| III Æthelred (III Atr) | |
|---|---|
| "Wantage Code" | |
 Opening of the code inTextus Roffensis | |
| Ascribed to | Æthelred the Unready, king of England |
| Language | Old English |
| Date of issue | c. 997 |
| Manuscript(s) | Strood, Medway Archive and Local Studies Centre, MS DRc/R1 (Textus Roffensis); London, British Library, MS Additional 49366; Manchester, John Rylands University Library, MS Lat. 420; London, British Library, MS Royal 11 B.II; London, British Library, MS Cotton Titus A.XXVII, fos. 140r-141r |
| Principal manuscript(s) | Textus Roffensis, folios 48r-49v |
| Genre | law code |
TheWantage Code, sometimes referred to asIII Æthelred (abbreviatedIII Atr), is anearly Englishlegal text. Recorded inOld English, it is a record of laws thatÆthelred the Unready (died 1016) and his councillors enacted at the royal manor ofWantage, Berkshire (nowOxfordshire).
The enactments of the code are devoted primarily to the management of disputes and clarifying legal procedure, in particular the regulation of fines relating to thepeace. In the case of one provision, the text specifically mentions theFive Boroughs of the Danelaw, and the code is of particular historical significance for theDanelaw and Anglo-Scandinavian Britain.
The Wantage Code survives today inOld English within the manuscript known asTextus Roffensis, originating in the early twelfth century and preserved by the medievalbishops of Rochester; and in a Latin translation withinQuadripartitus, another compilation work of similar date. It has been edited byBenjamin Thorpe (d. 1870),Felix Liebermann (d. 1925) andAgnes Jane Robertson (d. 1959), the last of whom also provided a translation.[1]
The text takes its name fromWantage, Berkshire, the location named in the opening line of the text, "these are the constitutions which King Æthelred and his councillors have enacted at Wantage for the promotion of public security (to friðes bóte)".[2][3] The enactment may have occurred in 997, the year that a royal assembly in Wantage is otherwise documented, though as historianAnn Williams has pointed out "there could have been other unrecorded meetings at the same place".[4] Theoretically it could date any time in the king's reign, but since it lacks any trace of the influence ofWulfstan II,archbishop of York, it is likely to date before 1008 when the latter began drafting legal codes.[1][5]
There are close similarities between the Wantage Code and the so-called "Woodstock Code",I Æthelred, and some historians have suggested that the former was an adaptation of the latter for use in theDanelaw, the region of eastern England heavily settled by migrant Scandinavians in the later ninth and early tenth centuries.[4][6][7] Both texts make reference to an earlier, but otherwise undocumented, assembly atBromdune.[8][6] In theQuadripartitus tradition the text is extended with the incorporation of the "Laws of London" (IV Æthelred) along with tracts onPax ("peace") andWalreaf ("corpse robbery").[9]
HistorianLevi Roach pointed out that the assembly at Wantage "witnessed one of the king's more prominent acts of repentance", a grant of 100hides toOld Minster, Winchester. The act of promulgation of the code may have been part of a broader attempt by Æthelred to restore the standing of his kingship in light of his "sins" back in the 980s.[10]
| Provisions | Description |
| Prologue | Names king, place of issue and purpose. |
| 1 | Fines for breaches of various types of peace |
| 2 | Witnesses |
| 3 –5 | Transfers of property, wapentake courts and thieves |
| 6–7 | Ordeals and clearing accusations |
| 8 | False moneyers |
| 9 | Requirement of witnesses to killing of animals |
| 10 | Outlawry |
| 11 | King's thegns |
| 12 | Actions brought by the king |
| 13 | Harbouring thieves |
| 14 | Unchallenged occupation of property |
| 15 | Daylight robbery |
| 16 | Moneyers working outside towns |
Although mirroring elements ofI Æthelred, the Wantage Code seems to be designed to be more 'aggressive', with provisions accompanied by heavier fines and stronger punishments.[7][11][12] Historian Jake Stattel has argued that incentives of the code were designed to encourage privatesettlements.[13] Some historians have conceived of the code as part of an effort to integrate formerly independent "Danish" areas into the emergingkingdom of England.[14][15]
The scholars of the 21st-centuryEarly English LawsAHRC-funded research project in the United Kingdom noted that the code contains what is "perhaps the earliest description of ajury of presentment"[16][17] A provision (3 §1) declared that "[A] court shall be held in everywapentake, and the twelve leadingthegns along with thereeve shall go out and swear on therelics which are given into their hands, that they will not accuse any innocent man or shield any guilty one".[2][18]
Historian Charlotte Neff pointed out that the same group of thegns appear to function like a modern judge or jury elsewhere, with another provision (13 §2) stating that "a verdict in which the thegns are unanimous shall be held valid" and adding that "if they disagree, the verdict of eight of them shall be valid, and those who are outvoted in such a case shall each pay 6 half-marks".[19][20]
As a historical source, the code is particularly important for the Danelaw.[14] Within that area itself, the text specifically refers to theFive Boroughs, with clause 1 §1 naming specific fines for "breach of the peace which theealdorman or the king'sreeve establishes in the court of the Five Boroughs".[2] It is generally agreed that the five in question wereLincoln,Stamford,Leicester,Nottingham andDerby,[21] and the code appears to be the earliest reference to the 'Five Boroughs' as an institution.[22][14]
Within the Wantage Code there are provisions concerning the jurisdiction of the wapentake (Old English:wǣpen(ge)tæc; Old Norse:vápnatak), an area of local administration unique to Anglo-Scandinavian Britain that by the time ofDomesday Book was seen as analogous to the West Saxonhundred.[23][24] These units are found in the area covered by the rural hinterland of the Five Boroughs, what would becomeLincolnshire, Leicestershire,Nottinghamshire andDerbyshire, but also inYorkshire, County Durham,Northamptonshire, Cheshire andCumberland.[25] The name is thought to derive from the practice of "taking weapons" from those gathered at local assemblies, with a view to limiting violence and the escalation of conflict among the participants.[26]
The text itself refers to the promulgations aslagu, "law", one of the earliest authentic Old English borrowings of the Norse wordlǫg.[27] It contains a number of other Scandinavian words, such aslahcop ("law purchase"),landcop ("[tax on] land purchase"), andwitword ("wise word", possibly meaning "witness" or "agreement", or else denoting a plausible claim to a property),[28][29] indicating respect for pre-existing legal custom in "Danish" England.[30][31][32] Neff noted that "the fines and payments are in all cases stated in Scandinavian terms", including "hundreds (of silver ores), ores and marks".[5]