Provisional Drogereit pdf

(p. 340) The view came from him that only since Edward the Confessor (1042-1066)
had there been an organised chancery, as the Chancellor was not named in the
charters until his time 32 . W. Stubbs supported the theory of production by the
recipient in his book on constitutional history 33 , still used as a benchmark today. W.
Keller 34 and O. Homburger, who mention the chancery issue briefly in their
palaeographic studies, also hold the same opinion. Homburger also points out that, for
certain periods, recipient production can be proved by analysis of script-types which
belong to various writing schools 35 . Finally, a mention should be made here of H. W.
Stevenson’s letter, which was communicated by Kügler. Stevenson states here quite
clearly that “royal clerks” had been writing charters since Aethelstan’s time 36 . (The
earlier opinion of Stevenson, which is to be found in the “Crawford Collection” 37 , has
been overtaken by the latter.)
Of greatest significance are the works of P. Vinogradoff, which finally made clear the
legal quality of the folk-land and boc-land mentioned in the charters 38 . According to
their content nearly all charters are concerned with land transfer. – Besides
Vinogradoff we must also consider F. Maitland.
32
J. R. Greene, The Conquest of England, London 1899, 2 Vols. The same edition of 1883/4 was used
here. Vol. II, p. 544.
33
W. Stubbs, The Constitutional History of England. Reprint Oxford 1926. 3 Vols., see I, p. 264 and p.
380 n. 1.
34 W. Keller, Angelsächsische Paläographie. Anglo-Saxon script with particular consideration for the
monuments in colloquial language, in Palästra 43, Part I, p. 32, Berlin 1906.
35 O. Homburger, Die Anfänge der Malschule von Winchester im X. Jahrhundert. (The start of the
Winchester painting school in the 10 th Century). In Studien über christliche Denkmäler, (Studies of
Christian monuments). 13 th Book. Leipzig 1912, p. 39, n. 4.
36
H. Kugler, Ie und seine Parallelformen im Angelsächsischen (Ie and its parallel forms in Anglo-
Saxon). Diss. Berlin 1916, p. 10. The letter mentioning the few important points states:
“It is quite clear that after the union of the Kingdom under Aethelstan the royal chancery (if we may
use the form) was in possession of fixed formulas and methods of drawing up charters. This favours the
view that the actual scribes of the charters would be royal clerks.
The invariable use of West Saxon in the charters, even outside Wessex proves that there was a
chancery language and that militates against the theory that the charters were drawn up by the
recipients. West Saxon was not only the chancery language but also the literary language, so that the
last argument is perhaps not a conclusive one. Already in Aethelstan’s time we find charters in the
Hand of one and the same scribe in different parts of England. In this case the inference seems
unavoidable that the writer was a royal clerk.”
37 A. S. Napier and W. H. Stevenson, The Crawford Collection of Early Charters and Documents, in
Anecdota Oxoniensia, Mediaevial and Modern Series Part VII. Oxford 1895. See Preface IX, n. 1.
38 The essays that are scattered around are nowadays best accessible in the Posthumen Edition: The
Collected Papers of Paul Vinogradoff, with a Memoir by H. A. L. Fisher, Oxford 1928. Herein the
following essays: a) Folkland in Vol. I, 91-111 from E. H. R. VIII, 1-20, 1893; b) Romantische
Einflüsse im Angelsächsischen Recht (Romantic Influences in Anglo-Saxon Law): Das Buchland (The
Bookland) in Vol. I, 168-191, from Mélange’s Fitting II, 501-522. Montpellier 1908.
340