Dunsæte

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Title	Dunsæte
Author	Anonymous
Manuscripts	Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 383. Old English text Quadripartitus MSS, Latin translation: R: London, British Library, Royal MS 11 B ii [c. 1160], f. 160b ff. T: London, British Library, MS Cotton Titus A xxvii (2) [1225], f. 143r ff. M: Manchester, John Rylands Library, MS Lat 420 [s. xiimed], f. 66b ff. Hk: London, British Library, MS Additional 49366, f. 80b ff.
Language	Old English, translated into Latin
Date	10th century
Description	See below

Description

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]

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.^[1]

Notes

Sources

Editions

Liebermann, Felix (ed. and tr.), Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, 3 vols, Halle, 1903—1916. Vol. 1: 374—378. Internet Archive: vol. 1; vol. 2.1 (dictionary); vol. 2.2 (glossary); vol. 2; vol. 2; vol. 3; vol. 3

Secondary sources

Wormald, Patrick, The making of English law. King Alfred to the Norman Conquest. Vol 1: Legislation and Its limits, Oxford, 1999. 381—382.