Is there any historical basis for the 'tongued ones' in early medieval romano-british law as depicted in Bernard Cornwell's 'The Warlord Trilogy'?

by arnorath

In Bernard Cornwell's historical fiction 'The Warlord Trilogy' (The Winter King, Enemy of God, Excalibur), set in late 5th-century Wales and Cornwall, the British characters have a system by which the sworn word of 'tongued ones' is considered legally valid to the exclusion of all others, such that if a tongued one gives testimony that contradicts the word of a non-tongued one, the word of the tongued one is taken as truth.

The different types of tongued ones are listed as a Lord (including kings, princes, and minor chieftains), a druid, a priest, a father speaking of his children, a gift-giver speaking of his gift, a young woman speaking of her virginity, a herdsman speaking of his animals, and a condemned man speaking his final words.

Is there any historical truth to this, or is it entirely an invention of the author? Were there other times and cultures where a similar system was used?

Gadarn

There is a historical basis to the "tongued ones" that Cornwell refers to in the trilogy.

According to Dafydd Jenkins, "for medieval Welsh law, the all-important element was the oath: the litigants' oaths in affirmation of their claims or their denials of assertions made against them, and the oaths of testifiers of one kind or another."

Further, the testimony of a single witness was essentially worthless. The Law of Hywel states: "if he promises a particular number of testifiers, let him fulfil or fail. If he promises what will be a quota in law, two or three are enough, though more would be better. The testimony of one person is not testimony."

The Naw Tafodiog - Tongued Ones - were the exception; their testimony stood on its own.

These people included:

  • A lord between his two men.
  • An abbot between his two monks at the entrance to his choir.
  • A father between his two sons.
  • A judge on the judgement which he had judged earlier, if it is doubted.
  • A surety on his suretyship (a giver on his gift)
  • A priest between his two parishioners.
  • A maiden on her virginity, if she is raped.
  • A herdsman on his herding if one beast kills another under his care.
  • A hopeless thief on his fellow thieves when he is brought to the gallows

These come from The Law of Hywel - Hywel Dda being a Welsh king (who was, incidentally, mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle) who was said to have recorded the laws. None of our manuscripts were written anywhere near Hywel's time, so it is to be expected that things changed in the intervening years, even if the manuscripts all refer to Hywel in their prologues. These nine Tongued Ones are found in the texts, though some texts include 10 or more Tongued Ones.

For further reading, see:

Jenkins, Dafydd. "Towards the Jury in Medieval Wales." “The Dearest Birth Right of the People of England”: The Jury in the History of the Common Law. Ed. John W. Cairns and Grant McLeod.

Llawysgrif Pomffred : An Edition and Study of Peniarth MS 259B by Sara Elin Roberts