What language was the Charter of Liberties written in?
score:9
The original is lost, so we don't know. There were copies made in Latin and Old French which are available online... apparently, many copies were made upon its proclamation, in various languages, each intended for a particular audience.
Here's a free ebook courtesy of the Google Books scanning project that goes into the difficulties in identifying the original text from subsequent copies: The Text of Henry I's Coronation Charter
It would be in Anglo-Norman/Anglo-French, Old English or Latin - most likely proclaimed in Anglo-Norman and translated by his scribes into all three.
Upvote:7
The original Charter of Liberties was probably written in Latin. I found an online source for the Latin text at archive.org. (The source is Select charters and other illustrations of English constitutional history (1913))
It looks like most of the English versions you see online are from a translation done in 1915 by Albert Beebe White and Wallce Notestein for their, Source Problems in English History (page 367).
Henry I was one of the early Norman kings. At the time Latin was considered the language of scholarship, French the language of the ruling classes, and English the language of the pesantry. Since the charter mainly deals with the rights of the nobility, English would seem to be a rather unlikely choice.
Upvote:9
It definitely wouldn't be English. In 1100, Old English was the language of the conquered Anglo-Saxon slaves (serfs). The Language of the conquerors of 1066 was Norman French or Anglo Norman. I'd put money on Latin.
Anglo-Norman was never the main administrative language of England: Latin was the major language of record in legal and other official documents for most of the medieval period. However, from the late 12th century until the early 15th century, Anglo-Norman French and Anglo-French were much used in law reports, charters, ordinances, official correspondence, and trade at all levels; they were the language of the King, his court and the upper class.
More post
- 📝 Why is there an Islamic revolution in Iran?
- 📝 Why was the Federal Reserve District in the United States so skewed in division?
- 📝 Is the Tokai Maru the ship that rescued many refugees from the 'Smyrna catastrophe' in 1922 or is it named Tokei Maru instead?
- 📝 Where is Ernst Kummer's grave located?
- 📝 Who were the earliest Californian university students?
- 📝 When did soldiers begin wearing ballooned pants?
- 📝 Are there any images of the USS Enterprise at night?
- 📝 Did medieval guards wear heavy armor for long periods of time?
- 📝 If Hitler did not create a Second Front, could the war in the East have developed very differently?
- 📝 Did Einstein really say this quote about time?
- 📝 Why did the British scuttle the u-boats surrendered after WWII?
- 📝 When did Josef Wissarionowitsch become "sexy" Stalin?
- 📝 Is there any evidence of Edward VIII trying to influence the UK Government?
- 📝 Was the IMF complicit in destroying the Romanian economy?
- 📝 How important were reprints of scientific articles in scientific practice and communications before the the copier, the computer and the internet?
- 📝 Why was the North willing to go to war over Slavery?
- 📝 How did Quebec transition from French Law to English Law?
- 📝 What evidence is there that English Political divisions from the 1600s are replicated in American politics today?
- 📝 What was the reason for the Dutch attack on Venezuela in 1908?
- 📝 What was the reason for Soviet troops to withdraw from Yugoslavia in World War II?
- 📝 What evidence connects Aaron Kosminski to Jack the Ripper?
- 📝 Which US Presidents travelled around the world?
- 📝 How did ancient Greek musicians tune their instruments?
- 📝 Why is Kubb - a skittles game - associated with the Viking Age?
- 📝 Why did Persia adopt the movable-type printing so late?
- 📝 Were there concrete plans, 40-41, for Japan to attack Singapore/Indonesia, while avoiding a fight with the US?
- 📝 When did the Soviet Union stop blaming the Entente for WW2?
- 📝 Who were some Greek Plebeian Gentes, especially from Magna Graecia?
- 📝 Does it make sense to mention months (and days) in any BCE date?
- 📝 How strong is the current theory of the beginnings of Chinese writing?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 What language was the Charter of Liberties written in?
- 📝 In what language was the first Zionist congress in Basel in 1897 held?
- 📝 What was the official language used across European monarchies in the XII century?
- 📝 What was the standard spoken language (dialect) in the Three Kingdoms period?
- 📝 What was the primary motivation for a historical figure like Xenophon to create an extensive collection of written material?
- 📝 What was the earliest known written constitution?
- 📝 What was the purpose behind Charles II's charter for Connecticut squatter settlements?
- 📝 What was the Jiangxi Soviet's language of operation between 1931 and 1934?
- 📝 What was the Gothic language name for Ravenna?
- 📝 What was the court language of Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan?
- 📝 Exactly what time of the day was the UN charter official?
- 📝 Did Adolf Hitler ever address the fact that his own appearance was almost an exact opposite of what he considered the ideal Aryan appearance?
- 📝 What was the historical context of the 2nd amendment to the US Constitution?
- 📝 During the breakup of the Soviet Union, on what basis was citizenship granted or withheld for each of the fifteen new republics?
- 📝 What was the typical peasant's diet like in Europe during the High Middle Ages?
- 📝 What led some people to (correctly) believe that there was no land under the ice cap at the North Pole?
- 📝 What was the status of Arab Christians during the crusades?
- 📝 What was the religion of the Arabic people before conversion to Islam?
- 📝 What was the purpose of Nazi extermination camps?
- 📝 What was the internal Soviet reaction to the moon landing?
- 📝 What was the function of the walls of Jericho?
- 📝 What was the pound (unit of weight) initially equal to?
- 📝 At what point was the Byzantine Empire's decline irreversible?
- 📝 What was the reason for Soviet troops to withdraw from Yugoslavia in World War II?
- 📝 What was the point of horse armour?
- 📝 What was the first solar eclipse that was demonstrably predicted in advance?
- 📝 What was the role of the Soviet Navy during WWII?
- 📝 What was the plan for an abort of the Enola Gay's mission to drop the atomic bomb?
- 📝 What was the economic basis for West Berlin?
- 📝 Why was PTSD not written about as much before the 20th century?
