Wulfstan II’s Complaints of ‘Unlagu in the North’

One of the most prolific late Old English writers, Archbishop Wulfstan II of York 'Lupus' (d.1023), is particularly known for drafting lawcodes for King Æthelred II as well as his Danish successor, Cnut the Great.Touching on seemingly all aspects of life, the extensive legislative works attributed to Wulfstan form a major lens through which much of our understanding of early English law is viewed.This note will focus on one quite obscure legislative clause and seek to get us closer to its meaning and what it reveals about regional legal diversity within pre-Conquest England.In one manuscript version [D] of a Wulfstanian lawcode for Æthelred which records pronouncements from a c. 1008 council, an idiosyncratic clause declares that: And be norðan stod seo unlagu þæt man moste banweorc on unsacne secgan, and þæt scolde standan gif hit wurde swa gecyðed ydæges sona.