The concept of treason can be dated back to the early Roman republic, but was defined by nebulous criteria, it would be the common laws of this time period which would most directly influence those customary in the court of King Arthur, a legendary British leader who, according to medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against which invaders in the late 5th and early 6th centuries AD?
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Treason in Arthurian legend The concept of treason can be dated back to the early Roman republic, but was defined by nebulous criteria. Frederic William Maitland, author of The History of English Law Before the Time of Edward I, has said that "treason is a crime [with] a vague circumference and more than one centre." Early French and Anglo-Saxon laws for the prosecution of persons deemed traitorous were inspired by, and in some cases, directly pulled from, late Roman and Germanic conceptions of the crime. It would be the common laws of this time period which would most directly influence those customary in King Arthur’s court — assuming its existence is founded in more than the legends and fables of medieval romances.
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King Arthur King Arthur is a legendary British leader who, according to medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the late 5th and early 6th centuries AD. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and his historical existence is debated and disputed by modern historians. The sparse historical background of Arthur is gleaned from various sources, including the "Annales Cambriae", the "Historia Brittonum", and the writings of Gildas. Arthur's name also occurs in early poetic sources such as "Y Gododdin".
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Brutus of Troy Brutus, or Brute of Troy, is a legendary descendant of the Trojan hero Aeneas, known in medieval British history as the eponymous founder and first king of Britain. This legend first appears in the "Historia Britonum", an anonymous 9th-century historical compilation to which commentary was added by Nennius, but is best known from the account given by the 12th-century chronicler Geoffrey of Monmouth in his "Historia Regum Britanniae". Notwithstanding this, he is not mentioned in any classical text and cannot be considered to be historical.
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Old Bailey The Central Criminal Court of England and Wales, commonly known as the Old Bailey from the street on which it stands, is a court in London and one of a number of buildings housing the Crown Court. Part of the present building stands on the site of the medieval Newgate gaol, on a road named Old Bailey that follows the line of the City of London's fortified wall (or "bailey"), which runs from Ludgate Hill to the junction of Newgate Street and Holborn Viaduct. The Old Bailey has been housed in several structures near this location since the 16th century, and its present building dates from 1902.
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Tarquinian conspiracy The Tarquinian conspiracy was a conspiracy amongst a number of senators and leading men of ancient Rome in 509 BC to reinstate the monarchy, and to put Lucius Tarquinius Superbus back on the throne. The conspirators were discovered and executed. The story is part of Rome's early semi-legendary history.
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Treachery Act 1940 The Treachery Act 1940 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom enacted during World War II to facilitate the prosecution and execution of enemy spies, and suspended after the war and later repealed. The law was passed in the month after Nazi Germany invaded France and Winston Churchill became prime minister (23 May 1940).
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Richard Morgan (Tudor judge) Sir Richard Morgan SL PC (died May 1556) was a Welsh lawyer, judge and politician of the mid-Tudor period. After achieving prominence as a lawyer in the reign of Henry VIII, he became recorder of Gloucester and also Member (MP) of the Parliament of England for Gloucester in the three parliaments of 1545, 1547 and March 1553. He was a notable Catholic supporter of Mary, who made him Chief Justice of the Common Pleas. However, he was soon removed from office and died in mysterious circumstances, apparently suffering from some form of mental disorder.
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Tribal Assembly The Tribal Assembly or Assembly of the People ("comitia populi tributa") of the Roman Republic was an assembly consisting of all Roman citizens convened by the tribes (tributim). During the Roman Republic, citizens were organized on the basis of 35 tribes: four urban tribes of the citizens in the city of Rome, and 31 rural tribes of citizens outside the city. The tribes gathered in the Tribal Assembly to vote on legislative, judicial and electoral matters. Each tribe voted separately and one after the other. In each tribe, decisions were made by majority vote and its decision counted as one vote regardless of how many electors each tribe held. Once a majority of tribes voted in the same way on a given measure, the voting ended and the matter was decided. The president of the Tribal Assembly was usually either a "consul" or a "praetor". The Tribal Assembly elected the "quaestors", and the "curule aediles". it conducted trials for non-capital punishment cases. However, the Roman Dictator Lucius Cornelius Sulla reassigned this to special jury courts ("quaestiones perpetuae") in 82 BC. There are disagreements among modern historians regarding the number and nature of the tribal assembly (see below).
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Ancient Germanic law Several Latin law codes of the Germanic peoples written in the Early Middle Ages (also known as leges barbarorum "laws of the barbarians") survive, dating to between the 5th and 9th centuries. They are influenced by Roman law, canon law, and earlier tribal customs.
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English defamation law Modern libel and slander laws, as implemented in many (but not all) Commonwealth nations as well as in the United States and in the Republic of Ireland, are originally descended from English defamation law. The history of defamation law in England is somewhat obscure; civil actions for damages seem to have been relatively frequent as far back as the reign of Edward I (1272–1307), though it is unknown whether any generally applicable criminal process was in place. The first fully reported case in which libel is affirmed generally to be punishable at common law was tried during the reign of James I (1603-1625). Scholars frequently attribute the strict English defamation law to James I's outlawing of dueling. From that time, we find both the criminal and civil remedies in full operation.
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Compounding treason Compounding treason is an offence under the common law of England. It is committed by anyone who agrees for consideration to abstain from prosecuting the offender who has committed treason.
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Romano-Germanic culture The term Romano-Germanic describes the conflation of Roman culture with that of various Germanic peoples in areas successively ruled by the Roman Empire and Germanic "barbarian monarchies".
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Wessex culture The Wessex culture is the predominant prehistoric culture of central and southern Britain during the early Bronze Age, originally defined by the British archaeologist Stuart Piggott in 1938. It should not be confused with the later Saxon kingdom of Wessex.
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Anglo-Saxon art Anglo-Saxon art covers art produced within the Anglo-Saxon period of English history, beginning with the Migration period style that the Anglo-Saxons brought with them from the continent in the 5th century, and ending in 1066 with the Norman Conquest of a large Anglo-Saxon nation-state whose sophisticated art was influential in much of northern Europe. The two periods of outstanding achievement were the 7th and 8th centuries, with the metalwork and jewellery from Sutton Hoo and a series of magnificent illuminated manuscripts, and the final period after about 950, when there was a revival of English culture after the end of the Viking invasions. By the time of the Conquest the move to the Romanesque style is nearly complete. The important artistic centres, in so far as these can be established, were concentrated in the extremities of England, in Northumbria, especially in the early period, and Wessex and Kent near the south coast.
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House of Wessex The House of Wessex, also known as the House of Cerdic ("Cerdicingas" in Old English), refers to the family that initially ruled a kingdom in southwest England known as Wessex, from the 6th century under Cerdic of Wessex until the unification of the Kingdoms of England by Alfred the Great and his successors (Though Alfred's grandfather Egbert was the one to start consolidating West saxon domination). Alfred and his successors would also be part of this dynasty, which would continue ruling in the main line all the way until Alfred's descendant, Ethelred the Unready, whose reign in the late 10th century and early 11th century saw a brief period of Danish occupation and following his and his son Edmund Ironside's death, kingship by the Danish Cnut the Great and his successors to 1042. The House of Wessex then briefly regained its power for 24 years, but after the deposition of its last scion, Ethelred's great-grandson Edgar Atheling would fade into the annals of history after the death of Edgar Atheling in 1125.
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Hundred of Hampton The Hundred of Hampton is one of the 40 historical Hundreds in the ceremonial county of Somerset, England, dating from before the Norman conquest during the Anglo-Saxon era although exact dates are unknown. Each hundred had a 'fyrd', which acted as the local defence force and a court which was responsible for the maintenance of the frankpledge system. They also formed a unit for the collection of taxes. The role of the hundred court was described in the Dooms (laws) of King Edgar. The name of the hundred was normally that of its meeting-place.
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Cimbri The Cimbri were an ancient people, either Germanic or Celtic who, together with the Teutones and the Ambrones, fought the Roman Republic between 113 and 101 BC. The Cimbri were initially successful, particularly at the Battle of Arausio, in which a large Roman army was routed, after which they raided large areas in Gaul and Hispania. In 101 BC, during an attempted invasion of Italy, the Cimbri were decisively defeated by Gaius Marius, and their king, Boiorix, was killed. Some of the surviving captives are reported to have been among the rebelling gladiators in the Third Servile War.
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Elafius Elafius was recorded as a British figure of the fifth century AD.
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English feudal barony In the kingdom of England, a feudal barony or barony by tenure was the highest degree of feudal land tenure, namely "per baroniam" (Latin for "by barony") under which the land-holder owed the service of being one of the king's barons. The duties owed by and the privileges granted to feudal barons cannot now be defined exactly, but they involved the duty of providing soldiers to the royal feudal army on demand by the king, and the privilege of attendance at the king's feudal court, the precursor of parliament.
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Anglo-Saxon warfare The period of Anglo-Saxon Warfare spans the 5th Century AD to the 11th in England. Its technology and tactics resemble those of other European cultural areas of the Early Middle Ages, although the Anglo-Saxons, unlike the Continental Germanic tribes such as the Franks and the Goths, do not appear to have regularly fought on horseback.
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Wales in the High Middle Ages Wales in the High Middle Ages covers the 11th to 13th centuries in Welsh history. Beginning shortly before the Norman invasion of the 1060s and ending with the Conquest of Wales by Edward I between 1278 and 1283, it was a period of significant political, cultural and social change for the country.
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Trojan genealogy of Nennius The Trojan genealogy of Nennius was written in the "Historia Brittonum" of Nennius and was created to merge Greek mythology with Christian themes. As a description of the genealogical line of Aeneas of Troy, Brutus of Britain, and Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome, it is an example of the foundation genealogies found not only in early Irish, Welsh and Saxon texts but also in Roman sources.