Decrees of King Æthelbert, No. 18, Textus Roffensis

Subject(s):

Felons, Foreigners and Others Deemed Dangerous By the State

Jurisdiction(s):

English Law

Year(s):

0602

“ÆTHELBERHT
þis syndon þa domas, þe Æðelbirht cyning asette on Augustinus dæge.

18. Gif man mannan wępnum bebyreþ, ðær ceas weorð, 7 man nænig yfel ne gedþ, IV scillingum gebete.”

Translation:

ÆTHELBERHT
These are the decrees which King Æthelberht established in the lifetime of Augustine.

18. If one man supplies another with weapons when a quarrel is taking place, no injury however being inflicted, he [the lender] shall pay 6 shillings compensation.

Full Text: The Laws of King Æthelberht, No. 18, in The Laws of the Earliest English kings

F. L. Attenborough, ed. and trans., The Laws of the Earliest English Kings (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1922), 6-7. Transcription and translation of the Textus Roffensis,¹ the Laws of Æthelberht, no. 18.

N.B. that, while this is the earliest extant text, is not the original. Attenborough explains (p. 3) that the Textus Roffensis “was written more than four centuries after the promulgation of Wihtred’s Laws, and at least five centuries after the time of Æthelberht.” Still, it is worth noting that, at least at the time Attenborough finished his translation, “The Laws of Æthelberht are of special interest as being the earliest document written in the English language” (ibid.).