Instituta de legibus regum anglorum (In Cn)
The Institutes from the Laws of the Kings of the English, popularly known as the Institutes of Cnut, is a Latin translation not only of Cnut’s Winchester code (I-II Cnut, c. 1023), but also of chapters from the laws of Alfred, Edgar, Æthelred, and several short anonymous treatises. The translator, working between the Norman conquest and c. 1123, used his Old English sources as a starting point for composing his Latin text; he revised freely, omitting, it appears, many chapters from the sources, updating some sections, and rearranging texts frequently. Some of the Instituta‘s sources cannot be identified. The final text is a testament to the Norman attitude that preconquest English law was the foundation of the law of England.
Contents
Print editions
- Thomas Hearne, ed., Textus Roffensis (Oxford 1720).
- J. L. A. Kolderup-Rosenvinge, ed., Legum Regis Canuti Magni (Copenhagen 1826).
- Reinhold Schmid, ed., Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, 2nd ed. (Leipzig 1858), appendix.
- Felix Liebermann, ed., Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, 3 vols (Halle, 1903–1916), vol. 1, pp. 612–17.
A new edition is being prepared for Early English Laws by Bruce O’Brien.
Manuscripts
- Di: Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Digby 13, fos. 41r-53r
description & facsimiles - H: Strood, Medway Archive and Local Studies Centre, MS DRc/R1 (Textus Roffensis), fos. 58r-80r
description & facsimiles - La: London, Lambeth Palace Library, MS 118, fos. 94r-104v
description & facsimiles - Rl: Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Rawlinson C. 641, fos. 30r-43r
description & facsimiles - T: London, British Library, MS Cotton Titus A.XXVII, fos. 160v-174v
description & facsimiles