Æthelberht's Fedesl Revisited

Oliver details his new interpretation of the hapax legomenon fedesl of Æthelberht's laws. In The Beginnings of English Law, he implied that the fedesl clause might refer to a default for paying food render. In light of the evidence from Lazamon, he now believes that the 20-shilling payment simply refers to the financial amount due from noblemen of certain rank for the support of the king: that is, it is a simple assessment rather than a punitive fine. Thus Oliver now allies himself with the translation of Patrick Wormald, who (following his earlier interpretation but not his commentary) renders the term fedesl simply as 'feeding', adding to this the understanding that it signifies 'monetary valuation of assessed (food-)render'.