Vacarius and the Advent of Civil Law: Medieval Oxford, #1

By David EP Dennis

Vacarius and the Advent of Civil Law

This is Volume 1 of the series of books about Medieval Oxford University. The series will examine a wide range of positive and negative connections between the University and the world in medieval times (c.1066-1500). How did people at Oxford's great seat of learning, by occupation or invitation, think - and what did they think about? What kinds of events happened in the area? What were the relationships between the monarch, religious leaders, local population, foreign institutions, and the university? This first volume reveals how the Italian jurist Master Vacarius who was brought to England to help the development of civil law, was brave in the face of the wrath of King Stephen who ordered the burning of his books - and how Oxford became a beacon of intellectual freedom. In this volume we look at how the civil law of the Roman Empire was brought, via European Universities such as Bologna and Padua, to England - and Oxford in particular. The book reviews the fascinating development of early law: in Egypt and Babylon, the fate of slaves, and the Roman Empire's legal refinements driven by Justinian I. We also consider the mass Saxon executions of Charlemagne, the severe rule of William the Conqueror and the work of Irnerius, Vacarius, and tragic Thomas Becket. The book also explains Anglo-Saxon laws, such as Hue & Cry and Compurgation, which existed in England as Vacarius arrived from Bologna to work for Archbishop Theobald of Bec in 1143.

Most importantly, the book shows how kind and helpful to students was Master Vacarius. He really was a 'Man for All Seasons' rather than the robotic and inflexible Becket.

• Language: English
• Publisher: David EP Dennis
• Release date: Jun 14, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223467779

David EP Dennis

David EP Dennis is a retired RAF officer. He lives in East Sussex, England. He is married and has three children and six grandchildren. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development and a Licentiate of City & Guilds International. David is a member of the Open University Poetry Society and a Saatchi artist. He has founded two national charities. He now engages in extensive historical research and works to inform and preserve heritage and wildlife through his photography.  David has had a remarkably wide-ranging career: as an RAF Mountain Rescue Team member, PA to the Red Arrows, many important military posts and as inspector and consultant for education and vocational training. He currently works as a Sussex Police volunteer writer. He has travelled worldwide, especially in the Arctic, Scandinavia, the Middle East, and Australia. David has just completed his studies for an Honours degree in Creative Writing, Classic and Linguistics with the Open University and his intention is to create poems, books, articles, and historical research until the universe stops him. 

Book preview

MEDIEVAL ASPECTS OF OXFORD UNIVERSITY

by David EP Dennis

Volume 1

VACARIUS

AND THE

DEVELOPMENT OF CIVIL LAW

image-placeholder

Published in Great Britain

First edition published June 2023

Copyright © David EP Dennis 2023

David EP Dennis has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.

All characters in this publication are factual and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is deliberate.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

Image: The crest of Oxford University is taken from the public domain file of Wikimedia Commons.

Series Introduction

This series of books will examine a wide range of positive and negative connections between Oxford University in England, and the world in medieval times (c.1066-1500). How did people at Oxford’s great seat of learning, by occupation or invitation, think - and what did they think about? What kinds of events happened in the area? What were the relationships between the monarch, religious leaders, local population, foreign institutions, and the university?

Contents

1.Preface

2.Introduction

3.The University of Bologna

4.Irnerius

5.Vacarius at Bologna

6.Oxford University's Early Development

7.Medieval Law at the time of Vacarius

8.Thomas Becket

9.Conclusion

10.References

11.Dateline

12.Other books by David EP Dennis

Chapter 1

Preface

Dear Reader

This book is the first in a series about Medieval Oxford and its university. This edition, Volume One, is about the relationship between Oxford University and the development of the law – especially the civil law although some early law merged civil and criminal aspects. There has always been some sort of rule, initially tribal, with some alpha male forcing a desired outcome through violence, or perhaps the whole tribe sitting down together to decide on the limits to freedom in order to ensure maximum cooperation for the benefit of all. From the earliest times there was punishment for law-breaking, with Lex Talionis – the Babylonian system of matching the punishment with the crime – an eye for an eye. In this book a range of laws enforced by kings and emperors are set out in simple wording so that you may see how simple and mostly harsh the early laws were. They were usually phrased – 'If…then…' If you have murdered then you will be killed' and so on.

The Advent of Civil Law

In England and in most of Europe over the period from medieval times to now, various kinds of laws, regulations and codes of behaviour or guidance have evolved. For example, Common Law, Criminal Law, Civil Law, Church Law, Canon Law, Decretals, Export Regulations, Byelaws, the UK Highway Code and Country Code, and so on. In this book we are looking at the idea of Civil Law based on Roman Law. This is different to Common Law. It is said that Common Law has developed from thousands of individual decisions by the early courts as to how to view crimes. These decisions over many years act as precedents, showing the way that judges and jurists think that the next identical or similar case should be dealt with. So for example, in Britain, the offence of murder is tried under Common Law, not Civil Law. In England the Crown Prosecution Service makes decisions on Common and Criminal Law, such as murder, rape, arson, burglary, theft, vandalism and other forms of violence or illegality against the person or their property. Trial is usually by judge and jury.

Civil Law is a developed set of codes of legal behaviours derived from Roman Law. These laws have been refined by expert jurists and reintroduced in a more modern fashion in medieval times via the early universities of Europe, to make decisions about, for example: marriage, civil partnership, the custody of children, bankruptcy, defamation (libel and slander), breach of contract, negligence resulting in injury or death, property damage and other private matters between individuals. Cases are dealt with in order to give restitution or for judges to give clarification as to how parties shall or must proceed.

We all want love and peace — time to develop our relationships, perhaps to bring up a family or to have adventures with partners. We cannot act in any psychopathic way we please without hazarding others. Our British and European civil law has evolved from Roman Law. So in this book I chart the gradual pathway from early attempts to set standards of behaviour and punishment, to more refined thinking by jurists attached