Law and the Imagination in Medieval Wales

344 Pages·2018·8.099 MB·English

by  Robin Stacey

Law and the Imagination
in Medieval Wales
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THE MIDDLE AGES SERIES
Ruth Mazo Karras, Series Editor
Edward Peters, Founding Editor
A complete list of books in the series
is available from the publisher.
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Law and the Imagination
in Medieval Wales
Robin Chapman Stacey
university of pennsylvania press
philadelphia
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Copyright © 2018 University of Pennsylvania Press

All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations used for
purposes of review or scholarly citation, none of this book
may be reproduced in any form by any means without
written permission from the publisher.

Published by
University of Pennsylvania Press
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104- 4112
www.upenn.edu/pennpress

Printed in the United States of America on a cid- free paper
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Stacey, Robin Chapman, author.
Title: Law and the imagination in medieval Wales / Robin
Chapman Stacey.
Other titles: Middle Ages series.
Description: 1st edition. | Philadelphia : University of
Pennsylvania Press, [2018] | Series: Middle Ages series |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018008684 | ISBN 9780812250510
(hardcover : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Law—Wales—History. | Law, Medieval. |
Law and literature—Wales—History. | Culture and law—
Wales—History. | Imagination—Political aspects—Wales—
History.
Classification: LCC KD9430 .S73 2018 | DDC
349.42909/02—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018008684
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For my much-l oved son Will (1988–2012),
and all that he was, and for his remarkable sister
Anna and great love Kimmy, who have found
the courage to embrace the world
in all its sharp beauty and sadness
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Contents
Introduction. Reading Law 1
Part I. Imagined Landscapes
Chapter 1. Britain and Wales 29
Chapter 2. Court and Country 56
Part II. Body and Bawdy
Chapter 3. Bodies and Nobodies 91
Chapter 4. Humor and the Household 128
Chapter 5. Sex and Marriage 149
Part III. Violence
Chapter 6. Dogs in the Nighttime 183
Conclusion. Law and the Imagination 212
List of Abbreviations 225
Notes 229
Bibliography 285
Index 317
Acknowledgments 333
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Introduction
Reading Law
Some years ago, I found myself teaching a class on medieval law. This was a
seminar intended for history majors, many of whom were planning ultimately
to enter the legal profession, and the students were both bright and curious.
We were discussing a text I knew well, the Welsh Laws of Court, when a stu-
dent raised her hand to ask about a passage that appeared to limit the sanctu-
ary (nawdd) a female baker was allowed to grant an offender to the distance
she could throw her baking scraper.1 I started in with an explanation of how
nawdd worked and why persons of greater status would have been able to ex-
tend more protection had they been approached. She looked confused, so I
dramatized the event for her, imagining a scenario in which a wild- eyed of-
fender with pursuers hot on his heels bursts into a prince’s kitchen searching
for someone to help him. He rushes over to the baker, who is there scraping
flour into a bowl, and hurls himself at her feet begging for sanctuary. Taking
pity on him, she throws her baking tool into the air, and he then becomes safe
from arrest as long as he stays within the space defined by her throw, remain-
ing amid the pots and pans for several days while the terms for his release are
negotiated. The questions that ensued were completely predictable. Even to
me, the scene I was imagining sounded perfectly ridiculous. Would a person
in trouble really seek out a kitchen servant for protection? What if she had hit
someone with her scraper? And above all, why would something so incredibly
silly be written into the law? Law was supposed to be true, not funny, and this
sounded more like a joke or an excerpt from a story than anything else. Didn’t
medieval people know the difference?
The discussion that followed was lively, though ultimately inconclusive,
not least because several students immediately pointed out that exactly the
same privileges were extended to the laundress and her washing dolly, which
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