View source for Wantage Code

{{Short description|Early English legal text}}
{{Infobox medieval text
<!----------Name---------->
| name                  = ''III Æthelred'' (''III Atr'')
| alternative title(s)  = "Wantage Code"
<!----------Image---------->
| image                 = File:Wantage TR.png
| width                 = 250
| caption               = Opening of the code in ''Textus Roffensis''
<!----------Information---------->
| full title            = 
| also known as         = 
| author(s)             = 
| ascribed to           = [[Æthelred the Unready]], king of England
| compiled by           = 
| illustrated by        = 
| language              = [[Old English]]
| date                  =  
| date of issue         =  c. 997
| provenance            = 
| series                = 
| 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
| 
<!----------Form and content---------->
| genre                 = [[law code]]
| setting               = 
| period covered        = 
| sources               = 
}}

The  '''Wantage Code''', sometimes referred to as '''''III Æthelred''''' (abbreviated '''''III Atr'''''), is an [[Anglo-Saxon|early English]] [[Law code|legal text]]. Recorded in [[Old English]], it is a record of laws that [[Æthelred the Unready]] (died 1016) and his councillors enacted at the royal manor of [[Wantage]], Berkshire (now [[Oxfordshire]]).  

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 the [[Peace (law)|peace]]. In the case of one provision, the text specifically mentions the [[Five Boroughs of the Danelaw]], and the code is of particular historical significance for the [[Danelaw]] and Anglo-Scandinavian Britain.

==Provenance==
The Wantage Code survives today in [[Old English]] within the manuscript known as ''[[Textus Roffensis]]'', originating in the early twelfth century and preserved by the medieval [[bishops of Rochester]]; and in a Latin translation within ''[[Quadripartitus]]'', another compilation work of similar date. It has been edited by [[Benjamin Thorpe]] (d. 1870), [[Felix Liebermann]] (d. 1925) and [[Agnes Jane Robertson]] (d. 1959), the last of whom also provided a translation.<ref name=Whitelock-429>Whitelock, ''Early English Documents'', p. 439.</ref>

The text takes its name from [[Wantage]], 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  ({{lang|ang|to friðes bóte}})".<ref name=Wantage1>''III Æthelred'', ed./trans. Robertson, pp. 64–65.</ref><ref>Neff, "Elements", p. 286.</ref> The enactment may have occurred in 997, the year that a royal assembly in Wantage is otherwise documented, though as historian [[Ann Williams (historian)|Ann Williams]] has pointed out "there could have been other unrecorded meetings at the same place".<ref name=Williams-56>Williams, ''Æthelred the Unready'', p. 56.</ref> Theoretically it could date any time in the king's reign, but since it lacks any trace of the influence of [[Wulfstan II]], [[archbishop of York]], it is likely to date before 1008 when the latter began drafting legal codes.<ref name=Whitelock-429/><ref name=Neff286>Neff, "Elements", p. 286.</ref> 

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 the [[Danelaw]], the region of eastern England heavily settled by migrant Scandinavians in the later ninth and early tenth centuries.<ref name=Williams-56/><ref name=Roach-183>Roach, ''Æthelred the Unready''. p. 183.</ref><ref name=Wormald-328-9>Wormald, ''Making of English Law'', pp. 328–29.</ref> Both texts make reference to an earlier, but otherwise undocumented, assembly at ''Bromdune''.<ref>Wormald, ''Making of English Law'', pp. 324, 326.</ref><ref name=Roach-183/> 

Historian Levi Roach pointed out that the assembly at Wantage "witnessed one of the king's more prominent acts of repentance", a grant of 100 [[Hide (unit)|hide]]s to [[Old 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.<ref name=Roach184>Roach, ''Æthelred the Unready''. p. 184.</ref>

==Content and significance==
[[File:Liebermann 01.jpg|thumb|right|450px|Opening clauses of the Wantage Code printed in the edition of Felix Liebermann, with the Old English of ''Textus Roffensis'' and the Latin of ''Quadripartitus'' side by side.]]
[[File:WantageOpening.jpg|thumb|300px|Opening folio of the Wantage Code in ''Textus Roffensis''.]]
{| class="table"
|width="17%"| '''Provisions'''
|width="83%"| '''Description'''
|-
| Prologue 
| Names king, place of issue and purpose. 
|-
| 1
| Fines for breaches of various types of peace
|-
| 2
| Witnesses
|-
| 3 &ndash;5 
| Transfers of property, wapentake courts and thieves
|-
|6&ndash;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 of ''I Æthelred'', the Wantage Code seems to be designed to be more 'aggressive', with provisions accompanied by heavier fines and stronger punishments.<ref name=Wormald-328-9/><ref name=Stattel-189>Stattel, "Legal Culture in the Danelaw", p. 189.</ref><ref name=Williams-58-9>Williams, ''Æthelred the Unready'', pp. 58–9.</ref> Historian Jake Stattel has argued that incentives of the code were designed to encourage private [[settlement (litigation)|settlements]].<ref>Stattel, "Legal Culture", p. 193ff.</ref> Some historians have conceived of the code as part of an effort to integrate formerly independent "Danish" areas into the emerging [[kingdom of England]].<ref name=Stenton-508/><ref>Neff, "Elements", pp. 285–86.</ref>  

The scholars of the 21st-century ''Early English Laws'' [[Arts and Humanities Research Council|AHRC]]-funded research project in the United Kingdom noted that the code contains what is "perhaps the earliest description of a [[jury of presentment]]"<ref>{{Citation |last= |first= |year= |title= Æthelred's Wantage code (III Atr) |url= https://eel.cch.kcl.ac.uk/laws/texts/iii-atr/ |access-date= 2023-09-07 }}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last= |first= |year= |title= Æthelred's Wantage code (III Atr) |url= https://earlyenglishlaws.ac.uk/law/iii-atr |access-date= 2023-10-30 }}</ref> A provision (3 §1) declared that "[A] court shall be held in every [[wapentake]], and the twelve leading [[thegn]]s along with the [[Reeve (England)|reeve]] shall go out and swear on the [[relics]] which are given into their hands, that they will not accuse any innocent man or shield any guilty one".<ref name=Wantage1/><ref>Neff, "Elements", pp. 293–94.</ref> 

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".<ref>''III Æthelred'', ed./trans. Robertson, pp. 68–69.</ref><ref>Neff, "Elements", p. 294.</ref>

==The Danelaw==
[[File:England Grosses Heer 892.jpg|thumb|Map of England showing the English realms and Danish districts – from ''Cassell's History of England,'' with the Danelaw in pink.]]
As a historical source, the code is particularly important for the Danelaw.<ref name=Stenton-508>Stenton, ''Anglo-Saxon England'', p. 508.</ref> Within that area itself, the text specifically refers to the [[Five Boroughs of the Danelaw|Five Boroughs]], with clause 1 §1 naming specific fines for "breach of the peace which the [[ealdorman]] or the king's [[Reeve (England)|reeve]] establishes in the court of the Five Boroughs".<ref name=Wantage1/> It is generally agreed that the five in question were [[Lincoln, England|Lincoln]], [[Stamford, Lincolnshire|Stamford]], [[Leicester]], [[Nottingham]] and [[Derby]],<ref>Sawyer, ''Lincolnshire'', p. 128.</ref> and the code appears to be the earliest reference to the 'Five Boroughs' as an institution.<ref>Sawyer, ''Lincolnshire'', p. 129.</ref><ref name=Stenton-508/>

Within the Wantage Code there are provisions concerning the jurisdiction of the wapentake (Old English: {{lang|ang|wǣpen(ge)tæc}}; Old Norse: {{lang|non|vápnatak}}), an area of local administration unique to Anglo-Scandinavian Britain that by the time of [[Domesday Book]] was seen as analogous to the West Saxon [[Hundred (county division)|hundred]].<ref>Neff, "Elements", pp. 286–87.</ref><ref>Stenton, ''Anglo-Saxon England'', pp. 504–5.</ref> These units are found in the area covered by the rural hinterland of the Five Boroughs, what would become [[Lincolnshire]], Leicestershire, [[Nottinghamshire]] and [[Derbyshire]], but also in [[Yorkshire]], County Durham, [[Northamptonshire]], Cheshire and [[Cumberland]].<ref>Mawer and Stenton, ''Introduction to the Survey of English Place-Names'', p. 86.</ref> 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.<ref>Stattel, "Legal Culture", p. 197.</ref> 

The text itself refers to the promulgations as {{lang|ang|lagu}}, "law", one of the earliest authentic Old English borrowings of the Norse word {{lang|non|lǫg}}.<ref>Neff, "Elements", pp. 287–88.</ref> It contains a number of other Scandinavian words, such as {{lang|non|lahcop}} ("law purchase"), {{lang|non|landcop}} ("[tax on] land purchase"), and {{lang|non|witword}} ("wise word", possibly meaning "witness" or "agreement", or else denoting a plausible claim to a property),<ref>Neff, "Elements", pp. 289–90.</ref><ref>Whitelock, ''English Historical Documents'', p. 440, fn. 6.</ref> indicating respect for pre-existing legal custom in "Danish" England.<ref name=Neff-285>Neff, "Elements", p. 285.</ref><ref>Hudson, ''Oxford History of the Laws of England'', p. 66.</ref><ref name=Stattel-181>Stattel, "Legal Culture in the Danelaw", p. 181.</ref> Neff noted that "the fines and payments are in all cases stated in Scandinavian terms", including "hundreds (of silver ores), ores and marks".<ref name=Neff286/>

==Notes==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==References==
{{refbegin}}
* {{Citation |last= |first= |year= |title= Æthelred's Wantage code (III Atr) |institution=Early English Laws (AHRC Project) by Institute of Historical Research, University of London; and Department of Digital Humanities, King's College London |url= https://eel.cch.kcl.ac.uk/laws/texts/iii-atr/ |access-date= 2023-09-07 }}
* {{Citation |last= |first= |year= |title= Æthelred's Wantage code (III Atr) |publisher=University of St Andrews (formerly Early English Laws (AHRC Project) by Institute of Historical Research, University of London; and Department of Digital Humanities, King's College London) |url=https://earlyenglishlaws.ac.uk/law/iii-atr |access-date= 2023-09-07 }}
* {{Citation |last = Hudson | first = John| author-link=John Hudson (historian) |title=	The Oxford History of the Laws of England. Vol. 2, 871–1216  |year= 2012 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn= 	978-0-19-826030-1 |ref=none}}
* {{citation |last1= Mawer |first1= Allen |authorlink= Allen Mawer | last2= Stenton  | first2= Frank M. | author2-link = Frank Stenton |title= Introduction to the survey of English place-names / Volume 1, Parts 1 and 2 |date= 1969 | orig-date =1924 |series=The Survey of English Place-Names : English Place-Name Society Volume One |publisher= Cambridge University Press |location= Cambridge |isbn= | url= https://archive.org/details/surveyofenglishp0001unse |ref=none}}
* {{Citation |last=Neff |first=Charlotte | title= Scandinavian Elements in the Wantage code of Æthelred II |journal=The Journal of Legal History | volume=10 |issue=3 |pages=285–316 |year=1989 |issn=  |doi= 10.1080/01440368908530969 |ref=none}}
* {{Citation | last = Roach | first = Levi | author-link =  | title = Æthelred the Unready | location = New Haven, CT | publisher = Yale University Press | year = 2006 |ref=none}}
* {{citation |last=Robertson |first=A. J. |author-link=Agnes Jane Robertson |title=The Laws of the Kings of England from Edmund to Henry I |url=  |access-date=  |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |year=1925 |isbn=978-0-521-15319-5 |ref=none}}
* {{Citation | last = Sawyer | first = Peter | author-link = Peter Sawyer (historian) | title = Anglo-Saxon Lincolnshire : A History of Lincolnshire Volume III | location = Lincoln | publisher = History of Lincolnshire Committee | year = 1998 |ref=none}}
* {{Citation |last=Stattel |first=Jake A. | title= Legal Culture in the Danelaw : A Study of III Æthelred |journal=Anglo-Saxon England |volume=48 |pages=163–203 |year=2022 |issn=0263-6751 |doi= 10.1017/S0263675121000065 |s2cid=252995659 |ref=none}}
* {{citation |last=Stenton |first= Frank M. | author-link= Frank Stenton |year=1971 |title=Anglo-Saxon England |edition=3rd |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn = 978-0-19-280139-5 |ref=none}}
* {{Citation | editor-last = Whitelock | editor-first = Dorothy | editor-link = Dorothy Whitelock  | title = English Historical Documents. [Vol.1], c.500&ndash;1042  | place = London | publisher = Eyre and Spottiswoode | year = 1979 | isbn = 0-19-520101-9 |ref=none}}
* {{Citation |last=Williams |first=Ann |author-link = Ann Williams (historian) |title=Æthelred the Unready: The Ill-counselled King |year=2003 |publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group |location=London |isbn=1-85285-382-4|ref=none}}
* {{Citation | last = Wormald | first = Patrick | author-link = Patrick Wormald  | title = The Making of English Law: King Alfred to the Twelfth Century / Volume I: Legislation and its Limits | location = Oxford | publisher = Blackwell Publishers | year = 2001 |  isbn = 0-631-22740-7 |ref=none}}
{{refend}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Law of Aethelberht}}
[[Category:Anglo-Saxon law]]
[[Category:Germanic legal codes]]
[[Category:10th-century documents]]
[[Category:11th-century documents]]
[[Category:11th century in England]]
[[Category:10th century in England]]
[[Category:10th century in law]]
[[Category:11th century in law]]