Of reaflac and rapina: accusations of violence in two Old English lawsuits and the Libellus Æthelwoldi

Abstract

This article examines the meaning and function of the Old English noun reaflac in two tenth‐century lawsuit documents, Sawyer 877 and Sawyer 1211. It suggests that reaflac was the vernacular counterpart to the Latin terms violentia and rapina. Such connected terminology suggests that a collection of now lost tenth‐century Old English charters, like S 877 and S 1211 in form, was the original source for the twelfth‐century Ely house chronicle, the Libellus Æthelwoldi. Charter draftsmen purposefully selected a language of violence in order to delegitimize a rival party’s claim to an estate, regardless of whether any acts of violence had taken place. Reaflac formed part of this narrative strategy in early English lawsuit documents because of its association with contemporary discourses on moralized wrongdoing.