William Lambarde and Thomas Milles in search of the golden past

Abstract

This article deals mainly with the English Catalogue of Honor (1610) and the Latin Nobilitas Politica vel Civilis (1608), both by Thomas Milles, and the Anglo-Saxon Geþyncðo text that appears in these works. The article focuses on the rise of the 16th-century interest in Anglo-Saxon culture and language, on Lambarde as the editor and translator of early English law texts, the complexity of editorial processes in Early Modern England, the detective work required for establishing the relationship between different versions of one and the same text passage, as well as on the socio-historical background that explains the Latin and English terms for the ranks of nobility in early England (e.g., L comes, colonus; OE eorl, ceorl). The paper also claims that Thomas Milles can be added to the list of translators of Anglo-Saxon laws into Latin.