Codex Diplomaticus Aevi Saxonici

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Codex Diplomaticus Aevi Saxonici
Codex Diplomaticus Aevi Saxonici 1839.png
Frontispiece of the first book (1839).
Author John Mitchell Kemble
Discipline Anglo-Saxon charters
Publisher Sumptibus Societatis
Published1885 (Vol.1), 1887 (Vol.2), 1893 (Vol.3)
No. of books3

The Codex Diplomaticus Aevi Saxonici ('Diplomatic Code of the Saxon Age') was a collection of documents from the Anglo-Saxon period preserved in manuscripts held by various libraries in England assembled by John Mitchel Kemble. [1] Published in six volumes between 1839 and 1848, it was the first collected edition of the surviving corpus of Anglo-Saxon charters. [2] [3]

Contents

It formed the basis for later works such as the Cartularium Saxonicum and Sawyer's "Anglo-Saxon Charters: an Annotated List and Bibliography".

Background and Scope

Kemble conceived of the work whilst a law student at Trinity College, Cambridge, it being intended as a essentially a case study in legal history. [4] He explained:

"Too much ignorance prevails in England respecting the habits of our Saxon ancestors; too many of our most polished scholars have condescended to make themselves the echoes of degenerate Greeks and enervated Romans"

The original series was only intended to be four volumes covering the years AD 640-1066. [5]

VolumePublication DateCharter DatesNumber of Charters
11839640-838240
21840838-966287
31845966-1016199
418461016-1066225

However following the discovery of the Codex Wintoniensis, Kemble published a 5th volume in 1847 of some further 236 documents covering the years 616 to 958. The 6th and final volume followed on from the 5th, covering the years 959 to 1066; some 157 documents. Therefore the total number of documents published in the series numbered 1369. [5]

Criticism

Some four decades after Kemble published Codex Diplomaticus series, Birch revisited the subject with his own series on Anglo Saxon Charters, the Cartularium Saxonicum. Of Kemble's work he acknowledges: "the justly celebrated Codex Diplomaticus (1839-1848) of the late Mr. J. M. Kemble occupies a position in literature achieved by no other collection of historical evidence in the world", however then states, regarding the accuracy of the work: "texts themselves are in a large proportion of cases edited incorrectly, and that, in some instances, to a serious extent." [6]

Bibliography

The complete was series was scanned by Google from copies in the Toronto and Oxford university libraries and are made available via Archive.org:

See also

References

  1. ↑ John Mitchell Kemble, Codex Diplomaticus Aevi Saxonici ebook, (Cambridge University Press,2012).
  2. ↑ Codex Diplomaticus Aevi Saxonici at Britannica.com.
  3. ↑ Walter de Gray Birch, Cartularium Saxonicum (Whiting, 1964)
  4. ↑ Kemble, John Mitchell (1839). Codex diplomaticus aevi saxonici. unknown library. Londini, Sumptibus Societatis. pp. i–ix.
  5. 1 2 Walter de Gray Birch (1885). Cartularium saxonicum: a collection of charters relating to Anglo-Saxon history (in Latin). Harvard University. Whiting. pp. xii–xiv.
  6. ↑ Walter de Gray Birch (1885). Cartularium saxonicum: a collection of charters relating to Anglo-Saxon history (in Latin). Harvard University. Whiting. pp. vii.
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