A book of medieval law that predates the Magna Carta and is described as Britains hidden treasure has been made available to view online
If a mouth or an eye becomes damaged, one is to compensate with 12 shillings, exhorts the Textus Roffensis, a 12th century manuscript containing the only surviving copy of the oldest law in English. The four front teeth, meanwhile, are worth six shillings apiece, while if one strikes off a thumb, 20 shillings.
The centuries-old legal encyclopedia, which is dated to the 1120s and runs to 476 pages, with 484 images, has just been digitised by the University of Manchester and made available online today. Described as Britains Hidden Treasure by the British Library, the manuscript was written in 1123-24 by a single scribe at Rochester Cathedral in Kent, which partnered with the university on the project. It has never been seen in its entirety by the public before.
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