Quadripartitus
| Quadripartitus | |
|---|---|
| Language | medieval Latin |
| Manuscript(s) | Six manuscript classes: |
| 1. BL, Cotton MS Domitian viii, fos. 96r-110v 2. Manchester, John Rylands Library MS Lat 420 3. BL, Royal MS 11.B.ii, fos. 103r-166v 4. BL, Additional MS 49366 5. BL, Cotton MS Titus A.xxvii, fos. 89r-174v 6. London Collection: 6a. Manchester, John Rylands Library, Lat MS 155 (+ BL, Additional MS 14252) 6b. BL, Cotton MS Claudius D.ii 6c. Cambridge, CCC, MSS 70 and 258 6d. Oxford, Oriel College, MS 46. |
|
| Genre | legal compilation |
The title Quadripartitus refers to an extensive legal collection compiled during the reign of Henry I, king of England (1100–1135). The work consists of Anglo-Saxon legal materials in Latin translation as well as a number of Latin texts of legal interest that were produced after the Conquest. It ranks as the largest surviving medieval collection of pre-Conquest law and is the second to have been produced during Henry I's reign, after that contained in Cambridge, Corpus Christi College MS 383. First compiled for the use of Henry I's jurists and administrators, the Quadripartitus enjoyed immense interest for a considerable time afterwards and was consulted by legal scholars, including Henry de Bracton in the thirteenth century and John Fortescue in the fifteenth.
No original manuscript is extant, but copies survive in six classes of manuscripts:
The compilation of the Quadripartitus was an ambitious project which took many years to complete. The first preface, the Dedicatio, which may have been present only in the first draft of the work (see below), shows no intrinsic sign of having been written later than 1100, and neither does the first volume. This suggests that the work was well underway by the beginning of Henry's reign. The second preface, known as the Argumentum, frequently refers to Henry's succession as heralding the return of law and order to English society. The second volume contains material composed during Henry's reign and refers to a royal council held at London in May (Pentecost) 1108, attended among others by Urse d'Abetôt (d. 1108). Liebermann assigned the completion of the work to a date between 1113 and 1118, basing this terminus ante quem on the mention of Henry's victories over the "rages of the Bretons" in Argumentum § 16, which he took to refer to the king's claim of sovereignty as recognised by King Louis VI of France in 1113. Richard Sharpe, however, argues that the wording of the text is too general to allow for any such historically specific interpretation. He dates the completion of the first draft to between 1108 and 1118, with a date nearer the early part of this range.
According to Patrick Wormald, the anonymous author continually worked on and revised the collection. Since copies were made and sent out during the process, the author's shifting perceptions and intentions are reflected in the numerous amendments to and rearrangements of the texts which are encountered in the various manuscripts.
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