Alfred the Great's domboc ('book of laws') is the longest and most ambitious legal text of the Anglo-Saxon period. Alfred places his own laws, dealing with everything from sanctuary to feuding to the theft of bees, between a lengthy translation of legal passages from the Bible and the legislation of the West-Saxon King Ine (r. 688–726), which rival his own in length and scope. This book is the first critical edition of the domboc published in over a century, as well as a new translation. Five introductory chapters offer fresh insights into the laws of Alfred and Ine, considering their backgrounds, their relationship to early medieval legal culture, their manuscript evidence and their reception in later centuries. Rather than a haphazard accumulation of ordinances, the domboc is shown to issue from deep reflection on the nature of law itself, whose effects would permanently alter the development of early English legislation.

'Written by two leading specialists in early medieval legal studies, this book offers a rigorous re-evaluation of West Saxon law in its historical context, together with a new edition that will undoubtedly become a primary source of reference in the field.'

Carole Hough - University of Glasgow

'This impressive new edition of Alfred’s laws locates them, all 120 clauses, more fully than before within the 'Alfredian achievement'. Its editors bring to their task a mastery of relevant literature, not just historical studies but, because their training was primarily literary and linguistic, a deep knowledge of the whole Old English corpus.'

Paul Hyams - Cornell University

'Come for the critical edition and stay for the commendable exegesis of Alfred’s prologue and laws. Jurasinski and Oliver’s masterful work is bound to become the definitive scholarly edition. It will be an essential text for scholars of Old English literature as well as legal historians interested in the medieval reception of the domboc and its later life in the age of print.'

Elizabeth Papp Kamali - Harvard Law School

'This book will transform the field of early English law. Jurasinski and Oliver’s excellent critical edition provides faithful, readable translations in modern English alongside meticulously researched contextual essays. The Laws of Alfred makes the complete ninth-century text newly accessible to specialists and students alike.'

Nicole Marafioti - Trinity University

‘A reliable and richly annotated text suitable for both the seasoned historian of early medieval Britain and the student reader. … This is a remarkable volume, without which no shelf of early medieval European history or legal history will be complete.’

Roy Flechner Source: Speculum: A Journal of Medieval Studies