Caput III. Pacta sunt servanda
by Michael Lambert
June 2024
Caput III. Pacta sunt servanda
by Michael Lambert
June 2024
Scriba tyrannidis verba sunt. The clerk’s tyranny are words
A gift of a vill in Tudor England. It’s not Classical Latin, it’s English…that’s the trouble! Latin verbs appear at the end of multiple phrases, defendemus is the ending verb on text line 18. This is the nature of a Tudor legal document
William Parett de Fylinghull and Elizabeth, his wife, are giving to Thomas Wyghtman the property described as: unum messuagium et dimidiam virgatam terre cum omnibus pertinenciis suis iacentia in villa et in campis de Fylinghull one messuage & half a virgate of land with all its appurtenances lying in the vill and in the fields of Fylinghull. From the Latin verb manere, to remain or stay, by way of the Normand French verb manere, to dwell (and if you’re dwelling, you’re obviously staying) devolves to the Tudor noun messuage, defined as a dwelling house with outbuildings and land assigned to its use. In addition to the house, Thomas receives a dimidiam virgatam of land. From Latin, a virga is a rod used to measure land. Poor Thomas, he receives a half quantity, dimidiam of the virgatam, not 30 acres but, 15; located in the vill, a Norman French noun indicating a settlement no larger than a country parish, such as Fylinghull
The Tudor era still uses Latinized Norman French vocabulary, particularly words referring to land and its usage. Language adopts to meet the circumstance. In particular, the Latin gerund and gerundive have crept in English syntax. Of the two, the gerundive will be briefly examined
The Medieval Lawyer and the Gerundive
The Medieval lawyer exploited the gerundive’s assertiveness. The gerundive is a passive verbal adjective, it declines in gender and case, pecunia solvenda est, Money is to be paid. The gerundive with the neuter ending –um (not to be confused with the gerund) is often paired with the verb to be to form an impersonal verb, memorandum est, It is to-be-remembered. Below are four Latin gerundives cited by current era English (dropping the verb). Exemplum:
memorandum [singular]
A thing to be remembered
agenda [plural]
Things to be done
corrigendum [singular]
A thing to be corrected
addenda [plural]
Things to be added
memorandum [singular]
A thing to be remembered
agenda [plural]
Things to be done
corrigendum [singular]
A thing to be corrected
addenda [plural]
Things to be added
Nota bene: But, if you have many things to remember, expressed impersonally, then, memoranda sunt
A selection of Medieval legal motions and pleadings, demonstrating the gerundive. Exemplum:
Ego Robertus dedi terras habendas et tenendas Johanni
I, Robert, have given lands to-be-had and to-he-held to John [In everyday English this would read ‘to be had and held by John’, the Latin idiom used the dative (the indirect object), and it is always translated as such]
Viginti solidi solvendi sunt ad quattuor anni terminos
Twenty shillings are to-be-paid at the four terms of the year
Sciendum est quod ego, Alicia dedi terras meas Roberto filio meo [The subject of sciendum est is, ‘it’]
Be it known that I, Alice, have given my lands to my son Robert
Notandum est preterea quod mulier nichil potest disponere circa dotem suam in vita sui mariti
It is to-be-noted moreover that a woman can dispose of nothing as regards her dower in her husband’s lifetime
Summonendus erit ad curiam auditurus loquelam istam
He is to-be-summoned to the court to hear this plea
Sed quid faciendum erit de clerico qui falso dixit se esse personam eiusdem ecclesie?
But what is to-be-done about the clerk who falsely said he is the parson of the same church?
Final Words
The Norman conquest of Anglia was brutal
King Harold died on the battlefield, with no known grave. Countess Godiva, though long dead; her estate and descendants were subjected to punitive taxation. She was a pious Saxon-Christian woman; during the 13th Century she was the subject of salacious stories of “her riding naked” through Coventry. At the same time, legends of Robin Hood were first circulated
May the Countess Godiva and Robin Hood stories be rumour and counter-rumour against Norman rule?
The last word goes to Hugo. He is a serf, of the 13th Century. He asserted his freeman’s status at the lord Abbot’s court
Hugo dicit quod habuit cartam manumissionis domini Abbatis et clamat se esse liberum hominem
Hugo says that he had a charter of manumission of the lord Abbot, and claims that he is a free man