Æthelstan promulgates laws aimed chiefly at the…

936 CE

Æthelstan promulgates laws aimed chiefly at the suppression of lawlessness.

More legal texts survive from Æthelstan's reign than from any other tenth-century king.

The earliest appear to be his tithe edict and the "Ordinance on Charities".

Four legal codes had been adopted at Royal Councils in the early 930s at Grately in Hampshire, Exeter, Faversham in Kent, and Thunderfield in Surrey.

Local legal texts survive from London and Kent, and one concerning the 'Dunsæte' on the Welsh border probably also dates to Æthelstan's reign.

In the view of Patrick Wormald, the laws must have been written by Wulfhelm, who in 926 succeeded Athelm as Archbishop of Canterbury.

Other historians see Wulhelm's role as less important, giving the main credit to Æthelstan himself, although the significance placed on the ordeal as a test of innocence shows the increased influence of the church.

Nicholas Brooks sees the role of the bishops as marking an important stage in the increasing involvement of the church in the making and enforcement of law.

The two earliest codes are concerned with clerical matters, and Æthelstan stated that he acted on the advice of Wulfhelm and his bishops.

The first asserts the importance of paying tithes to the church.

The second enforces the duty of charity on Æthelstan's reeves, specifying the amount to be given to the poor and requiring reeves to free one penal slave annually.

His religious outlook is shown in a wider sacralization of the law in his reign, such as an increasing use of ordeals conducted as ecclesiastical rituals The later codes show his concern with threats to social order, especially robbery, which he regards as the most important manifestation of social breakdown.

The first of these later codes, issued at Grately, had prescribed harsh penalties, including the death penalty for anyone over twelve years old caught in the act of stealing goods worth more than eight pence.

This apparently had little effect.

In desperation, the Council tried a different strategy, offering an amnesty to thieves if they paid compensation to their victims.

The problem of powerful families protecting criminal relatives was to be solved by expelling them to other parts of the realm.

This strategy did not last long, and at Thunderfield, Æthelstan returned to the hard line, softened by raising the minimum age for the death penalty to fifteen.

His reign sees the first introduction of the system of tithing, sworn groups of ten or more men who are jointly responsible for peacekeeping (later known as frankpledge).