to the Norman Conquest. Vol 1: Legislation and Its limits (1999): 381–382.
The text is chiefly concerned with the collective responsibilities for upholding law and order in the area, covering topics such as cattle-theft and killing. Dunsæte does not come down as an independent text, but as an appendix to II Æthelred, King Æthelred's treaty with Olaf in c. 994. The reference to twelve lawmen may be a later interpolation.(2)n. 2 Patrick Wormald, The making of English law. King Alfred to the Norman Conquest. Vol 1: Legislation and Its limits (1999): 381–382.
Title
Dunsæte
Also known as Ordinance concerning the Dunsæte.
Author
Anonymous.
Manuscripts
Quadripartitus MSS, Latin translation:
Language
- Old English Latin
Old English; translated into Latin.
Date
Often dated to the second quarter of the 10th century. George Molyneaux has recently offered a later date, late 10th or 11th century.
Form
prose (primary)
Sources
Notes
Patrick Wormald, The making of English law. King Alfred to the Norman Conquest. Vol 1: Legislation and Its limits (1999): 381–382.
Patrick Wormald, The making of English law. King Alfred to the Norman Conquest. Vol 1: Legislation and Its limits (1999): 381–382.
Primary sources Text editions and/or modern translations – in whole or in part – along with publications containing additions and corrections, if known. Diplomatic editions, facsimiles and digital image reproductions of the manuscripts are not always listed here but may be found in entries for the relevant manuscripts. For historical purposes, early editions, transcriptions and translations are not excluded, even if their reliability does not meet modern standards.
[ed.] [tr.] Liebermann, Felix [ed. and tr.], Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, 3 vols, Halle, 1903–1916.
comments: Three volumes were published between 1903 and 1916: vol. 1 (1903); vol. 2.1 (1906), 2.2 (1912); and vol. 3 (1916).
Secondary sources (select)
Wormald, Patrick, The making of English law. King Alfred to the Norman Conquest. Vol 1: Legislation and Its limits, Oxford, 1999.
381–382
Charles-Edwards, T. M., “13. The Britons and their neighbours under the Mercian hegemony, 685–825”, in: T. M. Charles-Edwards, Wales and the Britons, 350–1064, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013. 411–436.
422–423
Early English laws, Online: Institute of Historical Research, University of London, King's College London, 2006–present. URL: <http://www.earlyenglishlaws.ac.uk>.
web page identifiers
page name: Dunsæte
page url: https://codecs.vanhamel.nl/Duns%C3%A6te
redirect: https://codecs.vanhamel.nl/Special:Redirect/page/629
numerical alternative: https://codecs.vanhamel.nl/index.php?curid=629
page ID: 629
page ID tracker: https://codecs.vanhamel.nl/index.php?title=Show:ID&id=629
Contributors
C. A., Dennis Groenewegen
Page created
December 2010, last updated: January 2024
