Many fantasy settings for roleplaying games have creative bases within the real world history of the dark ages – a time before technology and wide-spread education, when wars were fought with sword and bow, when feudal domain was held and when the King ruled over his kingdom, dispensing wisdom, directive and justice.

Whether creating a home-brew setting, or utilising one of the many published fantasy settings on the market, even a brief description of the local law of the land can add a huge amount of depth and structure for the setting, whilst presenting guidelines to the players regarding what is considered to be acceptable behaviour, and what is illegal. And what better place to look than into actual real world history?

This article gives a brief run-down of English Law in Anglo-Saxon times (around 500AD – 1065 AD). Although not specifically mentioned, other European nations used similar models to those described here (indeed most laws were brought over from Europe by tribes settling on the island). This is just meant to provide some ideas for your historical or fantasy setting.

Like everything else in England, the law changed radically in 1066 after the invasion by William the Conquerer. This was primarily due to William's decision to centralise government, banishing forever the previous system of regional courts. In the very dark ages, England did not exist as a whole. Instead the small island was divided into a multitude of smaller kingdoms, each with a "king" variant who held the ultimate authority for his "shire".

By the middle of the 1st millennium (ie around 600 A.D), more structure had been added. There was now a single king who claimed domain over the southern kingdoms (the northern ones maintaining their own independence), but a huge amount of power still rested with the regional lords, now called eorls. The eorls still had pretty much ultimate control over their domains, including the right to make laws and impose tithes (taxes) as they saw fit.

Laws (often known as dooms) imposed by the king at this time were simple, and yet surprisingly detailed. Most were developed initially from the ten commandments laid down by Moses, and hence described punishment for those caught killing, stealing, committing adultery and other such "moral" offences. A few examples include:

• If a freeman steal from the king, let him pay ninefold.
• If a man lie with the king's maiden, let him pay a bot (fine) of fifty shillings.
• If a freeman lie with a freeman's wife, let him pay for it with his wergeld (fine based on the monetary value of his life), and provide another wife with his own money, and bring her to the other.

In addition, a surprisingly standardised system of compensation for physical injury was developed:

• If any one destroy (another's) organ of generation, let him pay with three leud-gelds (a standard fine for manslaughter); if he pierce it through, let him make bot with six shillings; if it be pierced within, let him make bot with six shillings.
• If a thigh be broken, let bot be made with twelve shillings; if the man become halt, then the friends must arbitrate.
• If a rib be broken, let bot be made with three shillings.
• If a thigh be pierced through, for each stab six shillings; if (the wound be) above an inch, a shilling; for two inches, two; above three, three shillings.

Come the 800s the authority of the 'King' had developed more fully outside of the regional zones, and the law started to become more complex. It started to introduce concepts beyond the basic moral ones, such as treason, debt, feuds, and appropriate behaviour on mass-days.

• If any one plot against the king's life, of himself, or by harbouring of exiles, or of his men; let him be liable with his life and in all that he has; or let him prove himself according to his lord's wer.
• To all freemen let these days be given, but not to theow-men and esne-workmen (variations of slaves/servants): twelve days at Yule, and the day on which Christ overcame the devil, and the commemoration day of St. Gregory, and seven days before Easter and seven days after, and one day at St. Peter's tide and St. Paul's, and in harvest the whole week before St. Mary-mass, and one day at the celebration of All-Hallows and the four Wednesdays in the four ember weeks. To all theow-men be given, to those whom it may be most desirable to give, whatever any man shall give them in God's name, or they at any of their moments may deserve.
• We have ordained concerning those men who were perjurers; if that were made evident, or an oath failed to them, or were out-proved, that they afterwards should not be oath-worthy, but ordeal-worthy.

Yet still, right up to the 1066 conquest, the law could vary greatly from one region to the next, dependent upon the whims of the local eorls. So when using this model in a roleplaying setting, here's a few things to consider:

1)Who is the primary law-maker? Is it a king, or a regional lord?

2)What sort of person is he? Does he care for the well-being of his subjects, or is he more interested in his own well-being?

3)What sort of laws will he make? Will he base them purely on moralistic grounds, or will he develop beyond that?

4)Who are his advisors? Are they religious persons, ambitious lords, budding accountants? After all, the bias of the advice given may affect the type of laws made.

5)What is his relationship with other domains? Is it a time of war or one of peace?

For most of the Anglo-Saxon period, there was no law enforcement as such. If a crime was committed, it was up to the victim (or the victim's family) to seek justice. However, during the later formalisation of procedure by the 10th century kings, a group of people known as hundredmen (literally one man in a hundred) were appointed to oversee that trading was carried out peacefully and that incidents of cattle-theft and the like were dealt with. This was perhaps the first police force. As time went on, their powers and scope of authority grew.

Meanwhile, Anglo-Saxon courts were a public affair, held every four weeks in an open space, usually near a prominent landmark. These courts were called hundreds and were overseen by 12 trusted individuals who had sworn vows to uphold justice and to not prosecute the innocent. Here local cases were heard and decided upon. Above that was the shire court, which met twice yearly and could deal with cases that had been passed up to it by the various hundreds.

Bringing a case forward was perhaps a more straight-forward affair than now. Each case required a plaintiff (the accuser) and a defendant (the accusee). Much of the court procedure hung on oaths sworn before God. If the defendant could swear he did not do it, and his integrity could be validated by witnesses, then usually he would walk free. This was more effective than it sounds. In the tiny communities, most people knew the facts of the case anyway and a guilty man would have trouble getting the required witnesses to vouch for him.

An alternate method of determining guilt was through trial by ordeal. An innocent man could request an ordeal, which was administered by the clergy. Two ordeal types were available, water (the defendant is given holy water to drink then dropped into a river – the guilty supposedly float, and the innocent sink), or iron (he would have to carry a glowing bar for a short time. If the burns on his hands healed cleanly, then he is innocent).

Regardless of method, once guilt was proven, sentence could be passed. There were no jails in Anglo-Saxon England. The only sentences available were fines (see the compensation laws listed above), mutilation or death. A defendant with no means of paying the fines may have received a period of enforced slavery instead.

Next time: Medi-Evil: The Law of the Dark and Middle Ages, Part 2: The post 1066 era