Valuable new insights into the multi-layered and multi-directional relationship of law, literature, and social regulation in pre-Conquest English society. Pre-Conquest English law was among the most sophisticated in early medieval Europe. Composed largely in the vernacular, it played a crucial role in the evolution of early English identity and exercised a formative influence on the development of the Common Law. However, recent scholarship has also revealed the significant influence of these legal documents and ideas on other cultural domains, both modern and pre-modern. This collection explores the richness of pre-Conquest legal writing by looking beyond its traditional codified form. Drawing on methodologies ranging from traditional philology to legal and literary theory, and from a diverse selection of contributors offering a broad spectrum of disciplines, specialities and perspectives, the essays examine the intersection between traditional juridical texts - from law codes and charters to treatises and religious regulation - and a wide range of literary genres, including hagiography and heroic poetry. In doing so, they demonstrate that the boundary that has traditionally separated "law" from other modes of thought and writing is far more porous than hitherto realized. Overall, the volume yields valuable new insights into the multi-layered and multi-directional relationship of law, literature, and social regulation in pre-Conquest English society.

About the Author
Andrew Rabin is a Professor in the English Department at the University of Louisville. Anya Adair is Assistant Professor in law and humanities at the University of Hong Kong. Anya Adair is Assistant Professor in law and humanities at the University of Hong Kong. Andrew Rabin is a Professor in the English Department at the University of Louisville. MARY ELIZABETH BLANCHARD is an early medieval historian at Ave Maria University specializing in tenth- and eleventh-century England with specific focus on prosopography and activities of the secular and ecclesiastical elites.

Reviews
An important contribution to the study of the interaction of law and literature in pre-Conquest England. * SPECULUM *



Book Information
ISBN 9781783277605
Author Andrew Rabin
Format Hardback
Page Count 310
Imprint The Boydell Press
Publisher Boydell & Brewer Ltd
Weight(grams) 1g