The original in the manuscript can be viewed here. Liebermann’s Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen Volume I edits both versions on pp. 206–215 (MS C and Versio aus C). Translations are my own. I’ve marked some of the biggest differences in bold. See my other post on IV Edgar for some more context.
| Old English version | Latin version |
|---|---|
| [Prol.] Here in this document it is made known how king Edgar was looking into what might remedy the sudden pestilence which greatly troubled and diminished his people widely throughout his realm. | [Prol.] It is contained in this writing the manner in which the renowned king Edgar diligently began to query and investigate persistently how he could remedy the public affliction, that is the sudden death by a plague, which has troubled his country far and wide. |
| [1] That is then first that it seemed to him and his witan that misfortune of this kind was earned through sins and disobedience to God’s commands, and particularly through the withholding of the necessary tax that Christian men ought to render to God in their tithes. | [1] And it seemed to him and all the leading men in his kingdom that the arrival of this affair happened because of a transgression of divine commands and most of all because people, who truly have awareness of the faith, were unwilling to render tithes of their things. |
| [1a] He considered and reflected on the divine through a familiar worldly occurrence: | [1a] Therefore, bringing up a worthy exemplar from memory, he said: |
| [1.1] If any tenant should ignore the rent to his lord and not give it to him on the day on which it is due, it is to be expected, if the lord is merciful, that he should let that negligence be forgiven and receive his rent without a penalty. | [1.1] That, if any secular soldier should neglect the estimated debt of the rent of his lord and not make an effort to render it on the fixed day, which is not allowed to pass, it is to be expected that, if the same lord continues to be pious and merciful, providing relief from that negligence, then he should grant forgiveness and receive from him that which justly seems his without any punishment. |
| [1.2] If he then reminds them forcibly about payment of his rent often through his messengers and he [the tenant] hardens and intends to stand fast, it is to be expected that the anger of the lord should grow so much that he would not allow him neither possessions or life. | [1.2] If indeed he demands these same things frequently through his heralds and he [the tenant], irritated and provoked to anger, wishes to defend his wrongful acts through force, [it is] undoubtedly to be believed that the flame of the lord’s indignation against such men is rightly kindled to such a degree that he is considered to be unworthy of any possessions or even life. |
| [1.3] It is to be expected that our Lord does the same because of the arrogance with which men of the people have resisted the frequent forcible reminders given by our teachers about the necessary tax owed to our Lord, that is our tithes and church dues. | [1.3] Indeed we can also believe with certainty that the lord of all his strength will act in this way [towards?] those who, having been warned by holy learned men of the church, oppose his commands, withholding with presumption the money of their Lord, that is tithes and gifts of the church. |
| [1.4] Therefore I and my archbishop command that you do no anger God, so as not to earn the sudden death of this current life nor especially the coming one in eternal hell through any withholding of what’s owed to God. But both the poor and the rich who has gained any yields should give to God his tithes with all joy and willingness, as it is instructed in the decree which my witan decided at Andover and now afterwards confirmed with a pledge at Wihtbordesstan. | [1.4] Therefore, I exhort you by the divine authority and ours that you should not provoke the Lord of majesty to anger by withholding any divine dues, lest by perpetrating your sins you should fall into sudden death in this life and, more importantly, into future death in infernal hell, in which he is(?) entrapped without end; but both rich, poor and those in the middle should render tithes to God of everything which he possesses with devotion and clean affection of the heart, as the decree teaches, the one which our leading men and leaders, instituting at the place on which the word Andover has been bestowed, and afterwards have confirmed at Wihtbordesstan. |
| [1.5] Then I command my reeves on pain of my friendship and everything that they own that they should punish each of those who does not render this and wishes to break the pledge of my witan by any moral feebleness, as the aforesaid decree teaches and there shall be no forgiveness in those punishments. | [1.5] Therefore, let our leaders and all great men with harsh authority devote themselves to subdue those who try to violate the established agreement and refuse to fulfil it, just as the aforesaid decree shows to them, and let there be no mercy for such transgressions. |
| [1.5a] If he is so wretched that he either kills or weakens that which belongs to God, to the destruction of his soul, or, with an angry mind, he disposes it more weakly than that which he counts as his own, then [he should know that] it is more his own that which endures to him forever into eternity, if he wishes do it it with willingness and full joy. | |
| [1.6] Then I wish that these rights of God should stand alike everywhere in my realm. | [1.6] I also wish that this decree should endure firmly and with stability in all places of our realm. |
| [1.7] And those servants of God, who receive those taxes that we give to God, should live a pure life, so that they are able to intercede for us to God through that purity. | [1.7] And let the ministers of the holy church, into whose hands we pass what we give to the Lord of universes for the salvation of our souls, live irreproachably, chastely and holily, just as befits God’s servants, so that they by their sanctity earn to be intercessors for us in relation to the Highest one. |
| [1.8] And I and my thegns should compel our priests to that which our souls’ guardians instruct us, that is our bishops, who we should never disobey in anything that they instruct us for God, so that we through that obedience, on which we comply with them for God, earn eternal life to which they lead us with instruction and examples of good works. | [1.8] And further, let these people listen diligently with all subjection of humility to the keepers of our souls, that is bishops, to whom we ought to be incessantly obedient in all precepts, so that we earn by that obedience, which we rightly show them for the love of the Divine, to attain the joy of eternal happiness with all the saints, by instructions of their teachings and good works. |
| [2] I wish that worldly laws stand in each people as good as one is best able to arrange them, for the satisfaction of God and for my full royal dignity and for the benefit of poor and rich and for peace. | [2] In the name of the holy and indivisible Trinity, controlling the entire world, I command that the law of worldly justice should stand in each region of the land in the way that anyone is able to establish by investigation a better one for the glory and honour of the immense majesty and for joy and peace to the rich as well as the poor and for full consolation. |
| [2a] And in each town and in each shire I shall have the rights of my kingship, just as my father had, and my thegns should have their rights (scipe) in my time just as they had in my father’s. | [2a] At first I agree and grant by all things through the provinces and towns of the whole of my kingdom the same law and gift of favour to my thegns which they had and possessed in the times of my father in great things and small. |
| [2.1] And I wish that worldly rights should stand with the Danes according to laws as good as they are best able to choose. Stand then with the English that (which) I and my witan have added to the laws of my elders for the benefit of the whole people. | [2.1] I also desire that justice and equity and also invention of good laws should stand and have force with the Danes, and with the English, because our kingly excellence was confirmed with a general council, for the furthering and salvation to everyone. |
| [2.2] But nevertheless the measure should be the same for all people, either the English or the Danish or the British, in each part of my realm, so that poor and rich may have that which they acquired by right and the thief does not know where he can place the stolen goods, if he steals anything, and it is so saved from them against their will, so that not too many of them escape. | [2.2] But let this be our decision in common for everyone, so for Danes as for the English as well as the Britons from everywhere within the borders of our power, so that it is allowed to each person, whether rich or ?of the people, to control that which he acquired with hereditary or lawful right with the calmness of peace. |
| [3-5] And that is then that I wish that each man is under surety both within a town and outside a town, and witnessing is assigned to each town and each hundred. To each town, 36 are chosen as witnesses. To smaller towns and to each hundred, 12, unless they want more. | [3-5] Let each person living in a town or the countryside be assigned a surety. And let faithful testimony be found in all towns, so that the road of stealing is closed off by every reckoning. And to that let 36 lawful men be chosen to administer and guard, and in smaller towns, 12 are chosen. |
| [6] and each man should buy and sell with witnesses from these men those things which he buys or sells whether in a town or in a wapentake. | [6] If anyone, townsman or stranger, the use of human necessity having been demanded, wishes to buy or sell, he should take a witness with him in all transactions, whether it be in a town, countryside or a hundred. |
| [6.1] And each of them, when one first selects him as a witness, should give an oath that he never – neither for money nor for love nor for fear – would deny any of those things that he was witness to and not make it known as testimony any other thing except that one thing which he saw or heard. | [6.1] And he who is chosen and put in charge of the task of testifying should swear that he in no way is willing to testify – having been perverted by gifts of money or seduced by love or fear of anyone – anything other than what he heard with his ears or saw with his eyes, or presume to deny that which he knows for certain to have happened. |
| [6.2] And so let there be two or three of the sworn men as witnesses in each transaction. | [6.2] And let there be two of the chosen men in any transaction placed as overseers, so that they know who gives to whom and who receives. |
| [7] And he who rides somewhere to buy something, he should make it known to his neighbours what he is riding after, and when he comes home, he should also make it known in whose witness he bought that thing. | [7] But he who goes from place to place for the purposes of buying, as we have said, should inform his neighbours and multitudes of his friends of which thing he wishes to set out on a journey by instigation, and when he again returns home, he should make it known in whose witness he purchased that same purchase. |
| [8] If he then makes an unexpected transaction on any journey away, he should make it known when he comes home, unless he already made it known when he rode out. And if it is a living animal, he should bring it with the witness of his tunscip into common pasture. | [8] If therefore [=then] … he should not delay to make these things known to his friends when he returns to his own. And if it was a living animal, cow or lamb or any other kind, he should drive it into communal pasture with the testimony of his neighbours. |
| [8.1] If he doesn’t do this within five nights, the men of the tun should make it known to the elders of the hundred and both themselves and their shepherds are without a fine, and he who brought the cattle there is to forfeit it, because he did not wish to make it known to his neighbours, and the landlord gets half and the hundred half. | [8.1] But if the negligent man refuses to carry out this task before five days or nights, his nearby neighbours should disclose the offence of the transgression to the lord of the hundred [domino ðæs hundredes], and they and the keepers of their herds of cattle remain innocent and exempt. He should be deprived of his animal, because he led it there without the witnessing of his neighbours, on the following terms, namely that, having been divided into two, the lord of that land should have one half and the hundred [þæt hundred] has the remaining part without any challenges. |
| [9] If it then over five nights remains undeclared on common pasture grounds, he should forfeit the cattle, as we said before, and each of the shepherds should forfeit their skin [i.e. be whipped], and there is no forgiveness of that, whatever sanctuary they may seek, and he nevertheless should make it known on whose witness he bought the cattle. | [9] If indeed it happens otherwise to be concealed for five nights, as we said, he shall lose the whole animal for his detriment and disgrace, and it is allowed that those shepherds are struck with blows of dreadful whips. |
| [10] If he then declares that he bought it with the witness of those men who are named as witnesses, either in a town or in a hundred, and the hundred elder finds out that it is true, he shall nevertheless forfeit the cattle, because he did not wish to make it known to his neighbours or the elder of his hundred, and he shall suffer no further harm. | [10] … by which reason we offered above, he should suffer and incur no other loss except his cattle, because he refused to make it open and declare the same to the notice of his neighbours. |
| [11] If he then declares that he bought it with witness and that is untrue, he is a thief and he is to forfeit his head and everything that he owns, and the landlord should keep the stolen goods and the compensation for the goods [ceapgyld], until the owner seeks it and the goods/cattle should be made his own under witness. | [11] But if finally, having been compelled by necessity, he testifies any of the abovesaid, and it is discovered and becomes known to be false, and deadly guilt has been caused, he shall be punished by the death penalty without delay and “his iniquity shall be turned on his crown”. Therefore (=then) that stolen thing is passed under the power of the lord holding the above-mentioned land, until that time the owner, to whom that thing stolen by such fraud belonged, willingly arrives and takes with the rite of swearing that which is his (and which he ought to defend). |
| [12] Then I wish that such good law as they are able to best choose should stand with the Danes, and I have supported and wish to support always, for as long as life accompanies me, those things that which you continuously make known to me for your good-will. And I wish that this one judgement is common to us all in such search for the protection and peace of the whole people. | |
| [13] And I wish that tunesmen and their shepherds should have the same search into my livestock and that of my thegns as they have on their own. | [13] Furthermore, I decree this same right for rural dwellers themselves, that they have the right of searching among cattle and in pastures belonging to me and my leading men. |
| [13.1] If then my reeve or any other man, powerful or not, shuns it and offers unreasonability [Whitelock: ‘indignity’] to either tunesmen or their shepherds, the Danes should choose according to the laws which punishment they wish to apply in that situation. | [13.1] And if any of my adherents, resisting this order, should shun this and not fear inflicting an injustice on them or others, among the Danes it should be asked and inquired which law and right of justice concerning this is decreed. |
| [14] I and my witan have chosen with the English what the punishment might be if any man begins with resistance or goes to the length of killing any of those who participates in the inquiry and announces that hidden cattle, or any of those who are truthful in witness and with his truthfulness saves an innocent person and rightly destroys the guilty. | [14] I for my part have found for the English what could contribute to the punishment of he who, having been goaded by the prod of anger or roused by audacity, threatens or utterly kills any of those who, working anxiously for justice and truth, reveals the crime of theft or any offence of injustice and sets free an innocent person by correctness of their truth [testimony?] and deservedly condemns a guilty person. |
| [14.1] Then I wish that that which you have chosen for the betterment of peace with great wisdom and pleasingly to me should be held among you always. | [14.1] It is also pleasing that this agreement should be kept unchallenged and uninfringed in the future, for the abundance of peace and for praise and glory to God, saviour of all, and for great length of life for all of us spending time on this earthly journey and for the abolition and remission of our sins. |
| [14.2] And this addition is common to all of us who live on this island. | |
| [15] Then earl Oslac and the whole host who live in this ealdordom should promote that this should stand for the praise of God and the benefit of all our souls and peace for the whole people. | |
| [15.1] and one should write many documents about this and send either to ealdorman Ælfhere or to ealdorman Æthelwine and they [should send it] everywhere, so that the decree/decision is known both to poor and rich. | [15.1] And lest the agreement of this council should ever be hidden and destroyed by oblivion by the machinations of depraved people, let it be confirmed and strengthened by very many affirmations of letters/writing, and in this way be disseminated everywhere by Ælfhere and Æthelwine, ealdormen [ducibus] of my people, in every part of my domain. |
| [16] And I will be a very gracious lord for as long as life accompanies me and I am very joyful to all you, because you are so zealous about the peace. | [16] Indeed, as long as life should be a companion I will remain faithful to you all. |
| And now I entrust you all to the innermost parts of Christ, so that you may abound more and more in all goodness and knowledge and good works. Farewell in Christ! |