The Growth of Law in Medieval Wales, C.1100-C.1500 - by Sara Elin Roberts (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

2022 Hywel Dda Award (University of Wales Literary Awards)

A ground-breaking study of the lawbooks which were created in the changing social and political climate of post-conquest Wales.

The Middle Ages in Wales were turbulent, with society and culture in constant flux. Edward I of England's 1282 conquest brought with it major changes to society, governance, power and identity, and thereby to the traditional system of the law. Despite this, in the post-conquest period the development of law in Wales and the March flourished, and many manuscripts and lawbooks were created to meet the needs of those who practised law.
This study, the first to fully reappraise the entire corpus of law manuscripts since Aneurin Owen's seminal 1841 edition, begins by considering the background to the creation of the law from the earliest period, particularly from c.1100 onwards, before turning to the "golden age" of lawmaking in thirteenth-century Gwynedd. The nature of the law in south Wales is also examined in full, with a particular focus on later developments, including the different use of legal texts in that region and its fourteenth- and fifteenth-century manuscripts. The author approaches medieval Welsh law, its practice, texts and redactions, in their own contexts, rather than through the lens of later historiography. In particular, she shows that much manuscript material previously considered "additional" or "anomalous" in fact incorporates new legal material and texts written for a particular purpose: thanks to their flexible accommodation of change, adjustment and addition, Welsh lawbooks were not just shaped by, but indeed shaped, medieval Welsh law.

Review Quotes

A most impressive book, broad in scope, full of important insights, and written with clarity and verve... One of the great monuments to legal learning in the European Middle Ages is presented to us by one of the most accomplished commentators in a long line of distinguished scholars.-- "JOURNAL OF THE MORTIMER HISTORY SOCIETY"

Cleanly written and outfitted with a useful glossary and thorough bibliography, The Growth of Law in Medieval Wales must now be seen as the new entry point for the study of medieval Welsh law. In her acknowledgments, Roberts declares that "[t]his book has been a long time in the making" (213). It has been worth waiting for.-- "SPECULUM"

It is one of the great merits of this book that it, for the most part, steps back from the texts to look at the bigger picture. Furthermore, it is interested less about where the law has come from but more about where it went and how it developed. The reader is well supported by indices, a glossary of terms, and numerous tables at relevant points, all of which help to smooth and ease the presentation of some really quite difficult material.-- "NORTH AMERICAN JOURNAL OF CELTIC STUDIES"

Sara Elin Roberts is one of the foremost living scholars of medieval Welsh law and those who study medieval Wales owe her a debt of gratitude for producing this book. It provides an invaluable source of reference for those who need a reliable guide to the otherwise bewildering series of manuscripts... and gives non-specialist readers a better sense of what Welsh law actually represented.-- "ARCHAEOLOGIA CAMBRENSIS"