Warmington.
_Rectitudines Singularum Personarum_ (Vol. iv., p. 442.).--In reply to
the inquiries of H. C. C., let me refer him to pp. xi. and xxv. of the
preface and list of MSS. in vol. i. of the _Ancient Laws, &c. of
England_, edited by Mr. Thorpe, under the direction of the late Record
Commission. He will there find that the real MS. site of that document
is stated to be in the library of Corpus Christi, Cambridge, and to be
of the date of the tenth century. It is not stated upon what ground so
early a date is assigned to it; but as so competent a judge as the
editor seems to give that date without any expression of doubt, we may
presume that there is satisfactory proof of the fact. I do not observe
the document mentioned in Wanley's catalogue, and Nasmith's more recent
one is not at hand to refer to. The matter contained in it does not (at
least in my judgment) _necessarily_ indicate so early a date, inasmuch
as parallel, and even identical, rights and customs, connected with the
_status_ of persons and tenure of land, were in active existence at a
much later period of our history. It would certainly be more
satisfactory to know the precise grounds, whether extrinsic or
intrinsic, on which the date has been fixed.
With regard to the old Latin version, I will not undertake to vindicate
it except against _one_ of the criticisms of H. C. C. He objects that
_laeden_ is translated _minare_. The word "minare" is used in the
translation twice, once for _driving_, and once for _leading_; and I
question whether the translator could have found a more appropriate word
to serve this double purpose than the authentic verb _menare_ or
_minare_, from which the French _mener_ has been derived.
I cannot so easily justify him for translating "boc-riht" by "rectitudo
testamenti;" yet as the power of testamentary disposition was one of the
most signal attributes of boc-riht, I cannot say that he has much
misrepresented the import of the original word.
The document, which is evidently a private compilation, seems to be a
custumal, or coustumier, of a district, or some considerable portion of
the country. The German lawyers would call the collection a landrecht in
one sense of that term, or, as the translator has called it, a
"landirectum." The heading is by no means an appropriate one. Whether
the writer intended to compile a code of the customs and obligations of
land tenure, free and unfree, coextensive with the Saxon name, or merely
to represent those of a certain district with which he happened to be
acquainted, is a matter open to question.
H. C. C. is perhaps not aware that the document has been examined,
corrected, translated into German, and made the subject of a very
masterly dissertation, by Dr. Heinrich Leo, of Halle. It is frequently
referred to by Lappenberg in his _Anglo-Saxon History_, and became known
(at least in the translation) to Sir H. Ellis in time to make copious
extracts from it in the second volume of his _Introduction to Domesday_.