Index

Spring 2026

Medieval Law

Seminar: English Legal History

MATERIALS

Spring 2026

History 2080 (Medieval Law)		Law 2166 (Legal History Seminar: English Legal History)
Prof. Donahue		Fall 2021

The syllabus is admittedly ambitious, perhaps overly ambitious, particularly at the beginning. Here is a list of the materials that I hope that you will be able to cover before coming to class in the first three weeks:

Week 1

Textus Roffensis (front cover) (jpg)

Textus Roffensis (folio 1r) ( jpg)

Textus Roffensis (folio 1v) (jpg)

Textus Roffensis (folio 110v) (jpg)

Textus Roffensis (folio 111r) (jpg)

Textus Roffensis (folio 119r) (jpg)

Materials, Sections 2D–2F (text and trans. of Aethelbert’s ‘Code’, an article by Brian Simpson about it, and an attempt to analyze the document) (pdf).

Wormald, ‘Lex scripta’ (a leading article on the topic).

Outline of the class (describes what was done in the class the last time it was given).

Week 2

Materials on Domesday book, including the almost complete Domesday of Huntingdonshire (pdf).

Outline of the class (describes what was done in the class the last time it was given).

Week 3

Normally I say read the primary materials first and then the secondary literature if you have time for it. In the case of this class, however, the focus will be on whether the primary materials support the Milsom thesis about what the assizes of Henry II were trying to do. Many readers find the Milsom book difficult. He was much easier to understand in class than he was in print. If what Milsom is trying to do seems totally mysterious to you, read the Palmer review. In class we will look at the extracts from Glanvill to see how, and to what extent, they support what Milsom is saying. We will then look at the extracts from the plea rolls contained in the Polstead saga. They might be regarded as an attempt to replicate Milsom's experiment using plea roll cases that he did not use.

[Syllabus] [Assignments]