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 PRINTED I.N U.S. A. 
 
The original of tliis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924088009067 
 
THE 
 
 SAXONS IN ENGLAND. 
 
 A HISTORY OF 
 
 THE ENGLISH COMMONWEALTH 
 
 TILL THE PERIOD OP 
 
 THE NORMAN CONQUEST. 
 
 BY 
 
 JOHN MITCHELL KEMBLE, M.A., F.C.P.S., 
 
 JLEMBEE or THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES AT anmiCH, AND OF THE EOYAL 
 
 ACADEMY OF SCIEKCES AT BERLIN", 
 
 FELLOTT OF THE BOYAC SOCIETY OF HISTOEY IN STOCICHOLM, AND OP THE 
 
 EOYAL SOCIETY OF HISTOEY IN COPENHAGEN, 
 
 ETC. ETC. ETC. 
 
 ' Ifobilis et strenua, iuxtaque dotem naturae eagaciasima gens Saxonum, &b anticims etiam 
 scriptoribus memorata." 
 
 A NEW EDITION", EEVISED BY 
 
 WALTEE DE GEAY BIKCH, F.R.S.L., 
 
 Senior Assistant of the Department of Manuscripts m the ^British Museum, Honorary 
 
 lAbrarian of the "Royal Society of Literature, Sonorary Secretary of the 
 
 British Archisological Association, etc. 
 
 VOLUME I. 
 
 LONDON: 
 BERNARD QUARITCH, 15 PICCADILLY. 
 
 187(5, 
 
^^5(9^ 
 
 FEINTED BT TATIOE AND EKANCIS, 
 KED LIOH CODBT, FLEET STKEET. 
 
TO 
 
 THE QUEEN'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY, 
 
 THIS HISTORY 
 
 OF THE PRINCIPLES WHICH HAVE GIVEN HER EMPIRE 
 
 ITS PREEMINENCE 
 
 AMONG THE NATIONS OP EUROPE, 
 
 IS, 
 
 WITH HER GRACIOUS PERMISSION, 
 
 INSCRIBED BY 
 
 THE MOST HUMBLE AND DEVOTED 
 
 OF HER SERVANTS. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The following pages contain an account of the 
 principles upon which the public and political life 
 of our Anglosaxon forefathers was based, and of 
 the institutions in which those principles were most 
 clearly manifested. The subject is a grave and 
 solemn one : it is the history of the childhood of 
 our own age, — the explanation of its manhood. 
 
 On every side of us thrones totter, and the deep 
 foundations of society are convulsed. Shot and 
 shell sweep the streets of capitals which have long 
 been pointed out as the chosen abodes of order: 
 cavalry and bayonets cannot control populations 
 whose loyalty has become a proverb here, whose 
 peace has been made a reproach to our own mis- 
 called disquiet. Yet the exalted Lady who wields 
 the sceptre of these realms, sits safe upon her 
 throne, and fearless in the holy circle of her do- 
 mestic happiness, secure in the affections of a peo- 
 ple whose institutions have given to them all the 
 blessings of an equal law. 
 
 Those institutions they have inherited from a 
 period so distant as to excite our admiration, and 
 have preserved amidst all vicissitudes with an en- 
 
vi PREFACE. 
 
 lightened will that must command our gratitude. 
 And with the blessing of the Almighty, they will 
 long continue to preserve them ; for our customs 
 are founded upon right and justice, and are main- 
 tained in a subjection to His will who hath the 
 hearts of nations as well as of kings in His rule 
 and governance. 
 
 It cannot be without advantage for us to learn 
 how a State so favoured as our own has set about 
 the great work of constitution, and solved the 
 problem, of uniting the completest obedience to 
 the law with the greatest amount of individual free- 
 dom. But in the long and chequered history of 
 our State, there are many distinguishable periods : 
 some more and some less well known to us. Among 
 those with which we are least familiar is the oldest 
 period. It seems therefore the duty of those whose 
 studies have given them a mastery over its details, 
 to place them as clearly as they can before the eyes 
 of their fellow-citizens. 
 
 There have never been wanting men who en- 
 joyed a distinct insight into the value of our 
 earliest constitutional history. From the days of 
 Spelman, and Selden and Twisden, even to our 
 own, this country has seen an unbroken succession 
 of laborious thinkers, who, careless of self-sacrifice, 
 have devoted themselves to record the facts which 
 were to be recovered from the darkness of the past, 
 and to connect them with the progress of our poli- 
 tical and municipal laws. But peculiar advantages 
 over these men, to whom this country owes a large 
 debt of gratitude, are now enjoyed by ourselves. 
 
PEEFACE. vii 
 
 ' It is only within eight years that the " Ancient 
 Laws and Ecclesiastical Institutes " of the Anglo- 
 saxons have been made fully accessible to us^: 
 within nine years only, upwards of fourteen hun- 
 dred documents containing the grants of kings 
 and bishops, the settlements of private persons, the 
 conventions of landlords and tenants, the technical 
 forms of judicial proceedings, have been placed in 
 our hands 2; and to this last quarter of a century 
 has it been given to attain a mastery never before 
 attained over the language which our Anglosaxon 
 ancestors spoke. To us therefore it more particu- 
 larly belongs to perform the duty of illustrating 
 that period, whose records are furnished to us so 
 much more abundantly than they were to our pre- 
 decessors ; and it seemed to me that this duty was 
 especially imposed upon him whom circumstances 
 had made most familiar with the charters of the 
 Anglosaxons. 
 
 The history of our earliest institutions has come 
 down to us in a fragmentary form : in a similar way 
 
 ' Ancient Laws and Institutes of England ; comprising Laws en- 
 acted under the Anglosaxon Kings from ^Selbirht to Cnut, with an 
 English translation of the Saxon : the Laws called Edward the Con- 
 fessor's ; the Laws of William the Conqueror, and those ascribed to 
 Henry the First ; also Monumenta Ecclesiastica Anglicana, from the 
 seventh to the tenth century : and the ancient Latin version of the 
 Anglosaxon Laws. With a copious Glossary, etc. (By B. Thorpe, Esq.). 
 Printed by command of his late Majesty, King William the Fourth, 
 under the direction of the Commissioners on the Public Records of the 
 Kingdom, mbcccxi.. 
 
 ^ Codex Diplomaticus Aevi Saxonici. Opera J. M. Kemhle, M.A., 
 vol. i. London, 1839 ; vol. ii. 1840; vol. iii. 1845; vol. iv. 1846; vol. v. 
 1847 ; vol. vi. 1848. Published by authority of the Historical Society 
 of England. 
 
viii PEEFAOE. 
 
 has it here been treated, — in chapters, or rather 
 essays, devoted to each particular principle or group 
 of facts. But throughout these fragments a system 
 is distinctly discernible : accordingly the chapters 
 will be found also to follow a systematic plan. 
 
 It is my intention, at a future period, to lay 
 before my countrymen the continuation of this 
 History, embracing the laws of descent and pur- 
 chase, the law of contracts, the forms of judicial 
 process, the family relations, and the social con- 
 dition of the Saxons as to agriculture, commerce, 
 art, science and literature. I believe these things 
 to be worthy of investigation, from their bearing 
 upon the times in which we live, much more than 
 from any antiquarian value they may be supposed 
 to possess. We have a share in the past, and the 
 past yet works in us ; nor can a patriotic citizen 
 better serve his country than by devoting his ener- 
 gies and his time to record that which is great 
 and glorious in her history, for the admiration and 
 instruction of her neighbours. 
 
 J. M. K. 
 
 London, December 2nd, 1848. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 TO THE NEW EDITION. 
 
 The original edition of this monumental work 
 having for a long time been out of print and of 
 enhanced value, a great demand has arisen for the 
 issue of a new edition ; and the welcome oppor- 
 tunity of amending a number of oversights and 
 typographical errors, and of verifying a large num- 
 ber of references, has not been neglected. The 
 book itself is of so standard a character, and was so 
 well digested in the first place, that no apology is 
 needed for its re-publication now — more than a 
 quarter of a century after its first appearance. 
 
 The principles laid down, the deductions gathered 
 from the array of recorded facts and examples, are 
 as true and incontrovertible to-day as they ever 
 were. The work, therefore, does not labour under 
 the disadvantage of becoming obsolete, inasmuch as 
 the researches which have since been made in this 
 branch of literary and historical enquiry have not 
 tended to weaken or destroy, but rather to support 
 and strengthen, the arguments applied by the author 
 to the gradual unfolding of his theories of the 
 growth and consolidation of the Anglosaxon Com- 
 monwealth, and the Eoyal Authority in England. 
 
X PREFACE. 
 
 It is worthy of remembrance that one of the chief 
 authorities for the views advanced in this History 
 is the celebrated Codex Biplomaticus, the printing 
 of which occupied nine years of the author's life. 
 The re-editing of that great work, under new ar- 
 rangement, with collations, and incorporation of a 
 large quantity of newly found material, has now 
 so clearly become a necessity, that steps should 
 be taken to re-publish the enormous collection of 
 documents relating to Anglosaxon times and Anglo- 
 saxon history. 
 
 No one can read the summary of Kemble's in- 
 vestigations, which is contained in the concluding 
 chapter to the First Volume, without feeling bound 
 to acknowledge that its pages contain the heartfelt 
 convictions of one who has spared no pains to 
 mature his own knowledge of the inner springs 
 which actuated the conduct of our forefathers' lives 
 and advanced their culture, nor failed in his en- 
 deavour to impart to his readers a correct view of 
 these important elements of our own manners and 
 customs ; — in Kemble's own words, " the history of 
 our childhood, the explanation of our manhood." 
 
 W. DE G. B. 
 
 London, 
 September 11th, 1870. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 THE ORIGINAL SETTLEMENT OF THE ANGLOSAXON 
 COMMONWEALTPI. 
 
 Chapter Page 
 
 I. Saxon and Welsh Traditions 1 
 
 II. The Mark 35 
 
 III. The Ga or Scir 72 
 
 IV. Landed Possession. The E-Sel, Hid, or Alod <Sy 
 V. Personal Eank. The Freeman. The Noble . 122 
 
 VI. The King 137 
 
 VII. The Noble by Service 162 
 
 VIII. The Unfree. The Serf 185 
 
 IX. The Mutual Guarantee. Msegburh. Tithing. 
 
 Hundred 22b 
 
 X. Faeh^e. Wergyld 267 
 
 XI. Folcland. Bocland. La;nland .... 289 
 
 XII. Heathendom 327 
 
 Appendix. 
 
 A. Marks 449 
 
 B. The Hid 487 
 
 0. Manumission of Serfs 496 
 
 D. Orcy's Guild at Abbotsbury 511 
 
 E. Lsenland 517 
 
 F. Heathendom 523 
 
THE 
 
 SAXONS IN ENGLAND. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 THE ORIGINAL SETTLEMENT OF THE ANGLO-SAXON 
 COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 SAXON AND WELSH TRADITIONS. 
 
 Eleven centuries ago, an industrious and consci- 
 entious historian, desiring to give a record of the 
 establishment of his forefathers in this island, could 
 find no fuller or better account than this : " About 
 the year of Grace 445-446, the British inhabitants 
 of England, deserted by the Eoman masters who 
 had enervated while they protected them, and ex- 
 posed to the ravages of Picts and Scots from the 
 extreme and barbarous portions of the island, called 
 in the assistance of heathen Saxons from the conti- 
 nent of Europe. The strangers faithfully performed 
 their task, and chastised the Northern invaders ; 
 then, in scorn of the weakness of their employers, 
 subjected them in turn to the yoke, and after vari- 
 ous vicissitudes of fortune, established their own 
 
 VOL. I. B 
 
2 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [^5°°^ ^■ 
 
 power upon the ruins of Roman and British civi- 
 lization." The few details which had reached the 
 historian taught that the strangers were under the 
 guidance of two brothers, Hengest and Hors : that 
 their armament was conveyed in three ships or 
 keels : that it consisted of Jutes, Saxons and An- 
 gles: that their successes stimulated similar ad- 
 venturers among their countrymen: and that in 
 process of time their continued migrations were so 
 large and numerous, as to have reduced Anglia, 
 their original home, to a desert^ 
 
 Such was the tale of the victorious Saxons in the 
 eighth century : at a later period, the vanquished 
 Britons found a melancholy satisfaction in adding 
 details which might brand the career of their con- 
 querors with the stain of disloyalty. According to 
 these hostile authorities, treachery and fraud pre- 
 pared and consolidated the Saxon triumph. The 
 wiles of Hengest's beautiful daughter^ subdued the 
 mind of the British ruler; a murderous violation 
 of the rights of hospitality, which cut off the chief- 
 tains of the Britons at the very table of their hosts, 
 delivered over the defenceless land to the barba- 
 rous invader ^ ; and the miraculous intervention of 
 
 1 Beda, Hist. Eccl. i. 14, 15. Gildas, Hist. § 14. Nennius, Hist. § 38. 
 
 ' It is uncertain from the MSS. whether this lady is to he called 
 Kouwen or Ronwen. The usual English tradition gives her name as 
 Rowena ; if this he accurate, I presume our pagan forefathers knew 
 something of a divine personage — Hro'Sw^n — possibly a dialectical 
 form of the great and glorious goddess HriS'Se ; for whom refer to Chap- 
 ter X. of this Book. 
 
 ^ The story of the treacherous mui'der perpetrated upon the Welsh 
 chieftains does not claim an English origin. It is related of the Old- 
 saxons upon the continent, in connexion with the conquest of the 
 Thuringians. See Widukiud. 
 
CH. I.] SAXON AND WELSH TEADITIONS. 3 
 
 Germanus, the spells of Merlin and the prowess 
 of Arthur, or the victorious career of Aurelius Am- 
 brosius, although they delayed and in part avenged, 
 yet could not prevent the downfal of their people^. 
 Meagre indeed are the accounts which thus satis- 
 fied the most enquiring of our forefathers ; yet such 
 as they are, they were received as the undoubted 
 truth, and appealed to in later periods as the earliest 
 authentic record of our race. The acuter criticism of 
 an age less prone to believe, more skilful in the ap- 
 preciation of evidence, and familiar with the fleeting 
 forms of mythical and epical thought, sees in them 
 only a confused mass of traditions borrowed from 
 the most heterogeneous sources, compacted rudely 
 and with little ingenuity, and in which the smallest 
 possible amount of historical truth is involved in a 
 great deal of fable. Yet the truth which such tra- 
 ditions do nevertheless contain, yields to the al- 
 chemy of our days a golden harvest : if we cannot 
 undoubtingly accept the details of such legends, 
 they still point out to us at least the course we 
 must pursue to discover the elements of fact upon 
 which the Mythus and Epos rest, and guide us to 
 the period and the locality where these took root 
 and flourished. 
 
 From times beyond the records of history, it is 
 certain that continual changes were taking place in 
 the position and condition of the various tribes that 
 peopled the northern districts of Europe. Into this 
 great basin the successive waves of Keltic, Teutonic 
 
 1 Conf. Nennius, Hist. 37 seq., 46 seq. Beda, Hist. Ecc. i. 14, 15. 
 Gildas, Hist. § 25. 
 
 b2 
 
4 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 and Slavonic migrations were poured, and here, 
 through hundi-eds of years, were probably reproduced 
 convulsions, terminated only by the great outbreak 
 which the Germans call the wandering of the nations. 
 For successive generations, the tribes, or even por- 
 tions o£ tribes, may have moved from place to 
 place, as the necessities of their circumstances de- 
 manded ; names may have appeared, and vanished 
 altogether from the scene ; wars, seditions, con- 
 qiiests, the rise and fall of states, the solemn forma- 
 tion or dissolution of confederacies, may have filled 
 the ages which intervened between the first settle- 
 ment of the Teutons in Germany, and their appear- 
 ance in history as dangerous to the quiet of Rome. 
 The heroic lays ^ may possibly preserve some sha- 
 dowy traces of these events ; but of all the changes 
 in detail we know nothing: we argue only that 
 nations possessiiig in so preeminent a degree as 
 the Germans, the principles, the arts and institu- 
 tions of civilization, must have passed through a 
 long apprenticeship of action and suffering, and 
 have learnt in the rough school of practice the 
 wisdom they embodied in their lives. 
 
 Possessing no written annals, and trusting to the 
 
 1 The Anglosaxon Traveller's Song containa a multitude of names 
 which cannot be found elsewhere. Paulus Diaoonus and Jornandes 
 have evidently used ancient poems as the foundation of their histories. 
 The lays of the various Germanic cycles still furnish details respecting 
 Ilermanaric, Otachar, Theodoric, Hiltibrant and other heroes of this 
 troubled period. But the reader who would judge of the fragmentary 
 and unsatisfactory result of all that the ancient world has recorded of 
 the new, had better consult that most remarkable work of Zeuss, Die 
 Deutscheu und die Nachbarstamme. Munich, 1837. He will there see 
 how the profoundest science halts after the reality of ancient ages, and 
 strives in vaui to reduce their manifold falsehood to a truth. 
 
CH. I.] SAXON AND WELSH TRADITIONS. 5 
 
 poet the task of the historian, our forefathers have 
 left but scanty records of their early condition ^. 
 Nor did the supercilious or unsuspecting ignorance 
 of Italy care to enquire into the mode of life and 
 habits of the barbarians until their strong arms 
 threatened the civilization and the very existence 
 of the empire itself. Then first, dimly through the 
 twilight in which the sun of Rome was to set for 
 ever, loomed the Colossus of the German race, 
 gigantic, terrible, inexplicable ; and the vague at- 
 tempt to define its awful features came too late to 
 be fully successful. In Tacitus, the city possessed 
 indeed a thinker worthy of the exalted theme ; but 
 his sketch, though vigorous beyond expectation, is 
 incomplete in many of the most material points : 
 yet this is the most detailed and fullest account 
 which we possess, and nearly the only certain 
 source of information till we arrive at the moment 
 when the invading tribes in every portion of the 
 empire entered upon their great task of recon- 
 structing society from its foundations. Slowly, 
 from point to point, and from time to time, traces 
 are recognized of powerful struggles, of national 
 movements, of destructive revolutions: but the 
 definite facts which emerge from the darkness of 
 the first three centuries are rare and fragmentary. 
 
 Let us confine our attention to that portion of 
 the race which settled on our own shores. 
 
 The testimony of contemporaneous history as- 
 sures us that about the middle of the fifth century, 
 
 ' " Celebrant carminibus antiquis, quod unum apud illos memoriae 
 et annalium genus est." Tao. Mor. Germ. cap. ii. 
 
C THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 a considerable movement took place among the 
 tribes that inhabited the western coasts of Ger- 
 many and the islands of the Baltic sea. Pressed 
 at home by the incursions of restless neighbours, 
 and the urgency of increasing population, or yield- 
 ing to the universal spirit of adventure, Angles, 
 Saxons and Frisians crossed a little-known and 
 dangerous ocean to seek new settlements in ad- 
 jacent lands. Familiar as we are with daring deeds 
 of maritime enterprise, who have seen our flag float 
 over every sea, and flutter in every breeze that 
 sweeps over the surface of the earth, we cannot 
 contemplate without astonishment and admiration, 
 these hardy sailors, swarming on every point, tra- 
 versing every ocean, sweeping every sestuary and 
 bay, and landing on every shore which promised 
 plunder or a temporary rest from their fatigues. 
 The wealth of Gaul had already attracted fearful 
 visitations, and the spoils of Roman cultivation had 
 been displayed before the wondering borderers of 
 the Elbe and Eyder, the prize of past, and incen- 
 tive to future activity. Britain, fertile and defence- 
 less, abounding in the accumulations of a long 
 career of peace, deserted by its ancient lords, un- 
 accustomed to arms ^, and accustomed to the yoke, 
 
 ' This is asserted both by Gildas and Neimius, and it is not in itself 
 improbable. The Romans did sometimes attempt to disarm the na- 
 tions they subdued : thus Probus with the Alamanni. Vopisc. cap. 14. 
 Malmsbury's account of the defenceless state of Britain was probably 
 not exaggerated. He says : " Ita cum tyranni nullum in agris praeter 
 semibarbaros, nullum in urbibus praeter ventri deditos reliquissent, Bri- 
 tannia omni patrocinio iuvenilis vigoris viduata, omni exercitio artium 
 exinanita, conterminarum gentium inhiationi diu obnoxia fuit." Gest. 
 Reg. lib. i. § 2. 
 
CH. I.J SAXON AND WELSH TRADITIONS. 7 
 
 at once invited attack and held out the prospect of 
 a rich reward : and it is certain that at that period, 
 there took place some extensive migration of Ger- 
 mans to the shores of England ^. The expeditions 
 known to tradition as those of Hengest, JEUi, Cissa, 
 Cerdic and Port, may therefore have some foun- 
 dation in fact ; and around this meagre nucleus of 
 truth were grouped the legends which afterwards 
 served to conceal the poverty and eke out the 
 scanty stock of early history. But I do not think 
 it at all probable that this was the earliest period 
 at which the Germans formed settlements in Eng- 
 land. 
 
 It is natural to believe that for many centuries 
 a considerable and active intercourse had prevailed 
 between the southern and eastern shores of this 
 island, and the western districts of Gaul. The first 
 landing of Julius Caesar was caused or justified by 
 the assurance that his Gallic enemies recruited their 
 armies and repaired their losses, by the aid of their 
 British kinsmen and allies ^ ; and the merchants of 
 the coast, who found a market in .Britain, reluc- 
 tantly furnished him with the information upon 
 which the plan of his invasion was founded^. When 
 
 ' Prosper Tyro, a.d. 441, says, " Theodosii xviii. Britanniae usque 
 ad hoc tempus variis cladibus eventibusque latae [? laceratae] in di- 
 tionem Saxonum rediguntur." See also Prooop. Bel. Got. iv. 20. The 
 former of these passages might however be understood without the as- 
 sumption of an immigration, which the movements of Attila render 
 probable. 
 
 2 BeU. Gal. iii. 8. 9 ; iv. 20. 
 
 ^ Especially the Veneti : erotfioi yap rjaav KotXveiv tov els T-fjv jSpeT-- 
 TavtKfjv ttXovv, xP'^'H-^voi ra eimopia. Strabo, bk. iv. p. 271. Conf Bell. 
 Gall. iv. 20. 
 
8 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 the fortune and the arms of Eome had prevailed 
 over her ill-disciplined antagonists, and both con- 
 tinent and island were subject to the same all-em- 
 bracing rule, it is highly probable that the ancient 
 bonds were renewed, and that the most familiar 
 intercourse continued to prevail. In the time of 
 Strabo the products of the island, corn, cattle, gold, 
 silver and iron, skins, slaves, and a large descrip- 
 tion of dog, were exported by the natives, no doubt 
 principally to the neighbouring coasts, and their 
 commerce with these was sufficient to justify the 
 imposition of an export and import duty i. As early 
 as the time of Nero, London, though not a colony, 
 was remarkable as a mercantile station ^, and in all 
 human probability was the great mart of the Gauls. 
 There cannot be the least doubt that an active com- 
 munication was maintained throughout by the Kel- 
 tic nations on the different sides of the channel ; 
 and similarly, as German tribes gradually advanced 
 along the lines of the Elbe, the Weser, the Maes 
 and the Rhine, occupying the countries which lie 
 upon the banks of those rivers, and between them 
 and the sea, it is reasonable to suppose that some 
 offsets of their great migrations reached the oppo- 
 site shores of England^. As early as the second 
 
 1 Book iv. p. 278. = Tacit. Ann. xiv. 33. 
 
 ^ Caesar notices the migrations of continental tribes to Britain : lie 
 says, " Britanniae pars interior ab lis incolitur, quos natos in insula 
 ipsa memoria proditum dicunt ; maritima pars ab lis qui praedae ac 
 belli inferendi causa ex Belgis transierant ; qui omnes fere iis nomini- 
 bus civitatum adpellantur, quibus orti ex civitatibus so pervenerunt, et 
 belle inlato ibi remanserunt, atque agros colere coeperunt." Bell. Gall, 
 v.] 2. 
 
CH. 1.] SAXON AND WELSH TRADITIONS. 9 
 
 century, Chauci are mentioned among the inhabit- 
 ants of the south-east of Ireland^, and although we 
 have only the name whereby to identify them with 
 the great Saxon tribe, yet this deserves considera- 
 tion when compared with the indisputably Keltic 
 names of the surrounding races. The Coritavi, who 
 occupied the present counties of Lincoln, Leicester, 
 Rutland, Northampton, Nottingham and Derby, 
 were Germans, according to the Welsh tradition 
 itself^, and the next following name Karvev-^^Xavol, 
 though not certainly German, bears a strong re- 
 semblance to many German formations^. 
 
 Without, however, laying more stress upon these 
 facts than they will fairly warrant, let us proceed 
 to other considerations which render it probable 
 that a large admixture of German tribes was found 
 
 ' Ptolemy, bk. ii. c. 2. It is true that Ptolemy calls them KqCkoi, 
 but this mode of spelling is not unexampled, and is found in even so 
 correct a writer as Strabo. The proper form is Kaixoi. Latin authors 
 occasionally write Cauci for Ohauci, and sometimes even Oauchi : see 
 Zeuss, Die Deutschen und die Nachbarstamme, p. 138. It is right to 
 add that Zeuss, whose opinion on such a point is entitled to the highest 
 consideration, hesitates to include these KaCxot among G ermanic tribes 
 (p. 199). The Mamnioi, placed also by Ptolemy in Ireland, can hardly 
 be Germans. 
 
 ' Ptolemy, bk. ii. C. 3. ij,c6' ovs Kopiravo), ev ols jrdXeis, \lv8ov, pdye- 
 elTttj 'K.aTvevxkavoi, ev ols TrdXeiff, caX^yat [al. traXtouat], ovpoXdvtov. 
 Others have preferred the form Kopiravol, hut the authority of the best 
 manuscripts, not less than the analogy of the names Ingaevones, Iscae- 
 vones, Chamavi, Batavi, confirms the earlier reading. According to the 
 Triads, these Coritavi (Ooriuiaidd) had migrated from a Teutonic marsh- 
 land. Thorpe's Lappenberg, i. 15. The word is thus in all probability 
 derived from Hor, lutum, Horiht, lutosus ; equivalent to the " aquosa 
 Fresonum arva." Vit. Sci. Sturm. Pertz. ii. 372. " Saxones, gentem 
 oceani, in littoribus et paludibus inviis sitam." Oros. vii. 32. 
 
 " Ghatuarii, HeaSobeardan. HeaSorsemes. However Gatu is a ge- 
 nuine British prefix. 
 
10 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 in England long previous to the middle of the fifth 
 century. It appears to me that the presence of 
 Roman emperors recruiting the forces with which 
 the throne of the world was to be disputed, from 
 among the hardiest populations of the continent, 
 must not only have led to the settlement of Teu- 
 tonic families in this island, but also to the main- 
 tenance, on their part, of a steady intercourse with 
 their kinsmen who remained behind. The military 
 colony, moreover, which claimed to be settled upon 
 good arable land, formed the easiest and most ad- 
 vantageous mode of pensioning the emeriti; and 
 many a successful Caesar may have felt that his 
 own safety was better secured by portioning his Ger- 
 man veterans in the fruitful valleys of England, 
 than by settling them as doubtful garrisons in 
 Lombardy or Campania. 
 
 The fertile fields which long before had merited 
 the praises of the first Roman victor, must have of- 
 fered attractions enough to induce wandering Sax- 
 ons and Angles to desert the marshes and islands 
 of the Elbe, and to call Frisian adventurers over 
 from the sands and salt-pools of their home. If in 
 the middle of the fifth century Saxons had esta- 
 blished regular settlements at Bayeux^ ; if even 
 before this time the country about Grannona bore 
 the name of Littus Saxonicum^, we may easily be- 
 
 ^ Saxones Baiocassini. Greg. Turon. v. 27 ; x. 9. 
 
 2 Grannona in littore Saxonico. Notit. Imp. Occid. c. 86. Du 
 Oliesne Hist. i. p. 3. The Totingas, -who have left their name to Toot- 
 ing in Surrey, are recorded also at Tdtingaham in the county of Bou- 
 logne. Leo, Rectitudines singularum personarum, p. 26. 
 
CH. I.] SAXON AND WELSH TRADITIONS. 11 
 
 lieve that at still earlier periods other Saxons had 
 found over the intervening ocean a way less dan- 
 gerous and tedious than a march through the ter- 
 ritories of jealous or hostile neighbours, or even 
 than a coasting voyage along barbarous shores 
 defended by a yet more barbarous population. A 
 north-east wind would, almost without effort of 
 their own, have carried their ships from Helgoland 
 and the islands of the Elbe, or from Silt and Rom- 
 seyi, to the Wash and the coast of Norfolk. There 
 seems then every probability that bodies more or 
 less numerous, of coast-Germans, perhaps actually 
 of Saxons and Angles, had colonized the eastern 
 shores of England long before the time generally 
 assumed for their advent^. The very exigencies of 
 military service had rendered this island familiar 
 to the nations of the continent : Batavi, under their 
 own national chieftains, had earned a share of the 
 Roman glory, and why not of the Roman land, in 
 
 ' Ptolemy calls tte islands at the mouth of the Elbe, 2a^6vcov vrja-oi 
 Tpiii. Zeuss considers these to be Fohr, Silt and Nordstrand. Die 
 Deutschen, p. 150. Lappenberg sees in them, North Fiiesland, Eider- 
 stedt, Nordstrand, Wickingharde and Booingharde. Thorpe, Lap. i. 
 87. It seems hardly conceivable that Frisians, who occupied the coast 
 as early as the time of Caesar, should not have found their way by sea 
 to Britain, especially when pressed by Roman power : see Tac. Ann. 
 xiii. 54. 
 
 ^ Hengest defeated the Picts and Scots at Stamford in Lincolnshire, 
 not far from the Nene, the Withara and the Welland, upon whose banks 
 it is nearly certain that there were German settlements. Widuldnd's 
 story of an embassy from the Britons to the Saxons, to entreat aid, is 
 thus rendered not altogether improbable : but then it must be under- 
 stood of Saxons already established in England, and on the very line of 
 march of the Northern invaders, whom they thus took most effectually 
 in ilank. Compare Geoifry's story of Vortigern giving Hengest lands 
 in Lincolnshire, etc. 
 
12 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [=0°^ ^ 
 
 Britaini ? The policy of the Emperor Marcus An- 
 toninus, at the successful close of the Marcomannic 
 war, had transplanted to Britain multitudes of Ger- 
 mans, to serve at once as instruments of Koman 
 power and as hostages for their countrymen on the 
 frontier; of the empire 2. The remnants of this once 
 powerful confederation cannot but have left long 
 and lasting traces of their settlement among us; nor 
 can it be considered at all improbable that Carau- 
 sius, when in the year 287, he raised the standard of 
 revolt in Britain, calculated upon the assistance of 
 the Germans in this country, as well as that of their 
 allies and brethren on the continent^. Nineteen 
 
 ' Tac. Hist. iv. 12, atout a.d. 69. "Diu Germaniois bellis exerciti; 
 mox aucta per Britanniam gloria, transmissis illuc oohortitus, quas 
 vetere institute, nobilissimi popularium regebant." 
 
 ^ Dio. Oas. Ixxi. Ixxii. Gibbon, Dec. cap. ix. At a later period, 
 Probus settled Vandals and Burgundians bere : Zosimus tells us (Hist. 
 Nov. i. 68) : oaous 5c ^avras olds re yeyovev iXelv, eh BperravLav nape- 
 nefiylrev ot rrjv v^crov oiKrjaavTeSf iiravao-rdvTOS pera ravrd Ttvos, yeyovacri 
 /3ao-tXf I pfp^trijiioi. Procopius even goes so far as to make Belisarius 
 talk of Goths in Britain, but the context itself proves tbat tbis deserves 
 very little notice. Bell. Got. ii. 6. 
 
 ^ Carausius was a Menapian : but in tbe third century the inhabit- 
 ants of the Menapian territoiy were certainly Teutonic. Aurelius Victor 
 calls him a Batavian : see Gibbon, Dec. cap. xiii. Carausius, and after 
 him AUectus, maintained a German force here : " Omnes enim illos, ut 
 audio, campos atque colles non nisi teterrimorum hostium corpora fusa 
 texerunt. Ilia barbara aut imitafione barbariae olim cultu vestis, et 
 prolixo crine rutilantia, tunc vero pulvere et cruore foedata, et in diver- 
 
 Eos situs tracta, sicuti dolorem vulnerum fuerant secuta, iacuerunt 
 
 Enimvero, Caesar invicte, tanto deorum immortalium tibi est addicta 
 consensu omnium quidem quos adortus fueris hostium, sed praecipue 
 internecio Francorum, ut illi quoque mUites vestri, qui per errorem ne- 
 bulosi, ut paullo ante dixi, maris abiuncti ad oppidum Londiniense 
 pervenerunt, quidquid ex mercenaria ilia multitudine barbarorum prae- 
 lio superfuerat, cum direpta civitate, fugam capessere cogitarent, passim 
 tota urbe confecerint." Eumen. Paneg. Const, cap. 18, 19. 
 
CH. I.] SAXON AND WELSH TRADITIONS. 13 
 
 years later the death of Constantius delivered the 
 dignity of Caesar to his son Constantine : he was 
 solemnly elected to that dignity in Britain, and 
 among his supporters was Crocus, or as some read 
 Erocus, an Alamannic king who had accompanied 
 his father from Germany i. Still later, under Va- 
 lentinian, we find an auxiliary force of Alamanni 
 serving with the Eoman legions here. 
 
 By chronological steps we have now approached 
 the period at which was compiled the celebrated 
 document entitled ' Notitia utriusque imperii ' 2. 
 Even if we place this at the latest admissible date, 
 it is still at least half a century earlier than the ear- 
 liest date assigned to Hengest. Among the im- 
 portant ofRcers of state mentioned therein as admi- 
 nistering the affairs of this island, is the Comes Lit- 
 toris Saxonici per Britannias; and his government, 
 which extended from near the present site of Ports- 
 
 ^ Aurel. Vict. cap. 4i. Lappenberg, referring to this fact (Thorpe, i. 
 47), asks, " May not the name Erocus be a corruption of Ertocus, a La- 
 tinization of the old-Saxon Heritogo, dux?" I think not; for an Ala- 
 man would have been called by a high and not low German name, He- 
 rizohho, hot Heritogo. I think it much more likely that his name was 
 Ohrohho or Hroca, a rooh. 
 
 ^ Pancirolus would date this important record in a.d. 438. Gibbon, 
 however, refutes him and places it between 395 and 407. Dec. cap. 
 xvii. I am inclined to think even this date inaccurate, and that the 
 Romans did not maintain any such great establishment in Britain, as that 
 herein described, at so late a period. For even Ammianus tells us in 
 864, " Hoc tempore Picti, Saxonesque et Scotti et Attaootti Britannos 
 aerumnis vexavere continuis," (Hist. xxvi. 4), which is hardly consis- 
 tent with a flourishing state of the Roman civil and military rule. The 
 actual document we possess may possibly date from 390 or 400, but it 
 refers to the arrangements of an earlier time, and to an organization of 
 Roman power in more palmy days of their dominion. 
 
14 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 mouth to Wells in Norfolk^, was supported by va- 
 rious civil and military establishments, dispersed 
 along the whole sea-board. The term Littus Sax- 
 onicum has been explained to mean rather the coast 
 visited by, or exposed to the ravages of, the Sax- 
 ons, than the coast occupied by them : but against 
 this loose system of philological and historical in- 
 terpretation I beg emphatically to protest : it seems 
 to have arisen merely from the uncritical spirit in 
 which the Saxon and Welsh traditions have been 
 adopted as ascertained facts, and from the impos- 
 sibility of reconciling the account of Beda with the 
 natural sense of the entry in the Notitia : but there 
 seems no reason whatever for adopting an excep- 
 tional rendering in this case, and as the Littus Sax- 
 onicum on the mainland was that district in which 
 members of the Saxon confederacy were settled, the 
 Littus Saxonicum per Britannias unquestionably 
 obtained its name from a similar circumstance^. 
 
 ' The document itself may be consulted in Graevius, vol. vii. The 
 "littus Saxonicum per Britannias" extended at least from the Portus 
 Adurni to JBranodunum, that is, from the neighbourhood of Portsmouth 
 to Branchester on the Wash. In both these places there were civil or 
 military officers under the orders of the Comes littoris Saxonici. 
 
 ' Professor Leo, of Halle, has called attention to a remarkable re- 
 semblance between the names of certain places in Kent, and settlements 
 of the Alamanni upon the Neckar. A few of these, it must be admitted, 
 are striking, but the majority are only such as might be expected to 
 arise from similarities of surface and natural features in any two coun- 
 tries settled by cognate populations, having nearly the same language, 
 religious rites and civil institutions. Even if the fact be admitted in 
 the fullest extent, it is still unnecessary to adopt Dr. Leo's hypothesis, 
 that the coincidence is due to a double migration from the shores of 
 the Elbe. Rectitud. sing, person, pp. 100-104. It has been already 
 
CH. I.J SAXON AND WELSH TRADITIONS. 15 
 
 Thus far the object of this rapid sketch has been 
 to show the improbabiUty of our earliest records 
 being anything more than ill-understood and con- 
 fused traditions, accepted without criticism by our 
 first annalists, and to refute the opinion loiig enter- 
 tained by our chroniclers, that the Germanic set- 
 tlements in England really date from the middle of 
 the fifth century. The results at which we have 
 arrived are far from unimportant; indeed they seem 
 to form the only possible basis upon which we can 
 ground a consistent and intelligible account of the 
 manner of the settlements themselves. And, be it 
 remembered, that the evidence brought forward 
 upon this point are the assertions of indifferent and 
 impartial witnesses ; statesmen, soldiers, men of 
 letters and philosophers, who merely recorded 
 events of which they had full means of becoming 
 cognizant, with no object in general save that of 
 stating facts appertaining to the history of their 
 empire. Moreover, the accounts they give are pro- 
 bable in themselves and perfectly consistent with 
 other well-ascertained facts of Roman history. Can 
 the same praise be awarded to our own meagre 
 national traditions, or to the fuller, detailed, but pal- 
 stated that Constantius was accompanied to Britain by an Alamannic 
 king ; and I cannot doubt that under Valentinian, a force of Alamanni 
 
 served in this coimtry. Ammianus says : " Valentinianus in Ma- 
 
 criani locum, Bucinobantibus, quae contra Moguntiacum gens est Ala- 
 manua, regem Fraomarium ordinavit : quem pauUo postea, quoniam 
 recens excursus eundem penitus vastaverat pagum, in Britannos traus- 
 latum potestatetribuni, Alamanuorum praefecerat numero, multitudine, 
 viribusque ea tempestate ilorenti." Hist. xxix. c. 4. The context 
 renders it impossible that this " numerus Alamannorum " should ha'^-e 
 been anything but genuine Germans. 
 
10 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 pably uncritical assertions of our conquered neigh- 
 bours "? I confess that the more I examine this 
 question, the more completely I am convinced that 
 the received accounts of our migrations, our subse- 
 quent fortunes, and ultimate settlement, are devoid 
 of historical truth in every detail. 
 
 It strikes the enquirer at once with suspicion 
 when he finds the tales supposed peculiar to his 
 own race and to this island, shared by the Ger- 
 manic populations of other lands, and with slight 
 changes of locality, or trifling variations of detail, 
 recorded as authentic parts of their history. The 
 readiest belief in fortuitous resemblances and co- 
 incidences gives way before a number of instances 
 whose agreement defies all the calculation of 
 chances. Thus, when we find Hengest and Hors 
 approaching the coasts of Kent in three keels, and 
 JEili efiiecting a landing in Sussex with the same 
 number, we are reminded of the Gothic tradition 
 which carries a migration of Ostrogoths, Visigoths 
 and Gepidae, also in three vessels, to the mouths 
 of the Vistula, certainly a spot where we do not 
 readily look for that recurrence to a trinal calcula- 
 tion, which so peculiarly characterizes the modes of 
 thought of the Cymri. The murder of the British 
 chieftains by Hengest is told totidem verbis by 
 Widukind and others, of the Oldsaxons in Thurin- 
 giai. Geofii-y of Monmouth relates also how Hen- 
 
 1 Widukind in Leibnitz, Rer. Brunsw. i. 73, 74; Eepgow, Sachsensp. 
 iii. 44, § 2. It is amusing enougli to see how the number of ships 
 increases as people began to feel the absurdity of bringing over con- 
 quering armies in such very small flotillas. 
 
CH. I.J SAXON AND WELSH TRADITIONS. 17 
 
 gest obtained from the Britons as much land as 
 could be enclosed by an ox-hide ; then, cutting the 
 hide into thongs, enclosed a much larger space 
 than the grantors intended, on which he erected 
 Thong castle^ — a tale too familiar to need illustra- 
 tion, and which runs throughout the mythus of 
 many nations. Among the Oldsaxons the tradi- 
 tion is in reality the same, though recorded with 
 a slight variety of detail. In their story, a lapful 
 of earth is purchased at a dear rate from a Thurin- 
 gian ; the companions of the Saxon jeer him for 
 his imprudent bargain ; but he sows the purchased 
 earth over a large space of ground, which he claims 
 and, by the aid of his comrades, ultimately wrests 
 from the Thuringians^. 
 
 To the traditional history of the tribes peculiarly 
 belong the genealogies of their kings, to which it 
 will be necessary to refer hereafter in a mythological 
 point of view. For the present it is enough that I 
 call attention to the extraordinary tale of Offa, 
 who occurs at an early stage of the Mercian table, 
 among the progenitors of the Mercian kings. This 
 story, as we find it in Matthew Paris's detailed ac- 
 count^, coincides in the minutest particulars with a 
 
 1 Galf. Monum. li. Brit., vi. 11. Thong castle proLaWy gave a turn 
 to the story here which the Oldsaxon legend had not. The classical 
 tale of Dido and Byrsa is well known to every schoolboy. Ragnor 
 Lodbrog adopted the same artifice, Rag. Lodb. Saga, cap. 19, 20. 
 Nay the Hindoos declare that we obtained possession of Calcutta by 
 similar means. 
 
 ^ Widui. in loc. citat, also Grimm's Deutsche Sagen, No. 547, 369, 
 and Deutsche Rechtsalt. p. 90, where several valuable examples are 
 cited : it is remarkable how many of these are Thuringian. 
 
 2 Vit. Offae Primi, edited by Wats. 
 
 VOL. I. C 
 
18 
 
 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 tale told by Saxo Grammaticus of a Danish prince 
 bearing the same name^. 
 
 The form itself in which details, which profess 
 to be authentic, have been preserved, ought to se- 
 cure us from falling into error. They are romantic, 
 not historical; and the romance has salient and 
 characteristic points, not very reconcilable with the 
 variety which marks the authentic records of fact. 
 For example, the details of a long and doubtful 
 struggle between the Saxons and the Britons are 
 obviously based upon no solid foundation ; the dates 
 and the events are alike traditional, — the usual and 
 melancholy consolation of the vanquished. In pro- 
 portion as we desert the older and apply to later 
 sources of information, do we meet with success- 
 ful wars, triumphant British chieftains, vanquished 
 Saxons, heroes endowed with supernatural powers 
 and blessed with supernatural luck. Gildas, Nen- 
 nius and Beda mention but a few contests, and 
 even these of a doubtful and suspicious character ; 
 Geoifry of Monmouth and gossipers of his class, 
 on the contrary, are full of wondrous incidents by 
 flood and field, of details calculated to flatter the 
 pride or console the sorrows of Keltic auditors : the 
 successes which those who lived in or near the 
 times described either pass over in modest silence 
 or vaguely insinuate under sweeping generalities, 
 are impudently related by this fabler and his copy- 
 ists with every richness of narration. According to 
 him the invaders are defeated in every part of the 
 
 ' Saxo Gramm. blc. iv. p. 59 seq. 
 
CH. I.] SAXON AND WELSH TRADITIONS. 19 
 
 island, nay even expelled from it ; army after army 
 is destroyed, chieftain after chieftain slain ; till he 
 winds up his enormous tissue of fabrications with 
 the defeat, the capture and execution of a hero 
 whose very existence becomes problematical when 
 tested by the severe principles of historical criti- 
 cism, and who, according to the strict theory of 
 our times, can hardly be otherwise than enrolled 
 among the gods, through a godlike or half-godlike 
 form^. 
 
 It is no doubt probable that the whole land 
 was not subdued without some pains in different 
 quarters ; that here and there a courageous leader 
 or a favourable position may have enabled the 
 aborigines to obtain even temporary successes over 
 the invaders : the new immigrants were not likely 
 to find land vacant for their occupation among 
 their kinsmen who had long been settled here, 
 though well-assured of their co-operation in any 
 
 ' Woden in the gentile form of a horse, Hengest, equus admissariiis, 
 the brother of Hors, and father of a line in which names of horses form 
 a distinguishing part of the roj'al appellatives. It is hardly necessary 
 to remind the classical reader of Poseidon in his favourite shape, 
 the shape in which he contended with Athene and mingled with 
 Ceres. In these remarks on Geoffryand his sources, I do not mean to 
 deny the obligation under which the reader of romance has been laid 
 by him ; only to reject everything like historical authority. It is from 
 the countrymen of Geoffry that we have also gained the marvellous 
 superstructure of imagination which has supplied the tales of that time, 
 " when Charlemagne with all his peerage fell by Fontarabia," and which 
 is recognised by history in the very short entry, " In quo proelioEggi- 
 hardus regiae mensae praepositus, Anselmus comes palatii, et Hruod- 
 landus Brittanici limitis praefectus, cum aliis compluribus interfi- 
 cinntur." Einhardi Vita Karoli, § 9. Pertz, ii. 448. Let us be grateful 
 for the Orlando Innamorato and Eurioso, but not make history of 
 them. 
 
 c2 • 
 
20 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 attempt to wrest new settlements from the British. 
 But no authentic record remains of the slow and 
 gradual progress that would have attended the con- 
 quest of a brave and united people, nor is any such 
 consistent with the accounts the British authors 
 have left of the disorganized and disarmed condi- 
 tion of the population. A skirmish, carried on by 
 very small numbers on either side, seems generally 
 to have decided the fate of a campaign. Steadily 
 from east to west, from south to north, the sharp 
 axes and long swords of the Teutons hewed their 
 way : wherever opposition was offered, it ended in 
 the retreat of the aborigines to the mountains, — 
 fortresses whence it was impossible to dislodge 
 them, and from which they sometimes descended 
 to attempt a hopeless effort for the liberty of their 
 country or revenge upon their oppressors. The 
 ruder or more generous of their number may have 
 preferred exile and the chances of emigration to 
 subjection at home 1; but the mass of the people, 
 accustomed to Eoman rule or the oppression of 
 native princes^, probably suffered little by a change 
 of masters, and did little to avoid it. At even a 
 later period an indignant bard could pour out his 
 patriotic reproaches upon the Loegrians who had 
 
 ' Many beyond a doubt found a refuge in Brittany among tbeir 
 bretbren and co-religionists wbo bad long been settled tbere. Oonf. 
 Ermold. Nigel, bk. iii. v. 11. in Pertz, ii. 490. Tbe Cumbrians and 
 Welsh had probably been as little subdued by the Romans as they 
 were by the Saxons. 
 
 ' Gildas does not spare the native princes: see Epist. querul. 
 passim ; and when every excuse has been made for the exaggerations 
 of an honest zeal, we must believe the condition of the people to have 
 been bad in the extreme. 
 
CH. I.] SAXON AND WELSH TRADITIONS. 21 
 
 condescended to become Saxons. We learn that at 
 first the condition of the British under the German 
 rule was fair and easy, and only rendered harsher 
 in punishment of their unsuccessful attempts at 
 rebellion 1 ; and the laws of Ini, a Westsaxon king, 
 show that in the territories subject to his rule, and 
 bordering upon the yet British lands, the Welsh- 
 man occupied the place of a, perioecian rather than 
 a lielot^. Nothing in fact is more common, or less 
 true, than the exaggerated account of total exter- 
 minations and miserable oppressions, in the tradi- 
 tional literature of conquered nations ; and we may 
 very safely appeal even to the personal appearance 
 of the peasantry in many parts of England, as evi- 
 dence how much Keltic blood was permitted to sub- 
 sist and even to mingle with that of the ruling Ger- 
 mans ; while the signatures to very early charters 
 supply us with names assuredly not Teutonic, and 
 therefore probably borne by persons of Keltic race, 
 occupying positions of dignity at the courts of 
 Anglosaxon kings ^. 
 
 ' " Quorum illi qui Northwallos, id est Aquilonales Britones diceTjan- 
 tur, parti Westsaxonum regum obvenerant. Illi quondam consuetis 
 servitiis seduli, diu nil asperum retulere, sed tunc rebellionem medi- 
 tantes, Kentuuinus rex tarn anxia caede perdomuit, ut nihil ulterius 
 sperarent. Quare et ultima malorum accessit captivis tributaria func- 
 tio ; ut qui antea nee solam umbram palpabant libertatis, nunc iugum 
 aubiectionis palam ingemiscerent." W. Malmsb. Vit. Aldhelmi, Ang. 
 Sac. ii. 14. 
 
 2 Leg. Ini, § 32, 33. 
 
 ^ See a tract of the author's in the Proceedings of the Archaeological 
 Institute, 1845, on Anglosaxon names. From some very interesting 
 papers read by the Rev. R. Garnett before the Philological Society in 
 1843 1844, we learn that a considerable proportion of the words which 
 denote the daily processes of agriculture, domestic life, and generally 
 indoor and outdoor service, are borrowed by us from the Keltic. 
 
22 
 
 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 From what has preceded it will be inferred that 
 I look upon the genuine details of the German 
 conquests in England as irrevocably lost to us. 
 So extraordinary a success as the conquest of this 
 island by bands of bold adventurers from the con- 
 tinent, whose cognate tribes had already come into 
 fatal collision with not only the Gallic provincials, 
 but even the levies of the city itself ^, could hardly 
 have passed unnoticed by the historians of the em- 
 pire : we have seen however that only Prosper Tyro 
 and Procopius notice this great event, and that 
 too in terms which by no means necessarily imply 
 
 Philolog. Trang. i. 171 seq. The amount of Keltic words yet current 
 in Englisli may of course te accounted for in part, without the hypo- 
 thesis of an actual incorporation ; but many have unquestionably been 
 borrowed, and serve to show that a strong Keltic element was permitted 
 to remain and iniiuenoe the Saxon. That it did so especially in local 
 names is not of much importance, as it may be doubted whether con- 
 quest ever succeeded in changing these entirely, in any country. 
 
 ' I borrow from Hermann Miiller's instructive work, Der Lex Sahca 
 und der Lex Angliorum et Werinorum Alter und Heimat, p. 269, the 
 following chronological notices of the Franks in their relations to the 
 Roman empire : — 
 
 A.D. 250. Franks, the inhabitants of marshes, become known by their 
 predatory excursions. 
 
 280. Franks, transplanted to Asia, return. 
 
 287. Franks occupy Batavia ; are expelled. 
 
 201. Franks in the Gallic provinces. 
 
 306. Constantino chastises the Franks. They enjoy consideration 
 in the service of Eome. 
 
 340. Wars and treaties with the Franks. 
 
 356. Julian treats with the Franks on the lower Rhine. 
 
 358. He treats with Franks in Toxandria, 
 
 359. Salic Franks in Batavia. 
 
 395. Stilieho treats with the Franks. 
 
 408. The Vandals invading Gaul are defeated by the Franks. 
 
 414. War with the Franks. 
 
 416. The Franks possess the Rhine-land. 
 
 437. Ohlojo bursts into Gaul and takes Cambray. 
 
CH. I.J SAXOX AND WELSH TEADITIONS. 23 
 
 a state of things consistent with the received ac- 
 counts. The former only says indefinitely, that 
 about 441, Britain was finally reduced under the 
 Saxon power ; while Procopius clearly shows how 
 very imperfect, indeed fabulous, an account he had 
 received i. Could we trust the accuracy and cri- 
 tical spirit of this writer, whom no less a man than 
 Gibbon has condescended to call the gravest histo- 
 rian of his time, we might indeed imagine that we 
 had recovered one fact of our earliest history, which 
 brought with it all the attractions of romance. An 
 Angle princess had been betrothed to Eadiger, 
 prince of the Varni, a Teutonic tribe whose seats 
 are subsequently described to have been about the 
 shores of the Northern Ocean and upon the Rhine, 
 by which alone they were separated from the 
 Franks 2. Tempted however partly by motives of 
 policy, partly perhaps by maxims of heathendom, 
 he deserted his promised bride and oifered his hand 
 to Theodechild, the widow of his father, and sister 
 of the Austrasian Theodberht^. Like the epic he- 
 roine Brynhildr, the deserted lady was not disposed 
 
 ' Procop. Bel. Got. iv. 20. 
 
 ^ OvapvoL jikv v7rep"la-Tpov irOTajiov "ihpvVTaf SirjKovcri 6? axpt re es 
 ^QKeavbv tov apKTaov, Km iroTapbv *Pijvov ocTTrep avTovs re dwpt^ei, Kal 
 ^pdyyovs kol rdXXa eSvrj, a ravTrj IbpvvTai. qvtol diravTcs, oa-oi TOnaXaiov 
 dfi(j>L 'P^uov EKarepcoBev irorap-ov aKrjvro^ Idcov pev tlvos opoparos eKaa-Toi 
 
 pcTe\dyxavov sttlkolv^s de Veppavoi iKoKodvTo d7ravTes...Ovapvot fie 
 
 Kal ^pdyyoi tovtX povov tov ^Ftjvov to vdap psTa^ii e^ovciv. Bel. Grot, 
 iv. 20. 
 
 ^ Procopius tells us that this was done by the dying father's advice, 
 and in consonance with the law of the people. 'FaSiyep 8e 6 nais ^vvot- 
 Kt^ecrBo} Ty prjTpvia toXolttov ttj avTov, Kaddirep 6 iraTpios Tjfiiv i^i7/(Tt 
 vopos. Ibid. Conf. Bed. Hist. Eccl. ii. 5. 
 
24 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 to pass over the affront thus offered to her charms. 
 With an immense armament she sailed for the 
 mouth of the Ehine. A victory placed the faithless 
 bridegroom a prisoner in her power. But desh'e of 
 revenge gave place to softer emotions, and the tri- 
 umphant princess was content to dismiss her rival 
 and compel her repentant suitor to perform his en- 
 gagement. 
 
 To deny all historical foundation to this tale 
 would perhaps be carrying scepticism to an un- 
 reasonable extent. Yet the most superficial exa- 
 mination proves that in all its details, at least, it is 
 devoid of accuracy. The period during which the 
 events described must be placed i, is between the 
 years 534 and 547 ; and it is very certain that the 
 Varni were not settled at that time where Proco- 
 pius has placed them^ : on that locality we can 
 only look for Saxons. It is hardly necessary to say 
 that a fleet of four hundred ships, and an army of 
 one hundred thousand Angles, led by a woman, are 
 not data upon which we could implicitly rely in 
 calculating either the political or military power of 
 any English principality at the commencement of 
 the sixth century ; or that ships capable of carrying 
 two hundred and fifty men each, had hardly been 
 launched at that time from any port in England. 
 Still I am not altogether disposed to deny the pos- 
 
 1 The years 534 and 547 are the extreme terms of Theodberht's 
 reign. See Gib. Dec. bk. 38. 
 
 2 This fact, which has escaped the accurate, and generally merciless, 
 criticism of Gibbon, is very clearly proved by Zeuss, Die Deutschen, 
 etc. pp. 361, 362. 
 
CH. I.] SAXON AND WELSH TEADITIONS. 25 
 
 sibility of predatory expeditions from the more set- 
 tled parts of the island, adjoining the eastern coasts. 
 Gregory of Tours tells us that about the same time 
 as that assigned to this Angle expedition, Theodoric 
 the Frank, assisted by Sueves, Saxons and even 
 Bavarians, cruelly devastated the territory of the 
 Thuringians; and although it vpould be far more 
 natural to seek these Saxons in their old settle- 
 ments upon the continent, we have the authority 
 of Rudolf or Meginhart, that they were in fact in- 
 habitants of this island^. 
 
 But if such difficulties exist in dealing with the 
 events of periods which are within the ascertained 
 limits of our chronological system, and which have 
 received the illustration of contemporary history, 
 what shall we say of those whereof the time, nay 
 
 1 The passage is sufficiently important to deserve transcription at 
 leng;th. " Saxonum gens, sicut tradit antiquitas, ab Anglis Britanniae 
 incolis egTessa, per Oceanum navigans Germaniae litoribus studio et 
 necessitate quaerendarum sedium appulsa est, in loco qui vocatur Ha- 
 duloha, eo tempore quo Thiotricus rex Francorum contra Irminfridum 
 generum suura, ducem Thuringorum, dimicans, terram eorum ferro vas- 
 tavit et igni. Et cum iam duobus proeliis ancipiti pugna ineertaque 
 victoria miserabili suorum cede decertassent, Thiotricus spe vincendi 
 frustratus, misit legates ad Saxones, quorum dux erat Hadugoto. Au- 
 divit enim causam adveutus eorum, promissisque pro victoria habitandi 
 sedibiis, conduxit eos in adiutorium ; quibus secum quasi iam pro liber- 
 tate et patria fortiter dimicantibus, superavit adversaries, vastatisque 
 indigenis et ad internitionem peue deletis, terram eorum iuxta poUicita- 
 tionem suam victoribus delegavit. Qui eam sorte dividentes, cum multi 
 exeis in bello ceoidissent, et pro raritate eorum tota ab eis oocupari non 
 potuit, partem illiiis, et eam quam maxime quae respicit orientem, oo- 
 lonis tradebant, singuli pro sorte sua, sub tribute exercendam. Caetera 
 vero loca ipsi possiderunt." Transl. Sci. Alexandri, Pertz, ii. 674. This 
 was written about 863. Possibly some ancient and now lost epic had 
 recorded the wars of the Saxon Hea^ogeat. 
 
26 THE SAXONS EST ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 even the locality is unknown 1 What account shall 
 we render of those occurrences, which exist for us 
 only in the confused forms given to them by suc- 
 cessive ages ; some, mischievously determined to 
 reduce the abnormal to rule, the extraordinary to 
 order, as measured by their narrow scheme of ana- 
 logy ] Is it not obvious that to seek for historic 
 truth in such traditions, is to be guilty of violating 
 every principle of historic logic'? Such was the 
 course -pursued by our early chroniclers, but it is 
 not one that we can be justified in repeating. In 
 their view no doubt, the annals of the several Saxon 
 kingdoms did supply points of definite information ; 
 but we are now able to take the measure of their 
 credulity, and to apply severer canons of criticism 
 to the facts themselves which they believed and re- 
 corded. If it was the tendency and duty of their 
 age to deliver to us the history that they found, it 
 is the tendency and duty of ours to enquire upon 
 what foundation that history rests, and what amount 
 of authority it may justly claim. 
 
 The little that Beda could collect at the begin- 
 ning of the eighth century, formed the basis of all 
 the subsequent reports. Though not entirely free 
 from the prejudices of his time, and yielding ready 
 faith to tales which his frame of mind disposed him 
 willingly to credit, he seems to have bestowed some 
 pains upon the investigation and critical apprecia- 
 tion of the materials he collected. But the limits 
 of the object he had proposed to himself, viz. the 
 ecclesiastical history of the island, not only imposed 
 upon him the necessity of commencing his detailed 
 
CH. I.] SAXON AND WELSH TRADITIONS. 27 
 
 narrative at a comparatively late period i, but led 
 him to reject much that may have been well known 
 to him, of our secular history. The deeds of pagan 
 and barbarous chieftains offered little to attract his 
 attention or command his sympathies ; indeed were 
 little likely to be objects of interest to those from 
 whom his own information was generally derived. 
 Beda's account, copied and recopied both at home 
 and abroad, was swelled by a few vague data from 
 the regnal annals of the kings ; these were probably 
 increased by a few traditions, ill understood and ill 
 applied, which belonged exclusively to the epical 
 or mythological cycles of our own several tribes 
 and races, and the cognate families of the continent ; 
 and finally the whole was elaborated into a mass of 
 inconsistent fables, on the admission of Cymric or 
 Armorican tales by Norman writers, who for the 
 most part felt as little interest in the fate of the 
 Briton as the Saxon, and were as little able to ap- 
 preciate the genuine history of the one as of the 
 other race. Thus Woden, Bseldseg, Geat, Scyld, 
 Sceaf and Beowa gradually found their way into 
 the royal genealogies ; one by one, Brutus, Aurelius 
 Ambrosius, Uther Pendragon and Arthur, Hen- 
 gest, Hors and Vortigern, all became numbered 
 among historical personages ; and from heroes of 
 respective epic poems sunk down into kings and 
 
 ' Beda attempts to give some account of the early state of Britain 
 previoiis to tlie arrival of Augustine ; a few quotations from Solinus, 
 GUdas, and a legendary life of St. Germanus, comprise however nearly 
 the whole of his collections. Either he could find no more information, 
 or he did not think it worthy of belief. He even speaks douhtfidly of 
 the tale of Hengest. Hist. Eccl. i, 15. 
 
28 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 warriors, who lived and fought and died upon the 
 soil of England. 
 
 We are ignorant what fasti or mode even of 
 reckoning the revolutions of seasons prevailed in 
 England, previous to the introduction of Chris- 
 tianity. We know not how any event before the 
 year 600 was recorded, or to what period the me- 
 mory of man extended. There may have been rare 
 annals : there may have been poems : if such there 
 were they have perished, and have left no trace 
 behind, unless we are to attribute to them such 
 scanty notices as the Saxon chronicle adds to Beda's 
 account. From such sources however little could 
 have been gained of accurate information either as 
 to the real internal state, the domestic progress, 
 or development of a people. The dry, bare en- 
 tries of the chronicles in historical periods may 
 supply the means of judging what sort of annals 
 were likely to exist before the general introduction 
 of the Eoman alphabet and parchment, while, in 
 all probability, runes supplied the place of letters, 
 and stones, or the beech-woodi from which their name 
 is derived, of hooks. Again, the traditions embo- 
 died in the epic, are preeminently those of kings 
 and princes : they are heroical, devoted to cele- 
 brate the divine or half-divine founders of a race, 
 the fortunes of their warlike descendants, the man- 
 ners and mode of life of military adventurers, not 
 the obscure progress, household peace and orderly 
 habits of the humble husbandman. They are full 
 of feasts and fighting, shining arms and golden 
 goblets : the gods mingle among men almost their 
 
CH. I.] SAXON AND WELSIi TRADITIONS. 29 
 
 equals, share in the same pursuits, are animated by 
 the same passions of love, and jealousy and hatred ; 
 or, blending the divine with the mortal nature, be- 
 come the founders of races, kingly because derived 
 from divinity itself. But one race knows little of 
 another or its traditions, and cares as little for them. 
 Alliances or wars alone bring them in contact with 
 one another ; and the terms of intercourse between 
 the races will for the most part determine the cha- 
 racter under which foreign heroes shall be admitted 
 into the national epos, or whether they shall be 
 admitted at all. All history then, which is founded 
 in any degree upon epical tradition (and national 
 history is usually more or less so founded) must be 
 to that extent imperfect, if not inaccurate; only 
 when corrected by the written references of con- 
 temporaneous authors, can we assign any certainty 
 to its records ^. 
 
 Let us apply these observations to the early 
 events of Saxon history : of Kent indeed we have 
 the vague and uncertain notices which I have men- 
 tioned : even more vague and uncertain are those 
 of Sussex and Wessex. Of the former, we learn 
 that in the year 477, jEUi, with three sons, Cymen, 
 Wlencing and Cissa, landed in Sussex ; that in the 
 year 485 they defeated the Welsh, and that in 491 
 they destroyed the population of Anderida^. Not 
 another word is there about Sussex, before the ar- 
 
 ^ The Homeric poems and those of the Edda are obvious examples : 
 but nothing can be more instructive than the history which Livy and 
 Saxo Grammaticus have woven out of similar materials. 
 
 ^ Sax. Ohron. under the respective dates. 
 
30 THE SAJCOXS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 rival of Augustine, except a late assertion of the 
 military preeminence of ^Ui among the Saxon 
 chieftains. The events of Wessex are somewhat 
 better detailed ; we learn that in 495 two nobles, 
 Cerdic and Cyneric, came to England, and landed 
 at Cerdices ora, where on the same day they fought 
 a battle: that in 501 they were followed by a noble 
 named Port, who with his two sons Bieda and 
 Mgegla made a forcible landing at Portsmouth: 
 and that in 508 they gained a great battle over a 
 British king, whom they slew together with five 
 thousand of his people. In 514 Stuff and Wihtgar, 
 their nephews, brought them a reinforcement of 
 three ships ; in 519 they again defeated the Britons, 
 and established the kingdom of Wessex. In 527 a 
 new victory is recorded : in 530, the Isle of Wight 
 was subdued and given to Wihtgar; and in 534, 
 Cerdic died, and was succeeded by Cyneric, who 
 reigned twenty-six years i. In 544 Wihtgar died. 
 A victory of Cyneric in 552 and 556, and Ceawlin's 
 accession to the throne of Wessex are next recorded. 
 Wars of the Westsaxon kings are noted in 568, 
 571,. 577, 584. Prom 590 to 595 a king of that 
 race named Ceol is mentioned : in 591 we learn 
 the expulsion of Ceawlin from power : in 593 the 
 deaths of Ceawlin, Cwichelm and Crida are men- 
 tioned, and in 597, the year of Augustine's arrival, 
 we learn that Cedlwulf ascended the throne of 
 Wessex. 
 
 Meagre as these details are, they far exceed what 
 
 • Cerdic and Cyneric landed in 495, after forty j-ears Cerdic dies, 
 and Cyneric reigns twenty-six more ! 
 
CH. I.] SAXON AND WELSH TRADITIONS. 31 
 
 is related of Northumberland, Essex or East- 
 anglia. In 547 we are told that Ida began to reign 
 in the first of these kingdoms ; and that he was suc- 
 ceeded in 560 by iEUi : that after a reign of thirty 
 years^, he died in 588 and was succeeded by M^e\- 
 ric, who again in 593 was succeeded by ^E-SelfriS. 
 This is all we learn of Northumbria ; of Mercia, 
 Essex, Eastanglia, and the innumerable kingdoms 
 that must have been comprised under these general 
 appellations, we hear not a single word. 
 
 If this be all that we can now recover of events, 
 a great number of which must have fallen within 
 the lives of those to whom Augustine preached, 
 what credit shall we give to the inconsistent ac- 
 counts of earlier actions \ How shall we supply 
 the almost total want of information respecting the 
 first settlements 1 What explanation have we to 
 give of the alliance between Jutes, Angles and 
 Saxons which preceded the invasions of England \ 
 What knowledge will these records supply of the 
 real number and quality of the chieftains, the lan- 
 guage and blood of the populations who gradually 
 spread themselves from the Atlantic to the Frith 
 of Forth ; of the remains of Koman cultivation, or 
 the amount of British power with which they had 
 to contend ^ of the vicissitudes of good and evil for- 
 tune which visited the independent principalities, 
 before they were swallowed up in the kingdoms of 
 
 ' The ctronology is inconsistent throughout, and it is inconceivable 
 that it should have been otherwise. Beda himself assigns diiFerent 
 dates to the arrival of the Saxons, though it is the sera from which he 
 frequently reckons. 
 
32 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 the heptarchy, or the extent of the influence which 
 they retained after that event ] On all these several 
 points we are left entirely in the dark ; and yet 
 these are facts which it most imports us to know, 
 if we would comprehend the growth of a society 
 which endoired for at least seven hundred years in 
 England, and formed the foundation of that in 
 which we live. 
 
 Lappenberg has devoted several pages of his 
 elaborate history^ to an investigation of the Kent- 
 ish legends, with a view to demonstrate their tra- 
 ditional, that is unhistorical, character. He has 
 shown that the best authorities are inconsistent 
 with one another and with themselves, in assigning 
 the period of Hengest's arrival in England. Care- 
 fully comparing the dates of the leading events, as 
 given from the soundest sources, he has proved be- 
 yond a doubt, that all these periods are calculated 
 upon a mythical number 8, whose multiples recur in 
 every year assigned. Thus the periods of twenty- 
 four, sixteen, eight and particularly forty years 
 meet us at every turn ; and a somewhat similar 
 tendency may, I think, be observed in the earlier 
 dates of Westsaxon history cited in a preceding 
 page. It is also very probable that the early ge- 
 nealogies of the various Anglosaxon kings were 
 arranged in series of eight names, including always 
 the great name of Woden^. 
 
 The result of all these enquiries is, to guard 
 
 ' Thorpe's Lappenb. i. 78 seq. 
 
 ° Beowulf, ii. Postscript to the Preface, xxvii. 
 
CH. I.] SAXON AND WELSH TRADITIONS. 33 
 
 against plausible details which can only mislead 
 us. If we endeavour to destroy the credit of tradi- 
 tions which have long existed, it is only to put 
 something in their place, inconsistent with them, 
 but of more value : to reduce them to what they 
 really are, lest their authority should render the 
 truth more obscure, and its pursuit more difficult 
 than is necessary ; but to use them wherever they 
 seem capable of guiding our researches, and are 
 not irreconcilable with our other conclusions. 
 
 Far less in the fabulous records adopted by hi- 
 storians, than in the divisions of the land itself, 
 according to the populations that occupied it, and 
 the rank of their several members, must the truth 
 he sought. The names of the tribes and families 
 have survived in the localities where they settled, 
 while their peculiar forms of customary law have 
 become as it were melted together into one gene- 
 ral system ; and the national legends which each of 
 them most probably possessed, have either perished 
 altogether, or are now to be traced only in proper 
 names which fill up the genealogies of the royal 
 families ^. To these local names I shall return 
 
 ' Geat, the eponymus of a race, G-eataa, is found in the common 
 genealogy previous to Woden; his legend is alludedto in the Codex 
 Exoniensis, pp. 377, 378, together with those of Deodric, Wfland and 
 Eormanric. Witta in the Kentish line is foimd in the Traveller's Song, 
 1. 43. Offa in the Mercian genealogy occurs in the same poem, 1. 69, 
 in the fine epos of Beowulf, and in Saxo Grammaticus. Fin the son 
 of Folowalda is one of the heroes of Beowulf Scyld, Sceaf and Bedwa 
 are found in the same poem, etc. These facts render it probable 
 that many other, if not all the names in the genealogies were equally 
 derived from the peculiar national or gentile legends, although the 
 epic poems in which they were celebrated being now lost, we are un- 
 able to point to them as we have done to others. 
 
 VOL. I. D 
 
34 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 hereafter ; they will furnish a strong confirmation 
 of what has been advanced in this chapter as to 
 the probability of an early and wide dispersion 
 of Teutonic settlers in Britain. 
 
35 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE MARK. 
 
 All that we learn of the original principle of 
 settlement, prevalent either in England or on the 
 continent of Europe, among the nations of Ger- 
 manic blood, rests upon two main foundations ; 
 first, the possession of land ; second, the distinction 
 of rank ; and the public law of every Teutonic tribe 
 implies the dependence of one upon the other 
 principle, to a greater or less extent. Even as he 
 who is not free can, at first, hold no land within the 
 limits of the community, so is he who holds no 
 land therein, not fully free, whatever his personal 
 rank or character may be. Thus far the Teutonic 
 settler differs but little from the ancient Spartiate 
 or the comrade of Romulus. 
 
 The particular considerations which arise from the 
 contemplation of these principles in their progres- 
 sive development, will find their place in the seve- 
 ral chapters of this Book : it deals with land held 
 in community, and severalty ; with the nature and 
 accidents of tenure ; with the distinction and privi- 
 leges of the various classes of citizens, the free, the 
 noble and the serf; and with the institutions by 
 which a mutual guarantee of life, honour and peace- 
 ful possession was attempted to be secured among 
 
 D 2 
 
33 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 the Anglosaxons. These are the incunabula, first 
 principles and rudiments of the English law^; and 
 in these it approaches, and assimilates to, the sy- 
 stem which the German conquerors introduced into 
 every state which they founded upon the ruins of 
 the Eoman power. 
 
 As land may be held by many men in common, 
 or by several households, under settled conditions 
 it is expedient to examine separately the nature 
 and character of these tenures : and first to enquire 
 into the forms of possession in common ; for upon 
 this depends the political being of the state, its 
 constitutional law, and its relative position towards 
 other states. Among the Anglosaxons land so held 
 in common was designated by the names Mark, and 
 Ga or Shire. 
 
 The smallest and simplest of these common di- 
 visions is that which we technically call a Mark or 
 March (mearc) ; a word less frequent in the Anglo- 
 saxon than the German muniments, only because 
 the system founded upon what it represents yielded 
 in England earlier than in Germany to extraneous 
 influences. This is the first general division, the 
 next in order to the private estates or alods of the 
 Markmen : as its name denotes, it is something 
 marked out or defined, having settled boundaries ; 
 something serving as a sign to others, and distin- 
 guished by signs. It is the plot of land on which 
 a greater or lesser number of free men have set- 
 tled for purposes of cultivation, and for the sake 
 of mutual profit and protection ; and it comprises a 
 
 1 " Incunabula et rudimenta virtutis." Cic. de Off. 
 
CH. n.] - THE MARK. 87 
 
 portion both of arable land and pasture, in propor- 
 tion to the numbers that enjoy its produce ^. 
 
 However far we may pursue our researches into 
 the early records of our forefathers, we cannot dis- 
 cover a period at which this organization was 
 unknown. Whatever may have been the original 
 condition of the Grerman tribes, tradition and his- 
 tory alike represent them to us as living partly by 
 agriculture, partly by the pasturing of cattle ^. They 
 had long emerged from the state of wandering 
 herdsmen, hunters or fishers, when they first at- 
 tracted the notice, and disputed or repelled the 
 power, of Rome. The peculiar tendencies of vari- 
 ous tribes may have introduced peculiar modes of 
 placing or constructing their habitations; but of 
 no German population is it stated, that they dwelt 
 in tents like the Arab, in waggons like the Scy- 
 thian, or in earth-dug caverns like the troglodytes 
 of Wallachia : the same authority that tells of some 
 who lived alone as the hill-side or the fresh spring 
 pleased them ^, notices the villages, the houses and 
 even the fortresses, of others. 
 
 1 "Agri, pro numero cultorum, ab universia per vicea occupantur, quos 
 mox inter se, secundum dignationem, partiuntur ; facilitatem partiendi 
 camporum spatia praestant." Tac. Germ. 26. 
 
 ^ " Sola terrae seges imperatur," they raise corn, but not fruits or 
 vegetables. Tac. Germ. 26. " Frumenti modum dominus, aut pecoris, 
 aut vestis, ut colono, iniungit ; et servus hactenus paret." Ibid. 25. 
 Hordeum, and frumentum. Ibid. 23. 
 
 ^ " Colunt disoreti ac diversi, ut fons, ut campus, ut nemus plaouit. 
 Vicos locant, non in nostrum morem, connexia et cobaerentibus aedifi- 
 ciis ; suam quisque domum spatio circumdat." Tac. Germ. 16. Wben 
 Tacitus speaks of caverns dug in the earth, it is as granaries (which 
 may to this day be seen in Hungary) or as places of refuge from sud- 
 den invasion. 
 
38 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 Without commerce, means of extended commu- 
 nication, or peaceful neighbours, the Germans can- 
 not have cultivated their fields for the service of 
 strangers : they must have been consumers, as they 
 certainly were raisers, of bread-corn ; early docu- 
 ments of the Anglosaxons prove that considerable 
 quantities of wheat were devoted to this purpose. 
 Even the serfs and domestic servants Avere entitled 
 to an allowance of bread, in addition to the supply 
 of flesh 1 ; and the large quantities of ale and beer 
 which we find enumerated among the dues payable 
 from the land, or in gifts to religious establish- 
 ments, presume a very copious supply of cereals 
 for the purpose of malting^. But it is also certain 
 that our forefathers depended very materially for 
 subsistence upon the herds of oxen, sheep, and 
 especially swine, which they could feed upon the 
 unenclosed meadows, or in the wealds of oak and 
 beech which covered a large proportion of the land. 
 From the moment, in short, when we first learn 
 anything of their domestic condition, all the Ger- 
 man tribes appear to be settled upon arable land, 
 surrounded with forest pastures, and having some 
 kind of property in both. 
 
 1 On xii monlSum ^li scealt aillan «mum bedwan men vii hund hlafa 
 •J XX hlafa, biitan morgemettum -j nonmettum : in the course of twelve 
 months thou shalt give thy ]>'d6w or serf, seven hundred and twenty 
 loaves, hesides morning meals and noon meals. Sal. and Sat. p. 192. 
 We should perhaps read seven hundred and thirty, which would give 
 daily two loaves, probably of rye or barley. Compare the allowances 
 mentioned in the Rectitudines Singularum Personarum. Anc. Laws. 
 Thorpe, i. 432 sey. 
 
 ^ So from the earliest times: " Potui humor ex hordeo aut frumento, 
 in quandam similitudinem vini eorruptus." Tac. Germ. 23. 
 
CH. II.] THE MARK. 39 
 
 Caesar, it is true, denies that agriculture was 
 much cultivated among the Germans, or that pro- 
 perty in the arable land was permitted to be perma- 
 nent 1 : and, although it seems impolitic to limit the 
 efforts of industry, by diminishing its reward, it is 
 yet conceivable that, under peculiar circumstances, 
 a warlike confederation might overlook this obvi- 
 ous truth in their dread of the enervating influences 
 of property and a settled life. There may have 
 been difficulty in making a new yearly division of 
 land, which to our prejudices seems almost impos- 
 sible ; yet the Arab of Oran claims only the produce 
 of the seed he has sown 2; the proprietor in the 
 Jaghire district of Madras changes his lands from 
 year to year ^ : the tribes of the Afghans submit to 
 a new distribution even after a ten years' possession 
 has endeared the field to the cultivator ^ ; Diodorus 
 tells us that the Vaccaeans changed their lands 
 yearly and divided the produce ^ ; and Strabo attri- 
 buted a similar custom to one tribe at least of the 
 lUyrian Dalmatians, after a period of seven ^. 
 
 But so deeply does the possession of land enter 
 into the principle of all the Teutonic institutions, 
 that I cannot bring myself to believe in the accu- 
 
 1 " Agriculturae non student : maiorque pars yictus eonim in lacte, 
 caseo, carne consistit : neque quisquam agri modum certum aut fines 
 habet proprios ; sed magistratus ac principes in annos singulos gentibus 
 cognationibusque bominum, qui una coierint, quantum, et quo loco 
 visum est, agri adtribuunt, atque anno post alio transire cogunt. Eius 
 rei multas adferunt causas ; ne, adsidua consuetudine capti, studium 
 belli gerimdi agricultura commutent; " etc. Bell. Gall. vi. 22. 
 
 2 The administration of Oran. Times newspaper, Aug. 24th, 1844. 
 
 3 Fifth Rep., Committee,1810, p. 72.3,cited in Mill's Brit. India, i.315. 
 1 Elphinstone's Oaubul, ii. 17, 18, 19. 
 
 ' Diodorus, v. 34. " Strabo, bk. vii. p. 315. 
 
40 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i 
 
 racy of Caesar's statement. Like his previous rash 
 and most unfounded assertion respecting the Ger- 
 man gods, this may rest only upon the incorrect 
 information of Gallic provincials : at the utmost it 
 can be applied only to the Suevi and their warlike 
 allies 1, if it be not even intended to be confined to 
 the predatory bands of Ariovistus, encamped among 
 the defeated yet hostile Sequani^. The equally 
 well-known passage of Tacitus,-^" arva per annos 
 mutant, et superest ager^," — may be most safely 
 rendered as applying to the common mode of cul- 
 ture ; " they change the arable froni year to year, 
 and there is land to spare ; " that is, for commons 
 and pasture : but it does not amount to a proof 
 that settled property in land was not a part of the 
 Teutonic scheme ; it implies no more than this, 
 that within the Mark which was the property of all, 
 what was this year one man's corn-land, might the 
 next be another man's fallow; a process very in- 
 telligible to those who know anything of the system 
 of cultivation yet prevalent in parts of Germany, 
 or have ever had any interest in what we call Lam- 
 mas Meadows. 
 
 Zeuss, whose admirable work^ is indispensable 
 to the student of Teutonic antiquity, brings toge- 
 ther various passages to show that at some early 
 period, the account given by Caesar may have 
 conveyed a just description of the mode of life in 
 
 ' Harudes, Maroomanni, Tribocci, Vangiones, Nemetes and Sedusii. 
 BeU. GaU. i. 51. 
 
 2 Bell. GaU. i. 31. s Tac. Germ. 26. 
 
 * Die Deutschen und die Nachbarstiimme, von Kaspar Zeuss. Miin- 
 chen. 1837. 
 
CH. n.] THE MARK. 41 
 
 Germany ^. He represents its inhabitants to himself 
 as something between a settled and an unsettled 
 people. What they may have been in periods pre- 
 vious to the dawn of authentic history, it is impos- 
 sible to say ; but all that we really know of them 
 not only implies a much more advanced state of 
 civilization, but the long continuance and tradition 
 of such a state. We cannot admit the validity of 
 Zeuss' reasoning, or escape from the conviction 
 that it mainly results from a desire to establish his 
 etymology of the names borne by the several con- 
 federations, and which requires the hypothesis of 
 wandering and unsettled tribes ^. 
 
 ^ He cites tlie- passage from Caesar whicli I have c[uoted, and also 
 Bell. GaU. iv. 1, wliicli still applies only to tlie Suevi. His next evi- 
 dence is tlie assertion of Tacitus just noticed. His third is from Plu- 
 tarch's Aemil. Paul. c. 12, of the Bastamae : iivSpEs oi yeapyeiv eiSoVer, 
 ov irkiiv, ovK airb noLfiviaiv ^ijv vefiovres, aXX' iv epyov Km fiiav T€)(yj}v pe- 
 XeTwvTCSf del fid^^etrdai Ka\ Kparelv Ta>v avriTaTTOp-evtov, A people with- 
 out agriculture or commerce, and who live only on fighting, may be 
 left imdisturhed in the realm of dreams with which philosophers are 
 conversant. Zeuss proceeds to reason upon the analogy of examples 
 derived from notices of Britons, Kelts and Wends, in Straho, Polybius 
 and Dio Cassius. See p. 52, etc. 
 
 ^ Thus, according to his view, Suevi (Suap, Swsef ) denotes the wan- 
 derers ; Wandal also the wanderers. Assuredly if nations at large par- 
 took of such habits, single tribes could not have derived a name from 
 the custom. How much more easy would it be, upon similar etymolo- 
 gical grounds, to prove that the leading Teutonic nations were named 
 from their weapons ! Saxons from sea.v, the long knife ; Angles from 
 anffol, a hook ; Franks from/ranco, a javelin; Langobards and Hea'So- 
 bards from barda, the axe or halberd; nay even the general name 
 itself, Germans, from gdrman (Old Germ, kdrman) the javelin- or goad- 
 man. Yet who would assert these to be satisfactory derivations ? Zahn, 
 whose services to Old German literatm'e cannot be overrated, speaks 
 wisely when he calls the similarity of proper names, a rook "on which 
 uncritical heads are much in the habit of splitting." Vorrede zu 
 Ulphilas, p. 3. 
 
42 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 The word Mark has a legal as well as a territo- 
 rial meaning : it is not only a space of land, such 
 as has been described, but a member of a state 
 also ; in which last sense it represents those who 
 dwell upon the land, in relation to their privileges 
 and rights, both as respects themselves and others. 
 But the word, as applied even to the territory, has 
 a twofold meaning : it is, properly speaking, em- 
 ployed to denote not only the whole district occu- 
 pied by one small community ^ ; but more especially 
 those forests and wastes by which the arable is en- 
 closed, and which separate the possessions of one 
 tribe from those of another ^. The Mark or boun- 
 dary pasture-land, and the cultivated space which 
 it surrounds, and which is portioned out to the se- 
 veral members of the community, are inseparable ; 
 
 ' If a man te emancipated, his lord shall still retain the right to his 
 mund and wergyld, sy ofer mearce 'Sser he wille, he he over the mark 
 wherever he may be, be he out of the district where he may. LI. Wihtr. 
 § 8. Thorpe, i. 38. 
 
 ^ Grimm is of opinion that the word Marc itself originally denoted 
 forest, and that the modern sense is a secondary one, derived from the 
 fact of forests being the signs or marks of communities. Deut. Qranz- 
 alterthiimer; Berl. 1844. There can be no doubt that forests were so : 
 in Old Norse the two ideas, and the words by which they are expressed, 
 flow into one another : Mork (f) is siha, Mark (n) is limes. In the 
 Edda and Sbgur, Myrkvi'Sr is the common name for a wood : thus, 
 sem bessi her kom saman, ri'Sa Jjeir a skog i>an er Myrkvi'Sr heitir, 
 hann skilr Hiinaland ok ReiSgota land ; they ride to the forest which 
 is called Myrkvi^r (mearcwidu in Anglosaxon) which separates Huna 
 land from Reidgota land. Fornm. Sog. i. 493. Though given here as 
 a proper name, it is unquestionably a general one. Conf. Edda, Vii- 
 lund. cv. 1. 
 
 meyjar flugu sunnan 
 myrkvilS igognum. 
 and so in many passages. The darkness of the forest gives rise also to 
 the adjective murhy. 
 
CH. II.] THE MARK. 43 
 
 however diiferent the nature of the property which 
 can be had in them, they are in fact one whole ; 
 taken together, they maiie up the whole territorial 
 possession of the original cognatio, kin or tribe. 
 The ploughed lands and meadows are guarded by 
 the Mark ; and the cultivator ekes out a subsistence 
 which could hardly be wrung from the small plot 
 he calls his own, by the flesh and other produce of 
 beasts, which his sons, his dependents or his serfs 
 ' mast for him in the outlying forests. 
 
 Let us first take into consideration the Mark in 
 its restricted and proper sense of a boundary. Its 
 most general characteristic is, that it should not be 
 distributed in arable, but remain in heath, forest, 
 fen and pasture. In it the Markmen — called in 
 Germany Markgenossen, and perhaps by the Anglo- 
 saxons Mearcgeneatas — had commonable rights ; 
 but there could be no private estate in it, no hid or 
 blot, no KXrjpoG or haeredium. Even if under pecu- 
 liar circumstances, any markman obtained a right 
 to essart or clear a portion of the forest, the por- 
 tion so subjected to the immediate law of property 
 ceased to be mark. It was undoubtedly under 
 the protection of the gods ; and it is probable that 
 within its woods were those sacred shades espe- 
 cially consecrated to the habitation and service of 
 the deity ^. 
 
 ' Tacitus says of the Semnones : " Stato tempore in silvam, auguriis 
 patrum et prisca formidine sacram, omnes eiusdem sanguinis populi 
 iegationibus ooeunt, caesoque publice homine celetrant "barbari ritus 
 horrenda primordia. Est et alia luco reverentia. Nemo nisi vinculo 
 ligatus ingreditur, ut minor, et potestatem numinis prae se ferena. Si 
 forte prolapsus est, attolli et iusurgere baud licitum, per humum evol- 
 
44 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 If the nature of an early Teutonic settlement, 
 which has nothing in common with a city, be duly 
 considered, there will appear an obvious necessity 
 for the existence of a mark, and for its being main- 
 tained inviolate. Every community, not sheltered 
 by walls, .or the still firmer defences of public law, 
 must have one, to separate it from neighbours and 
 protect it from rivals : it is like the outer pulp that 
 surrounds and defends the kernel. No matter how 
 small or how large the community, — it may be 
 only a village, even a single household, or a whole 
 state, — it will still have a Mark, a space or boun- 
 dary by which its own rights of jurisdiction are 
 limited, and the encroachments of others are kept 
 off^. The more extensive the community which 
 
 vuntur : eoqiie omnis superstitio respicit, tanq^uam inde initia gentis, 
 ibi regnator omnium deus, cetera suMecta atque parentia." GeiTn. 39. 
 Again : " Apud Naharvalos antiquae religionis lucus ostenditur." 
 Ibid. 43. Without asserting the existence of the Mark among the 
 Greeks with all the peculiar German characteristics, we may borrow 
 from them an illustration and definition of its nature. Between the 
 territories of the Athenians and Megareans lay a tract of land, the cul- 
 tivation of which by the latter formed the pretext or justification of the 
 excommunication launched against them by "Olympian" Pericles, 
 which ultimately led to the Peloponesian war, and the downfal of 
 Athens. The Athenians, Thucydides tells us, refused to rescind their 
 intemperate decree, iviKaXovvres enepyaa-iav Meyapeva-i ttjs yrjs t^s 
 ifpar Koi T^s dopioTov (Lib. i. 139), where the Scholiast explains aopi- 
 a-Tov by ou a-jretpofievris. Sacred and not divided into plots fw cultivation 
 hy the •plough, is the exact definition of a Teutonic Mark. Compare 
 xoipios vdirr) (silva porcina) between Laconia and Messenia. Paus. iv. 1. 
 In the legend of St. Gu'Slac, the saint is said to occupy the desert wilder- 
 ness, mearclond, the mark (Codex Exoniensis, p. 112, 1. 16), and this is 
 accurately defined as idel -j semen, ^^elrihte feor, empty and uninha- 
 lited, in which there were no rights of property. Ibid. p. 115. 1. 9. 
 
 ' Caesar appears to have understood this. He says : "Civitatibus 
 maxima laus est, quam latissimas circum se vastatis finihus solitudines 
 
cii. n.] THE MARK. 45 
 
 is interested in the Mark, the more solemn and 
 sacred the formalities by which it is consecrated 
 and defended ; but even the boundary of the pri- 
 vate man's estate is under the protection of the 
 gods and of the law. " Accursed," in all ages 
 and all legislations, "is he that remoyeth his 
 neighbour's landmark." Even the owner of a pri- 
 vate estate is not allowed to build or cultivate to 
 the extremity of his own possession, but must leave 
 a space for eaves ^. Nor is the general rule abro- 
 gated by changes in the original compass of the 
 communities ; as smaller districts coalesce and be- 
 come, as it were, compressed into one body, the 
 smaller and original Marks may become obliterated 
 and converted merely into commons, but the public 
 mark will have been increased upon the new and 
 extended frontier. Villages tenanted by Heardingas 
 or Modingas may cease to be separated, but the 
 larger divisions which have grown up by their union, 
 Meanwaras, Msegsetan or Hwiccas ^ will still have 
 a boundary of their own ; these again may be lost 
 in the extending circuit of Wessex or Mercia ; till 
 
 habere. Hoc proprium virtutis existimant, expulsos agxis fluitumos 
 cedere, neque quemquam prope audere consistere : simul hoc se fore 
 tutiores arbitrantur, repentinae incursionis timore sublato." This is 
 true, but in the case of most settlements the necessity of maintaining 
 extensive pasture-grounds must have made itself felt at a very early 
 period. 
 
 ' Efese. Goth. Ubiswa. . The name for this custom was Yfesdrype, 
 Eavesdrip. In a charter of the year 868 it is said : " And by the cus- 
 tom (folcea folcriht) two feet space only need be left for eavesdrip on 
 this land." Cod. Dipl. No. 296. In Greece the distances were solemnly 
 regulated by law : see Plut. Solon, cap. 23. 
 
 '' The people in the hundreds of East and West Meon, Hampshire; 
 in Herefordshire ; and in Worcester and Gloucester. 
 
46 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 a yet greater obliteration of the Marks having been 
 produced through increasing population, internal 
 conquest, or the ravages of foreign invaders, the 
 great kingdom of England at length arises, having 
 wood and desolate moorland and mountain as its 
 mark against Scots, Cumbrians and Britons, and 
 the eternal sea itself as a bulwark against Frankish 
 and Frisian pirates ^. 
 
 But although the Mark is waste, it is yet the 
 property of the community : it belongs to the free- 
 men as a whole, not as a partible possession: it 
 may as little be profaned by the stranger, as the 
 arable land itself which it defends^. It is under the 
 safeguard of the public law, long after it has ceased 
 
 ' To a very lute period, the most powerful of our nobles were the 
 Lords Marchers .or Lords of the Marches of Wales and Scotland. 
 Harald was lord of the Marches against the Welsh. And so the here- 
 ditary Markgraves or Counts of the Mark, Marchioues, have become 
 kings in Germany and Italy. Our only Markgraviats by land could 
 be against the Welsh on the west, the Picts and Scots on the north. 
 There were undoubtedly others among the Saxons while their king- 
 doms remained unsettled : but not when once the whole realm became 
 united under ^tSelstan. The consolidation of the English power has 
 put down all but transmarine invaders ; hence the sea is become our 
 Mark, and the commanders of our ships, the Margraves. But, as 
 Blackstone rather beautifully says, " water is a wandering and uncer- 
 tain thing," and our Margraves therefore establish no territorial autho- 
 rity. The reader is referred to Donniges, Deutsches Staatsrecht, p. 297, 
 seq., for a very good account of the Marches of the German Empire. 
 
 ^ If a stranger come through the wood, he shall blow his horn and 
 shout : this wiU be evidence that his intentions are just and peaceful. 
 But if he attempt to slink through in secret, he may be slain, and shall 
 lie unavenged. Leg. Ini. § 20, 21. Thorpe, i. 114, 116. If the death- 
 blow under such circumstances be publicly avouched, his kindred or lord 
 shall not even be allowed to prove that he was not a thief: otherwise, 
 if the manslaughter be concealed. This raises a presumption in law 
 against the slayer, and the dead man's kindred shall be admitted to 
 their oath th at he was guiltless. 
 
CH. II.] THE MARK. 47 
 
 to be under the immediate protection of the gods : 
 it is unsafe, full of danger ; death lurks in its shades 
 and awaits the incautious or hostile visitant : 
 
 eal wees 'Seet mearclond all the markland was 
 
 moi"Sre bewunden, with death surrounded, 
 
 feondes facne : the snares of the foe ' : 
 
 punishments of the most frightful character are de- 
 nounced against him who violates it ^ ; and though, 
 in historical times, these can only be looked upon 
 as comminatory and symbolical, it is very possible 
 that they may be the records of savage sacrifices 
 believed due, and even offered, to the gods of the 
 violated sanctuary. I can well believe that we too 
 had once our Diana Taurica. The Marks are called 
 accursed ; that is accursed to man, accursed to him 
 that does not respect their sanctity : but they are 
 sacred, for on their maintenance depend the safety 
 of the community, and the service of the deities 
 whom that community honours ^. And even when 
 the gods have abdicated their ancient power, even 
 to the very last, the terrors of superstition come in 
 aid of the enactments of law : the deep forests and 
 
 ' Cod. Vercel. And. 1. 38. 
 
 ^ Grimm has given examples of these, but they are too horrible for 
 quotation. They may be read in his Deutsche Eechtsalterthumer, 
 pp. 518, 519, 5i30. 
 
 ' 1 am inclined to think that the cwealmstow or place of execution 
 was properly in the mark ; as it is indeed probable that all capital 
 punishments among the Germans were originally in the nature of sacri- 
 fices to the gods. When Juliana is about to be put to death, she is 
 taken to the border, londmearce neah, nigh to the landmark. Cod. 
 Exon. p. 2iS0. Prometheus hung in the a^poros iprjfiia : though per- 
 haps there is another and deeper feeling here, — that the friend of man 
 should suffer in the desert 
 
 " where no man comes, 
 Nor hath come, since the making of the world ! " 
 
48 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 marshes are the abodes of monsters and dragons ; 
 wood-spirits bewilder and decoy the wanderer to 
 destruction : the Nicors house by the side of lakes 
 and marshes ^ : Grendel, the man-eater, is a "mighty 
 stepper over the mark ^ " : the chosen home of the 
 firedrake is a fen ^. 
 
 The natural tendency, however, of this state of 
 isolation is to give way ; population is an ever-ac- 
 tive element of social well-being : and when once 
 the surface of a country has become thickly stud- 
 ded with communities settled between the Marks, 
 and daily finding the several clearings grow less 
 and less sufficient for their support *, the next step 
 is the destruction of the Marks themselves, and the 
 union of the settlers in larger bodies, and under 
 altered circumstances. Take two villages, placed 
 on such clearings in the bosom of the forest, each 
 having an ill-defined boundary in the wood that 
 separates them, each extending its circuit wood- 
 ward as population increases and presses upon the 
 land, and each attempting to drive its Mark further 
 into the waste, as the arable gradually encroaches 
 upon this. On the first meeting of the herdsmen, 
 one of three courses appears unavoidable : the com- 
 munities must enter into a federal union ; one must 
 
 1 Bedw. 1. 2822. 
 
 ^ Bedw. 1. 2695. miole mearcstapan. 
 
 ^ " Like to a lonely dragon, that his fen 
 
 Makes fear'd and talk'd of more than seen." 
 
 Shaksp. Ooriol. act iv. sc. 1. 
 * "Facilitatempartiendi camporum spatiapraestaut." Tac. Germ. 26. 
 But as the space diminishes, so also diminishes the stability of a form 
 of society founded upon its existence. 
 
CH. n.] THE MARK. 49 
 
 attack and subjugate the other ; or the two must 
 coalesce into one on friendly and equal terms i. 
 The last-named result is not improbable, if the gods 
 of the one tribe are common to the other: then 
 perhaps the temples only may shift their places a 
 little. But in any case the intervening forest will 
 cease to be Mark, because it will now lie in the 
 centre, and not on the borders of the new commu- 
 nity. It will be converted into common pasture, 
 to be enjoyed by all on fixed conditions ; or it may 
 even be gradually rooted out, ploughed, planted 
 and rendered subject to the ordinary accidents of 
 arable land : it will become folcland, public land, 
 applicable to the general uses of the enlarged state, 
 nay even divisible into private estates, upon the 
 established principles of public law. And this pro- 
 cess will be repeated and continue until the family 
 becomes a tribe, and the tribe a kingdom ; when 
 the intervening boundary lands, cleared, drained 
 and divided, will have been clothed with golden 
 harvests, or portioned out in meadows and com- 
 mon pastures, appurtenant to villages ; and the 
 only marks remaining will be the barren mountain 
 and moor of the frontiers, the deep unforded rivers, 
 and the great ocean that washes the shores of the 
 continent. 
 
 - Histoiy supplies numerous illustrations of this process. Rome grew 
 out of the union of the Rhamnes and Luceres with the Sabines : and 
 generally speaking in Greece, the origin of the ttoKls lies in what may 
 be called the compression of the Ka/iai. The dyopa is on the space of 
 neutral groimd where all may meet on equal terms, as the Russians 
 and Chinese trade at "Kiachta ; but then when the ttoXis has grown up, 
 the dyopa is in its centre, not in its suburbs. 
 
 VOL. I. E 
 
50 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 Christianity, which destroys or diminishes the 
 holiness of the forests, necessarily confines the gua- 
 rantee of the Mark to the public law of the state, 
 lience when these districts become included within 
 the limits of Christian communities, there is no 
 difficulty in the process which has been described : 
 the state deals with them as with any other part of 
 its territory, by its own sovereign power, according 
 to the prevalent ideas of agricultural or political 
 ceconomy ; and the once inviolate land may at once 
 be converted to public uses, widely different from 
 its original destination, if the public advantage re- 
 quire it. No longer necessary as a boundary, from 
 the moment when the smaller community has be- 
 come swallowed up and confounded in the larger, 
 it may remain in commons, be taken possession of 
 by the state as folcland, or become the source of 
 even private estates, and to all these purposes we 
 find it gradually applied. In process of time it 
 seems even to have become partible and appurte- 
 nant to private estates in a certain proportion to 
 the arable ^ : towards the close of the tenth century 
 . I find the grant of a mill and millstead, "and there- 
 to as much of the markland as belongeth to three 
 hydes " 2. 
 
 The general advantage which requires the maia- 
 tenance of the Mark as public property, does not 
 however preclude the possibility of using it for 
 
 ' Most likely as commons are distributed now, under enclosure-bills; 
 allotments being made in fee, as compensation for commonable rights. 
 
 ^ And se mylenham -j se my In ^sertd, -j «8es mearclandes swa mycel 
 swa to t)rim hidon gebyia^. an. 082. Cod. Dipl. No. 683. 
 
CH. II.] THE MAKK. 61 
 
 public purposes, as long as the great condition of 
 indivisibility is observed. Although it may not be 
 cleared and ploughed, it may be depastured, and 
 all the herds of the Markmen may be fed and 
 masted upon its wilds and v^dthin its shades. While 
 it still comprises only a belt of forest, lying between 
 small settlements, those who live contiguous to it, 
 are most exposed to the sudden incursions of an 
 enemy, and perhaps specially entrusted with the 
 measures for public defence, may have peculiar 
 privileges, extending in certain cases even to the 
 right of clearing or essarting portions of it. In 
 the case of the wide tracts which separate king- 
 doms, we know that a comprehensive military or- 
 ganization prevailed, with castles, garrisons, and 
 governors or Margraves, as in Austria, Branden- 
 burg and Baden, Spoleto and Ancona, Northum- 
 berland and the Marches of Wales. But where 
 clearings have been made in the forest, the holders 
 are bound to see that they are maintained, and that 
 the fresh arable land be not encroached upon ; if 
 forest-trees spring there by neglect of the occu- 
 pant, the essart again becomes forest, and, as such, 
 subject to all the common rights of the Markmen, 
 whether in pasture, chase or estovers ^. 
 
 The sanctity of the Mark is the condition and 
 guarantee of its indivisibility, without which it can- 
 not long be proof against the avarice or ambition 
 
 ' Estmeria. In this case, small wood necessary for houseliold pur- 
 poses, as Housebote, Hedgeljote and Ploughbote, tlie materials for re- 
 pairing house, hedge and plough. But timber trees are not included. 
 See Stat. West. 2. cap. 25; and 20 Oar. II. c. 3. 
 
 E 2 
 
52 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 of individuals : and its indivisibility is, in turn, the 
 condition of the service which it is to render as a 
 bulwark, and of its utility as a pasture. I therefore 
 hold it certain that some solemn religious ceremo- 
 nies at first accompanied and consecrated its limi- 
 tation^. What these may have consisted in, among 
 the heathen Anglosaxons, we cannot now discover, 
 but many circumstances render it probable that 
 Woden, who in this function also resembles 'Epfxrjc, 
 was the tutelary god^ : though not absolutely to the 
 exclusion of other deities, Tiw and Frea appearing 
 to have some claim to a similar distinction^. But 
 however its limit was originally drawn or driven, it 
 was, as its name denotes, distinguished by marks 
 or signs. Trees of peculiar size and beauty, and 
 carved with the figures of birds and beasts, perhaps 
 even with Runic characters, served the purpose of 
 limitation and definition ^ : striking natural features, 
 
 ^ " Silvam auguriis patrum et prisca formidine sacram." Tac. Germ. 
 39. See Moser, Osnabriickische Geschiohte, i. 57, seq. 
 
 ' 'Epyuijr, in this one sense Mercurhis, is identical with Woden. Both 
 invented letters ; both are the wandering; god ; both are Odysseus. 
 The name of Woden is preserved in many boundary places, or chains 
 of hills, in every part of England. See chap. xii. of this Book. The 
 Wonac (Cod. Dipl. No. 495), the Wdnstoc (ibid. Nos. 287, 657), 1 
 have no hesitation in translating by Woden's oak, Woden's post. 
 Scyldes tredw (ibid. No. 436) may also refer to Woden in the form of 
 Scyld, as Hnices J>orn (ibid. No. 268) may record the same god in his 
 form of Hnicor, or Hnic. 
 
 ' Teowes Jjorn, Tiw's thorn. Cod. Dipl. No. 174. Tiwes m^re, Tiw's 
 lake. Ibid. No. 263. Frigedasges tredw (ibid. No. 1221), the tree of 
 Frigedaeg, a name I hold equivalent to Frea or Fricge. 
 
 * The boundaries of the Anglosaxon charters supply a profusion of 
 evidence on this subject. The trees most frequently named are the 
 oak, ash, beech, thorn, elder, lime and birch. The heathen burial- 
 place or mound is singularly frequent. Cod. Dipl. Nos. 247, 83-5, 476. 
 
CH. II.] THE MARK. 53 
 
 a hill, a brook, a morass, a rock, or the artificial 
 mound of an ancient warrior, warned the intruder 
 to abstain from dangerous ground, or taught the 
 herdsman how far he might advance with impu- 
 nity. In water or in marshy land, poles were set 
 up, which it was as impious to remove, as it would 
 have been to cut or burn down a mark-tree in the 
 forest. 
 
 In the second and more important sense of the 
 word, the Mark is a community of families or 
 households, settled on such plots of land and forest 
 as have been described. This is the original basis 
 upon which all Teutonic society rests, and must be 
 assumed to have been at first amply competent to 
 
 The charter No. 126 has these words : "Deinde Tero ad alios montiou- 
 los, postea Tero ad viam quae dicitur Fif ac, recto itinere ad easdem fif 
 ac, proinde aiitem ad Jjreom gema^ran." Here the boundaries of 
 three several districts lay close to a place called Five Oaks. That the 
 trees were sometimes marked is clear from the entries in the bounda- 
 ries : thus, in the year 931, to «asre gemearcodan sec set Alerbuman, 
 the marked oak. Cod. Dipl. No. 1102. ^a gemearcodan aafse, the 
 marked eaves or edge of the wood. Ibid. Also, on 'Sa gemearcodan 
 lindan, Ibid. No. 1317. Cyrstel-msel ac, or Christ cross oak. Ibid. 
 No. 118. At Addlestone, near Chertsey, is an ancient and most vene- 
 rable oak, called the Crouch (crux, crois), that is Cross oak, which 
 tradition declares to have been a boundary of Windsor forest. The 
 same thing is found in Circassia. See Bell, ii. 58. The mearcbeam, 
 without further definition, is common : so the mearctreow. Cod. Dipl. 
 No. 436. The mearcbroc. Ibid. No. 1102. Artificial or natural stone 
 posts are implied by the constantly recurring haran stanas, graegan 
 stanas, hoary or grey stones. Among Christians, crosses and obelisks 
 have replaced these old heathen symbols, without altering the nature 
 of the sanction, and the weichUld, or mark that defines the limits of a 
 jurisdiction, can, in my opinion, mean only the sacred sign. On this 
 point see Haltaus. Gloss, in voce, whose derivation from wic, oppidmn, 
 is unsatisfactory. See too Eichhorn, Beutsche Staats- und Rechtsge- 
 Bchichte, ii. 76. § 224 a. note c : with whose decision Grimm and I 
 coincide. 
 
54 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 all the demands of society in a simple and early 
 stage of development : for example, to have been 
 a union for the purpose of administering justice, 
 or supplying a mutual guarantee of peace, security 
 and freedom for the inhabitants of the district. In 
 this organization, the use of the land, the woods 
 and the waters was made dependent upon the ge- 
 neral will of the settlers, and could only be enjoyed 
 under general regulations made by all for the be- 
 nefit of all. The Mark was a voluntary association 
 of free men, who laid down for themselves, and . 
 strictly maintained, a system of cultivation by 
 which the produce of the land on which they set- 
 tled might be fairly and equally secured for their 
 service and support; and from participation in 
 which they jealously excluded all who were not 
 born, or adopted, into the association. Circum- 
 stances dependent upon the peculiar local confor- 
 mation of the district, or even on the relations of 
 the original parties to the contract, may have caused 
 a great variety in the customs of different Marks; 
 and these appear occasionally anomalous, when we 
 meet with them still subsisting in a different order 
 of social existence ^ ; but with the custom of one 
 Mark, another had nothing to do, and the Mark- 
 men, within their own limit, were independent, 
 suflficient to their own support and defence, and 
 seised of full power and authority to regulate their 
 own affairs, as seemed most conducive to their own 
 
 ' For example in Manors, -where tlae ten-itorial jurisdiction of a lord 
 has usurped the place of the old Markmoot, but not availed entirely to 
 destroy the old Mark -rights in the various commons. 
 
CH. II.] THE MARK. 55 
 
 advantage. The Court of the Markmen, as it may 
 be justly called, must have had. supreme jurisdic- 
 tion, at first, over all the causes which could in any 
 way affect the interests of the whole body or the 
 individuals composing it : and suit and service to 
 such court was not less the duty, than the high 
 privilege, of the free settlers. On the continent of 
 . Germany the divisions of the Marks and the extent 
 of their jurisdiction can be ascertained with consi- 
 derable precision; from these it maybe inferred 
 that in very many cases the later courts of the 
 great landowners had heen in fact at first Mark- 
 courts, in which, even long after the downfall of 
 the primaeval freedom, the Lord himself had been 
 only the first Markman, the patron or defender of 
 the simple freemen, either by inheritance or their 
 election ^. In this country, the want of materials 
 precludes the attainment of similar certainty, but 
 there can be no reason to doubt that the same pro- 
 cess took place, and that originally Markcourts 
 existed among ourselves with the same objects and 
 powers. In a charter of the year 971, Cod. Dipl. 
 No. 568, we find the word mearcmot, which can 
 there mean only the place where such a court, mot 
 
 ' Numerous instances may be found in Grimm's valuable work, Die 
 Deutschen "Weisthiimer, 3 vols. 8vo. Tbese are tbe presentments or 
 verdicts of sucb courts, from a very early period, and in all parts of 
 Germany. It is deeply to be lamented that tbe very early customs 
 found in tbe copies of Coiu't Rolls in England bave not been collected 
 and published. Such a step could not possibly afl'ect tbe interests of 
 Lords of iMaHors, or their Stewards ; but tbe collection would furnish 
 invaluable materials for law and history. We shall have to refer here- 
 after to-the Advocatus or Vog-t, tbe elected or hereditary patron of 
 these and similar aggregations. 
 
56 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 or meeting was held : while the mearcheorh, which 
 is not at all of rare occurrence, appears to denote 
 the hill or mound which was the site of the court, 
 and the place where the free settlers met at stated 
 periods to dp right between man and man ^. 
 
 It is not at all necessary that these communities 
 should have been very small ; on the contrary, some 
 of the Marks were probably of considerable extent, 
 and capable of bringing a respectable force into 
 the field upon emergency : others, no doubt, were 
 less populous, and extensive : but a hundred heads 
 of houses, which is not at all an extravagant sup- 
 position, protected by trackless forests, in a district 
 not well known to the invader, constitute a body 
 very well able to defend its rights and privileges. 
 
 Although the Mark seems originally to have been 
 defined by the nature of the district, the hills, 
 streams and forests, still its individual, peculiar 
 and, as it were, private character depended in some 
 degree also upon long-subsisting relations of the 
 Markmen, both among themselves, and with regard 
 to others. I represent them to myself as great fa- 
 mily unions, comprising households of various de- 
 grees of wealth, rank and authority : some, in direct 
 descent from the common ancestors, or from the 
 hero of the particular tribe : others, more distantly 
 connected, through the natural result of increasing 
 population, which multiplies indeed the members of 
 
 ' Mearcbeorh, the Marh-hiM, seems too special a name to express 
 some hill or other, which happened to lie in the boundary. A Kentish 
 charter names the gemotbeorh (Cod. Dip! No. 364. an. 934), but this is 
 indefinite, and might apply to the Shiremoot. 
 
CH. n.] THE MARK. 57 
 
 the family, but removes them at every step further 
 from the original stock : some, admitted into com- 
 munion by marriage, others by adoption ; others 
 even by emancipation ; but all recognizing a bro- 
 therhood, a kinsmanship or sibsceaft ^ ; all standing 
 together as one unit in respect of other, similar 
 communities; all governed by the same judges and 
 led by the same captains ; all sharing in the same 
 religious rites, and all known to themselves and 
 to their neighbours by one general name. 
 
 The original significance of these names is now 
 perhaps matter of curious, rather than of useful 
 enquiry. Could we securely determine it, we should, 
 beyond doubt, obtain an insight into the antiquities 
 of the Germanic races, far transcending the actual 
 extent of our historical knowledge ; this it is hope- 
 less now to expect: ages of continual struggles, of 
 violent convulsions, of conquests and revolutions, 
 lie between us and our forefathers : the traces of 
 their steps have been effaced by the inexorable 
 march of a different civilization. This alone is cer- 
 tain, that the distinction must have lain deeply 
 rooted in the national religion, and supplied abun- 
 dant materials for the national epos. Much has. 
 been irrecoverably lost, yet in what remains we 
 recognize fragments which bear the impress of for- 
 mer wealth and grandeur. Beowulf, the Traveller's 
 Song, and the multifarious poems and traditions 
 
 ' Refer to Caesar'a expression cognatio, in a note to p. 39. It is 
 remarkable that early MS. glossaries render the word fratrueles by 
 gelondan, whicli can only be translated, " those settled upon the same 
 land ;" thus identifying the local with the family relations. 
 
5S THE SAXONS IX ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 of Scandinavia, not less than the scattered names 
 which meet us here and there in early German 
 history, offer hints which can only serve to excite 
 regret for the mass which has perished. The king- 
 doms and empires which have exercised the pro- 
 foundest influence upon the course of modern civi- 
 lization, have sprung out of obscure communities 
 whose very names are only known to us through 
 the traditions of the poet, or the local denomina- 
 tions which record the sites of their early settle- 
 ments. 
 
 Many hypotheses may be formed to account for 
 these ancient aggregations, especially on the conti- 
 nent of Europe. Perhaps not the least plausible 
 is that of a single family, itself claiming descent, 
 through some hero, from the gods, and gathering 
 other scattered families around itself ; thus retain- 
 ing the administration of the family rites of religion, 
 and giving its own name to all the rest of the 
 community. Once established, such distinctive ap- 
 pellations must wander with the migrations of the 
 communities themselves, or such portions of them 
 as want of land and means, and excess of popula- 
 .tion at home, compelled to seek new settlements. 
 In the midst of restless movements, so general 
 and extensive as those of our progenitors, it can- 
 not surprise us, when we find the gentile names 
 of Germany, Norway, Sweden and Denmark, re- 
 produced upon our own shores. Even where a 
 few adventurers — one only — bearing a celebrated 
 name, took possession of a new home, comrades 
 would readily be found, glad to constitute themselves 
 
CH.ii.J THE MARK. 59 
 
 around him under an appellation long recognized as 
 heroic : or a leader, distinguished for his skill, his 
 valour and success, his power or superior wealth, 
 may have found little difficulty in imposing the 
 name of his own race upon all who shared in his 
 adventures. Thus Harlings and Wselsings, names 
 most intimately connected with the great epos of 
 the Germanic and Scandinavian races, are repro- 
 duced in several localities in England : Billing, the 
 noble progenitor of the royal race of Saxony, has 
 more than one enduring record: and similarly, I 
 believe all the local denominations of the early 
 settlements to have arisen and been perpetuated ^. 
 So much light appears derivable from a proper in- 
 vestigation of these names, that I have collected 
 them in an Appendix (A.) at the end of this vo- 
 lume, to the contents of which the reader's atten- 
 tion is invited 2. 
 
 ' The Harlings, in Anglosaxon Herelingas (Trav. Song, 1. 224) ; 
 Harlunge, (W. Grimm, Deut. Heldensage, p. 280, etc.,) are found at 
 Harling in Norfolk and Kent, and at Harlington (Herelingatiin) in 
 Bedfordshire and Middlesex. The Wselsings, in Old Norse Volsungar, 
 the family of Sigurdr or Siegfried, reappear at Walsingham in NorfoUs:, 
 Wolsingham in Northumherland, and Woolsingham in Durham. The 
 BiDings, at Billinge, Billingham, Billinghoe, Billinghurst, Billingden, 
 Billington, and many other places. See Appendix A. 
 
 ^ These local denominations are for the most part irregiilar compo- 
 sitions, of which the former portion is a patronymic in -ing or -ling, 
 declined in the genitive plural. The second portion is a mere defini- 
 tion of the locality, as -geat, -hyrst, -ham, -wic, -tun, -stede, and the 
 like. In a few cases the patronymic stands alone in the nominative 
 plural, as Totingas, Tooting, Surrey ; Wdcingas, Woking, Surrey ; 
 Meallingas, Mailing, Kent;'We^eringas, Wittering, Sussex. Inastill 
 smaller numl)er, the name of the eponymus replaces that of his descend- 
 ants, as Finnes burh, Finsbury ; Waelses ham, Walsham, in Norfolk ; 
 in which last name, as well as in Wselses eafora (Beowulf, 1. 1787), we 
 
60 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 In looking over this list we are immediately 
 struck with a remarkable repetition of various 
 names, some of which are found at once in several 
 counties; and most striking are those which, like the 
 examples already alluded to, give a habitation upon 
 our own shores to the races celebrated in the poetical 
 or historical records of other ages and other lands. 
 There are indeed hardly any enquiries of deeper 
 interest, than those whose tendency is to link the 
 present with the past in the bonds of a mythical 
 tradition ; or which presents results of. greater im- 
 portance to him who has studied the modes of 
 thought and action of populations at an early stage 
 
 have a record of the progenitor of tlie Wselsings, wlio is alike unknown 
 to the Scandinavian and the German legends of that noble race. In 
 dealing, however, with these names, some amount of caution is neces- 
 sary : it is by no means enough that a word should end in -ing, to 
 convert it into a genuine patronymic. On the contrary it is a power of 
 that termination to denote the genitive or possessive, which is also the 
 generative, case : and in some local names we do find it so used : thus 
 ^Selwulfing lond (God. Uipl. No. 179, a. 801) is exactly equivalent to 
 ^tSelwulfes lond, the estate of a duke jE^elwulf, not of a family called 
 ^tSelwulfings. So again, ^"set Folcwining lond (Cod. Dipl. No. 195, 
 a. 811), «fBtWynheardinglond(Cod. Dipl.No. 195, a. 811), imply the 
 land of Folcwiue, of Wynheard, not of mai-ks or families called Folc- 
 winings and Wynheardings. Woolbedington, Wool Lavington, Bar- 
 lavington, are respectively Wulfbseding tiin, Wulflafingtun, Beorlafing 
 tiin, the tiin or dwelling of Wulflaf, "Wulfbaed and Bedrlaf. "Between 
 such words and genuine patronymics the line must carefully be drawn, 
 a task which requires both skill and experience : the best security is, 
 where we find the patronymic in the genitive plural : but one can very 
 generally judge whether the name is such as to have arisen in the way 
 described above, from a genitive singular. Changes for the sake of 
 euphony must also be guarded against, as sources of error : thus Abing- 
 don in Berks would impel us strongly to assume a family of Abingas ; 
 the Saxon name ^bban diin convinces us that it was named from an 
 ^bba (m.) or JEhhe (f ). Dunniugton is not Duninga tiin, but Dunnan, 
 that is Dunna's tiin. 
 
CH. II.] THE MAEK. 61 
 
 of their career. The intimate relations of mytho- 
 logy, law and social institutions, which later ages 
 are too apt scornfully to despise, or superstitiously 
 to imitate, are for them, living springs of action : 
 they are believed in, not played with, as in the 
 majority of revivals, from the days of Anytus and 
 Melitus to our own ; and they form the broad foun- 
 dation upon which the whole social polity is esta- 
 blished. The people who believe in heroes, origi- 
 nally gods and always god-born, preserve a remem- 
 brance of their ancient deities in the gentile names 
 by which themselves are distinguished, long after 
 the rites they once paid to their divinities have 
 fallen into disuse ; and it is this record of beings 
 once hallowed, and a cult once offered, which they 
 have bequeathed to us in many of the now unin- 
 telligible names of the Marks. Taking these facts 
 into account, I have no hesitation in affirming 
 that the names of places found in the Anglosaxon 
 charters, and yet extant in England, supply no 
 trifling links in the chain of evidence by which we 
 demonstrate the existence among ourselves of a 
 heathendom nearly allied to that of Scandinavia. 
 
 The Waelsings, the Volsungar of the Edda, and 
 Volsungen of the German Heldensage, have al- 
 ready been noticed in a cursory manner : they are 
 the family whose hero is Siegfried or Sigurdr ^, the 
 centre round which the Nibelungen epos circles. 
 Another of their princes, Fitela, the Norse Sinfiotli, 
 
 ' In Beowulf (1. 1743), Siegfried is replaced by Sigmund, his father. 
 Here occurs his patronymical appellation of Waelsing (1. 1747), and 
 Wselses eafora (1. 1787). 
 
62 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 is recorded in the poem of Beowulf ^ and from him 
 appear to have been derived the Fitelingas, whose 
 name survives in Fitling. 
 
 The Herelingas or Harlings have also been no- 
 ticed; they are connected with the same great 
 cycle, and are mentioned in the Traveller's Song, 
 1. 224. As Harlingen in Friesland retains a record 
 of the same name, it is possible that it may have 
 wandered to the coast of Norfolk with the Bata- 
 vian auxiliaries, numerus Batavorum, who served 
 under their own chiefs in Britain. The Sweefas, 
 a border tribe of the Angles 2, reappear at SwafF- 
 ham. The Brentings ^ are found again in Brenting- 
 by. The Scyldings and Scylfings ^, perhaps the most 
 celebrated of the Northern races, give their names 
 to Skelding and Shilvington. The Ardings, whose 
 memorial is retained in Ardingley, Ardington and 
 Ardingworth, are the Azdingi^, the royal race of 
 the Visigoths and Vandals : a name which confirms 
 the tradition of a settlement of Vandals in England. 
 AVith these we probably should not confound the 
 Heardingas,who have left their name toHardinghara 
 in Norfolk^; The Banings, over whom Beccaruled^, 
 are recognized in Banningham ; the Hselsings ^ in 
 
 ' Lines 1752, 1772. ^ Trav. S. 1. 121. 
 
 3 Beow. 1. 5610. * Ibid. 1. 60, 12-5, etc. 
 
 ^ See Zeuss, p. 461 and pp. 73, 74 ; especially his note upon the As- 
 tingi, p. 461, wliere lie brings forward a good deal of evidence in favour 
 of the form Geardingas. 
 
 ' The Rune poem says that Ing was first known among the East- 
 danes, and that he was so named by the Hoardings. This may refer 
 to Norfolk : or must we read heardingas, heUatores f See Anglos. 
 Runes, -Vrchseolog. xxviii. 327, seq. 
 
 ' Trav. S. 1. 37. « Ibid. 1. 44. 
 
CH. 11.] THE MARK. 63 
 
 Helsington, and in the Swedish Helsingland ^ : the 
 Myrgings^, perhaps in Merring, and Merrington : 
 the Hundings ^, perhaps in Hunningham and Hun- 
 nington: the Hocings ^, in Hucking : the Seringas^ 
 meet us again in Sharington, Sherington and She- 
 ringham. The Dyringas^, in Thorington and Thor- 
 rington, are likely to be offshoots of the great Her- 
 mundttric race, the Thyringi or Thoringi, now Thu- 
 ringians, always neighbours of the Saxons. The 
 Bleccingas, a race who probably gave name to 
 Bleckingen in Sweden, are found in Bletchington, 
 and Bletchingley. In the Gytingas, known to us 
 from Guiting, we can yet trace the Alamannic tribe 
 of the Juthungi, or Jutungi. Perhaps in the Scy- 
 tingas or Scydingas, we may find another Alaman- 
 nic tribe, the Scudingi ^, and in the Dylingas, an 
 Alpine or Highdutch name, the Tulingi^. The 
 Wseringas are probably the Norman Vseringjar, 
 whom we call Varangians. The Wylfingas^, another 
 celebrated race, well known in Norse tradition, are 
 recorded in Beowulf ^o and the Traveller's Song^i. 
 
 These are unquestionably no trivial coincidences ;l 
 they assure us that there lies at the root of our land-l 
 divisions an element of the highest antiquity; one. 
 too, by which our kinsmanship with the North- 1 
 german races is placed beyond dispute. But their 
 analogy leads us to a wider induction : when we 
 
 ' Zeuss, p. 544. ^ Trav. S. 1. 45, -= Ibid. 1. 46. 
 
 " Ibid. 1. 57, perhaps the Obauci. = u,;j[. j 150. 
 
 " Ibid. 1. 60. ' Zeuss, p. 584. ^ jy^^ pp, 226, 227. 
 
 » Cod. Dipl. No. 1135. Wylfinga ford. " Lines 916, 936. 
 
 " Line 58. They are the Ylfingar of Norse tradition. Helg. Hund. 
 L5. 
 
64 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 examine the list of names contained in the Appen- 
 dix, we see at once how very few of these are identi- 
 fied with the names recorded in Beowulf and other 
 poems : all that are so recorded, had probably be- 
 longed to portions of the epic cycle ; but there is 
 nothing in the names themselves to distinguish them 
 from the rest ; nothing at least but the happy acci- 
 dent of those poems, which were dedicated t6 their 
 praise, having survived. In the lapse of years, how 
 many similar records may have perished ! And may 
 we not justly conclude that a far greater number 
 of races might have been identified, had the Ages 
 spared the songs in which they were sung "? 
 
 " Vixere fortes ante Agamemnona 
 Multi ; sed omnes inlachrymabiles 
 Urgentur, ignotique longa 
 Nocte, carent quia vate sacro ! " 
 
 Whatever periods we assume for the division of 
 the land into Marks, or to what cause soever we 
 attribute the names adopted by the several commu- 
 nities, the method and manner of their dispersion 
 remains a question of some interest. The Appen- 
 dix shows a most surprising distribution of some 
 particular names over several counties ^ : but this 
 seems conceivable only in two ways ; first, that the 
 inhabitants of a Mark, finding themselves pressed 
 
 ^ vEacinga in Eaaex, Someraet and Suasex : Alings in Kent, Doraet, 
 Devonshire and Lincoln : Ardings in Sussex, Berlcs and Northampton- 
 sliire : Arlings in Devonaliire, Gloucestershire and Sussex : Baningsin 
 Hertfordshire, Kent, Lincolnshire and Salop : Beadings in Norfolk, 
 Suffolk, Surrey, Sussex and the Isle of "Wight : Beiings in Kent, De- 
 vonshire, Herefordshire, Lincolnshire, Salop and Somerset : Billings in 
 Bedfordshire, Durham, Kent, Lancashire, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, North- 
 amptonshire, Northumberland, Salop, Sussex and the Isle of Wight, etc. 
 
CH. n.] THE MARK. 65 
 
 for room at home, migrated to other seats, and 
 established a new community under the old desig- 
 nation; or, secondly, that in the division of the 
 newly conquered soil, men who had belonged to one 
 community upon the continent, found themselves 
 thrown into a state of separation here, either by the 
 caprice of the lots, supposing their immigration 
 simultaneous, or by the natural course of events, 
 supposing one body to have preceded the other. 
 Perhaps too we must admit the possibility of a 
 dispersion arising from the dissolution of ancient 
 confederacies, produced by internal war. On the 
 whole I am disposed to look upon the second hy- 
 pothesis as applicable to the majority of cases ; 
 without presuming altogether to exclude the action 
 of the first and third causes. It is no doubt diffi- 
 cult to imagine that a small troop of wandering 
 strangers should be allowed to traverse a settled 
 country in search of new habitations. Yet, at first, 
 there must have been abundance of land, which 
 conduct and courage might wring from its Keltic 
 owners. Again, how natural on the other hand is 
 it, that in the confusion of conquest, or the dila- 
 tory course of gradual occupation, men once united 
 should find their lot cast apart, and themselves 
 divided into distant communities ! Nor in this can 
 we recognize anything resembling the solemn plant- 
 ing 0^ a Grecian, far less of a Roman, colony ; or 
 suppose that any notion of a common origin sur- 
 vived to nourish feelings of friendship between bo- 
 dies of men, so established in different lands. Even 
 had such traditions originally prevailed, they must 
 
 VOL. I. F 
 
66 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 soon have perished, when the Marks coalesced into 
 the Ga or Shire, and several of the latter became 
 included in one kingdom. 'Mew interests and 
 duties must then have readily superseded maxims 
 which belonged to an almost obsolete organiza- 
 tiom 
 
 But in truth, to this question of dispersion and 
 relationship, considered in its widest generality, 
 there is no limit either of place or time : it derives, 
 indeed, some of its charm from the very vagueness 
 which seems to defy the efforts of the historian : 
 and even the conviction that a positive and scien- 
 tific result is unattainable, does not suflSice to re- 
 press the anxiety with which we strive to lift the 
 veil of our Isis. The question of every settlement, 
 large or small, ultimately resolves itself into that of 
 the original migrations of mankind. Unless we 
 can bring ourselves to adopt the hypothesis of 
 autochthonous populations, — an hypothesis whose 
 vagueness is not less than attaches to a system of 
 gradual, but untraced, advances, — we must fall 
 back from point to point, until we reach one start- 
 ing-place and one origin. Every family that squats 
 upon the waste, assumes the existence of two fami- 
 lies from which it sprang : every ; household, com- 
 prising a man and woman, if it is to be fruitful and 
 continue, presupposes two such households; each 
 of these continues to represent two more, in a geo- 
 metrical progression, whose enormous sum and final 
 result are lost in the night of ages. The solitary 
 who wanders away into the uncultivated waste, and 
 there by degrees rears a family, a tribe and a state, 
 
CH. n.] THE MARK. 67 
 
 takes with him the traditions, the dispositions, the 
 knowledge and the ideas, which he had derived 
 from others, in turn equally indebted to their pre- 
 decessors. This state of society, if society it can 
 be called, is rarely exhibited to our observation. 
 The backwoodsman in America, or the settler in an 
 Australian bush, may furnish some means of judg- 
 ing such a form of civilization ; and the traditions 
 of Norway and Iceland dimly record a similar pro- 
 cess: but the solitary labourer, whose constant 
 warfare with an exulting and exuberant nature does 
 little more than assure him an independent exist- 
 ence, has no time to describe the course and the 
 result of his toils : and the progress of the modern 
 settler is recorded less by himself, than by a civi- 
 hzed society, whose offset he is; which watches 
 his fortunes with interest and judges them with in- 
 telligence ; which finds in his career the solution of 
 problems that distract itself, and never forgets that 
 he yet shares in the cultivation he has left behind 
 him. 
 
 Still the manner in which such solitary house- 
 holds gradually spread over and occupy a country, 
 must be nearly the same in all places, where they 
 exist at all. The family increases in number ; the 
 arable is extended to provide food; the pasture 
 is pushed further and further as the cattle multi- 
 ply, or as the grasslands become less productive. 
 Along the banks of the river which may have at- 
 tracted the feelings or the avarice of the wanderer, 
 which may have guided his steps in the untracked 
 wilderness, or supplied the road by which he 
 
 f2 
 
68 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 journeyed, the footsteps of civilization move up- 
 ward : till, reaching the rising ground from which 
 the streams descend on either side, the vanguards 
 of two parties meet, and the watershed becomes 
 their boundary, and the place of meeting for religi- 
 ous or political purposes. Meantime, the ford, the 
 mill, the bridge have become the nucleus of a vil- 
 lage, and the blessings of mutual intercoui-se and 
 family bonds have converted the squatters' settle- 
 ment into a centre of wealth aiid happiness. And 
 in like manner is it, where a clearing in the forest, 
 near a spring or welU, — divine, for its uses to man, 
 — has been made ; and where, by slow degrees, the 
 separated families discover each other, and find 
 that it is not good for man to be alone. 
 
 This description, however, will not strictly apply 
 to numerous or extensive cases of settlement, al- 
 though some analogy may be found, if we substi- 
 tute a tribe for the family. Continental Germany 
 has no tradition of such a process ; and we may 
 not unjustly believe the records of such in Scandi- 
 navia to have arisen from the wanderings of un- 
 quiet spirits, impatient of control or rivalry, of cri- 
 minals shrinking from the consequences of their 
 guilt, or of descendants dreading the blood-feud 
 inherited from ruder progenitors. But although 
 systematic and religious colonization, like that of 
 Greece, cannot be assumed to have prevailed, we 
 may safely assert that it was carried on far more 
 
 ' Water seems the indispensable condition of a settlement in any part 
 of the world : hence, in part, the worship paid to it. It is the very 
 key to the history of the East. 
 
CH. II.] THE MARK. 69 
 
 regularly, and upon more strict principles than are 
 compatible with capricious and individual settle- 
 ment^ Tradition here and there throws light 
 upon the causes by which bodies of men were im- 
 pelled to leave their ancient habitations, and seek 
 new seats in more fruitful or peaceful districts. 
 The einigration represented by Hengest has been 
 attributed to a famine at home, and even the grave 
 authority of history has countenanced the belief 
 that his keels were driven into exile : thus far we 
 may assume his adventure to have been made with 
 the participation, if not by the authority, of the 
 parent state. 
 
 In general we may admit the division of a con- 
 quered country, such as Britain was, to have been 
 conducted upon settled principles, derived from the 
 actual position of the conquerors. As an army 
 they had obtained possession, and as an army they 
 distributed the booty which rewarded their valour. 
 That they nevertheless continued to occupy the 
 land as families or cognationes, resulted from the 
 method of their enrolment in the field itself, where 
 each kindred was drawn up under an ofiicer of 
 its own lineage and appointment, and the several 
 members of the family served together. But such a 
 
 ^ The solemn apportionment of lands and dwellings is nowhere more 
 ohvious, or described in more instructive detail, than in Denmark. 
 Norway and the Swedish borderlands may have offered more nume- 
 rous instances of solitary settling. The manner of distributing the 
 village land is called Solslript or Solskipti : the provisions of this law 
 are given by Grimm, Rechtsalt. p. 539. There is an interesting account 
 of the formalities used upon the first colonization of Iceland, in Geijer, 
 Hist, of Sweden, i. 159. (German translation of 1826.) 
 
70 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 distribution of the land as should content the various 
 small communities that made up the whole force, 
 could only be ensured by the joint authority of the 
 leaders, the concurrence of the families themselves, 
 and the possession of a sufficient space for their 
 ext^sion, undisturbed by the claims of former oc- 
 cupants, and suited to the wants of its new masters. 
 What difficulties, what jealousies preceded the ad- 
 justment of all claims among the conquerors, we 
 cannot hope to learn, or by what means these were 
 met and reconciled : but the divisions themseh'es, 
 so many of whose names I have collected, prove 
 that, in some way or other, the problem was suc- 
 cessfully solved. 
 
 On the natural clearings in the forest, or on 
 spots prepared by man for his own uses ; in valleys, 
 bounded by gentle acclivities which poured down 
 fertilizing streams ; or on plains which here and 
 there rose, clothed with verdure, above surround- 
 ing marshes ; slowly and step by step, the warlike 
 colonists adopted the habits and developed the cha- 
 racter of peaceful agriculturists. The towns which 
 had been spared in the first rush of war, gradually 
 became deserted, and slowly crumbled to the soil, 
 beneath which their ruins are yet found from time 
 to time, or upon which shapeless masses yet remain, 
 to mark the sites of a civilization, whose bases were 
 not laid deep enough for eternity. All over Eng- 
 land there soon existed a network of communities, 
 the principle of whose being was separation, as re- 
 garded each other : the most intimate union, as re- 
 spected the individual members of each. Agricul- 
 
CH. n.] THE MARK. 71 
 
 tural, not commercial, dispersed, not centralized, 
 content within their own limits and little given to 
 wandering, they relinquished in a great degree the 
 habits and feelings which had united them as mili- 
 tary adventurers ; and the spirit which had achieved 
 the conquest of an empire, was now satisfied with 
 the care of maintaining inviolate a little peaceful 
 plot, sufficient for the cultivation of a few simple 
 households. 
 
72 
 
 CHAPTEK III. 
 
 THE GA' OR SCl'R. 
 
 Next in order of constitution, if not of time, is the 
 union of two, three or more Marks in a federal 
 bond for purposes of a religious, judicial or even 
 political character. The technical name for such 
 a union is in Germany, a Gau or Bant ^ ; in Eng- 
 land the ancient name Ga has been almost univer- 
 sally superseded by that of Scir or Shire. For the 
 most part the natural divisions of the country are 
 the divisions also of the Ga ; and the size of this 
 depends upon such accidental limits as well as upon 
 the character and dispositions of the several collec- 
 tive bodies which we have called Marks. 
 
 The Ga is the second and final form of unsevered 
 possession ; for every larger aggregate is but the re- 
 sult of a gradual reduction of such districts, under 
 a higher political or administrative unity, different 
 only in degree and not in kind from what prevailed 
 individually in each. The kingdom is only a larger 
 Ga than ordinary ; indeed the Ga itself was the 
 original kingdom. 
 
 But the unsevered possession or property which 
 
 ' Less usual are Eitia and Para. The Norse Herrad may in some 
 sense be compared with these divisions. 
 
CH. in.] THE GA' OB SCI'R. 73 
 
 we thus find in the Ga is by no means to be consi- 
 dered in the same light as that which has been de- 
 scribed in the Mark. The inhabitants are settled 
 as Markmen, not as Ga-men : the cultivated "land 
 which lies within the limits of the larger commu- 
 nity is all distributed into the smaller ones. 
 
 As the Mark contained within itself the means of 
 doing right between man and man, i. e., its Mark- 
 mot; as it had its principal officer or judge, and 
 beyond a doubt its priest and place of religious ob- 
 servances, so the County, Scir or Ga had all these 
 on a larger and more imposing scale ; and thus it 
 was enabled to do right between Mark and Mark, 
 as well as between man and man, and to decide 
 those diiferences the arrangement of which trans- 
 cended the powers of the smaller body. If the 
 elders and leaders of the Mark could settle the 
 mode of conducting the internal affairs of their dis- 
 trict, so the elders and leaders of the Ga (the same 
 leading markmen in a corporate capacity) could 
 decide upon the weightier causes that affected the 
 whole community; and thus the Scirgemot or 
 Shiremoot was the completion of a system of which 
 the Mearcmot was the foundation. Similarly, as 
 the several smaller units had arrangements on a cor- 
 responding scale for divine service, so the greater 
 and more important religious celebrations in which 
 all the Marks took part, could only be performed 
 under the auspices and by the authority of the Ga. 
 Thus alone could due provision be made for sacri- 
 fices which would have been too onerous for a small 
 and poor district, and an equalization of burthens 
 
74 THE SAXOXS IX EXGLAND. [book i. 
 
 be effected ; while the machinery of government 
 and efficient means of protection were secured. 
 
 At these great religious rites, accompanied as they 
 ever were by the solemn Ding, placitum or court, 
 thrice in the year the markmen assemlAed unbid- 
 den : and here they transacted the ordinary and rou- 
 tine business required. On emergencies however, 
 which did not brook delay, the leaders could issue 
 their peremptory summons to a bidden Ding, and 
 in this were then decided the measures necessary 
 for the maintenance and well-being of the commu- 
 nity, and the mutual guarantee of life and honour. 
 To the Ga then probably belonged, as an unsevered 
 possession, the lands necessary for the site and 
 maintenance of a temple, the supply of beasts for 
 sacrifice, and the endowment of a priest or priests : 
 perhaps also for the erection of a stockade or for- 
 tress, and some shelter for the assembled freemen 
 in the Ding. Moreover, if land existed which from 
 any cause had not been included within the limits 
 of some Mark, we may believe that it became the 
 public property of the Ga, i. e., of all the Marks in 
 their corporate capacity : this at least may be in- 
 ferred from the rights exercised at a comparatively 
 later period over waste lands, by the constituted 
 authorities, the Duke, Count or King. 
 
 Accident must more or less have determined the 
 seat of the Ga-jurisdiction: perhaps here and there 
 some powerful leading ]\Iark, already in the pos- 
 session of a holy site, may ha^e drawn the neigh- 
 bouring settlers into its territory : but as the pos- 
 session and guardianship of the seat of government 
 
CH. HI.] THE GA' OR SCFR. 75 
 
 could not but lead to the vindication of certain 
 privileges and material advantages to its holders, 
 it is not unreasonable to believe that where the 
 Marks coalesced on equal terms, the temple-lands 
 would be placed without the peculiar territorial 
 possession of each, as they often were in Greece, 
 upon the ea^ana or boundary-land. On the sum- 
 mit of a range of hills, whose valleys sufficed for 
 the cultivation of the markmen, on the watershed 
 from which the fertilizing streams descended, at 
 the point where the boundaries of two or three com- 
 munities touched one another, was the proper place 
 for the common periodical assemblages of the free 
 men : and such sites, marked even to this day by 
 a few venerable oaks, may be observed in various 
 parts of England ^. 
 
 The description which has been given might seem 
 at first more properly to relate to an abstract poli- 
 tical unity than to a real and territorial one : no 
 doubt the most important quality of the Ga or Scir 
 was its power of uniting distinct populations for 
 public purposes : in this respect it resembled the 
 shire, while the sheriff's court was still of some im- 
 portance ; or even yet, where the judges coming 
 on their circuit, under a commission, hold a shire- 
 moot or court in each shire for gaol-delivery. Yet 
 the Shire is a territorial division^ as well as an abs- 
 tract and merely legal formulary, although all the 
 
 ' There are instances which show that the custom, afterwards kept 
 up, of "Trysting Trees," was an ancient one. Probably some great 
 b'ees marked the site of the several jurisdictions : I find mentioned the 
 scirac, the hundredes treow and the mearcbeam. 
 
 " The Gau itself had a mark or boundary. Deut. Rechtsalt. p. 406. 
 
76 THE SAXOXS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 land comprised within it is divided into parishes, 
 hamlets, vills and liberties. 
 
 Strictly speaking, the Shire, apart from the units 
 that make it up, possesses little more land than 
 that which the town-hall, the gaol, or the hospital 
 may cover. When for the two latter institu- 
 tions we substitute the fortress of the king, and 
 a cathedral, which was the people's and not the 
 bishop's, we have as nearly as possible the Anglo- 
 saxon shire-property, and the identity, of the two 
 divisions seems proved. Just as the Ga (j)agus) 
 contains the Marks (yicos), and the territory of 
 them all, taken together, makes up the territory of 
 the Ga, so does the Shire contain hamlets, parishes 
 and liberties, and its territorial expanse is distri- 
 buted into them. As then the word Mark is used 
 to denote two distinct things, — a territorial division 
 and a corporate body, — so does the word Ga or 
 Scir denote both a machinery for government and 
 a district in which such machinery prevails. The 
 number of Marks included in ^ single Ga must have 
 varied partly with the variations of the land itself, 
 its valleys, hills and meadows : to this cause may 
 have been added others arising, to some extent, 
 from the original military organization and distri- 
 bution, from the personal character of a leader, or 
 from the peculiar tenets and customs of a particular 
 Mark. But proximity, and settlement upon the 
 same land, with the accompanying participation 
 in the advantages of wood and water, are ever the 
 most active means of uniting men in religious and 
 social communities; and it is therefore reasonable 
 
CH. m.] THE GA' OR SCI'E. 77 
 
 to believe that the influence most felt in the ar- 
 rangement of the several Gas was in fact a territo- 
 rial one, depending upon the natural conformation 
 of the country. 
 
 Some of the modern shire-divisions of England 
 in all probability have remained unchanged from 
 the earliest times; so that here and there a now 
 existent Shire may be identical in territory with an 
 aacient Ga. But it may be doubted whether this 
 observation can be very extensively applied : ob- 
 scure as is the record of our old divisions, what 
 little we know, favours the supposition that the ori- 
 ginal Gas were not only more numerous than our 
 Shires, but that these were not always identical in 
 their boundaries with those Gas whose locality can 
 be determined. 
 
 The policy or pedantry of Norman chroniclers 
 has led them to pass over in silence the names 
 of the ancient divisions, which nevertheless were 
 known to them^. Wherever they have occasion to 
 refer to our Shires, they do so by the names they 
 still bear ; thus Florence of Worcester and William of 
 Malmesbury name, to the south of the Humber, Kent, 
 'Wiltshire, Berkshire, Dorset, Sussex, Southamp- 
 ton, Surrey, Somerset, Devonshire, Cornwall, Glou- 
 cester, Worcester, Warwick, Cheshire, Derby, Staf- 
 ford, Shropshire, Hereford, Oxford, Buckingham, 
 
 ' " Et ne longum faciani, sigillatim enumeratis provinciis quas vas- 
 taverunt, hoc sit ad summam compleeti, quod, cum numerentur in 
 AflgKa triginfa duo pagi, illi iam aedecim invaserant, quorum nomina 
 propter barbariem linguae scribere refugio." Will. Malm., Gest. Reg. 
 lib. ii. § 165. 
 
78 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 Hertford, Huntingdon, Bedford, Northampton, Lei- 
 cester, Lincoln, Nottingham, Cambridge, Norfolk, 
 Suffolk and Essex, comprising with Middlesex 
 thirty-two of the shires, out of forty into which 
 England is now distributed. 
 
 Yet even these names and divisions are of great 
 antiquity : Asser, in his life of J31fred, mentions by 
 name, Berkshire, Essex, Kent, Surrey, Somerset, 
 Sussex, Lincoln, Dorset, Devon, Wiltshire and 
 Southampton, being a third of the whole number : 
 unfortunately, from his work being composed in 
 Latin and his consequent use of paga, we cannot 
 tell how many of these divisions were considered 
 by him as Scir. 
 
 The Saxon Chronicles, during the period ante- 
 rior to the reign of Alfred, • seem to know only 
 the old general divisions : thus we have Cantwara 
 land, Kent^; Westseaxan, Su'Sseaxan, Eastseaxan, 
 Middleseaxan, Wessex, Sussex, Essex, Middlesex : 
 Eastengle, Eastanglia: Nor'Sanhymbra land, Su- 
 ^anhymbra land, Myrcna land, Northumberland, 
 South umberland, Mercia : Lindisware and Lindisse, 
 Lincolnshire: Sii'Srige, Surrey; Wiht, the Isle of 
 Wight; Hwiccas, the Hwiccii in Gloucestershire 
 and Worcestershire^; Merscware, the people of 
 Eomney Marsh : Wilssetan, Dornssetan and Sumor- 
 ssetan, Wiltshire, Dorsetshire and Somersetshire^. 
 
 ' The division of Kent into East Centingas and West Oentingas is 
 retained by the charters till late in the eleventh century. 
 
 ^ " Oirrenceaster adiit, qui Britannice Cairceri nominatur, quae est 
 in meridiana parte Huicciorum." Asser, Vit. ^Ifr. an. 879. 
 
 ' Where the country is considered as a territorial division, rather 
 than with reference to the race that possesses it, instead of ssetan or 
 
CH. III.] THE GA' OK SOI'R. 79 
 
 But after the time of Alfred, the different ma- 
 nuscripts of the Chronicles usually adopt the word 
 Scir, in the same places as we do, and with the same 
 meaning. Thus we find, Bearrucscir, Bedanford- 
 scir, Buccingahamscir, Defenascir, Deorabyscir, 
 Eoforwicscir, Gleawanceasterscir, Grantabrycgscir, 
 Hamtunscir (Southampton), Plamtunscir (North- 
 ampton), Heortfordscir, Herefordscir, Huntandun- 
 scir, Legeceasterscir, Lindicolnascir, Oxnafordscir, 
 Scrobbesbyrigscir (but also Scrobsetan), Snotinga- 
 hamscir, Stseffordscir, Waeringwicscir or Wsering- 
 scir, Wigraceasterscir, and Wiltunscir : Middel- 
 seaxe, Eastseaxe, Sii^seaxe, SuSrige and Cent re- 
 main : Eastengle is not divided into Norfolk and 
 Suffolk. Thus, out of the thirty-two shires south 
 of the Humber, which Florence and William of 
 Malmesbury mention, the Chronicles note twenty- 
 six, of which twenty-one are distinguished as shires 
 by the word scir. 
 
 In Beda nothing of the kind is to be found : the 
 general scope of his Ecclesiastical History rendered 
 it unnecessary for him to descend to minute details, 
 and besides the names of races and kingdoms, he 
 mentions few divisions of the land. Still he notices 
 the Provincia Huicciorum: the Middelangli or 
 Angli Mediterranei, a portion of the Mercians : the 
 Mercii Australes and Aquilonales : the Eegio Suder- 
 geona or Surrey : the Eegio Loidis or Elmet near 
 York: the Provincia Meanwarorum, or Hundreds 
 
 setan, the settlers, we have saete, the land settled ; thua Siimorseete. So 
 Eastseaxe for Eastseaxan or Eastseaxna land ; Cent for Oentingas or 
 Cautware ; Lindisse for Lindisware. 
 
80 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 of East and West Meon in Southampton; the Regio 
 Gyrwiorum in which Peterborough lies, and dis- 
 tinct from this, the Australes Gyrwii or South 
 Gyrwians. 
 
 The Appendix to the Chronicles of Florence of 
 Worcester supplies us with one or two names of 
 small districts, not commonly found in other au- 
 thors. One of these is the Mercian district of the 
 Westangles or West Hecan, ruled over by Mere- 
 wald; in whose country were the Meegsetan, or 
 people of Hereford, who are sometimes reckoned 
 to the Hwiccas, or inhabitants of Worcester and 
 Gloucester 1. Another, the Middleangles, had its 
 bishopric in Leicester: the Southangles, whose bi- 
 shop sat at Dorchester in Oxfordshire, consequently 
 comprised the counties down to the Thames. The 
 Northangles or Mercians proper had their bishop in 
 Lichfield. Lastly it has been recorded that Malmes- 
 bury in Wiltshire was in Provincia Septonia^. 
 
 But we are not altogether without the means of 
 carrying this enquiry further. We have a record 
 of the divisions which must have preceded the dis- 
 tribution of this country into shires : they are un- 
 fortunately not numerous, and the names are gene- 
 rally very difficult to explain : they have so long 
 become obsolete, that it is now scarcely possible to 
 identify them. Nor need this cause surprise, when 
 we compare the oblivion into which they have fal- 
 
 ' " Oivitas Wigomia . . . . et tunc et nunc totius Hwicciae vel Mage- 
 setauiae metropolis extitit famosa." App. Jlor. Wigorn., Episc. Ilwic- 
 ciorum. 
 
 2 Vit. Aldh. Whart. Ang. Sacr. ii. 3, and MS. Harl. 350 ; but the 
 autograph MS., Ed. Hamilton in Rolls Series, reads rightly Saxonia. 
 
CH. in.] 
 
 THE GA' OR SCrU. 
 
 81 
 
 len with the sturdy resistance offered by the names 
 of the Marks, and their long continuance through- 
 out all the changes which have befallen our race. 
 The Gas, which were only political bodies, became 
 readily swallowed up and lost in shires and king- 
 doms : the Marks, which had an individual being, 
 and as it were personality of their own, passed 
 easily from one system of aggregations to another, 
 without losing anything of their peculiar character : 
 and at a later period it will be seen that this indi- 
 Tiduality became perpetuated by the operation of 
 our ecclesiastical institutions. 
 
 A very important document is printed by Sir 
 Henry Spelman in his Glossary, under the head 
 Hida. In its present condition it is comparatively 
 modern, but many of the entries supply us with 
 information obviously derived from the most re- 
 mote antiquity, and these it becomes proper to 
 talie into consideration. The document seems to 
 have been intended as a guide either to the taxation 
 or the miHtary force of the kingdom, and professes 
 to give the number of hides of land contained in 
 the various districts. It runs as follows i : 
 
 Myrcna continet 
 
 Hvdas. 
 
 30000 
 
 Lindesfarona . 
 
 Ilydaa. 
 
 7000 
 
 "\^'okensetna . . 
 
 7000 
 
 SuS Gyrwa . 
 
 600 
 
 'iVesterna . . . 
 
 7000 
 
 Nor'S Gyrwa . 
 
 600 
 
 Pecsetna . . . 
 
 1200 
 
 EastWixna . 
 
 300 
 
 Elmedsetna . . 
 
 600 
 
 West Wixna . 
 
 600 
 
 ' I have not adhered stricdy to Spelman's copy, the details of which 
 are in several cases incorrect, but have collated others where it seemed 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
82 
 
 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. 
 
 [book I. 
 
 
 Hydas. 
 
 Spalda . . . 
 
 600 
 
 Wigesta . . . 
 
 900 
 
 Herefinna . . . 
 
 1200 
 
 Sweordora . . 
 
 300 
 
 Ey/la . . . 
 
 300 
 
 Hwicca 
 
 300 
 
 Wihtgara . . 
 
 600 
 
 Noxga ga . . 
 
 . 5000 
 
 Ohtga ga . . 
 
 . 2000 
 
 Hwynca . 
 
 7000 
 
 Cilternsetna . 
 
 . 4000 
 
 Hendrica . 
 
 . 3000 
 
 
 Hydfls. 
 
 Unecunga . . 
 
 1200 
 
 Arosetna . . . 
 
 600 
 
 Fearfinga . . 
 
 300 
 
 Belmiga . . 
 
 600 
 
 Wi'Seringa . 
 
 . 600 
 
 East Willa . 
 
 600 
 
 WestWilla . 
 
 600 
 
 East Engle . 
 
 . 30000 
 
 East Seaxna . 
 
 7000 
 
 Cantwarena . 
 
 15000 
 
 Sii^ Seaxna . 
 
 . 7000 
 
 West Seaxna . 
 
 1000001 
 
 The entries respecting Mercia, Eastanglia and 
 Wessex could hardly belong to any period anterior 
 to that of Alfred. For Mercia previous to the 
 Danish wars must certainly have contained more 
 than 30,000 hides : vphile Eastanglia cannot have 
 reached so large a sum till settled by Gu'Sorm's 
 Danes : nor is it easy to believe that Wessex, apart 
 from Kent and Sussex, should have numbered 
 one hundred thousand in the counties of Surrey, 
 Hampshire, Dorset, Wiltshire, vpith parts of Berk- 
 shire, Somerset and Devon, much before the time 
 of ^'Selstan^. A remarkable variation is found 
 between the amounts stated in this list and 
 those given by Beda, as respects some of the en- 
 tries : thus Mercia, here valued at 30,000 hides, is 
 reckoned in the Ecclesiastical History at 12,000 
 
 ' The total sum thus reckoned is 243,600 hides. 
 
 ^ About the year 647, Wessex numbered only 9000 hides. 
 
CH. m.] THE GA' OR SCI'R. 83 
 
 only^: Hwiccas are reckoned at 300: they con- 
 tained 600 hides; Wight, reckoned at 600, con- 
 tained 1200. On the other hand Kent and Sussex 
 are retained at the ancient valuation. 
 
 It is nevertheless impossible to doubt that the 
 greater number of the names recorded in this list 
 are genuine, and of the highest antiquity. A few 
 of them can be recognized in the pages of very 
 early writers: thus Gyrwa, Elmet, Lindisfaran, 
 Wihtgare, and Hwiccas, are mentioned by Beda in 
 the eighth century. Some we are still able to iden- 
 tify with modern districts. 
 
 Mercia I imagine to be that portion of Burgred's 
 kingdom, which upon its division by the victorious 
 Danes in 874, they committed as a tributary royalty 
 to Ceolwulf ; which subsequently came into the 
 hands of -lElfred, by the treaty of Wedmor in 878, 
 and was by him erected into a duchy under his 
 daughter M'SelA^d, and her husband. Wokensetna 
 may possibly be the Ga of the Wrocensetan, the 
 people about the Wrekin or hill-country of Somer- 
 set, Dorset and Devon. The Pecsetan appear to be 
 the inhabitants of the Peakland, or Derbyshire : the 
 Elmedsetan, those of Elmet, the ancient British 
 Loidis, an independent district in Yorkshire : Lin- 
 disfaran are the people of Lindisse, a portion of 
 Lincolnshire : North and South Gyrwa were pro- 
 bably in the Mark between Eastanglia and Mercia : 
 
 ' The twelve thousand hides counted by Beda (Hist. Eccl. iii. 24) to 
 the South and North Mercians may however be exclusive of the West- 
 angles and other parts of the great Mercian kingdom. 
 
 g2 
 
84 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 as Peterborough was in North Gyrwa land, this 
 must have comprised a part of Northamptonshire : 
 and Ji'Sel^ry'S derived her right to Ely from her 
 first husband, a prince of the South Gyrwians ; this 
 district is therefore supposed to have extended over 
 a part of Cambridgeshire and the isle of Ely. Spalda 
 may be the tract stretching to the north-east of 
 these, upon the river Welland, in which still lies 
 Spalding. The Hwiccas occupied Worcestershire 
 and Gloucestershire ^, and perhaps extended into 
 Herefordshire, to the west of the Severn. The 
 Wihtgaras are the inhabitants of the Isle of Wight ; 
 and the Ciltemsetan were the people who owned 
 the hill and forest land about the Chilterns, verging 
 towards Oxfordshire, and very probably in the 
 Mark between Mercia and Wessex. 
 
 I fear that it will be impossible to identify any 
 more of these names, and it does not appear pro- 
 bable that they supply us with anything like a com- 
 plete catalogue of the English Gas. Setting aside 
 the fact, that no notice seems to be taken of Nor- 
 thumberland, save the mention of the little princi- 
 pality of Elmet, and that the local divisions of 
 Eastanglia, Kent, Essex, Sussex and Wessex are 
 passed over in the general names of the kingdoms, 
 we look in vain among them for names known to 
 us from other sources, and which can hardly have 
 
 ' Cirencester was in the south of the Hwiccas. Gloucester, Worcester, 
 and Pershore were all in this district. It was separated from Wiltshire 
 in Wessex by the Thames, and the ford at Cricklade was a pass often 
 disputed by the inhabitants of the border-lands. 
 
CH. in.] THE GA' OR SCI'K. 85 
 
 been other than those of Gas. Thus we have no 
 mention of the Tonsetan, whose district lay appa- 
 rently upon the banks of the Severn ^ ; of the Mean- 
 ware, or land of the Jutes, in Hampshire ; of the 
 Meegsetan, or West Hecan, in Herefordshire; of the 
 Merscware in West Kent ; or of the Gedingas, who 
 occupied a tract in the province of Middlesex 2. 
 Although it is possible that these divisions are in- 
 cluded in some of the larger units mentioned in our 
 list, they still furnish an argument that the names 
 of the Gas were much more numerous than they 
 would appear from the list itself, and that this 
 marks only a period of transition. 
 
 It is clear that when William of Malmesbury men- 
 tions thirty-two shires as making up the whole of Eng- 
 land, he intends only England south oftheHumber. 
 The list we have been examining contains thirty-four 
 entries; of all the names therein recorded, one 
 only can be shown to lie to the north of that river : 
 from this however it is not unreasonable to suppose 
 that the whole of England is intended to be com- 
 prised in the catalogue. Even admitting this, we 
 cannot but conclude that these divisions were more 
 numerous than our shires, seeing that large districts, 
 such as Mercia, Wessex and Eastanglia, are entered 
 only under one general head respectively. 
 
 The origin of the Ga in the federal union of two 
 or more Marks is natural, and must be referred to 
 periods far anterior to any historical record : that 
 of the division into Shires, as well as the period 
 at which this arose, are less easily determined. 
 
 ' Cod. Dipl. No. 26:. ^ Cod. Dipl. No. 101. 
 
86 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 But we have evidence that some division into shires 
 was known in Wessex as early as the end of the 
 seventh or beginning of the eighth century, since 
 Ini provides for the case where a plaintiff cannot 
 obtain justice from his shireman or judge ^ ; and 
 the same prince declares that if an ealdorman com- 
 pounds a felony, he shall forfeit his shire ^ ; while 
 he further enacts that no man shall secretly with- 
 draw from his lord into another shire ^. As it will 
 be shown hereafter that a territorial jurisdiction is 
 inseparably connected with the rank of a duke or 
 ealdorman, I take the appearance of these officers 
 in Mercia, during the same early period, to be evi- 
 dence of the existence of a similar division there. 
 Its cause appears to me to lie in the consolidation 
 of the royal power. As long as independent asso- 
 ciations of freemen were enabled to maintain their 
 natural liberties, to administer their own affairs un- 
 disturbed by the power of strangers, and by means 
 of their own private alliances to defend their terri- 
 tories and their rights, the old division into Gas 
 might continue to exist. But the centralization of 
 power in the hands of the king implies a more ar- 
 tificial system. It is more convenient for judicial 
 and administrative purposes, more profitable, and 
 more safe for the ruler, to have districts governed 
 by his own officers, and in which a territorial unity 
 shall supersede the old bonds of kinsmanship : cen- 
 tralization is hardly compatible with family tradi- 
 tion. The members of the Ga met as associated 
 
 1 Ini, §.8. Thorpe, i. 106. ' Ini, § 36. Thorpe, i. 124. 
 
 " Ini, § 39. Thorpe, i. 126. 
 
CH. m] THE G-V OR SCI'R. 87 
 
 freemen, under the guidance of their own natural 
 leaders, and formed a substantive unit or small 
 state, which might, or might not, stand in relations 
 of amity to similar states. The Shire was a poli- 
 tical division, presided over by an appointed officer, 
 forming part only of a general system, and no longer 
 endowed with the high political rights of self-govern- 
 ment, in their fullest extent. I can imagine the Ga, 
 but certainly not the Shire, declaring war against 
 a neighbour. As long as the Ga could maintain 
 itself as a little republic, principality, or even king- 
 dom, it might exist unscathed : but as the smaller 
 kings were rooted out, theii' lands and people in- 
 corporated with larger unions, and powerful mon- 
 archies rose upon their ruins, it is natural that a 
 system of districts should arise, based entirely upon 
 a teiTitorial division. Such districts, without pecu- 
 liar, indi\idual character of their own, or principle 
 of internal cohesion, must have appeared less dan- 
 gerous to usurpation than the ancient gentile ag- 
 gregations. 
 
88 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 LANDED POSSESSION. THE EDEL, HI'D OR ALOD. 
 
 Possession of a certain amount of land in the di- 
 strict was the indispensable condition of enjoying 
 the privileges and exercising the rights of a free- 
 man 1. There is no trace of such a qualification as 
 
 ' Even till tlie latest period, personal property was not reckoned in 
 the distinction of ranks, although land was. No amount of mere chat- 
 tels, gold, silver, or goods, could give the Saxon franchise. See the 
 ordinance Be .Wergyldum, § 10. Be Ge^incSum, § 2. Thorpe, i.l89, 
 191. This is a fundamental principle of Teutonic law : " Ut nullum 
 liberum sine mortali crimine liceat inservire, nee de haereditate sua ex- 
 pellere ; sed liheri, qui iustis legibus deserviunt, sine impedimento hae- 
 reditates suas possideant. Quamvis pauper sit, tamen libertatem suam 
 nou perdat, nee haereditatem suam, nisi ex spontanea voluntate, se 
 alioui tradere voluerit, hoc potestatem habeat faciendi." Lex Alam. 
 Tit. I. cap. 1. Lex Baiovar. Tit. 6. cap. 3. § 1. Eichhorn, i. 328, 
 note d. Loss of land entailed loss of condition in England, long after 
 the establishment of our present social system. A beautiful passage to 
 this effect occurs in the play of "A Woman killed with kindness": a 
 gentleman refuses to part with his last plot of ground, on this account : 
 
 " Alas, alas ! 't is all trouble hath left me 
 To cherishe me and my poor sister's life. 
 If this were sold, our names should then he quite 
 Razed from the bedroll of gentility. 
 You see what hard shift we have made to keep it 
 Allied still to our own name. This palm, you see, 
 Labour hath glow'd within; her silver brow. 
 That never tasted a rough winter's blast 
 Without a mask or fan, doth with a grace 
 Defy cold winter and his storms outface ! " 
 
CH. IV.] THE EDEL, HI'D OR ALOD. 89 
 
 constituted citizenship at Athens or Rome : among 
 our forefathers, the exclusive idea of the city had 
 indeed no sway. They formed voluntary associa- 
 tions upon the land, for mutual benefit ; the quali- 
 fication by birth, as far as it could be of any im- 
 portance, was inferred from the fact of admission 
 among the community ; and gelondan, or those who 
 occupied the same land, were taken to be connected 
 in blood 1. An inquiry into the pedigree of a man 
 who presented himself to share in the perils of the 
 conquest or the settlement, would assuredly have 
 appeared superfluous ; nor was it more likely to be 
 made, when secure enjoyment came to reward the 
 labours of invasion. In fact the Germanic settle- 
 ments, whether in their origin isolated or collective, 
 are based throughout upon the idea of common 
 property in land. It is not the city, but the coun- 
 try, that regulates their form of life and social in- 
 stitutions : as Tacitus knew them, they bore in ge- 
 neral the character of disliking cities : " It is well 
 enough known," he says, " that none of the Ger- 
 man populations dwell in cities; nay that they 
 will not even suff'er continuous building, and house 
 joined to house. They live apart, each by himself, 
 as the woodside, the plain or the fresh spring at- 
 tracted him "2. Thus the Germanic community is 
 in some sense adstricta glehae, bound to the soil : 
 
 ' In MS. glossaries we find gelondan rendered hj fratrueles. In ad- 
 vanced periods only can there be a distinction between tlie family, and 
 the local, distributions : Suidas, citing Xanthus, says the Lydians made 
 a solemn supplication to the gods, Trayyevei rt Km wavSr]nei. See Nie- 
 buhr on the Patrician Houses, i. 267. 
 
 ' Mor. Germ. c. 16. 
 
90 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 its members are sharers in the arable, the forest and 
 the marsh, the waters and the pastures : their bond 
 of union is a partnership in the advantages to be 
 derived from possession of the land, an individual 
 interest in a common benefit. 
 
 The district occupied by a body of new settlers 
 was divided by lot in various proportions ^. Yet it 
 is certain that not all the land was so distributed ; 
 a quantity sufficient to supply a proper block of 
 arable^ to each settler, was set apart for divi- 
 sion ; while the surplus fitted for cultivation, the 
 marshes and forests less suited to the operations of 
 the plough, and a great amount of fine grass or 
 meadow-land, destined for the maintenance of cat- 
 tle, remained in undivided possession as commons. 
 At first too, it is clear, from what has been said in 
 the second chapter, that considerable tracts were 
 left purposely out of cultivation to form the marches 
 or defences of the several communities. But those 
 alone whose share in the arable demonstrated them 
 
 ^ The traces of tMs mode of distribution are numerous. Hengest 
 forcibly occupying the Frisian territory, is said to do so, elne, unhyltme, 
 violently and without casting of lots. Bedw. 1. 2187, 2251. The Law 
 of the Burgundians calls hereditary land, " terra sortis titulo acquisita," 
 in contradistinction to chattels taken by purchase. Lex Burg. Tit. 1. 
 cap. 1, 2. Eichhorn, i. 360, 400, note a. Godred, having subdued the 
 Manxmen, divided their land among his followers by lot. " Godredus 
 sequenti die obtionem exercitui suo dedit, ut si mallent Manniam inter 
 se dividere, etin ea habitare; vel cunotam subatantiam terrae accipere, 
 et ad propria remeare." Ohron. Manniae. (Cott. MS. Jul. A. VII. fol. 
 32.) Upon the removal of St. OulSberht's relics to Durham, the first 
 care was to eradicate the forest that covered the land ; the next, to dis- 
 tribute the clearing by lot : " eradicata itaque silva, et unicuique man- 
 sionibus sorte distributis," etc. Simeon. Hist. Dunelm. Eccl. § 37. 
 
 ^ Words denoting measures of land have very frequently reference 
 to the plough : thus geoc, furlang, sulung, aratrum, carucata, etc. 
 
CH. IV.] THE EDEL, HI'D OR ALOD. 91 
 
 to be members of the little state, could hope to par- 
 ticipate in the advantages of the commons of pas- 
 ture : like the old Roman patricians, they derived 
 from their haeredium benefits totally incommensu- 
 rate with its extent. Without such share of the 
 arable, the man formed no portion of the state ; it 
 was his franchise, his political qualification, even 
 as a very few years ago a freehold of inconsider- 
 able amount sufficed to enable an Englishman to 
 vote, or even be voted for, as a member of the 
 legislature, — to be, as the Greeks would call it, in 
 the TToAireia, — a privilege which the utmost wealth 
 in [copyhold estates or chattels could not confer. 
 He that had no land was at first unfree : he could 
 not represent himself and his interests in the courts 
 or assemblies of the freemen, but must remain in 
 the mund or hand of another i, — a necessary con- 
 sequence of a state of society in which there is 
 indeed no property but land, in other words, no 
 market for its produce. 
 
 From the mode of distribution it is probable 
 that each share was originally called Hlyt (sors, 
 kXiJiooc), it derived however another and more com- 
 mon name from its extent and nature. The ordinary 
 Anglosaxon words are Higid^ (in its contracted 
 and almost universal form Hid) and Hi wise. The 
 Latin equivalents which we find in the chronicles 
 and charters axe,familia, cassatus, mansus, mansa, 
 
 ' irpouTorov y€ypa.(f>dai, , to be enrolled under some one's patronage : 
 to he in his mund and borh. &itt ov Kpcovros Trpoordrou yeypa^ojuu. 
 (Ed. Tyi. 411. 
 
 ' Cod. Dipl. No. 240. 
 
92 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 mansio, manens and terra tributarii. The words 
 Hid and Hiwisc are similar, if not identical, in 
 meaning : they stand in close etymological relation 
 to Higan, Hiwan, the family, the man and wife, 
 and thus perfectly justify the Latin terms familia 
 and cassatus i, by which they are translated. The 
 Hid then, or Hide of land, is the estate of one 
 household, the amount of land sufficient for the 
 support of one family ^. It is clear however that 
 this could not be an invariable quantity, if the 
 households were to be subsisted on an equal scale : 
 it must depend upon the original quality and con- 
 dition of the soil, as well as upon manifold contin- 
 gencies of situation — climate, aspect, accessibility 
 of water and roads, abundance of natural manures, 
 proximity of marshes and forests, in short an end- 
 less catalogue of varying details. If therefore the 
 Hide contained a fixed number of acres all over 
 England, and all the freemen were to be placed in a 
 position of equal prosperity, we must assume that 
 in the less favoured districts one Hide would not 
 suffice for the establishment of one man, but that 
 his allotment must have comprised more than that 
 quantity. The first of these hypotheses may be 
 very easily disposed of: there is not the slightest 
 ground for supposing that any attempt was, or 
 
 ' Cassatus or casatus, a married man, Span, casado. Othello speaks 
 of his unhoused free condition, that is, his bachelor state. It is by 
 marriage that a man founds a house or family. 
 
 =" Henry of Huntingdon thus defines its extent : " Hida autem An- 
 glice vocatur terra unius aratri cultura sufficieus per annum." lib. Ti. 
 an. 1008. But this is a variable amount on land of various qualities, 
 as every ploughman well knows. 
 
CH. IV. J THE EDEL, m'D OR ALOD. 93 
 
 could be, made to regulate the amount of individual 
 possession beyond the limit of each community ; or 
 that there ever was, or could be, any concert be- 
 tween different communities for such a purpose. 
 The second supposition however presents greater 
 difficulties. 
 
 There is no doubt a strong antecedent improba- 
 bility of the Hide having been alike all over Eng- 
 land : isolated as were the various conquests which 
 gradually established the Saxon rule in the several 
 districts, it can hardly be supposed that any agree- 
 ment was at first found among bands, engaged in 
 continual struggles for safety, rather than for ex- 
 tension of territory. It may indeed be objected 
 that later, when the work of conquest had been 
 consolidated, when, under the rule of powerful chief- 
 tains, the resistance of the Britons had ceased to 
 appear dangerous, some steps may have been taken 
 towards a general arrangement ; those historians 
 who please themselves with the phantom of a Saxon 
 confederation under one imperial head, — a Bretwal- 
 dadom — may find therein an easy solution of this, 
 and many other difficulties ^ : but still it seems 
 little likely that the important step of dividing the 
 country should have been postponed, or that a suc- 
 cessful body of invaders should have thought it 
 necessary to wait for the consent or co-operation of 
 others, whose ultimate triumph was yet uncertain. 
 
 ' It does not seem very clear why the idea of one measure of land 
 should suggest itself to either many such chieftains or one such Bret- 
 walda, while other arrangements of a much more striking and neces- 
 sary character remained totally different. 
 
04 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 Experience of human nature would rather incline 
 us to believe that, as each band wrung from the 
 old masters of the soil as much as sufficed for its 
 own support and safety, it hastened to realize its 
 position and marked its acquisition by the stamp 
 and' impress of individual possession. It is more- 
 over probable that, had any solemn and general 
 agreement been brought about through the in- 
 fluence of any one predominant chief, we should 
 not have been left without some record of a fact, 
 so beneficial in itself,' and so conclusive as to the 
 power and wisdom of its author: this we might 
 not unreasonably expect, even though we admit 
 that such an event could only have taken place at 
 the very commencement of our history, and that 
 such a division, or, what is more difficult still, re- 
 division of the soil, is totally inconsistent with the 
 state of society in England at any period subse- 
 quent to A.D. 600 : but these are precisely the 
 cases where the mythus replaces and is ancillary 
 to history. 
 
 Against all these arguments we have only one 
 fact to adduce, but it is no light one. It is certain 
 that, in all the cases where a calculation can be made 
 at all, we do find a most striking coincidence with 
 respect to the size of the Hide in various parts of 
 England ; that such calculation is applicable to very 
 numerous instances, and apparently satisfies the 
 condition of the problem in all; and lastly that 
 there appears no reason to suppose that any such 
 real change had taken place in the value of the Hide, 
 down to the period of the Norman conquest and the 
 
CH. iv.J THE EDEL, HI'D OR ALOD. 95 
 
 compilation of Domesday, according to the admea- 
 surement of at least the largest and the most influ- 
 ential of the English tribes ^. The latest of these 
 measurements are recorded in Domesday ; the ear- 
 liest by Beda : the same system of calculations, the 
 same results, apply to every case in which trial has 
 been made between these remote limits ; and we are 
 thus enabled to ascend to the seventh century, a 
 period at which any equality of possessions is en- 
 tirely out of the question, but at which the old unit 
 of measurement may still have retained and handed 
 down its original value : even as, with us, one farm 
 may comprise a thousand, another only two or 
 three hundred acres, and yet the extent of the acre 
 remain unaltered. 
 
 How then are we to account for this surprising 
 fact, in the face of the arguments thus arrayed 
 against it"? I cannot positively assert, but still 
 think it highly probable, that there was some such 
 general measure common to the Germanic tribes 
 upon the continent, and especially in the north. 
 Whether originally sacerdotal, or how settled, it is 
 useless to guess ; but there does seem reason to be- 
 
 ' Beda almost invariably gives Hs numbers as " iuxta mensuram 
 Anglorum." Butin his works ^?j^&' denotes all theTeutonic inhabitants 
 of Britain. H. E. i. cap. 1. Again, in Bk. i. cap. 15, he identifies them, 
 " Anglorum sive Saxonum gens." He draws no distinction between 
 Angle and Saxon tribes, except where special reasons lead him to par- 
 ticularize them. He does note discrepancies between them, which 
 would have appeared far less important to a scientific and mathematical 
 thinker, as he was, than difierences inland-divisions. I conclude then 
 that no limitation can be admitted in his assertion, and that the words 
 " mxtamensuram Anglorum" denote, " according to the admeasurement 
 common to all the Germanic inhabitants of Britain." 
 
9S THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 lieve that a measure not widely different from the 
 result of my own calculations as to the Hide, pre 
 vailed in Germany ; and hence to conclude that 
 it was the usual basis of measurement among all 
 the tribes that issued from the storehouse of na- 
 tions ^. 
 
 What was the amount then of the Hide among 
 the Anglosaxons 1 Perhaps the easiest way of 
 arriving at a trustworthy conclusion will be to 
 commence with the Anglosaxon acre, and other 
 subdivisions of the Hide and the acre itself. 
 
 There is reason to believe that the latter measure 
 implied ordinarily a quantity of land not very dif- 
 ferent in amount from our own statute acre ^. I 
 argue this from a passage in the dialogue attributed 
 to ^Ifric, where the ploughman is made to say : 
 " ac geiiicodan oxan and gefsestnodan sceare and 
 cultre mid ^Eere syl selce deeg ic sceal erian fulne 
 secer o^^e mare ;" that is, " having yoked my oxen, 
 and fastened my share and coulter, I am bound to 
 plough every day a full acre or more." Now expe- 
 
 ' I do not know the present average amount of a Frisian or West- 
 phalian ITof, but the peasant-farms a little below Cologne, on the left 
 bank of the Rhine, average from 30 to 50 acres. See Banlield, Agri- 
 cult. Rhine, p. 10. The Bavarian Hof of two Hiibm contains from 
 50 to QQjuchert (each juckert equal to 40,000 square Bavarian feet, or 
 nearly njugerum). This brings the Hof from about 36 to 40 acres. 
 See Schmeller, Baierisoh. Worterbuoh, ii. 142, vac. Hueb. Schmel- 
 ler's remarks on Hof are worth consulting, and especially his opinion 
 that it may mean a necessary measure or portion. See also Grimm, 
 Rechtsalt. p. 535. 
 
 ^ That it was a fixed and not a variable quantity, both as to form 
 and extent, seems to follow from the expressions, three acres wide 
 (Cod. Dipl. No. 781), iii acera braede, i. e. three acres breadth (Leg. 
 ^^elst. iv. 5), ix acres latitudine (Leg. Hen. I. cap. xvi.). 
 
CH. IV.] THE EDEL, HI'D OR ALOD. 97 
 
 rience proves ^ that a plough drawn by oxen will 
 hardly exceed this measure upon average land at 
 the present day; an acre and a quarter would be 
 a very hard day's work for any ploughman under 
 such circumstances. Hence for all practical pur- 
 poses we may assume our actual acre not to differ 
 very materially from the Anglosaxon. And now, 
 how is an acre constituted'? 
 
 It has many divisors, all multiplying into the re- 
 quired sum of 4840 square yards. Thus, it is clear 
 that a length of 4840 yards, with a breadth of 
 one yard, is quite as much an acre as a length of 
 220 yards with a breadth of 22 (in other words, 
 ten chains by one, or 22 X 10 X 22,) the usual 
 and legal computation : that is to say, twenty-two 
 strips of land each 220 yards long and one wide, 
 if placed together in any position will make up an 
 acre. Placed side by side they will make an ob- 
 long acre whose length and breadth are as 10:1. 
 A space rather more than sixty-nine and less than 
 seventy yards in each side would be a square acre ; 
 it is however not probable that the land generally 
 allowed of square divisions, but rather that the 
 portions were oblong, a circumstance in favour of 
 the ploughman, whose labour varies very much with 
 the length of the furrow. 
 
 The present divisors of the acre are 5*5 and 40 ; 
 combinations of these numbers make up the parts 
 not only of the acre or square measure, but also 
 
 ' These calculations rest not only upon the authority of several large, 
 practical farmers, and the opinions of intelligent ploughmen -who have 
 been consulted, hut also upon experiments made xmder the author's 
 own eye, on land of diiFerent qualities. 
 
 VOL. I. H 
 
98 TflE SAX(JNS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 the measure of length. Thus 5-5 X 40 = 220, which 
 taken in yards are one furlong, and which with 
 one yard's breadth are -^ of an acre. Again, forty 
 times 5-5 yards with a breadth of 5'5 yards (or 220 
 X 5'5) are 1210 yards square, "25 of an acre: twice 
 that, or forty times 5' 5 with a breadth of eleven 
 yards are '5 acre : and twice that, or 220 X 20 (that 
 is in modem surveying ten chains by one) = 4840 
 yards or the whole acre. The same thing may be 
 expressed in another way : we may assume a square 
 of 6'5 yards, which is called a rod, perch, or pole : 
 forty of these make a rood, which is a furlong with 
 a breadth of 5"5 yards ; and four such roods, or a 
 furlong with a breadth of twenty-two yards, are an 
 acre of the oblong form described above, and which 
 is still the normal or legal acre. 
 
 My hypothesis goes on to assume that such, or 
 nearly such, were the elements of the original cal- 
 culation : in fact, that they were entirely so, with 
 the substitution only of 5 for 5-5 as a factor. It 
 remains to be asked why these numbers should be 
 fixed upon] Probably from some notion of the 
 mystical properties of the numbers themselves. 
 Forty and eight are of continual recurrence in 
 Anglosaxon tradition, and may be considered as 
 their sacerdotal or mythical numbers : forty divided 
 by eight gives a quotient of five; and these may 
 have been the original factors, especially if, as there 
 is every reason to believe, the first division of lands 
 (whether here or on the continent matters not) 
 took place under the authority and with the assist- 
 ance of the heathen priesthood. 
 
 If this were so, the Saxon acre very probably 
 
CH. IV.] THE EDEL, HI'D OR AXOD. 99 
 
 consisted of 5x5x40x4=4000 square yards*; 
 in which case the rod would be 25 yards square, 
 and the furlong 200 yards in length. At the same 
 time as the acres must be considered equal for 
 all the purposes of useful calculation, 4000 Saxon 
 square yards = 4840 English, 5 Saxon =5*5 En- 
 glish, and 200 Saxon = 220 English yards. Further, 
 the Saxon yard=l-l English, or 39 '6 inches. This 
 I imagine to be the metgyrde or measuring-yard of 
 the Saxon Laws^. If then we take 5 X 5 X 40 yards 
 we have a block of land, 200 Saxon yards in length, 
 and five in breadth ; and this I consider to have 
 been the Saxon square Furlang or small acre, and 
 to have been exactly equal to our rood, the quaran- 
 tena of early calculations ^. There is no doubt what- 
 ever of the Saxon furlang having been a square as 
 well as long measure*; as its name denotes, it is the 
 
 - I think, for reasons to be assigned below, tbat tbere was a small 
 as well as large acre : in which case the small acre was probably made 
 up of 5x5x40 = 1000 sq. y. 
 
 ^ The yard of land was a very different thing : this was the fourth 
 part of the Hide, the Virgata of Domesday. 
 
 ' This seems clear from a comparison of two passages already quoted 
 in a note, but which must here be given more at length. The law of 
 vEtSelstan defines the king's peace as extending from his door to the 
 distance on every side of three miles, three furlongs, three acres' 
 breadth, nine feet, nine palms, and nine barleycorns. The law of 
 Henrygives the measurements thus: " tria miliaria, attxes quarantenae, 
 et ix (? iii) acrae latitudine, et ix pedes et ix palmae, et ix grana ordei." 
 Thus the furlang and quarantena are identified. But it is also clear 
 that the series is a descending one, and consequently that the furlang 
 or quarantena is longer than the breadth of an acre. If, as is probable, 
 it is derived from quarante, I should suppose three lengths and three 
 breadths of an acre to have been intended ; in fact that some multiple 
 of forty was the longer side of the acre. 
 
 * In sne case we hear of 'Sa bean-furlang, the furlong under bean- 
 cultivation. Ood Dipl. Ko. 1246. 
 
 h2 
 
100 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 length of a furrow : now 220 (= 200 Saxon) yards is 
 not at all too long a side for a field in our modern 
 husbandry^, and is still more readily conceivable in 
 a less artificial system, where there was altogether 
 less enclosure, and the rotations of crops were 
 fewer. Five yards, or five and a half, is not too 
 much space to allow for the turn of the plough ; 
 and it therefore seems not improbable that such an 
 oblong block (200 X 5) should have been assumed 
 as a settled measure or furlong for the ploughman, 
 tvs^o being taken alternately, as is done at this day, 
 in working, and forming a good half-day's work for 
 man and beast: the length of the furrow, by which 
 the labour of the ploughman is greatly reduced, 
 being taken to compensate for the improved cha- 
 racter of our implements. 
 
 I think it extremely probable that the Saxons 
 had a large and a small acre, as well as a large and 
 small hundred, and a large and small yard: and 
 also that the quarantena or rood was this small 
 acre. Taking forty quarantenae we have a sum of 
 ten large acres, and taking three times that num- 
 ber we have 120 quarantenae, or a large hundred of 
 small acres =30 large acres, giving ten to each 
 course of a threefold system of husbandry. This 
 on the whole seems a near approximation to the 
 value of the Hide of land ; and the calculation of 
 small acres would then help to account for the 
 
 ^ A square of 220 yards would form a field of ten acres, which is not 
 at all oversized. Since the happy downfall of the corn-laws, which were 
 a bonus upon bad husbandry, hedges are being rooted up in every quar- 
 ter, and forty or fifty acres may now be seen in single fields, where they 
 were not thought of a few years ago. 
 
CH. rr.] THE EDEL, HI'D OE AJLOD. 101 
 
 number of 120 which is assigned to the Hide by 
 some authorities ^. 
 
 In the appendix to this chapter I have given 
 various calculations to prove that in Domesday 
 the value of a Hide is forty Xorman acres. It has 
 been asserted that 100 Saxon = 120 Xorman acres, 
 and if so 40 Norman =:33|^ Saxon: which does not 
 differ very widely from the calculation given above. 
 
 It must be borne in mind that the Hide com- 
 prised only arable land: the meadow and pasture 
 was in the common lands and forests, and was 
 attached to the Hide as of common right: under 
 these circumstances if the calculation of thirty, 
 thirty-two or thu-ty-three acres be cori'ect, we shall 
 see that ample provision was made for the family 2. 
 
 Let us now apply these data to places of which 
 we know the hidage. and compare this with the 
 modem contents in statute-acres. 
 
 According to Beda^ the Isle of "Wight contained 
 1200 hides or families : now the island contains 
 86,810 acres, which would give 72^ acres per hide. 
 But only 75,000 acres are under cultivation now. 
 and this would reduce our quotient to 62-5 acres. 
 On the hypothesis that in such a spot as the Isle 
 
 ' See EUis, Introd. to Domesday. 
 
 " The numbers given are assumed, upon the supposition that 3x40 
 were taken : or that 4 x S, that is four Tirgates of eight acres ; or lastly 
 that thu-ty-three Saxon = nearly forty Konnan were taken. As I am 
 ahout to test the actual acreage of England by these numbers, it is as 
 well to try them all. The practical result cannot vary much, and the 
 principal object is to show that the Saxon Hide was not very different 
 from the ordinary German land-di^dsions. 
 
 ' Hist. Eccl. iv. 16. 
 
102 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 of Wight (in great portions of which vegetation is 
 not abundant) our Saxon forefathers had half as 
 much under cultivation as we now have, we should 
 obtain a quotient of about thirty-one acres to the 
 hide, leaving 49,610 acres of pasture, waste, etc.: the 
 ratio between the cultivated and uncultivated land, 
 being about 37:49, is much too near equality for 
 the general ratio of England, hut may be accounted 
 for by the peculiar circumstances of the island. 
 
 Again, Beda estimates Thanet at 600 hides i. 
 Now Thanet, at this day, contains 23,000 acres of 
 arable land, and 3500 of marsh and pastures. The 
 latter must have been far more extensive in the 
 time of Beda, for in the first place there must have 
 been some land on the side of Surrey and Sussex 
 reserved as Mark, and we know that drainage and 
 natural causes have reclaimed considerable tracts 
 in that part of Kent ^ ; nor is it reasonable to sup- 
 pose that our forefathers ploughed up as much 
 land as we do. Yet even 23,000 acres will give us 
 only 38^ acres to the hide ; and I do not think we 
 shall be venturing too much in placing the 3200, 
 3800 or 5000 acres by which 23,000 respectively 
 exceed 19,800, 19,200 and 18,000, to the account 
 of pastures and commons. Seven or eight thou- 
 sand acres of common land would bear in fact so 
 unusually small a proportion to the quantity under 
 crop, that we should be disposed to suspect the 
 islanders of having been less wealthy than many 
 
 1 Hist. Eccl. i. 25. 
 
 ^ The river Wantsum alone was three stadia wide, about a third of a 
 jnUe, and was'passable at two points only. Bed. Hist. Eccl. i. 25. 
 
CH. IV.] THE EDEL, HI'D OR ALOD. 103 
 
 of their neighbours, unless we give them credit 
 for having sacrificed bread crops to the far more 
 remunerative pasturage of cattle ^. 
 
 The whole acreage of Kent is 972,240 acres. 
 What amount of this must be deducted for waste, 
 rivers, roads and towns I cannot say, but some de- 
 duction is necessary. Now Kent numbered 15,000 
 hides: this gives a quotient of 64 to 65 acres per 
 hide ; and at the least, one half of this may fairly 
 be taken off for marsh, pasture and the weald of 
 Andred. 
 
 The calculation for Sussex is rendered uncertain 
 in some measure, through our ignorance of the rela- 
 tive proportion borne by the weald in the seventh 
 century or earlier, to its present extent. The whole 
 county is computed at 907,920 acres, and the weald 
 at 425,000 acres. We may be assured that every 
 foot of the weald was forest in the time of Beda : 
 to this must be added 110,000 acres which are 
 still waste and totally unfit for the plough : 30,000 
 acres now computed to be occupied by roads, build- 
 ings, etc. may be neglected : our amount will there- 
 fore state itself thus : 
 
 Whole acreage 907,920 
 
 Wealdand waste 535,000 
 
 372,920 acres. 
 
 ' The great fertility of Thanet is noticed by the ancients. Solinus 
 (cap. xxii.) calls it " frumentariis campis felix et gleba uberi." But com 
 is of no value without a market; and unless London or the adjacent 
 parts of the continent supplied one, I must still imagine that the 
 islanders did not keep so great an amount in arable. It is true that at 
 very early periods a good deal of com was habitually exported from 
 Britaia : " annona a Britannis sueta transferri." Ammian. Hist, xviii. 2. 
 
104 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 Now Sussex contained 7000 hides^, and this will 
 give us a quotient of 53-25 acres per hide. Here 
 again, if we make allowance for the condition of 
 Saxon husbandry, we shall hardly err much in as- 
 suming something near thirty to thirty-three acres 
 to have been the arable hide in Sussex. 
 
 When once we leave the accurate reports of a 
 historian like Beda for the evidence of later ma- 
 nuscripts, we must necessarily proceed with great 
 caution, and in reasonable distrust of our conclu- 
 sions. This must be borne in mind and fairly ap- 
 preciated throughout the following calculations. 
 
 An authority already mentioned ^ computes the 
 number of hides in Eastanglia at 30,000. It is 
 difficult to determine exactly what counties are 
 meant by this, as we do not know the date of the 
 document; but supposing, what is most probable, 
 that Norfolk and Suffolk are intended, we should 
 have a total of 2,241,060 acres in those two great 
 farming districts^. But even this large amount 
 will only give us a quotient of 73'7 acres per hide, 
 and it may fairly be diminished by at least one 
 half, to account for commons, marshes, forests and 
 other land not brought under the plough from the 
 seventh to the tenth centuries. 
 
 The same table states Essex at 7000 hides. The 
 acreage of that county is 979,000 acres*, hence 
 
 1 Beda, Hist. Eccl. iv. 13. ' See Chap. III. p. 82. 
 
 " Norf. 1,292,300, Suff. 918,760, =2,241,0G0. Of these I belieye 
 only about 2,000,000 are actually under cultivation, which would re- 
 duce the quotient to sixty-three acres and two-thirds per hide. 
 
 * Of which only 900,000 are computed to be now under cultivation : 
 this reduces the quotient to 128'5 acres per hide ; and the ratio of cid- 
 
cH.nv.] THE EDEL, HI'D OR ALOD. 105 
 
 upon the whole calculation we shall have 139f acres 
 per hide. But of course here a very great deduc- 
 tion is to be made for Epping, Hainault and other 
 forests, and for marshy and undrained land. 
 
 I shall now proceed to reverse the order of pro- 
 ceeding which has hitherto been adopted, and to 
 show that the hypothesis of the hide having com- 
 prised from thirty to thirty -three acres is the only 
 one which will answer the conditions found in va- 
 rious grants : that in a number of cases from very 
 different parts of England, a larger number of acres 
 would either be impossible or most improbable : 
 that it is entirely impossible for the hide to have 
 reached 120 or even 100 acres, and that the amount 
 left after deducting the arable, to form pastures 
 and meadows, is by no means extravagant. The 
 examples are taken from different charters printed 
 in the Codex Diplomaticus vEvi Saxonici, and for 
 convenience of reference are arranged tabularly. 
 The comparison is made with the known acreage, 
 taken from the. Parliamentary return of 18411. 
 The table is constructed upon the following plan. 
 The first column contains the name of the place; 
 the second, the number of hides; the third, the 
 actual acreage ; the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and 
 eighth, the hides calculated at thirty, thirty-two, 
 
 tivated to uncultivated laud is as 7 : 23, taking the hide at 30 acres ; 
 and as 77 : 223 taking the hide at 33 acres. 
 
 '■ Enumeration Ahstract, etc., 1841. I have also used the tables 
 found in Mr. Porter's Progress of the Nation ; in these however, the 
 total acreage, calculated apparently upon the square miles, differs 
 slightly from the results of the Government inquiry, Mr. Porter's 
 numbers always exceeding those of the Blve-hook. 
 
108 
 
 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. 
 
 [book I. 
 
 thirty-three, forty and one hundred acres respect- 
 ively ; the ninth, tenth, eleventh and tvpelfth, the 
 excess of real over supposed acreage, at the first four 
 amounts; the thirteenth, the excess of hidage over 
 real acreage on the hypothesis of one hundred acres 
 
 Name. 
 
 No. of 
 hidoB. 
 
 Actual 
 acreage. 
 
 Acreage Acreagi 
 at au. at :j2. 
 
 Acri-nge Acrt'iifro 
 at :);(. at -10, 
 
 Trottersoliff Kent. 
 
 Dailesford Kent. 
 
 Sunningwell Berks. 
 
 Denchworth Berks. 
 
 GraTeney Jvciil. 
 
 Marcham Berks. 
 
 /Kington Wilts. 
 
 \Kington Wilts. 
 
 Petersham Surrey 
 
 Brokenborough. . .Wilts. 
 
 f Alresf'ord Hants. 
 
 \Alresford Hants. 
 
 Whitchurch Hants. 
 
 Beddington Surrey. 
 
 {Compton Dorset. 
 Oompton Dorset. 
 
 Sanderstead Surrey. 
 
 fOlapham Surrey. 
 
 [ Clapham Surrey. 
 
 Micheldeyer Hants. 
 
 Wrington Soiners. 
 
 Barrow on Humb. Line. 
 
 Chertsey Surrey. 
 
 Sutton Surrey. 
 
 Aldingbourn Sussex. 
 
 Ferring Sussex. 
 
 Denton Sussex. 
 
 Bradfleld Berks. 
 
 Aston Burks. 
 
 Charing Kent. 
 
 King's Worthy ...Hants. 
 
 Hurstbome Prior.Hants. 
 
 Newnton Wilts. 
 
 Garford Berks. 
 
 Mordon Surrey. 
 
 Blewbury Berks. 
 
 Sotwell Berks. 
 
 Goosey Berks. 
 
 f Hanney, East ...Berks. 
 [Hanney, West ...Berks. 
 
 Badgwortb Somers. 
 
 Drayton Berks. 
 
 Barton Berks. 
 
 12 
 l> 
 15 
 30 
 •A2 
 50 
 40 
 40 
 10 
 50 
 40 
 40 
 110 
 70 
 40 
 40 
 
 •■a 
 
 30 
 
 30 
 
 100 
 
 20 
 
 fiO 
 200 
 30 
 ■.iH 
 12 
 26 
 48 
 55 
 (iO 
 
 yii 
 
 00 
 10 
 15 
 20 
 100 
 15 
 10 
 20 
 20 
 25 
 20 
 40 
 
 11,50 
 540 
 1200 
 2800 
 1920 
 4!I40 
 2;i20 
 y'.LjO 
 
 (ii;o 
 
 2'.)M 
 1250 
 3060 
 7330 
 
 .•jh:)o 
 
 l.'i'.KJ 
 1.520 
 22.^0 
 1(170 
 11)20 
 !.).')40 
 1530 
 4(;20 
 10(120 
 18,30 
 3800 
 1(170 
 
 WIO 
 4270 
 20; id 
 40BO 
 2190 
 3070 
 
 810 
 1170 
 1700 
 (-950 
 1,310 
 
 850 
 
 000 
 1390 
 1470 
 1050 
 3590 
 
 300 
 
 180 
 
 450 
 
 900 
 
 !)(•.() 
 
 1500 
 
 1200 
 
 1200 
 
 300 
 
 1500 
 
 1200 
 
 I'-'OO 
 
 3300 
 
 2100 
 
 1200 
 
 1200 
 
 OCiO 
 
 '.KM I 
 
 900 
 3000 
 
 00(1 
 1500 
 
 0000 
 
 !)00 
 
 114(1 
 
 360 
 
 750 
 
 1440 
 
 1050 
 
 1800 
 
 900 
 
 1800 
 
 300 
 
 450 
 
 000 
 
 3000 
 
 450 
 
 .300 
 
 000 
 
 000 
 
 7.50 
 
 000 
 
 1200 
 
 384 
 ]',)2 
 4 HO 
 
 !)(;() 
 
 1((24 
 
 1000 
 
 1280 
 
 1280 
 
 320 
 
 1000 
 
 J2K0 
 
 12S0 
 
 3520 
 
 2240 
 
 1280 
 
 1280 
 
 1024 
 
 900 
 
 900 
 
 3200 
 
 (540 
 
 1600 
 
 6400 
 
 9(i0 
 
 1216 
 
 384 
 
 800 
 
 1536 
 
 1700 
 
 l'.)20 
 
 900 
 
 1 920 
 
 ,320 
 
 480 
 
 640 
 
 3200 
 
 480 
 
 320 
 
 040 
 
 040 
 
 800 
 
 040 
 
 1280 
 
 396 
 
 I'.W 
 
 4115 
 
 1)110 
 
 10,'"]0 
 
 1(>5() 
 
 1.320 
 
 1,320 
 
 .3,30 
 
 lono 
 
 1,320 
 
 1,320 
 
 3030 
 
 2310 
 
 1320 
 
 1320 
 
 l()5(i 
 
 990 
 
 990 
 
 3300 
 
 0(i() 
 
 1(150 
 
 liOOO 
 
 1)1)0 
 
 1254 
 
 396 
 
 825 
 
 1,584 ' 
 
 1815 
 
 IDHO 
 
 91)0 
 
 1980 
 
 330 
 
 495 
 
 000 
 
 3,300 
 
 495 
 
 3,30 
 
 000 
 
 000 
 
 825 
 
 0(10 
 
 1.320 
 
 480 
 
 240 
 
 600 
 
 1200 
 
 1280 
 
 2()()0 
 
 1(100 
 
 1000 
 
 400 
 
 2()()() 
 
 1(100 
 
 1000 
 
 4400 
 
 2800 
 
 1600 
 
 1000 
 
 1280 
 
 1200 
 
 1200 
 
 4000 
 
 800 
 
 2000 
 
 HOOO 
 
 1200 
 
 1.520 
 
 4H0 
 
 1000 
 
 11)20 
 
 2200 
 
 2400 
 
 1200 
 
 2400 
 
 400 
 
 600 
 
 800 
 
 4(J0O 
 
 600 
 
 400 
 
 800 
 
 800 
 
 1000 
 
 800 
 
 1000 
 
CH. rv.] 
 
 THE EDEL, HI'D OR ALOD. 
 
 107 
 
 per hide; the fourteenth, fifteenth, sixteenth and 
 seventeenth, the ratios of hidage at thirty, thirty- 
 two, thirty-three and forty, to the excess, from 
 which we deduce the proportion between the arable, 
 and the meadow, pasture and waste. In a few in- 
 
 icesa 
 t33. 
 
 Excess 
 at 33, 
 
 Excess 
 at 40. 
 
 Excess 
 at 100. 
 
 Bat. at 30. 
 
 Eat. at 82. 
 
 Eat. at S3. 
 
 Eat. at 40. 
 
 776 
 
 7.54 
 
 670 
 
 -50 
 
 36:79 
 
 38 :77 
 
 39 : 75 
 
 4.8 67 
 
 348 
 
 342 
 
 300 
 
 -60 
 
 1 :2 
 
 15 : 29 
 
 10: 19 
 
 4:5 
 
 720 
 
 7U5 
 
 600 
 
 -800 
 
 3;5 
 
 5:8 
 
 30 : 47 
 
 1 : 1 
 
 1840 
 
 ISIO 
 
 1600 
 
 -200 
 
 9:19 
 
 12:23 
 
 96 : ISl 
 
 3:4 
 
 89li 
 
 8(>4 
 
 (UO 
 
 -X280 
 
 1 1 
 
 8:7 
 
 11 9 
 
 2: 1 
 
 J340 
 
 3290 
 
 2041 1 
 
 -60 
 
 75 : 172 
 
 80 : 167 
 
 165 : 329 
 
 100 : 147 
 
 LOiO 
 
 1000 
 
 720 
 
 — liiSO 
 
 15: 14 
 
 65 : 52 
 
 67 : 50 
 
 20:9 
 
 2(170 
 
 2(>3l) 
 
 23.50 
 
 -50 
 
 24 : 55 
 
 130 : 267 
 
 134 : 263 
 
 32:47 
 
 340 
 
 330 
 
 260 
 
 -a40 
 
 5:6 
 
 16: 17 
 
 1 : 1 
 
 20: 13 
 
 13S0 
 
 1300 
 
 950 
 
 -2050 
 
 30:29 
 
 32 : 27 
 
 33:26 
 
 40:19 
 
 -30 
 
 -70 
 
 -350 
 
 -2750 
 
 24:1 
 
 128: 5 
 
 132 : 5 
 
 
 
 !380 
 
 2340 
 
 20110 
 
 -340 
 
 20 : 41 
 
 64 : 119 
 
 66 : 117 
 
 80 : 103 
 
 J810 
 
 3700 
 
 2930 
 
 -3670 
 
 330 : 403 
 
 352 : 381 
 
 363 : 370 
 
 440 ; 293 
 
 590 
 
 1520 
 
 1030 
 
 -3170 
 
 210 : 173 
 
 224 : 169 
 
 231 : 152 
 
 280 : 103 
 
 110 
 
 70 
 
 -210 
 
 -2610 
 
 120 ; 19 
 
 128 : 11 
 
 132 : 7 
 
 
 
 240 
 
 200 
 
 -80 
 
 -2480 
 
 15:4 
 
 16:3 
 
 33: 5 
 
 
 
 126 
 
 1094 
 
 970 
 
 -950 
 
 32:43 
 
 512 : 563 
 
 52S : 547 
 
 12S : 97 
 
 110 
 
 80 
 
 -130 
 
 -1930 
 
 90: 17 
 
 96 : 11 ■ 
 
 99:8 
 
 
 
 960 
 
 930 
 
 720 
 
 -1080 
 
 45 : 51 
 
 1 :1 
 
 33:31 
 
 15:9 
 
 )140 
 
 6040 
 
 5340 
 
 -6(10 
 
 150 : 317 
 
 160 : 307 
 
 165 302 
 
 2ilO : 267 
 
 890 
 
 87U 
 
 730 
 
 -470 
 
 20 : 31 
 
 64 : 89 
 
 66:87 
 
 80:73 
 
 !020 
 
 2970 
 
 2620 
 
 -740 
 
 25 : 52 
 
 80 : 151 
 
 55 : 99 
 
 100 : 131 
 
 i620 
 
 3120 
 
 2020 
 
 — 9'JSO 
 
 300 : 201 
 
 320 : 181 
 
 330 : 171 
 
 400 : 101 
 
 870 
 
 840 
 
 630 
 
 -1170 
 
 30:31 
 
 32:29 
 
 33:28 
 
 120 : 63 
 
 864 
 
 1826 
 
 2280 
 
 
 
 57 : 190 
 
 304 : 485 
 
 627 : 913 
 
 38:57 
 
 686 
 
 674 
 
 590 
 
 -130 
 
 36:71 
 
 192 : 343 
 
 198 : 337 
 
 48:59 
 
 90 
 
 65 
 
 -110 
 
 -1610 
 
 75 : 14 
 
 80 : 9 
 
 165 : 13 
 
 
 
 !734 
 
 2686 
 
 2350 
 
 -.530 
 
 144 : 283 
 
 768 : 1367 
 
 7i)2 : 1343 
 
 192 : 235 
 
 270 
 
 215 
 
 -170 
 
 -3470 
 
 165 : 38 
 
 170:27 
 
 366 : 43 
 
 
 
 !140 
 
 2080 
 
 1660 
 
 -1940 
 
 90 113 
 
 96 : 107 
 
 99 : 104 
 
 120 : 83 
 
 230 
 
 1200 
 
 990 
 
 -810 
 
 30:43 
 
 32:41 
 
 33 : 40 
 
 40 ; 33 
 
 150 
 
 1090 
 
 670 
 
 -2930 
 
 180 ; 127 
 
 192 : 115 
 
 IDS : 109 
 
 240:67 
 
 490 
 
 480 
 
 410 
 
 -190 
 
 30:51 
 
 32:49 
 
 33:48 
 
 40:41 
 
 690 
 
 675 
 
 570 
 
 -330 
 
 45:72 
 
 48 ; 69 
 
 49 : 67 
 
 60 : 57 
 
 060 
 
 1040 
 
 900 
 
 -300 
 
 6 : 11 
 
 32 : 53 
 
 33 : 52 
 
 8:9 
 
 750 
 
 3650 
 
 2950 
 
 -2050 
 
 60:79 
 
 64 : 75 
 
 66 : 73 
 
 80:59 
 
 830 
 
 815 
 
 710 
 
 -190 
 
 45 : SO 
 
 4S: 83 
 
 93 : 163 
 
 60:71 
 
 530 
 
 620 
 
 450 
 
 -150 
 
 6:11 
 
 32:53 
 
 33: 52 
 
 8;9 
 
 -40 
 
 -60 
 
 -200 
 
 -1400 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 750 
 
 730 
 
 590 
 
 -610 
 
 60 : 79 
 
 64 : 75 
 
 66 : 73 
 
 80:59 
 
 670 
 
 645 
 
 470 
 
 -1030 
 
 75:72 
 
 80 : 67 
 
 55 : 43 
 
 100 : 47 
 
 310 
 
 1290 
 
 1150 
 
 -50 
 
 4:9 
 
 64 : 131 
 
 22:43 
 
 80 : 115 
 
 310 
 
 2270 
 
 990 
 
 -410 
 
 120 : 239 
 
 128 : 231 
 
 132 : 227 
 
 160 : 99 
 
108 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i 
 
 stances, there is a double return, implying that it is 
 uncertain to which, of two synonymous districts, 
 a grant must be referred. 
 
 We have thus forty-nine cases in which the 
 Hide is proved less than 100 acres, a fortiori less 
 than 120. Any one who carefully considers the 
 ratios arrived at in the foregoing table, which for 
 any one of the assumed cases rarely exceed one to 
 two, will agree that there is a remarkable coinci- 
 dence in the results, in at least the rich, fertile and 
 cultivated counties from which the examples are 
 derived. In some cases indeed the proportion of 
 arable to waste is so great, that we must suppose 
 other districts, now under cultivation, to have been 
 then entirely untouched, in order to conceive suflB- 
 cient space for marks and pastures. But lest it 
 should be objected that these examples can teach 
 us only what was the case in fertile districts, I sub- 
 join a calculation of the Hidage and Acreage of 
 all England, including all its barren moors, its fo- 
 rests, its marshes and its meadows, from the Solent 
 to the utmost limit of Northumberland. 
 
 The total Hidage of England = 243,600 
 The total Acreage of England =31 ,770,615 st. a. 
 
 Acreage at 30 7,308,000 Excess 24,462,615 Rat. 7 : 24 nearly. 
 32 7,795,200 . . 23,975,415 . . 1:3 
 
 8:23 
 3:8 
 24:7 
 14:1 
 
 This calculation leaves no doubt a bare possibility 
 of the hide's containing 100 or 120 statute-acres: 
 
 33 
 
 8,038,800 
 
 . 23,731,815 
 
 40 
 
 9,744,000 
 
 . 22,026,615 
 
 100 
 
 24,360,000 
 
 . 7,410,615 
 
 120 
 
 29,232,000 
 
 . 2,538,615 
 
CH. IV.] THE EDEL, HI'D OR ALOD. 109 
 
 but those who are inclined to believe that, taking 
 all England through, the proportion of cultivated to 
 uncultivated land was as 29: 3, or even as 24:7, it 
 must be owned, appreciate our ancient husbandry 
 beyond its merits ^ Cultivation may very proba- 
 bly have increased with great rapidity up to the 
 commencement of the ninth century ; and in that 
 case, waste land would have been brought under 
 the plough to meet the demands of increasing po- 
 pulation : but the savage inroads of the Northmen 
 which filled the next succeeding century must have 
 had a strong tendency in the opposite direction. I 
 can hardly believe that a third of all England was 
 vmder cultivation at the time of the conquest ; yet 
 this is the result which we obtain from a calcula- 
 tion of thirty-two or thirty-three acres to the hide, 
 while a calculation of forty acres gives us a result 
 of three-eighths, or very little less than one-half. 
 The extraordinary character of this result will best 
 appear from the following considerations. 
 
 If we proceed to apply these calculations to the 
 existing condition of England, we shall be still more 
 clearly satisfied that from thirty to thirty-three acres 
 is at any rate a near approximation to the truth. 
 
 ' I have taken tlie acreage as given in the Census of 1841, but there 
 is another calculation which makes it amount to 32,342,400 ; in which 
 case the several values must he corrected as follows. The general re- 
 sult is not in the least altered hy this change in the factors. 
 
 Acreage at 30 7,308,000 Excess 25,034,400 Eat. 7 : 25 
 
 24,547,200 . . 7 : 24 
 24,303,600 . . 1:3 
 
 32 7,795,200 
 
 33 8,038,800 
 40 9,744,000 
 
 100 24,360,000 
 
 120 29,232,000 
 
 22,598,400 .. 9:22 
 7,982,400 .. 24:7 
 3,110,400 .. 29:3 
 
110 
 
 THE S.\XONS IN ENGLAND. 
 
 [book I. 
 
 The exact data for England are I believe not found, 
 but in 1827 Mr. Couling, a civil engineer and sur- 
 veyor, delivered a series of calculations to the Select 
 Committee of the House of Commons on Emigra- 
 tion, which calculations have been reproduced by 
 Mr. 'Porter in his work on the Progress of the 
 Nation. From this I copy the following table: 
 
 Arable and 
 garden. 
 
 Meadow, 
 pasture, marsh. 
 
 Waste capable 
 
 of 
 improvement. 
 
 Waste incapable 
 
 of 
 
 improvement. 
 
 Summary. 
 
 Statute acrea. 
 10,252,800 
 
 Statute acrea. 
 
 15,379,200 
 
 Statute aorea. 
 3,454,000 
 
 Statute acres. 
 
 3,256,400 
 
 Statute aores. 
 32,342,400 
 
 Now as the arable and gardens are all that can 
 possibly be reckoned to the hide, we have these 
 
 figures : 
 
 Arable 10,252,800 
 
 Meadow, waste, forest, etc 22,089,600 
 
 giving a ratio of 5 : 11 nearly between the cultivated 
 and uncultivated 1. 
 
 The actual amount in France is difiicult to ascer- 
 tain, but of the 52,732,428 hectares of which its 
 superficial extent consists, it is probable that about 
 30,000,000 are under some sort of profitable cul- 
 ture: giving a ratio of rather less than 15:11 be- 
 tween the cultivated and uncultivated: how much 
 of this is arable and garden I cannot exactly deter- 
 mine ; but it is probable that a great deal is reck- 
 oned to profitable cultivation, which could not have 
 
 1 This differs from the result obtained at forty acres, only by the 
 small advance of -^-g : or taking Mr. Porter's tables, of -^. 
 
CH. IV.] THE EDEL HI'D OR ALOD. Ill 
 
 been counted in the hide. Osieries, meadows, or- 
 chards, cultivated or artificial grassland, and brush- 
 wood, are all sources of profit, and thus are pro- 
 perly included in a cadastre of property which may 
 be tithed or taxed as productive: but they are not 
 strictly what the hide was, and must be deducted 
 in any calculation such as that which is the object 
 of this chapter. We are unfortunately also fur- 
 nished with inconsistent amounts by different au- 
 thorities, where the difi'erence rests upon what is 
 reckoned to profitable cultivation, on which subject 
 there may be a great variety of opinion. Still, for 
 a time neglecting these considerations, and making 
 no deduction whatever, it appears that the excess 
 of culture upon the gross sum is only as 15:11 in 
 France^. 
 
 In the returns from Austria we can follow the 
 
 ' The hectare is about 2-5 acres. The calculations have been va- 
 riously made. One is as follows : 
 
 Total superficies 52,732,428 hect. 
 
 Profitably cultured, including gardens, osier- j 
 
 ies, willow plantations, orchards, meadows V 30,000,000 hect. 
 
 and cultivated pastures 1 
 
 Forests and landes 10,000,000 . . 
 
 Useless land 7,000,000 . . 
 
 47,000,000 . . 
 Another, and I believe sounder, calculation makes the forests and 
 landes amount to 
 
 Forest 8,623,128 hect. 
 
 Landes 8,000,000 . . 
 
 16,623,128 .. 
 
 Where, probably, portions of the wood and lande are not reckoned to 
 the land under profitable cultivation. StiU this is a very different thing 
 from being under the ■plough. 
 
112 
 
 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. 
 
 [book I. 
 
 same train of reasoning : as the ensuing table will 
 show. 
 
 Provinces. 
 
 Product. Burf. in joehs. (joch = 1-4 acre). 
 
 Arable. 
 
 Vines. 
 
 Meadows. 
 
 Commons. 
 
 Forests. 
 
 Total. 
 
 LowerAUBtria 
 UiJperAustria 
 
 1,399.910 
 834,556 
 709,147 
 477,492 
 245,738 
 377,300 
 
 3,889,979 
 
 2,213,855 
 
 5,770,388 
 161,228 
 
 80,153 
 27 
 54,875 
 16,814 
 26,132 
 55,300 
 4,446 
 
 51,793 
 
 30 
 100,530 
 
 447,758 
 530,601 
 456,960 
 556,973 
 171,252 
 432,930 
 948,468 
 
 390,152 
 
 2,068,032 
 
 28,728 
 
 251,347 
 517,683 
 596,341 
 763,846 
 520,866 
 648,800 
 611,501 
 
 463,098 
 
 1,360,166 
 568,538 
 
 1,122,285 
 1,141,823 
 1,773,564 
 1,528,942 
 317,246 
 1,946,200 
 2,316,298 
 
 1,114,849 
 
 4,250,932 
 300,874 
 
 3,301,453 
 3,024,690 
 3,590,887 
 3,344,067 
 1,281,234 
 3,460,530 
 7,770,692 
 
 4,233,747 
 
 13,449„548 
 1,159,898 
 
 Oarinthia ... 
 
 Illyria 
 
 Tyrol 
 
 Bohemia 
 
 Moravia & ' 
 Silesia . . . / 
 
 G-alicia 
 
 Dalmatia . . . 
 
 Total ... 
 
 16,079,593 
 
 390,100 
 
 6,031,854 
 
 6,302,186 
 
 15,813,012 
 
 44,616,746 
 
 Thus of the whole productive surface of the 
 Austrian empire, the arable bears only the propor- 
 tion of 4: 11. But to tliis must clearly be added 
 an immense extent of land totally unfitted for the 
 plough ; by which the ratio of arable to the whole 
 territorial surface will be materially diminished. 
 Strange then as the conclusion may appear, we are 
 compelled to admit that England at the close of the 
 tenth century had advanced to a high pitch of cul- 
 tivation: while the impossiblity of reckoning the 
 hide at much above thirty Saxon acres is demon- 
 strated. It is clear, however the property of the 
 land may have been distributed, that the elements 
 of wealth existed in no common degree^. 
 
 ' It is well known that great quantities of land were thrown out of 
 cultivation to produce chases and forests. And the constant wars of 
 the baronial ages must have had the same effect. However singular we 
 may think it, we can hardly avoid the conclusion that, in some districts 
 of England, the Saxons may have had more land in cultivation than we 
 
CH. IV.] THE EDEL, HI'D OR ALOD. 113 
 
 The number of forty acres has of course been 
 taken solely for the purpose of getting a common 
 measure with the present acre assumed in the parlia- 
 mentary survey. Whether it corresponded exactly 
 with thirty, thirty-two or thirty-three Saxon acres, 
 it is impossible to say, but I have shown that the 
 difference could not be very great. Something may 
 be alleged in favour of each of these numbers ; but 
 on the whole the larger one of thirty-three acres 
 seems to me the most probable. A valuable entry 
 of the year 967 may help us to some clearer con- 
 clusioni. In this document Bishop Oswald states 
 himself to have made a grant of se6 Jjridde hind 
 at Dydinccotan, Sset is, se J^ridde secer, — the third 
 hind at Didcot, that is, the third acre. It is cer- 
 tain that at some very early period the word hund 
 denoted ten, whence we explain its occurrence in 
 such numerals as hundseofontig, hundeahtatig, etc. 
 The word hind then, I derive from this hund, and 
 render by tenth, and the grant seems to have con- 
 veyed the third tenth, which can only be said of a 
 quantity containing three times ten units of some 
 description or other. But this third tenth is fur- 
 ther described as being every third acre, that is, a 
 third of the whole land ; and ten units make up 
 this third : it seems therefore not unreasonable to 
 suppose that the acre was the unit in question, that 
 
 ourselves had at the beginning of George the Third's reign ; Mr. Por- 
 ter calculates that from 1760 to 1844, no less than 7,076,610 acres 
 have been brought into cultivation under Inclosure Bills. Pr. of the 
 Nation, 154. 
 ' Cod. Dipl. No. 538. 
 
 VOL. I. I 
 
114 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 ten such acres constituted the hind, and that the 
 hind itself was the third part of the hide. When 
 we consider that thirty acres are exactly three 
 times an area of 40 X 40 square rods, there appears 
 a probability that the measure was calculated upon 
 a threefold course of cultivation, similar to that in 
 use upon the continent of Europe; this consisted 
 of a rotation of winter corn, summer corn, and 
 fallow, and to each a block or telga of ten large or 
 forty small acres (roods) was allotted. Thirty acres 
 were thus devoted to cultivation; but where was 
 the homestall 1 Probably not upon the thirty acres 
 themselves, which we cannot suppose to have been 
 generally enclosed and sundered, but to have lain 
 undivided, as far as external marks were concerned, 
 in the general arable of the community. The village 
 containing the homesteads of the markers, probably 
 lay at a little distance from the fields i, and I do 
 not think we shall be giving too much when we 
 allow three acres, over and above the thirty, for 
 farm buildings, strawyard and dwelling. For we 
 cannot doubt that stall-feeding was the rule with 
 regard to horned cattle in general. In the same 
 dialogue which has been already cited, the plough- 
 man is made to say : " I must fill the oxen's cribs 
 
 ^ " In the greater part (of Germany), especially in all the populous 
 parts of Southern Germany, the land is tilled by its owners, scarcely 
 any small holdings heing farmed out. The possessions of the peasant 
 owners and cultivators are usually very diminutive, and those of the 
 richer lords of the soil, especially in the North, immensely extensive. 
 Lastly, the peasant scarcely anywhere lives upon his land, hut in the 
 adjacent village, whatever may he its distance from his fields." Ban- 
 field, Agric. on the Rhine, p. 10. 
 
CH. IV.] THE EDEL, HI'D OR ALOD. 116 
 
 with hay, and give them water, and bear out their 
 dung ^." Moreover there must be room found for 
 stacks of hay and wood, for barns and outhouses, 
 and sleeping-rooms both for the serfs and the mem- 
 bers of the family ; nor are houses of more than 
 one story very likely to have been built 2. With 
 this introduction I proceed to another grant of 
 Oswald^. In the year 996, he gave three hides of 
 land to Eadric : the property however lay in diffe- 
 rent places: "get Eanulfestune oSerhealf hid, "] set 
 uferan Strsetforda, on 'Ssere gesyndredan hide, 'Sone 
 oSeme secer, *J set Fachanleage 'Sone J^riddan secer 
 feldlandes .... "j on easthealfe Afene eahta seceras 
 msedwa,'jforne gean Biccenclife. xii. seceras msedwa, 
 ■] l^reo secras benor^an Afene to myllnstealle ;" 
 i. e. "at Eanulfestun a hide and a half; at upper 
 Stratford the second acre (i. e. half a hide); at Fach- 
 anleah the third acre (i. e. a third of a hide) ; on 
 the east of the river Avon, eight acres of meadow, 
 and onwards towards Biccancliff, twelve acres ; and 
 to the northward of the Avon, the three acres for 
 a millstall." Our data here are 1^ hide + ^ hide 
 +f hide, or 2^ hides ; but, if the calculations which 
 precede are correct, 8 + 12 acres or 20 acres = f 
 hide, and thus make up three hides of thirty acres 
 each : three acres devoted to mill-buildings are not 
 reckoned into the sum, and it is therefore possi- 
 ble that a similar course was pursued with regard 
 
 Leo, Sprachproben, p. 7. Thorpe, Analect. p. 8. 
 In Hungary, where land is abundant, houses, even those of con- 
 siderable proprietors, are rarely of more than one story. 
 ' Cod. Dipl. No. 529. 
 
 i2 
 
116 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 to the land occupied, not by the millstall but by 
 the homestalP. 
 
 Having thus stated my own view of the approxi- 
 mate value of the hide, I feel it right to cite one or 
 two passages which seem adverse to it. By a grant 
 of the year 977, Oswald conveyed to ^^elwald, 
 two hides, all but sixty acres ; these sixty acres the 
 bishop had taken into his own demesne or inland 
 at Kempsey, as wheat-land ^. Now if this be an ac- 
 curate reading, and not by chance an ill-copied Ix 
 for ix, it would seem to imply that sixty acres were 
 less than a hide ; for these acres were clearly arable. 
 
 Again, ^ESelred granted land at Stoke to Leofric 
 in 982 : the estate conveyed was of three hides and 
 thirty acres, called in one chsLvter Jugera, in another 
 part of the same grant, cecera ^. It may be argued 
 that here the acres were meadow or pasture, not 
 included in the arable. But there are other calcula- 
 tions upon the jugerum^, which render it probable 
 that less than our statute-acre was intended by the 
 term. For example, in 839, king ^iE^elwulf gave 
 
 ^ It is to he remarked that the eight and twelve acres of meadow 
 are distinguished here from the feld-land or arable : and in strictness 
 they ought not to he calculated into the hide ; hut perhaps it was 
 intended to plough them up : or Oswald may even have begun to 
 follow a system in which arable and meadow should both be included 
 in the hide, which is equivalent, in other words, to the attempt to re- 
 place the wasteful method of unenclosed pastures by a more civilized 
 arrangement of the land. He speaks indeed, on more than one occa- 
 sion, of granting gedal-land, and land to gedale, which can hardly 
 mean anything but neio enclosures. 
 
 ^ Cod. Dipl. No. 612. ^ Ibid. No. 633. 
 
 * According to Hiny, the jugerum was a day's work for a yoke of 
 oxen, i.e.,nearly an acre ; but the Saxon jugerum can hardly have been 
 so large, for the reasons given in the text. 
 
CH. IV.] THE EDEL, HI'D OR ALOD. 117 
 
 Dudda ten jugera within the walls of Canterbury : 
 now Canterbury at this day comprises only 3240 
 acres, and taking the area of almost any provincial 
 town, it seems hardly probable that ten full acres 
 within the walls should have been granted to any 
 person, especially to one who, like Dudda, was of 
 no very great consideration. A town-lot of two 
 acres and a half, or ten roods, is conceivable. 
 
 The last example to be quoted is from a will of 
 iElfgar^, a king's thane, about 958. In this, among 
 other legacies, he grants to .^^elgar a hide of 
 120 acres : " and ic ^^elgar an an hide lond ^es 
 ^e iE'Sulf hauede be hundtuelti acren, ateo so he 
 wille." In this instance I am inclined to think that 
 the special description implies a difference from the 
 usual computation : if a hide were always 120 acres, 
 why should ^Ifgar think it necessary to particu- 
 larize this one hide X was there a large hide of 
 120, as well as a small one of thirty I In the other 
 cases — looking at the impossibility , of assigning 
 more than forty statute-acres to the Saxon hide, 
 so plainly demonstrated by the tables — I suppose 
 the secras to be small acres or roods. 
 
 It is scarcely necessary to say that where the 
 number of hides mentioned in any place falls very 
 far short of the actual acreage, no argument can 
 be derived any way. The utmost it proves is that 
 only a certain amount, however inconsiderable, was 
 under the plough. Thus Beda tells us that An- 
 glesey contained 960, lona or Icolmkill, only five, 
 
 1 Cod. Dipl. No. 1222. 
 
118 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 hides^. The acreage of Anglesey gives 150,000 
 acres under cultivation : this would be 156"33 per 
 hide ; but in this island a very great reduction is 
 necessary : taking it even as it stands, and calcu- 
 lating the hide at thirty acres, we should have a 
 ratio of 24 : 101 ; at forty acres, a ratio of 32 : 93 
 or little more than 1:3. 
 
 lona numbers about 1300 acres (nearly tvro square 
 miles) : this at five hides would give 260 acres per 
 hide : at thirty acres, a ratio of 3 : 23 or nearly 
 1 : 8 between cultivated and uncultivated land : or 
 at forty acres, a ratio of 2 : 11. But the monks and 
 their dependants were the only inhabitants ; and in 
 the time of Beda, up to which there is no proof of 
 the land's having been inhabited at all (in fact it 
 was selected expressly because a desert), sand, if 
 not forest, must have occupied a large proportion 
 of the surface. 
 
 Let us now retrace our steps for a few moments. 
 The hide was calculated upon the arable : it was 
 the measure of the alod, — the e^el, or inherited, 
 individual possession; it was the K\rjpoc, lot, or 
 share of the first settler : it kept a plough at work 
 during the year: and, according to its etymology 
 (liigid) and the word familia by which it was trans- 
 lated, it was to suffice for the support of one Hiwisc 
 or household. 
 
 Did it really so suffice, at first and afterwards? 
 Unquestionably it did. We may safely assert this, 
 without entering into nice speculations as to the 
 
 ' Hist. Eccl. ii. 9 ; iii. 4. 
 
as. IV.] THE EDEL, HI'D OR ALOD. 119 
 
 amount of population in the Saxon kingdoms of the 
 seventh, eighth, ninth, or even eleventh centuries. 
 We know that in the eighth century, 150 hides were 
 enough for the support and comfort of 600 monks 
 in Yarrow and Wearmouth^; there is no reason, 
 from their history, to suppose that they were at all 
 sparingly provided for. But allowance must be 
 made also for serfs and dependants, the exercise of 
 hospitality and charity, the occasional purchase of 
 books, vestments and decorations, the collection of 
 reliques, and the maintenance of the fabric both of 
 the church and monastery. Grants and presents, 
 offerings and foundations would do much, but still 
 some portion of these necessary expenses must be 
 carried to the account of the general fund. At this 
 rate however, one hide was capable of maintaining 
 four full-grown men. 
 
 Now even at the present day an industrious man 
 can very well support his family upon, not thirty 
 or forty, but ten acres of average land^. If we look 
 at the produce of such a threefold course as has 
 been mentioned, there can hardly be any doubt 
 upon the subject; the cultivator would have every 
 year twenty Saxon (=26f Norman) acres under 
 some kind of corn, principally barley in all proba- 
 bility, though much wheat was grown. Assuming 
 the yield at only two quarters per acre, which is an 
 
 ' Anon. Abb. Gyrw. § 83. TMs at forty actual acres, is ten acres 
 per man. 
 
 ^ We need not enter upon the question whether such a plot of land 
 can be well cultivated (except as a garden), or whether it is desirable 
 that there should be such a class of cultivators. All I assert is, that a 
 man can support his family upon it. 
 
120 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 almost ludicrous understatement of the probable 
 amount^, we give each householder forty quarters 
 of cereals, at the very lovpest, and deducting his 
 seed-corn and the public taxes, we still leave him a 
 very large amount. The average annual consump- 
 tion of wheat per head in England is now computed 
 at one quarter : let us add one half to compensate 
 for the less nutritious qualities of barley, and we 
 shall yet be under the mark if we allow our house- 
 holder at the close of the year, a net receipt of thirty 
 quarters, or food for at least twenty persons. Add 
 to this the cattle, and especially swine fed in the 
 forests, — which paid well for their own keep, and 
 gave a net surplus — and the ceorl or owner of one 
 hide of land, independently of his political rights, 
 becomes a person of some consideration from his 
 property ^ : in short he is fully able to maintain 
 himself, his wife and child, the ox that ploughs, 
 and the slave that tends his land, — owning much 
 more indeed, than, in Hesiod's eyes, would have 
 sufficed for these purposes ^. It may be admitted 
 
 ' The fertility of England was always celebrated, and under the 
 Romans it exported cereals largely. See Gibbon's calculation of an 
 export under Julian. Dec. F. cap. xix. Our present average yield of 
 wheat exceeds 30 bushels or .3-75 qrs. 
 
 ^ If he had a market for his surplus, he might accumulate wealth. 
 Even if he had not this, he insured a comfortable, though rude subsist- 
 ence, for his household. The spiw to exertion, urging him to acquire 
 luxuries, might be wanting, and the national advancement in refine- 
 ment thus retarded : but he had a sufficiency of the necessaries of life, 
 and an independent existence in the body of the family and the Mark. 
 Such a state necessarily precedes the more cultivated stages of society. 
 
 ' OLKOV fiiv vpaiTKTTa, yvvaiKa re, fiovv r dpoTrjpa. 
 
 Cited in Aristot. Polit. bk. i. cap. 1. 
 The land of a fuUborn Spartan may have been somewhat less than the 
 
CH. IV.] THE EDEL, HI'D OR ALOD. 121 
 
 that the skies of Greece and Italy showered kind- 
 lier rays upon the Ionian or the Latin than visited 
 the rough denizen of our Thule ; that less food of 
 any kind, and especially less meat, was required for 
 their support^, and that they felt no necessity to 
 withdraw large amounts of barley from the annual 
 yield, for the purpose of producing fermented 
 liquors ^ ; still, as far as the amount of land is con- 
 cerned, the advantage is incontestably on the side 
 of the Anglosaxon; and in this one element of 
 wealth, our ceorl was comparatively richer than the 
 comrade of Eomulus or the worshipper of Athene. 
 
 Saxon hide : but let ttose who think these amounts too small, remem- 
 ber the two jugera (under two acres) which formed the haeredium of 
 a Roman patrician. 
 
 ' Hecataeus says the Arcadians fed upon barley-bread and pork, 
 'ApKabiKov fie delirvov. . . .'EKaratos. . . .fid^as (pr}f7lv elvai Ka\ veia Kpea, 
 Athen. iv. 148. But the Arcadians, both in blood and manners, pro- 
 bably resembled the Saxons more than any other Greeks did ; and what 
 Hecataeus says of them would not apply to the inhabitants of Attica. 
 
 ' After the Persian wars at least, when the Greeks prided themselves 
 on drinking wine, not beer : 
 
 aXX* ap<r€vds rot T^(rSe y^s oiKTjTopas 
 fvpT}(reT) oil Tvivovras iK Kpt6cov jx46v. 
 
 Msck. Supp. 929. 
 
122 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 PERSONA_L RA.NK. THE FREEMAN. THE NOBLE. 
 
 The second principle laid down in the first chapter 
 of this book, is that of personal rank, vs'hich in the 
 Teutonic scheme appears inseparably connected 
 with the possession of land. 
 
 The earliest records we can refer to, place before 
 us a system founded upon distinctions of birth, as 
 clearly as any that we can derive from the Parlia- 
 mentary writs or rolls of later ages : in our histpry 
 there is not even a fabulous Arcadia, wherein we 
 may settle a free democracy : for even where the 
 records of fact no longer supply a clue through the 
 labyrinths of our early story, the epic continues the 
 tradition, and still celebrates the deeds of nobles 
 and of kings. 
 
 Tacitus, from whom we derive our earliest infor- 
 mation, supplies us with many details, which not 
 only show the existence of a system, but tend also 
 to prove its long prevalence. He tells us not only 
 of nobles, but also of kings, princes and inherited 
 authority 1, more or less fully developed: and the 
 
 ' The Oherusci feeling the want of a king sent to Rome for a de- 
 scendant of Arminius. Tac. An. xi. 17. The Heruli Ln Illyria having 
 slain their king, sent to their brethren in Thule (Scandinavia) for a 
 descendant of the blood royal. During his journey however they ac- 
 cepted another king from the hands of Justinian. This person and 
 their alliance with the emperor they renounced upon the arrival of the 
 
CH. v.] THE FREEMAN. TPIE NOBLE. 123 
 
 unbiassed judgment of the statesman who witnessed 
 the operation of institutions strange to himself, 
 warns us against theoretical appeals to the fancied 
 customs of ages not contemporaneous with our 
 own. The history of Europe knows nothing of a 
 period in which there were not freemen, nobles and 
 serfs; andf the institutions of Europe, in proportion 
 as we pursue them to their earliest principles, fur- 
 nish only the stronger confirmation of history. We 
 may, no doubt, theorize upon this subject, and 
 suggest elementary forms, as the necessary con- 
 ditions of a later system : but this process is and 
 must be merely hypothetical, nor can such forms 
 be shown to have had at any time a true. historical 
 existence. That every German was, in the begin- 
 ning. Kaiser and Pope in his own house^ may be 
 perfectly true in one sense ; just as true is it that 
 every Englishman's house is his castle. Neverthe- 
 less, the German lived under some government, 
 civil or religious, or both : and — to the great ad- 
 vantage of society — the process of law surmounts 
 without the slightest difficulty the imaginary battle- 
 ments of the imaginary fortress. 
 
 The whole subject must be considered in one of 
 two ways : with reference, namely, to a man living 
 
 prineefrom tlie North. Procop. Bell. Got, ii. 15. " Reges ex nobilitate, 
 duces ex virtute sumunt." Tac. Germ. vii. " Magna patrum merita 
 principis dignationem etiam adolescentulis assignant." Ibid. xiii. 
 Altbougli mere boys might be kings, they could hardly be duces, in 
 the old Teutonic sense. 
 
 ' Miiser, Osnabriickische Geschichte (1780), 1" Abschn. § 8. 
 " Solche einzelne wohner waren Priester und Kbnige in ihren Hauseru 
 und Hofmarken," etc. See his references to Tac. Germ. x. etc. 
 
124 THE SAXOXS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 alone with his family, or to the same man and 
 family, in a bond of union with others, that is in 
 the state. 
 
 Could we conceive a permanent condition of 
 society, such that each particular family lived 
 apart, without connection or communion with 
 others, we must admit the inevitable grflwth of a 
 patriarchal system, of which the eldest member of 
 the family would be the head ; a system similar to 
 that which we do find described as prevailing in 
 the wandering family of Abraham. But such a 
 condition could only exist at a period of time, and 
 in a state of the earth, which admitted of frequent 
 migration, and while the population bore a small 
 proportion to the means of support, perhaps even 
 in countries where water is of greater value than 
 land. Thus the moment the family of Abraham 
 became too numerous, and his herdsmen found it 
 necessary to defend their wells and pastures against 
 the herdsmen of Lot, a separation took place and 
 the Scheiks parted, according to the provisions of 
 a solemn compact, that there might not be strife 
 between them^. But, setting aside the mysterious 
 purposes for which the race of Abraham were made 
 wanderers, and which impress an exceptional cha- 
 racter upon their whole history, it is clear that 
 even they were surrounded by a society, whose con- 
 ditions were totally diflTerent from any that could 
 have existed in Germany. They fled from the face 
 of a depraved cultivation, prevalent in the cities, 
 
 ' Genesis xiii. 6, sey. 
 
CH, v.] THE FREEMAN. THE NOBLE. 125 
 
 and they were sojourners only from place to place, 
 till the fulness of time, when they were to found 
 the normal theocracy of the world. 
 
 To a certain degree they resembled the squatters 
 in the backwoods of America; like them, they esta- 
 blished a law for themselves, and acted upon it: 
 — with the nature of that law, divine or human, we 
 have nothing to do, for the purposes of this in- 
 quiry : — in this sense, indeed, they could be kings 
 and priests in their own house ; but so are, or were, 
 the North American Regulators, who, in their own 
 families and among all over whom they could esta- 
 blish their power, acted as judges, and both pro- 
 mulgated and executed a law which was necessary 
 to their very existence in the widerness. 
 
 But I find it impossible to admit that the origin 
 of our Germanic nations is to be found in any such 
 solitary households, or families ; were it true, as 
 Moser appears to argue^, of some parts of West- 
 phalia, it would not be so of other districts in 
 southern Germany, as he indeed admits^, and, 
 particularly, it would not be true of England. In 
 these two cases there can be no doubt that some 
 kind of military organization preceded the peace- 
 ful settlement, and in many respects determined 
 its mode and character^. But, even if we admit 
 
 ' Osnab. Gesch. i. § 2. = Ibid. i. §. 7. 
 
 ^ There cannot be any doubt respecting England, where the 
 - Germanic race are not autochthonous. The organization of the Suevi 
 may be learnt from Caesar (Bell. Gall. iv. 1, 2, 3), and Moser very 
 justly observes that the Swabian law must necessarily have difi'ered 
 from the Saxon. Osnab. Gesch. i. § 7. So, to a certain degree, must 
 the Anglosaxon from both. 
 
126 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i 
 
 to the fullest extent, the doctrine of solitary set- 
 tlements, we must still contend that these are, in 
 their very nature, temporary; that they contain 
 no possible provision for stability, in short that 
 they are excluded by the very idea itself of a state ; 
 yet it is as a member of a state that man exists, 
 that he is intended to exist^, and unless as a mem- 
 ber of a state, he is incapable of existing as a man. 
 He can as little create a language as create a state : 
 he is born to both, for both, and without both he 
 cannot exist at all. 
 
 Each single family then is a state : two, three or 
 four families are a state, under larger conditions. 
 How are these last to be settled ] 
 
 Where a number of independent households are 
 thinly dispersed over a portion of the country, their 
 reciprocal relations and position will probably be 
 more or less of the following lynd. 
 
 Some arrangement will exist for the regulation 
 of the terms on which the use of the woods, waters 
 and common uncultivated land may be enjoyed by 
 all the settlers : it is even possible that they may 
 have some common religious ceremonies as the 
 basis of this arrangement^. But further than this 
 there need be no union or mutual dependence ; 
 each solitary homestead is a state by itself, pos- 
 sessing the jus belli ; in no federal relation to, 
 and consequently in a state of war with, every 
 
 ' Aristotle's Politics, book i. cap. 1. Dahlmann, Politik, § 1, 2, 3. 
 
 ^ It is of course extremely difficult to conceive this apart from the 
 existence of a common priesthood ; but such a priesthood is already 
 the commencement of a regular state. 
 
CH. v.] THE FREEMAN. THE NOBLE. 127 
 
 other household, even though this right of war 
 should not be in active operation at any given 
 moment^. 
 
 In his own household every man may bear rule, 
 either following his own arbitrary will, or in accord- 
 ance with certain general principles, which he pro- 
 bably recognizes in common with his neighbours. 
 He may have a family worship of his own, of which 
 he will be the chief priest^, and which worship may 
 or may not be consistent with that of his neighbours. 
 If he is troublesome to them, they may root him 
 out, slay or enslave him, do with him what seems 
 good in their eyes, or whatsoever they have power 
 to do. If he thrives and accumulates wealth, they 
 may despoil him, or he oppress them, — all, how- 
 ever, jure belli, for there can be no jus imperii in 
 such a case. 
 
 This, however, cannot be the normal state of 
 man. The anxious desire, it might almost be called 
 instinctive yearning, to form a part of a civilized 
 society, forbids its continuance, not less than the 
 obvious advantage of entering into a mutual gua- 
 rantee of peace and security. The production of 
 food and other necessaries of life is the first busi- 
 
 ' In such a case, power or force being tlie only terra of reference, 
 each household will be determined by that alone in its intercourse 
 with others. If A wants a slave, he will war upon and take B, if he 
 can : but to prevent this, B and C will unite ; so that at last a 
 regulated union is found best for all parties, in respect to themselves 
 as a community, and against all other communities. 
 
 " Tac. Germ. x. " Si publico consuletur, Saoerdos civitatis, sinpri- 
 vatim, ipsepaterfamiliae, precatus Deos . . . ." This seems to indicate, at 
 the commencement, an independent priestly power in the paterfamilias. 
 Compare the remarkable history in Judges, cap. xvii, xviii. 
 
128 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i 
 
 ness of men : the attempt to take forcible possession 
 of, or to defend, accumulated property, presupposes 
 the accumulation. While the land and water are 
 more than sufBcient for the support of the popula- 
 tion, the institutions proper to peace will prevail. 
 It is inconceivable, and repugnant to the very 
 nature of man, that such institutions should not be 
 established the moment that two or more separate 
 families become conscious of each other's existence^* 
 and in respect to our Germanic forefathers, we find 
 such in full vigour from their very first appearance 
 in history. 
 
 Some of the institutions essential to the great 
 aim of establishing civil society at the least possible 
 sacrifice of individual freedom — such as the Wer- 
 gild, the Frank pledge, etc. — will be investigated in 
 their proper places : they seem to offer a nearly 
 perfect guarantee for society at an early period. 
 But for the present we must confine ourselves to 
 the subject of personal rank : and as the centre and 
 groundwork of the whole Teutonic scheme is the 
 individual freeman, it is with him that we must 
 commence our investigation. 
 
 The natural divisions into which all human society 
 must be distributed, with respect to the beings 
 that form it, are the Free and the Unfree^, those 
 
 ' The only place where I can admit of such solitary settlements ig 
 Scandinavia, and even there they must have formed the exception, 
 not the rule. See Chap. II. p. 68. 
 
 ^ " Summa itaque divisio per.sonarum hsec est, quod omnes homines 
 aut liberi sunt aut servi." Fleta, bk. i. cap. I. " Est autem libertas, 
 naturalis facultas ejus, quod cuique facere lihet, nisi quod de jure aut 
 vi prohibetur." Ibid. cap. 2. 
 
CH. v.] THE FREEMAN. THE NOBLE. 129 
 
 who can protect themselves and those who must 
 be in the protection of others. Even in the family 
 this distinction must be found, and the wife and 
 son are unfree in relation to the husband and 
 the father ; they are in his mund. From this mund 
 the son indeed may be emancipated, but not the 
 wife or daughter : these can only change it ; the 
 wife by the act of God, namely the death of the 
 husband ; the daughter by marriage. In both cases 
 the mund passes over into other hands ^ 
 
 Originally the Freeman is he who possesses at 
 least as much land as, being tilled, will feed him, 
 strength and skill to labour, and arms to defend 
 his possession. Married to one free woman who 
 shares his toils, soothes his cares, and orders his 
 household, he becomes the founder of the family 
 — the first unit in the state : the son who springs 
 from this marriage, completes the family, and 
 centres in himself the blood, the civil rights and 
 the affections of his two progenitors. It is thus, 
 through the son, that the family becomes the foun- 
 dation of the state ^. 
 
 The union of a greater or less number of free 
 heads of houses upon a district sufficient for their 
 support, in a mutual guarantee of equal civil rights, 
 is the state itself: for man is evidently formed by 
 God to live in a regulated .community, by which 
 mode of life alone he can develope the highest 
 
 ' See Fleta, bk. i. cap. 5, 6, 7, 9. 
 
 " It is probably in this sense that the Hindu Institutes assert, 
 " Then only ia a man perfect when he consists of three persons united, 
 his wife, himself, and his son." Manu, ch. ix. 45. 
 
 OL. I. K 
 
130 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 qualities of the nature which God has implanted in 
 him ; and the first community is the union of free 
 men for purposes of friendly intercourse and mutual 
 aid, each enjoying at the hands of every other the 
 same rights as he is willing to grant to every other, 
 each yielding something of his natural freedom in 
 order that the idea of state, that is of orderly go- 
 vernment, may be realized. For the state is neces- 
 sary, not accidental. Man not living in a state, 
 not having developed and in some degree realized 
 the idea of state, is, in so far, not man but beast. 
 He has no past and no future : he lives for the 
 day, and does not even accumulate for the days to 
 come : he lives, thinks, feels and dies like a brute. 
 For man is free through the existence, not the ab- 
 sence, of law ; through his voluntary and self-con- 
 scious relinquishment of the power to do wrong, 
 and the adoption of means to counteract and dimi- 
 nish his own tendency to evil. The amount of 
 personal liberty to be given up is the only question 
 of practical importance, but from the idea of Free- 
 dom itself results the law, that this amount must 
 be in all cases a minimum. 
 
 The ideas of freedom and equality are not, how- 
 ever, inseparable : a nation of slaves may exist in 
 sorrowful equality under the capricious will of a 
 native or foreign tyrant : a nation of free men may 
 cheerfully, wisely and happily obey the judge or the 
 captain they have elected in the exigencies of peace 
 and war. Hence the voluntary union of free men 
 does not exclude the possibility of such union being 
 either originally based japon terms of inequality, or 
 
CH. v.] THE FREEMAN. THE NOBLE. 131 
 
 becoming sooner or later settled upon such a basis. 
 But, as the general term is the freedom, I take this as 
 the unity which involves the difference ; the noble 
 is one of the freemen, and is made noble by the act 
 of the free : the free are not made so by the noble. 
 
 By these principles the divisions of this chapter 
 are regulated. 
 
 The freeman is emphatically called Man, ceorl, 
 mas, maritus; vpsepned man, armatus; after the pre- 
 valence of slavery, he is, for distinction, termed 
 free, frigman, frihals, i. e., free neck, the hand of a 
 master has not bent his neck^; but his oldest and 
 purest denomination is ceorl. Till a very late pe- 
 riod the Anglosaxon lavp knows no other distinction 
 than that of ceorl and eorP. The Old Norse Eigs- 
 mal which is devoted to the origin of the races, 
 considers Karl as the representative of the freeman. 
 His sons are Hair, Anglosaxon, PIsele, vir ; Drengr, 
 Anglos. Dreng, vir ; Jjegen, Anglos. Jiegn, virfortis, 
 miles, minister ; Holdr, Anglos, hold, fugil, fidelis ; 
 Biii, Anglos, gebur, colonus ; Bondi, Anglos, bonda, 
 colonus; SmiSr, Anglos. Smi'S, faber; Seggr, Anglos. 
 Secg, vir. Among the daughters are Snot, BruSr, 
 Flio® and Wif. Many of these terms yet survive, 
 to represent various classes of freemen in almost 
 every Germanic country^. 
 
 ' The converse is collibertus, qui collum liberant, culvert, coward. 
 
 ^ Swa eac we setta'S he eallum hadum, ge ceorle, ge eorle : " so also 
 we ordain concerning all degrees of men, churl as well as earl." Leg. 
 MUt. § 4. 
 
 ' Conf. Grimm, Deut. Rechtsalt. 283. The Latin laws of the Mid- 
 dle Ages usually adopt the words, Liber, liber homo, ingenmis. In 
 reference to the noble, he is mediocris, minqfiedus, KaraSefo-Tepos ; in 
 respect of his wife, he is baro. 
 
 k2 
 
132 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 The rights of a freeman are these. He has land 
 within the limits of the community, the e'Sel or 
 hereditary estate (/cXifpoe, hseredium, hyd) by virtue 
 of which he is a portion of the community, bound 
 to various duties and graced with his various pri- 
 vileges. For although his rights are personal, in- 
 herent in himself, and he may carry them with hira 
 into the wilderness if he please, still, where he shall 
 be permitted to execute them depends upon his 
 possession of lands in the various localities. In 
 these he is entitled to vote with his fellows upon 
 all matters concerning the general interests of the 
 community; the election of a judge, general or 
 king; the maintenance of peace or war with a 
 neighbouring community ; the abrogation of old, or 
 the introduction of new laws ; the admission of con- 
 terminous freemen to a participation of rights and 
 privileges in the district. He is not only entitled 
 but bound to share in the celebration of the public 
 rites of religion, to assist at the public council or 
 Ding, where he is to pronounce the customary law, 
 by ancient right, and so assist in judging between 
 man and man ; lastly to take part, as a soldier, in 
 such measures of oiFence and defence as have been 
 determined upon by the whole community. He is 
 at liberty to make his own alliances, to unite with 
 other freemen in the formation of gilds or associa- 
 tions for religious or political purposes. He can 
 even attach himself, if he will, to a lord or patron, 
 and thus withdraw himself from the duties and 
 the privileges of freedom. He and his family may 
 depart whither he will, and no man may follow or 
 
CH. v.] THE FREEMAN. THE NOBLE. 133 
 
 prevent him : but he must go by open day and pub- 
 licly, (probably not without befitting ceremonies 
 and a symbolical renunciation of his old seats,) that 
 all may have their claims upon him settled before 
 he departs^. 
 
 The freeman must possess, and may bear arms ; 
 he is born to them, scMldhurtig ; he wears them on 
 all occasions, public and private, " nihil neque pub- 
 licae neque privatae rei nisi armati agunt^;" he is 
 entitled to use them for the defence of his life and 
 honour ; for he possesses the right of private war- 
 fare, and either alone, or with the aid of his friends, 
 may fight, if it seems good to him. This right is 
 technically named fsehSe, feud, from fa, inimicus ; 
 aud to be exposed to it is f6eh'Se beran, to hear the 
 feud^. If he be strong enough, or ill-disposed 
 enough, to prefer a violent to a peaceful settlement 
 of his claims, he may attack, imprison and even 
 slay his adversary, but then he must bear the feud 
 of the relations. 
 
 Beside the arms he wears, the^ sign and ornament 
 of his freedom is the long hair which he sufiers 
 
 ' "Si quia liber homo migrare voluerit aliquo, potestatem habeat 
 infra dominium regninostri, cum fara sua, migrare quo voluerit." Leg. 
 Roth. 177. The free folk on the Leutldrcher Heide " are free and 
 shall .have no nachjagende Herr" («. e. Lord hunting after them, the 
 Dominus persequens of our early law-books). Liinig. Reichsarch. 
 p. spec. cont. 4. p. 803. See further Grimm, Deut. Rechtsalt. 280, 
 etc. 
 
 ' Tac. Germ. xiii. A century ago gentlemen wore swords in France 
 and England, and courtiers still wear them. The Hungarian freeman 
 transacts no public business unarmed. 
 
 ^ Lex. Pres. ii. 2. 
 
134 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [b6ok i. 
 
 to float upon his shoulders or winds about his 
 head^. 
 
 His proper measure and value, by which his 
 social position is ascertained and defended, is the 
 wergyld, or price of a man. His life, his limbs, 
 the injuries which may be done to himself, his de- 
 pendants and his property, are all duly assessed ; 
 and though not rated so highly as the noble, yet he 
 stands above the stranger, the serf or the freedman. 
 In like manner his land, though not entirely exempt 
 from charges and payments for public purposes, 
 is far less burthened than the land of the unfree. 
 Moreover he possesses rights in the commons, 
 woods and waters, which the unfree were assuredly 
 not permitted to exercise. 
 
 The great and essential distinction, however, 
 which he never entirely loses under any circum- 
 stances, is that he aids in governing, himself, that 
 is in making, applying and executing the laws by 
 which the free and the unfree are alike governed; 
 that he yields, in short, a voluntary obedience to 
 the law, for the sake of living under a law, in an 
 orderly and peaceful community. 
 
 In the state of things which we are now consi- 
 
 ' There were differences in this respect among the different races, 
 and in some, the long hair may have been confined to the noble fami- 
 lies. Among the Saxons, however, it seems that it was also used by the 
 free : gif iieo wif, locbore, lyswses hwset gedo, if a free woman, that 
 wears long hair, do any wrong. ' Lex ^^elb. § 73. To cut a free- 
 man's hair was to dishonour him. Lex .iElfr. § 35. See also Grimm, 
 Deut. Eechtsalt. pp. 240, 283. Eumenius speaks of the Franks as 
 "prolixo crinerutilantes." Paneg. Constant, c. 18. 
 
CH. V.} THE FEEEMAN. THE NOBLE. 135 
 
 dering, the noble belongs to the class of freemen ; 
 out of it he springs, in all its rights and privileges 
 he shares, to aU its duties he is liable, but in a 
 different degree. He possesses however certain 
 advantages which the freeman does not. Like the 
 latter he is a holder of real estate ; he owns land in 
 the district, but his lot is probably larger, and is 
 moreover free from various burthens which press 
 upon his less fortunate neighbour. He must also 
 take part in the Ding, placitum, or general meeting, 
 but he and his class have the leading and directing 
 of the public business, and ultimately the execution 
 of the general will ^. The people at large may elect, 
 but he alone can be elected, to the offices of priest, 
 judge or king. Upon his life and dignity a higher 
 price is laid than upon those of the mere freeman. 
 He is the unity in the mass, the representative of 
 the general sovereignty, both at home and abroad. 
 The tendency of his power is continually to in- 
 crease, while that of the mere freeman is continu- 
 ally to diminish, falling in the scale in exact pro- 
 portion as that of the noble class rises. 
 
 The distinctive name of the noble is EorP. 
 
 ' "De minoribus rebus prinoipes consultant; de majoribus omnes. 
 Ita tamen ut ea quoque quorum penes plebem arbitrium est, apud prin- 
 oipes pertractentur." Tao. Germ. xi. Something similar to this pro- 
 bably prevailed in the Dorian constitution, and in the old Ionian before 
 the establishment of the great democracy. The mass of the people 
 might accept or reject, but hardly, I think, debate the propositions of 
 the nobles. After all the 7rpo/3ou\oi seem necessary in all states. See 
 Arist. Polit. iv. § 15. 
 
 ^ In the Eigsmal, Jarl is the progenitor of all the noble races, as 
 Karl is of the free. 
 
136 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 ^'Sele, nobilis, and Eice, pofens, denote his qua 
 lities, and he bears other titles according to the 
 accidents of his social position : thus ealdor, ealdor- 
 man, princess ; wita, weota, consiliarius ; optimas ; 
 senior ; procer ; melior, etc. In addition to his own 
 personal privileges, the noble possesses in the full- 
 est extent every right of the freeman, the highest 
 order of whose body he forms. 
 
137 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE KING. 
 
 As the noble is to the freeman, so in some respects 
 is the King to the noble. He is the summit of his 
 class, and completes the order of the freemen. Even 
 in the dim twilight of Teutonic history we find 
 tribes and nations subject to kings: others again 
 acknowledged no such office, and Tacitus seems to 
 regard this state as the more natural to our fore- 
 fathers. I do not think this clear : on the con- 
 trary, kingship, in a certain sense, seems to me 
 rooted in the German mind and institutions, and 
 universal among some particular tribes and con- 
 federacies. The free people recognize in the King 
 as much of the national unity as they consider 
 necessary to their existence as a substantive body, 
 and as the representative of the whole nation they 
 consider him to be a mediator between themselves 
 and the gods^. The elective principle is the safe- 
 
 ' There is a tradition among the Swedes that if the gods expressed 
 their anger with the people hy scarcity, or iU success in war, the most 
 aeceptahle offering to them was the King. See Yngling, Sag. c. xviii. 
 (Laing, i. 230) ; again, c. xlvii. (vol. i. p. 256), where the scene is 
 laid in Xorway : because, says the Tngl. Sag., the Swiar were wont to 
 attribute to their kings the fruitfulness or dearth of the seasons. Yet 
 they did not interfere with the succession in the son of the sacrificed 
 king. See Geijer, Hist. i. 404. 
 
138 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 guard of their freedom ; the monarchical principle 
 is the condition of their nationality. But this idea 
 of kingship is not that which we now generally en- 
 tertain ; it is in some respects more, in others less, 
 comprehensive. 
 
 And here it seems necessary to recur to a defi- 
 nition of words. With us, a king is the source both 
 of the military and the judicial powers ; he is chief 
 judge and general in chief; among protestants he 
 is head of the church, and only wants the functions 
 of high priest, because the nature of the church 
 of Christ admits of no priestly body exclusively 
 engaged in the sacrifices, or in possession of the 
 exclusive secrets, of the cult ^. But in the eye of the 
 state, and as the head of a state clergy, he is the 
 high priest, the authority in which ultimately even 
 the parochial order centres and finds its comple- 
 tion. He is an officer of the state ; the highest 
 indeed and the noblest, but to the state he belongs 
 as a part of itself: with us a commission of regency, 
 a stranger or a woman may perform all the func- 
 tions of royalty; the houses of parliament may 
 limit them ; a successful soldier may usurp them. 
 With the early Germans, the king was something 
 different from this. 
 
 The inhabitants of the Mark or Ga, however nu- 
 merous or however few they may be, must always 
 have some provision for the exigencies of peace 
 and war. But peace is the natural or normal state, 
 that for which war itself exists, and the institu- 
 
 ^ 1 Peter, ii. 5, 9. 
 
OH. VI.] THE KINO. 139 
 
 tions proper to war are the exception, not the rule. 
 Hence the priestly and judicial functions are per- 
 manent, — the military, merely temporary. The for- 
 mer, whether united in the same person, or divided 
 between two or more, are the necessary conditions 
 of the existence of the state as a community ; the 
 latter are merely requisite from time to time, to 
 secure the free exertion of the former, to defend 
 the existence of the community against the attacks 
 of other communities. 
 
 We may admit that the father is the first priest 
 and judge in his own household; he has, above all 
 other, the sacerdotal secrets, and the peculiar rites, 
 of family worship ; these, not less than age, expe- 
 rience and the dignity of paternity, are the causes 
 and the justification of his power. The judicial 
 is a corollary from the sacerdotal authority. But 
 what applies to the individual household applies to 
 any aggregate of households : even as the family 
 worship and the family peace require the exertion 
 of these powers for their own maintenance and 
 preservation, so do the public worship and the 
 public peace require their existence, though in a 
 yet stronger degree. From among the heads of 
 families some one or more must be elected to dis- 
 charge the all-important functions which they im- 
 ply. If the solemn festivals and public rites of the 
 god are to be duly celebrated, if the anger of the 
 thunderer is to be propitiated, and the fruits of the 
 earth to be blessed, — if the wounded cattle are to be 
 healed, the fever expelled, or the secret malice of 
 evil spirits to be defeated, — who but the priest can 
 
140 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 lead the ceremonies and prescribe the ritual"? Who 
 but he can sanctify the transfer of land, the union 
 of man and wife, the entrance of the newborn child 
 upon his career of life ; who but himself can con- 
 duct judicial investigations, where the deities are 
 the only guardians of truth and avengers of perjury, 
 or where their supernatural power alone can deter- 
 mine between innocence and guilt ^ 1 Lastly, who 
 but he can possess authority to punish the freeman 
 for offences dangerous to the wellbeing of all free- 
 men 1 To what power less than that of God will 
 the freeman condescend to bow ^ 1 
 
 How then is it to be determined to whom such 
 power, once admitted to be necessary, shall be at 
 first entrusted ] The first claim clearly lies with 
 those who are believed to be descended from the 
 gods, or from the local god of each particular dis- 
 trict^. They are his especial care, his children; 
 he led them into the land, and gave them the secret 
 of appeasing or pleasing him : he protects them by 
 his power, and guides them by his revelations : he 
 is their family and household god, the progenitor 
 of their race, one of themselves ; and they are the 
 
 ' The various forms of the ordeal were undoubtedly pagan, though 
 retained by the Christian communities of the Germans. 
 
 ^ Even in war the general had not at first the power of punishing 
 the freeman. The very urgencies of military discipline were subordi- 
 nated to the divine authority of the priests. " Duces exemplo potius 
 quam imperio, si prompti, si conspicui, si ante aciem agant, admira- 
 tione praesunt. Ceterum neque animadvertere, neque vincire, ne ver- 
 berare quidem nisi sacerdotibus permissum ; non quasi in poenam, nee 
 duels jussu, sed velut deo imperante, quem adessebellantibus credunt." 
 Tac. Germ. vii. 
 
 ^ " Diis genitos sacrosque reges." Tac, Orat. 12. 
 
CH. VI.] THE KING. 141 
 
 best, indeed the only, expounders of his will. A 
 single family, with which others have by slow de- 
 grees united themselves, by which others have been 
 adopted, and which in process of time have thus 
 become the nucleus of a state, will probably remain 
 in possession of this sacerdotal power; the god of 
 the land does not readily give place to others, and 
 those with whom his worship identifies him will 
 continue to be his priests long after others have 
 joined in their ceremonies. Or it is possible that 
 a single household wandering from a more civilized 
 community may be admitted among a rude people, 
 to whom they impart more perfect methods of til- 
 lage, more eificient medical precepts, more impar- 
 tial maxims of law, better or more ornamental 
 modes of architecture, or more accurate computa- 
 tions of time, than they had previously possessed : 
 the mysterious courses of the stars, the secrets of 
 building bridges i, towers and ships, of ploughing 
 and of sowing, of music and of healing, have been 
 committed to them by their god : for the sake of 
 the benefits they offer, their god is received into 
 the community ; and they remain his priests be- 
 cause they alone are cognizant of, and can conduct, 
 the rites wherewith he is to be served. 
 
 Even in periods so remote as not to be con- 
 founded with those of national migrations, a small 
 body of superior personal strength, physical beauty, 
 mental organization, or greater skill in arms, may 
 
 ' It is a curious fact that Pontifex, literally the hridye-maker, should 
 be the generic Latin name for a priest. At Athens there was a gens of 
 ye(j)vpaioi : were these ever a sacerdotal trihe ? 
 
142 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 establish a preponderance over a more numerous 
 but less favoured race : in such a case they will 
 probably join the whole mass of the people, recei- 
 ving or taking lands among them, and they will 
 by right of their superiority constitute a noble, 
 sacerdotal, royal race, among a race of freemen i. 
 They may introduce their religion as well as their 
 form of government, as did the Dorians in the Pelo- 
 ponesus. Or if, as must frequently be the case, 
 a compromise take place, they and their god will 
 reserve the foremost rank, although the conquered 
 or otherwise subjected people may retain a share 
 in the state, and vindicate for their ancient deities 
 a portion of reverence and cult : the gods of nature, 
 of the earth and agriculture, thus yield for a while 
 to the supremacy of the gods of mental cultivation 
 and warlike prowess : Demeter gives way before 
 Apollo, afterwards however to recover a portion of 
 her splendour : Odinn obtains the soul of the war- 
 rior and the freeman ; Dorr must content himself 
 with that of the thrall. 
 
 In all the cases described, — to which we may add 
 violent conquest by a migratory body, leaving only 
 garrisons and governors behind it", — the family or 
 tribe which are the ruling tribe, are those in whom 
 the highest rank, dignity, nobility and power are 
 inherent : but unless some peculiar circumstances, 
 
 ^ Atrtov 6e ort rpoTTOv Tiva dperrj Tvy^dvov(Ta x^prfyias Kai ^laQi- 
 
 crOai bvvarat. /za\to"Ta, Kal eorty del to Kparovu ev vnepoxjj dyadov Tivos, 
 &a-T€ doKelv fir/ avev dperrjs elvai ti^v ^iav .... Arist. Polit. I. cap. 6. 
 (Bekker.) We may remember the Incas in Peru. 
 
 ^ A fact abundantly familiar in the history of India, whether under 
 Afghan, Mogul or Blahratta rule. 
 
CH. VI.] THE KING. 143 
 
 arising within the ruling tribe itself, limit the suc- 
 cession to the members of one household, as for 
 example among the Jews, the sanctity of the tribe 
 will be general and not individual. They will be 
 alone qualified to hold the high and sacred offices ; 
 but the will of the whole state ^, i. e. popular election, 
 must determine which particular man shall be in- 
 vested with their functions. Out of the noble race 
 the election cannot indeed be made, but the choice 
 of the individual noble is, at first, free. This is the 
 simplest mode of stating the problem : history how- 
 ever is filled with examples of compromise, where 
 two or more noble tribes divide the supreme au- 
 thority in even or uneven shares: two kings, for 
 instance, represent two tribes of Dorians in the 
 Spartan woXiTe'ia^. The seven great and heredi- 
 tary ministerial houses in the German empire, the 
 five great Ooloos of the Dooraunee Afghans, with 
 their hereditary offices, represent similar facts. 
 Among the old Bavarians, the Agilolfings could 
 alone hold the ducal dignity, but three or four 
 other families possessed a peculiar nobility, raising 
 them nearly as much above the rest of the nobles. 
 
 ' The whole state may possibly consist only of the predominant 
 tribe, as Dorians or lonians, or Anglosaxons : the rest of the popula- 
 tion of the country may be perioecian as were the inhabitants of La- 
 conia, and the British. The ruling tribe itself may have distinctions 
 of rank ; as for instance the Hypomeiones among the Spartans, the 
 Ceorlas among the Anglosaxons. 
 
 ' The rule, reffes ex nohilitate, duces ex virtuie, ayaBov rivos vTrepoxfi, 
 applies m strictness to this case. Agis or Agesilaus might be gene- 
 rals, but Brasidas could not have been a king. Descent from Heraclea 
 was to the Spartiate what descent from Woden was to the Saxon, — the 
 condition of royalty. 
 
144 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 as the nobles were raised above the rest of the 
 people. Under these circumstances the attributes 
 of sovereignty may be continually apportioned : to 
 one family it may belong to furnish kings or judges ; 
 to another, generals; to a third, priests i; or this 
 division may have arisen in course of time, within 
 a single family. Or again, the general may only 
 have been chosen, 'pro re nata, when the necessity 
 of the case required it, from among the judges 
 or priests, or even from among those who were 
 not capable by birth of the judicial or sacerdotal 
 power. We are able to refer to an instance in 
 support of this assertion ; Beda^ says of the Old- 
 saxons, that is, the Saxons of the continent : " Non 
 enim habent regem iidem antiqui Saxones, sed 
 satrapas plurimos, suae genti praepositos, qui, in- 
 gruente belli articulo, mittunt aequaliter sortes, et 
 quemcumque sors ostenderit, hunc tempore belli 
 ducem omnes sequuntur, huic obtemperant ; per- 
 acto autem bello, rursum aequalis potentiae omnes 
 hunt satrapae." And this throws light upon what 
 Tacitus asserts of the Germanic races generally^: 
 
 ' In the Doorauuee empire, the Suddozyes had the exdusive right 
 to royalty. Sooja ul Moolk was the last of the race in Caubul. The 
 Essufzyes were hereditary viziers : the Banikzyes, the family of Dost 
 Mahomet Khan, hereditary commanders in chief: the union of the 
 vizierat with the military command in Dost Mahomet's father, led to 
 the ultimate ruin of the Suddozye princes. In the Mogul empire, the 
 great offices of state became hereditary, and the historians of India 
 could speak of the Vizier of Oude, the Nizam, the Peishwa or the Gui- 
 cowar, long after the throne of Aurungzeb had crumbled to the dust. 
 
 " Hist. Eccl. V. 10. Alfred translates the word satrapae by ecMor- 
 men. 
 
 ' Germ. xii. 
 
CH. VI.] THE KING. 1^5 
 
 " Eliguntur in iisdem conciliis et principes, qui iura 
 per pagos vicosque reddunt.'' 
 
 The early separation of the judicial from the 
 strictly sacerdotal functions, to a certain degree at 
 least, is easily conceived. It would be mere matter 
 of convenience, as soon as a population became 
 numerous and widely dispersed. Yet to a very late 
 period among the Teutons we find traces of the 
 higher character. The ordeal or judgment of God, 
 the casting of lots and divination, are all derived 
 from and connected with priesthood. The heathen 
 place of judgment was sanctified to the gods by 
 priestly ceremonies ; nor can it be supposed that 
 the popular councils were held without a due in- 
 auguration by religious rites, or a marked exertion 
 of authority by the priests. Tacitus speaking of 
 these parliaments makes the intervention of the 
 priest the very first step to business : " Ut turbae 
 placuit, considunt armati. Silentium per sacerdo- 
 tes, quibus turn et coercendi ius est, imperatur^." 
 The Witena-gemot of later times was opened by 
 the celebration of mass^, and even yet Mr. Speaker 
 goes to prayers. During the flourishing period 
 of Christianity among the Anglosaxons, synods of 
 the bishops and their clergy were commanded to be 
 held twice a year, to act as supreme courts of jus- 
 
 ' Germ. xi. 
 
 ^ "Quadam die multi tarn nobiles q^uam privati piimo mane ad 
 ipsum locum placitaturi convenerunt ; sed ante placitum ut Presbyter 
 eis missam eelebraret rogaverunt. At ille, qui ipsa nocte cum uxore 
 dormierat, ad sacrum altaris officium accedere formidabat ; itaque ne- 
 gavit 88 id facturum," etc. about an. 1045. Sim. Dunelm. Hist. Eccl. 
 Dun. cap. xlv. (lib. iii. cap. 10. p. 169. Edfof 1732.) 
 VOL. I. L 
 
146 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 tice, at least in civil causes^. The law of the Visi- 
 goths, while it recognizes a separation of the per- 
 sons, implies a confusion of the jurisdiction : " Si 
 iudex vel sacerdos reperti fuerint nequiter iudi- 
 casse^." The people, it is true, found the judg- 
 ment or verdict, but the judge declared the law, 
 pronounced the sentence, and most probably super- 
 intended the execution : in this he represented at 
 cace the justice of the god, and the collective power 
 oi the state. Thus then we may conclude that at 
 first in every Mark, and more especially in every 
 Ga or Scir, when various Marks had coalesced, 
 there was found at least one man of a privileged 
 family, who either permanently or for a time con- 
 ducted the public affairs during peace, and was, 
 from his functions, not less than his descent, nearly 
 connected with the religion of the people and the 
 worship of the gods: whether this man be called 
 ealdorman, iudex, rex, satrapa or princeps, seems 
 of little moment : he is the president of the free- 
 men in their solemn acts, as long as peace is main- 
 tained, the original King of the shii-e or small na- 
 tion. If he be by birth a priest, and distinguished 
 by military talents, as well as elected to be a judge, 
 he unites all the conditions of kingship^: and, 
 under such circumstances, he will probably not only 
 extend his power over neighbouring communities, 
 
 ' If Donniges is right in Us view, the Frankish clergy were to ex- 
 ercise a similar jurisdiction in criminal causes of a grave nature. 
 Deutsches Staatsreoht. p. 80. 
 
 = Leg. Visig. ii. 1. § 23. 
 
 ' -' Hie etenim et rex illis et pontifex ob suam peritiam hahebatur, 
 et in sua iustitia populos iudicahat." Jornandes. 
 
CH. VI.] THE KING. 147 
 
 but even render it permanent, if not hereditary, in 
 his own : a similar process may take place, if the 
 priest or judge be one, the general another, of the 
 same household. We may conclude that the regal 
 power grows out of the judicial and sacerdotal, and 
 that, whether the military skill and authority be 
 superadded or not, Miig is only another name for 
 the judge of a small circuit^. It is only when many 
 such districts have been combined, when many 
 such smaller kings have been subdued by one more 
 wise, more wealthy, powerful or fortunate than 
 themselves, that the complete idea of the German 
 kingdom developes itself: that the judicial, military, 
 and even, in part, the priestly powers sink into a 
 subordinate position, and the kingdom represents 
 the whole state, the freemen, the nobles, and the 
 folcriht or public law of both. It is thus that the 
 king gains the ultimate and appellate jurisdiction, 
 the right of punishment, and the general conser- 
 vancy of the peace, as well as the power of calling 
 the freemen to arms (cyninges ban, cyninges litware). 
 When this process has taken place the former kings 
 have become subreguU, principes, duces, ealdormen : 
 they retain their nobility, their original purity of 
 blood, their influence perhaps over their people ; 
 but they have sunk into subordinate officers of a 
 state, of which a king at once hereditary and 
 elective is the head 2. 
 
 ' "Nee potest aliquis iudicare in temporalibus, nisi solus rex vel 
 subdelegatus : ipse namque ex virtute sacramenti ad hoc specialiter 
 otligatux, et ideo corona insignitur, ut per indicia populum regat sibi 
 eubiectum." Fleta, lib. i. cap. 17. § 1. 
 
 ' " Le titre de roi ^tait primitivement de nulle consequence chez les 
 
 l2 
 
148 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 We are tolerably familiar with the fact that at 
 least eight kingdoms existed at once in Saxon Eng- 
 land ; but many readers of English history have 
 yet to learn that royalty was much more widely 
 spread, even at the time when we hear but of 
 eight,' seven or six predominant kings : as this is 
 a point of some interest, a few examples may not 
 be amiss. 
 
 It is probable that from the very earliest times 
 Kent had at least two kings, whose capitals were 
 respectively Canterbury and Rochester, the seat of 
 two bishoprics ^. The distinction of East and West 
 Kentings is preserved till the very downfall of the 
 Saxon monarchy : not only do we know that Ead- 
 ric and Hlo^here reigned together ; but also that 
 Wihtred and his son ^^elberht the Second did 
 so 2. O'swine is mentioned as a king of Kent du- 
 ring the period when our general authorities tell 
 us of Ecgberht alone ^ ; contemporary with him we 
 have Swsebheard, another king^, and all these ex- 
 tend into the period usually given to Eadric and 
 Hlo^here. The later years of iESelberht the 
 Second must have seen his power shared with Ead- 
 
 barbares. Ennodius, 6veque de Paris, dit d'une arm^e du grand Thd- 
 odoric : ' Ily avail tant de rois dans cette armiSe, que leur nombre ^tait 
 an moins ^gal a celui des soldats qu'ou pouvait nourrir avec les sub- 
 sistances exig^es des habitans du district ou elle canapait.' " Jlichelet, 
 Hist. France, i. 198, note. 
 
 ' At a later period we find a duchy of the Merscware, or inhabit- 
 ants of Romney marsh, and this is certainly in favour of a third 
 Kentish kingdom. William of Malmesbury speaks of the reguli whom 
 vESelberht had subdued, and it is probable that these were petty princes 
 of Kent. Gest. Eeg. lib. 1. § 10. 
 
 ^ Cod. Dipl. Nos. 72, 77, 86, 108. ' Ibid. Nob. 8, 10, 30. 
 
 * Ibid. Nos. 14, 15. Beda, Hist. Eccl. v. 8. 
 
CH. VI.] THE KING. 149 
 
 berht^, Eardwulf^, SigirHed^ and Ecgberht*, and Si- 
 girs^d deliberately calls himself king of half Kent. 
 A very remarkable document of Eadbehrt is pre- 
 served in theTextus Roffensis^; after the king's own 
 signature, in which he calls himself Eex Cantua- 
 riorum, his nobles place their names, thus, "Ego 
 Wilbaldus comites meos confirmare et subscribers 
 feci :" and in the same words Dimheahac, Hosberht, 
 Nothbalth, Banta, Ruta and Tidbalth sign. Now 
 the fact of these persons having comites at all is 
 only conceivable on the supposition that they were 
 all royal, kings or sub-kings. That they were sub- 
 ordinate appears from the necessity of the grant 
 being confirmed by ^^elberht, which took place 
 in presence of the grantor and grantee, and the 
 Archbishop, at Canterbury. Among the kings of 
 this small province are also named Jj^^elric, Heard- 
 berht, Eadberht Pren^ and Ealhmund'^, the last 
 prince, father of the celebrated Ecgberht of Wes- 
 sex. 
 
 Among the territories which at one time or other 
 were incorporated with the kingdom of Mercia, one 
 is celebrated under the name of Hwiccas : it com- 
 prised the then diocese of Worcester. This small 
 province not only retained its king till a late period®, 
 but had frequently several kings at once ; thus 
 
 ' Cod. Dipl. Noa. 85, 106, 107. ^ Ibid. No. 96. 
 
 ' Ibid. Nos. 110, 114. " Ibid. Kos. 113, 132, 135, 160. 
 
 ' Ibid. No. 85. « Flor. Wig. an. 704. 
 
 ' rior. Wig. App. Wessex. 
 
 ^ We lose eight of the Ilwiccian kings about the time of Offa's 
 death, or an. 796. In 802 we hear indeed of an ealdorman of the 
 Hwiccas, but the Latin authorities translate this by dtix. 
 
150 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 O'srici and O'shere^; ^^elweard'^, ^^elheard*, 
 ^^elric^ and in all probability O'swudu, between 
 an. 704-709. A few years later, viz. between an. 
 757 and 785, we find three brothers Eanberht®, 
 Ealdred^ and Uhtred® claiming the royal title in 
 the same district, while Ofia their relative swayed 
 the paramount sceptre of Mercia. That other parts 
 of that great kingdom had always formed separate 
 states is certain : even in the time of Penda (who 
 reigned from 626 to 656) we know that the Middle 
 Angles were ruled by Peada, his son^, while Mere- 
 wald, another son, was king of the West Hecan or 
 people of Herefordshire^". In the important battle 
 of Winwidfeld, where the fall of Penda perhaps 
 secured the triumph of Christianity, we learn that 
 thirty royal commanders fell on the Mercian side^^ 
 Under ^^ilrsed, Penda's son and successor, we 
 find Beorhtwald calling himself a king in Mercia ^^. 
 During the reign of Centwine in Wessex, we hear 
 of a king, Baldred, whose kingdom probably com- 
 
 ' Ood. Dipl. No. 12. ^ Ibid. Noa. 17, 36. 
 
 ' Ibid. No. 56. * Ibid. No. 53. 
 
 » Ibid. No. 57. ' Ibid. Nos. 102, 105. 
 
 ' Ibid. Nos. 125, 131, 146. « Ibid. Nos. 117, 118, 128, 148. 
 
 ' Beda, Hist. Eccl. iii. 21. '" Flor. Wig. App. Mercia. 
 
 '^ Beda, Hist. Eccl. iii. 24. " Inito ergo certamine, fugati sunt et 
 caesi pagani, duces regii triginta qui ad auxilium venerant pane omnes 
 interfecti." The Saxon Chronicle is more detailed; an. 654: "H& 
 O'swiii cyng ofsloh Pendau cyng on Winwidfelda and Jjrfttig cynebearna 
 mid him ; and tS^r weeron sume cyningas. Dsera sum wees ^ISelhere 
 Annan brdlSor, Eastengla cyningas." 
 
 ^^ Cod. Dipl. No. 26. William of Malmesbury, it is true, says of 
 him, " Non quidem rex potestats, sed subregulus in quadam regni 
 parte." Vit. Aldhelmi, Ang. Sacra, ii. 10. But it was not to be ex- 
 pected that Malmesbury would understand such a royalty as Baldred's. 
 
CH. VI.] THE KING. 151 
 
 prised Sussex and part of Hampshire ^ ; at the same 
 period also we find ^Silheard calling himself king 
 of Wessex^, and perhaps also a brother iE'Silweard ^ 
 unless this be an error of transcription. FriSuwald 
 in a charter to the Monastery of Chertsey, men- 
 tions the following suhreguli as concurring in the 
 grant : O'sric, Wighard and ^Selwald *. 
 
 There was a kingdom of Elmet in Yorkshire, 
 and even till the tenth century one of Bamborough. 
 The same facts might easily be shown of Eastanglia^, 
 Essex and Northumberland, were it necessary; 
 but enough seems to have been said to show how 
 numerously peopled with kings this island, always 
 fertilis tyrannorum^ , must have been in times where 
 of history has no record. As a chronicler of the 
 twelfth century has very justly said, " Ea tempes- 
 tate venerunt multi et saepe de Germania, et oc- 
 cupaverunt Eastangle et Merce sed necdum sub 
 uno rege redacti erant. Plures autem proceres 
 certatim regiones occupabant, undo innumerabilia 
 bella fiebant : proceres vero, quia multi erafit, no- 
 mine carent^." 
 
 From all that has preceded, it is clear that by 
 the term King we must understand something very 
 different among the Anglosaxons from the sense 
 
 ' Will. Malm., Ant. Glast, an. 681, pp. 808, 309. Cod. Dipl. 
 Noe. 20, 28, 71, 73. 
 
 ' Cod. Dipl. No. 76. ' Ibid. No. 73. « Ibid. No. 987. 
 
 ° "Igitur rex unus ibi erat- aliquando, multi aliquando reguli." 
 Henric. Hunt. lib. T. '' Bex autem Eadmundus ipsis temporibus reg- 
 navit super omnia regna Eastanglorum." Sim. Dunelm. an. 870. 
 
 etcat fie Ka\ irokvdvQpamov Trjv vrftTOf . . . .^atrikets re Koi dvvdaras 
 TtoWoiis ex""- Diod. Sic. v. 21. 
 
 ' Henric. Hunt. lib. ii. 
 
152 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 which we attach to the word : one principal diifer- 
 ence lies indeed in this, that the notion of territo- 
 rial influence is never for a single moment involved 
 in it. The kings are kings of tribes and peoples, 
 but never of the land they occupy, — kings of the 
 Westsaxons, the Mercians or the Kentings, but not 
 of Wessex, Mercia or Kent. So far indeed is this 
 from being the case, that there is not the slight- 
 est difficulty in forming the conception of a king, 
 totally without a kingdom : 
 
 " Solo rex verbo, sociis timen imperitabat" ' 
 
 is a much more general description than the writer 
 of the line imagined. The Norse traditions are full 
 of similar facts ^. The king is in truth essentially 
 one with the people ; from among them he springs, 
 by them and their power he reigns ; from them he 
 receives his name ; but his land is like theirs, pri- 
 vate property ; one estate does not owe allegiance 
 to another, as in the feudal system : and least of 
 all is -the monstrous fiction admitted even for a 
 moment, that the king is owner of all the land in a 
 country. 
 
 The Teutonic names for a king are numerous 
 and various, especially in the language of poetry ; 
 many of them are immediately derived from the 
 words which denote the aggregations of the people 
 themselves : thus from J^eod, we have the Anglo- 
 saxon Jieoden; from folc, the Old Norse Fylkr; 
 but the term which, among all the Teutons, pro- 
 
 = Abbo de BeUo Paris. Civit. Pertz, ii. 779. 
 
 ^ Langebek. ii. 77. DaUmann, Gesch. d. Danen, p. 51. 
 
OH. VI.] THE KING. ]53 
 
 perly denotes this dignity, is derived from the fact 
 which Tacitus notices, viz. the nobility of the king : 
 the Anglosaxon cyning is a direct derivative from 
 the adjective cyne, generosus, and this again from 
 cyn, genus''-. 
 
 The main distinction between the king and the 
 rest of the people lies in the higher value set upon 
 his life, as compared with theirs : as the wergyld 
 or life-price of the noble exceeds that of the free- 
 man or the slave, so does the life-price of the king 
 exceed that of the noble. Like all the people he 
 has a money value, but it is a greater one than is 
 enjoyed by any other person in the state^. So 
 again his protection (mund) is valued higher than 
 that of any other : and the breach of his peace 
 (cyninges handsealde friS) is more costly to the 
 wrong-doer. He is naturally the president of the 
 Witena-gemot and the ecclesiastical synod, and the 
 supreme conservator of the public peace. 
 
 To the king belonged the right of calling out the 
 national levies, the posse comitatus, for purposes of 
 attack or defence ; the privilege of recommending 
 grave causes at least to the consideration of the 
 tribunals ; the reception of a certain share of the 
 fines legally inflicted on evil-doers, and of voluntary 
 gifts from the free men ; and as a natural and rapid 
 consequence, the levy of taxes and the appointment 
 of fiscal officers. Consonant with his dignity were 
 
 ' The Old High Dutch word ia Chunino ; the Old Norse Konungr : 
 the Gothic equivalent has not heen found, but certainly was Kuniggs. 
 
 ^ In Kent, Mercia and Wessex, the king's wergyld was 120 pounds : 
 half belonged to his family, half to his people. 
 
154 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 the ceremonies of his recognition by the people, and 
 the outward marks of distinction which he bore : 
 immediately upon his election he was raised upon 
 a shield and exhibited to the multitude, who greeted 
 him with acclamations^. Even in heathen times it 
 is probable that some religious ceremony accom- 
 panied the solemn rite of election and installation : 
 the Christian priesthood soon caused the ceremony 
 of anointing the new king, perhaps as head of the 
 church, to be looked upon as a necessary part of 
 his inauguration. To him were appropriated the 
 waggon and oxen ^ ; in this he visited the several 
 portions of his kingdom, traversed the roads, and 
 proclaimed his peace upon them ; and I am inclined 
 to think, solemnly ascertained and defined the na- 
 tional boundaries ^, — a duty symbolical in some 
 degree, of his guardianship of the private bounda- 
 ries. Among all the tribes there appear to have 
 been some outward marks of royalty, occasionally 
 or constantly borne : the Merwingian kings were 
 distinguished by their long and flowing hair*, the 
 Goths by a fillet or cap; among the Saxons the 
 
 ^ " Levatus in regem : to cvninge ahafen," continued to be the words 
 in use, long after the custom of really chairing the Hng had in all pro- 
 hability ceased to be observed. 
 
 " The ileiTvingian kings continued to use this : perhaps not the 
 Carolings. Among the Anglosaxons I find no trace of it. 
 
 ' This duty of riding through the land, called by Grimm the "landes 
 bereisung'' (Deutsche Rechtsalterthiimer, p. 237), is probably alluded 
 to by Beda in his account of Eadwine. Hist. Eccl. ii. 16. 
 
 ■* OefiiTov yap rois ^atriK^vfTi TOiV ^pdyya>v ovirainoTe KelpfaBaty ahX 
 cLKeipeKop-oi T€ elaiv ex Traidav del, Koi TrapTjQyprjvTOL avTois aTravres ev paka 
 CTTi Tojv aipuiv 01 liKoKapoi. . . .rouTO 6e SxjTTep Ti yi/aptapa Koi yepas 
 i^aiperov tw ^airCkcla ykvfi avfiaBai. vepopitrrai. Agathias. bk. 1. 4. 
 
CH. VI.] THE KING. 155 
 
 cynehelm, or cynebeah, a circle of gold, was in use, 
 and worn round the head. In the Ding or popular 
 council he bore a wand or staff: in wartime he was 
 preceded by a banner or flag. The most precious 
 however of all the royal rights, and a very jewel 
 in the crown, was the power to entertain a comita- 
 tus or collection of household retainers, a subject 
 to be discussed in a subsequent chapter. 
 
 The king, like all other freemen, was a landed 
 possessor, and depended for much of his subsistence 
 upon the cultivation of his estates ^. In various 
 parts of the country he held lands in absolute pro- 
 perty, furnished with dwellings and storehouses, in 
 which the produce of his farms might be laid up, 
 and from one to another of which he proceeded, 
 as political exigencies, caprice, or the consumption 
 of his hoarded stock rendered expedient. In each 
 ■\illa or wic was placed a bailiff, riUicus, wicgerefa, 
 whose business it was to watch over the king's in- 
 terests, to superintend the processes of husbandry, 
 and govern the labourers employed in production ; 
 above all to represent the king as regarded the 
 freemen and the officers of the county court. 
 
 ' "Deyictu ex regis praediis." "Disis ^onne sed lihtingc ISe ic 
 •wylle eallon folce gebeorgan '5e hig sfer Syson midgedrehte ■wa&ron ealles 
 to s-n-ySe. Daet is Sonne a^rost. S.'et ic tebeode eallum niinan ger^fan 
 ^8et lii on mman agenan rihtlice tilian -j me mid Sam feormian. -j 'Saet 
 liim nan man ne >earf to feonnfultume nan >ingc syllan biitan he sylf 
 wille. And gif liTra ajfter Sam wite crafige beo he his weres scyldig 
 wis 5one cyningc." Cuut, § Ixx. Thorpe, i. 412, 413. " I command 
 all my reeves that they justly provide [for me] out of my own pro- 
 pert}-, and maintain me therewith ; and that no man need give me 
 anything as farm-aid (feormfultum) naless he himself be •willing.'' 
 We here ■witness the natural progress of oppression. 
 
156 TPIE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 The lot, share, or, as we may call it, refievoc of 
 the king, though thus divided, was extensive, and 
 comprised many times the share of the freeman. 
 We may imagine that it originally, and under or- 
 dinary circumstances would be calculated upon the 
 same footing as the wergyld ; that if the life of the 
 king was seventy-two times as valuable as that of 
 the ceorl, his land would be seventy-two times as 
 large ; if the one owned thirty, the other would 
 enjoy 2160 acres of arable land. But the comi- 
 tatus offers a disturbing force, which, it will here- 
 after be seen, renders this sort of calculation nuga- 
 tory in practice ; and the experience of later periods 
 clearly proves the king to have been a landowner 
 in a very disproportionate degree. In addition to 
 the produce of his own lands, however, the king 
 was entitled to expect voluntary gifts- in kind, 
 naturalia, from the people, which are not only di- 
 stinctly stated by Tacitus^ to have been so given, 
 but are frequently referred to by early continental 
 historians 2. In process of time, when these volun- 
 tary gifts had been converted into settled payments 
 or taxes, further voluntary aids were demanded, 
 upon the visit of a king to a town or country, the 
 
 ^ " Mos est civitatibus, ultro ac viritim conferre prinoipibus, vel ar- 
 mentorum, vel frugum, quod pro bonore acceptum, etiam neoessitatibua 
 subvenit. Gaudentpraecipue tinitimarum gentium doni8,quaenon mode 
 a singulis, sed publice mittuntur : electi equi, magna arma, pbalerae, 
 torquesque. lametpecuniam accipere docuimu3." Germ, x v. 
 
 ^ " In die autem Martis campo secundum antiquam cpnsuetudinem 
 dona illis regibus a populo otferebantur, et ipse rex sedebat in sella 
 regia, oircumstante exeroitu, et maior domus coram eo." an. 753. Annal. 
 Laurisbamenses Minores (Pertz, Monumenta, i. 116). See otber in- 
 stances in Grimm's Deutsche Rechtsaltertbiimer, p. 245, etc. 
 
CH. VI.] TfJE KING. 157 
 
 marriage of a princess, or of the king himself, and 
 other public and solemn occasions ; from which in 
 feudal times arose the custom of demanding aids 
 from the tenants to knight the lord's son or marry 
 his daughter. 
 
 Another source of the royal revenue was a share 
 of the booty taken in war, where the king and the 
 freemen served together. The celebrated story of 
 Clovis and the Soissons vase ^, proves that the king 
 received his portion by lot, as did the rest of his 
 army; but there is no reason to doubt that his 
 share as much exceeded that of his comrades, as 
 his wergyld and landed possessions were greater 
 than theirs. 
 
 As conservator of the public peace, the king was 
 entitled to a portion of the fines inflicted on cri- 
 minals, and the words in which Tacitus mentions 
 this fact show that he was in this function the re- 
 presentative of the whole state ^ : it is a prerogative 
 derived from his executive power. And similar to 
 this is his right to the forfeited lands of felons, 
 which, if they were to be forfeited, could hardly be 
 placed in other hands than those of the king, as 
 representative of the whole state ^. 
 
 1 Greg. Turon. ii. 27. 
 
 ' " Sed et levioribua delictis, pro modo poenarum, equorum pecorum- 
 que nuiaero convicti midtantur, pars multae regi vel civitati, pars ipsi 
 qui Tindicatur vel propinquis eius exsolvitur." Germ. xii. 
 
 ' " TJnam mansam quam fur quidam ante possederat, a rege cum 
 triginta mancusis auri emit." Cod. Dipl. No. 580. Bishop Denewulf 
 had leased lands to a relative named iElfred, for a fixed rent. " Is 
 equidem insipiens adulterans stuprum, propriam religiose pactatam 
 abominans, scortum diligens, libidinose commisit. Quo reatu omni 
 substantia peculiali recte privatus est, et praefatum rus ab eo aba- 
 
158 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 In proportion as this idea gains ground, the in- 
 fluence of the king in every detail of public life 
 necessarily increases, and the regalia or royal rights 
 become more varied and numerous : he is looked 
 upon as the protector of the stranger, who has no 
 other natural guardian, inasmuch as no stranger 
 can be a member of any of those associations which 
 are the guarantee of the freeman. He has the sole 
 right of settling the value and form of the medium 
 of exchange : through his power of calling out the 
 armed force, he obtains rights which can only con- 
 sist with martial law, — even the right of life and 
 death^ : the justice of the whole country flows from 
 him : the establishment of fiscal officers dependent 
 
 tractum rex huius patriae suae ditioni a-sidus devenire iniuste optavit." 
 Cod. Dipl. No. 601. The injustice complained of is in the king's seizing 
 lands that were really not the offender's : but so strong was the king's 
 right, that the church was obliged to buy back its own land for one 
 hundred and twenty mancusses of gold. That these forfeitures resulted 
 from a solemn judicial act admits of no doubt. In 1002, a lady who 
 owned lands was found guilty of certain acts, her lands were forfeited, 
 and made over to the king, in the language of the instrument, " vulgari 
 traditione." Cod. Dipl. No. 1290. In 938 ^tSelstan gave seven hides of 
 land to the church at Winchester : " istarum autem vii mansarum quan- 
 titas iusto valde iudicio totius popvili, seniorum et primatum, ablata f uit 
 ab eis qui eorum possessores fuerunt, quia apertocrimine furti usque ad 
 mortem obnoxii inventi sunt ; ideoque decretum est ab omni populo ut 
 libri illorum, quos ad has terras habebant, aetemaliter dampnarentur," 
 etc. Cod. Dipl. No. 374. ^ESelsige stole .^ISelwine's swine : his land at 
 Dumbleton was accordingly forfeited to the king. " ■j man ger^hte 
 ^©ebede cyninge 'Sset land -j dehta." Cod. Dipl. No. 692. The law of 
 the Ripuarian Franks seems to have been somewhat different: see Tit. 
 § Ixxix. de homine penduto et eius hereditate ; and Eichhom, i. 269. 
 ' I may again refer to the story of the vase at Soissons. Clovis put the 
 soldier to death on pretext of a breach of discipline ; in reality, because 
 the man had opposed him with respect to the booty. But, except in the 
 field, it is not to be imagined that Clovis could have taken his life ; and 
 certainly not without a legal conviction and condemnation by the people. 
 
CH. VI.] THE KING. 159 
 
 upon himself places the private possessions of the 
 freeman at his disposal. The peculiar conservancy 
 of the peace, and command over the means of in- 
 ternal communication enable him to impose tolls 
 on land- and water-carriage : he is thus also em- 
 powered to demand the services of the freemen to 
 receive and conduct travelling strangers, heralds or 
 ambassadors from one royal vill to another ; to de- 
 mand the aid of their carts and horses to carry 
 forage, provisions or building-materials to his royal 
 residence. Treasure-trove is his, because where 
 there is no owner, the state claims the accidental 
 advantage, and the king is the representative of 
 the state. It is part of his dignity that he may 
 command the aid of the freemen in his hunting 
 and fishing ; and hence that he may compel them 
 to keep his hawks and hounds, and harbour or 
 feed his huntsmen. As head of the chiuxh he has 
 an important influence in the election of bishops, 
 even in the establishment of new sees, or the aboli- 
 tion of old established ones. His authority it is 
 that appoints the duke, the gerefa, perhaps even 
 the members of the Witena-gemot. Above all, he 
 has the right to divest himself of a portion of these 
 attributes, and confer them upon those whom he 
 pleases, in different districts. 
 
 The complete description of the rights of Royalty, 
 in all their detail, will find a place in the Second 
 Book of this work ; they can only be noticed cur- 
 sorily here, inasmuch as they appertain, in strict- 
 ness, to a period in which the monarchical spirit, and 
 the institutions proper thereto, had become firmly 
 
100 THE SAXONS IN ENQ LAN I). [nooic i. 
 
 settled, and applied to every i)art of our social 
 scheme. But whatever extension they may have 
 attained in process of time, they have their orif)in 
 in the rights permitted to the king, even in the re- 
 motest periods of which we read. 
 
 There cannot be the least doubt that many of 
 them were usurpations, gradual developments of an 
 old and simple principle ; and it is only in periods 
 of advanced civilization that we find them alluded 
 to. Nevertheless we must admit that even at the 
 earliest recorded time in our history, the kings 
 were not only wealthy but powerful far beyond any 
 of their fellow-countrymen. All intercourse with 
 foreign nations, whether warlike or peaceful, tends 
 to this result, because treaties and grave affairs of 
 state can best be negotiated and managed by single 
 persons : a popular council may be very properly 
 consulted as to the final acceptance or rejection of 
 terms; but the settlement of them can obviously 
 not be beneficially conducted by so unwieldy a 
 multitude. Moreover contracting parties on either 
 side will prefer having to do with as small a num- 
 ber of negotiators as possible, if it be only for tlie 
 greater dispatch of businc.ss. Accordingly 'Jacitus 
 shows us, on more than one occasion, th(; ScHute 
 in communication with the princes, not the pojju- 
 lations of Germany i : and this must naturally be 
 the case where the aristocracy, to wlnjse body the 
 
 ' " Adgandestrii, principis Cattorum, lectas in Senatu litoras." A nnal. 
 ii. 88. "Marobodiium. . . .per dona et legationes pi;tivis8e fouilufl." 
 Annal. ii. 45. " Misitquo legates ad Tiberium oraluros auxilia," 
 Ibid. 
 
CH. VI.] THE KING. 161 
 
 king belongs, have the right of taking the initiative 
 in public business \ 
 
 But although we find a great difference in the 
 social position, wealth and power of the king, and 
 those of the noble and freeman, we are not to ima- 
 gine that he could at any time exercise his royal 
 prerogatives entirely at his royal pleasure^: held in 
 check by the universal love of liberty, by the rights 
 of his fellow nobles, and the defensive alliances of 
 the freemen^, he enjoyed indeed a rank, a splendour 
 and an influence which placed him at the head of 
 his people, — a limited monarchy, but happier than 
 a capricious autocracy : and the historian who had 
 groaned over the vices and tyranny of Tiberius, 
 Nero and Domitian, could give the noble boon of 
 his testimony to the eternal memory of the har- 
 harous Arminius. 
 
 ' " De minoribus rebiia principea consultant ; de maioribus omnes : 
 ita tomen, iit ea quoque, quorum penes plebem arbitrium est, apud 
 
 principes perti'actentur Mox rex vel princeps, prout aetas ouique, 
 
 prout nobilitas, prout decus bellorum, prout faoundia est, audiuntur, 
 auctoritate suadendi magis quam iubendi potestate." Mor. Germ. xi. 
 
 '^ " Nee regibusinfinita, nee libera potestas." Mor. Germ. vii. "Auc- 
 tore ^'elTito et Malorige, qui nationem eam regebant, in quantum Ger- 
 mani regnantur." Tac. Annal. xiii. 54. 
 
 ' " Ceterum Arminius, abscedentibus Eomanis ct pulso Maroboduo, 
 regnum adfectans, libertatem popularium adversam habuit, petitusque 
 arniis, cum varia fortuna certaret, dolo propinquorum cecidit." Tac. 
 Annal. ii. 88. 
 
 VOL. I J] 
 
162 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE NOBLE BY SERVICE. 
 
 I HAVE called the right to entertain a Comiiatus, 
 or body of household retainers, a very jewel in the 
 crown : it was so because it formed, in process of 
 time, the foundation of all the extended powers 
 which became the attributes of royalty, and finally 
 succeeded in establishing, upon the downfall of the 
 old dynasts or nobles by birth, a new order of nobles 
 by service, whose root was in the crown itself. A 
 close investigation of its gradual rise, progress and 
 ultimate development. Will show that the natural 
 basis of the Comitatus is in the superior wealth and 
 large possessions of the prince. 
 
 In all ages of the world, and under all condi- 
 tions of society, one profound problem has pre- 
 sented itself for solution ; viz. how to reconcile the 
 established divisions of property with the necessities 
 of increasing population. Experience teaches us 
 that under almost any circumstances of social being, 
 a body of men possessed of sufficient food and 
 clothing have been found to increase and multiply 
 with a rapidity far too great to be balanced by the 
 number of natural or violent deaths : and it follows 
 therefore that in every nation which has established 
 
CH. VII.] THE NOBLE BY SERVICE. 163 
 
 a settled number of households upon several estates, 
 each capable of supporting but one household iu 
 comfort, the means of providing for a surplus po- 
 pulation must very soon become an object of gene- 
 ral difficulty. If the paternal estate be reserved for 
 the support of one son, if the paternal weapons 
 descend to him, to be used in the feuds of his house 
 or the service of the state, what is to become of the 
 other sons who are excluded from the benefits of 
 the succession 1 In a few instances we may ima- 
 gine natural affection to have induced a painful, and 
 ultimately unsuccessful, struggle to keep the family 
 together : here and there cases may have occurred 
 in which a community was fortunate enough from 
 its position, to possess the means of creating new 
 estates to suit the new demand : and conquest, or 
 the forcible partition of a neighbouring territory, 
 may have supplied a provision for the new gene- 
 ration. Tacitus indeed tells us^ that " numerum 
 liberorum finire aut quemquam ex agnatis necare, 
 flagitium habetur : " yet tradition contradicts this, 
 and speaks of the exposure of children immediately 
 after birth, leaving it to the will of the father to 
 save the life of the child or not^. And similarly 
 the tales of the North record the solemn and vo- 
 luntary expatriation of a certain proportion of the 
 people, designated by lot, at certain intervals of 
 time^. However, in the natural course of things, 
 
 ' Mor. Germ. xix. ' Grimm, Eeclitsalt. p. 455. 
 
 ' " Oumque, ut dixi, sive parum compluta humo, seu nimium tomda, 
 torpentibua satis, ac parce fruotiiicantibus campis, inediae languor de- 
 fectam escis regionem attereret, nullumque, parum suppetentibus ali- 
 
 M 2 
 
164 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 he who cannot find subsistence at home must seek 
 it abroad ; if the family estate will not supply him 
 with support, he must strive to obtain it from the 
 bounty or necessities of others : for emigration has 
 its own heavy charges, and for this he would re- 
 quire "assistance ; and in a period such as we are de- 
 scribing, trade and manufacture offer no resources 
 to the surplus population. But all the single hides 
 or estates are here considered as included in the 
 same category, and it is only on the large posses- 
 sions of the noble that the poor freeman can hope 
 to live, without utterly forfeiting everything that 
 makes life valuable. Some sort of service he must 
 yield, and among all that he can offer, military 
 service, the most honourable and attractive to 
 himself, is sure to be the most acceptable to the 
 lord whose protection he requires. 
 
 The temptation to engage in distant or dangerous 
 warlike adventures may not appear very great to 
 the agricultural settler, whose continuous labour 
 will only wring a mere sufficiency from the soil he 
 owns. It is with regret and reluctance that such 
 a man will desert the land he has prepared or 
 the crops he has raised, even when the necessity 
 
 mentis, trahendae famis superesset auxilium, Aggone atque Ebbone 
 auctoribus, plebiscite provisum est, ut senibus et parvulis caesis, om- 
 nique demum imbelli aetate regno egesta, robustis duntaxat patiia 
 donaretur; neo nisi autarmis, autagris colendis habiles domestici laris 
 paternorumque penatium tabitaciila retinerent." By the advice how- 
 ever of Gambara, they cast lots, and a portion of the people emigrate. 
 " Igitur omnium fortunis in sortem coniectis, qui designabantur, ex- 
 torres adiudicati sunt." Saxo Gram. p. 159. Under similar circum- 
 stances, according to Geoifiy of Monmouth, Hengest came to Britain. 
 
CH. VII.] THE NOBLE BY SEEVICE. 165 
 
 of self-defence calls the community to arms, far 
 otherwise however is it with him who has no means 
 of living by the land, or whom his means place 
 above the necessity of careful, unremitting toil. The 
 prince, enriched by the contributions of his fel- 
 low-countrymen, and the presents of neighbouring 
 states or dynasts, as well as master of more land than 
 he requires for his own subsistence, has leisure for 
 ambition, and power to reward its instruments. On 
 the land which he does not require for his own 
 cultivation, he can permit the residence of freemen 
 or even serfs, on such conditions as may seem ex- 
 pedient to himself or endurable to them. He may 
 surround himself with armed and noble retainers, 
 attracted by his liberality or his civil and military 
 reputation S whom he feeds at his own table and 
 houses under his own roof; who may perform even 
 servile duties in his household, and on whose aid 
 he may calculate for purposes of aggression or de- 
 fence. Nor does it seem probable that a community 
 would at once discover the infinite danger to them- 
 selves that lurks in such an institution: far more 
 frequently must it have seemed matter of congra- 
 tulation to the cultivator, that its existence spared 
 him the necessity of leaving the plough and harrow 
 to resist sudden incursions, or enforce measures of 
 internal police ; or that the strong castle with its 
 
 ' " Erat autem rex Oswini et aspectu venustus, et statura sublimis, 
 et affatu iucundus, et moribus civilis, et manu omnibus, id est nobi- 
 libus simul atque igiiobilibus, largus : unde contigit ut ob regiam eiiis et 
 auimi, et vultus, et meritoriim dignitatem, ab omnibus diligeretur, et 
 undique ad eius ministerium de cunotis prope provinciis viri etiam 
 nobilissimi concurrerent." Bed. H. E. iii. 14. 
 
166 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 band of ever-watchfal defenders, existed as a gar- 
 rison near the disputable boundary of the Mark. 
 
 The Germania of Tacitus supplies us with a de- 
 tailed account of the institution of the Comitatus, 
 which receives strong confirmation on every point 
 from what we gather from other authentic sources. 
 In his own words : — 
 
 " Illustrious birth or the great services of their 
 fathers give the rank of princes even to young 
 men : they are associated with the rest who have 
 already made proof of their greater powers. Nor is 
 there any shame in appearing among the comites^. 
 Moreover, the Comitatus itself has its grades, ac- 
 cording to the judgment of him they follow ; and 
 great is the emulation among the comites, as to 
 who shall hold the highest place in the estimation 
 of the prince, and among the princes, as to who 
 shall have the most numerous and the bravest 
 comites. This is dignity, this is power, to be ever 
 surrounded with a troop of chosen youths, a glory 
 in time of peace, and a support in war. Nor is it 
 only in their own tribe, but in the neighbouring 
 states as well, a name and glory, to be distinguished 
 for the number and valour of the comitatus; for 
 they are courted with embassies, and adorned with 
 presents, and keep oif wars by their very reputa- 
 tion. When it comes to fighting, it is dishonour- 
 able for the prince to be excelled in valour, for the 
 comitatus not to equal the valour of the prince; 
 but infamous, and a reproach throughout life, to 
 
 ^ This very assertion proves that the position of the comes was, in 
 elf, inferior to that of the freeman. 
 
CH. vii.] THE NOBLE BY SERVICE. 167 
 
 return from battle the survivor of the prince. To 
 defend and protect him, to reckon to his glory even 
 one's own brave deeds, this is the first and holiest 
 duty. The princes fight for victory, the comites 
 for the prince. If the state in vphich they spring is 
 torpid with long peace and ease, the most of these 
 young nobles voluntarily seek such nations as may 
 he engaged in war, partly because inaction does 
 not please this race, partly because distinction is 
 more easy of attainment under difficulties. Nor 
 can you keep together a great comitatus, save by 
 violence and war : since it is from the liberality of 
 the prince that they exact that war-horse, that 
 bloody and victorious lance. For feasts and meals, 
 ample though rude, take the place of pay. Wars 
 and plunder supply the means of munificence ; nor 
 will you so readily persuade them to plough the 
 land or wait with patience for the year, as to chal- 
 lenge enemies and earn wounds ; seeing that it 
 seems dull and lazy to acquire with sweat what 
 you may win with blood i." 
 
 It would be difficult in a few lines to give any- 
 thing like so clear and admirable an account of the 
 peculiarities of the Comitatus, as Tacitus has left 
 us in this vigorous sketch ; and little remains but to 
 show how his view is confirmed by other sources 
 of information, and to draw the conclusions which 
 naturally result from these premises. 
 
 To the influence and operation of these associa- 
 tions are justly attributed not only the conquests of 
 the various tribes, but the most important modifi- 
 
 ^ Mor. Germ. xiii. liy. 
 
168 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 cations in the law of the people. As the proper 
 name for the freeman is ceorl, and for the born-noble 
 eorl, so is the true word for the comes, or comrade, 
 gesl'S. This is in close etymological connection with 
 si^, a journey, and literally denotes one who ac- 
 companies another. The functions and social po- 
 sition of the gesi^ led however to another appella- 
 tion : in this peculiar relation to the prince, he is 
 jjegn, a thane, strictly and originally a servant or 
 minister, and only noble when the service of royalty 
 had shed a light upon dependence and imperfect 
 freedom. Beowulf describes himself as the relative 
 and thane of Hygelac : but his royal blood and tried 
 valour make him also the head of a comitatus, and 
 he visits Heort with a selected band of his own 
 comrades, swsese gesi'Sas: they, like himself, be- 
 long however to his lord, and are described as Hy- 
 gelac's beodgeneatas, heor^geneatas (tischgenossen, 
 heerdgenossen), sharers in the monarch's table and 
 hearth. A portion of the booty taken in war na- 
 turally became the property of the gesi^as ; this 
 almost follows from the words of Tacitus; and 
 Saxo Grammaticus, who in this undoubtedly ex- 
 presses a genuine fact, although after a peculiar 
 fashion of his own, says of one of his heroes i, 
 " Proceres non solum domesticis stipendiis cole- 
 bat, sed etiam spoliis ex hoste quaesitis : affirmare 
 solitus, pecuniam ad milites, gloriam ad ducem re- 
 dundare debere." And again 2, " Horum omnium 
 clientelam rex liberal! familiaritate coluerat. Nam 
 primis apud eum honoribus, habitum, cultos auro 
 
 ' Hist. Dan. p. 6. ^ jy^ p ^44 
 
CH. vn.] THE NOBLE BY SERVICE. 169 
 
 gladios, opimaque bellorum praemia perceperunt." 
 Thus also Hialto sings ^ 
 
 " Dulce est nos domino percepta rependere dona, 
 Acoeptare enses, famaeque impendere ferrum. 
 
 Enses theutohici, galeae, armillaeque nitentes, 
 Lorieae talo immisaae, quas eontulit olim 
 RoIto suis, memores aouant in praelia mentes. 
 Res petit, et par est, q[u.aecumque per otia sunima 
 Naoti pace sumus, belli ditione mereri." 
 
 The same amusing author tells us^ how on some 
 occasion, in consequence of there being no queen in 
 a court, the comites were ill supplied with clothes, 
 a difficulty which they could only provide against 
 by inducing their king to marry : " Igitur contu- 
 bernales Frothonis circa indumentorum usum fe- 
 minea admodum ope defecti, quum non haberent 
 unde nova assuere, aut lacera reficere possent, 
 regem celebrandi coniugii monitis adhortantur." 
 There seems no reason to doubt the fact thus re- 
 corded, however we may judge respecting its oc- 
 currence in the time of Frotho. Similarly when 
 Siegfried set out upon his fatal marriage expedition 
 into Burgundy, he and his twelve comrades were 
 clothed by the care of the royal Siglint^. From this 
 relation between the prince and the comites, are 
 derived the names appropriated to the former in 
 the epopoea, of hlaford, lord, literally hread-giver : 
 sinces brytta, beaga brytta, distributor of treasure, 
 rings ; siucgifa, treasure-giver, and the like. It is 
 clear also that a right to any share in the booty 
 could not be claimed by the gesi'S, as it undoubt- 
 
 ' Sax. Gram. Hist. Dan. p. 33. ^ Hist. Dan. p. 68. 
 
 ' Nibelunge Not. 66. p. 10, LacLmann. 
 
170 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [booki. 
 
 edly could by the free soldier in the Hereban, but 
 depended entirely upon the will of the chief, and 
 his notions of policy : a right could not have been 
 described as the result of his liberality. In the 
 historical time of Charlemagne we have evidence of 
 this^ : "Quo accepto .... idem vir prudentissimus 
 idque largissimus et Dei dispensator magnam inde 
 partem Eomam ad limina Apostolorum misit per 
 Angilbertum dilectum abbatem suum ; porro reli- 
 quam partem obtimatibus, clericis sive laicis, cae- 
 terisque fidelibus suis largitus est : " or, as it is 
 still more clearly expressed in the annals of Egin- 
 hart^, " reliquum vero inter optimates et aulicos, 
 caeterosque in palatio suo militantes, liberali manu 
 distribuit." And similarly we are told of ^^el- 
 stan : " Praeda quae in castro reperta fuerat, et ea 
 quidem amplissima, magnifice et viritim divisa. 
 Hoc enim vir ille animo imperaverat suo, ut nihil 
 opum ad crumenas corraderet ; sed omnia conqui- 
 sita, vel monasteriis, vel fidelibus suis, munificus ex- 
 penderet^." The share of the freeman who served 
 under his gerefa, and not under a lord, M'as his own 
 by lot, and neither by largitio nor liberalitas, — a 
 most important distinction, seeing that where all 
 was left to the arbitrary disposition of the chief, 
 the subservience of the follower would very natu- 
 rally become the measure of his liberality. 
 
 The relation of the Comites was one of fealty: 
 it was undertaken in the most solemn manner, 
 
 ^ Annal. Lauri&h. an. 796. Pertz, Mon. Germ. i. 182. 
 
 = An. 796. Pertz, i. 183. 
 
 ^ WiU. Malm. Gest. Reg. i. 213, § 134. 
 
CH. VII.] THE NOBLE BY SERVICE. 171 
 
 and with appropriate, symbolic ceremonies, out of 
 which, in later times, sprung homage and the 
 other incidents of feudality. All history proves 
 that it was of the most intimate nature ; that even 
 life itself was to be sacrificed without hesitation if 
 the safety of the prince demanded it : the gesi'Sas 
 of Beowulf expose themselves with him to the at- 
 tack of the fiendish Grendel ^ ; Wiglaf risks his own 
 life to assist his lord and relative in his fatal con- 
 test with the firedrake^; and the solemn denuncia- 
 tion which he pronounces against the remaining 
 comites who neglected this duty, recalls the words 
 of Tacitus, and the infamy that attached to the sur- 
 vivors of their chief ^: 
 
 Hii sceal sinc))ego How shall tlie service of treasure 
 
 and swyrdgyfu, and tlie gift of swords, 
 
 eaU SSelwyn, all joy of a paternal inheritance, 
 
 eowrum oynne [all] support fail 
 
 lufen alicgean : your Mn : 
 
 londrihtes mot of the rights of citizenship must 
 
 ■S&e mSeghurge of your family 
 
 monna ^ghwilc every one 
 
 idel hweorfan, go about deprived, 
 
 si^iSan se'Selingas when once the nobles 
 
 feorran gefricgean far and wide shall hear 
 
 fleam edweme, of your flight, 
 
 domleaaan dSd. your dishonorable deed. 
 
 Sea's bi^ sella Death is better 
 
 eorla gehwyloum for every warrior 
 
 ^onne edwitlif. than a life of shame. 
 
 But we are not compelled to draw upon the stores 
 of poetry and imaginative tradition alone : the sober 
 records of our earlier annalists supply ample evi- 
 dence in corroboration of the philosophical historian. 
 
 ' Beowulf, 1. 1682 seq. ' Ibid. 1, 5262 seq., 5384 seq. 
 
 ' Ibid. 1. 5763. 
 
172 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 When Cwichelm of Wessex sent an assassin to cut 
 off Eaduuini of Northumberland, that prince was 
 saved by the devotion of his thane Lilla, who threw 
 himself between, and received the blow that was 
 destined for his master; in the words of Beda^: 
 "Quod cum videret Lilla minister regis amicissi- 
 mus, non habens scutum ad manum quo regem a 
 nece defenderet, mox interposuit corpus suum ante 
 ictum pungentis ; sed tanta vi hostis ferrum infixit, 
 ut per corpus militis occisi etiam regem vulneraret." 
 Again we learn that in the year 786, Cyneheard, 
 an setheling of Wessex, who had pretensions to the 
 crown, surprised the king Cynewulf at the house 
 of a paramour at Merton, and there slew him. He 
 proffered wealth and honours to the comites of the 
 king, which they refused, and with small numbers 
 manfully held out till every one had fallen. On the 
 following morning a superior force of the king's 
 thanes came up : to them again the setheling offered 
 land and gold, but in vain : he was slain on the 
 spot with all his own comites, who refused to desert 
 him in his extremity. This is the account given 
 of these facts in the words of the Saxon Chronicle 
 itself 2; 
 
 And ^a gebead he him heora agen- And then he offered them their 
 
 ne ddin fees and londes, gif hie own desire of money and land, if 
 
 him Saes rices liSon, and him cytS- they would grant him the king- 
 
 de, Sset heora m^gas him mid dom, and he told them that their 
 
 w^ron, 'Sa Be him from noldon. own relatives were with him, who 
 
 And tiacw^don hie, ISsethim na- would not desert him. Then said 
 
 nig mseg leofra ndere 'Sonne heora they, that no relative was dearer 
 
 hlaford, and hie nsefre his hanan to them than their lord, and that 
 
 1 Hist. Ecc. ii.9. = chron. Sax. an. 755. 
 
CH. VII.] THE NOBLE BY SERVICE. 173 
 
 folgian noldoD. And 'Sa budon hie they never would follow his mur- 
 heoramSegum^sethiehimgesunde derer. And then they offered 
 from eddon. And hie cwcedon, their relatives that they should 
 ^set tJast ilce heora geferum geho- leave him, with safety for them- 
 den wdere Se ^r mid ^am eyninge selves : hut they said, that the 
 wderon ; 'Ssst hie hie ^86s ne on- same offer had heen made to tlieir 
 munden, ^on ma ISe edwre geferan own comrades who at first were 
 tSe mid 'Sam eyninge ofslaegene with the king : that they paid no 
 wSeron. more attention to it, than your 
 
 comrades who were slaughtered 
 
 with the Mng. 
 
 ^thelweard, Florence of Worcester, and Henry of 
 Huntingdon all follow the chronicle, which in some 
 details they apparently translate. William of 
 Malmesbury seems to adopt the same account, but 
 adds a few words which have especial reference 
 to this portion of the argument^ : "quorum (^. e. 
 comitum) qui maximus aevo et prudentia Osricus, 
 caeteros cohortatus ne necem domini sui in insignem 
 et perpetuam suam ignominiam inultam dimitterent, 
 districtis gladiis coniuratos irruit." 
 
 It is obvious that from this intimate relation be 
 tween the prince and the gesiS must arise certain 
 reciprocal rights and duties, sanctioned by cus- 
 tom, which would gradually form themselves into a 
 code of positive law, and ultimately aflfect the state 
 and condition of the freemen. In the earliest de- 
 velopment of the Comitatus, it is clear that the 
 idea of freedom is entirely lost ; it is replaced by 
 the much more questionable motive of honour, or 
 to speak more strictly, of rank and station. The 
 comes may indeed have become the possessor of 
 land, even of very large tracts 2, by gift from his 
 
 ' Gest. Reg. i. § 42. ^ Beowulf, 1. 5984 seq. 
 
174 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 prince ; but he could not be the possessor of a free 
 Hide, and consequently bound to service in the 
 general fyrd, or to suit in the folcmot : he might 
 have wealth, and rank and honour, be povs^erful 
 and splendid, dignified and influential, but he could 
 not be free : and if even the freeman so far forgot 
 the inherent dignity of his station as to carry him- 
 self (for his e'Sel I think he could not carry) into the 
 service of the prince, — an individual man, although 
 a prince, and not as yet the state, or the represen- 
 tative of the state, — can it be doubted that the re- 
 munerative service of the chief would outweigh the 
 barren possession of the farmer, or that the festive 
 board and adventurous life of the castle would soon 
 supply excuses for neglecting the humbler duties 
 of the popular court and judicature \ Even if the 
 markmen razed him from their roll, and committed 
 his eSel to a worthier holder, what should he care, 
 whom the liberality of his conquering leader could 
 endow with fifty times its worth ; and whose total 
 divorce from the vulgar community would probably 
 be looked upon with no disfavour by him who had 
 already marked that community for his prey ? Nor 
 could those whom the gesi'S in turn settled upon 
 lands which were not within the general mark-juris- 
 diction, be free markmen, but must have stood to- 
 wards him in somewhat the same relation as he 
 stood to his own chief. Upon the plan of the larger 
 household, the smaller would also be formed : the 
 same or similar conditions of tenure would prevail ; 
 and the services of his dependants he was no doubt 
 bound to hold at the disposal of his own lord, and 
 
CH. VII.] THE NOBLE BY SERVICE. 175 
 
 to maintain for his advantage. We have thus, even 
 in the earliest times, the nucleus of a standing 
 army, the means and instruments of aggrandize- 
 ment both for the King and the praetorian cohorts 
 themselves ; practised and delighting in battle, ever 
 ready to join in expeditions which promised adven- 
 ture, honour or plunder, feasted in time of peace, 
 enriched in time of war ; holding the bond that 
 united them to their chief as more sacred or strin- 
 gent than even that of blood ^, and consequently 
 ready for his sake to turn their arms against the 
 free settlers in the district, whenever his caprice, his 
 passion or his ambition called upon their services. 
 In proportion as his power and dignity increased 
 by their efforts and assistance, so their power and 
 dignity increased ; his rank and splendour were re- 
 flected upon all that surrounded him, till at length 
 it became not only more honourable to be the un- 
 free chattel of a prince, than the poor free culti- 
 vator of the soil, but even security for possession 
 and property could- only be attained within the 
 compass of their body. As early as the period 
 when the Frankish Law was compiled, we find the 
 great advantage enjoyed by the Comes over the 
 Free Salian or Ripuarian, in the large proportion 
 borne by his wergyld, in comparison with that of 
 the latter 2. 
 
 The advantage derived by the community from 
 
 ' Alfred excepts tlie lord, wMle he defines the cases in wliicli a man 
 may give armed assistance to his relative. The right of private feud 
 is not to extend to that sacred obligation of fealty. Leg. jElf. § 42. 
 
 ^ Leg. Salic. Tit. Ivii. cap. 1, 2. Leg. Rip. liii. cap. 1, 2. 
 
176 THE SxVXOXS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 the presence and protection of an armed force such 
 as the gesiSas constituted, must have gradually 
 produced a disposition to secure their favour even 
 at the expense of the free nobles and settlers : and 
 a Mark that wished to entrust its security and its 
 interests to a powerful soldier, would probably soon 
 acquiesce in his assuming a direction and leader- 
 ship in their affairs, hardly more consistent with 
 their original liberty, than the influence which a 
 modern nobleman may establish by watching, as 
 it is called, over the interests of the Eegistration. 
 Even the old nobles by blood, who gradually beheld 
 themselves forced down into a station of compara- 
 tive poverty and obscurity, must have early hastened 
 to give in their adhesion to a new order of things 
 which held out peculiar prospects of advantage to 
 themselves ; and thus, the communities deserted by 
 their natural leaders, soon sunk into a very sub- 
 ordinate situation, became portions of larger uni- 
 ties under the protection, and ultimately the rule, 
 of successful adventurers, and consented without a 
 struggle to receive their comites into those offices 
 of power and distinction which were once conferred 
 by popular election. 
 
 As the gesi'Sas were not free, and could not take 
 a part in the deliberations of the freemen at the 
 folcmot, or in the judicial proceedings, except in 
 as far as they were represented by their chief, 
 means for doing justice between themselves became 
 necessary : these were provided by the establish- 
 ment of a system of law, administered in the lord's 
 court, by his officers, and to which all his depen- 
 
CH. vn.] THE NOBLE BY SERVICE. 177 
 
 dants were required to do suit and service as amply 
 as they would, if free, have been bound to do in 
 the folcmot. But the law, administered in such a 
 coutt, and in those formed upon its model in the 
 lands of the comites themselves, — a privilege very 
 generally granted by the king, at least in later 
 periods^, — was necessarily very different from that 
 which could prevail in the court of the freemen : 
 it is only in a lord's court that we can conceive 
 punishments to have arisen which affected life and 
 honour, and fealty with all its consequences to have 
 attained a settled and stringent form, totally un- 
 known to the popular judicature. Forfeiture, or 
 rather excommunication, and pecuniary mulcts, 
 which partook more of the nature of damages than 
 of fine, were all that the freeman would subject 
 himself to under ordinary circumstances. Expul- 
 sion, degradation, death itself might be the portion 
 of him whose whole life was the property of a lord. 
 
 ' Eadweard of Wessez in 904 transferred Us royal rights in Taunton 
 to the see of Winchester. He says : " Conceasi ut episoopi homines, 
 tarn nobiles quam ignobiles (i. e. XII hynde and II hynde) in praefato 
 rare degentes, hoc idem ins in omni haberent dignitate (had), C[uo regis 
 homines perfruuntur, regalibus iisois commorantes : et omnium saecu- 
 larium rerum indicia ad usus praesiilum exerceantur eodem modo quo 
 regalium negotiorum discutiuntur indicia. Praedictae etiam villae 
 meroimonium quod Anglice 'Sses tiines cyping. appellatur, censusque 
 omnis civilis, sanctae dei aecclesiae in Wintonia civitate sine retracta- 
 tionia obstaculo cum omnibus commodis aeternaliter deserviat." Ood. 
 Dipl. No. 1084. He had previously granted an immunity from regal 
 and comitial interference ; the result of which was to place all judicial 
 and fiscal functions in the hands of the bishop's reeve instead of the 
 sheriifj or the king's burgreeve. The document fui'nishes an admirable 
 example of an Immunity, or, as it is technically called in the Anglo- 
 saxou law, a grant of Sacn and Sdcn. 
 
 VOL. I. ' N 
 
178 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i 
 
 to be by him disposed of at his pleasure. Hence 
 the forfeiture oflands for adultery and incontinence, 
 and hence even Alfred affixes the penalty of death 
 to the crime of hlafordsyrwe, or conspiracy against 
 a lord^, while manslaughter could still be com- 
 pounded for by customary payments. One or two 
 special cases may be quoted to show how the rela- 
 tion of the gesiS to his chief modified the general 
 law of the state. 
 
 The horse and arms which, in the strict theory 
 of the comitatus, had been the gift, or rather the 
 loan of the chief, were to be returned at the death 
 of the vassal, in order, according to the same theory, 
 that they might furnish some other adventurer with 
 the instruments of service 2. These, technically 
 called Heregeatwe, armatura helUca, have con- 
 tinued even to our own day under the name of 
 Heriot, and strictly speaking consist of horses and 
 weapons. In later imitation of this, the unfree set- 
 tlers on a lord's land, who were not called upon 
 by their tenure to perform military service, were 
 bound on demise to pay the best chattel {melius 
 catallum, best head, in German beste haupt, heriot- 
 custom, as opposed to heriot-service) to the lord, 
 probably on the theoretical hypothesis that he, at 
 
 ' Leg. M]&. Introduction, and § 4, 
 
 '' This is necessary in a country where the materials of which wea- 
 pons are fabricated are not abundant, which Tacitus notices as the case 
 in Germany, "ne ferrum quidem superest, gicut ex genere telorum 
 coUigitur." Germ. vi. Adventurers, ever on the move, are prone to 
 realize their gains in the most portable shape. Rings, gems and arms 
 are the natural form, and a Teutonic kingjs treasury must have been 
 fiUed with them, in preference to all other valuables. 
 
CH. vn.] THE NOBLE BY SERVICE. 179 
 
 the commencement of the tenancy, had supplied 
 the necessary implements of agriculture. And this 
 differs entirely from a Reliefs, because Heriot is the 
 act of the leaving, Relief the act of the incoming 
 tenant or heir 2; and because in its very nature 
 and amount Heriot is of a somevs^hat indefinite 
 character, but Eelief is not. 
 
 In the strict theory of the comitatus, the gesiS 
 could possess no property of his own ; all that he 
 acquired was his lord's, and even the liberalities 
 of the lord himself were only heneficia or loans, 
 not absolute gifts^ : he had the usufruct only during 
 life, the dominium utile: the dominium directum 
 was in the lord, and at the death of the tenant it is 
 obvious that the estate vested in the lord alone : 
 the gesiS could have no ius testamenti, as indeed 
 he had no family : the lord stood to him in place 
 
 ' Relief, relevium, from relevare, to lift or take up again. It is a 
 sum paid by the heir to the lord, on taking or lifting up again the in- 
 heritance of an estate which has, as it were, fallen to the ground by the 
 death of the ancestor. 
 
 ^ Fleta, lib. iii. cap. 18. 
 
 ' Montesquieu has seen this very clearly, when he considers even the 
 horse and/r«»ieo of Tacitus in the light of lenefida. From a charter of 
 jESelflsed, an. 915-922, it would seem that in Mercia a thane required 
 the consent of the lord, before he could purchase an estate of bookland : 
 "Ego ^'SelflCed. . . .dedi licentiam Eadrico meo ministro comparandi 
 terram decern manentium set Eembeorgen, sibi suisque haeredibus per- 
 petualiter possidendam." Cod. Dipl. No. 343. About the close of the 
 ninth century, Wulf here, a duke, having left the country, and so de- 
 serted the duties of his position, was adjudged to lose even his private 
 lands of inheritance : " Quaudo ille utrumque et suum dominum regem 
 .^Ifredum et patriam, ultra iusiiu'andum quam regi et suis omnibus op- 
 timatibus iuraverat, sine licentia dereliquit ; tunc etiam, cum omnium 
 iudicio sapientium Geuisorum et Meroensium, potestatem et haeredita- 
 tem dereliquit agrorum." Cod. Dipl. No. 1078. The importance of this 
 passage seems to me to rest upon the words " sine licentia." 
 
 n2 
 
180 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 of father, brother and son. Hereditary succession, 
 which must at first have been a very rare exception, 
 could only have arisen at all either from the volun- 
 tary or the compelled grant of the lord : it could 
 only become general when the old distinction be- 
 tween the free markman and the gesiS had become 
 obliterated, and the system of the Comitatus had 
 practically and politically swallowed up every other. 
 Yet even under these circumstances it would appear 
 that a perfectly defined result was not attained ; 
 and hence, although the document entituled " Rec- 
 titudines singularum personarum" numbers the 
 ius testamenti among the rights of the Jiegen^, yet 
 even to the close of the Anglosaxon monarchy, we 
 find dukes, prsefects, kings' thanes, and other great 
 nobles humbly demanding permission from the king 
 to make wills, entreating him not to disturb their 
 testamentary dispositions, and even bribing his 
 acquiescence by including him among the lega- 
 tees. In this as in all human afi"airs, a compromise 
 was gradually found necessary between opposing 
 powers, and the king as well as the comites, neither 
 of whom could dispense with the assistance of the 
 other, found it advisable to make mutual conces- 
 sions. I doubt whether at even an earlier period 
 than the eleventh century, the whole body of thanes 
 would have permitted the king to disregard the 
 testament of one of their body, unless upon defi- 
 nite legal grounds, as for example grave suspicion 
 
 ' " pegenes kgu is «8st lie sf his boorilites wyrtSe ; taini lex est ut 
 sit dignus rectitudine testamenti sui." Tliorpe, i. 432. And with this 
 jElfred's law of entails is consistent. Leg. ^If. § 41. Thorpe, i. 88. 
 
CH. vn.] THE NOBLE BY SERVICE. 381 
 
 of treason: but still they might consent to the 
 nominal application and sanction of the ancient 
 principle, by allowing the insertion of a general 
 petition, that the will might stand, in the body of 
 the instrument^. 
 
 The circumstances thus brought under review 
 show clearly that the condition of the gesi'S was 
 unfree in itself; that even the free by birth who 
 entered into it, relinquished that most sacred in- 
 heritance, and reduced themselves to the rank of 
 thanes, ministers or servants. Certain rights and 
 privileges grew up, no doubt, by custom, and the 
 counts were probably not very long subject to the 
 mere arbitrary will of the chief: they had the pro- 
 tection of others in a similar state of dependency 
 to their own, and chances, such as they were, 
 
 ' Toward the end of tlie tenth century, Beorhtrio, a wealthy noble in 
 Kent, devised land by will to various relatives. He left the king, a 
 collar worth eighty mancuses of gold, and a sword of equal value ; his 
 heriot, comprising four horses, two of which were saddled ; two swords 
 with their belts; two hawks, and all his hounds. He further gave to 
 the queen, a ring worth thirty mancuses of gold, and a mare, that she 
 might be his advocate (forespreeoe) that the wiU might stand, " 'Sset se 
 cwide stondan mihte." Ood. Dipl. No. 492. Between 044 and 946, 
 JESelgyfu devised lands and chattels to St. Albans, " cum consensu do- 
 mini mei regis." The king and queen had a very fair share of this 
 spoil. Cod. Dipl. No. 410. Between 965 and 975, JElf heah, an ealdor- 
 mau, or noble of the highest rank, and cousin of Eadgir's queen 
 MUiSiy'S, left lands, a good share of which went to the king and queen : 
 .the will was made, "be his cynehlafordes gehafunge," by his royal 
 lord's permission, and winds up with this clause : "And the witnesses 
 to this permission which the king granted (observe, not to the will 
 itself, but to the king's permission to leave the property as he did,) are 
 Mmvp the queen and others." Ood. Dipl. No. 593. ^«elflffid a royal 
 lady, left lands, some of which went to the king : she says, " And ic 
 bidde minan leofan hlaford for Godes lufun, tSset min cwide standan 
 mote," — and I beg my dear Lord, for God's love, that this my will may 
 
182 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 of subservience to the king's wishes : a bond of 
 affection and interdependence surpassing that of 
 blood, and replacing the mutual free guarantee of 
 life and security, was formed between them ; and 
 they shared alike in the joys and sorrows, the 
 successes and reverses of peace and war : but with 
 it all, and whatever their rank, they were in fact 
 menials, housed within the walls, fed at the table, 
 clothed at the expense of their chief; dependent 
 upon his bounty, his gratitude or forbearance, for 
 their subsistence and position in life ; bound to 
 sacrifice that life itself in his service, and, strictly 
 considered, incapable of contracting marriage or 
 sharing in the inestimable sanctities of a home. 
 They were his cupbearers, stewards, chamberlains 
 and grooms ; even as kings and electors were to 
 
 stand. Cod. Dipl. No. 685. In the time of ^ISelred, Wulfwam, a lady, 
 commences her will in these words : "Ic Wulfwaru bidde mine ledfan 
 hlaford ^^elred kyning, him to selmyssan, tSset ic mote beon mines 
 cwides wyrKe ; " i. e. that I may be worthy of my right of devising 
 by will ; that I may enjoy my right of making a will. Cod. Dipl. 
 No. 694. jElfgyfu the q^ueen in 1012 commences her wiU in similar 
 terms: "Dis is ^Ifgyfe gegurning to hire cynehlaforde. Dsetis'Sset 
 hed hine bitt for Godes lufun and for cynescipe 'Sset heo mote beon 
 hyre cwides wyi«e." Cod. Dipl. No. 721. ^«elstan, king ^-Selred's 
 son, made also a will, from which I take the following passage : " Now 
 I thank my father, with all humility, in the name of Almighty God, 
 for the answer which he sent me on the Friday after Midsummer day, 
 by ^Ifgar ^ffa's son ; that was, that he told me, upon my father's 
 word, that I might, by God's leave and his, grant my realty and chattels, 
 as I thought best, whether for spiritual or temporal ends. And the wit- 
 nesses to this answer are Eadmund," etc. Cod. Dipl. No. 722. Lastly, 
 ^If helm concludes his wUl with these words : " Now I entreat thee, 
 my dear lord, that my will may stand, and that thou permit not that 
 any man should set it aside. God is my withess that I was ever obe- 
 dient to thy father, to the utmost of my power, and full faithful to 
 him both in mind and main, and have ever been faithful to thee, in full 
 faith and full love, as God is my witness." Cod. Dipl. No. 967. 
 
CH. TO.] TPIE NOBLE BY SERVICE. 183 
 
 the emperor, whom they had raised out of their 
 own body. The real nature of their service appears 
 even through the haze of splendour and dignity 
 which gradually surround the intimate servants 
 of royalty; and as the chief might select his co- 
 mites and instruments from what class he chose, 
 it was the fate of these voluntary thanes, not un- 
 frequently to be numbered in the same category 
 with the unfree by birth, and thus, in their own 
 persons, to witness the destruction of that essential 
 principle of all Teutonic law, the distinction be- 
 tween the freeman and the serf i. 
 
 Great indeed ought to be the advantages which 
 could compensate for sacrifices like these, and great 
 in their eyes, beyond a doubt, they were. In re- 
 turn for freedom, the gesi^ obtained a certain main- 
 tenance, the chance of princely favour, a military 
 and active life of adventure, with all its advantages 
 of pillage, festivals and triumphs, poets and min- 
 strels, courtly halls and adventitious splendour ; 
 the usufruct at least, and afterwards the possession, 
 of lands and horses, arms and jewels. As the royal 
 power steadily advanced by his assistance, and the 
 old, national nobility of birth, as well as the old, 
 landed freeman sunk into a lower rank, the gesiS 
 found himself rising in power and consideration pro- 
 portioned to that of his chief: the offices which had 
 
 ' " Libertini non multum supra servos sunt, raro aliquod momentum 
 in domo, nunquam in civitate ; exceptis duntaxat iis gentibus, quae 
 regnantur: ibi enim et super ingenues et super nobilea ascendunt: 
 apud caeteros impares libertini libertatis argumeutum sunt." Tac. 
 Crerm. xxv. 
 
184 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 passed from the election of the freemen to the gift 
 of the crown ^, were now conferred upon him, and 
 the ealdorman, duke, gerefa, judge, and even the 
 birihop, were at length selected from the ranks of 
 the comitatus. Finally, the nobles by birth them- 
 selves became absorbed in the ever-widening whirl- 
 pool ; day by day the freemen, deprived of their old 
 national defences, wringing with difficulty a preca- 
 rious subsistence from incessant labour, sullenly 
 yielded to a yoke which they could not shake off, 
 and commended themselves (such was the phrase) 
 to the protection of a lord ; till a complete change 
 having thus been operated in the opinions of men, 
 and consequently in every relation of society, a 
 new order of things was consummated, in which 
 the honours and security of service became more 
 anxiously desired than a needy and unsafe freedom ; 
 and the alods being finally surrendered, to be taken 
 back as heneficia, under mediate lords, the founda- 
 tions of the royal, feudal system were securely laid 
 on every side. 
 
 ' By this step, the crown became the real leader of the herehan, or 
 posse comitatus, as well as of the gesi'Sas and their power : and thus 
 also, the head of the juridical power in the counties, as well as the lords' 
 courts. Moreover it extended the powers and provisions of martial 
 law to the offences of the freemen. 
 
185 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE UNFREE. THE SERF. 
 
 We have considered the case of the wife, the son 
 and the daughter i, as far as can be done until we 
 come to deal with the family relations ; and we 
 have examined the position of one peculiar class 
 of the unfree, namely the comites or gesiSas of the 
 kingly leaders. Another, but less favoured, class 
 remain to be noticed, those namely whom the 
 Latin authors designate by the terms Libertus and 
 Servus, and who, among all the nations of Germa- 
 nic origin, are found under the corresponding de- 
 nominations of Lazzi or Dio, Lset or Deow, Lysingr 
 or prsel. These have no honourable, no profitable 
 service to compensate for the loss of independence, 
 but form the large body of hired cultivators, the 
 artizans and handicraftsmen in various branches of 
 industry, the prsedial, even the domestic or menial 
 servants of the free landowner. 
 
 The grounds as well as the degrees of slavery 
 (by which term I mean dependence, the being in 
 the mund of another, and represented by him in 
 the folcmdt) are various ; one, viz. poverty arising 
 
 ' Page 129. 
 
186 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 from over-population, has been noticed in the last 
 chapter ; but I agree with Eichhorni and Grimm^, 
 in attributing the principal and original cause of 
 slavery in all its branches to war and subsequent 
 conquest. Another and important cause is for- 
 feiture of liberty for crime ; and the amount of 
 dependence, the gentler or harsher condition of the 
 serf, depends to a great extent upon the original 
 ground of servitude. If the victor has a right to 
 the life of the vanquished, which by the law of 
 nature is unquestionably the case, he possesses a 
 fortiori a perfect claim to the person, the property 
 and the services of his prisoner, if his self-interest 
 or the dictates of humanity induce him to waive 
 that right^. These remarks apply no doubt, in 
 their full force, only to our pagan forefathers ; but 
 even Christianity itself did not at once succeed in 
 rooting out habits which its divine precepts of jus- 
 tice and mercy emphatically condemn. Beda, in 
 his desire to prove the efficacy of the mass for the 
 dead''', tells an interesting story of a young noble 
 
 ' Deut. Staatsges. i. 72, § 15. 
 
 ^ Deutsche Rechtaalterthiimer, p. 320, with the numerous examples 
 there given. So Fleta. "Fiunt autem homines servi de iure gentium 
 captivitate : bella enim orta sunt, et captivitates sequutae. Fiunt etiam 
 de iure civili, per coufessiouem in curia fisci factam." Lib. i. c. 3. § 3. 
 
 ^ A whole army may be devoted as victims by the conquerors. " Sed 
 bellum Hermunduris prosperum, Oattis exitiosius fuit, quia victores 
 diversam aciem Marti ac Mercurio sacravere, quo voto equi, viri, cuncta, 
 victa occidioni dantur." Tac. Annal. xiii. 57. " Lucis propinquis bar- 
 barae arae, apud quas tribunes ac primorum ordinum centurioues mac- 
 taveraut : et cladis .... superstites, pugnam aut vincula elapsi, referebant 
 .... quot patibula captivis, quae sorobes," etc. Tac. Annal. i. 61. 
 
 " Hist. Eccles. iv. 22. 
 
CH. VIII.] THE UNFREE. THE SERF. 187 
 
 who was left severely wounded on the field, after a 
 battle between Ecgfri'S of Northumberland and 
 iESelred of Mercia, in the year 679. Fearful of 
 the consequences should his rank be discovered, he 
 disguised himself in the habit of a peasant, and as- 
 sumed that character, at the castle of the earl into 
 whose hands he fell ; declaring that he was a poor, 
 and married man ^, who had been compelled to at- 
 tend the army with supplies of provisions. But his 
 language and manners betrayed him, and at length, 
 under a solemn promise of immunity, he revealed 
 his name and station. The reply of the earl is cha- 
 racteristic ; he said : " I knew well enough from 
 thy answers that thou wert no rustic ; and now in- 
 deed thou art worthy of death, seeing that all my 
 brothers and relations were slain in that battle : 
 yet I will not kill thee, lest I should break the 
 faith that I have pledged." Accordingly when his 
 wounds were healed, his captor sold him to a Frisian 
 in London, who, finding that he could not be bound, 
 finally released him on his parole and permitted 
 him to ransom himself. Whatever the motive, it 
 is thus clear that the victor possessed the right of 
 life and death over his captive, even when taken in 
 cold blood ; and the traditions, as well as the histo- 
 rical records of the northern nations are filled with 
 instances of its exercise. 
 
 ' This ia confirmatory of tlie statement in the last chapter, that, 
 strictly speaking, the Comes could not marry. One cannot see why the 
 assertion should have been made on any other grounds: his great 
 anxiety was to prove himself not a comes or minister, and as one argu- 
 ment, he states himself to be "uxoreo nexu constrictus." 
 
188 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 It does not however by any means follow that 
 the total defeat of a hostile tribe resulted in the im- 
 mediate and direct enslaving of all the survivors : 
 as in the example just cited, the blood-feud no 
 doubt frequently led to the murder of the captive 
 chiefs and nobles, even if less justifiable motives 
 did not counsel the same miserable means of re- 
 moving dangerous competitors^; but the heavy 
 doom of death must have been one of the melan- 
 choly privileges of the noble class : and even though 
 many of the common freemen may have been sold 
 or retained as slaves at the caprice of the captors, 
 still we cannot suppose this to have been the lot of 
 any but those who had actually taken part in com- 
 bat ; no natural or national law could extend these 
 harsh provisions to the freemen who remained quiet 
 at home. Nevertheless even these were liable to 
 be indirectly affected by the hostile triumph, inas- 
 much as the conquerors appear invariably to have 
 taken a portion, more or less great, of the territory 
 occupied by the conquered ^i and wherever this is 
 
 ' After a "battle between Ragnachari and Cblodowicb, in which the 
 former was taken prisoner, the victor thus addressed him : " Oui 
 dixit Ohlodoveus, Cur humiliaati gentem nostram, ut te vinciri per- 
 mitteres ? Nonne melius tibi fuerit mori ? Et elevata bipenne, in 
 caput eius defixit, et mortuus est. Conversusque ad fratrem eius, ait : 
 Si tu solatium fratri tuo praehuisses, ille ligatus non fuisset ! Similiter 
 et ipsum in eapite percussum interfecit, et mortuus est." Gest. Reg. 
 Franc. (Script. Rer. Gall, et Francic. ii. 556.) It was the interest of 
 Chlodowich to put these princes to death, but there must still have 
 been some right acknowledged in him to do so. He seems however to 
 rest it upon the disgrace which they had brought upon the msegburh, 
 gens or family, by suffering themselves to be captured and bound. 
 
 ^ " (Juod Ariovistus in eorum finibus consedisset, tertiamque 
 
CH. vni.] THE UNFREE. THE SERF. 189 
 
 the case to the extent of depriving the cultivator of 
 means sufficient for his support, he has no resource 
 but to place himself in dependence upon some 
 wealthier man, and lose, together with his lot or 
 kXijjooc, the right to form an integral part of the 
 state : the degree of his dependence, and the con- 
 sequent comparative suffering to himself, may vary 
 with a multitude of circumstances ; but the one fact 
 still remains, viz. that he is in the mund or hand 
 of another, represented in the state by that other, 
 and consequently, in the most emphatic sense of 
 the word, wnfree. 
 
 It is now generally admitted that this must have 
 been the case with the whole population in some 
 districts, who thus became dependent upon a few 
 intrusive lords : but still these populations cannot 
 be said to have stood in that peculiar relation to 
 the conquerors, which the word servus strictly im- 
 plies towards an owner. The utmost extent of their 
 subjection probably reached no further than the 
 payment of tribute, the exclusion from military 
 duty and the standing under a protectorate^. In- 
 glorious and easy, when once the dues of the lord 
 were paid, they may even have rejoiced at being 
 spared the danger of warfare and the laborious suit 
 
 partem agri Sequani qui esset optimus totius Galliae, ocoupaTisset ; et 
 nunc de altera parte tertia Sequanos decedereiuberet." Oaes. Bell. Gall, 
 i. 32. The same proportion of a third, sometimes however in produce, 
 not land, occurs in other cases : Eichhorn, Deut. Staatsges. i. 161 seq. 
 § 23, with the accompanying quotations. 
 
 ' This is the condition of the Perioecians in Laconia, with the ex- 
 ception that these were called upon for military service. The Helotae 
 or Penestae were more nearly praedial serfs. 
 
190 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 of the folcmot, and forgotten that self-government 
 is the inherent right and dignity of man, in the 
 convenience of having others to defend and rule 
 them. Moreover the territorial subjection wsis not 
 necessarily a juridical one : indeed some of the Teu- 
 tonic conquerors recognized as positive law, the 
 right of even the dependent Eomans and Provin- 
 cials to be judged and taxed according to the rules 
 and maxims of Eoman, not Salic or Langobardic, 
 jurisprudence : and this, vphen carried out in the 
 fullest detail with respect to the various tribes at 
 any time united under one supreme head, consti- 
 tutes what is now called the system of Personal 
 Bight, whereby each man enjoyed the law and forms 
 of law to which he was born, without the least 
 reference to the peculiar district in which he might 
 happen to live ; in other words, that he carried his 
 own law about, whithersoever he went, as a quality 
 attached to his own person, and not in the slightest 
 degree connected with or dependent upon any par- 
 ticular locality. In this way Alamanni, Baiowari, 
 Saxons, Frisians, Langobards, Eomans, Gallic pro- 
 vincials and Slavonic populations, were all united 
 under the empire of the Salic and Eipuarian Franks^. 
 The peculiar circumstances under which the con- 
 quest took place must, of course, have defined the 
 relations under which the subject stood to the ruling 
 state. It is conceivable that the conquerors might 
 not want land, but be contented with glory and ■ 
 
 ' This led by degrees to the vast power and influence of all the 
 clergy, who were originally Eoman, and who, whatever their nation 
 might be, lived under the Eoman law, "per clericalem honorem 
 
OH. vm.] THE UNFKEE. THE SERF. 101 
 
 pillage ; or they might not be able to seize and 
 retain the conquered territory : or again they may 
 have required new settlements for themselves and 
 their allies, to obtain which they waged a war of 
 extermination. Thus the Suevi, although unable 
 to expel the Ubii altogether from their territory, 
 yet succeeded in rendering them tributary ^ ; while 
 in Thuringia, the Franks and their Saxon allies 
 seized all the land, slaying, expelling or completely 
 reducing the indigenous inhabitants to slavery. 
 Another and curious instance may be cited from a 
 comparatively late period, when the little island of 
 Man M'as invaded, conquered and colonized by the 
 Norwegian Godred. " Godredus sequenti die opti- 
 onem exercitui suo dedit, ut si mallent Manniam 
 inter se dividere et in ea habitare, vel cunctam 
 substantiam terrae accipere et ad propria remeare. 
 Hiis autem magis placuit totam insulam vastare, 
 et de bonis illius ditari, et sic ad propria reverti. 
 Godredus autem paucis qui secum remanserunt 
 de insulanis australem partem insulae, et reliquiis 
 Mannensium aquilonarem tali pacto concessit, ut 
 nemo eorum aliquando auderet iure haereditario 
 sibi aliquam partem terrae usurpare. Unde accidit 
 ut usque in hodiernum diem tota insula solius regis 
 sit, et omnes redditus eius ad ipsum pertineant^." 
 The not being able to dispose of property heredi- 
 tarily is the true badge and proof of slavery. 
 
 ' Caesar, Bell. GaU. iv. 3. The Franks imposed a tribute of hides 
 upon the Frisians : we hear also of tribute paid them by the Thurin- 
 gians, Saxons and Slavic races. 
 
 ' A.D. 1066. Chron, Manniae. MS. Oott., Jul. A. VII., fol. 82. 
 
192 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 Tacitus draws a great distinction between the 
 different degrees of servitude among the Germans. 
 He tells us that the unsuccessful gambler who had 
 staked and lost his liberty and the free disposal of 
 his own body upon one fatal cast of the dice, would 
 voluntarily submit to be bound and sold'^, but that 
 it was not usual for them to reduce their other serfs 
 to the condition of menials ; they only demanded 
 from them a certain amount of produce (or, un- 
 questionably, of labour in the field or pasture), and 
 then left them the enjoyment of their own dwell- 
 ings and property^. The general duties of the 
 house, beyond such supplies, which were provided 
 for among the Romans by the ministeriaperfamiliam 
 descripta, were left among the Germans to the wife 
 and children of the householder ^. It will be de- 
 sirable to follow a somewhat similar distinction in 
 
 ' " Servos conditionis huius per commercia tradunt, ut se quoque 
 pudore victoriae exsolvant." Germ. xxiv. Tlxe last memter of the 
 sentence is a bit of imaginative morality whicli we shall acquit the 
 Germans of altogether. The very word caeteris in the next sentence 
 shows clearly enough that if they did sell some slaves conditionis huim, 
 they kept others for menial functions. 
 
 ^ " Caeteris servis, non in nostrum morem, descriptis per familiam 
 ministeriis, utuntur. Suam quisque sedem, suos penates regit. Fru- 
 menti modum dominus, aut pecoris, aut vestis, ut colono, iniungit ; et 
 servus hactenus paret." Germ. xxv. This amounts to no more than 
 the description of a certain class of our own copyholders, of the Sla- 
 vonic holder in Bohemia or Galioia, and the peasant on a noble session 
 in Hungary. 
 
 ^ This is the obvious meaning of the passage, which has however 
 been disputed, in defiance of sense and Latin : see Walther's edition, 
 vol. iv. 58. The general rule in the text is true, but where there 
 were slaves they were used in the house, imder the superintendence of 
 the family. This of course applies more strongly to later historical 
 periods, when the slaves (domestics) had become much more nume- 
 rous, and the ladies much less domestic. 
 
CH. vni.] THE UNFREE. THE SERF. 193 
 
 treating of the diflFerent kinds of slaves ; and having 
 shown that one class of the unfree are those who 
 have been partially dispossessed by conquest, but 
 retain theii* personal freedom in some degree, to 
 proceed to those who are personally unfree, the 
 mere chattels of a lord who can dispose of them at 
 his pleasure, even to the extent of sale, mutilation 
 and death. The class we have hitherto been ob- 
 serving is that intended by the terni Lset in Anglo- 
 saxon, Litus, Lito, Lazzo, etc. in German monu- 
 ments ^ and the Laeti of the Eomans, applied by 
 them to the auxiliary Germans settled on imperial 
 land, and bound to pay tribute and perform military 
 service. They formed, as Grimm has well observed, 
 a sort of middle class among the unfree ; compri- 
 sing the great majority of those who, without being 
 absolutely their own masters, were yet placed some- 
 what above the lowest and most abject condition 
 of man, which we call slavery. This condition 
 among our forefathers was termed ]}e6wet ; the ser- 
 vus was Jjeow, the ancilla J^eowen ; or, as the origi- 
 nal serfs of the English were the vanquished Bri- 
 tons, Wealh and Wyln. 
 
 Without confining ourselves to the definition in 
 the law of Henry the First, we may distribute the 
 different kinds of slaves into classes, according to 
 the different grounds of slavery^. Thus they are 
 
 ' Deut.'Rechtsalt. p. 305. 
 
 ^ " Servi alii natura, alii facto, et alii empcione, et alii redempcione, 
 alii sua vel alterius dacione servi, et si quae sunt aliae species liuius- 
 modi ; quaa tamen omnes volumus sub uno servitutis memtro constitui, 
 queiii casum ponimus appellari, ut ita dictum sit, servi alii casu, alii 
 genitura." Leg. Hen. I. Ixxvi. § 3. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
194 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 serfs casu or natura, and the serfs casu comprise 
 serfs by the fortune of war, by marriage, by settle- 
 ment, by voluntary surrender, by crime, by superior 
 legal power, and by illegal power or injustice. The 
 remaining class are serfs natura, or by birth. 
 
 The serfs by fortune of war were those who were 
 not left under the public law to enjoy a portion of 
 their ancient freedom and possessions, but were 
 actually reduced to a state of prsedial or menial 
 servitude by their captors, and either reserved for 
 household drudgery or sold, at their arbitrary wiU. 
 The Cassandra and Andromache of Grecian story 
 stand here side by side with our own German 
 Gudrun. This part of the subject has received suffi- 
 cient illustration from the tale of the thane Imma, 
 already quoted from Beda. 
 
 The serf by marriage was the free man or free 
 woman who contracted that bond vsdth a slave : in 
 this case the free party sank to the condition of the 
 unfree, among some at least of the German races. 
 The Salic law is explicit upon this point both with 
 respect to man and woman ^ : among the Eipuarian 
 Franks it was enacted thus^ : " If a free Eipuarian 
 woman hath followed a Eipuarian serf, let the king 
 or the count offer unto her a sword and a spindle : 
 if she accept the sword, let her therewith slay the 
 serf; if the spindle, let her abide with him in ser- 
 
 " Si quis ingenuus ancillam alienam sibi in coniugium sociaverit, 
 ipse cum ea in servitutem inclinetur." Lex Sal. xiv. 11. " Si ingenua 
 femina aliquemcunque de illis (i. e. raptoribus non ingenuis) sua volun- 
 tate secuta fuerit, ingenuitatem suam perdat." Lex Sal. xiv. 7. 
 ^ Lex Kip. Iviii. 18. ' 
 
CH. vm.] THE UNFREE. THE SERF. 195 
 
 vitude." In this case the Burgundian law^ com- 
 manded both parties to be slain ; but if the rela- 
 tives of the woman would not put her to death, she 
 became a serf of the king. Saxo Grammaticus cites 
 a similar law for Denmark 2. There is no evidence 
 of the Anglosaxon practice in this respect, but it 
 appears unlikely that the case should be of com- 
 mon occurrence. Probably purchase and emanci- 
 pation always preceded such marriages, and the 
 law of Henry the First makes no mention of this 
 among the grounds of slavery ^. 
 
 The serf by settlement is he who has taken up 
 his abode in a district exclusively inhabited by the 
 unfree ; and to this refers the German expression 
 " Die luft macht eigen," i. e. the air makes the serf. 
 There is no distinct Anglosaxon provision on the 
 subject, but perhaps we may include in this class 
 some at least of those who taking refuge on a lord's 
 land, and among his socmen, without any absolute 
 and formal surrender of their freedom, did actu- 
 ally become his serfs and liable to the services due 
 to him from all their neighbours *. The generality 
 
 ' Lex Burg. xxxv. 2, 3. ' Hist. Dan. lib. v. p. 85. 
 
 ^ The following proverba are founded upon this legal custom : — 
 " Trittst du meine henne, so wirst du mein hahn." 
 " Die tinfreie hand zieht die freie nach sich." 
 " En formariage le pire emporte le bon." 
 * Such may also have been malefactors, who sought an asylum in 
 chm'ch or other privileged lands, and who sometimes formed a very 
 considerable number of dependants or retainers : thus, " Contraxit 
 universam iuventutem Houlandiae [Holland in Lincolnshire] strenu- 
 issimus comes Algarus, .... una cum cohorte Croylandiae monasterii, 
 videlicet CC bellatoribus robustissimis, eo quod maxima pars illorum 
 de fugitivis fuerat." Hist. Ingulf, p. 866. 
 
 o2 
 
196 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 however of such cases fall under the next following 
 head, viz. — 
 
 The serfs by surrender, the sua datione servus of 
 Henry's law, the servus dedititius, and giafj^rsel of 
 the Norse law. Among these Grimm numbers the 
 serfs whose voluntary submission so much surprised 
 the Roman philosopher. Even the law of the Ger- 
 mans, so generally favourable to liberty, contem- 
 plates and provides for the case of such a voluntary 
 servitude ^ This might arise in various ways. For 
 example, a time of severe scarcity, such as are only 
 too often recorded in our ancient annals, unques- 
 tionably drove even the free to the cruel alternative 
 of either starvation or servitude : " Subdebant se 
 pauperes servitio, ut quantulumcunque de alimento 
 porrigerent," says Gregory of Tours ^j Gildas tells 
 us a similar tale of the Britons^ ; and even as late 
 as the Norman conquest we find Geatfleed, a lady, 
 directing by her will the manumission of all those 
 who had bent their heads in the evil days for food*. 
 
 ' " Si liber homo spontanea voluntate vel forte necessitate coaotus, 
 nobili, seu libero, seu etiam lito, in personam et in servitium liti se 
 subdiderit." Lex Fres. xi. 1. " Ut nullum liberum liceat inservii-e. . . . 
 quamvis pauper sit, tamen libertatem suam non perdat nee hereditatem 
 suam, nisi ex spontanea voluntate se alicui tradere voluerit, boc potes- 
 tatem habeat faciendi." Lex Bajuv. vi. 3. The Anglosaxon law gave 
 this power of voluntary surrender to a boy of thirteen. See Theod. 
 Poenit. xxix, Thorpe, ii. 19. 
 
 ^ Gregor. Turon. vii. 45. 
 
 ' " Interea fames dira ao famosissima vagis ac nutabundis haeret, 
 quae multos eorum cruentis compellit praedonibus sine dilatione victas 
 dare manus, ut pauxillum ad refocillandam animam cibi caperent. ' 
 Hist. Brit. cap. xvii. 
 
 * " Ealle 'Sa men ^e heonon heora heafod for hyra mete on tSam 
 yflum dagum." Cod. Dip. No. 925. The instance is, I believe, a soli- 
 tary one in our records, but the cases must have been numerous. 
 
CH. VIII.] THE UNFREE. THE SERF. 197 
 
 Another was, no doubt, debt, incurred either through 
 poverty or crime ; and when the days of fierce and 
 cruel warfare had passed away, this must have been 
 the most fertile source of servitude. I have not 
 found among the Anglosaxon remains any exam- 
 ple of slavery voluntarily incurred by the insolvent 
 debtor, but the whole course of analogy is in favour 
 of its existence, and Marculf supplies us with the 
 formulary by which, among the Franks, the debtor 
 surrendered his freedom to the creditor. It may be 
 presumed that this servitude had a term, and that 
 a certain period of servile labour was considered 
 equivalent to the debt. The case of crime was un- 
 doubtedly a very common one, especially as those 
 whose necessities were the most likely to bring 
 them in collision with the law were those also who 
 were least able to fulfil its requirements, by pay- 
 ment of the fines attached to their offences. The 
 criminal whose own means were insufficient, and 
 whose relatives or lord would not assist him to make 
 up the legal fine he had incurred, was either com- 
 pelled to surrender himself to the plaintiff, or to 
 some third party who paid the sum for him, by 
 agreement with the aggrieved party. This 'was 
 technically called Jjingian^, and such a serf was 
 
 ' "And eao teo hafalS gefredd 'Sa men «a heo Hngede set Cwses- 
 patrike ; " And she hath also freed the men whom she interceded for 
 with Ooapatriok. Cod. Dip. No. 925. Marculf gives the Frankish 
 formulary, as follows ; it is the case of one who has been redeemed 
 from capital punishment: "Et ego de rebus meis, imde yestra bene- 
 ficia rependere debuissem, non habeo ; ideo pro hoc statum ingenuitatis 
 meae vobis visus sum obnoxiasse, ita ut ab hac die de vestro servitio 
 penitus non discedam." Form. Marculf. ii, 28. 
 
198 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 called a witej^eow, convict, or criminal slave. These 
 are the servi redemptione of Henry the First. 
 
 Serfs by force or power are not those comprised 
 in the first class of these divisions, or serfs by the 
 fortune of war : these of course have lost their free- 
 dom through superior force. But the class under 
 consideration are such as have been. reduced to ser- 
 vitude by the legal act of those who had a right to 
 dispose of them ; as, for instance, a son or daughter 
 by the act of the father i. It is painful to record 
 a fact so abhorrent to our Christian feelings, but 
 there cannot be the least doubt that this right was 
 both admitted and acted upon. The father, upon 
 whose will it literally depended whether his child 
 should live or not, had a right at a subsequent pe- 
 riod to decide whether the lot of that child should 
 be freedom or bondage ^. Illegitimate children, the 
 offspring of illicit intercourse with his wyln or 
 Jjeowen, may have formed the majority of those thus 
 disposed of by a father : but in times of scarcity, 
 it is to be feared that even the issue of legitimate 
 
 ' The wife, by the act of the husband, I think very doubtful, in point 
 of right. In point of fact this case may have occurred much more fre- 
 quently than our records vouch. 
 
 ^ The illegitimate offspring of his ovras-wife, a husband was not 
 likely to spare. An old German tale records this fact. Her lord re- 
 turning from a long absence and finding- a child which could not be 
 his own in the house, was told by the faithless mother, that when 
 walking in the fields a flake of snow had fallen into her bosom and 
 impregnated her. Afterwards the husband took the child to Italy 
 and sold him there, excusing himself to the mother by the assertion 
 that the heat of the sun had melted the snow-child : — 
 
 " De nive conceptum quern mater adultera flnxit ; 
 Hunc dominus vendens liquefactum sole retulit." 
 
CH. vin.J THE UNFREB. THE SERF. 199 
 
 marriage was not always spared i. The Frisians, 
 when oppressed by the amount of Roman tribute, 
 sold their wives and children : " Ac primo boves 
 ipsos, mox agros, postremo corpora coniugum aut 
 liberorum servitio tradebant^:" this is however an 
 exceptional case, and the sale of wives and children 
 appears only to have been resorted to as a last re- 
 source. But the very restriction to the exercise of 
 this right, within particular limits of time — which we 
 may believe the merciful intervention of the church 
 to have brought about — -speaks only too plainly for 
 its existence in England. Even as late as the end 
 of the seventh century, and after Christianity had 
 been established for nearly one hundred years in 
 this country, we find the following very distinct 
 and clear recognitions of the right, in books of 
 discipline compiled by two several archbishops for 
 the guidance of their respective clergy. In the 
 Poenitential of Theodore, archbishop of Canterbury, 
 occurs this passage : "Pater filium suum septem 
 annorum, necessitate compulsus, potestatem habet 
 tradere in servitium ; deinde, sine voluntate filii, 
 licentiam tradendi non habet ^." In the somewhat 
 
 ' Lingard (A. S. Church, i. 45) accuses the pagan Saxons of selling 
 their children into foreign slavery. I am not sure that this is not as- 
 serted too strongly by this estimable author, who appears imjustly to 
 depreciate the Saxons, in order to enhance the merit of their con- 
 verters. I admit the probability of the fact, only because the right is 
 a direct corollary from the paternal power, and because Archbishops 
 Theodore and Ecgberht (the first a Roman missionary) recognize it ; 
 but I cannot suppose its exercise to have been common. 
 
 ^ Tac. Annal. iv. 72. 
 
 ' Theodori Arch. Cant., Liber Poenitentialis, xxviii. Thorpe, A. S. 
 Laws, ii. 19. 
 
200 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 later Confessionale of Ecgberht, archbishop of York, 
 we find: "Pater potest filium suum, magna neces- 
 sitate compulsus, in servitutem tradere, usque ad 
 septimum annum ; deinde, sine voluntate filii, eum 
 tradere non potest '■." It is however very remark- 
 able that in the Poenitential of the same Ecgberht 
 the sale of a child or near relative is put down as 
 an offence punishable by excommunication 2. These 
 are the servi alterius daiione of Henry the First. 
 
 The next head includes the serfs by reason of 
 crime. The distinction between these and the class 
 of criminals who became slaves through compact 
 or redemption, is that in their case servitude was 
 the direct punishment of their oifence, and not 
 merely an indirect and mediate consequence. It 
 seems to me at least that this sense strictly lies at 
 the foundation of two laws of Eadweard, ^Elfred's 
 son ; of these the former says^, "If any one through 
 conviction of theft forfeit his freedom, and deliver 
 himself up, and his kindred forsake him, and he 
 
 ^ Confessionale Ecgberliti Arcli. Ebor. xxvii. Thorpe, ii. 153. 
 
 ' The only way of getting rid of this strange contradiction is, either 
 to assume the passage to be a later interpolation, which there is no 
 ground for, save the contradiction itself; or to take the passage in con- 
 nection with Theodor. Poen. xlii. § 3, 4, 5, which refer to sale of a 
 Christian among Jews or Heathens, and generally to fraudulent or il- 
 legal sale. But then, one cannot understand why the words "infantem 
 suum proprium, vel proximum suum cognatum" should have been in- 
 troduced by Ecgberht, though omitted by Theodore. Perhaps we may 
 reconcile the passages, by assuming Ecgberht to refer to an illegal sale, 
 viz. when the child was above seven years old, but still in the same 
 category as those for whose safety Theodore provides by the same ec- 
 clesiastical penalty. The child or very near relation were precisely 
 those who were most liable to be in "alteram regionem seduoti, 
 furati," etc. 
 
 '' Leg. Eadw. § 9. 
 
CH. VIII.] THE UNPREE. THE SERF. 201 
 
 know not who shall make hot for him ; let him then 
 be worthy of the J)e6wwork which thereunto ap- 
 pertaineth ; and let the wer abate from the kin- 
 dred." Again, "If a freeman work upon a festival 
 day, let him lose his freedom, or pay the wite or 
 lahslite^." This alternative is an alleviation of the 
 strict law : but as forfeiture undoubtedly followed 
 upon theft and other offences, the thief could not 
 expect to make hot for himself, and was always 
 exposed to the danger of incurring slavery, should 
 another make it for him. It is however possible 
 that his relations may have interfered to save him, 
 without the reducing him to a servus dedititius ; or 
 even if he were so reduced, he became the serf of 
 him that engaged (Jjingode) for him ; whereas, if 
 not rescued at all, he must have been a fiscal serf, 
 in the hands of the crown or the gerefa, its officer. 
 There exists therefore a perceptible difference be- 
 tween the witejjeow whom the law made so, (even 
 though it permitted a merciful alternative,) and 
 the witej^eow whose punishment would have been a 
 mulct which exceeded his means. The law of other 
 German tribes numbers slavery among its punish- 
 ments without any reservation at all : thus among 
 the Visigoths, he that assisted in the escape of a 
 serf, and neither restored him nor his worth to the 
 owner, was to become a slave in his place 2. By 
 the Bavarian law, he that could not pay a wergyld 
 due from him, was to be enslaved together with his 
 wife and children^. Grimm* cites the following case : 
 
 ■- Ead. and Gii«. § 7. ' Leg. Vfeig. ix. § 1, 2. 
 
 " Leg. Bajuv. i. § 11. ■* D. Rechtsalt. p. 329. 
 
202 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i, 
 
 " Richilda, quae libertatem suam fornicando pol- 
 luit, amisit .... filiae illorum liberae permaneant, 
 .... nisi forte adulterio vel fornicatione poUuan- 
 tur." It is true that the Anglosaxon laws do not 
 give us any enactment o£ a corresponding nature : 
 nevertheless I entertain no doubt that incontinence 
 vpas a ground of slavery in the case both of man 
 and vpoman. Toward the end of the ninth century, 
 Denewulf, bishop of Winchester, leased the lands 
 of Alresford to a relative of his own, on condition 
 of a yearly rent : "Is equidem insipiens, adulterans, 
 stuprum, propriam religiose pactatam abominans, 
 scortum diligens, libidinose commisit. Quo reatu, 
 omni substantia peculiali recte privatus est, et prae- 
 fatum rus ab eo abstractum rex huius patriae suae 
 ditioni avidus devenire iniuste optavit^." However 
 unjust the canons of Winchester might think it, it 
 is clear that the Witena-gemot did not ; for the 
 bishop was obliged to pay 120 mancusses in gold to 
 the king, to have back his own land. Again in the 
 year 1002, we hear of a lady forfeiting her lands to 
 the king, by reason of incontinence 2. The conse- 
 quences of this destitution can hardly have been 
 other than servitude ; and it may be at once admitted 
 that where there were no lands to forfeit, servitude 
 was the recognized punishment of the offence. 
 Theodore ^ when apportioning the penance due to it, 
 says, "Si intra viginti annos puella et adolescens 
 peccaverint, i annum, et in secundo iii quadragesi- 
 mas ac legitimas ferias. Si propter hoc peccatum 
 
 1 Cod. Dip. No. 601. = Ibid. No. 1296. 
 
 =■ Lib. Poenit. xvi. § 3. Thorpe, ii. 9. 
 
CH. vm.] THE UNFREE. THE SERF. 203 
 
 servitio humano addicti sunt, iii quadragesimas." 
 Again, "Maritus si ipse seipsum in furto aut forni- 
 catione servum facit, vel quocunque peccato^," etc. 
 
 The last division of the servi casu comprises 
 those who have been reduced to slavery by violence 
 or fraud, in short illegally. Illegitimate children, 
 poor relations, unfriended strangers, young persons 
 without power of self-defence, may thus have been 
 seduced or forced into a servile condition of life, 
 escape from which was always difficult, inasmuch 
 as there is necessarily a prima facie case against 
 the serf, and he can have no standing in the court 
 composed only of the free. To this head seem re- 
 ferable the passages I have already alluded to in 
 Theodore's Poenitential^, and which I will now cite 
 at length : "Si quis Christianus alteram Christia- 
 num suaserit, ac in alteram regionem seduxerit, 
 ibique eum vendiderit pro proprio servo, ille non 
 est dignus inter Christianos requiem habere, donee 
 redimat eum et reducat ad proprium locum." And 
 again : " Si quis Christianus alterum Christianum 
 vagantem reppererit, eumque furatus fuerit ac ven- 
 diderit, non debet habere inter Christianos requiem, 
 donee redimat eum, et pro illo furto septem annos 
 poeniteat^." 
 
 The other great division includes all the servi 
 natura, nativi, or serfs by reason of unfree birth; 
 and as these are necessarily the children either of 
 parents who are both unfree, or (under particular 
 circumstances) of one unfree parent, it follows that 
 
 ' Thorpe, ii. 9, note 4. "^ Supra, p. 200, note 2, 
 
 * Lib. Poenit. Theod. xlii. § 4. 5. See also xxiii. § 13. 
 
204 THE SAXONS IX ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 their hereditary condition may arise from any one 
 of the conditions heretofore under examination. 
 All the legitimate children of two serfs are them- 
 selves irrevocably serfs ^ : but some distinctions 
 arise vphere the parents are of unequal condition, 
 as vi'here the mother is free, the father unfree, and 
 vice versa. In this respect the law was very dif- 
 ferent among the diifere'nt tribes : the Swedish law 
 declared in favour of liberty 2, the German generally 
 the other way ^. The Sachsenspiegel decides that 
 the children follow the father's right *, and similarly 
 the law of Henry the First ^ has, " Si quis de servo 
 patre natus sit et matre libera, pro servo reddatur 
 occisus ;" and again, " Si pater sit liber et mater 
 ancilla, pro libero reddatur occisus ;" on the general 
 principle that " semper a patre non a matre ge- 
 neracionis ordo texitur," which Fortescue confirms, 
 saying^, " Lex Angliae nunquam matris, sed semper 
 patris conditionem imitari partum iudicat, ut ex 
 libera etiam ex nativa non nisi liberum liber ge- 
 neret, et non nisi servum in matrimonio procreare 
 potest servus." Fleta's argument rests upon the 
 same doctrine'''. Glanville however appears to adopt 
 the contrary view®, which agrees with the maxim 
 
 ' Tkeod. Poen. xvi. § 33. Ecgb. Poen. xxv. 
 
 "" Deut. Eechtsalt. p. 324. ^ Ibid. p. 324. 
 
 * Sachs, iii. 73. - Leg. Hen. I. Ixxvii. § 1, 2. 
 
 ° Commend, cap. xlii. ' Lib. i. cap. 3. § 2. 
 
 ' " Sunt autem nativi a prima nativitate sua ; quemadmodum si quis 
 fuerit procreatus ex nativo et nativa, ille quidem nativus nasoitur. 
 Idem est si ex patre libera et matre nativa. Sed si ex matre libera et 
 patre nativo, idem est dicendum quantum ad status integritatem." Lib. 
 V. cap. 6. But tbe passage in italic is wanting in some manuscripts, 
 and may possibly bave been the gloss or addition of a civilian. 
 
CH. viii.l THE UNFREE. THE SERF. 205 
 
 of the civil law, "Partus sequitur ventrem." To 
 the English principle I am bound to give my ad- 
 hesion, inasmuch as the natural and the original 
 social law can recognize none but the father, either 
 in the generation, or in the subsequent rule, of the 
 family : whatever alleviation the practices of chi- 
 valry, the worship of the Virgin mother, and the 
 Christian doctrine of the equality of man and wo- 
 man before God, may have introduced, the original 
 feeling is on the father's side, and the foundations 
 of our law are based upon the all-sufficiency of 
 his right. A woman is in the mund or keeping of 
 a man; society exists for men only, that is, for 
 women merely as far as they are represented by a 
 man. 
 
 That this original right was interfered with by 
 the law of property is not denied. But here dif- 
 ferent cases are to be considered. First, whether 
 the serf or nativa is the property of the party who 
 unites with him or her. Secondly whether the free 
 party unite with some other owner's serf or neif ; 
 next, whether the issue are born in wedlock or not ; 
 and lastly how far the public law and right is in- 
 volved in the question of freedom and servitude. 
 The last consideration in fact involves the first, 
 because, under the first, except in the case of hardly 
 intelligible neglect, marriage could never take place 
 between two unequal parties at all : emancipation 
 must have preceded the ceremony ; while the civil 
 law would of course rule that the ceremony itself, 
 taking place by consent, was an act of emancipa- 
 tion not to be gainsaid. It is therefore with regard 
 
206 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 to third parties only that a question can arise i. 
 There is no proof that such a question ever did arise 
 among the Anglosaxons, or that it was thought 
 needful to provide for it by law : and the earlier 
 evidences with which this book has especially to do 
 are either 'entirely silent, or so general in their ex- 
 pressions that we cannot decide from them upon a 
 particular case. In fact the whole argument is re- 
 duced to the second head, viz. where one parent is 
 the property of a third party, and where the child 
 is born in lawful wedlock ; for a child not so born 
 is not subject to any law which binds the parents, is 
 nullius Jilius, and can as little be injured as advan- 
 taged by the law. 
 
 In the strict Anglosaxon law there is no definite 
 decision on these points : the codes of other Ger- 
 man races, at the oldest period, are equally silent. 
 In later times indeed we have determinations ; but 
 these, as we have observed, are contradictory. 
 Perhaps we may take the doctrine of the Sachsen- 
 spiegel, coinciding as it does with the opinion of 
 many, probably a majority, of our own law-sages, 
 as the original one, especially as it is the only one 
 in accordance with other details of family life, and 
 with the supreme law of nature itself which leaves 
 
 ' Of course (except under circumstances ■wHch the Christian clergy, 
 and probably even the heathen priesthood, — and if neither of these, 
 yet the universal human feeling — would condemn,) the issue of such 
 marriage could not have been treated as unfree, during the life of the 
 father. But a question might arise after death, and on subsequent in- 
 heritance by third parties. And cases might occur where the public 
 right rendered it necessary to take care that the unfree should not en- 
 joy the advantages of freedom. 
 
CH. vni.] THE UNFREE. THE SERF. 207 
 
 to the father the decision as to the life or death of 
 the child, as to its liberty or slavery. In this sense 
 then I agree with Sir John Fortescue and Sir Ed- 
 ward Coke^. It is to be remembered that we are 
 dealing now with the condition of the offspring, 
 not of the parent : the uneertainty that prevails 
 with respect to the latter, in the Anglosaxon law, 
 and the contradictory enactments of other German 
 codes have been already noticed. 
 
 But all that has been said applies solely to the 
 case of children born in lawful wedlock ; and 
 almost all the apparent contradictions which have 
 been noticed in our own law, arise from a want 
 of clear distinction on this point. The child of a 
 free father and unfree mother, if the parents were 
 not married, remained to the lord of the neif, ac- 
 cording to our expressive proverb, " Mine is the 
 calf that is born of my cow 2." In Fleta's words ^ 
 the distinction is drawn most clearly, and they may 
 therefore stand here in place of my own : " Servi 
 autem aut nascuntur aut fiunt ; nascuntur quidem 
 ex nativo et nativa solutis vel copulatis, et eius erit 
 servus in cuius potestate nasci contigerit * ; dum 
 tamen de soluta nativa, domini loci, quia sequitur 
 conditionem matris, a quocunque fuerit genitus, 
 libero vel nativo^. Si autem copulati fuerint et 
 
 > Co. Litt. § 187, 188. 
 
 ^ Take an instance, though with a wider application, from Shak- 
 speare, King John, act i. so. 2. 
 
 ' Lib. i. cap. 3. § 2. 
 
 ^ That is, if the serfs of two different lords, then the child to follow 
 the mother. 
 
 ' Jn the event of there being no marriage. The case of a marriage 
 is very diiferent, and provided for in the next sentence. 
 
208 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 genitus fuerit partus a libero, licet a nativa, partus 
 erit liber ; et si de servo et libera in matrimonio, 
 servus erit." Thus, here again the oifspring fol- 
 lows the father, as soon as there is a marriage to 
 determine that there is an oifspring at all, in law ; 
 but if there be no marriage, the chattel thrown into 
 the world, like any other waif or stray belongs 
 domino loci ; it has a value, can be worked or sold ; 
 it is treasure-trove of a sort, and as it belongs to 
 nobody else, falls to the lord, as a compensation 
 probably for the loss of his neif's services during 
 pregnancy' and the nonage of the child^. 
 
 Whatever the origin of serfage may have been, 
 it can hardly be questioned that the lot of the serf 
 was a hard one; and this perhaps not so much 
 from the amount of labour required of him, as 
 from the total irresponsibility of the master, in the 
 eye of the law, as to all dealings between himself 
 and his j'eow. The Christian clergy indeed did all 
 they could to mitigate its hardships, but when has 
 even Christianity itself been triumphant over the 
 selfishness and the passions of the mass of men I 
 The early pagan Germans, though in general they 
 treated their serfs well, yet sometimes slew them, 
 under the influence of unbridled passion : " Verbe- 
 rare servum ac vinculis et opere coercere rarum. 
 Occidere solent, non disciplina et severitate, sed 
 
 ' Mr. Allen in his valuable notes upon the law of Henry the First 
 (published by Thorpe in his Anglosaxon Laws, i. 609-631) has some 
 remarks upon the whole subject, as considered by our Norman jurists. 
 His conclusions coincide generally with mine, and he says (p. 628), 
 " The Mirror [Sachsenspiegel] makes the marriage of the parent an 
 essential condition to the liberty of the offspring," etc. 
 
CH. VIII.] THE UNFREE. THE SERF. 209 
 
 impetu et ira, iit inimicum, nisi quod impune est'^." 
 The church affixed a special penance to the man- 
 slaughter of a woman by her mistress, impetu et 
 ira, — an event which probably was not unusual, 
 considering the power of a lord over his \ie6wen 
 or female slave, — and generally, a penance for the 
 slaughter of a serf by his lord without judicial au- 
 thority 2. 
 
 In contemplation of law, in fact, the slave is the 
 absolute property of his lord, a chattel to be dis- 
 posed of at the lord's pleasure, and having a value 
 only for the benefit of the lord, or of some public 
 authority in his place. The serf cannot represent 
 himself or others : his interests must be guarded by 
 others, for he himself has no standing in any public 
 court. He is not in any friSborh, or association 
 for mutual guarantee, for he has nothing of his 
 own to defend, and no power to defend what another 
 has. If he be slain by a stranger, his lord claims 
 the damages, and not his children : if the lord him- 
 self slay him, it is but the loss of so much value, 
 — a horse, an ox, gone — more or less. Out of his 
 
 ' Tao. Germ. xxv. 
 
 ^ " Si faemina, furore zeli accensa, flagellis verberaverit ancillam 
 suam, ita ut infra diem tertium animam cruciatu effundat, et quod in- 
 certum sit, voliintate an casu Occident ; si voluntate, vii annos ; si casii, 
 per quinquennii tempora, ac legitima poenitentia, a communione pla- 
 cuit abstinere." Poen. Tbeod. xxi. § 13. " Si quis servum proprium, 
 sine couscientia iudicis, occiderit, excommunicatione vel poenitentia 
 biennii reatum sanguinis emundabit." Ibid. § 12. Even as late as the 
 seventeenth century in France, it appears that it was usual to flog the 
 valets, pages and maids, in noble houses. Tallemant des Reaux men- 
 tions a riot which arose in Paris from a woman's being whipped to 
 death by her mistress, in August 1651. See his Historiettes, viii. 80 ; 
 x. 255, etc. 
 
 VOL. I. P 
 
210 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [300K i. 
 
 death no feud can arise, for the relatives who al- 
 lowed him to fall into, or remain in slavery, have 
 renounced the family bond, and forfeited both the 
 wergyld and the mund. If he be guilty of wrong, 
 he cannot make compensation in money or in chat- 
 tels ; for he can have no property of his own save 
 his skin: thus his skin must pay for him^, and the 
 lash be his bitter portion. He cannot defend him- 
 self by his own oath or the oaths of friends and 
 compurgators, but, if accused, must submit to the 
 severe, uncertain and perilous test of the ordeal. 
 And if, when thus hunted down, he be found guilty, • 
 severe and ignominious punishment, — amounting, 
 in a case of theft, to death by flogging for men, by 
 burning for women, — is reserved for him^. Na- 
 turally and originally there can be no limitation in 
 the amount or the character of labour imposed upon 
 him, and no stipulation for reciprocal advantage 
 in the form of protection, food or shelter. Among 
 the Saxons the witelieow at least appears to have 
 been bound to the soil, adscrtptus glebae^, conveyed 
 with it under the comprehensive phrase "mid mete 
 and mid mannum:" though in some few cases we 
 can trace a power, vested perhaps only in certain 
 public authorities, of transferring the slave from 
 one estate to another*. Last, but most fearful of all. 
 
 ' The compensation for a flogging was called hidgeld. 
 
 " Leg. ^«elst. iii. § 6. Thorpe, i. 219. 
 
 ' Cod. Dipl. Nos. 311, 1079. 
 
 * Ibid. No. 311. The serfs mentioned in this document Were at first 
 attached to the royal vill of Bensington ; but were now transferred to 
 the land of the church at Radnor, with their offspring, and their 
 posterity for ever. 
 
CH. vm.] THE UNFREE. THE SEBF. 211 
 
 the taint of blood descended to his offspring, and 
 the innocent progeny, to the remotest generations, 
 were born to the same miserable fate as bowed down 
 the guilty or unfortunate parent. 
 
 But yet there was a gleam of hope : one solitary 
 ray that made even the surrounding darkness to- 
 lerable, and may have cheered the broken-hearted 
 serf through years of unrequited toil and suffering. 
 The law that reduced him to slavery made it also 
 possible that he should be restored to freedom. It 
 did not shut from him this blessing, however dis- 
 tant it might seem. Tacitus knew of liberti among 
 the Germans, men who had been slaves, had been 
 manumitted, and were free^. Thus in yet pagan 
 times, general kindliness of disposition, habits of do- 
 mestic intercourse, perhaps the suggestions of self- 
 interest, may have tended to raise the condition of 
 the serf even to the restoration of freedom : but it 
 was the especial honour and glory of Christianity, 
 that while it broke the spiritual bonds of sin, it ever 
 actively laboured to relieve the heavy burthen of 
 social servitude. We are distinctly told that Bishop 
 Wilfri'S, on receiving the grant of Selsey from 
 Caedwealha of Wessex, immediately manumitted 
 two hundred and fifty unfortunates, whom he found 
 there attached to the soil, — that those, whom by 
 baptism he had rescued from servitude to devils, 
 might by the grant of liberty be rescued from servi- 
 tude to man^. In this spirit of charity, the clergy 
 obtained respite from labour for the J^eow on the 
 
 ' Tac. Germ. xxv. ' Bed. H. E. iv. 13 
 
 p2 
 
212 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 Sabbath, on certain high festivals and on the days 
 which preceded or followed them^ ; the lord who 
 compelled his ]>e6w to laboui' between the sunset 
 on Saturday and the sunset on Sunday, forfeited 
 him altogether 2 ; probably at first to the king or 
 the gerefa ; but in the time of Cnut the serf thus 
 forfeited was to become folkfree^. To their merci- 
 ful intervention it must also be ascribed that the 
 will of a Saxon proprietor, laic as well as clerical, 
 so constantly directs the manumission of a num- 
 ber of serfs, for the soul's health of the testator* ; 
 Alfred even goes • so far as to give free power to 
 the serf of bequeathing to whomsoever he pleases, 
 whatever may have been given him for God's sake, 
 or he may have earned in his own moments of lei- 
 sure ^ ; and this provision, which probably implies a 
 prohibition to the lord of removing his labourer 
 arbitrarily from a plot of ground well cultivated by 
 his own efforts, tends to secure to the unfortunate 
 serf some interest in the produce of his industry : 
 the Hungarian will recognize in it the spirit of 
 Maria Theresia's TIrbarium. It is moreover obvious 
 from many surviving documents, that, in the later 
 periods, the serf could purchase his own release^, 
 
 ' Leg. Wihtr. § 9, 10. Ini, § 3. Edw. Gu«. § 7. ^«elr. viii. § 2. 
 
 ^ Leg. Ini, § 3. = Onut, Leg. Sec. § 45. 
 
 * Ood. Dipl. Nos. 716, 721, 722, 782, 788, 919, 925, 931, 946, 947, 
 957, 959, 981. 
 
 ^ Leg. M\t § 43. ^«elred (viii. § 2) permits the serf to labour on 
 his own account, three days before Michaelmas. Theodore (Poen. xix. 
 § 30) and Ecgberht (Poen. Addit. § 35) forbid the lord to rob his serf 
 of what he may have acquired by his own industry. It was nevertheless 
 held by some that the serf could not purchase his own freedom. 
 
 ^ This is true only of the Saxon, not of the Norman period. Glan- 
 
CH. vni.] THE UNTREE. THE SERF. 2ia 
 
 at least with the lord's consent i, or be bought by 
 another for the purpose of manumission 2, or even 
 be borrowed on pledge for a term of years^, during 
 which his labour might be actively employed in 
 laying up the means of future freedom. It cannot 
 indeed be denied that the slave might be sold like 
 any other chattel, and that even as late as iE^el- 
 red and Cnut, the law ventured to prohibit no more 
 than the selling him into heathendom, or without 
 some fault on his part*: nor can we believe that 
 acts of the grossest oppression and tyranny were 
 unfrequent. But from what has been already cited, 
 it must be evident that there was a constantly 
 growing tendency in favour of freedom, that the 
 clergy suggested every motive, and the law made 
 every possible effort, at least to diminish the more 
 grievous circumstances of servitude. It is more- 
 over to be borne in mind that a very large propor- 
 tion of the jjeowas at any given time, were in reality 
 criminal serfs, convicts expiating their offences by 
 their sufferings. Taking all the circumstances into 
 consideration, I am disposed to think that the mere 
 material condition of the unfree population was not 
 necessarily or generally one of great hardship. It 
 
 ville expressly denies tliat the serf could redeem himself. " Illud ta- 
 men notandum est, quod non potest aliqiiis, in villenagio positus, liber- 
 tatem suam propriis denariis suis quaerere. Posset enim tunc a domino 
 suo secundum ius et consuetudinem regni ad TiUenagium revocari ; quia 
 omnia catalla cuiuslibet nativi intelliguntur esse in potestate doinini sui, 
 [per] quod propriis denariis suis versus dominium suum a villenagio 
 se redimere non poterit." Glanv. lib. v. cap. 5. 
 
 1 Cod. Dipl. Nos. 933, 934, 93-5, 936, 981 (the 3l8t paragraph). 
 
 " Ibid. No. 981 (the 28th paragraph). - Ibid. No. 975. 
 
 * Leg. iE«elr. v. § 2 ; vi. § 9. Cnut, Leg. Sec. § 3. 
 
214 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 seems doubtful whether the labour of the serf was 
 practically more severe, or the remuneration much 
 less than that of an agricultural labourer in this 
 country at this day : his lord was bound to feed him 
 for his own sake, and if, when old and worn out, he 
 wished to rid himself of a useless burthen, he could 
 by an act of emancipation hand over his broken- 
 down labourer to the care of a Church which, with 
 all its faults, never totally lost sight of the divine 
 precepts of charity ^. We are not altogether with- 
 out the means of judging as to the condition of the 
 serf, and the provision made for him ; although the 
 instances which we may cite are not all either of one 
 period, or one country, or indeed derived from 
 compilations having the authority of law, they show 
 sufficiently what opinion was entertained on this 
 subject by some among the ruling class. In the 
 prose version of Salomon and Saturn^, it is said 
 that every serf ought to receive yearly seven hun 
 dred and thirty loaves, that is, two loaves a day, 
 beside morning meals and noon meals ; this can- 
 not be said to be a very niggardly portion. Again, 
 the valuable document entituled, " Eectitudines 
 singularum personarum^" gives details respecting 
 
 ' Tte Romans used to slay their infirm and useless serfs, or expose 
 them in an island of the Tiber. Claudius made several regxilationa 
 in their favour. "Cum quidam aegra et afieota mancipia in insvdam 
 Aesculapii taedio medendi exponerent, omnes, qui exponerentur, liheros 
 esse sanxit, neo redire in ditionem domini, si convaluissent ; quod si 
 quis necare mallet quem quam exponere, caedis crimine teneri." Suet, 
 in Claud. 25. 
 
 ' See supra, p. 38, note 1. 
 
 ^ Thorpe, A. S. Laws, i. 432, and a later edition by Dr. H. Leo of 
 flalle, 1842. 
 
CH. vul] the UNFREE. the SERF. 215 
 
 the allowances made to the serfs in various prsedial 
 or domestic capacities, which would induce a belief 
 not only that they were tolerably provided for, but 
 even enabled by the exertion of skill and industry 
 to lay up funds of their own towards the purchase 
 of their freedom, the redemption of their children, 
 or the alleviation of their own poverty. From the 
 same authority and others, we may conclude that 
 on an estate in general, serfs discharged the func- 
 tions of ploughman, shepherd, goatherd, swineherd, 
 oxherd and cowherd, barn-man, sower, hayward, 
 woodward, dairymaid, and beadle or messenger ; 
 while the geneat, cotsetla, gebur, beocere and ga- 
 folswan were probably poor freemen from whom a 
 certain portion of labour could be demanded in 
 consideration of their holdings i, or a certain rent 
 (gafol) reserved out of the produce of the hives, 
 flocks or herds committed to their care : and these 
 formed the class of the Loet and Esne, poor mer- 
 cenaries, serving for hire or for their land, but not 
 yet reduced so low in the scale as the Jieow or 
 wealh. It is not only probable that there would be 
 distinctions in the condition of various serfs upon 
 the same estate, but even demonstrable : it can 
 hardly be doubted that men placed in situations 
 of some trust, as the ploughman, oxherd or beadle, 
 were in a somewhat higher class, and of better con- 
 dition, than the mere hewers of wood and drawers 
 
 ' This is the Rohot of Slavonic countries, the Operatio of our Nor- 
 man law ; a mere lahour-rent, necessary in countries where there is no 
 accumulated capital, and wealth (for want of markets) consists only in 
 land, and limbs wherewith to till it. 
 
216 THE SAXONS IN ENGLANB. [book i. 
 
 of water. Now in a charter of the year 902, we 
 find an interesting statement, which I must take 
 leave to cite ^ : Denewulf bishop of Winchester 
 and his Chapter had leased land at Eblesburne to 
 Beornwulf, a relative of the bishop : the Chapter 
 sent word to Beornwulf that the men, that is the 
 serfs, were to remain attached to the land — '"Sset 
 ■Sa men moston on 'Sam lande wunian " — whether 
 he, or any other, held it: '"Sonne wseron 'Sser J^reo 
 witejjeowe men burbserde, "J jjreo J^eowbaerde, Sa 
 me salde bisceop "] 'Sa hiwan to rihtre gehte "] hira 
 team :" " Now there were three convicts burbeerde 
 and three Jieowbgerde, whom the bishop and the 
 brethren gave me, together with their offspring." 
 The expressions used in this passage seem to show 
 that some of the witefieowe men upon this estate 
 enjoyed a higher condition than others^, being cul- 
 tivators or boors, while the others were more strictly 
 slaves. The very curious and instructive dialogue 
 of ^Ifric numbers among the serfs the yrSling or 
 ploughman, whose occupation the author neverthe- 
 less places at the head of all the crafts, with perhaps 
 a partial exception in favour of the smith's^. 
 
 Servitude ceased by voluntaiy or compulsory 
 manumission on the part of the lord ; the latter 
 case being that where the services of the slave were 
 forfeited through the misconduct of the master. 
 
 ' Cod. Dip. No. 1079. 
 
 ^ The compounds of b^de cannot denote anything but a permanent 
 condition or quality : they are nearly equivalent to the compounds of 
 cund, excepting that they are necessarily personal. 
 
 ' Thorpe, Analecta. 
 
CH. vin.] THE UNFREE. THE SERF. 217 
 
 And as loss of liberty must be considered in the 
 main as a consequence of the public law, under- 
 stood in the general, and expressed in the parti- 
 cular case, so must it I think be asserted, that at 
 first emancipation depended in some degree upon 
 the popular will as well as the mercy or caprice of 
 private individuals. It is no doubt true, that at 
 a period when what we now call crimes were ra- 
 ther considered in the light of civil injuries, for 
 which satisfaction was due to the parties injured, it 
 might seem reasonable to leave the latter in pos- 
 session of the power to assess the minimum, at 
 least, of his own satisfaction : to allow him to de- 
 cide how long a period of servitude he would con- 
 tent himself with, if he chose to renounce the right 
 he possessed of claiming an endless one ; or lastly, 
 to reward good and faithful service by cancelling 
 the consequences of an earlier wrong. But eman- 
 cipation has two very different effects : it not only 
 relieves the serf from personal burthens and dis- 
 abilities, but it restores or introduces a citizen to 
 political and public rights. In a state of society 
 where landed possession and the exercise of such 
 rights are inseparable, a grave difficulty arises, viz. 
 how can provision be made for the newly emanci- 
 pated, and now free man ] If the community will 
 consent, and possess the means, to create a new free 
 Hide for his occupation, of course the matter can 
 be managed ; but this consent renders the eman- 
 cipation in reality the act of the state, not of the 
 manumittor. Or the lord on restoring freedom to 
 his serf may endow him with a portion of his own 
 
218 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 land, sufficient for easy or even wealthy subsistence ; 
 but this will not make him fully a free man, give 
 him his full position in the noXirevfia or polity, and 
 place him on a level with the free inhabitants of 
 the Mark. 
 
 Till periods very late in comparison with that 
 which is assumed in the course of this argument, a 
 similar principle prevails in our legislation upon this 
 subject. Glanville says, "It is also to be observed 
 that a man may enfranchise his serf in respect of 
 the persons of himself or his heirs, but not in re- 
 spect of others. For if any one, having once been 
 a serf, and afterwards having attained to freedom in 
 this manner, should be produced in court against a 
 third party to support a cause, or for the purpose 
 of making any law of the land, he may justly 
 be removed therefrom, if his birth in vUlenage 
 should be objected to and proved against him in 
 the court, even though the serf so enfranchised 
 should have come to be promoted unto a knight's 
 degree i." 
 
 Later still, liberty seems considered as a privilege 
 the value of which might be diminished by its ex- 
 tension ; and Fleta gives as a reason why the lord 
 is bound to pursue his fugitive serf, " lest by neg- 
 ligence of the lords, serfs should prevail to assert 
 their own freedom 2." 
 
 On consideration therefore of all the facts, we 
 must conclude that where full and complete manu- 
 mission was intended, the transaction could only be 
 
 ' Lib. V. cap. 5. ' Lib. i. cap. 7, § 7, 8. 
 
CH. vni.J THE UNFREE. THE SERF. 219 
 
 completed in the presence and with the co-opera- 
 tion of the community, whereby all claims besides 
 those of the manumitting lord would be formally 
 estopped for the future. And this would be nearly 
 equivalent to the admission (rare indeed) of a metic 
 or other stranger to the full rights of citizenship at 
 Athens, which could hardly have effect without a 
 ^r](pi(j/jia or deliberate vote of the whole peopled 
 Accordingly even in the laws of William the Con- 
 queror and Henry the First we find evidence that 
 the completest publicity was given to formal manu- 
 missions^; and it is not unreasonable to believe 
 that this refers back to a time when such publicity 
 may have consisted in the presentation of the serf 
 before the assembled folcmot, and their, expressed 
 or implied assent to the solemn act. 
 
 Practically however, it is probable that the dis- 
 solution of servitude did not absolutely confer all 
 the privileges of freedom. The numerous acts of 
 manumission directed by the wills of great land- 
 
 ' The slaves who fought on the Athenian side at Arginusae were 
 manumitted and enrolled among the Plataeans, being thus admitted into 
 the TroXirevfia. We learn this from a fragment of Hellanicus, preserved 
 in the Scholiast on Arist. Ran. 694 : the words are, roiis o-vvvavfiaj^fi- 
 a-avras SovXovs '"EXKaviKos (prjcnv i\tv6epa>6r]vai, Ka\ iyypatpevras i)S 
 liXarate'ts a-vpiroKiTeva-aoSm avro'is. See also Niehuhr (Hare and Thirl- 
 wall), p. 264. The Langohards upon a somewhat similar occasion 
 manumitted their serfs. "Igitur Langohardi, ut beUatorum possint 
 ampliare numerum, plures a servili iugo ereptos, ad libertatis statum 
 perducunt. Utque rata eorum haberi posset libertas, sanciunt, more 
 solito, per sagittam, inmurmurantes nihilominus, ob rei firmitatem, 
 quaedam patria verba." Paul. Diac. de Gest. i. 13. 
 
 ' " Si qui vero velit servum suum liberum facere, tradat eum vice- 
 comiti," etc. Leg. Wil. iii. § 15. "Qui servum suum liberat, in aeccleaia, 
 vel mercato, vel comitatu, vel hundreto," etc. Leg. Hen. I. 1, § 78. 
 
220 THE SAXONS LN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 owners are totally inconsistent with the notion of 
 any interference on the part of the assembled peo- 
 ple, as necessary to their validity : the instances, it 
 is true, are mostly of modern date, but still we 
 hear of manumissions by wholesale at very early 
 periods, Where nothing but the lord's own will can 
 possibly be thought of ^. It seems therefore pro- 
 bable that a certain amount of dependence was re- 
 served ; that the freedman became relieved from 
 the harsher provisions of his former condition, but 
 remained in general under the protection and on 
 the land of his former lord, perhaps receiving wages 
 for services still rendered. In the eighth century 
 Wihtraed of Kent enacted that even in the case of 
 solemn manumission at the altar, the inheritance, 
 the wergyld and the mund of the family should re- 
 main to the lord, whether the new freedman conti- 
 nued to reside within the Mark or not^. The mode 
 of provision for the emancipated serf must, in a 
 majority of cases, have led to this result. The lord 
 endowed him out of his own land, either with a 
 full possession, secured by charter, or a mere tem- 
 porary, conditional loan, Icen : the man therefore 
 remained upon the lord's estate, and in his borh 
 or surety, though no longer liable to servile disabi- 
 lities^. 
 
 ' For example Wilfri'S's, at Selsey ; see above, p. 211. 
 
 ^ Leg. Wihtr. § 8. 
 
 ■* Wulfwani in her will directs her legatees to feed twenty freolsmen 
 or freedmen. Ood. Dipl. No. 694. Ketel commands that all the men 
 whom he has freed shall have all that is under their hand, — probably 
 all they had received as stock, or had been able to gain by their in- 
 dustry. Ood. Dipl. No. 1.340. 
 
CH. vni.;i THE UNFREE. THE SERF. 221 
 
 The full ceremonies used in the solemn act of 
 emancipation by the Anglosaxons are not known to 
 us ; but there is reason to suppose that they resem- 
 bled those of other Teutonic nations. Generally 
 these may be divided into civil and ecclesiastical ; 
 the former receiving their sanction from the autho- 
 rity of the people or the prince, the latter from 
 the church and its peculiar influences. " He who 
 would emancipate his serf shall deliver him to the 
 sheriff, by the right hand, in full county, shall pro- 
 claim him free from all yoke of servitude by ma- 
 numission, shall show him open roads and doors, 
 and shall deliver unto him the arms of a free man, 
 namely the lance and sword : thenceforth the man 
 is freei." Such is the law of William the Con- 
 queror, and it is repeated with little variation by 
 Henry the First^, except that there is no limitation 
 to the sheriff and the county. But this was also 
 one form of manumission among the Langobards. 
 The person who was to be made Fulfreal was de- 
 livered over successively into the hands of four 
 different persons : the last of these brought him 
 before witnesses to a spot where four roads met, 
 and his choice was given him of these roads. He 
 was then free, and dmund, that is removed from 
 under the protection of his former master^. But it 
 
 ' Leg. Will. Oonq. hi, § 15. 
 
 ^ " Qui servum suum liberat, in aecolesia, vel meroato, vel comitatu, 
 vel hundi'eto, coram testibus et palam faciat, et liberas ei vias et portas 
 conscribat apertas, et lanceam et gladium, vel quae liberoriim arma 
 sunt, in mauibus ei ponat." Leg. Hen. I. Ixxviii. § 1. Hence the manu- 
 mitted serf is called freo 'J fserewyrS, free and farewoHhy, that is, 
 having the right to go whither he chooses. 
 
 ' Leg. Rotharis, Langob. Reg. cap. 225. 
 
223 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 appears that the master, even though he gave the 
 free roads, might reserve the mund of his freedman, 
 by which he retained the right of inheriting from 
 him, if he died childless ^ ; and this recalls to us 
 the provision already cited from the Kentish law 2. 
 The history of Ramsey informs us that ^Selstan, 
 the son of Manni, adopted this form in a very ex- 
 tensive emancipation of his serfs ^, and we may 
 therefore suppose it to have been a mode usual 
 among the Saxons. Among the Franks, the fullest 
 and completest act of emancipation was that which 
 took place before the king, or in a popular court ; 
 the freedman, from the ceremonies adopted on the 
 occasion, was called Denarialis, or Denariatus, " qui 
 denarium ante i-egem iactavit." He became capa- 
 ble of a wergyld, of contracting marriage with a 
 free woman, and in general obtained all the rights 
 of a free citizen. But he still remained iii some 
 degree under the mund of the king, who received 
 his wergyld, and had certain rights over his inherit- 
 ance*. I do not know whether this has any con- 
 nexion with a law of Henry the First, which pro- 
 vides that in any case of manumission, the serf 
 shall give thirty pence to the lord, as a witness, 
 namely the price of his skin, for a testimony that 
 
 ' Leg. Eoth. Langob. Reg. cap. 226. " Leg. Wiht. § 8. 
 
 ^ "Per omnes terras suas, de triginta hominibus numeratis, tredecim 
 manumisit, quemadmodum sum sors docuit, wt in quadrkio piisiti 
 pergerent quocunque voluissent." Hist. Bam. 29. 
 
 * See Eichhom, i. 333. Sucb a person resembles the Langobardic 
 freedman per i7npans. Ibid. p. 331. I imagine the principle upon 
 which the wergyld went to the Wng, to be this : the freedman either 
 neyer had a free m^g^, or they had forfeited the m^gsceaft by suffer- 
 ing him to be reduced to serfage. Compare Leg. Eadw. § 9. 
 
CH. VIII.1 THE UNFREE. THE SERF. 223 
 
 he is thenceforth himself its master^. There was a 
 form of manumission among the Franks by charter^, 
 which however did not confer all the privileges of 
 the denarialis. The holder of such a charter was 
 thence called Chartularius : I will not assert that 
 such a system prevailed here, although it is possible 
 that some of the many charters of emancipation, 
 printed in the Codex Diplomaticus, may be of this 
 nature. Their general character however is that of 
 a record of bargain and sale between different par- 
 ties : it may be indeed presumed that emancipation 
 would follow, but there is no positive statement 
 that it did. The following class of cases perhaps 
 approaches nearest to such a charta ingenuitatis: 
 " By this book of the Gospels it appeareth that 
 ^Ifwig the Red hath bought himself out, from Ab- 
 bat ^Ifsige and all the convent, with one pound. 
 Whereof is witness all the brotherhood at Bath. 
 Christ blind him who turneth away this record ^ ! " 
 But this is only a memorandum in a copy of the 
 Gospels, no charter of manumission ; and I presume 
 that the sheriff would have required some much 
 more definite and legal act, before he looked upon 
 ^Ifwig the Red as a freeman. Probably he was 
 duly made free at the altar of the abbey church or 
 at the door^. Of this subsequent process we have 
 a good example in the book of St. Petroc. 
 
 ' Leg. Hen. I. Ixxviii. § 3. That is, that he is no longer liable to 
 corporal punishment like a serf. 
 
 ^ " Qui vero per chartam ingenuitatis dimissi sunt liberi," etc. Capit. 
 Bajuvar. an. 788. cap. 7 (Georgisch. p. 548). Eichhorn, i. 332. 
 
 ^ Cod. Dipl. 1350. 
 
 * Every lawyer knows the value of the ad ostium aecclesiae, at any 
 tate in matters if dower. It implies perfect publicity. 
 
224 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 " This book beareth witness that ^Ifsige bought 
 a woman called OngyneSel, and her son Gy^iccBel, 
 of Durcil for half a pound, at the church-door in 
 Bodmin : and he gave to ^Elfsige the portreeve and 
 Maccos the hundred-man, fourpence as toll. Then 
 came ^Ifsige who bought these persons, and took 
 them, and freed them, ever sacless, on Petroc's altar, 
 in the witness of these good men ; that is, Isaac the 
 priest 1," etc. 
 
 Of all forms of emancipation I imagine this to 
 have been the most frequent, partly because of its 
 convenience, partly because the motives for eman- 
 cipation were generally of a religious cast, and the 
 sanctions of religion were solemn and awful. Al- 
 most all the records which we possess on this sub- 
 ject are taken from the margins of Gospels or other 
 books belonging to religious houses, and the few 
 references in the laws imply emancipation at the 
 altar. Among the Franks this form, in which the 
 freedman was called Tabularius, conveyed only 
 imperfect freedom : the utmost it could do was to 
 confer the privileges of a Roman provincial, to 
 which class the clergy were reckoned : but the tabu- 
 larius even so was not fully free ; he still remained 
 in the mund of the church. Wihtraed's law, so often 
 cited, shows clearly that this was not the case in 
 England ; nor could it be, seeing that the clergy 
 among us were national, and the Frankish system 
 oi personal rights did not prevail. I am therefore 
 disposed to think that gradually emancipation at 
 the altar was taken to convey all the privileges of 
 
 > Ood. Dipl. 981. § 28. 
 
CH. vin.] THE UNFEEE. THE SERF. 225 
 
 manumission, and that it was the mode generally, 
 though not exclusively, in use. On this point, the 
 want of documents prevents our attaining certainty. 
 The method was probably this : the man was for- 
 mally offered up before the high altar, and there de- 
 clared free in the presence of the officiating clergy 
 and the congregation. A memorandum was then 
 made in some religious book belonging to the 
 church, and the names of the witnesses Avere re- 
 corded. Whether a separate certificate was pre- 
 pared does not appear. 
 
 The full extent of the rights obtained by the 
 freedman, especially in respect of inheritance, is 
 not to be gathered from any existing Anglosaxon 
 document. It is probable that these were limited, 
 as among the Langobards and Franks : his offspring 
 however were free, and his marriage with a free 
 woman, equal : his other rights, duties and privi- 
 leges, in short his general condition, were in all 
 probability determined by certain arrangements 
 between himself and his lord previous to the act of 
 manumission. In such a case neither party would 
 find much difficulty in settling the terms of a bar- 
 gain. 
 
 NOTE. 
 
 Thb following pedigrees illustrate the care with which the relations of 
 the gebiir, and other dependent cultivators on an estate were recorded. 
 It is probable, nay even certain, that such records were preserved in all 
 lordships : they were the original court-rolls, bj' copy of which the un- 
 free tenants, perhaps also the poor freemen, held, who were thus the 
 ancient copyholders. The amount of the holdings was undoubtedly 
 
 VOL. I. Q 
 
226 THE SAXONS IX ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 settled by the custom of the county or the manor ; and it is probable 
 that one measure prevailed for all tenants of similar grades. A record 
 of descents was necessary to regulate the claims of a lord to the fami- 
 lies of his coloni, and some extensive system of registration very pro- 
 bably prevailed : it would be impossible without it to secure the due 
 operation of the law of team. 
 
 " Dudda was a gebiir at Hse^feld, and he had three daughters, one 
 was named Bedrwyn, the second UeovswyiS, the third Golde. And 
 Wulflaf at HfetSfeld hath Deorwya to wife, iElfstan at Tseccingawyr'iS 
 hath DeorswJ'S to wife, and Ealhstan, ^Ifstan's brother, hath Golde to 
 wife. There was a man named Hwita, the beemaster at HsetSfeld, and 
 he had a daughter Tate, the mother of Wulfsige, the bowman ; and 
 Wulfsige's sister Lulle hath H^hstan to wife, at Wealden. Wifiia and 
 Dunne, and Seoloce are inborn to HsetJfeld. Duding, the son of Wifiis, 
 is settled at Wealden ; and Cedlmund the son of Dunne, also sits at 
 Wealden, and iE'Selheah the son of Seoloce, also sits at Wealden : and 
 Tate, Cenwold's sister, Mseg has to wife at Welgun ; and Eadhelm, the 
 son of HereSry ^, hath Tate's daughter to wife. Wserlaf, Wairstan's 
 father, was a right serf at Hse'Sfeld, he held the grey swine '." 
 
 " •{. A man named Brada was a gebiir at HseSfeld, and Hwite was 
 the name of Brada's wife ; she was a gebiir's daughter at Ha'Sfeld. 
 Hwite was Weerstan's WterSry'S's and Wynburh's third mother^. And 
 Wserstan sits at Wadtiin, and hath Wine's sister to wife, and Wine hath 
 Wser^ry'S to wife. And Dunne sat at Wadtiin, she was inborn to HseS- 
 feld : and Deorwyn her daughter hath Gynewald to wife at Munden : and 
 Dedrna^ her brother is with Gynewald. And Dudde, Wifiis's daughter 
 sits at Wilmundeslea. Cynhelm, C^nwald's father, was a gebiir at HsetS- 
 feld, and Manna, Cdnwald's son, sits at Wadtiin under Eadwald." 
 
 " «!• Buhe, Dryhtlaf s mother-in-law, was removed rom HseSfeld 
 into Eslingaden : and ^'Selwyli, Eadugu and ^'Selgy'5 were three 
 sisters ; and Tilwine and Dudda, these were all Buge's children ; and 
 Ealhstan Tilwine's son, and Wulfsige Eadugu's son, and Cedlhelm 
 -lESelgyS's son, and Gedlstau and Manwine. This kin came from 
 [Hue'Sjfeld ; Dedrwulf, Gyneburh's son, and his two sisters ; and Cy- 
 neric at Clsefring is their uncle. These men are the magas of Tata, 
 the gebiir at HiB«feld." Cod. Dipl. No. 1353. 
 
 It is probable that all these places are in Hertfordshire, or in Essex, 
 In both counties we find Hatfield and Walden : there is no Clavering 
 in Hertfordshire, that 1 know of. On the other hand I am not aware 
 of anv Munden or Watton in Essex. 
 
 ' He was the rehteswan a\ porcarivs duminicalis. I cannot explain 
 the distinction inten ded by Sa grsegan swin, literally the grey swine. 
 ' Perhaps great-grandmother. 
 
CH. VIII.] THE UNFREE. THE SERF. 227 
 
 In 880 ^Selred, duke of Mercia, gave various estates to the bishopric 
 of Worcester. He also gave six persons with their ofl'spring, who had 
 previously been adscripti glehce at the royal vill of Bensington. "These 
 are the names of the persons who are written from Bensington to 
 Readanora, to the bishopric of Worcester, with their oiispriDg, and the 
 progeny that may come of them to all eternity : Alhmund, Tidwulf, 
 Tidleah, LuU and Eadwulf i." 
 
 In 902, Beomwulf homed (gehamette), that is attached, to his manor 
 of Eblesbume, a number of persons, of both sexes. Lufe and her 
 three children, Luha and his six children are named ". 
 
 In the time of Eadgar we have the record of several persons esta- 
 blishing by their oaths that their parents had not been serfs or coloni of 
 the king ^. An Appendix to this chapter contains numerous examples 
 of manumissions, of various periods. 
 
 Cod. Dipl. No. 311. ^ Ibid. No. 1079. - Ibid. No. 981. 
 
 q2 
 
228 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE MUTUAL GUARANTEE. MiEGBURH. TITHING. 
 HUNDRED. 
 
 The organization in Marks and in the Ga or Scir 
 was a territorial one, based upon the natural con- 
 formation of the country, common possession of the 
 soil and usufruct of its produce. It has been already 
 said that both of these divisions had their separate 
 courts of justice or parliaments, their judges and 
 executive officers. But some further machinery 
 was required to secure the public peace, to provide 
 for the exercise of what, in modern society, we call 
 the police, and to ensure the rights of the indivi- 
 dual markman, in respect to other markmen, as well 
 as his conformity to the general law. A corporate 
 existence was necessary, which should embrace a 
 more detailed system of relations than was to be 
 found either in the Mark or in the Shu'emoot. 
 Strictly speaking, the former of these was princi- 
 pally busied with the questions which arose out 
 of its own peculiar nature, that is, with offences 
 against the integrity of the frontier, the forest, the 
 rights of common in the pastures and meadows, 
 and other delinquencies of a public character. On 
 the other hand, the Shiremoot, though it must have 
 taken cognizance of disputed questions between 
 several Marks, and may, even from the first, have 
 
CH. IX.] THE TITHING AND HUNDRED. 2ii9 
 
 exercised some description of appellate jurisdiction, 
 must naturally have considered the higher and more 
 general attributes of legislation and foreign policy, 
 the national rather than municipal administration, 
 as belonging to its peculiar and appropriate pro- 
 vince. Perhaps also the exigencies of military dis- 
 cipline may gradually have rendered a more com- 
 plicated method of enrolment necessary, by means 
 of which companies and regiments might be kept 
 upon a permanent footing, and called into imme- 
 diate action when occasion demanded their ser- 
 vices ; while, at the same time, due provision was 
 made for the tilling the lands of those whose per- 
 sonal exertions were required in defence of the 
 public weal i. 
 
 There were two forms in which these various 
 objects might be attained ; these were, subordinate 
 organizations of men, not excessive in number, or 
 too widely dispersed, and founded either upon the 
 bond of blood or the ties of family, including that 
 of adoption, or merely upon an arbitrary numerical 
 definition. Each of these plans had advantages as 
 well as defects : the family bond alone did not se- 
 cure a sufficient territorial unity, although in prac- 
 tice it had at first considerable influence upon the 
 location of individual households ; moreover it gave 
 rise to an inequality continually on the increase, 
 and necessarily threatening to the independence of 
 the free men. On the other hand, any merely arbi- 
 trary, numerical classification would have excluded 
 
 ' For the Frankish custom see the Capitulary of the year 807. 
 Pertz, iii. 149. and Donniges, Deut. Staatsr. pp. 92, 93. 
 
230 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 a most important social element, the responsibility 
 of man to man in the bond of kindred, the feelings 
 and engagements of family affection, family honour 
 and family ambition. The problem was finally 
 solved by a partial union of the two methods : in 
 all probability, the law of compromise which reigns 
 throughout all history, gradually brought about a 
 fusion of two separate principles, widely differing 
 in point of antiquity, and thus superinduced the 
 artificial upon the natural bond, without entirely 
 destroying the infiuefnce of the latter. 
 
 For I think it unquestionable that the artificial 
 bond was really later in point of time : sirice, in 
 the first place, indefinite and. vague arrangements 
 usually precede the definite and settled ; and next, 
 because Tacitus takes no notice whatever of any 
 but the family bond, which he represents as strin- 
 gent in the highest degree. We have already seen 
 that Caesar declares the divisions of the land to 
 have taken place according to families or rela- 
 tionships, cognationes ^, from which we may infer 
 at first a considerable amount of territorial unity. 
 From his far more observant successor we learn 
 that the military oi'ganization was based upon the 
 same principle ; that the composition of the troop 
 or regiment depended upon no accidental arrange- 
 ment, but was founded upon families or relation- 
 ships ^ ; and that every man was bound to take up 
 
 ' See above, p. 39, note 1. 
 
 2 " Quodque praecipuum fortitudinis incitamentum est, non casus 
 nee fortuita conglobatio turmam aut cuneum facit, sed familiae et pro- 
 pinqiiitates." Germ, vii. 
 
CH. K.] THE TITHING AND HUNDRED. 231 
 
 the enmities as well as the friendships of his father 
 or kinsman ^. But leaving these earlier evidences, 
 it still seems that the Msegburh or Family-bond is 
 an institution whose fiill comprehension is neces- 
 sary to a clear conception of the Anglosaxon public 
 and private life. 
 
 The idea of the family is at once the earliest and 
 strongest of human ties ; in its development it is 
 also the most ennobling to the individual and salu- 
 tary to the state ; on it depend the honour and 
 dignity of woman, the unselfish education of man, 
 the training of children to obedience and love, of 
 parents to protection and justice, of all to love of 
 country and enlightened subordination to the state. 
 Where it does not exist, man becomes an instru- 
 ment in the hands of others, or the blind tool of 
 systems. In its highest form it is the representa- 
 tive of that great mystery by which all Christians 
 are one brotherhood, united under one Father and 
 King. Throughout the latter day of ethnic civili- 
 zation, when the idea of state had almost ceased 
 to have power, and the idea oi family did not exist, 
 there was a complete destruction both of public 
 and private morality ; and the world, grown to be 
 a sink of filth and vice, was tottering to the fall 
 which Providence in mercy had decreed for its 
 purification. The irruption of the German tribes 
 breathed, into the dead bones of heathen cultivation 
 the breath of a new life ; and the individual dignity 
 of man as a member of a family, — the deep-seated 
 
 ' " Susoipere tarn inimicitias sen patris seu propinqui qiiam amici- 
 tias necease est." Germ. xxi. 
 
232 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 feeling of all those nations, — while it prepared 
 them to become the founders of Christian states 
 which should endure, made them the wonder of 
 the philosophers and theologians of Rome, Greece 
 and Africa, and an example to be held up to the 
 degenerate, races whom they had subdued ^. The 
 German house was a holy thing ; the bond of mar- 
 riage a sacred and symbolic engagement 2; holy 
 above man was woman herself. Even in the depths 
 of their forests the stern warriors had assigned to 
 her a station which nothing but that deep feeling 
 could have rendered possible : this was the sacred 
 sex, believed to be in nearer communion with divi- 
 nity than men^. In the superstitious tradition of 
 their mythology, it was the young and beautiful 
 Shieldmays, the maiden Wselcyrian, who selected 
 the champions that had deserved to become the 
 guests of Woden. The matrons presided over the 
 rites of religion, conducted divinations^, and en- 
 couraged the warriors on the field of battle ^ ; Ve- 
 
 ' What had struck Tacitus with astonishment and admiration in the 
 first century (Germ, xviii. xix.), seemed equally remarkable to the 
 thinkers of the Roman world in the fourth and fifth. Innumerable 
 passages confirmatory of the averments in the text might be cited from 
 Augustine, Orosius, Salvianus, or even Procopius, — testimonies all the 
 more valuable because supplied by hostile witnesses, by the conquered 
 of the conqueror, the orthodox of the Arian. 
 
 ^ Tac. Germ. xix. ' Ibid. viii. 
 
 * Caes. Bell. Gall. i. 50. 
 
 " Tac. Germ. vii. viii. After the defeat of the Cimbri by Marius, 
 their women applied to the Consul, to have their chastity respected, 
 and themselves assigned as serfs to the vestal virgins. On receiving a 
 refusal they put their children and then themselves to death. The dogs 
 that had accompanied them, long defended their corpses. See Elorus, 
 iii. 3, and Orosius, v. 16. 
 
CH. IX.] THE TITHING AND HUNDRED. 233 
 
 ledas and Aurinias, prophetesses in the bloom of 
 youth and beauty, led the raw levies of the North 
 to triumph over the veteran legions of Rome. 
 Neither rank nor wealth could atone for violated 
 chastity ^ ; nor were in general any injuries more 
 severely punished than those which the main 
 strength of man enabled him to inflict on woman 2. 
 That woman, nevertheless, m the family, held a 
 subordinate situation to men, lies in the nature of 
 the family itself, and in the disposition and quali- 
 ties which have been implanted in woman, to en- 
 able her to fulfil her appointed duties in the scheme 
 of Providence ; qualities not difl'erent in degree, but 
 kind, from those of her helpmate, that they may be 
 the complement of his, and, united with his, make 
 up the full and perfect circle of humanity. As 
 an individual, woman was considered a being of a 
 higher nature; as a member of the state, she was 
 necessarily represented by him upon whom nature 
 had imposed the joyful burthen of her support, and 
 the happy duty of her protection, — a principle too 
 little considered by those who, with a scarcely par- 
 donable sciolism, have clamoured for what they call 
 the rights of woman. Woman among the Teutons 
 was near akin to divinity, but not one among them 
 ever raved that the femme lihre could be woman. 
 Hence the profound importance attached to cha- 
 
 ' Tac. Germ. xix. 
 
 2 For this a general reference to the Barbarian lawa must suffice. 
 Alaric even went the length of putting to death a noble Goth, 
 who, during the sack of the city, had violated the daughter of a Roman 
 citizen. 
 
234 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 stity, and the undoubted influence of alliances by 
 marriage ^, through which separate kindreds are 
 fused into one body, adopting common interests, 
 pursuing common objects, and recognizing in the 
 bond which unites its members, obligations which 
 are still exhibited in oriental countries, which we 
 trace throughout the middle ages of Europe, but 
 which are gradually vanishing under the conditions 
 of our modern mercantile society. 
 
 It lies in the very nature of things that among a 
 people animated with such principles as have now 
 been described, and so placed by circumstances on 
 tracts of land far more than sufficient for their sup- 
 port, the very earliest organization should be based 
 upon the family relations. Dwelling near to one an- 
 other, united by a community of interests and the 
 endearing ties of mutual relationship, or the scarcely 
 weaker bond of adoption, — strong as regards other 
 families in direct proportion to their union among 
 themselves, — the maeg'S or family ofi"er all the gua- 
 rantees in their own natural position which the pri- 
 mitive state can require. In the popular councils 
 the largest and most distinguished family has ne- 
 cessarily the greatest weight ; but association of 
 others, severally less powerful, is always capable of 
 counteracting danger which might arise in a free 
 state from the ambition of any of its portions. In 
 the absence of a central power, — or rather its di- 
 spersion through all the several members of the com- 
 
 ' A beautiful evidence of this lies in the epic name for woman ; in 
 Anglosaxon poetry she is called freoSowebbe, the weaver of peace. 
 Beow. 1.3880. Trav. S. 1. 11. 
 
CH. IX.] THE TITHING AND HUNDRED. 235 
 
 munity, the collection of revenue and the main- 
 tenance of the peace must be left to the heads of 
 the several fractions, whether villages (as in the 
 East), or families, which at one time are identical 
 with villages. The police therefore especially be- 
 longs to the family, and is by it exercised over all 
 the individuals that compose it ; hence also the 
 grave misconduct of the individual may justly have 
 the effect of destroying the social position of the 
 whole mseg'S. In Beowulf, the warriors who de- 
 serted their prince in his utmost need, are sternly 
 told by his successor, that not only they, but their 
 whole mcegburh will thenceforth have forfeited the 
 rights of citizenship, 
 
 folcrihtes sceal 
 •ScSre mKrge 
 Tponna segliwylp 
 idel hweorfan, 
 
 not, each of you individually, but each and every man 
 of your kin, cognation or msegsceaft, shall be de- 
 prived of his rights of citizenship : from which we 
 must infer that the misconduct of one person might 
 compromise his relatives, who are held responsible 
 for his actions ^. And this rule, coupled with the 
 fact of all serving together, under one selected from 
 among themselves, and each under the eye of his 
 nearest and dearest friends, supplied a military or- 
 ganization capable of enabling the harlarians to 
 cope with far more disciplined and scientific mili- 
 tary systems than their own ; serving to explain 
 
 ' '-iOe the remarkable passage cited at p. 188, note 1. 
 
236 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 the almost irresistible power with which, like the 
 Turks of more recent times, the Teutons of old hurst 
 upon the nations exposed to their onset ^. The wer- 
 gyld, or price of blood, the earliest institution of 
 this race, only becomes perfectly intelligible when 
 considered from this point of view : the gens or fa- 
 mily at large are injured by the loss of their asso- 
 ciate, and to them compensation must be made; 
 so they, in turn, must make compensation for him, 
 since rights and duties are commensurate. This 
 principle, however darkly, is still involved in the 
 theory of our civil actions for seduction. 
 
 ' Weight and momentum combined are the secret of modern tactics, 
 and morally speaking (i. e. the appearance in superior force on certain 
 points), of modern strategics also. Cavalry charging in successive eche- 
 lons would always break infantry but for the check which man and 
 horse experience in their speed from the file-firing of the squares : the 
 mere weight of the ho^se falling dead into the first rank would break 
 it if he reached it. If the weight of the advancing body be greater than 
 that of the resisting, the latter is destroyed. A successful charge of 
 cavalry won the battle of Marengo, an unsuccessful one lost that of 
 Waterloo. Modern warfare was more changed by the substitution of 
 iron for wooden ramrods, by which the momentum of musket-balls was 
 increased, than by almost any other mere change of detail. Steam- 
 carriages and scythe-chariots, the Macedonian phalanx — nay, even 
 squadrons of horse, are only larger bullets, which may be launched 
 with more or less success : all these are mechanical discoveries conse- 
 quent upon the fact that the individuals of which armies are composed 
 are lower in the scale of moral dignity than of old. Once group men 
 in masses, and they become subject, more or less, according as disci- 
 pline has destroyed their individuality, to the mechanical laws which 
 govern the relations of all masses. No doubt a stone wall will turn 
 any charge of cavalry ; and so will a regiment of infantry, in exact pro- 
 portion as you teach it to stand like a stone wall, that is, as you destroy 
 the individual action of each soldier. The Romans stood above two 
 feet apart ; our men touch each other at the elbows. Our armies 
 are fitter perhaps for aggressive movements. The Germans probably 
 charged tumultuously ; but the scyldburh, or wall of shields, was hardly 
 less capable of receiving a charge than our own squares. 
 
CH. IX.] THE TITHING AND HUNDRED. 237 
 
 It lies in the very nature of things that this, al- 
 beit a natural, cannot be an enduring system. Its 
 principal condition is neighbourhood, the concen- 
 tration of the family upon one spot : as population 
 increases, and with it emigration, the family bond 
 gradually becomes weaker, and at last perishes as 
 a positive and substantive institution, surviving 
 only fragmentarily in the traces which it leaves 
 upon the latter order that replaces it. War, com- 
 merce, cultivation, — the effect and cause of in- 
 creasing population, — gradually disperse the mem- 
 bers of the sihsceaft or cognation, and a time arrives 
 when neighbours are no longer kinsmen. At this 
 point the old organization ceases to be effective, 
 and a new one becomes necessary, unless the an- 
 cient principle is to be entirely abandoned. But 
 principles are not easily abandoned in early stages 
 of society ; a young nation finds it easier to adopt 
 artificial arrangements founded upon the ancient 
 form : nor is it necessary that the later should have 
 totally superseded its predecessor ; it is enough 
 that when the earlier ceases to fulfil its object, the 
 latter should be directed to supply its obvious de- 
 ficiency, and be united with it, as circumstances 
 best permit. 
 
 Throughout the earliest legislation of the Teu- 
 tonic nations, and especially in our own, we find 
 arrangements, based upon two distinct principles, 
 in active operation. The responsibility of the fa- 
 mily lies ever in the background, the ultimate 
 resort of the state against the individual, of the in- 
 dividual against the state. But we also find small 
 
238 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 bodies of men existing as corporations, founded 
 upon number and neighbourhood, and thus making 
 up the public units in the state itself. From the 
 first, we find the inhabitants of the Mark classed 
 in tens and hundreds (technically in England, Ti- 
 things and Hundreds) each probably comprising 
 respectively a corresponding number of members, 
 together with the necessary officers, viz. a tithing- 
 man for each tithing> and a hundred-man for the 
 hundred, thus making one hundred and eleven men, 
 or Heads of houses in the territorial hundred i. The 
 Frankish law names the officers thus alluded to : 
 in it the tithiiig-man is Decanus, the hundred-man 
 Centenarius ^. The Anglosaxon law does not indeed 
 mention its divisions by these names till a compara- 
 tively late period, when their significations had be- 
 come in some respects altered ; but it seems probable 
 that it does imply them under the term Gegyldan, 
 fellows, brothers of the gyld. In a case of aggravated 
 crime it is provided that the offender's relatives shall 
 pay a third part of the fine, his gegyldan a third 
 part, and if he cannot pay the remainder himself, he 
 is to become an outlaw, i. e. forfeit his land and flee, 
 perhaps formally abjure the country 2. Now it is 
 
 ' There is some difficulty in deciding whether the head of the tithing 
 was included in the ten, or beside it. I have proceeded upon the sup- 
 position that he was not included, consequently that there were really 
 eleven men in the tithing. The leading authority (Jud. Civ. Lond. 
 M'Salst. V. § 3. Thorpe, i. 230) is totally and irreconcilably contra- 
 dictory on the point. 
 
 ^ The Decani appear to be the same as the Decimales homines of 
 ^«elred's law. Thorpe, i. 338. 
 
 3 Leg. JElf. § 27. 
 
OH. IX.] THE TITHING AND HUNDRED. 239 
 
 perfectly clear that a law expressed in such general 
 terms as these, cannot be directed to a particular 
 and exceptional condition ; that it does not apply 
 to the accidental existence of gegyldan, but on the 
 contrary assumes every man to have such : we 
 cannot therefore construe it of voluntary associa- 
 tions formed for religious, social or funereal ob- 
 jects ^, and for the purposes of this law we must 
 look upon gegylda as a general name borne by 
 every individual in respect of some gyld or asso- 
 ciation of which he was taken to be a member. 
 The only meanings which the root gyld enables us 
 to attach to the word gegylda are these ; either, 
 one who shares with others in paying ; or, one who 
 shares with others in worshipping. If we adopt the 
 former rendering, we must suppose that certain con- 
 tributions were made by a number of persons to a 
 common purse, partly for festive purposes, partly 
 as a mutual guarantee and club-fund for legal costs, 
 for the expenses of reciprocal aid and defence, per- 
 haps even for mortuary celebrations and chari- 
 table distributions. Another, though perhaps a less 
 probable, suggestion is that such gegyldan may 
 have been jointly responsible for taxes, or the out- 
 fit of armed men who attended in the fyrd or mi- 
 litary expedition, on behalf of them all. But this 
 we cannot further illustrate, in the absence of all 
 
 ' Such voluntary associations were not unusual. Several deeds of 
 agreement of such cluhs are given in an Appendix to this Chapter. 
 There seems to have heen similar clubs among the Hungarians : they 
 Tvere called " Kalender-Bruderschaften," from usually meeting on the 
 first day of every month. Fessler, Qesch. der Ungern, i. 725. 
 
240 THK SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 record of. the financial system of the early Teutonic 
 monarchs, even those of Charlemagne himself, which 
 would have been invaluable guides to us through 
 the intricacies of that dark subject of enquiry. The 
 second meaning given to gegylda would rest upon 
 the assumption of some private and as it were hero- 
 worship, common to the gyld-brothers, — a fact fa- 
 miliar enough to us in the Athenian (pvXal and 
 Roman gentes ; but the existence of any such foun- 
 dation for the gyld among the Anglosaxons is ex- 
 tremely improbable, when we consider the small 
 numbers that appear to have constituted the as- 
 sociation, and that no trace of any such worship 
 remains in our heathen mythology i. I therefore 
 prefer the first rendering of the word, and look upon 
 gegyldan as representing those who mutually pay 
 for one another ; that is, under a system of pecu- 
 niary mulcts, those who are mutually responsible 
 before the law, — the associates in the tithing and 
 the hundred. 
 
 It is well known that in the later Anglosaxon 
 law, and even to this day, the tithing and hundred 
 appear as local and territorial, not as numerical 
 divisions : we hear of tithings where there are more, 
 and tithings where there are fewer people ; we are 
 told of the spoor of cattle being followed into one 
 hundred, or out of another 2. I do not deny that 
 in process of time these divisions had become ter- 
 
 ' The later guilds of trades, dedicated to particular Saints, are quite 
 a different thing ; in form these bear a most striking resemblance to 
 the cjiv'Kai. 
 
 2 Leg. Eadg. Hund. § 5. Thorpe, i. 260. 
 
CH. EC.] THE TITHING AND HUNDRED. 241 
 
 ritorial ; but this does not of necessity invalidate the 
 doctrine that originally the numbers were calculated 
 according to the heads of families, or that the ex- 
 tent of territory, and not the taxable, military or cor- 
 porate units, formed at first the varying quantity. 
 Had it been otherwise we should naturally have 
 found a much greater equality in the size of the 
 territorial hundreds throughout at least each Saxon 
 kingdom; nor in all probability would the num- 
 bers of the hundreds in respective counties differ so 
 widely, — a difference intelligible only if we assume 
 population, and not space, to have been the basis of 
 the original calculation. Moreover to a very late 
 period, in one part of England the abstract word 
 Teo'Sung was replaced by the more concrete Ten- 
 mantale (tyn-manna-tgel) i, to which it is impossible 
 to give any meaning but the simple one the words 
 express, viz. the tale or count of ten men. Again, 
 as late as the tenth century, in a part of England 
 where men, and not acres, became necessarily the 
 subjects of calculation, viz. in the city of London^, 
 we find the citizens distributing themselves into 
 Fri'Sgylds or associations for the maintenance of the 
 peace, each consisting of ten men ; while ten such 
 
 ' Leg. Ed. Conf. xx. 
 
 - I do not for a moment imagine that thia was an entirely new or- 
 ganization. The document which contains the record seems to lie the 
 text of a solemn undertaking, almost a treaty of alliance, between the 
 City and king ^ISelstan, for the better maintenance of the public peace. 
 It is perhaps worth attention that the Tyn-manua-tjel was a denomina- 
 tion peculiar to another large city — York : but the same authority from 
 which we learn this fact, identifies the institution with that in common 
 use throughout the land. Leg. Ed. Oonf xx. 
 
 VOL. I. E 
 
242 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 gylds were gathered into a Hundred. The remark- 
 able document known as " Judicia Civitatis Londi- 
 nensis " gives the following detailed account of the 
 whole proceeding : 
 
 " This is the ordinance which the bishops and 
 the reeves belonging to London have ordained, and 
 confirmed with pledges, among our friSgylds, as 
 well eorlish as ceorlish, in addition to the dooms 
 which were fixed at Greatley, at Exeter, and at 
 Thundersfield. 
 
 " Eesolved : That we count every ten men to- 
 gether, and the chief one to direct the nine in each 
 of those duties which we have all ordained, and 
 afterwards the hyndens of them together, and one 
 hynden-man who shall admonish the ten for our 
 common benefit; and let these eleven hold the 
 money of the hynden, and decide what they shall 
 disburse, when aught is to pay, and what they shall 
 receive, should money accrue to us at our common 
 suit^ 
 
 " That we gather to us once in every month, if 
 we can and ha,ve leisure, the hynden-men and those 
 who direct the tithings, as well with butt-filling, or 
 as else may please us, and know what of our agree- 
 ment has been executed. And let these twelve men^ 
 have their refection together, and feed themselves 
 as they themselves think right, and deal the remains 
 of the meat for love of God^." 
 
 > ^ESelst. V. 3, § 1. Thorpe, i. 230. 
 
 ' The MS. reads xii, twelve, tut it seems almost certain that we 
 ought to understand eleven, that is one man for each tithing and one 
 for the hundred or hynden. ^ ^tSelst. v. 8. § 1. Thorpe, i. 236. 
 
CH. IX.] THE TITHING AND HUNDRED. 243 
 
 Now as this valuable record mentions also terri- 
 toi'ial tithings, containing different amounts of po- 
 pulation i, it seems to me to furnish important con- 
 firmation of the conclusion that the gegyldan of Ini 
 and JSlfred, the members of the London tithings 
 or fri^gylds of ten, and the York tenmantale, are 
 in truth identical. And it is further in favour of 
 this view that the citizens called the members of 
 such gildships, gegyldan ^ : — 
 
 "And we have also ordained, respecting every 
 man who has given his pledge in our gyldships, 
 that, should he die, each gyld-brother (gegylda) 
 shall give a gesufel-loaf for his soul, and sing a 
 fifty (psalms), or cause the same to be sung within 
 XXX days." 
 
 Upon a revieAV of the preceding passages it may 
 be inferred that the hynden consisted of ten tithings, 
 and consequently answered to what we more com- 
 monly call a hundred : it may perhaps be suggested 
 that, if any distinction existed between these two 
 terms, ^the hynden represented the numerical, the 
 hundred the territorial division. But their origi- 
 nal identity may be argued from an important pas- 
 sage in the law of Ini. He ordains^ : " He that is 
 
 ' " Swfi of anre tetfSung 'Saer mare folo sig." Thorpe, i. 232. 
 
 ' " And we cwBedon eac be eeloum 'Sara marma ^e on lirum gegyld- 
 soipum hia wedgeseald hsef'S, gif him for^i'S gebyrige, 'Sset selc gegylda 
 gesylle jenne gesufelne hlaf for Stere sawle, and gesinge an fiftig, o^e 
 begite gesungen binnan xxx nihtan." iE^elst. v. 8. § 6. Thorpe, i. 236- 
 
 ^ " Se^e bi^ werfseh'Se betogen, and he onsaoan wille ^ses sieges mid 
 a^e, 'Sonne sceal beon on ISsere hyndenne an cyningalS be xxx hida, 
 s\\k be gesi'Scund men swa be ceorliscum, swa hwse'Ser swa hit sy." 
 Ini. § 54. Thorpe, i. 136. Upon this passage the late Mr. Price had the 
 following note, which is interesting, though I cannot agree with his 
 
 e2 
 
244 THE S-IXOXS IN ENGLAXD. [booit i. 
 
 charged with mortal feud, and is willing to deny the 
 slaying on oath ; then shall there be in the hynden 
 one king's oath of thirty hides, as well for a noble 
 as a churl, be it whichever it be." 
 
 Now hynden can only mean one of two things, 
 viz. a collection of ten or a collection of a hundred, 
 according as we render the word hund. Admitting 
 that at some very early period hund did mean ten, 
 we yet never find.it with any such signification in 
 any book or MS., or indeed at all except in the nu- 
 merals hundseofontig, hundeatatig, hundnigontig, 
 hundtwelftig, where its force is anything but clear, 
 when we compare those words with fiftig, sixtig, 
 twentig, etc. On the other hand the adjective 
 hynde does clearly denote something which has 
 the quality of a hundred ; thus a twyhynde or twelf- 
 hynde man is he whose life is worth respectively two 
 or twelve hundred shillings. Again it is clear that 
 the Judicia Civitatis Londinensis intends by hynden 
 a collection of a hundred, and not of ten, men, 
 inasmuch as it distinguishes this from the tithings. 
 
 conclusion : " It lias been already observed that the hynden consisted 
 of ten persons, and, like hynde in the words twyhynde, sixhynde, twelf- 
 hynde, appears to have been formed from hund, of which the original 
 meaning was ten. The hynden therefore will correspond to the turha 
 of the Civil Law (' quia Turba decern dicuntur.' Leg. Prset. 4. § Tur- 
 bam), the Tourhe of the French Coutumes : ' Ooutume si doit verefler 
 par deux tourbes et chacun d'icelles par dix temoins.' Loisel. liv. v. 
 tit. 5. c. 13." But the correspondence noted will entirely depend upon 
 the fact of the hynden really being a collection of ten men, which I do 
 not admit. There is no dispute as to the meaning of Turha or Tourhe : 
 but if, as it is not impossible, turba should be really identical with I'Orp, 
 vicus, it might deserve consideration whether the original village was 
 not supposed to consist of ten families and so to form the tithing or 
 gyldscipe. 
 
CH. IX.] TPIE TITPIING AND HUNDRED. 245 
 
 And further, it must be admitted, upon the internal 
 evidence of the law itself, that a hundred and not a 
 tithing is referred to, since so small a court as that 
 of the ten men could not possibly have had cogni- 
 zance of such a plea as manslaughter, or been com- 
 petent to demand a king's oath of thirty hides. 
 But as such a plea might vs'ell be brought before 
 the hundred-court, it is probable that such was 
 meant. Lastly it was the custom for the hundred- 
 court to be holden monthly, and we observe the 
 same provision with the London hynden ; at which 
 it is very probable that legal matters were trans- 
 acted, as well as accounts investigated ; for it is 
 expressly declared that their meeting is to ascer- 
 tain how the undertakings in the record have been 
 executed ; that is, how the peace has been kept. I 
 therefore conclude that the Hynden and the Hun- 
 dred are in fact and were at first identical; with 
 the hypothetical reservation, that at a later period 
 the one word represented a numerical, the other a 
 territorial division, when these two had ceased to 
 coincide : in corroboration of which view it may be 
 observed that the word Hynden does not occur in 
 the laws later than the time of ^'Selstan, nor Hun- 
 dred earlier than that of Eadgar. 
 
 It is true that no division founded upon numbers 
 can long continue to coincide with the first cor- 
 responding territorial allocation, however closely 
 they may have been at first adjusted. In spite of 
 every attempt to regulate it, population varies in- 
 cessantly ; but the tendency of land-divisions is to 
 
246 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [mox i. 
 
 remain stationary for ages ^ ; a holy horror prevents 
 the alteration of that which has been sanctified in 
 men's minds by long continuance, was perhaps 
 more deeply sanctified at the first by religious cere- 
 monies. The rights of property universally demand 
 the jealous guardianship of boundaries. Moreover 
 the first tithings, or at all events the first hundreds, 
 must have had elbowroom enough within the Mark 
 to allow for a considerable elasticity of population 
 without the necessity of disturbing the ancient 
 boundary ; and thus we can readily understand two 
 very distinct things to have grown up together, 
 out of one origin, namely a constantly increasing 
 number of gylds, yet a nearly or entirely stationary 
 tale of territorial tithings and hundreds. I cannot 
 but think that, under happier circumstances, this 
 view might lead us to conclusions of the utmost 
 importance with respect to the history of our race : 
 that if it were possible for us now to ascertain the 
 original number of hundreds in any county of which 
 Beda in the eighth century gives us the population, 
 and also the population at the period of the original 
 division, we should find the two data in exact ac- 
 cordance, and thus obtain a clue to the movement 
 of the population itself down to Beda's time. Look- 
 ing to the permanent character of land-divisions, 
 
 1 It is very remarkable liow many modern parishes may be perambu- 
 lated with no other direction than the boundaries found in the Codex 
 Diplomaticus. To this very day the little hills, brooks, even meadows 
 and small farms, bear the names they bore before the time of Alfred, 
 and the Mark may be traced with certainty upon the local information 
 of the labourer on the modem estate. 
 
CH. IX.] THE TITHING AND HUNDRED. 247 
 
 and assuming that our present Hundreds nearly 
 represent the original in number and extent, we 
 might conclude that, if in the year 400 Kent was 
 first divided, Thanet then contained only one hun- 
 dred heads of houses, or hydes, upon three thou- 
 sand acres of cultivated land, while in the time of 
 Beda, three centuries later, it comprised six hundred 
 families or hides upon eighteen thousand acres. 
 
 It is a common saying that we owe the insti- 
 tution of shire, tithing and hundred divisions to 
 iElfred. Stated in so broad a manner as this, I am 
 compelled to deny the assertion. No one can con- 
 template the life and acts of that great prince and 
 accomplished man without being filled with admi- 
 ration and respect for his personal energy, his 
 moral and enlightened policy, and the sound legis- 
 lative as well as administrative principles on which 
 he acted. But we must nevertheless not in the 
 nineteenth century allow ourselves to be blinded 
 by the passions and prejudices which ruled in the 
 twelfth. The people, oppressed by foreign power, 
 no doubt, long looked back with an affectionate 
 regret to the memory of "England's Darling;" he 
 was the hero of a suffering nation; his activity 
 and fortune had once cleared the land of Norman 
 tyranny ; his arm had smitten the forefathers of 
 those whose iron yoke now weighed on England : 
 he was the reputed author of those laws, which, 
 under the amended and extended form enacted by 
 the Confessor, were now claimed by the English 
 people from their foreign kings : he was, in a word, 
 the representative, and as it were very incarnation, 
 
248 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 of English nationality. We may smile at, but must 
 yet respect, the feeling which made him also the 
 representative of every good thing, which connected 
 every institution or custom that his suffering coun- 
 trymen regretted, with his time-hallowed name. It 
 is unnecessary to detail the many ways in which 
 this traditional character of ^Elfred continually re- 
 appears; the object of these remarks is merely to 
 point out that the attribution to him of the system 
 of tithings, hundreds and the like, is one of many 
 groundless assertions connected with his name. 
 Not one word in corroboration of it is to be found 
 in Asser or any other contemporaneous authority ; 
 and there is abundant evidence that the system 
 existed long before he was born, not only in other 
 German lands, but even among ourselves. Still I 
 am unwilling to incur the responsibility of decla- 
 ring the tradition absolutely without foundation : 
 on the contrary it seems probable that Alfred may 
 have found it necessary, after the dreadful confu- 
 sion and devastation of the Danish wars, to make a 
 new muster or regulation of the tithings, nay even 
 to cause, in some districts, a new territorial division 
 to be established upon the old principle ; and this 
 is the more credible, since there is reason to believe 
 that the same causes had rendered a new definition 
 of boundaries generally necessary even in the case 
 of private estates : the strongest argument against 
 this lies however in the total silence of all contem- 
 porary writers. A less tenable supposition is, that 
 Alfred introduced such divisions for the first time 
 into the countries which he united with Wessex ; as 
 
CH. IX.] TPIE TITHING AND HUNDRED. 249 
 
 it is impossible to conceive any Anglosaxon state 
 to have existed entirely without them. 
 
 The form and nature of the institution, long 
 known in the English law under the name of Frank- 
 pledge ^, may be compendiously described in the 
 words of the laws called Edward the Confessor's^. 
 According to that document, — 
 
 "Another peace, the greatest of all, there is, 
 whereby all are maintained in firmer state, to wit 
 in the establishment of a guarantee, which the En- 
 
 ' An early confusion gave rise to the reading of Freoborh, libermn 
 phgium, free pledge, frank-pledge, for Fri'Sborh, the pledge or gua- 
 rantee of peace, pads plegmm. The distinction is essential to the com- 
 prehension of this institution. 
 
 ^ This is given here only as the most detailed account : the principle 
 was as old as the Anglosaxon monarchy itself, or older. The law of 
 Eadgar thus expresses it : " Let every man so order, that he have a 
 surety, and let the surety (borh) bring and hold him to every right ; 
 and if any one then offend and escape, let the surety bear what he 
 ought to bear. But if it be a thief, and the surety can get hold of him 
 within twelve months, let him sun'ender the thief to justice, and let 
 what he before paid be restored to him." Eadg. ii. § 6. Thorpe, i. 268. 
 " This then is my wiU, that every man be in surety, both within the 
 towns and without the towns." Eadg. ii. supp. § 3. Thorpe, i. 274. 
 
 " Let every freeman have a true borh, who may present him to every 
 right, should he be accused." ^«elred, i. § 1. Thorpe, i. 280. 
 
 " If he flee from the ordeal, let the borh pay for him according to 
 his wer." JESelr. iii. § 6. Thorpe, i. 296. 
 
 "And we will that every freeman be brought into a hundred and into 
 a tithing, who desires to be entitled to lad or wer, in case any one 
 should slay him after he have reached the age of xii years : or let him 
 not otherwise be entitled to any free rights, be he householder, be he 
 follower. And let every one be brought into a hundred and a surety, 
 and let the surety hold and lead him to every plea." Cnut, ii. § 20. 
 Thorpe, i. 386. 
 
 The stranger or friendless man, who had no borh, i. e. could not 
 find bail, must be committed, at the first charge ; and instead of clear- 
 ing himself by the oaths of his friends, must run the risk and endure 
 the pain of the ordeal. Cnut, ii. § 35. Thorpe, i. 396. 
 
250 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 glish call Fri'Sborgas, with the exception of the men 
 of York, who call it Tenmannetale, that is, the 
 number of ten men. And it consists in this, that 
 in all the vills throughout the kingdom, all men 
 are bound to be in a guarantee by tens, so that if 
 one of the ten men offend, the other nine may hold 
 him to right. But if he should flee, and they allege 
 that they could not have him to right, then should 
 be given them by the king's justice a space of at 
 least thirty days and one : and if they could find 
 him they might bring him to justice. But for him- 
 self, let him out of his own restore the damage he 
 had done, or if the oifence be so grave let justice 
 be done upon his body. But if within the aforesaid 
 term he could not be found, since in every friSborh 
 there was one headman whom they called fri^borg- 
 heved, then this headman should take two of the 
 best men of his friSborh, and the headman of each 
 of the three fri'Sborgs most nearly neighbouring to 
 his own, and likewise two of the best in each, if he 
 can have them ; and so with the eleven others he 
 shall, if he can, clear both himself and his fri'Sborh 
 both of the off'ence and flight of the aforesaid ma- 
 lefactor. Which if he cannot do, he shall restore 
 the damage done out of the property of the doer, 
 so long as this shall last, and out of his own and 
 that of his fri'Sborh : and they shall make amends 
 to the justice according as it shall be by law ad- 
 judged them. And moreover the oath which they 
 could not complete with the venue, the nine them- 
 selves shall make, viz. that they had no part in the 
 ofl'ence. And if at any time they can recover him, 
 
CH. rx.] THE TITHING AND HUNDRED. 251 
 
 they shall bring him to the justice,' if they can, or 
 tell the justice where he is^." 
 
 Thus the object of the gylds or tithings was, f 
 that each man should be in pledge or surety [horh) 
 as well to his fellow-man as to the state for the 
 maintenance of the public peace : that he should 
 enjoy protection for life, honour and property him- 
 self, and be compelled to respect the life, honour 
 and property of others : that he should have a fixed 
 and settled dwelling where he could be found when 
 required, where the public dues could be levied, 
 and the public services demanded of him : lastly 
 that, if guilty of actions that compromised the 
 public weal or trenched upon the rights and well- 
 being of others, there might be persons especially 
 appointed to bring him to justice; and if injured 
 by others, supporters to pursue his claim and exact 
 compensation for his wrong. All these points seem 
 to have been very well secured by the establish- 
 ment of the Tithings, to whom the community 
 looked as responsible for the conduct of every in- 
 dividual comprised within them ; and coupled with 
 the family obligations which still remained in force 
 in particular cases, they amply answered the pur- 
 pose of a mutual guarantee between all classes of 
 men. The system possessed the advantage of being 
 necessarily regulated by neighbourhood, and it was 
 free from some disadvantages which might have 
 attended an exclusive reliance upon kinsmanship : 
 
 ' "De fri^borgis, et quod soli Etoracenses vocant friSborcli Ten- 
 mannetale, i. e. sermo decern hominum," etc. Leg. Edw. Conf. x.x. 
 Thorpe, i. 450. 
 
252 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 the fri'Sborgas mot having the bond of blood be- 
 tween them, which might have induced an improper 
 partiality in favour of one of their members ; and 
 as they stood under responsibility for every act of 
 a gyldsman, being interested in preventing an un- 
 due interference on the part of his family. We thus 
 see that the gyldsmen were not only bound to pre- 
 sent their fellows before the court of the freemen 
 when specially summoned thereto, but that they 
 found their own advantage in exercising a kind of 
 police-surveillance over them all : if a crime were 
 committed, the gyld were to hold the criminal to his 
 answer ; to clear him, if they could conscientiously 
 do so, by making oath in his favour ; to aid in pay- 
 ing his fine if found guilty ; and if by flying from 
 justice he admitted his crime, they were to purge 
 themselves on oath from all guilty knowledge of the 
 act, and all participation in his flight ; failing which, 
 they were, themselves to suffer mulct in proportion 
 to his offence. On the other hand they were to 
 receive at least a portion of the compensation for 
 his death, or of such other sums as passed from 
 hand to hand during the progress of an Anglosaxon 
 suit. Being his neighbours, the visnetum, vicinage 
 or venue^ they were his natural compurgators or 
 witnesses, and consequently, being examined ou 
 ' oath, in some sense ihejurati ox jurors upon whose 
 verdict his weal or woe depended. And thus the 
 importance of character, so frequently appealed to 
 even in our modern jurisprudence, was carried to 
 the highest extent. 
 
 We may reasonably conclude that the close in- 
 
CH. IX.] THE TITHING AND HUNDRED. 263 
 
 tercourse thus created, was improved to private 
 and social purposes, and that these gylds, like the 
 much larger associations of the same name in after 
 times, knew how to combine pleasure with business. 
 The citizens of London hint at a monthly sympo- 
 sium or treat, with hutt-fiUing, when the tithing- 
 men met together to settle the affairs of their re- 
 spective hundreds, — a trait not yet extinct in the 
 civic, or indeed the national, character. There can 
 also be little doubt that the gylds even formed 
 small courts of arbitration, as well as police, for the 
 settlement of such trifling disputes between mem- 
 bers of the same gyld, as were not worthy of being 
 reserved for the interference of a superior tribunal ^ ; 
 and it is also probable that the members consi- 
 dered themselves bound to aid in the festivities or 
 do honour to the obsequies of any individual gyld- 
 brother: the London gyldsmen were to distribute 
 alms, and cause religious services to be performed 
 at the decease of a fellow ; and it is obvious that 
 this sharing in a religious obligation, the benefits of 
 Avhich were to extend even into another life, must 
 
 ' The law of Eadweard the Confessor shows this clearly : " Cum 
 aiitem viderunt quod aliqui stulti libenter forisfaciebant erga viciuos 
 suos, sapientiores coeperunt consilium inter se, quomodo eos reprime- 
 rent, et sic imposuerunt iusticiarios super quosque decern fri'Sborgos, 
 quos decanos possumus dicere, Anglice autem tyenSe-heved vocati 
 sunt, hoc est caput decern. Isti autem inter villas, inter vicinos tracta- 
 bant causas, et secundum quod forisfacturae erant, emendationes et 
 ordiuationes faoiebant, videlicet de pascuis, de pratis, de messibus, de 
 certationibus inter vicinos, et de multis huiusmodi quae frequenter 
 insurgunt." § xxviii. How clearly has the jurisdiction of the Tithing 
 here superseded that of the ancient Mark ! 
 
254 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 have impressed somewhat of a solemn and sacred 
 character upon the whole institution i. 
 
 Much of what has been observed respecting the 
 tithing, applies also to the hundred. This, it has 
 been seen, was originally a collection of ten tithings, 
 and was presided over by a hundredes ealdor^, or 
 hundred-man, who exercised a jurisdiction over his 
 circuit and its inhabitants. From the concurrent 
 practice of later periods we may conclude that his 
 court was holden monthly for the hearing of such 
 civil and lighter criminal causes as could not be 
 settled in the tithing, or interested more tithings 
 than one^. It is not probable that the higher 
 criminal causes could at any period be pursued 
 in the hundred*, but that they were necessarily 
 reserved for the consideration of the folcmot or 
 
 '■ In what may be called tlie Act of Constitution of Orcy's Gyld at 
 Abbotsbury, tbis feature is very prominent. I have therefore appended 
 the instrument in an Appendix to this chapter, although as a voluntary 
 gyld it differs in some respect from those heretofore under consider- 
 ation. The trade-giiilds of the Middle Ages paid also especial attention 
 to the religious communion of their members. 
 
 ° The word Borseholder renders it probable that the capitalis, tyn- 
 manna heafod, yldesta, etc., bore among the Saxons the name of Borges- 
 ealdor, princeps plegii. 
 
 ' This again we learn from the law attributed to Eadweard the Con- 
 fessor. " Cum autem maiores causae insurgebant (that is greater than 
 those which concerned the tithing), referebant eas ad alios maiores ius- 
 tioiarios, quos sapientes supradicti super eos constituerant, scilicet super 
 decem decanos, quos possumus vocare centenarios, quia super centum 
 friiSborgos iudicabant." § xxix. 
 
 * I find no instance of a hundredes man having the llut-hann or ius 
 gladii: but in the time of Eadgar, he seems to have had power to ad- 
 minister the single and threefold ordeal ; whether only in the case of 
 serfs does not appear. Inst. Hundr. Thorpe, i. 260. 
 
CH. IX.] THE TITHINa AND HUNDRED. 256 
 
 shire-court, which met three times in the year. In 
 the later legislation, trial of capital oiFences was re- 
 served for the scyremot, and the words of Tacitus ^ 
 seem to imply that this was the case in his time 
 also : perhaps even such causes as involved the 
 penalties of outlawry may have been beyond the ju- 
 risdiction of the hundred. It is however less as a 
 court of justice than as part of a system for the main- 
 tenance of peace, that we are to contemplate the 
 hundred. It may be securely aiBrmed that where 
 the tithing alone could not be made responsible, or 
 more tithings than one were involved in a similar 
 difficulty as to crimes committed by their members, 
 resort was had to the responsibility of the collective 
 hundred, — a principle which, it is well-known, sub- 
 sists even to this day. 
 
 At a comparatively late period, we occasionally 
 find a consolidation of hundreds into one body, for 
 judicial purposes, presided over by the ealdorman 
 of the shire, or his gerefa, and forming a subsidiary 
 court to the shiremoot : and after immunities, or 
 private jurisdictions, had become rapidly extended, 
 it is certain that such consolidations were not un- 
 usual, in the hands of great civil or ecclesiastical 
 authorities, and that they, by means of their officers 
 or gerefan, held plea in several hundreds at once ; 
 they thus substituted their own power for that of 
 the ealdorman or the sherifi", in the last instance, 
 throughout the district comprehended by their im- 
 munity ; either replacing the old hundred-men by 
 
 * "Licet apud concilium accusare quoque et discrimen capitis inten- 
 dere." Germ. xii. 
 
256 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book t. 
 
 gerefan or bailiffs, or suffering the hundreds to be 
 still governed and administered in the way common 
 to all such divisions, by the elective officer i. 
 
 It stands to reason that the system above de- 
 scribed applied only to the really free. It vpas the 
 form of the original compact betvreen the inde- 
 pendent members of an independent community. 
 But as by the side of the free landholders, there 
 dwelt also unfree men of various ranks, so also 
 there existed modifications of the original compact, 
 suited to their condition. Those who in a more or 
 less stringent degree were dependent, could not be 
 members of the tithing, the hundred or the folcmot. 
 They stood to right among themselves, in their 
 lord's court, not in the people's, and in the latter 
 they could not appear for themselves. The institu- 
 tion therefore which provided that the lord might 
 maintain a Comitatus or following, provided also 
 that its members should all be in his mund (pro- 
 tection) and borh (surety), and that he should make 
 answer for them in the courts from which they 
 were themselves excluded 2. 
 
 ^ Eadweard the Confessor granted the hundred of Hommere in 
 Berkshire to Ordric, abbat of Abingdon ; " so that no sheriff or moot- 
 reeve may hold therein any plea or moot, without the Abbat's own 
 command and permission." Cod. Dip. No. 840. He also granted 
 the hundred of Godley in Surrey to Wulfwold, Abbat of Chertsey, 
 and forbade the sheriff to meddle in the same. Cod. Dip. No. 840, 
 849. 
 
 ^ " And let every lord have his household in his own horh. Then if 
 any of them should be accused, and escape, let the lord pay the man's wer 
 to the king. And if any accuse the lord that the escape was by his coun- 
 sel, let him clear himself with five thanes, being himself the sixth. If 
 the purgation fail him, let him forfeit his wer to the king ; and let the 
 man be an outlaw." ^«elr. i. § 1. Thorpe, i. 282. " And let eveiy 
 
CH. rs,] THE TITHING AND HUNDRED. 257 
 
 It is difficult to decide whether the lords or no- 
 bles were at first comprised within the popular cor- 
 porations : it appears most probable that they were 
 not ; that they were sufficient to their own defence, 
 and, even from the earliest historical periods, in 
 possession of that immunity which released their 
 lands from the jurisdiction of the popular tribunals. 
 In respect therefore to the gylds, they may be sup- 
 posed to have held an independent, though not 
 necessarily hostile, position, regulated indeed by the 
 public law : and if they stood to right with their 
 men, in the folcmot, it was the collective power 
 and dignity of the state with which they had to 
 deal, and not the smaller associations, founded 
 upon necessities of which they were not conscious. 
 Their dependents were under their guarantee and 
 surety, as the members of every man's household, 
 his wife, • children and serfs, were under Ms: for 
 them he was responsible to the community at large, 
 but he owed no suit or service to others, and if he 
 persisted in upholding wrong, I fear the only cor- 
 rective was to be found in the inalienable ius belli, 
 which resumes its power instantly upon the viola- 
 lord have his household in his own horh, and if any one accuse his 
 man of any thing, let the lord answer for him within the hundred, 
 wherein he is cited, a8 just law is. And if he escape," etc. Cnut, ii. 
 § 3] . Thorpe, i. 394, 396. " Arohiepiscopi, epiacopi, comites, barones 
 et milites suos, et proprios servientea suos, scilicet dapiferos, pinoernas, 
 camerarios, cocos, pistores, sub suo fri^borgo habebant, et ipsi suos 
 armigeros et alios servientes suos sub suo fri^borgo ; quod si ipsi forisr 
 facerent, et clamor vicinorum insurgeret de eis, ipsi haberent eos ad 
 rectum in curia sua, si haberent sacham et socam, tol et theam, et iii- 
 fangenethef." Edw. Conf. xxi. Thorpe, i. 451. 
 
 VOL. I. S 
 
258 THE SAXONS IN EN'GLAND. [book i. 
 
 tion of that tacit understanding among men, that 
 the well-being of society depends upon a regulated 
 mutual forbearance. Those were not ages in which 
 acts of self-defence or righteous retribution could 
 be misnamed revolutions. But all these remarks 
 are intended to apply only to a state of society in 
 which the nobles were few and independent, the 
 people strong and united ; where the people were 
 in truth the aristocracy^, and the nobles only their 
 chiefs. The holder of an immunity (having sacn 
 and socn) in later times, under a consolidated 
 royalty representing the national will, and in a 
 state from which the element of the people had 
 nearly vanished, through the almost total vanish- 
 ing of small independent freeholds, was necessarily 
 placed in a very different position. 
 
 It now remains only to bestow a few words upon 
 the manner in which the original obligations of the 
 family bond were gradually brought to bear upon 
 the artificial organization. 
 
 Upon a careful consideration of the latter it ap- 
 pears that its principal object was gained when 
 either offences were prevented, or the offender pre- 
 sented to justice : the consequences of crime, in all 
 but a few excepted cases, fell not upon the gegyldan 
 
 ' The freeman is a member of an aristocracT in respect of ali the 
 nnfree, whether these be temporarily so, as his children and guests, or 
 permanently so, as his serfs. To be in the jroXiVru/ia, which others are 
 not, to have the franchise which others haTe not, to have the freedom 
 of a city which others have not, all these are forms of aristocracy, — 
 the aristocracy of Greece, Rome and Eng-land. The Peers in England 
 are not themselves exclusively an aristocracy : they are the bom leaders 
 of one, which consists now of ten-pound householders, freemen in 
 towns, and county tenants under the Chandos clause. 
 
CH. IX.] THE TITHING AND HUNDRED. 259 
 
 (if they could clear themselves of participation) but 
 upon the m^gas or relatives i. 
 
 The laws of ^'Selberht, Wihtrsed and Hlo'Shere 
 know nothing of gegyldan : with them the msegas 
 are still wholly responsible, and even their inter- 
 vention is noticed in three cases only : ^'Selberht 
 provided that in the event of a manslayer flying 
 the country, the family should pay half the wergyld 
 of the slain^. Again he enacts, that if a married 
 woman die without bearing children, the property 
 she brought her husband, and that which he settled 
 upon her after consummation, shall return to her 
 paternal relatives^. According to the legislation of 
 Hlo^here, if a man died, leaving a wife and child, 
 the mother was to have the custody of the child till 
 his tenth year, but the paternal kinsmen were to 
 administer his property, under satisfactory pledge 
 for due discharge of their duty^. The regulations 
 
 ^ " And if any one charge a person in holy orders with feud (fsehSe) 
 and say that he was a perpetrator or adviser of homicide, let him clear 
 himself with hia kinsmen, who must hear the feud with him, or make 
 compensation for it. And if he have no kin, let him clear himself with 
 his associates or fast for the ordeal hy bread, and so fare as God may 
 ordain." ^'Selr. ix. § 23, 24. Thorpe, i. 344. Cnut, i. § 5. Thorpe, 
 i. 363. The associates or geferan here are probably his fellows in or- 
 ders. But a monk being released from all family relations could not be 
 implicated in the responsibilities of the meegburh (ibid. § 25) ; " for he 
 forsakes his law of kin (mjeg^lage) when he submits to monastic law." 
 Onut, i. § 5. Thorpe, i. 362. 
 
 ^ " Gif bana of lande gewite^, 'Sa msegas healfne ledd forgylden." 
 ^«elb. § 23. Thorpe, i. 8. 
 
 ' " Gif heo beam ne gebyre'S, fsederingmEegas feoh agen and mor- 
 gengyfe." ^«elb. § 81. Thorpe, i. 24. 
 
 * " Gif ceorl acwyle be libbendum wife and bearne, riht is ^86t hit, 
 tSaet beam, madder folgige ; and him man an his fsederingmeegum wil- 
 sumne berigean geselle, his feoh to healdenne o^set he tynwintre sie," 
 Hlo«h. § 0. Thorpe, i. 30. 
 
 S2 
 
260 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 of Ini allow us to enter still further into the nature 
 of the family engagement. He enacted that if a 
 stranger came through the wood out of the high- 
 way, and attempted to slink through in secret, 
 without shouting or blowing his horn, he should be 
 taken to be a thief, and might be slain or forced to 
 pay according to his presumed crime : and if the 
 slayer were then pursued for his wergyld, he might 
 make oath that he slew him for a thief, and the lord 
 and the gegyldan of the dead man should not be 
 allowed to make oath to the contrary : but if the 
 slayer had at the time concealed the deed, and it 
 was only afterwards discovered, a presumption of 
 unfair dealing was raised against him, and the kin- 
 dred of the dead man were entitled to make oath of 
 his innocence ^. Again if a stranger Avere slain, the 
 king was to have two parts of his wergyld, the son 
 or relatives of the dead man might claim the third ; 
 but if there were no relatives, the king claimed 
 half, the count half 2. Besides a provision for a sur- 
 
 ' " Gif feoround man o'S'Se fremde biitan wege geond wudu gonge, 
 and ne hifme nS hom blawe, for Jjeof he bW to prdfianne, o'StJe to 
 sleanne cS^e to alysanne. Gif mon Sees ofslsegenan weres bidde, he 
 mot gecySan 'Sset he hine for J>e6f ofsldge, nalles ISses ofslsegenan gegil- 
 dan n6 his hlaford. Gif he hit Sonne dyrneS, and weorSe'S ymb lang 
 yppe, Sonne rymeS he Sam deadan to Sam aSe, Sset hine moton his 
 mffigas unscyldigne gedon." Ini, § 20, 21. The collocation of gegyl- 
 dan and mffigas in this law seems to show clearly that Ini looked upon 
 them as the same thing : hence that in the original institution the gyld 
 and the family were identical, though afterwards, for convenience' sake, 
 the number and nature of the gyld were otherwise regulated, when the 
 kinsmen had become more dispersed. 
 
 ^ " Gif mon sel^eodigne ofslea, se cyning ah twEedne dsel weres, ]>ni- 
 dan dtSU sunu oSSe meegas. Gif he Sonne mtegleas sie, healf cyninge, 
 healfsegesiS." Ini, § 23. 
 
CH. IX.] THE TITHING AND HUNDEED. 261 
 
 viving child, similar to that of HloShere S the law 
 of Ini contains no further regulation with regard 
 to the meegas of the freeman. Four several chap- 
 ters referring to serfs who are guilty of theft, rest 
 upon the principle that his kin have renounced the 
 msegburh by suffering him to remain in serfage, 
 and together with the obligations of kinsman have 
 relinquished their own right of avenging his injuries 
 or making pursuit for his wrongs^. 
 
 The duties of the msegsceaft or kinship are deve- 
 loped with considerable detail in the law of ^Elfred : 
 the most general regulation is that which acknow- 
 ledges the right of a man to have the aid of his kin- 
 dred in all those excepted cases where the custom 
 and the law still permitted the waging of fseh^e or 
 private war : " After the same fashion, may a man 
 fight on behalf of his born kinsman, if any wrong- 
 fully attack him ; except indeed against his lord : 
 that we permit not^." Other clauses provide that 
 where a wrongdoer is taken into custody, and agrees 
 peaceably to abide the decision of the law, his re- 
 latives shall have due notice^ : " If he pledge him- 
 self to a lawful act, and belie himself therein, let 
 
 ' Ini, § 38. 
 
 - Ini, § 24, 28, 85, 74. Thorpe, i. 118, 120, 124, 148. 
 
 ^ " .iEfter ^Eere ylcan wisan mot men feohtan mid his geborenum 
 msege, gif hine men on woh onfeohta^ ; Mton wiS his hlaford, tSset 
 we ne lyfa«." ^If. § 42. Thorpe, i. 90. 
 
 * " Gif he tSonne tSsss weddie Se him riht sf to geleestanne and Seet 
 aledge, selle mid eadm^dum his weepn und his aEhta his freoudnm to 
 gehealdahne, and beo feowertig nihta on carcerne on cyninges tiine; 
 M'owige ISaer swa biscop him scrife, and his msegas hine ftden gif he self 
 mete nsebbe ; gif he mEegas nsebbe, o'SUe Bone mete nsebbe, fede cy- 
 ninges gertfa hine." ^If. § 1. Thorpe, i. CO. There is a similar provi- 
 sion in ^If. § 5. Thorpe, i. 64. Mil. § 42. Thorpe, i. 90. 
 
262 THE SAXOXS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 him humbly surrender his arms and his goods to 
 his friends, to hold for him, and let him remain for 
 forty days in prison in a king's tun ; let him there 
 suffer as the bishop may direct him ; and let his 
 kinsmen feed him, if he have himself no food ; but 
 if he have no kinsmen, or no food, let the king's 
 reeve feed him." Again if a man is accidentally 
 slain while hewing wood with others, his kinsmen 
 are to have the tree, and remove it from the land 
 within thirty days, otherwise it shall go to the 
 owner of the wood^. The most important case of 
 all, however, is that of a divided responsibility be- 
 tween the kinsmen and the gegyldan, which uiElfred 
 thus regulates : " If one that hath no paternal kin- 
 dred fight and slay a man, if then he have maternal 
 relatives, let them pay a third part of the wer, his 
 gyldbrethren a third part, and for a third part let 
 him flee. If he have no maternal relatives, let his 
 gyldbrethren pay half, and for half let him flee. 
 And if any one slay such a man, having no rela- 
 tives, let half be paid to the king, half to the gyld- 
 brethren-." It was also the principle of Alfred's 
 law, recognized but not introduced by him, that 
 no man should have the power of alienating from 
 his msegsceaft, booklands whose flrst acquirer had 
 entailed them upon the family, — a principle which 
 
 1 M\{. § 13. Thorpe, i. 70. 
 
 ' '• Gif fsederemnsega meegleas mon gefeohte and inon ofslea, and 
 ^onne gif lie m^drenmiEgas lisebbe, gylden ^a ISaes weres J>riddan dsel, 
 Jjriddan diel ^a gegyldan, for friddan deel he fleo. Gif he mSdrenmsBgas 
 nage, gylden %a, gegyldan healfiie, for healfhe he fleo. Gif mon swa ge- 
 radne mon ofslea, gif he mcegas nage, gylde mon healfhe cyninge, 
 heal&e «am gegyldan." ^Ifr. § 27, 28. Thorpe, i. 78, 80. 
 
I 
 
 CH. ! X.] THE TITHING AND HUNDRED. 263 
 
 tenjds, as far as human means seem capable of en- 
 suring it, to ensure its permanent maintenance i. - 
 The reciprocal rights and duties of the msegburh 
 were similarly understood by Eadweard : he enacted 
 that if a malefactor were deserted by his relatives, 
 and they refused to make compeasation for him, 
 he should be reduced to serfage ; but in this case 
 his wergyld was to abate from the kindred^. And 
 ^Selstan distinctly holds the mseg'S responsible 
 for their kinsman. He says, " If a thief be put 
 into prison, let him remain there forty days, and 
 then let him be ransomed for 120 shillings, and let 
 the kindred go surety for him that he shall cease 
 from theft for the future. And if after that he 
 steal, let them pay for him with his wergyld, or 
 replace him in prison^." But he goes further than 
 this, and imposes upon them the duty of finding a 
 lord for him, or exposing him to the penalty of 
 outlawry : " And we have ordained respecting those 
 lordless men of whom no law can be got, that the 
 kindred be commanded to domicile him to folk- 
 right, and find him a lord in the folkmote ; and if 
 then they will not or cannot produce him at the 
 term, let him thenceforth be an outlaw, and let 
 whoso Cometh at him slay him^:" a provision which 
 
 ' ^Ifr. § 41. Thorpe, i. 88. 
 
 = Eadw. ii. § 9. jE«elst. v. cap. 12, § 2. Thorpe, i. 1 64, 242. 
 
 ■> iESelst. i. § 1, 6; v. cap. 1, § 4, cap. 9. Thorpe, i. 198, 202, 228, 
 238. 
 
 * ^«elst. i. § 2. Thorpe, i. 200. Upon the just principle that "He 
 may die without law who refuseth to live by law." " Utlagatus et wey- 
 viata capita gerunt lupina [wolves' heads] quae ab omnibus impune po- 
 terunt amputari : merito enim sine lege perire debent, qui secundum 
 legem vivere recusant." Flet. lib. i. cap. 27, § 12, etc. 
 
264 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [bocj ok i. 
 
 ( 
 obviously cannot apply to free landowners, vMio 
 would have been included in a tithing, and coiwld 
 not have been thus compulsorily commended tcJj a 
 lord. Where a man is slain as a thief, the relati\|es 
 are to clear him, if they can^, inasmuch as they 
 would have a right to pursue the slayer and claim 
 the compensation for their kinsman's death. Again 
 it is provided that if a lord has so many dependents 
 that he cannot personally exercise a due supervision 
 over them, he shall appoint efficient reeves or bai- 
 liffs in his several manors, to be answerable to him. 
 And if need be, the bailiif shall cause twelve rela- 
 tives of any man whom he cannot trust, to enter 
 into sureties for him 2. 
 
 Eadmund permitted the mseg'S to avoid the con- 
 sequences of their kinsman's act, by refusing to abet 
 him in his feud ^. I imagine that this law must be 
 taken in connection with that of Eadweard*, and 
 that it implies a total desertion of the criminal by 
 his kindred, with all its consequences, viz. loss of 
 liberty to him, and of his wergyld to them. The 
 troubled time of ^'Selred, " the ill-advised," sup- 
 plies another attempt to secure peace by holding the 
 relatives strictly and personally responsible : in his 
 law we find it enacted, " If breach of the peace be 
 
 ' ^«elst. i. § 11. Tliorpe, i. 204. 
 
 ^ " Ut omnis homo teneat homines suos in fideiuasione sua contra 
 omne furtum. Si tunc sit aliquis qui tot homines haheat quod non suf- 
 ficiat omnes custodire, praeponat sibi singulis viUis praepositum unum, 
 qui credibilis sit ei, et qui concredat hominibus. Et si praepositus ali- 
 cui eoruni hominum conoredere non audeat, inveniat xii plegios cogna- 
 tionis suae qui ei stent in fideiussione." vE^elst. ii. § 7. Thorpe, i, 217. 
 
 ' Eadm. ii. § 1. * Eadw. ii. § 9. 
 
CH. IX.] THE TITHING AND HUNDRED. 265 
 
 committed within a town, let the inhabitants of the 
 town go in person, and take the murderers, alive or 
 dead, or their nearest of kin, head for head. If 
 they will not, let the ealdorman go ; if he will not, 
 let the king go ; if he will not, let the whole dis- 
 trict be in a state of war i." Though this perhaps is 
 less a settled rule of law than the convulsive effort 
 of an authority striving in vain to maintain itself 
 amid civil discords and the horrors of foreign in- 
 vasion, it still consecrates the old principle, and 
 returns to the true basis on which Anglosaxon 
 society was founded, namely treaties of peace and 
 mutual guarantee between the several parties that 
 made up the State. 
 
 Such were the means by which the internal peace 
 of the land was attempted to be secured, and it is 
 evident that better could hardly have been devised 
 in a state of society where population was not very 
 widely dispersed, and where property hardly ex- 
 isted, save in land, and almost equally unmanage- 
 able cattle. The summary jurisdiction of our police 
 magistrates, our recognizances and bail and bind- 
 ing over to keep the peace, are developments ren- 
 dered necessary by our altered circumstances ; but 
 these are nevertheless institutions of the same na- 
 ture as those on which our forefathers relied. The 
 establishment of our County-courts, in which jus- 
 tice goes forth from man to man, and without ori- 
 ginal writ from the Crown, is another step toward 
 the ancient principle of our jurisprudence, in the 
 old Hundred. 
 
 ' MVeh. ii. § 6. Thorpe, i. 286. 
 
266 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 A further inquiry now arises, as to the basis upon 
 which all calculations as to satisfaction between 
 man and man were founded ; in other words to the 
 system of Wergylds and its various corollaries: 
 this will form the subject of a separate chapter. 
 
267 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 F^'HDE. WERGYLD. 
 
 The right of private warfare, technically called fseh^e 
 or feud ^, was one which every Teutonic freeman 
 considered inalienable ; and which, coupled with 
 the obligations of family, was directly derived from 
 his original position as a freeman ^ : it was the pri- 
 vilege which he possessed before he consented to 
 enter into any political bond, the common term 
 upon which all freemen could meet in an equal 
 form of polity. It was an immediate corollary from 
 that primgeval law of nature, that each man may 
 provide for his own defence, and use his own ener- 
 gies to secure his own well-being, and the quiet 
 possession of his life, his liberty and the fruits of 
 his labour. History and tradition both assure us 
 that it did exist among the tribes of the North : 
 and it is reasonable to suppose that it must have 
 done so, especially in any case where we can con- 
 ceive separate families and households to have main- 
 tained at all an independent position toward one 
 
 ' FEeMe is etymologioally derived from fa, a foe : it is tlie state or 
 condition of being fa witli any one. " Gif hwa ofer Kset stalige sj he 
 fa wi^ Sone cyning and ealle his frednd." " If after that, any one steal, 
 he he foe (at feud) with the king, and all that lore him." 
 
 ^ Tacit. Germ. xxii. 
 
268 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 another. Where no imperium yet exists, society it- 
 self possesses only a ius belli against its own seve- 
 ral members ; and if neighbours will not be neigh- 
 bourly, they must be coerced into peace (the great 
 and first need of all society and the condition of its 
 existence) by alliance of the many against the few, 
 of the orderly and peaceful against the violent and 
 lawless. This right of feud then lies at the root 
 of all Teutonic legislation ; and in the Anglosaxon 
 law especially it continues to be recognized long 
 after an imperial power has been constituted, and 
 the general conservancy of the peace has been com- 
 mitted to a central authority. It admits as its most 
 general term, that each freeman is at liberty to de- 
 fend himself, his family and his friends ; to avenge 
 all wrongs done to them, as to himself shall seem 
 good ; to sink, burn, kill and destroy, as amply as 
 a royal commission now authorizes the same in a 
 professional class, the recognized executors of the 
 national will in that behalf. Now it is obvious 
 that such a power, exercised in its full extent, must 
 render the formation of an orderly society difficult, 
 if not impossible. The first problem then is to de 
 vise means by which private vengeance may be 
 regulated, private wrong atoned, the necessity of 
 each man's doing himself right avoided, and the 
 general state of peace and security provided for. 
 For setting aside the loss to the whole community 
 which may arise from private feud, the moral sense 
 of men may be shocked by its results : an indivi- 
 dual's own estimate of the satisfaction necessary 
 to atone for the injury done to him, may lead to 
 
CH. X.] FtE'HDE. WERGYLD. 269 
 
 the commission of a wrong on his part, greater than 
 any he hath suffered ; nor can the strict rule of " an 
 eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth," be applied, 
 where the exaction of the penalty depends upon the 
 measure of force between appellant and defender. 
 
 In the feeling then of the omnipotence of the 
 State, for paramount purposes, over all the several 
 individuals whose proximity to one another neces- 
 sarily caused the existence between them of rela- 
 tions, amicable or hostile, the Teutonic nations set 
 themselves the task of regulating the Bight of Feud. 
 They could not entirely abrogate it, for it was the 
 very basis of that freedom which enabled every man 
 to enter into a contract or engagement as to the 
 mode of its exercise ; but they defined, and as far 
 as possible limited, its sphere and the extent of its 
 action. 
 
 The natural right of every man to do himself 
 justice to the extent of his own estimate^, seems 
 early to have received so much check as could be 
 given by the establishment of a lex talionis, — life 
 for life, and limb for limb. The eorl who captured 
 the thane Imma, in the seventh century, could say 
 to him, " I might justly put thee to death, be- 
 cause my kinsmen fell in the battle wherein thou 
 
 ' This is tlie wild right of every outlaw, the law of nature which re- 
 sumes its force when human law has been relinquished. 
 " I lost mine eye in laying the prize aboard, 
 And therefore, to revenge it, shalt thou die! " 
 
 Hen. VI. Part 2, act iv. sc. 1. 
 Such is the justice of him who has returned to the universal state of 
 war. Against such a one, Society, if it mean to be society, must on its 
 side declai'e a war of extermination. 
 
270 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 wert made prisoner i;" and this principle was re- 
 cognized even in the later legislation, after what 
 we may call a legal commutation of this right had 
 been established : the ordinance respecting oaths 
 to be administered says, " A twelfhynde man's 
 oath stands for six ceorls' oaths ; because if a man 
 should avenge a twelfhynde man, he will be fully 
 avenged on six ceorls, and his wergyld will be six 
 ceorls' wergylds^." The Teutonic nations generally 
 avoided the inconveniences of such a system by 
 making the State itself the arbitrator between the 
 parties ; that is, by establishing a tariff at which in- 
 juries should be rated, and committing to the State 
 the duty of compelling the injured person to receive, 
 and the wrongdoer to pay, the settled amount. It 
 thus engaged to act as a mediator between the 
 conflicting interests, with a view to the maintenance 
 of the general peace : it assured to the sufferer the 
 legal satisfaction for his loss; it engaged to his 
 adversary that, upon due payment of that legal 
 satisfaction, he should be placed under the public 
 guarantee and saved from all the consequences of 
 feud. For doing this, the State claimed also some 
 remuneration ; it imposed a fine, called sometimes 
 fredum, from friS, peace, or iannum from its pro- 
 clamation (bannan)^, over and above the compen- 
 
 ' Beda, Hist. Eccl. iv. 22. 
 
 ^ " Twelf hyndes mannea alS forstent syx ceorla a« ; for^am gif man 
 Sone twelf hyndan man wrecan sceolde, lie hi'S full wrecen on syx ceor- 
 lum, and his wergyld HIS syx ceorla wergyld." Oaths, § 12. THorpe, 
 i. 182. 
 
 ' The technical term is, to set up the king's protection, " cyningea 
 munde r^ran." Eadw. and GutS. § 13. Eadm. ii. § 7. Thorpe, i. 174 
 
CH.x.] F^'HDE, WERGYLD. 271 
 
 sation between man and man. And this is obvi- 
 ously what Tacitus means when he says^, "They are 
 bound to take up both the enmities and the friend- 
 ships of a father or relative. Nor are their enmi- 
 ties implacable ; for even homicide is atoned for by 
 a settled number of flocks or cattle, and the whole 
 house receives satisfaction, — a useful thing for the 
 state, for feuds are dangerous in exact proportion 
 to freedom." And again, " A portion of the fine 
 goes to the king or state, a part to him whose da- 
 mages are to be assessed, or to his relatives." Only 
 where the State would not, or could not, as may 
 sometimes have happened, undertake this duty, did 
 the right of private warfare again resume its course, 
 and the family relations recover their pristine im- 
 portance. The man who presumes to fight, before 
 he has in vain appealed to all the recognized au- 
 thorities for redress, is liable, under Alfred's law, 
 to severe punishment, except in one important 
 case, which involved the maintenance of the family 
 itself, to secure which alone the machinery of the 
 State exists^. But where the off'ender refuses to 
 
 250. This is tlie engagement of the State that the arbitrament shall 
 be peaceably made, and it at once abrogates all right of feud, and fear 
 of violent revenge. 
 
 ' " Suscipere tam inimicitias sen patris seu propinqui quam amici- 
 tias necesse est. Nee implacabiles durant ; luitur enim etiam homici- 
 dium certo armentorum ac pecorum numero, recipitque satisfaotionem 
 universa domus : utiliter in publicum ; quia periculosiores sunt inimi- 
 citiae iuxta libertatem." Germ. xxii. " Sed et levioribus delictis [in- 
 cluding homicide] pro modo poenarum equorum pecorumque numero 
 convicti multantur. Pars multae regi vel civitati, pars ipsi qui vindi- 
 catur, vel propinquis eius exsolvitur." Ibid. xii. 
 
 ^ The Saxon law says, in accordance with the universal law of na- 
 ture and society, " A man may fight, without incurring the penalty of 
 
272 THE SAXOIsS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 avail himself of the means of peaceful settlement 
 which society has provided for him, the person in- 
 jured may make war upon him, and have the assist- 
 ance of the State in so doing. The most general 
 expression of this right is found in a proverbial 
 formula retained in the law of Eadweard the Con- 
 fessor, and which may be said to comprise all the 
 law of the subject : it says, " Let amends be made 
 to the kindred, or let their war be borne ; " whence 
 the English had the proverb, ' Bicge spere of side 
 6'Ser here,' that is to say, B^^y off the spear or hear 
 it^. The mode however of applying this general 
 right was not left to individual caprice. The fol- 
 lowing regulations made by successive kings will 
 explain very fully the practice and the theory of 
 Feud or War. Alfred ordains, " That the man who 
 knows his foe to be homesitting fight not, be- 
 fore he have demanded justice of him. If he have 
 power enough to beset his foe, and besiege him in 
 his house, let him keep him there for seven days, but 
 not attack him, if he will remain within-doors. If 
 then, after seven days, he be willing to surrender, 
 and to give up his weapons, let him be kept safe 
 for thirty days, and let notice of him be given 
 to his kinsmen and friends. . . . But if the plaintiff 
 
 raising -war, against him wliom he finds with his wedded wife, within 
 closed doors, or under one covering ; or, with his daughter lawfully 
 born, or with his sister lawfully born, or with his mother, who was 
 given to his father as his wedded wife." In these cases there is, and 
 can be, no murder before the law. It is needless to show from the 
 history and traditions of every European state, that this is a principle 
 universally recognized. 
 
 ' Leg. Eadw. Oonf. xii. Thorpe, i. 447. 
 
CH. X.] F^'HRE. WERGYLD, 273 
 
 have not power enough of his own to besiege his 
 foeman, let him ride to the ealdorman and beg aid 
 of him : and if the ealdorman will not aid him, let 
 him ride to the king before he fights. In like man- 
 ner if a man come accidentally upon his foe, and 
 without previous knowledge of his homestaying ; if 
 the foe wiU surrender his weapons, let him be kept 
 safely for thirty days, and let notice be given to his 
 friends. If he will not surrender his weapons, he 
 may lawfully be attacked. But if he be willing to 
 surrender and to deliver up his weapons, and after 
 that, any one attack him, let him pay wer and 
 wound, as well he may, and fine, and have forfeited 
 his maegship i. We also declare that it is lawful 
 war, for a man to fight for his lord, if any one 
 attack his lord : and so also may the lord fight for 
 his man. And in like manner a man may fight 
 for his born kinsman, if any wrongfully attack 
 him, except against his own lord : that we allow 
 not. And it is lawful war if a man find another 
 with his wedded wife within closed doors, or under 
 one covering, or with his daughter born in wedlock, 
 or his sister born in wedlock, or his mother who 
 was given to his father as a wedded wife ^." 
 
 The inconveniences of this state of society in- 
 duced Eadmund, about the middle of the tenth cen- 
 
 ' Probably^ " Let him forfeit all claim to tlie assistance of bis kins- 
 men, eitber in repelling feud or paying fine." 
 
 ^ ^Ifr. § 42. I bave sligbtly varied tbe form of expression in tbe 
 last sentences, on account of tbe difiiculty of rendering tbe adjective 
 orwige. Alfred says in tbese cases a man may figbt orwige, literally, 
 without incurring the guilt of making war, witbout becoming obnoxious 
 to tbe penalties assigned to tbe crime of war-raising. 
 
 VOL. I. T 
 
274 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 tury, to release the kindred from the consequences 
 of fseh'Se : he thus commences his secular laws : 
 
 "Eadmund the king makes known to all the 
 people, old and young, that are in his dominion, 
 what I have deliberated with the counsel of my 
 Witan, both ordained and laic. First how I might 
 best promote Christianity. Then seemed it to us 
 first most needful that we should most firmly pre- 
 serve peace and harmony among ourselves, through- 
 out all my dominion. Both I, and all of us, hold 
 in horror the unrighteous and manifold fightings 
 that exist among ourselves : we have therefore de- 
 creed : If henceforth any one slay another, let him 
 bear the feud himself, unless by the assistance of 
 his friends, and within twelve months, he make 
 amends with the full wer, be he born as he may. 
 But if his kindred forsake him, and will not pay for 
 him, it is my will that all the kindred be tmfdh [out 
 of feud] except the actual perpetrator; provided 
 that they do not give him either food or protection. 
 But if afterwards any of the kindred harbour him, 
 he shall be liable in all that he possesses to the 
 king^ and bear the feud with the kindred, because 
 they had previously forsaken him. But if any of 
 the other kindred take vengeance upon any man 
 save the actual perpetrator, let him be foe to the 
 king and all his friends, and forfeit all that he 
 has2." 
 
 ' A forfeiture of this kind ia recorded in the Codex Diplomaticus, 
 Nos. 714, 719, 1304. A lady had harboured her brother, while an out- 
 law for murder. Her lands were all forfeited and given to the king. 
 
 ' Eadtn. Sec. Leg. § 1. Thorpe, i. 246. 
 
CH. X.] F^'HDE. WEEGYLD. 275 
 
 It is probable that this right thus reserved to the 
 kindred of deserting their guilty kinsman, was not 
 often exercised, nevertheless the subsequent laws 
 of ^'Selred and Cnut ^ may be considered to have 
 been understood in connexion with it, and subject 
 to its limitations. 
 
 The law of Eadweard the elder (about a.d. 900 to 
 915), regulates the mode of proceeding when both 
 parties are willing to forego the feud, upon the esta- 
 blished principles of compensation. He says^: "The 
 wergyld of a twelfhynde man is twelve himdred 
 shillings. The wergyld of a twyhynde man is two 
 hundred shillings. If any one be slain, let him be 
 paid for according to his birth. And it is the law, 
 that, after the slayer has given pledge for the wer- 
 gyld, he should find in addition a werborh, accord- 
 ing to the circumstances of the case ; that is, for 
 the wergyld of a twelfhynde man, the werborh 
 must consist of twelve men, eight by the father's, 
 four by the mother's side. When that is done, 
 let the king's protection be set up ; that is, all, of 
 either kindred, laying their hands together upon one 
 weapon, shall pledge themselves to the mediator, 
 that the king's protection shall stand. In twenty- 
 one days from that day let one hundred and twenty 
 shillings be paid as Jiealsfang, at a twelfhynde man's 
 wergyld. The healsfang belongs to the children, 
 brothers and paternal uncles : that money belongs 
 to no kinsman except such as are within the de- 
 grees of blood. Twenty-one days after the healsfang 
 
 ^ See above, cap. ix. p.. 264. 
 
 ^ Ead. and GuS. § 13. Thorpe, i. 174. 
 
 T 2 
 
276 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 is paid, let the manbot be paid; twenty-one days 
 later, th.e fight-fine ; in twenty-one days from this, 
 \h.e frumgyld or first instalment of the wergyld; and 
 so forth until the whole sum be discharged at such 
 fixed time as the Witan have agreed. After this 
 they may depart with love, if they desire to have 
 full friendship. And with respect to the wergyld 
 of a ceorl, all that belongs in his condition shall be 
 done in like manner as we have said respecting the 
 twelfhynde man." 
 
 The lawof Eadmund contains similar provisions i. 
 " The Witan shall appease feud. First, according 
 to folkright, the slayer shall give pledge to his ad- 
 vocate, and the advocate to the kindred of the slain, 
 that the slayer will make compensation to the kin. 
 Then it is necessary that security be given to the 
 slayer's advocate, that the slayer may draw nigh in 
 peace, and himself give pledge for the wergyld. 
 When he has given his wed for this, let him further 
 find a werborh, or security for the payment of the 
 wer. When that is done let the king's protection 
 be set up : within twenty-one days from that, let the 
 healsfang be paid; within other twenty-one dasy, 
 the manbot ; and twenty-one days from that, the 
 first instalment of the wergyld." 
 
 The wergyld then, or life-price, was the basis 
 upon which all peaceful settlement of feud was 
 established. A sum paid either in kind or in 
 money, where money existed, was placed upon the 
 life of every free man, according to his rank in the 
 
 ' Eadm. Sec. Leg. § 7. Tkorpe, i. 250. 
 
CH. X.] FtE'HDE. WEEGYLD. 277 
 
 state, his birth or his office. A corresponding sum 
 was settled for every wound that could be inflicted 
 upon his person ; for nearly every injury that could 
 be done to his civil rights, his honour or his do- 
 mestic peace ; and further fines were appointed ac- 
 cording to the peculiar, adventitious circumstances 
 that might appear to aggravate or extenuate the 
 ofience. From the operation of this principle no 
 one was exempt, and the king as well as the pea- 
 sant was protected by a wergyld, payable to his 
 kinsmen and his people. The diff"erence of the wer- 
 gyld is the principal distinction between difierent 
 classes ; it defined the value of each man's oath, 
 his mund or protection, and the amount of his fines 
 or his exactions: and, as we have already seen^, it 
 regulated the equivalent for his value. And as it 
 is obvious that the simple wergyld of the free man 
 is the original unit in the computation, we have a 
 strong argument, were any needed, that that class 
 formed the real basis and original foundation of all 
 Teutonic society. 
 
 Although this principle was common to all the 
 Germanic tribes, very great variety exists in the 
 amounts severally adopted to represent the value of 
 different ranks, — a variety easily understood when 
 we reflect upon the relative condition of those tribes 
 at the period when this portion of their law was 
 first settled. A slight account of them will be use- 
 ful, as an introduction to the consideration of our 
 Anglosaxon values. It will be seen throughout that 
 
 ' See above, p. 275. 
 
278 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 various circumstances have tended to introduce 
 changes into the early and simple order i. 
 
 Salian Franks, — Ingenuus, 200 sol. : litus, 100 
 sol. : ingenuus in hoste 600 : litus in hoste, 300 sol. : 
 ingenuus in truste 1800 : litus in truste, 900 sol. 
 
 Thus if engaged in actual warfare, the value of 
 the freeman and the emancipated serf was tripled ; 
 and if in the trust or immediate service of the king, 
 their respective values were multiplied nine times. 
 It is probable that the Ripuarian Franks adopted 
 the same numbers. 
 
 Angli et Werini. — Liber 200 sol. : adaling (no- 
 ble) 600 : libertus (freedman) 80 sol. 
 
 Law of the Saxons. — Probably, the freeman 240 
 shillings : noble 1440 : freedman 120 shillings. 
 
 Law of the Bavarians. — The duke 960 shillings: 
 the ducal family of the Agilolfings, 640 : the other 
 five noble races, 320 shillings : the simple free man 
 160 shillings. 
 
 Law of the Alamanni. — Primus (the first rank of 
 the nobles) 240 shillings : medianus (the second 
 rank of nobles) 200 : minofiedus (the free man) 
 160. 
 
 Law of the Burgundians. — Noble 300 shillings : 
 lower noble (mediocris) 200 : freeman (minor) 150. 
 
 Law of the Frisians. — Noble 80 shillings : free- 
 man 53-J ; freedman 26f shillings. 
 
 Law of the Visigoths. — Freeman (between the 
 years of twenty and fifty) 300 shillings : freedman 
 150. 
 
 ' The following numbers are taken from Grimm, Rechtsalt. p. 272. 
 
CH. X.] F.E'HDE. WBRGYLD, 279 
 
 In the North, 100 silfrs was the wergyld of the 
 freeman, and there is no account of the jarl's. The 
 Old Swedish laws genei'ally assign 40 marks ; this 
 is the reckoning of the Upland, Sudermanland, 
 and Eastgothland laws. The Westgothland law has 
 39 marks ; the Jutish 54 ; and the Gutalag, three 
 marks of gold. 
 
 The wergyld of the clergy is slightly different : 
 among the Salic Franks, deacon 300, priest 600, 
 bishop 900 shillings. A late addition to the Ei- 
 puarian law computes, — clericus 200, subdeacon 
 400, deacon 500, priest 600, bishop 900. 
 
 This is sufficient to give a general outline of the 
 system : it will be observed that these continental 
 computations give no reckoning for the king. Be- 
 yond doubt they were for the most part settled after 
 the royal power had become so fully developed as 
 to cast aside all traces of its original character and 
 nature. 
 
 The Anglosaxon equivalents for these computa- 
 tions are by no means clear ; nor, as far as we can 
 judge, are they altogether consistent. It is probable 
 that they varied not only in the several Anglosaxon 
 kingdoms, but were also subject to change at va- 
 rious periods, as the relative value of life and pro- 
 duce altered. The Kentish law which names only 
 the eorl and ceorl, as the two classes of free men, 
 does not give us the exact amount of their wer- 
 gylds, but it supplies us with some data by which 
 perhaps an approximation may be made to it. In 
 iE'Selberht's law (§ 2, 5, 8) the king's mundhyrd 
 or protection is valued at fifty shillings, the eorl's 
 
280 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 or noble's at twelve (§ 13, 14, compared with § 10, 
 15, 16, 17), and the ceorl's or simple freeman's at 
 six (§ 15, 25, 88). Thus the three classes stand in 
 the relation of fifty, twelve and six ; or taking the 
 ceorl as unity, their respective values are 8^, 2 and 
 1 : that is. 
 
 Ceorl 
 
 eorl : 
 
 : 1 : 2. 
 
 Ceorl 
 
 king : 
 
 ■ 1--H 
 
 Eorl 
 
 king.: 
 
 :l:4i 
 
 Now the medume leodgeld of the ceorl is stated to 
 be one hundred shillings (§ 7), and if Grimm and 
 Thorpe were right in translating this the half wer- 
 gyld, we should have the very improbable sums of 
 200, 400 and 1666f Kentish shillings. Meduma 
 however does not signify half, but middling, mode- 
 rate: the enactment in ^"Selberht's law amounts 
 in fact to this: If a man slay another, he is to 
 pay his wergyld ; but not so, if the slayer happen 
 to be the king's armourer or messenger ; in that 
 case he is to pay only a moderated wergyld of one 
 hundred shillings. It was an exemption in favour 
 of two most important officers of the royal house- 
 hold; and shows partly the growing encroach- 
 ment of prerogative, partly the value set upon the 
 talents of the officers themselves^. The common 
 wergyld then was above one hundred, and I think 
 it can be shown that it was below -two hundred, 
 shillings. The case of a wergyld paid for a king, 
 
 ^ The royal messengers were often of tie highest rank. The heroic 
 character of the weapon-smith or armourer appears throughout the 
 traditions of the North, and indeed in the epic poetry of all nations. 
 
CH. X.] F^'HDE. WERGYLD. 281 
 
 though rare, is by no means unexampled^. In 
 the year 687, Mul ^^elweard, a scion of the royal 
 race of Wessex, invaded Kent, and having incau- 
 tiously suffered himself to be surprised by the 
 country-people, was burnt to death in a house where 
 he had taken refuge with a few comrades. Seven 
 years later the men of Kent made compensation to 
 Ini for Mil's death. The sum given is very vari- 
 ously stated. William of Malmesbury says it was 
 thirty thousand mancuses^; which, calculated at 
 eight mancuses to the pound, would be three thou- 
 sand, seven hundred and fifty pounds, and this 
 is the sum mentioned by Florence of Worcester ^. 
 vE'Selweard, the oldest Latin chronicler, but still 
 removed four centuries from the time, makes it 
 amount to thirty thousand solidi or shillings, each 
 of which is to be calculated at sixteen pence^. Some 
 manuscripts of the Saxon Chronicle read thirty 
 thousand pounds^, " Jjrittig Jjusend punda," — others, 
 
 ^ In tlie year 679 a battle was fouglit between Ecgfri^ of Nortbum- 
 berland and ^ISilrsed of Meroia. "Anno regis Ecgfridi nono, conserto 
 gravi praelio inter ipsum et AedUreduni regem Merciorum, iuxta flu- 
 vium Treanta, occisus est Aelfuini, frater regis Ecgfridi, iuvenis circiter 
 decern et octo annorum, utrique provinciae multum amabilis. Nam et 
 sOTorem eius quae dicebatur Os'Sryd, rex Aedilred habebat uxorem. 
 Cumque materies belli acrioris et inimicitiae longioris inter reges po- 
 pulosque feroces videretur exorta, Tbeodorus, deo dilectus autistes, 
 divino functus auxilio, salutifera exbortatione coeptuni tanti periculi 
 ftinditus exstinguit incendium : adeo ut paoatis alterutrum regibus ac 
 populis, nullius anima hominis pro interfecto regis fratre, sed debita 
 solummodo muUa pecuniae regi ultori daretur. Cuius foedera pacis 
 multo exinde tempore inter eosdem reges eorumque regna durarunt. 
 In praefato autem praelio, quo occisus est Rex Aelfuini," etc. Beda, 
 H. Eccl. iv. 21, 22. 
 
 = Will. Malm. Gest. Reg. lib. i. ^ -piay:. Wigorn. an. 694. 
 
 * jmA-w. Chron. ii. cap. 10. ^ Ohron. Saxon, an. 694. 
 
282 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 thirty pounds, " Jjrittig punda." Now however con- 
 tradictory all these statements may at first' sight 
 appear (and there can be no doubt that some of them 
 are ridiculously exaggerated), it is not impossible 
 to reconcile and explain them. Every one of the 
 authorities I have cited, except Florence, who has 
 evidently calculated his sum upon what he believed 
 to be the value of the mancus, reads thirty thousand 
 of some coin or other. One will have them pounds, 
 another shillings, another mancuses, etc. Now 
 they are all wrong in their denomination, and all 
 equally right in their number ; and for this very 
 obvious reason, — the originals from which they de- 
 rived their information did mention the number, 
 and did not mention the denomination. Each au- 
 thor put the question to himself, " Thirty thousand 
 what ? " and answered it by supplying the supposed 
 omission with the coin most familiar to himself. 
 But there cannot be the least doubt that the Saxon 
 original read J^rittig J)usenda, thirty thousand, and 
 nothing else ; and this is not only actually the read- 
 ing of some MSS. of the Chronicle, but most likely 
 the cause of the error which lies in the other copies, 
 incautious transcribers having been misled by the 
 resemblance between the Saxon ]> and^, and mis- 
 taken the contraction Jirittig Jjunda for Jjrittig pun- 
 da, thirty pounds. It is the custom of the Anglo- 
 saxon tongue, in describing measures of land or 
 sums of money, to use the numerals only, leaving 
 the commonest units to be supplied by the reader. 
 Thus if land were intended, thirty thousand would 
 denote that number of hides ; and w'here money is 
 
CH. X.] FiE'HDE. WERGYLD. 283 
 
 intended, at least in Kent, thirty thousand sccets'^. 
 This then I believe to have been the sum paid to 
 Ini, and the regular personal wergyld of a Kentish 
 king. Let us now apply this sum to elucidate the 
 value of the other Kentish wergylds. From a com- 
 parison of the compensation appointed for in- 
 juries done to the nails of the fingers and toes, Mr. 
 Thorpe, the late Mr. Allen, and I concluded that 
 the value of a Kentish shilling was twenty scsets. 
 But thirty thousand scsets would be fifteen hundred 
 such shillings, and assuming this to be the royal 
 wergyld, we shall find the eorl's to be 360, the 
 ceorl's 180 shillings, which amounts are exactly 
 thirty times the value of the several mundbyrds ^. 
 In the first volume of Mr. Thorpe's Anglosaxon 
 Laws, at p. 186, there is a document which pro- 
 fesses to give the values of difi"erent classes in 
 Northumberland. Its date is uncertain, though it 
 appears to have been generally assigned to the com- 
 mencement of the tenth century. I confess that I 
 can hardly reconcile myself to so early a date, and 
 think it altogether a suspicious authority. It tells 
 us as follows : 
 
 " 1. The Northpeople's royal gyld is thirty thou- 
 sand thrymsas ; fifteen thousand thrymsas are for 
 the wergyld, and fifteen thousand for the royal dig- 
 
 ' Conf. Leg. Hlo«h. § 13. ^«elr. § 7. Alfred's Beda, iii. 5. So, an 
 Mtig, one fifty, means iftj2}salms to be sung or said. iESelst. iv. § 3. 
 V. 8. § 6. No one mistakes the meaning oi five hundred, five thousand 
 a year. 
 
 ^ 1500 Kentish sliillings, which are equivalent to rather more than 
 7800 Saxon shillings, were a sufficient sum, at a period when an ewe 
 with her lamb was worth only one Saxon shilling. Leg. Ini, § 55. 
 
284 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 nity. The wer belongs to the kindred ; the cynebot 
 to the people. 
 
 " 2. An archbishop's and an se'Seling's wergyld 
 is fifteen thousand thrymsas. 
 
 " 3. A bishop's and an ealdorman's, eight thou- 
 sand thi^msas. 
 
 " 4. A hold's and a king's high reeve's, four 
 thousand thrymsas. 
 
 " 5. A mass thane's and a secular thane's, two 
 thousand thrymsas. 
 
 " 6. A ceorl's wergyld is two hundred and sixty- 
 six thrymsas, that is two hundred shillings by Mer- 
 cian law. 
 
 " 7. And if a Welshman thrive so well that he 
 have a hide of land, and can bring forth the king's 
 tax, then is his wergyld one hundred and twenty 
 shillings ; and if he thrive not save to half a hide, 
 then let his wer be eighty shillings. 
 
 " 8. And if he have not any land, but yet is free, 
 let him be paid for with seventy shillings. 
 
 "9. And if a ceorlish man thrive so well that 
 he have five hides of land for the king's utware, 
 and any one slay him, let him be paid for with two 
 thousand thrymsas. 
 
 " 10. And though he thrive so that he have a 
 helm and coat-of-mail, and a sword ornamented 
 with gold, if he have not that land, he is notwith- 
 standing a ceorl. 
 
 " 11. And if his son and his son's son so thrive 
 that they have so much land after him, the off"- 
 spring shall be of gesi^cund [noble] race at two 
 thousand. 
 
CH. X.] F.E'HDE. WERGYLD. 285 
 
 " 12. And if they have not that, nor to that 
 amount can thrive, let them be paid for as ceorl- 
 ish." 
 
 Another, and perhaps more trustworthy docu- 
 ment, printed at p. 190 of the same volume, gives 
 us the following values as current in Mercia. 
 
 "A ceorl's wergyld is by Mercian law, two hun- 
 dred shillings. A thane's wergyld is six times as 
 much, that is, twelve hundred shillings. Then is 
 a king's simple wergyld, six thanes' wer by Mer- 
 cian law, that is thirty thousand sceats and that is 
 altogether one hundred and twenty pounds. So 
 much is the wergyld in the folkright by Mercian 
 law. And for the royal dignity such another sum 
 is due, as compensation for cynegyld. The wer be- 
 longs to the kindred, the cynebot to the people." 
 
 A passage already cited in this chapter gives the 
 wergylds of the freeman and noble in Wessex as 
 respectively two hundred and twelve hundred scil- 
 lingas, whence those classes are called twyhynde 
 and twelfhynde : these denominations correspond 
 to the old and usual ceorl and eorl; and as the 
 original expression for all classes of society was, 
 be it churl, be it earl, Cnut could use as perfectly 
 equivalent, be it twyhynde, be it twelfhynde ^. But 
 in Wessex a third class is mentioned, whose wer- 
 gyld was half that of the twelfhynde, and three 
 times that of the ceorl : they are called sixhynde, 
 men of six hundred. It is diiRcult to say whether 
 
 ' " Swa eac we setta'5 be eallum hadum ge ceorle ge eorle." ^If. 
 § 4. " Cnut cing griSt .... ealle mine Jjsgnast welfhynde and twyhynde 
 freondHce." Cod. Dipl. No. 731. 
 
286 
 
 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. 
 
 [book : 
 
 they are the original nobles, three times as valuable 
 as the freeman, and whether the twelfhynde are 
 an exclusive class of magnates, raised above them 
 during the progressive development of the royal 
 povper ; or whether, on the contrary, the twelfhynde 
 and twyhynde are the original divisions, and the six- 
 hynde a middle class of ministerials, which sprang 
 up when ceorls had entered the service of the crown, 
 and thus became raised above their fellovs^ freemen. 
 I incline to the latter opinion, partly from the ap- 
 parent absence of this sixhynde class in Mercia, 
 partly from the apposition noticed above, and the 
 omission of the sixhynde altogether from the pas- 
 sage in Eadweard's law, which regulates the pay- 
 ments for the other two classes. There is no state- 
 ment of a royal wergyld in Wessex, but from what 
 has been said of the composition made for Mul, it 
 may be inferred that it was thirty thousand sceattas 
 or 120 pounds, like that of Mercia. The total in- 
 consistency of these several values will be apparent 
 if we arrange them tabularly : 
 
 
 Iforthumb. 
 
 Mercia. 
 
 WesBei. 
 
 Eent. 
 
 Einff 
 
 Jjrjmsaa. 
 
 15000 
 
 + 15000 
 
 15000 
 
 15000 
 
 8000 
 
 8000 
 
 4000 
 
 4000 
 
 2000 
 
 2000 
 
 266 
 
 anil. 
 7200 
 
 +7200 
 
 1200 
 1200 
 
 200 
 
 Soil. 
 
 7200 
 
 +7200 
 
 1200 
 1200 
 600 
 600 
 600 
 600 
 200 
 
 Soil. 
 
 1500 
 
 + 1500 
 
 360 
 360 
 
 180 
 
 Archbishop ... 
 jiDKeUng 
 
 Bishop 
 
 Ealdorman . . . 
 Hold ... . 
 
 Heahger^fa ... 
 Priest 
 
 
 Freeman 
 
 If these data be accurate, we must conclude that 
 
CH. X.] 
 
 F^'HDE. WERGYLD. 
 
 287 
 
 the ratio of the king and noble to the ceorl in the 
 diiFerent states varied as follows : 
 
 North. 
 
 king : ceorl : : 113 : 1 
 
 nearly. 
 
 Merc. . 
 
 . king : ceorl : : 72 : 1. 
 
 
 Wessex 
 
 king : ceorl : : 72 : 1. 
 
 
 Kent . 
 
 king : ceorl : : 17f : 1. 
 
 
 North. 
 
 noble, 1st class : ceorl : 
 
 56 : 1 nearly 
 
 
 2nd class : ceorl : 
 
 30i : 1 nearly 
 
 
 3rd class : ceorl : 
 
 ISj : 1 nearly 
 
 
 4:th class : ceorl : 
 
 7^ : 1 nearly 
 
 Merc. . 
 
 . noble : ceorl : : 6 : 1. 
 
 
 Wessex 
 
 . noble, 1st class : ceorl : 
 
 6: 1. 
 
 
 2nd class : ceorl : 
 
 :3: 1. 
 
 Kent . 
 
 . noble : ceorl : : 2 : 1. 
 
 
 Now- this variety, which is totally irrespective of 
 the real value of the Jjryms and the shilling, seems 
 to involve this part of the subject in impenetrable 
 darkness. All that we can permit ourselves to 
 guess is, that circumstances had in process of time 
 altered the original relations between the classes, 
 but in different ratios in the different kingdoms. 
 This however is not all the difficulty : we have 
 to contend with the complication arising from the 
 fact, that the scilling, the currency in which all the 
 southern calculations are nominally made, really 
 differed in value in the several states : and thus 
 when we attempt to compare one freeman with 
 another, we find their respective prices to be in 
 Mercia 833^ sceats, in Kent 3600. 
 
 However the details were arranged, the principle 
 itself is clear enough, and we must now be content 
 
288 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 to remain in ignorance of the means adopted to re- 
 concile conflicting interests measured by a standard 
 so imperfect. 
 
 But the wergyld or price of the whole man was 
 not all that the law professed to regulate. When 
 once the principle had been admitted, that this 
 might be fixed at a certain sum, it was an easy 
 corollary not only that the sum in question should 
 limit the amount of responsibility to the State ^ but 
 that a tariff" for all injuries should be settled. In 
 the laws of ^^elberht and JEUred we find very 
 detailed assessments of the damage which could be 
 done to a man by injuries, either of his person, his 
 property, or his honour : many of these are amu- 
 sing and strange enough, and highly indicative 
 of the rude state of society for which they were 
 adapted. But it seems unnecessary to pursue the 
 details they deal with : they may serve to turn a 
 period about Teutonic barbarism, or to point a 
 moral about human fallibility; but the circum- 
 stances under which they were rational and con- 
 venient arrangements have passed away, and they 
 are now of little interest as historical records, and 
 of none with a view to future utility. 
 
 ' Capital punishments are necessarily rare in early periods. Tacitus 
 limits those of the Germans to cases of high-treason or effeminacy, two 
 crimes which strike at the root of all society. Hence the highest pu- 
 nishment is payment of the wergyld : a capital thief is wergyld-t'edf 
 If he cannot or will not pay, he is outlawed, that is excluded from the 
 ■benefits of the mutual guarantee among free men : he may be slain as 
 a common enemy, iure belli, or reduced to slavery, which is the more 
 usual result. 
 
289 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 FOLOLAND. BO'CLAND. LiE'NLAND. 
 
 It was a wise insight into the accidents o£ increa- 
 sing population which limited the amount of the 
 original e^el, or allodial estate. By leaving, as it 
 were, a large fund to be drawn upon, as occasion 
 might serve, the principle, that every freeman must 
 be settled on land, was maintained, without con- 
 demning society to a stationary condition, as to 
 numbers. The land thus left, of which the usu- 
 fruct, under certain conditions, was enjoyed by the 
 freemen, was called Folcland, terra pioblica, ager 
 ]publicus. It was distinguished from the e^el by 
 not becoming absolute property in the hands of 
 individuals, consequently by not being hereditary. 
 The dominium utile might be granted ; the domi- 
 nium directum remained in the state, which was a 
 perpetual feoffee [for certain trusts and uses. And 
 hence folcland was subject to rents of divers kinds, 
 and reversion. The folcland could also be applied 
 to reward great public services, in which case 
 estates of alod, or e'Sel, were carved out of it, and 
 presented to him whom the community desired to 
 honour^. The service which Wulf and Eofer did 
 
 ' IhdTififvos, or cut-off portion, entail, ■which service miglit earn 
 umong the Greeks, is of the same character. According to tradition, 
 VOL. I. U 
 
290 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 by slaying Ongen^eow was rewarded with a grant 
 of land and rings^. The clearest view of the nature 
 and object of folcland is given us by Beda, who 
 complains that it is diverted from its proper pur- 
 pose, — which is, to be granted as a support to those 
 whose arms would defend the country, — under pre- 
 tence of erecting monasteries, which are a disgrace 
 to their profession. The following are his extremely 
 important words : 
 
 "And since there are both very numerous and 
 very extensive tracts, which, to adopt the com- 
 mon saying, are of use neither to God nor man, — 
 seeing indeed that in them there is neither main- 
 tained a regular life according to God's law, nor 
 are they possessed by the soldiers or comites of 
 secular persons, who might defend our race from 
 the barbarians, — if any one, to meet the want of 
 our time, should establish an episcopal see in 
 those places, he will be proved not to incur the 
 
 Pittacus was thus rewarded "by the people of Mitylene, after overcom- 
 ing Phrynon, the Athenian champion, in single comhat : tS>v Sc MirvKt}- 
 vaifov Bcopeas aiira fieyaXas didovroiVj aKovrlaas to dopv^ tovto fjiovov to 
 X<opiov r]^ia)(reVf 6<tov iir^cr^ev r) alxp-y}' Koi KoKeiTaL fJ-expt- vvv JlcTTaKLOv. 
 Pint, de Malign. Herod, c. xv. The reward allotted to Horatius in the 
 Roman Ager ought now to be familiar to every one : 
 " They gave him of the corn -land 
 
 That was of public right, 
 
 As much as two strong oxen 
 
 Could plough from morn till night ! " 
 ' "Geald ^one gii'Srass 
 
 Geata dryhten .... 
 
 ofer ma^mum sealde 
 
 heora gehwseljrum 
 
 hund J>usenda 
 
 landes and locenra beaga." 
 
 Beow. 1. 6077. 
 
CH. XI.] FOLCLAND AND BO'CLAND. 291 
 
 guilt of prevarication, but rather to perform an act 
 of virtue ^." 
 
 And again, he continues : 
 
 "By which example it behoves also your Holi- 
 ness, in conjunction with our religious king, to 
 abrogate the irreligious deeds and writings of our 
 predecessors, and to provide for the general ad- 
 vantage of our kingdom, either in reference to 
 God, or to the world : lest in our days, either 
 through the cessation of religion, the love and fear 
 , of an inspector at home should be abandoned ; or, 
 on the other hand, the supply of our secular militia 
 decreasing, we should not have those who might 
 defend our boundaries from the incursions of bar- 
 barians. For, what is disgraceful to say, persons 
 who have not the least claim to the monastic cha- 
 racter, as you yourself best know, have got so many 
 of these spots into their power, under the name of 
 monasteries, that there is really now no place at 
 all where the sons of nobles or veteran soldiers can 
 receive a grant ^. And thus, idle and unmarried, 
 being grown up to manhood, they live on in no pro- 
 fession of chastity ; and on this account, they either 
 cross the sea and desert the country which they 
 ought to serve with their arms ; or, what is even 
 more criminal and shameless, having no profession 
 
 ' Bed. Bpist. ad Ecgtirlitum Archiepiscopum, § 11. (Opera Min. 
 ii. 21G.) 
 
 ^ We know that these grants were regulated by t^ie rank and con- 
 dition of the grantee. Beda, speaking of Benedict Biscop, a young 
 Northumbrian nobleman, says, "Cum esset minister Oswii regis, et 
 possessionem terrae suo gradui competentem, illo donante perciperet," 
 etc. Vit. Sci. Bened. § 1. (Op. Min. ii. 140.) 
 
 U2 
 
292 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 of chastity, they give themselves up to luxury and 
 fornication, and abstain not even from the virgins 
 consecrated to God^." 
 
 The evils of a course which, by preventing the 
 possibility of marriage, tends to the general neglect 
 of morality, are as obvious in this state of society, 
 as in those where the indefinite partition of estates 
 reduces all the members of the higher classes to a 
 state of poverty, — a fact perfectly familiar in coun- 
 tries where the resources of trade are not permitted 
 to mitigate the mischief of subdivision. 
 
 The folcland then in England was the national 
 stock. It is probable that the same thing occurred 
 in other Teutonic states, and that the folcland there 
 also formed a reserve from which endowments of 
 individuals, homeborn or foreign, and of religious 
 houses, were made. Thus, " Princeps de eius re- 
 cuperatione simul et postulatione multum gavisus, 
 et suum ad hoc consensum et parentum adeptus est 
 favorem ; deditque illi in eisdem partibus, multas 
 possessiones de publico, quatinus viciniori potentia 
 soceris acceptior factus, non minori apud illos, quam 
 in genitali solo praecelleret dignitate^." 
 
 We cannot now tell the exact terms upon which 
 the usufruct of the folcland was permitted to indi- 
 vidual holders. Much of it was probably distri- 
 buted in severalty, to be enjoyed by the grantee 
 during his life, and then to revert to the donor the 
 State. As the holders of such lands were most pro- 
 bably not included in the Marks, like the owners 
 
 ' Epist. § 11. (Op. Min. ii. 217, 218.) 
 ^ Yit. S. Idae, PertZ; ii. 571. 
 
CH. XI.] FOLOLAND AND BO'OLAND. 293 
 
 of allodial property, they may have formed the pro- 
 per basis of the original gyldscipas, and have been 
 more immediately subject to the jurisdiction of the 
 scirgemot ; for it is impossible to believe that their 
 condition was one of such perfect freedom as that 
 of the original allodial owners. 
 
 A portion also of the folcland may long have sub- 
 sisted as common land, subject to the general rights 
 of all^. In this respect it must have resembled the 
 public land of the Romans. Only that, the true 
 Eoman burghers or Patricians, being comparatively 
 few, while the other claimants were many, and self- 
 defence therefore commanded the utmost caution 
 in admitting them to isotely, — the struggles be- 
 tween the Patrician and Plebeian orders necessarily 
 assumed in Rome a character of exasperation and 
 hostility which was wanting in England. But it 
 does not appear that in this country, the tribes of 
 the Gewissas could have made any claim to the 
 folcland of the Mercians, or that those of the 
 Welsh would have found favour with any Saxon 
 community. 
 
 In whatever form the usufruct may have been 
 granted, it was accompanied by various settled 
 burthens. In the first place were the inevitable 
 charges from which no land was ever relieved ; 
 namely military service, alluded to by Beda, and 
 no doubt in early times performed in person : the 
 
 ^ This seems the readiest way of accounting for the right of common 
 enjoyed by the king, ealdorman and geri5fa, in nearly every part of 
 England ; which right they could alienate to others. For the king's 
 common of pasture, etc. see Cod. Dipl. Nos. 86, 119, 276, 288, etc. 
 
294 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 repair of roads, bridges and fortifications. But 
 besides these, there were dues payable to the king, 
 and the gerefa; watch and ward on various occa- 
 sions ; aid in the royal hunting ; convoy of messen- 
 gers going and coming on the public service, from 
 one royal vill to another ; harbouring of the king, 
 his messengers and huntsmen ; lastly provision for 
 his hawks, hounds and horses. In addition to these, 
 there were heavy payments in kind, which were to 
 be delivered at the royal vills, to each of which, 
 various districts were apparently made appurtenant, 
 for this purpose ; and on which stores, so duly de- 
 livered, the king and his household in some degree 
 depended for subsistence. These were comprised 
 under the name Cyninges-feorm, or Firma regis. 
 
 It is from the occasional exemptions granted by 
 the authority of the king and his witan, that we 
 learn what burthens the fololand was subject to : it 
 may therefore be advantageous to cite a few exam- 
 ples, which will make the details clear. 
 
 Between 791 and 796, eighty hides of land at 
 Westbury and Hanbury were relieved by Oifa from 
 the dues to kings, dukes and their subordinates ; 
 except these payments, that is to say, the gafol at 
 Westbury (sixty hides), two tuns full of bright 
 ale, and a comb full of smooth ale, and a comb full 
 of Welsh ale, and seven oxen, and six wethers, and 
 forty cheeses, and six lang^ero C?}, and thirty am- 
 bers of rough corn, and four ambers of meal, to the 
 royal vilP. 
 
 ' Cod. Dipl. No. 166. Here, by the way, the comb is used as a 
 liquid measure ; very probably of thirty-two" gallons, the amount of the 
 
CH. XL] FOLOLAND AND BO'OLAND. 295 
 
 In 863, an estate at Marsham was to pay by the 
 year, twenty staters of cheese, forty lambs, forty 
 fleeces, and two days' pastus ^ or feorm, which last 
 might be commuted for thirty silver shillings {ar- 
 genteaf. 
 
 In 877, Bishop Tunberht, with the consent of his 
 chapter, appropriated lands at Nursling to the use 
 of the refectory. His charter says he grants it, 
 " liberam ab omnibus terrenis difficultatibus om- 
 nium gravitudinum, sive a pasta regis, principis, 
 exactoris ; et ab omni aedificiorum opere, tribute, 
 a paraveredis, a taxationibus quod dicimus wite- 
 rE^dene ; omnium rerum saecularium perpetualiter 
 libera sit, excepta expeditione et pontis aedifica- 
 tione^." As he could not do this by his own au- 
 thority, he probably only means to record that they 
 had been so freed by the Witena-gemot. 
 
 In 883, twenty years later, a monastery is freed 
 from all which the monks were still bound to pay 
 to the king's hand, as cyningfeorm, both in bright 
 ale, beer, honey, oxen, swine and sheep, in short 
 from all the gafoU much or little, known or un- 
 known, that belongs to the lord of the nation*. 
 
 The dues from the monastery at Taunton were 
 as follows : a feorm of one night for the king, and 
 
 old barrel of ale, (the present barrel is thirty-six gallons). So to this 
 day the hogshead is sixty-four gallons or twice thirty-two, the comb ; 
 as the quarter is sixty-four gallons, or two combs of dry measure. Even 
 now in some parts of Surrey and Sussex, the peasants use peck for 
 two gallons of liquid measure : I have heard them speak of a peck, .and 
 even half a bushel, of gin, brandy, beer, etc. 
 
 ' The pastus regis is the gite du roi well known in French history. 
 
 ■^ Ood. Dipl. No. 288, see also No. 281. 
 
 " Cod. Dipl. No. 1063. " Ibid. No. 313. 
 
296 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 eight dogs and one dog-keeper; and nine nights' 
 keep for the king's falconers ; and carriage with 
 waggons and horses for whatever he would have 
 taken to Curry or Wilton. And if strangers came 
 from other parts, they were to have guidance to the 
 nearest royal vill upon their road^. 
 
 The payments reserved upon twenty hides at 
 Titchbourn, which Eadweard in 901-909 granted 
 to Denewulf of Winchester for three lives, were 
 probably the old royal gafol : they were now trans- 
 ferred to the church as double-commons for foun- 
 der's day. They amounted to, twelve sexters of 
 beer, twelve of sweetened Welsh ale, twenty ambers 
 of bright ale, two hundred large and one hundred 
 small loaves, two oxen fresh or salted, six wethers, 
 four swine, four flitches, and twenty cheeses ; but if 
 the day of payment should fall in Lent, an equiva- 
 lent of fish might be paid instead of flesh 2. 
 
 " Insuper etiam, hanc praedictam terram liberabo 
 ab omni servitute saecularium rerum, a pastu regis, 
 episcopi, praefectorum, exactorum, ducum, canum, 
 vel equorum seu accipitrum ; ab refectione et habitu 
 illorum omnium qui dicuntur Fsestingmen," etc.^ 
 
 " Sint liberati a pastu principum, et a difficultate 
 ilia quod nos Saxonice dicimus Festingmen; nee 
 homines illuc mittant qui accipitros veL falcones 
 portant, aut canes aut caballos ducunt ; sed sint 
 liberati perpetualiter in sevum^." 
 
 " Ab opere regali et pastu regis et principis, vel 
 iuniorum eorum ; ab hospitorum refectione vel vena- 
 
 ' Cod. DipL'No. 1084, an. 904. = Ibid. No. 1088. 
 
 3 Ibid. No. 216, an. 822. * Ibid. No. 257, an. 844. 
 
CH. XI. j FOLCLAND AND BO'CLAND. 297 
 
 torum ; etiam equorum regis, falconum et ancipi- 
 trum, et puerorum qui ducunt canes ^." 
 
 "Ut sit liberatum et absolutum illud monaste- 
 rium ab illis causis quas Cumfeorme et Eafor voci- 
 temus ; turn a pastu accipitrorum meorum, quam 
 etiam venatorum omnium, vel a pastu equorum 
 meorum omnium, sive ministrorum eorum. Quid 
 plura, ab omni ilia incommoditate ^fres et Cum- 
 feorme, nisi istis causis quas hie nominamus : prae- 
 cones si trans mare venirent ad regem venturi, 
 vel nuncii de gente Occidentalium Saxonum vel 
 de gente Northanhymbrorum, si venirent ad horam 
 tertiam diei vel ad medium diem, dabitur illis pran- 
 dium ; si venirent super nonam horam, tunc dabi- 
 tur eis noctis pastum, et iterum de mane pergent 
 in viam suam^." 
 
 " Et illam terram iii manentium in Beonetlege, 
 in occidentale plaga Saebrine etiam liberabo a 
 pascua porcorum re[g]is, quod nominamus Fearn- 
 leswe^." 
 
 " Liberabo illud a pastu et ab refectione omnium 
 ancipitrum et falconum in terra Mercensium, et 
 omnium venatorum regis vel principis, nisi ipso- 
 rum tantum qui in provincia Hvpicciorum sunt ; 
 etiam similiter et a pastu et refectione illorum 
 hominum quos Saxonice nominamus Wselhfsereld, 
 ■j heora fsesting, *j ealra Angelcynnes monna, "] 
 geljieodigra rsedefsestinge, tam nobilium quam igno- 
 bilium*." 
 
 In 875, Ceolwulf, the intrusive king of Mercia, 
 
 1 Ood. Dipl. No. 2.38, an. 845. ^ Ibid. No. 261, an. 848. 
 
 3 Ibid. No. 277, an. 8.jo. < Ibid. No. 278, an. 855, 
 
298 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 freed all the bishopric of Worcester, " tota parochia 
 Hwicciorum," — in other words all the churches 
 belonging to it, — from the "pastus equorum regis," 
 and their keepers^. 
 
 Many of the instances we meet with, both in 
 England and upon the Continent, are those of 
 churches or monasteries : this is natural, inasmuch 
 as the clergy were most likely to obtain and record 
 these exemptions. But how, it may be asked, did 
 it happen that such exemptions were necessary ] 
 It seems to me that, when Christianity was intro- 
 duced, and folcland was granted for the erection or 
 the endowment of a church, the burthens were not 
 always discharged ; and that the piety of later times 
 was occasionally appealed to, to remedy the care- 
 lessness or alter the policy of early founders. 
 
 Folcland may be considered the original and ge- 
 neral name of all estates save the hlot, sors or alod 
 of the first markmen : the whole country was di- 
 vided into Folclands, containing one or more hides, 
 subject to folcriht or the public law, — and hence 
 having no privilege or immunity of any sort; in 
 many instances where Beda uses terra unius tribu- 
 tarii, terra familiae unius, and similar expressions, 
 he can only mean to denote separate and distinct 
 portions of folcland, and the words of Alfred's 
 translation imply the same thing. 
 
 The power of disposal over this land lay in the 
 nation itself, or the state ; that is, in the king and 
 his witan ; but in what way, or by what ceremonies, 
 
 ' Cod. Dip]. No. 30G, an. 875. 
 
CH. XI.] FOLOLAND AND BO'OLAND. 299 
 
 it was conferred, we no longer know. Still there 
 is great probability that it was done by some of 
 those well-known symbols, which survived both at 
 home and abroad in the familiar forms of livery of 
 seisin, — by the straw, the rod or yard, the cespes 
 viridis and the like^. We may however distinctly 
 assert that it was not given by book or charter, in- 
 asmuch as this form was reserved to pass estates 
 under very different circumstances. 
 
 The very fact that folcland was not the object of 
 a charter causes our information respecting it to be 
 meagre : it is merely incidentally and fortuitously 
 that it is mentioned in those documents from which 
 we derive so much valuable insight into the anti- 
 quities of Saxon England. But even from them we 
 may infer that it was not hereditary. 
 
 Towards the end of the ninth century, ^Elfred, 
 who appears to have been ealdorman or duke of 
 Surrey, devised his lands by will. He left almost 
 all his property to his daughter; and to his son 
 iESelwald (perhaps an illegitimate child,) he gave 
 only three hides of hereditary land, bocland, ex- 
 pressing however his hope that the king would 
 permit his son to hold the folcland he himself had 
 held. But as this was uncertain, in order to meet 
 the case of a disappointment, he directed that if 
 the king refused this, his daughter should choose 
 
 ^ Perhaps in a case of this sort, even Ingulf may be trusted : he tells 
 lis, with some reference however to the Norman forms of livery, with 
 which he was familiar, " Conferehantur etiam prime multa praedia 
 nudo verbo, absque scripto vel charta, tantum cum domini gladio, vel 
 galea, vel cornu, vel cratera ; et plurima tt nementa cimi calcari, cum 
 strigili, cum arcu, et nonnuUa cum sagitta." Hist. Croyl. p. 70. 
 
300 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 which she would give her brother, of two hereditary- 
 estates which he had devised to her ^. 
 
 Again, shortly before the Conquest, we find Abbot 
 Wulfwold thus informing Gisa bishop of Wells, 
 jEgelno^ the abbot, Tofig the sheriflF, and all the 
 thanes in Somerset^: 
 
 " Eadweard the king, my lord, gave me the land 
 at Corfestige which my father held, and the four 
 farms at ^scwic, and the fields of meadow-land 
 thereunto belonging, and in wood and field so much 
 that I had pasture for my cattle and the cattle of 
 my men ; and all as free in every respect as the 
 king's own demesme, to give or sell, during my day 
 or after my day, to whomsoever it best pleases me." 
 
 In both these cases it is clear that the land was 
 holden as a benefice ; that the tenant had only a 
 life interest, which Wulfwold however succeeded in 
 converting into a fee. 
 
 As the State were the grantors, so also there ap- 
 pears to have been no restriction as to the persons of 
 the grantees. Of course this does not include serfs, 
 or others below the degree of freemen; although an 
 emancipated serf may sometimes have been pro- 
 vided with an estate of folcland, by general dona- 
 tion. But there is no reason to doubt that every 
 other class might obtain grants of folcland. Those 
 of a duke and of various bishops have been men- 
 tioned ; Wulfwold's father was probably, at least a 
 thane. But even the king himself could and did 
 
 1 Ood. Dipl. No. 317. 
 
 ^ Members of the soi'rgemot or county-court : hence the instrument 
 is of a solemn and legal description. Cod. Dipl. No. 831. 
 
CH. XI.] FOLOLAND AND BO'CLAND. ?>01 
 
 hold land of this description. The boundary of an 
 estate is said to run to the king's folcland ; " ab 
 occidente Cyninges folcland quod habet Wighelm 
 et Wulflaf 1." 
 
 At a very early period however it became a prac- 
 tice to carve hereditary estates out of the folcland, 
 which thus became the private property of the 
 individual, and could by him be given, sold, or 
 devised at his pleasure ; by which the reversion to 
 the state was defeated, and the common stock in- 
 sofar diminished. It was also usual to release such 
 land from all the dues which had previously been 
 rendered from it, and to make it absolutely free^, 
 with the exception of the three services which 
 were inevitably incident to all landed possession, 
 and which are consequently known by the names 
 of Communis labor, Oeneralis incommodifas, Onus 
 inevitalile, Trinoda necessitas, and similar expres- 
 sions. These estates were always granted by book 
 or charter, and hence bore the name of bocland : 
 and it is questionable whether the two descriptions 
 did not, at a very early period, comprise all the 
 land in England, as the families of the first allodial 
 possessors died out^ and their possessions either 
 reverted to the state, or became alienated under 
 circumstances which included them in the category 
 of bocland. 
 
 We learn that the pretext upon which these con- 
 
 » Cod. Dipl. No. 28]. 
 
 ^ Hence a free hide, hida libera, is properly called "an hiwisc 
 Eegefeles landes," a hide of land that pays no gafol or tax. Cod, 
 Dipl. No. 1070. 
 
303 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i, 
 
 versions of folcland into bocland were made at first, 
 was the erection and endowment of a religious house 
 upon the land, by the grantee ; and we also learn 
 that sometimes the conversion was made, the thane 
 presented with the estate, but the church or mo- 
 nastery not constructed. Soon after the introduc- 
 tion of Christianity into Northumberland, it appears 
 indeed to have been customary to grant much 
 greater privileges and immunities to church-lands 
 than were found advisable at a later period, or than 
 seem to have been permitted in the provinces south 
 of the Humber. It stands to reason that there 
 could be no reversion in lands granted to a corpo- 
 ration: hence folcland which had been presented to 
 a church assumed what may be called a hereditary 
 character^, and could only lapse by total destruc- 
 tion of the particular body, — a circumstance which 
 could obviously never be contemplated, but which 
 did actually occur during the civil wars, internal 
 dissensions and foreign invasions, which gradually 
 changed the face of the whole country^. But the 
 lands which the Northumbrian princes devoted to 
 pious purposes, were most likely relieved from all 
 burthens whatsoever : we have conclusive evidence 
 that even military service was excused in that dis- 
 trict before the time of Beda. In all probability, 
 
 ' Land is sometimes called Bishop-land, wliicli I imagine to be the 
 legal designation of this particular estate. 
 
 ^ This -was the case with Peterhorough, Ely and other ancient foun- 
 dations restored in the time of Eadgar. He himself says of Ely : "Nii 
 wees se halga stede yfele forlaeten mid laessan Jjcowdome tSonne lis ge- 
 licode mi on urum timan, and eac wees gehwyi-fed t>am cyninge to 
 handa, ic cwe'Se be me silfum." Cod. Dip. No. 563. 
 
CH. XI.] FOLCLAND AND BO'CLAND. 303 
 
 it was not suspected how much the defences of 
 the country might become impaired by grants of 
 the kind. The passages already cited from Beda's 
 epistle to Ecgberht may be adduced in corrobo- 
 ration of these assertions, but we have more direct 
 evidence in his history ^. Oswiu on his conver- 
 sion placed his daughter Eanflged in the convent 
 presided over by Hild, and with her he gave 
 twelve estates, " possessiunculae terrarum," most 
 likely folcland, each estate comprising ten hides ; 
 in which, Beda continues, " Ablato studio militiae 
 terrestris, ad exercendam militiam coelestem locus 
 facultasque suppeteret," — or as the Saxon trans- 
 lator expresses it, " Those twelve boclands he freed 
 from earthly warfare and earthly service, to be em- 
 ployed in heavenly warfare." It is very clear that 
 the duties of military service were removed in this 
 case, and that religious warfare was to be the des- 
 tination of those that held the lands. Similarly 
 when Benedict Biscop decided upon devoting him- 
 self to a monastic life, he surrendered his lands to 
 the king ^. These must obviously have been folc- 
 land, the retaining of which he considered impos- 
 sible, under the circumstances ; and which, not 
 being his own, he could not take with him into a 
 monastery : " despexit militiam cum corruptibili 
 donative terrestrem, ut vero regi militaret ; " and 
 these words of Beda clearly show how we are 
 to understand what he says of Oswiii's grant to 
 Whitby. 
 
 '■ Hist. Eccl. iii. 24. 
 
 - Bed. Vit. Sci. Bened. § 1. (Op, Minor, ii. 140.) 
 
304 TPIE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 The gaining of a hereditary character for lands, 
 and especially the relief from heavy dues, were ad- 
 vantages which might speedily arouse the avarice 
 and stimulate the invention even of barbarians. 
 Accordingly those who could gain access to the ear 
 of the king and his witan, bought, or begged or ex- 
 torted grants of privileged land, which they either 
 converted entirely into private estates, or upon 
 which they erected monasteries, nominally such: 
 and over these, which they filled with irregular and 
 often profligate monks, they assumed the jurisdic- 
 tion of abbots; with such little advantage to the 
 service of religion, that we have seen Beda describe 
 them as a public scandal, and recommend even the 
 desperate remedy of cancelling, by royal and epis- 
 copal authority, the privilegia or charters on which 
 their immunities reposed. 
 
 To the growing prevalence of this fraud we pro- 
 bably owe it that, at least in Wessex, the custom 
 arose of confiscating land on which the conditions 
 of the grant had not been fulfilled. Thus Ini called 
 in the lands which Cissa had granted to Hean the 
 abbot and Cille the abbess, his sister, because no 
 religious buildings had been erected thereon : " Sed 
 Ini rex eandem terram, postea dum regno potire- 
 tur, dirij>iens ac reipuhlicae restituit, nondum con- 
 structo monasterio in ea, nee ullo admodum ora- 
 torio erecto^;" that is, as I understand it, folcland 
 they had been, and folcland they again became. But 
 even this did not meet all the exigencies of the case, 
 
 1 Cod. Dipl. No. 46. 
 
CH. XL] FOLOLA.ND AND BO'OLAND. 305 
 
 and it therefore probably became necessary, even 
 in bocland granted to the church, to reserve the 
 mihtary and other services, which the clergy could 
 cause to be performed by their own dependent culti- 
 vators or tenants, even if they were not compelled 
 to serve themselves, — a point which is by no means 
 clear 1. 
 
 A majority of the documents contained in the 
 Codex Diplomaticus ^vi Saxonici are conversions 
 of folcland into bocland, or confirmations of such 
 conversions. They almost universally contain a 
 clause declaring or proclaiming — such is the tech- 
 nical word for this important public act, by which 
 prince and king, ealdorman and sheriff, were at 
 once made strangers to the land — the estate free 
 from every burthen save the inevitable three ; a 
 clause giving the fullest hereditary possession, and 
 the power to dispose of it by will at the testator's 
 pleasure ; and finally a clause stating that this is 
 done by the authority of the king, with the advice, 
 consent and license of his Witan or counsellors. 
 They remain therefore to the last important public 
 acts, and are, I believe universally, to be considered 
 acts of the assembled Witena-gemot or great coun- 
 cil of the nation^. And as by their authority folc- 
 land could be converted into bocland, so it appears 
 could the reverse take place ; and a change in the 
 nature of two estates is recorded ^, where the king 
 
 ' " Quam videlicet terram Allimundus atbas, expeditionem subter- 
 fugiens, mihi reconciliationis gratia dabat." Ood. Dipl. No. 161. 
 
 ^ See hereafter the chapter which treats of the Witan and their 
 powers. Book ii. ch. 6. 
 
 » Ood. Dipl. No. 281. 
 VOL. I. X 
 
306 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i, 
 
 gave five ploughlands of folcland for five of bocland, 
 and then made the folcland bocland, the bocland 
 folcland. 
 
 In this general spoliation it is to be supposed that 
 the kings would not omit to share : accordingly we 
 find them causing estates to be booked to them by 
 their witan ; which estates, when thus become their 
 private and heritable property, they devise and deal 
 with at their pleasure : and indeed, as the king's 
 consent was necessary to all such conversions, he 
 was much better able to obtain that of his witan in 
 his own case, than bishops, thanes or others were 
 in their cases : these generally found themselves 
 compelled to pay handsomely for the favour they 
 required. With respect to ecclesiastical lands, we 
 frequently find a loss of very large estates sub- 
 mitted to, in order to secure freedom to what re- 
 mained. There are also a few instances in which 
 lands having descended, encumbered with pay- 
 ments, the owners engage some powerful noble or 
 ecclesiastic to obtain their freedom, — that is, to per- 
 suade the witan into abolishing the charges. The 
 gratuity offered to the member whose influence was 
 to carry these ancient private acts of parliament, is 
 often very considerable. Towards the closing pe- 
 riod of the Anglosaxon polity, I should imagine 
 that nearly every acre of land in England had be- 
 come bocland ; and that as, in consequence of this, 
 there was no more room for the expansion of a free 
 population, the condition of the freemen became de- 
 pressed, while the estates of the lords increased in 
 number and extent. In this way the ceorlas or free 
 
CH. xt.] FOLCLAND AND BO'CLANl). 307 
 
 cultivators gradually vanished, yielding to the ever 
 growing force of the noble class, accepting a de- 
 pendent position upon their bocland, and standing 
 to right in their courts, instead of their own old 
 county gemotas ; while the lords themselves ran 
 riot, dealt with their once free neighbours at their 
 own discretion, and filled the land with civil dis- 
 sensions which not even the terrors of a foreign inva- 
 sion could still. Nothing can be more clear than 
 that the universal breaking up of society in the time 
 of ^Selred had its source in the ruin of the old 
 free organization of the country. The successes of 
 Swegen and Cnut, and even of William the Norman, 
 had much deeper causes than the mere gain or loss 
 of one or more battles. A nation never falls till 
 " the citadel of its moral being" has been betrayed 
 and become untenable. Northern invasions will 
 not account for the state of brigandage which 
 yESelred and his Witan deplore in so many of their 
 laws. The ruin of the free cultivators and the 
 overgrowth of the lords are much more likely 
 causes. At the same time it is even conceivable 
 that, but for the invasions of the ninth and tenth 
 centuries, the result which I have described might 
 have come upon us more suddenly. The sword 
 and the torch, plague, pestilence and famine are 
 very effectual checks to the growth of population, 
 and sufiicient for a long time to adjust the balance 
 between the land and those it has to feed. 
 
 An estate of bocland might be subject to condi- 
 tions. It was perhaps not always easy to obtain 
 from the Witan all that avarice desired : accordingly 
 
 x2 
 
308 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 we sometimes find limitations in grants, to a cer- 
 tain number of lives with remainders and reversions. 
 And it was both law and custom not only that the 
 first acquirer might impose what conditions he 
 pleased upon the descent of the estate, but that to 
 all time his expressed will in that respect should 
 bind those who derived their title from him ^. Al- 
 fred requires his Witan, who are the guarantees 
 and administrators of his will, to see that he has 
 not violated the disposition of his ancestors by 
 leaving lands to women which had been entailed 
 on the male line, and vice versd^ ; and we have 
 cases of grants solemnly avoided for like want of 
 conformity. More questionable in point of prin- 
 ciple is the right attempted to be set up by some 
 of these purchasers, to bar escheat and forfei- 
 ture of the land upon felony of their heirs or devi- 
 sees. 
 
 It is to be presumed that a tenant of folcland 
 was permitted to let the same, — upon condition no 
 doubt that he conveyed no estate superior to his 
 own. The holders must have been allowed to place 
 poor settlers upon their estates, whose rents and 
 services, in labour and kind, would be important 
 to their own subsistence. Of course in bocland no 
 limitation could be thought of ; it was the absolute, 
 inheritable property of the purchaser, and he could 
 in general dispose of it as freely as if it were alod 
 itself. But there seems no reason to doubt that 
 much the same course was adopted in both descrip- 
 
 ' Leg. iElfr. § 4L ^ Ood. Dipl. No. 314. 
 
CH. XI.] FOLCLAND AND BO'CLAND. 309 
 
 tions of estate ; the folcland being held beyond ques- 
 tion for term of life, at every period of which our 
 history takes cognizance, whatever may have been 
 the case at first. A portion called the inland, or do- 
 minium, demesne, was reserved for the lord's home- 
 stead, house and farms, and the dwellings of his serfs, 
 esnes, Isets, and other unfree and poor dependents. 
 This was cultivated for him by their industry, and 
 he repaid their services by protection, food, clothing, 
 and small perquisites, all of which now pass 
 under the general name of wages i. On the upland 
 and in the forests, sometimes his own, sometimes 
 subject only to his rights of common, they tended 
 his sheep, oxen and steeds at the fold, or his swine 
 in the mast, lying out during the appointed season 
 of the year 2, or within the circuit of his own inclo- 
 sures they exercised such simple manufactures as 
 the necessities of the household required. The spin- 
 ner and weaver, the glove- or shoemaker, the smith 
 and carpenter, were all parts of the family. The 
 butter and cheese, bread and bacon, were made at 
 home ; the beer was brewed and the honey collected 
 
 ' Wages of course need not comprise money, or be the result of a 
 compact between free parties. We pay a slave wages, though no penny 
 fee. It is a different question whether it is advisable that labourers 
 should be slaves : the Anglosaxons had their peculiar views on that 
 subject, which we are not to discuss now. 
 
 ^ " Alio quoque tempore, in adolescentia sua, dum adhuc esset in 
 popular! vita, quando in montanis iuxta fluvium, quod dicitur Leder, 
 cum aliis pastoribus, pecora domini sui pasoebat," etc. Anon. Cu^berht, 
 cap. 8. (Beda, Op. Min. ii. 262.) " Oontigit sum remotis in montibus 
 commissorum sibi pecorum agere custodiam." Beda, Ou'Sb. c. 4. Op. 
 Min. ii. 55. The Hungarian Salas on the Pusta is much the same 
 thing, at the present day. 
 
310 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 by the household. The remainder of the land the 
 owner leased on various conditions to men who 
 had no land; demanding in return for that com- 
 modity, indispensable in a country which has not 
 yet learnt to manufacture, rents paid in kind, in 
 labour, and even in money. This labour-rent, yet 
 called rohot in Slavonic countries, as well as the 
 other dues, naturally varied in various districts, 
 partly with the importance of land i, to the culti- 
 vator, and the value of its produce to the owner. 
 And at last political motives may have had some 
 weight, when the number and condition of a man's 
 dependents might affect his own influence and po- 
 sition in the state : but in general we shall be justi- 
 fied in saying that land was very valuable, and the 
 conditions on which it was to be obtained harsh and 
 onerous^. Such land, whether in large or in small 
 portions, whether leased on long or short terms, 
 large or small rents, was called by the common 
 name of Lsen, or loan ^. It was considered to be 
 lent ; and where the Isen was on folcland, it is ob- 
 
 ^ The " Eeotitudines Sing^ilarum Personarum " inform us ttat they 
 were very different in different places, which necessarily would he the 
 case. We can imagine that a butsecarl or fisherman of Kent was not 
 so anxious to have a holding as a peasant in Gloucestershire. 
 
 = Even in the eighth century Ini found it necessary to enact, that if 
 a man took land on condition of gafol or produce-rent, and his lord 
 endeavoured to raise his rent also to service, he need not abide by the 
 bargain, unless the lord would build him a house : and he was, in such 
 a case, not to lose the crop he had prepared. Ini, § 67. Thorpe, i. 146. 
 
 ^ The transitory possessions of this life were often so described, in 
 reference to the Almighty: ««a Eehta^ehim God alffinedh^fs." Cod. 
 Dipl. No. 699. A l»n for life, even though guarded by a very detailed 
 bdc or charter, is distinctly called beneficium by the grantee, .^Selbald 
 of Wessex. Cod. Dipl. No. 1058. 
 
CH. XI.] LiE-NLAND. 311 
 
 vious that no certain time could be assigned, and 
 that the after-tenant could have only a tenancy at 
 will. In any case it was reasonable that miscon- 
 duct in the holder, which would have entailed upon 
 him the forfeiture of his own real property, should 
 not be permitted to interfere with the rights of the 
 reversioner : Isenland therefore could not be taken 
 from the owner, for the crime of the tenant. In the 
 year 900 a certain Helmstan was guilty of theft, and 
 the sheriff seized all his chattels to the king : and 
 Ordlaf entered upon the land, " because it was his 
 leen that Helmstan sat on : that he could not for- 
 feit 1." A similar principle prevailed in grants for 
 lives, especially where ecclesiastical corporations 
 were the grantors and reversioners; and which, 
 though to a certain extent they conveyed estates 
 of bocland, gave, strictly speaking, leen or bene- 
 ficiary tenures ^. But as the clergy were not always 
 quite sure of meeting with fair treatment, we find 
 them not unfrequently introducing into their instru- 
 ments a provision that no forfeiture shall be valid 
 against their rights ; this, from the great strictness 
 with which the provisions of a book or charter were 
 always construed, and in general from the fear of 
 violating what had been confirmed by the signature 
 of the cross and the threat of eternal punishment, 
 may have had some effect. In such cases it may 
 
 ' Ood. Dipl. No. 328. 
 
 2 Thus Ealhfri« bishop of Wmchester (871-877) making a grant for 
 lives to duke Cu'Sred, properly calls it a Isen : " EalferS 'j Sa higan liab- 
 baS gelEened," etc. Ood. Dipl. No. 1062. They reserved ecclesiastical, 
 but no secular dues. 
 
S12 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 be presumed that the guilt of the grantee entirely 
 cancelled the grant ; the remaining lives, if any, lo- 
 sing the advantage which they derived through the 
 grantee ; forfeiture really taking effect, but for the 
 benefit of the grantor, not the civil power i. The 
 tenant of Itenland, who by his services acquired 
 the good will of the lord, might hope to have his 
 tenure improved, if not into an absolute possession 
 of bocland, yet into one for his own or more lives. 
 In a translation of St. Augustine of Hippo's Soli- 
 loquia, attributed like so many other things to Ml- 
 fred of Wessex, there occurs this passage ^ : 
 
 " But it pleaseth every man, when he hath built 
 himself some cottage upon his lord's Isen, with his 
 assistance, for a while to take up his rest thereon, 
 and hunt, and fowl and fish, and in divers ways 
 provide for himself upon the Isen, both by sea and 
 
 ^ Oswald's granta generally contain a special clause to that effect : see 
 Cod. Dipl. Nos. 494, 495, 506, 507, 509, 511, 629, 531, 538, 540, 552. 
 
 2 MS. Gott. Vitel. A. xv. fol. 2. " Ac telcne man lyst, si'S'Sau he 
 sSnig cotlif on his hlafordes Irene mid his fultume getimbred hcef'S,1S8et 
 he hine mote hwilum ^teron gerestan, •j huntigan, -j fuglian -j fiscan, 
 •j his on gehwylicwisan to tSsere Isenan tilian, seglSer ge on see ge on 
 lande, o'S otS %ne iyrst ^e he bocland -j ^ce yrfe Jjurh his hlafordes 
 miltse ge-eamige." Whether land so put out was called earningland, 
 I will not affirm; but at the close of a grant for three lives I find this 
 memorandum : " Two of the lives have fallen in ; then Eadwulf took 
 it, and granted it to whomsover he would as earningland." God. Dipl. 
 No. 679. Ootlif seems in other passages to denote small estates not 
 necessarily on Isen. The Saxon Ghronicle, an. 963, for example uses 
 that term of the lands which ^Sl'Selwold gave to Ely, after purchasing 
 them of the king. This it is clear he could not have done, had they 
 been on any person's Isen. Were they not perhaps settlements of un- 
 licensed squatters who had built their cottages on the king's waste and 
 deserted lands — the old Mark — in the isle of Ely and Gambridgeshire ? 
 But again the Ghronicle, an. 1001, speaks of the ham or viU at Walt- 
 ham, and many other cotlifs. 
 
CH. XI.] L^'NLAND. 313 
 
 land, until the time when by his lord's compassion 
 he can earn a bocland and eternal inheritance." 
 
 And instances occur in more formal documents. 
 In 977, Oswald, Archbishop of York and Bishop 
 of Worcester, made a grant of three hides at Ted- 
 dington, for three lives, to Eadric his thane, with re- 
 version to Worcester : " Now there are three hides 
 of this land which Archbishop Oswald booketh to 
 Eadric his thane, both near town and from town, 
 even as he before held them as iBenland^." 
 
 In another grant of the same prelate, between 
 972-992, made' to his client ^fsige, of a dwelling 
 in Worcester city, for three lives, he adds, " Also 
 we write [or book] to him the croft appurtenant to 
 that tenement, which lies to the east of Wulfsige's 
 croft ; that he may hold it in as large measure, for 
 bocland, as he before held it for Isenland^." 
 
 In 977, the same convent at Worcester booked 
 three hides for three lives to the monk Wynsige, 
 even as his father had held them^; and in 978-992, 
 they gave to Goding the priest, also for three lives, 
 the tenement which he himself had without the city 
 gate*. In both these cases Isen appears to have 
 been converted into estate for successive lives. 
 
 Where there was Isen, there could properly be no 
 book, because the possession of the charter itself 
 was frima fade evidence (indeed nearly conclusive 
 evidence) in favour of the holder. Hence, where 
 from any circumstance the books were withheld, 
 the tenant had only a Isen : this was the case with 
 
 1 Cod. Dipl. Noa. 617, 651. ^ Ibid. No. 679. 
 
 " Ibid. No. 616. * Ibid. No. 683. 
 
814 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book r. 
 
 Helmstan's estates mentioned above : he had depo- 
 sited his charters with Ordlaf as a security on an 
 occasion when this duke helped him to make oath 
 to some property. On Helmstan's felony, Ordlaf 
 seized the land to himself, and the document from 
 which we learn this is obviously his appeal to Ml- 
 fred's son and successor, against an attempt to dis- 
 turb Helmstan's original title, under a judgment 
 given by JSlfred. Nor was it unusual for books to 
 be thus retained as securities, by which the tenant 
 having only a Isen could be evicted, if not at plea- 
 sure, at least by legal process ^. And the same re- 
 marks apply to a very common mode of disposing 
 of estates, where the clergy were grantees. Either 
 to avoid litigation with justly exasperated heirs, 
 or to escape from the commands of various synods, 
 the clergy used to take deeds of gift from living 
 tenants, impounding the books of course, and lea- 
 ving the life-interest only to the owner. Such an 
 estate in technical Latin was naxaed praestaria ; but 
 it was obviously a Isen, and was generally charged 
 with recognitory payments ^. 
 
 It may not be uninteresting, before I close this 
 chapter, to give some examples of the gafol or rent 
 paid upon lands whether held for lives, or as, more 
 strictly, leenland. They are extremely valuable from 
 the insight they give into the details of social life, 
 and the daily habits of our forefathers. 
 
 ''■ See tlie case of tte estate at Cowling, in the trial tetween Queen 
 Eadgyfu and Goda. Cod. Dipl. No. 499. 
 
 2 Examples of this are found in Ood. Dipl. Nos. 429, 754, 1351, 
 1354, § 6. 
 
CH. XI.] LJE'NLAND, 315 
 
 Twenty hides of land at Sempringham were 
 leased by Peterborough to Wulfred for two lives, 
 on condition of his getting its freedom, and that 
 of Sleaford (both in Lincolnshire) : upon this estate 
 the following yearly rent was reserved. First, to 
 the monastery : two tons of bright ale, two oxen, 
 fit for slaughter, two mittan or measures of Welsh 
 ale, and six hundred loaves. Secondly to the ab- 
 bot's private estate : one horse, thirty shillings of 
 silver or half a pound, one night's pastus, fifteen 
 mittan of bright and five of Welsh ale, fifteen ses- 
 ters of mild ale i. 
 
 A little earlier, Oswulf, a duke in Kent, devised 
 lands to Christchurch Canterbury, which he charged 
 with annual doles to the poor upon his anniver- 
 sary. Forty hides at Stanhampstead were to find 
 one hundred and twenty loaves of wheat, thirty 
 loaves of fine wheat^, one fat ox and four sheep, 
 two flitches of bacon, five geese, ten hens, and ten 
 pounds of cheese. If it fell on a fast-day, however, 
 there was to be (instead of the meat) a loey of 
 cheese, and fish, butter, eggs ad libitum. Moreover, 
 thirty ambers of good Welsh ale, on the footing of 
 fifteen mittan, and one mitta of honey (perhaps to 
 make into a drink) or two of wine. From his land 
 
 ' Cod. Dipl. No. 267. an. 852. The mitta and other measures are 
 unknown. However the sester of com was one horse-load (Hen. Hunt, 
 lib. vi. an. 1044) ; quesre, What he could carry, or what he could draw ? 
 In the middle of the eleventh century, the sester of honey was thirty- 
 two ounces. Cod. Dipl. No. 950. 
 
 ^ They are called clean. These probably were made of flour passed 
 oftener through the boulter. The common loaf had no doubt still much 
 bran in it, and answers to our seconds. But it is probable that bread 
 was generally made of rye. 
 
316 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book r. 
 
 at Burnan were to issue one thousand loaves, and 
 one thousand raised loaves or cakes ; and the monks 
 themselves vpere to find one hundred and twenty 
 more of the latter^. 
 
 Werhard gave two juga or geoc of land to Can- 
 terbury. The rent of one at Lambaham was forty 
 pensas (weys) of cheese, or an equivalent in lambs 
 and wool ; the other, at North wood, rendered one 
 hundred and twenty measures, which the English 
 call ambers, of salt-. 
 
 Lufe, in 832, charged the inheritors and assigns 
 of her land at Mundlingham, ,with the following 
 yearly payment to Canterbury, for ever ; that is to 
 say : Sixty ambers of malt, one hundred and fifty 
 loaves, fifty white loaves, one hundred and twenty 
 alms-loaves, one ox, one hog and four wethers, 
 two weys of bacon and cheese, one mitta of honey, 
 ten geese and twenty hens ^. 
 
 In 835, Abba, a reeve in Kent, charged his heirs 
 with a yearly payment to Folkstone, of fifty ambers 
 of malt, six ambers of groats (gruta ■?), three weys 
 of bacon and cheese, four hundred loaves, one 
 ox, and six sheep, besides an allowance or stipend 
 in money to the priests^. And Heregy^, his wife, 
 
 1 Cod. Dipl. No. 226. an. 805-831. The sufl-loaf whicli I have trans- 
 lated raised, is I presume derived from the word strfflare, and was pro- 
 bably carefully leavened. We unhappily have not the Anglosaxon re- 
 ceipt for beer ; but I presume the text implies that fifteen mittav, 
 whatever they were, of malt were to go to the amber. Oswulf s cha- 
 racter for splendid liberality will induce us to believe that he meant 
 the monks to have an Audit ale of their own, as well as our worthy 
 Fellows of Trinity College Cambridge. 
 
 2 Cod. Dip]. No. 220. an. 832. 
 
 3 Ibid. No. 231. « Ibid. No. 236. 
 
CH. XI.] L^'NLAND. 317 
 
 further burthened her land at Challock with pay- 
 ments to Canterbury, amounting to : thirty ambers 
 of ale, three hundred loaves, fifty of them white, 
 one wey of bacon and cheese, one old ox, four 
 wethers, and one hog, or six wethers, six geese 
 and ten hens, one sester of honey, one of butter, 
 and one of salt ; and if her anniversary should fall 
 in winter, she added thirty wax-lights ^. 
 
 In 902, Bishop Denewulf leased fifteen hides of 
 church-land at Eblesburn to his relative Beornwulf 
 for forty-five shillings a year, with liberty to Beorn- 
 wulf 's children to continue the lease. One shilling 
 (sixty of which went to the pound) is so very small 
 a rent for ten acres, that we must either suppose 
 the land to have been unusually bad, or Beornwulf's 
 connection with the bishop much in his favour ^. 
 He was also to aid in cyricbot, and pay the cyric- 
 sceat. About the same time Denewulf leased forty 
 hides at Alresford to one Alfred, at the old rent of 
 three pounds per annum, or four shillings and a half 
 per hide. He was however also to pay church-shot, 
 the amount of which is not stated, and to do church- 
 shot-worlc, and find men to the bishop's reaping and 
 hunting ^. 
 
 Between 901-909, king Eadweard booked twenty 
 hides of land to Bishop Denewulf. The payments 
 reserved have been already mentioned : instead of 
 going to the king as gafol or rent, they were to 
 be expended in an anniversary feast on founder's 
 
 ' Cod Dipl, No. 235. = Ibid. No. 1079. 
 
 ^ Ibid. No. 1086. In both cases the rent is called gafol. 
 
818 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book r. 
 
 day. I have already stated that this may be the 
 old charge on folcland : it was a grant from the 
 monks to the bishop, probably negotiated by Ead- 
 weard. All parties were satisfied : the monks pro- 
 bably got from the land as much as they could ex- 
 pect from any other tenant, or what, if folcland, 
 they would themselves have had to pay ; the bishop 
 got the land into his own hands, to dispose of at his 
 pleasure, and the king was rewarded for interven- 
 tion with all the benefits to be derived on his anni- 
 versary from the prayers of the grateful fathers at 
 Winchester. 
 
 At the close of the ninth century, Werfri'S bishop 
 of Worcester claimed land under the following cir- 
 cumstances. Milred a previous bishop had granted 
 an estate in Sopbury, on condition that it was to 
 be always held by a clergyman, and never by a 
 layman, and that if no clergyman could be found 
 in the grantee's family, it should revert to the see. 
 By degrees the family of the grantee established 
 themselves in the possession, but without perform- 
 ing the condition. At length WerfriS impleaded 
 their chief Eadno'S, who admitted the wrong and 
 promised to find a clergyman. The family however 
 all refused to enter into holy orders. Eadno'S then 
 obtained the intercession of ^'Selred duke of Mer- 
 cia, the lady ^^elflsed, and ^^elno^ duke of 
 Somerset ; and by their persuasion, Werfri'S (in de- 
 fiance of his predecessor's charter) sold the land to 
 EadnoS for forty mancuses, reserving a yearly rent 
 of fifteen shillings, and a vestment (or perhaps some 
 
CH. M.] L^'NLAND. 319 
 
 kind of hanging) to be delivered at the episcopal 
 manor of Tetbury^. 
 
 Ealdwulf bishop of Worcester leased forty acres 
 of land and a fishery for three liv^s to Leofena'S, 
 on condition that they delivered yearly fifteen sal- 
 mon, and those good ones too, during the bishop's 
 residence in Worcester, on Ashwednesday^. 
 
 Eadric gafeled (gafelian), i. e. paid yearly rent or 
 gafol for two hides vpith half a pound, or thirty shil- 
 lings, and a gave, a w^ord I do not understand^. 
 
 In 835, the Abbess Cyneware gave land to Hun- 
 berht, a duke, on condition that he paid a gablum, 
 gafol or rent of three hundred shillings in lead 
 yearly to Christchurch Canterbury*. 
 
 The ceorlas or dependent freemen who were set- 
 tled upon the land of Hurstbourn in the days of 
 lifted, had the following rents to pay ; many of 
 these are labour rents, many arise out of the land 
 itself, viz. are part of the produce. 
 
 From each hide, at the autumnal equinox, forty 
 pence. Further they were to pay, six church- 
 mittan of ale, and three sesters or horseloads of white 
 wheat. Out of their own time they were to plough 
 three acres, and sow them with their own seed, to 
 house the produce, to pay three pounds of gafol- 
 barley, to mow half an acre of gafolmead and 
 stack the hay, to split four fo^er orloads of gafol- 
 wood and stack it, to make sixteen rods of gafol- 
 
 1 Cod. Dipl. No. 327. 
 
 '' Ibid. No. 695. I have rendered "forme fsestenes daeg" as if it were 
 Caput jejtinii. 
 = Ibid. No. 699. « Ibid. No. 1043. 
 
320 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 hedging!. At Easter they were further to pay two 
 ewes and lambs, two young sheep being held equiva- 
 lent to one old one : these they were to wash and 
 shear out of their own time. Lastly, every week they 
 were to do any work which might be required of 
 them, except during the three weeks, at Christmas, 
 Easter and the Gangdays^. 
 
 The following .customs and payments are re- 
 corded in various manors : some of the words I 
 cannot translate. " In Dyddanham there are thirty 
 hides ; nine of these are inland (demesne), twenty- 
 one are let^. In Street are twelve hides, twenty- 
 seven yards of gafoUand ; and on the Severn there 
 are thirty cytweras*. In Middleton are five hides, 
 fourteen yards of gafoUand, fourteen cytweras on 
 the Severn, and two haecweras on the Way. At 
 Kingston there are five hides, thirteen yards of ga- 
 foUand, and one hide above the ditch which is now 
 also gafoUand, and that without the ham^, is still 
 in part inland, in part let out on rent to the ship- 
 wealas^ : to Kingston belong twenty-one cytweras 
 on the Severn, and twelve on the Way. In Bi- 
 
 ' Gafolbaere, gafolmEed, gafolwidu, gafoltiining. The Saxons knew 
 well enough that all these things were rent ; and all laud put out upon 
 rent of any kind was gafoUand, gafolcund or gavelkind land. 
 
 ^ Cod. Dipl. No. 1077. 
 
 ^ Geset land I have rendered by set out or let ; as land is afterwards 
 said to be set out to rent, to gafole gesett. 
 
 * The cytweras and hseoweras were weirs or places for taking fish, 
 but I cannot distinguish their nature. The names would induce us to 
 think the former were shaped like a modem eel-trap, the latter were 
 formed with a slat or hatch. 
 
 ' An enclosure on the water. See Cod. Dipl. iii. p. xxvii. 
 
 ' Welsh navigators. 
 
CH. XI.] L^'NLAND. 321 
 
 shopstun are three hides, and fifteen cytweras on 
 the Way : in Lancawet are three hides, two heec- 
 weras on the Way, and two cytweras. 
 
 "Throughout that land each yardland pays twelve 
 pence, and four alms-pence : at every weir within the 
 thirty hides, every second fish belongs to the land- 
 lord, besides every uncommon fish worth having, 
 sturgeon or porpoise, herring or sea-fish ; and no 
 one may sell any fish for money when the lord is 
 on the land, until he have had notice of the same. 
 In Dyddenham the services are very heavy. The 
 geneat must work, on the land or off the land, as 
 he is commanded, and ride and carry, lead load 
 and drive drove, and do many things beside. The 
 gebiir must do his rights ; he must plough half an 
 acre for week-work, and himself pay the seed in 
 good condition into the lord's barn for church-shot, 
 at all events from his own barn : towards weriold ^, 
 forty large trees ^ or one load of rods; oxei^igeocu 
 build ^, three ehban close: of field enclosure fifteen 
 rods, or let him ditch fifteen ; and let him ditch one 
 rod of burg-enclosure ; reap an acre and a half, mow 
 half an acre ; work at other works ever according 
 to their nature. Let him pay sixpence after Easter, 
 half a sester of honey at Lammas, six sesters of 
 malt at Martinmas, one clew of good net yarn. In 
 the same land it is customary that he who hath 
 seven swine shall give three, and so forth always 
 
 ' Werbold, the construction of the weir or place for catching fish. 
 " M»ra, of large wood in opposition to rods ? 
 ^ Let him build eight yohes in the -weir, and close three ehlan. 
 What these geocu and ebhan are, I cannot say. 
 
 VOL. I. T 
 
322 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 the tenth, and nevertheless pay for common of mast- 
 ing, if mast there be^." 
 
 Unquestionably these are heavy dues, and much 
 aggravated by the circumstances of the estate or 
 yardland being but small, the tenant born free, and 
 some of the services uncertain. I shall conclude this 
 chapter with a few lines translated from that most 
 valuable document called " Kectitudines singularum 
 personarum ^ ; " as far as the cases of the Geneat, 
 Cotsetla and Gebur are concerned^. First of the 
 Geneat or comrade. 
 
 " The Geneat-right is various, according to the 
 custom of the land. In some places he must pay 
 landgafol, and a grass-swine yearly ; ride and carry, 
 lead load; work and feed his lord*; reap and mow; 
 hew deer-hedge and hold scete^ ; build and enclose 
 the burh [or mansion] ; make new roads to the 
 farm ; pay church-shot and alms-fee ; hold head- 
 ward and horseward ; go on errand, far or near, 
 whithersoever he is directed." This is compara- 
 tively free, and it is only to be regretted that we 
 do not know what amount of land in general could 
 be obtained at such a rent. We next come to the 
 Cotsetlan, whom vElfred in a passage already cited 
 states to be on Isenland, and who are obviously poor 
 freemen, suflFered to settle on the lord's estate. 
 
 " The Cotsettler's right is according to the cus- 
 tom. In some places he must work for the lord, every 
 
 > Cod. Dipl. No. 461. = Thorpe, i. 432. 
 
 ' The ancient Latin version calls them Villanus, Cotsetle and Gehur. 
 
 * FeoTrai&iijJirmare; give so much napastus. 
 
 ' Help to make park-paling, and perhaps keep ■watch for game. 
 
CH. XI.] L^'NLAND. 323 
 
 Monday throughout the year ; or three days every 
 week in harvest ; he need pay no landgafol. He 
 ought to have five acres ; more if it be the custom. 
 And if it be less, it is all too little, for his service 
 is often called upon. He must pay his hearth-penny 
 on holy Thursday ^ as it behoves every freeman to 
 do ; and he must acquit ^ his lord's inland, on sum- 
 mons, at seaward and at the king's deer-hedge ^ ; 
 and at such things as are in his competence : and 
 let him pay his church-shot at Martinmas. 
 
 " The customs of the Gebiir are very various ; in 
 some places they are heavy, but in some moderate. 
 In some places it is usual that he shall do two days 
 week-work, whatever work may be commanded him, 
 every week throughout the year ; and three days 
 week-work in harvest, and three from Candlemas 
 to Easter. If he carries'*, he need not work him- 
 self as long as his horse is out. He must pay at 
 Michaelmas ten gafol-pence, and at Martinmas 
 twenty-three sesters of barley, and two hens ^ ; at 
 
 ^ Ascension Day. Observe that tlie Cotsetlais distinctly asserted to 
 be free. 
 
 - "Werige bis blafordes," etc.; that is, perform for bis lord, tbe 
 duty of coast-guard, and attending tbe king's bant : from wbicb it 
 follows tbat, wbere tbere was no special exemption, tbese services could 
 be demanded of tbe lord : that is in case of folcland. The old Latin 
 translates werian by acquietare, which I have adopted. 
 
 ' Either in repairing tbe park-paling, or in service during the hunt. 
 
 * Aferian, auerian, /««'< averagimn, averiat. 
 
 ' This seems an immense amount of barley, but the Saxon clearly 
 reads as I have translated. The old Latin version has, " Dare debet in 
 festo Sancti Michaelis x. den. de gablo, et Saucti Martini die xxiii et 
 sestarium ordei et ii gallinas." Twenty-three pence at Martinmas is 
 a considerable sum ; however as a sestcr of corn must even in ordi- 
 nary years have been worth quite that sum, it is more reasonable to 
 follow the Latin than the Saxon. 
 
 t2 
 
324 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 Easter one young sheep or two pence ; and he shall 
 lie out from Martinmas till Easter at the lord's 
 fold 1 ; and from the time when the plough is first 
 put in till Martinmas, he shall plough one acre 
 every week, and make ready the seed in the lord's 
 barn : mof eover three acres on request, and two of 
 grass-ploughing 2. If he require more grass, let him 
 earn it on such conditions as he may. For his 
 rent-ploughing [gafolyr'S] he shall plough three 
 acres and sow them from his own barn ; and pay his 
 
 ' The fold was often distant from the homestead, and required care- 
 ful watching, especially during the dark winter months. Sheep alone 
 were not folded, but oxen, cows, and particularly mares : hrytSrafald, 
 ciiafald, stodfald. This system may he still seen in full force in Hun- 
 gary ; and we may add that, in the article of horse and cattle stealing, 
 the Hungarian presents a very marked likeness to the Anglosaxon. 
 While reading these services, one can hardly get rid of the notion that 
 one is studying the description of a Hungarian Session. 
 
 ^ " Tres acras precum et duas de herbagio : t>reo seceras to b^ne -j 
 twa to gsersySe." If requested he shall do three acres ; but only two 
 if a meadow is to be broken up ? This is always much harder work 
 than ploughing on old arable. But it is difficult to reconcile this with 
 the next sentence. The Saxon says, " G-if he maran gserses bebyrfe, ear- 
 nige 'Saes swa him man Jjafige : " the Latin, " Si plus indigeat herbagio, 
 ardbit proinde sicut ei permittatur." From the word arabit, Thorpe 
 suggests erige instead of earnige. The two readings are however 
 consistent if we consider the expression gsersyrKe as having no con- 
 nection with the gsers of the following sentence. I suppose the meaning 
 to be this : on extraordinary occasions, he might be called upon by the 
 lord to plough three acres instead of one, or in old meadow-land, two 
 acres. If now he himself should want more grass-land than he already 
 possessed, he might make a bargain with the lord, and earn it by this 
 labour with the plough. He was bound to give one day's ploughing 
 every week from the commencement of the ploughing season till the 
 11th of November : but on pressing emergency, and on request of the 
 lord, he must give three days (for an acre a day was the just calculation) 
 or in old meadow two. If his services at the plough were stiU farther 
 required, he was to make a bargain with his lord ; and a common case 
 is supposed, viz. that he required more grass-land than he had. In this 
 way all seems intelligible. 
 
CH. XI.] L^'NLAND. 325 
 
 hearth-penny ; and two and two shall feed one stag- 
 hound ; and each gebiir shall give six loaves to the 
 inswan [that is, the swain or swineherd of the de- 
 mesne] when he drives his herds to the mast. In 
 the same land where these conditions prevail, the 
 gebur has a right, towards first stocking his land, 
 to receive two oxen, one cow and six sheep, and 
 seven acres in his yard of land, ready sown. After 
 the first year let him do all the customs which be- 
 long to him ; and he is to be supplied with tools for 
 his work, and furniture for his house. When he 
 dies, let his lord look after what he leaves. 
 
 " This land-law prevails in some lands ; but, as I 
 have said, in some places it is heavier, in others 
 lighter ; seeing that the customs of all lands are 
 not alike. In some places the gebur must pay 
 honey-gafol, in some meat-gafol, in some ale- 
 gafol. Let him that holds the shire take heed to 
 know always what is the old arrangement about 
 the land, and what the custom of the country ! " 
 
 I can only add the expression of my opinion, that 
 a careful study of the condition of the peasantry in 
 the eastern parts of Europe will assist in throwing 
 much light upon these ancient social arrangements 
 in this country. Hard as in some respects the con- 
 dition of the dependent freeman appears, it must 
 be borne in mind that the possession of land was 
 indispensably necessary to life, unless he was to be- 
 come an absolute serf In a country that has little 
 more manufacture than the simple necessities of 
 individual households require, no wealth of raw 
 material and consequently little commerce, — where 
 
326 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 households rejoice in a sort of self-supporting, self- 
 sufBcient autonomy, and the means of internal com- 
 munication are imperfect, — land and its produce are 
 the only wealth ; land is the only means whereby 
 to live. But the Saxon peasant knew his position : 
 it was a hard one, but he bore it : he worked early 
 and late, but he worked cheerfully, and amidst all 
 his toils there is no evidence of his ever having 
 shot at his landlord from behind a stone wall or a 
 hedge. 
 
827 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 HEATHENDOM. 
 
 An account of the Saxons which should entirely ex- 
 clude the peculiarities of their heathendom, would 
 be deficient in an important degree. Religion and 
 law are too nearly allied, particularly in early pe- 
 riods, for us to neglect either, in the consideration 
 of national institutions. The immediate dependence 
 of one upon the other we may not be able to show 
 in satisfactory detail ; but we may be assured that 
 the judicial forms are always in near connexion 
 with the cult, and that this is especially the case at 
 times when the judicial and priestly functions are 
 in the hands of the same class. 
 
 The Saxons were not without a system of reli- 
 gion, long before they heard of Christianity, nor 
 should we be justified in asserting that religion to 
 have been without moral influence upon the indi- 
 vidual man in his family and social relations. Who 
 shall dare to say that the high-thoughted barbarian 
 did not derive comfort in afliiction, or support in 
 difficulty, from the belief that the gods watched 
 over him, — that he did not bend in gratitude for the 
 blessings they conferred, — that he was not guided 
 and directed in the daily business of life by the con- 
 
S28 THE SAJ5:0NS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 viction of his responsibility to higher powers than 
 any which he recognized in the Avorld around him'? 
 There has been, and yet is, religion without the 
 pale of Christianity, however dim and meagre and 
 unsatisfactory that religion may appear to us whom 
 the mercy of God has blessed with the true light of 
 the Gospel. Long before their conversion, all the 
 Germanic nations had established polities and states 
 upon an enduring basis, — upon principles which 
 still form the groundwork and stablest foundation of 
 the greatest empires of the world, — upon principles 
 which, far from being abrogated by Christianity, 
 harmonize with its purest precepts. They who 
 think states accidental, and would eliminate Provi- 
 dence from the world, may attempt to reconcile this 
 truth with their doctrine of barbarism ; to us be it 
 permitted to believe that, in the scheme of an all- 
 wise and all-pervading mercy, one condition here 
 below may be the fitting preparation for a higher ; 
 and that even Paganism itself may sometimes be 
 only as the twilight, through which the first rays of 
 the morning sun are dimly descried in their pro- 
 gress to the horizon. Without religion never was 
 yet state founded, which could endure for ages ; 
 the permanence of our own is the most convincing 
 proof of the strong foundations on which the mas- 
 sive fabric, from the first, was reared. 
 
 The business of this chapter is with the heathen- 
 dom of the Saxons ; not that portion of it which 
 yet subsists among us in many of our most che- 
 rished superstitions, some of which long lurked in 
 the ritual of the unreformed church, and may yet 
 
CH. xn.] HEATHENDOM. 329 
 
 lurk in the habits and belief of many Protestants ; 
 but that which was the acknowledged creed of the 
 Saxon, as it was of other Germanic populations ; 
 which once had priests and altars, a ritual and ce- 
 remonies, temples and sacrifices, and all the pomp 
 and power of a church-establishment. 
 
 The proper subjects of mythological inquiry are 
 the gods and godlike heroes : it is through the lat- 
 ter — for the most part, forms of the gods them- 
 selves — that a race connects itself with the former. 
 Among the nations of our race royalty is indeed 
 iure divino, for the ruling families are in direct 
 genealogical descent from divinity, and the posses- 
 sion of Woden's blood was the indispensable con- 
 dition of kingship. In our peculiar system, the 
 vague records of Tuisco, the earth-born god i, and 
 Man, the origin and founders of the race, have 
 vanished ; the mystical cosmogony of Scandinavia 
 has left no traces among us ^ ; but we have neverthe- 
 less a mythological scheme which probably yielded 
 neither in completeness nor imaginative power to 
 those of the German or the Norwegian. 
 
 In the following pages I propose to take into 
 consideration, first the Gods and Goddesses, pro- 
 perly so called : secondly, the Monsters or Titanic 
 powers of our old creed : thirdly, the intermediate 
 
 ' " Celebrant carminibus antiquis .... Tuisconem deum terra editum 
 et filium Mannum, originem gentis conditoresque." Germ. ii. So sung 
 the earliest Greets : 
 
 avTtOeov de IleXao'yov iv v-^LKOfio'ia'iv opecra-t 
 yaia fiiXmv dverjKei/ tva 6vrjTwv yevos firj, 
 ^ There is no better account of this than Geijer gives in his History 
 of Sweden, vol. i. passim. 
 
830 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i.' 
 
 and as it were ministerial beings : and lastly the god- 
 born and heroic personages of the epopoea. 
 
 The prudence or the contempt of the earliest 
 Saxon Christians has left but sparing record of 
 what Augustine and his brother missionaries over- 
 threw. Incidental notices indeed are all that re- 
 main in any part of Teutonic Europe ; and on the 
 continent, as well as in England, it is only by the 
 collation of minute and isolated facts, — often pre- 
 served to us in popular superstitions, legends and 
 even nursery tales, — that we can render probable 
 the prevalence of a religious belief identical in its 
 most characteristic features with that which we 
 know to have been entertained in Scandinavia. Yet 
 whatsoever we can thus recover, proves that, in all 
 main points, the faith of the island Saxons was that 
 of their continental brethren. 
 
 It will readily be supposed that the task of de- 
 monstrating this is not easy. The early period 
 at which Christianity triumphed in England, adds 
 to the difficulties which naturally beset the sub- 
 ject. Norway, Sweden and Denmark had entered 
 into public relations with the rest of Europe, long 
 before the downfall of their ancient creed : here, 
 the fall of heathendom and the commencement of 
 history were contemporaneous : we too had no 
 Iceland ^ to offer a refuge to those who fled from 
 the violent course of a conversion, preached sword 
 
 ^ Thus was Iceland colonized, by men wlio would neither relinquish 
 their old belief, nor submit to the growing power of a king. The Old- 
 saxons had no such place of refuge, and the arms of Charlemagne pre- 
 vailed to destroy their national independence and their religion together. 
 
CH. XII.] - HEATHENDOM. 331 
 
 in hand, and coupled with the loss of political inde- 
 pendence ; still the progress of the new faith seems 
 to have been on the whole easy and continuoas 
 amongst us; and though apostasy was frequent, 
 history either had no serious struggle to record, or 
 has wisely and prudently concealed it. 
 
 In dealing with this subject, we can expect but 
 little aid from the usual sources of information. 
 The early chroniclers who lived in times Avhen hea- 
 thendom was even less extinct than it now is, and 
 before it had learnt to hide itself under borrowed 
 names, would have shrunk with horror from the 
 mention of what to them, was an execrable im- 
 piety : many of them could have possessed no 
 knowledge of details which to us would be invalua- 
 ble, and no desire to become acquainted with them : 
 the whole business of their life, on the contrary, was 
 to destroy the very remembrance that such things 
 had been, to avoid everything that could recall the 
 past, or remind their half-converted neophytes of 
 the creed which they and their forefathers had held. 
 It is obvious that, under such circumstances, the 
 greater and more powerful the God, the more dan- 
 gerous would he continue to be, the more sedu- 
 lously would all mention of him be avoided by 
 those who had relinquished his service or overthrown 
 his altars. But though this may be the case with 
 the principal deities, there are others whose power, 
 though unacknowledged, is likely to be more per- 
 manent. Long after the formal renunciation of 
 a public and national paganism, the family and 
 household gods retain a certain habitual influence. 
 
332 
 
 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 and continue— often under other names, nay per- 
 haps engrafted on another creed— to inform the 
 daily life of a people who are still unconsciously 
 acted upon by ancient national feelings. A spell or 
 a popular superstition may yet recall some traces of 
 the old belief, even as the heathen temple, when 
 purified with holy water and dedicated in another 
 name, retained the holiness which had at first been 
 attached to the site of its foundation. 
 
 What Paulus Diaconus, Jonas of Bobbio, Jor- 
 nandes, Adam of Bremen, Alcuin, Widukind, and 
 the monks of St. Gall, assert of other German 
 races, Beda asserts of the Anglosaxons also, viz. 
 th-at they worshiped idols i, idola, simulacra deo- 
 rum ; and this he aflfirms not only upon the autho- 
 rity of his general informants and of unbroken 
 tradition, but of Gregory himself. Upon the same 
 authority also he tells us that the heathen were 
 wont to sacrifice many oxen to their gods^. To 
 
 ^ What Tacitus says of the Germans (Germ, ix.) not having temples 
 or images is to be taken with great caution. It is clear from other 
 passages of his own work that some tribes had such, even in his time ; 
 yet if rare then, they may easily have become universal in the course 
 of two or three centuries, particularly among those tribes whom mili- 
 tary service or commerce had gi-adually rendered familiar with the 
 religious rites of Rome. 
 
 ^ These facts are stated in a letter from Gregory to Mellitus, in the 
 following words : " Cum ergo Deus omnipotens vos ad reverentissimum 
 virum fratrem nostrum Augustinum episcopum perduxerit, di cite ei quid 
 diu mecum de causa Anglorum cogitans tractavi, videlicet, quia fana 
 idolorum destrui in eadem gente minime debeant ; sed ipsa, quae in eis 
 sunt, idola destruantur, aqua benedicta fiat, in eisdem fanis aspergatur, 
 altaria construantur, reliquiae ponantur. Quia, si fana eadem bene 
 constructa sunt, necesse est ut a cultu daemonum in obsequium veri 
 Dei debeant commutari ; ut dum gens ipsa eadem fana sua non videt 
 destrui, de corde errorem deponat, et Deum verum cognoscens ae 
 
CH. xu.] HEATHENDOM. IDOLS. 333 
 
 Beda himself we owe the information that Hre'Se 
 and Eostre, two Saxon goddesses, gave their names 
 to two of the months ; that at a certain season cat- 
 tle were vowed, and at another season cakes were 
 oifered to the gods^. From him also we learn that 
 upon the death of Seebeorht in Essex, his sons re- 
 stored the worship of idols in that kingdom ^ ; that 
 Eadwini of Northumberland offered thanks to his 
 deities for the safe delivery of his queen ^ ; that 
 Rfedwald of Eastanglia sacrificed victims to his 
 gods* ; that, on occasion of a severe pestilence, the 
 people of Essex apostatized and returned to their 
 ancient worship s, till reconverted by Gearoman, 
 under whose teachings they destroyed or deserted 
 the fanes and altars they had made; that incan- 
 tations and spells were used against sickness ^ ; 
 that certain runic charms were believed capable of 
 breaking the bonds of the captive '' ; that Eorcen- 
 berht of Kent was the first who completely put 
 down heathendom in his kingdom, and destroyed 
 
 adorans ad loca, quae consuevit, familiarius concurrat. Et quia boves 
 Solent in sacrifioio daemonum multos occidere, debet eis etiam hac de 
 re aliqua solemnitas immutari ; ut die dedicationis, vel natalitii sancto- 
 rum martyrum, quorum illic reliquiae ponuntur, tabemacula sibi circa 
 easdem aecoleaias, quae ex fanis commutatae sunt, de ramis arborum 
 faciant, et religioais conviviis solemnitatem celebrent, nee diabolo iam 
 animalia immolent, sed ad laudem Dei in esu suo animalia occidant, et 
 donatori omnium de satietate sua gratias referant ; ut dum eis aliqua 
 exterius gaudia reservantur, ad interiora gaudia consentire facilius va- 
 leant." Bed. H. E. i. 30. 
 
 ' De Natura Rerum, cap. 15. ^ H. E. ii. 5. 
 
 ^ H. E. ii. 9. * H. E. ii. 15. 
 
 ' " Coeperunt fana, quae derelicta erant, restaurare, et adorare si- 
 mulacra ; quasi per haec possent a mortalitate defendi." H. E. iii. 30. 
 
 ' H. E. iv. 27. ' H. E. iv. 22. 
 
334 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 the idols i ; lastly that at the court of Eadwini of 
 Northumberland there was a chief priest 2, and, as 
 we may naturally infer from this, an organized 
 heathen hierarchy. 
 
 The poenitentials of the church and the acts of 
 the witenargemots are full of prohibitions directed 
 against the open or secret practice of heathendom^; 
 from them we learn that even till the time of Cnut, 
 well-worship and tree-worship, the sanctification 
 of places, spells, philtres and witchcraft, were still 
 common enough to call for legislative interference ; 
 and the heavy doom of banishment, proclaimed 
 against their upholders, proves how deeply rooted 
 such pagan customs were in the minds of the peo- 
 ple. Still in the Ecclesiastical History of Beda, in 
 the various works which in later times were founded 
 upon it and continued it, in the poenitentials and 
 confessionals of the church, in the acts of the se- 
 cular assemblies, we look in vain for the sacred 
 names in which the fanes were consecrated, or for 
 even the slightest hint of the attributes of the gods 
 whose idols or images had been set up. Excepting 
 the cursory mention of the two female divinities al- 
 ready noticed, and one or two almost equally rapid 
 - allusions in later chronicles, we are left almost en- 
 tirely without direct information respecting the 
 tenants of the Saxon Pantheon. There are however 
 other authorities, founded on traditions more an- 
 
 ^ H. E. iii. 8. Malmesbury says that lie destroyed also their cliapels, 
 " saoella deorum." De Gest. Reg. lib. i. § 11. 
 ^ H. E. ii. 13. 
 ^ See these collected in the Appendix at the end of this volume. 
 
CH. xn.] HEATHENDOM. WO 'DEN. 335 
 
 cient than Beda himself, from which we derive more 
 copious, if not more definite accounts. First among 
 these are the genealogies of the Anglosaxon kings : 
 these contain a multitude of the ancient gods, re- 
 duced indeed into family relations, and entered in 
 the grades of a pedigree, but still capable of identi- 
 fication with the deities of the North and of Ger- 
 many. In this relation we find Woden, Bgeldseg, 
 Geat, Wig, and Frea. The days of the week, also de- 
 dicated to gods, supply us further with the names of 
 Tiw, Dunor, Fricge and Ssetere ; and the names of 
 places in all parts of England attest the wide di- 
 spersion of their worship. These, as well as the 
 names of plants, are the admitted signs by which 
 we recognize the appellations of the Teutonic gods. 
 
 1. WO'DEN, in Old-norse 0]:INN, in Old-ger- 
 man WUOTAN.— The royal family of every An- 
 glosaxon kingdom, without exception, traces its 
 descent from Woden through some one or other of 
 those heroes or demigods who are familiar to us 
 in the German and Scandinavian traditions ^. But 
 
 ' Roger of Wendover appears however to have made a distinction, 
 which I do not remember to have found in any other author, in the 
 case of ^Ui of Sussex. He says : " Wodenus igitur ex antiquorum 
 prosapia Germanorum originem ducens, post mortem inter deos trans- 
 latus est; quem veteres pro deo oolentes, dedicaverunt ei quartam fe- 
 riam, quam de nomine eius Wodeneaday, id est diem Wodeni, nunou- 
 parunt. Hie hahuit uxorem, nomine Fream, cui similiter veteres 
 sextam feriam consecrantes, Freday, id est diem Frese, appellarunt. 
 Genuit autem Wodenus ex uxore Frea septem filios inclytos, ex quorum 
 suocessione septem reges traxerunt originem, qui in Britannia potenter, 
 expulsis Britannis, postea regnaverunt. Ex filio Wodeni primogenito, 
 nomine Wecta, reges Cantuariorum ; ex seoundo, Frehegeath, reges 
 Merciorum ; ex tertio, Baldao, reges Westsaxonum ; ex quarto, Bel- 
 
336 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 the divinity of Woden is abundantly clear : he is 
 both in form and in facb identical with the Norse 
 Ojjinn and the German Wuotan, the supreme god 
 of all the northern races, whose divinity none will 
 attempt to dispute ^. Nor was this his character 
 unknown to our early chroniclers; Malmesbury, 
 speaking of Hengest and Hors, says : " They were 
 the great-great-grandsons of that most ancient Wo- 
 den, from whom the royal families of almost all 
 the barbarous nations derive their lineage ; whom 
 the nations of the Angles madly believing to be a 
 god, have consecrated unto him the fourth day of 
 the week, and the sixth unto his wife Frea, by a 
 sacrilege which lasts even unto this day ^." Mat- 
 thew of Westminster ^ and Geoffry of Monmouth * 
 repeat this with characteristic variations, both add- 
 ing, apparently in the words of Tacitus^, " Colimus 
 maxime Mercurium, quern Woden lingua nostra 
 appellamus." ^Sthelweard, an Anglosaxon noble- 
 man of royal blood, and thus himself a descend- 
 ant of Woden, had previously stated the same thing 
 after the fashion of his own age, — the tenth cen- 
 
 dago, reges Northauhumbrorum, sive Berniciorum ; ex quinto, Weg- 
 dego, reges Deirorum ; ex sexto, Kasero, reges Orientalium Anglorum ; 
 ex septimo, Saxnad, reges Orientalium Saxonum originem habere di- 
 cuntur; ootavus vero, id est, rex Australium Saxonum, ex eademgente, 
 sed non ex eadem stirpe, originem sumpsit." Flor. Histor. i. 346. 
 
 ' It is a peculiarity of the Old-norse to omit the initial W ; thus 
 ormr for wyrmr, a dragon or serpent : ulfr, for wulfr, a wolf : hence 
 Obinu is literally Woden. The identity of Wuotan is clearly shown 
 in Grimm's Deut. Mythol. p. 120, seq. 
 
 ■' WiU. Malm. De Gest. 1 § 5. 
 
 ' Mat. Westm. Flor. Hist. p. 82 (Ed. 1601). 
 
 * Galf. Monum. lib. vi. p. 43 (Ed. 1587). 
 
 ' " Deorum maxime Mercurium colimt." Germ. ix. 
 
CH. XII.] HEATHENDOM. WO'DEN. 337 
 
 tury ; he says o£ Hengest and Hors : " Hi nepotes 
 fuere Uuoddan regis barbarorum, quem post, in- 
 fanda dignitate, ut deum honorantes, sacrificium 
 obtulerunt pagani, victoriae causa sive virtutis^." 
 Again, he says : "Wothen, qui et rex multarum gen- 
 tium, quem pagani nunc ut deum colunt aliqui." 
 Thus, according to him, Woden was worshiped as 
 the giver of victory, and as the god of warlike va- 
 lour. And such is the description given by Adam 
 of Bremen of the same god, at Upsala in Sweden : 
 " In hoc templo, quod totum ex auro paratum est, 
 statuas trium deorum veneratur populus, ita ut 
 potentissimus eorum Thor in medio solum habeat 
 triclinium, hinc et inde locum possident Wodan 
 et Fricco. Quorum significationes eiusmodi sunt : 
 Thor, inquiunt, praesidet in aere, qui tonitrus et 
 fulmina, ventos imbresque, serena et fruges gu- 
 bernat. Alter Wodan, id est Fortior, bella regit, 
 hominumque ministrat virtutem contra inimicos. 
 Tertius est Fricco, pacem voluptatemque largiens 
 mortalibus. Cuius etiam simulachrum fingunt in- 
 genti Priapo. Wodanem vero sculpunt armatum, 
 sicuti nostri Martem sculpere solent. Thor a,utem 
 cum sceptro Jovem exprimere videtur." The Ex- 
 eter book names Woden in a similar spirit : 
 
 H^Snum synne 
 Woden worMe weohs, 
 wuldor alwealda 
 rume roderas^, 
 
 that is, " For the heathen Woden wrought the sin 
 
 ' ^'Selw. Ohron. lib. ii, cap. 2. ^ Cod. Exon. p. 341. 
 
 VOL. I. Z 
 
338 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 of idolatry, but the glorious almighty God the 
 spacious skies:" and an early missionary is de- 
 scribed to have thus taught his hearers : "Woden 
 vero quem principalem deum crediderunt et prae- 
 cipuum Angli, de quo originem duxerant, cui et 
 quartam feriam consecraverant, hominem fuisse 
 mortalem asseruit, et regem Saxonum, a quo plures 
 nationes genus duxerant. Huius, inquit, corpore in 
 pulverem resoluto, anima in inferno sepulta aeter- 
 num sustinet ignem^." 
 
 To Woden was dedicated the fourth or mid-day 
 of the week, and it still retains his name: this 
 among other circumstances tends to the identifi- 
 cation of him with Mercurius^. The Old-norse 
 Eunatale ]jattr which introduces 0))inn declaring 
 himself to be the inventor of runes^, is confirmed 
 by the assertion in the dialogue of Salomon and 
 Saturn, which to the question " Who invented let- 
 ters t. " answers, " I tell thee, Mercury the giant " — 
 that is, "Woden the god:" and this is further evi- 
 
 1 Legend. Nova, fol. 210, h. 
 
 ^ This probably -n'as the case even before any German settlement was 
 made in Britain. But no argument can be raised on this ground against 
 the genuineness of the Woden worship here ; because, if the continental 
 Germans worshiped him, they probably carried his rites with them to 
 England. We know that he is one of the goda named in the cele- 
 brated formulary of renunciation, which the missionary Christians pre- 
 pared for the use of the Saxon converts. Why the interpretatio Romana 
 (Tac. Germ. xUii.) fixed upon Woden as the corresponding god to 
 Mercury we do not clearly see : but we are not acquainted with the 
 rites and legends which may have made this perfectly clear to the 
 Romans. 
 
 ^ Namek upp runar : Grimm seems to have some doubt of the ac- 
 curacy of this translation. Deut. Myth. p. 136 (edition of 1844), but I 
 think unnecessarily. At all events the invention of the Hugrunar, or 
 
CH. XII.] 
 
 HEATHENDOM. WO'DBN. 
 
 339 
 
 dence of resemblance. A metrical homily in vari- 
 ous collections, bearing the attractive title Befalsis 
 diis, supplies us with further proof of this identi- 
 fication, not only vv-ith Woden, but vpith the Norse 
 OJiinn : it says, 
 
 Sum man was gehaten 
 Mercurius on life, 
 se was swiSe f^cenful 
 and swicol on dSednm, 
 and lufode e^c stala 
 and leasbrednysse : 
 tSone maoodon tSa hsetSenan 
 him to mieran gode, 
 and 88t wega gel^tum 
 him Idc ofFrodon, 
 and to heagum beorgum 
 him brohton onsEegdnysse. 
 Da3s god wses arwurSa 
 betwux eallum h^Senum, 
 and he is Of on gehaten 
 oSrum naman on Denisc. 
 
 A man there was, called 
 
 Mercury during life, 
 
 who was very fraudulent 
 
 and deceitful in deeds, 
 
 and eke loved thefts 
 
 and deception : 
 
 him the heathen made 
 
 a powerful god for themselves, 
 
 and by the road-sides 
 
 made him offerings, 
 
 and upon high hOls 
 
 brought him sacrifice. 
 
 This god was honourable 
 
 among aU the heathen, 
 
 and he is called Odin 
 
 by another name in Danish. 
 
 Done feorSan dseg 
 hi sealdon him to frofre 
 Sam foreseedan Mercurie 
 heora m^ran gode\ 
 
 The fourth day 
 they gave for their advantage 
 to the aforesaid Mercury 
 their great god. 
 
 Runes, the possession of which makes men dear to their companions, 
 is distinctly attributed to him in the Edda : 
 
 J)8er of hugdi Hroptr 
 
 af Jieim legi 
 
 er lekijj hafdi 
 
 or havfi Heiddravpnis 
 
 ok or horni Hoddropnis. (Brynh.-qu. i. 13.) 
 But this is an additional point of approximation to the deities whom 
 we consider identical with Hermes, and in some respects with Mercury, 
 as for instance Thoth. 
 
 ' MS. Cotton, Julius E. vii. 237, b. etc. See the author's edition of 
 Salomon and Saturn, p. 120, seq. 
 
 z2 
 
340 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 Thus we have Mercurius, Woden and 0))inn suf- 
 ficiently identified. A careful investigation of the 
 inner spirit of Greek mythology has led some 
 very competent judges to see a form of Hermes in 
 Odysseus. This view derives some corroboration 
 from the Teutonic side of the question, and the re- 
 lation in which Woden stands to Mercurius. Even 
 Tacitus had learnt that Ulixes had visited Germany, 
 and there founded a town which he called Asci- 
 burgium ^ ; and without insisting on the probability 
 that Asciburgium grew out of a German Anseopurc 
 or a Scandinavian Asgard, it seems not unreason- 
 able to suppose that some tales of Woden had 
 reached the ears of the Eoman, which seemed to 
 him to resemble the history of Odysseus and his 
 wanderings. Such a tale we yet possess in the ad- 
 ventures of Thorkill on his journey to Utgardaloki, 
 narrated by Saxo Grammaticus, which bears a re- 
 markable likeness to some parts of the Odyssey ^ ; 
 and when we consider Saxo's very extraordinary 
 mode of rationalizing ancient mythological tradi- 
 tions, we shall admit at least the probability of an 
 earlier version of the tale which would be much 
 more consonant with the suggestion of Tacitus, 
 although this earlier form has unfortunately not 
 
 ' '' Ceterum et Ulixen quidam opinantur longo illo et fabuloso errors 
 in hunc Oceanum delatura adiisse Germaniae terras, Ascibuigiumque, 
 quod in ripa Rheni situm hodieque incolitur, ah illo constitutum nomi- 
 natumque. Aram quinetiam Ulixi consecratam adiecto Laertae patris 
 nomine eodem loco olim repertam, nionimentaque et tumulos quosdanj 
 Graecis litteris inscriptos in confinio Germaniae Rhaetiaeque adhuc 
 exstare. Quae neque confirmare argumentis, neque refellere in auimo 
 st ; ex ingenio suo quisque demat vel addat fidem." Germ. iii. 
 ' Saxo Gram. Hist. Dan. lib. viii. 
 
CH. xn.] HEATHENDOM. WO'DEN. 341 
 
 survived. Woden is, like Odysseus, preeminently 
 the wanderer ; he is Gangradr, Gangleri, the rest- 
 less, moving deity. Even the cloak, hood or hat 
 in which 0>inn is always clad i reminds us both of 
 the petasus of Hermes and the broad hat which 
 Odysseus generally wears on ancient gems and 
 pottery. That Woden was worshiped cet wega 
 gelwtum, and that he was the peculiar patron of 
 boundaries, again recalls to us this function of 
 Hermes, and the "Epfiam. When we hear that oflFer- 
 ings were brought to him upon the lofty hills, we 
 are reminded that there was an aKpioc, or Mountain 
 Hermes too, though little known ; and the '^pfim 
 irpofxayoQ, perhaps as little known as his moun- 
 tain brother, answers to the warlike, victory-giving 
 deity of our forefathers in his favourite form. 
 
 From the godlike or heroic sons of Woden de- 
 scend all the races qualified to reign, and some of 
 those whose names are found in the Anglosaxon 
 genealogies may be easily recognised in the mytho- 
 logical legends of the continent. In some one or 
 other of his forms he is the eponymus of tribes and 
 races : thus, as Geat or through Geat, he was the 
 founder of the Geatas ; through Gewis, of the Ge- 
 wissas ; through Scyld, of the Scyldingas, the Norse 
 
 Ojjinu is called heklumaSi-j the man with the cloak. Forn. Sbg. 
 1. 325. " Kom far maSr gamall, miok or^spakr, einsyun [OHun was 
 one-eyed only] ok augdapr, ok haf^i hatt sidan." Fomman. Sog. ii. 
 138. "Sa hann mann mikiim meS sitSum hetti. . . .ok totti koniingj 
 gaman set rse'Sum hans, jiviat hann kunni af oUum londum ti'Sindi at 
 segja." Fomman. Sog. v. 250. He is called SKhbttr even in the Edda. 
 Through this cloak or Hackle, Woden hecomes Hacleberend or Hackle 
 berg, who rides at the head of the Wilde Jagd or wild hunt. 
 
342 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 Skjoldungar; through Brand, of the Brondingas; 
 perhaps through Bsetwa, of the Batavians ^ It seems 
 indeed not wholly improbable that every name in 
 the merely mythical portion of the genealogies re- 
 presents some particular tribe, under the distiactive 
 appellation of its tutelar god or hero ; and that we 
 may thus be led in some degree to a knowledge of 
 the several populations which coalesced to form the 
 various kingdoms. 
 
 Legends describing the adventures of "Woden 
 either in a godlike or heroic form were probably 
 not wanting here, or in Germany; it is only in 
 Scandinavia that a portion of these have been pre- 
 served, unless the tales of Geat and Sceaf, to be 
 hereafter noticed, are in reality to be referred to 
 him. Equally probable is it that he had in this 
 country temples, images and religious rites, traces 
 of which we find upon the continent ^ ; and that 
 
 ' The MS. lists read Tsetwa, but as the alliteration wHch prevails in 
 those pedigrees fails in this instance, Grimm threw out the suggestion 
 that the original reading was Bsetwa. Selden, in the English Janus, 
 p. 9, cites Heuter de vet. Belgio, lib. ii. cap. 8, for Bato (Bsetwa) the 
 eponymus of the Batavians, but this does not appear to rest upon 
 any sound authority. On the subject of the names of Woden, and the 
 Anglosaxon genealogies, the reader may consult a tract of the author's, 
 Die Stammtafel der Westsachsen, Munich 1836, and Beowulf, vol. ii., 
 the Postscript to the Preface : together with a review of the first-named 
 book by Jacob Grimm, in the Gottinger Gel. Anz. for 1836. 
 
 ^ The ancient Germans sacrificed human victims to him. " Deorum 
 maxime Mercurium colunt, cui certis diebus humanis quoque hostiis 
 litare fas habent." Tac. Germ, xxxix. " Victores diversam aciem Marti 
 ac Mercurio sacravere, quo veto equi, viri, cuncta victa occidioni dan- 
 tur." Tac. Annal. xiii. 57. King Ane or Avn the old, oiFered up in 
 succession nine of his sons to Oj>inn, to increase the length of his own 
 life, Yngling. Sag. cap. xxix. ; Geijer, Gesch. Schwed. i. 416. "Sunt 
 etenim inibi vicinae nationes Suevorum ; quo cum moraretur et inter 
 
OH. XII.] HEATHEN'DOM. WO'DEN. 343 
 
 trees, animals and places were consecrated to him'. 
 So numerous indeed are the latter, so common in 
 every part of England are names of places com- 
 pounded with his name, that we must admit his 
 worship to have been current throughout the island : 
 it seems impossible to doubt that in every quarter 
 there were localities (usually rising ground) either 
 dedicated to him, or supposed to be under his espe- 
 cial protection ; and thus that he was here, as 
 in Germany, the supreme god whom the Saxons, 
 Franks and Alamans concurred in worshiping. The 
 following names of places may all be unhesitatingly 
 attributed to this cause, and they attest the gene- 
 ral recognition and wide dispersion of Woden's 
 influence. 
 
 WanhorougJi, formerly Wodnesheorh, in Surrey, lat. 
 51° 14' N., long. 38' W., placed upon the water-shed 
 which throws down streams to north and south, 
 
 liaHtatores illiua loci progrederetur, reperit eos sacriflcium profanum 
 litare Telle, vasque magnum, quod vulgo cupam vocant, quod viginti 
 et sex modios amplius minuave capiebat, cerevisia plenum in medio ha- 
 bebant positum. Ad quod vir dei aocessit et soiscitatur, quid de illo 
 fieri vellent ? Illi aiunt : deo suo Wodano, quern Mercurium vocant alii, 
 se Telle litare.". Ion. Bobbiensis Vita Oolumbani. Compare also what 
 Saxo Grammaticus says of the immense tub of beer whiob Hunding 
 prepared to celebrate the obsequies of Hadding. Hist. Dan. p. 19. On 
 festal occasions it was usual to drink to the health, love or minne of the 
 gods. Obinn Tfas generally thus honoured : the custom was preserved 
 among Christians, who drank minne to St. John, St. Martin, St. Ger- 
 trude and other saints. Grimm, Myth. p. 53 sey. 
 
 ' Wolves and raTens appear to haTe been Otinn's sacred animals : 
 the Saxon legends do not record anything on this subject ; but here 
 and there we do hear of sacred trees, which may possibly have been 
 dedicated to this god : thus the Wonao (Cod. Dipl. No. 495), the 
 Wonstoc (Ibid. Nos. 287, 657), " ad quendam fraxinum quem imperiti 
 sacrum vocant." Ibid. No. 1052. Respecting the sacred character of 
 the ash see Grimm, Myth. p. 617. 
 
344 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 and running from east to west, divides the county 
 of Surrey into two nearly equal portions, once per- 
 haps two petty kingdoms ; the range of hills now 
 called the Hog's-back. It is a little to the north 
 of the ridge, nearly on the summit ; the springs of 
 water are peculiarly pure and never freeze. In all 
 probability it has been in turn a sacred site for 
 every religion that has been received in Britain. 
 Wanhorough, formerly Wodnesbeorh in Wiltshire, 
 lat. 51° 33' N., long. 1° 42' W., about 3^ miles 
 S.E. of Swindon, placed upon the watershed which 
 throws down the Isis to the north, and Kennet to 
 the south. Woodneshorough, formerly Wodnesbeorh, 
 in Kent, lat. 51° 16' N., long. 1° 29' E., throwing 
 down various small streams to north and south, 
 into the Stour and the sea. Wonston (probably Wod- 
 nesstdn) in Hampshire, lat. 51° 10' N., long. 1° 20' 
 W., from which small streams descend to north and 
 south, into the Test and Itchen. Wamhrook (pro- 
 bably Wddneshroc) in Dorsetshire. Wampool (pro- 
 bably Wodnespol) in Cumberland. Wansford (pro- 
 bably Wodnesford) in Northamptonshire. Wansford 
 in the East Riding of Yorkshire. Wanstead (pro- 
 bably Wodnesstede) an old Roman station in Essex. 
 Wanstrow, formerly Wodnestreow, in Somerset. 
 Wanhorough or Warnborough, formerly Wodnesbeorh, 
 two parishes in Hampshire. Wembury, formerly 
 Wodnesbeorh, in Devonshire. Wonersh (probably 
 TFodnesersc), a parish at the foot of the Hog's-back, 
 a few miles from Wanhorough. Wansdike, formerly 
 Wodnesdic, an ancient dike or fortification, per- 
 haps the boundary between different kingdoms : it 
 
CH. XII.] HEATHENDOM. WO'DEN. 345 
 
 extended in a direction from east to west through 
 more than one of our southern counties. Its re- 
 mains are visible three or four miles W.S.W. of 
 Malmesbury in Wiltshire, and it crosses the northern 
 part of Somerset from the neighbourhood of Bath 
 to Portshead on the Bristol Channel, where it ends 
 in lat. 51° 29' N., long. 2° 47' W. 
 
 In addition to these references, which might be 
 made far more numerous, if necessary, we have 
 many instances in the boundaries of charters, of 
 trees, stones and posts set up in Woden's name, 
 and apparently with the view of giving a religious 
 sanction to the divisions of land. In this, as in 
 other respects, we find a resemblance to Hermes. 
 It is also to be borne in mind that many hills or 
 other natural objects may in fact have been dedi- 
 cated to this god, though bearing more general 
 names, as O'sbeorh, Godeshyl and so forth. 
 
 One of the names of Odin in the Old-norse my- 
 thology is Osk, which by an etymological law is 
 equivalent to the German Wunsch, the Anglosaxon 
 Wise, and the English Wish. Grimm has shown 
 in the most convincing manner that Wunsch may 
 be considered as a name of Wuotan in Germany ^ ; 
 and it is probable that Wusc or Wise may have had 
 a similar power here. Among the names in the 
 mythical genealogies we find Wuscfrea, the lord of 
 the wish, and I am even inclined to the belief that 
 .Oisc, equivalent to E'sk, the founder of the Kentish 
 line of kings, may be a Jutish name of Woden 
 in this form, — esc, or in an earlier form oski, i. e. 
 
 ' Deut. Myth. p. 126 seq. 
 
346 
 
 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book. i. 
 
 Wunsch, Wysc^. In Devonshire to this day all 
 magical or supernatural dealings go under the com- 
 mon name of Wishtness : can this have any refer- 
 ence to Woden's name Wysc] So again a bad or 
 unfortunate day is a wisht day : perhaps a diaboli- 
 cal, heathen, accursed day. There are several places 
 which appear to be compounded w^ith this name ; 
 among them : Wishanger ( Wischangra or Woden's 
 meadow), one, about four miles S.W. of Wanbo- 
 rough in Surrey, and another near Gloucester ; 
 Wisley ( Wiscledh) also in Surrey ; Wishorough (pro- 
 bably Wischeorh) in Sussex; Wishford (probably 
 Wiscford) in Wiltshire. 
 
 2. pUNOE, in Old-norse pORE, in Old-german 
 DONAR. — The recognition of Dunor in England 
 was probably not very general at first : the settle- 
 ment of Danes and Norwegians in the ninth and 
 following centuries may have extended it in the 
 northern districts. But though his name is not 
 found in the genealogies of the kings, there was 
 an antecedent probability that some traces of his 
 worship would be found among the Saxons. Thunar 
 is one of the gods whom the Saxons of the con- 
 tinent were called upon to renounce, and a total 
 abnegation of his authority was not to be looked 
 for even among a race who considered Woden as 
 the supreme god. That the fifth day of the week 
 was called by his name is well known : Thursday 
 
 ^ Oisc in tlie form in wliicli the earliest authorities give this name, 
 ^sc is certainly later, and may have been adopted only when the ori- 
 ginal meaning of Oisc had become forgotten. 
 
CH. XII.] HEATHENDOM. DUNOR. 347 
 
 is Dunres dseg, dies Jovis; and he is the proper 
 representative of Jupiter, inasmuch as he must be 
 considered in the light of- the thundering god, an 
 elemental deity, powerful over the storms, as well 
 as the fertilizing rains ^. His peculiar weapon, the 
 mace or hammer, seems to denote the violent, 
 crushing thunderbolt, and the Norse myth repre- 
 sents it as continually used against the giants or 
 elemental gods of the primal world. In a compo- 
 sition whose antiquity it is impossible to ascer- 
 tain, we may still discover an allusion to this 
 point : in the Christian Eagna Ravk, or Twilight of 
 the Qods, it was believed that a personal conflict 
 would take place between the divinity and a devil, 
 the emissary and child of Satan : in the course of 
 this conflict, it is said : "se Dunor hit jjyrsce^ mid 
 ^£ere fyrenan sexe," the thunder will thresh it with 
 the fiery axe ^ ; and I am inclined to see a similar 
 allusion in the Exeter Book, where the lightning 
 is called rynegiestes wcepn, the weapon of Avkv 
 Dorr, the car-home god. Thunder^. 
 
 The names of places which retain a record of 
 Dunor are not very numerous, but some are found : 
 among them Thundersfield, Dunresfeld, in Surrey^; 
 Thimdersley, Dunresleah, in Essex, near Saffron 
 Walden ; Thundersley, Dunresleah, also in Essex, 
 near Kaylegh, and others in Hampshire^. Near 
 
 ^ See the quotation from Adam of Bremen, p. 837. 
 " Salomon and Saturn, pp. 148, 177. 
 = Cod. Exon. p. 386. 1. 8. 
 * Cod. Dipl. Nos. 270, 314, 363, 413. 
 
 ' Cod. Dipl. Nos. 450, 781, 784, 1022, 1038. Some of these are not 
 in Essex, but Hampshire. 
 
348 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 Wanborough in Surrey is Thursley, which may have 
 been a Dunresleah also : it is unlikely that it was 
 ever Doresleah, from Dorr (the Norse form of Du- 
 nor), but it might have been Dyrsleah, the meadow 
 of the giant or monster. Very near Thursley is a 
 hill called Thunder hill, probably Dunres hyl. A si- 
 milar uncertainty hangs over Thurleigh in Bedford- 
 shire, Thurlow in Essex, Thurshy in Cumberland, 
 Thursjield in StaflPordshire, and Thursford in Nor- 
 folk i. The name of Dunor was, to the best of my 
 knowledge, never borne by any man among the 
 Anglosaxons, which is in some degree an evidence 
 of its high divinity. The only apparent exception 
 to this assertion is found in an early tale which 
 bears throughout such strong marks of a mythical 
 character as to render it probable that some legend 
 of Dunor was current in England ; especially as its 
 locality is among the Jutish inhabitants of Kent. 
 According to this account, Ecgbert the son of Eor- 
 cenberht, the fourth Christian king of Kent, had 
 excluded his cousins from the throne, and fearing 
 their popularity determined on removing them by 
 violence. The thane Thuner divined and executed 
 the intentions of his master. Under the king's own 
 throne were the bodies concealed ; but a light from 
 heaven which played about the spot revealed the 
 crime : the king paid to their sister the wergyld of 
 
 ' The analogy of Thursday, which was unquestionably Thundersday, 
 must be allowed its weight in considering these local names. Even 
 Dyrs itself, at one period of Anglosaxon development, might represent 
 Dunor, and the resemblance of names thus lead to a little straining of 
 the true one. 
 
CH. XII.] HEATHENDOM. DUNOR. 349 
 
 the slain princes : a hind, let loose, defined the boun- 
 daries of the grant which was to make compensation 
 for the murder : forty-eight hides of land thus be- 
 came the property of Domneva, and the repentant 
 king erected upon them a monastery. The assassin 
 Thuner, however, added to his guilt the still higher 
 atrocity of sneering at the king's repentance and its 
 fruits : the earth suddenly opened beneath his feet 
 and swallowed him ; while the church placed the 
 names of his victims, ^"Selred and ^ESelberht, on 
 the list of its martyrs. Any comment upon this, as 
 a historical transaction, would be perfectly super- 
 fluous, but it may possibly contain some allusion of 
 a mythological nature ; for it seems that the very 
 fact of Dunor's not being a god generally worshiped 
 in England, would render him likely to form the 
 foundation of heroic stories. I will not absolutely 
 say that the dragon-slaughter of Beowulf is a di- 
 rect reference to the myth of Dunor, though this 
 is possible. Another hero of Anglosaxon tradition 
 bears the name of the "Wandering Wolf ;" he slew 
 five-and-twenty dragons at daybreak, " on dseg- 
 reed ; " and fell dead from their poison, as Thorr does 
 after slaying Midgard's orm, and Beowulf after his 
 victory over the firedrake. The wolf however is a 
 sacred beast of Woden, and these names of Wan- 
 dering wolf, Mearcwulf, etc. may have some refer- 
 ence to him, especially as we learn from Grimm 
 that in some parts of Denmark the wild huntsman, 
 who is unquestionably Woden, bears the name of 
 the flying Marcolf i. The heathen character of the 
 
 1 Deut. Myth. p. 530 (ed. 1835). 
 
350 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 whole relation is proved by the fact of the " famous 
 sailor on the sea," the "wandering wolf" being 
 represented as the friend of Nebrond, probably 
 Nimrod^. 
 
 One of the names by which Dunor is known in 
 Germany is Hamar^, which was perhaps originally 
 derived from his weapon. This has become almost 
 synonymous with devil. Perhaps the same allusion 
 lurks in one or two names of places in England : 
 in the immediate neighbourhood of Thursley in 
 Surrey, and at a short distance from Thunderhill, 
 are some ponds known by the name of the Hammer- 
 ponds. It is remarkable that within two or three 
 miles of Thursley and the Hammer-ponds, three 
 singular natural mounds which form most conspi- 
 cuous objects upon a very wild and desert heath, 
 should bear the name of the Devil's Jumps, while 
 at a short distance a deep valley is known by that 
 of the Devil's Punchbowl, probably at some early 
 period, the Devil's Cup, Dunres-cup or the Hamar- 
 cup. The word Hamarden occurs in the bounda- 
 ries of charters^ ; and other places recall the same 
 name : thus Hameringham in Lincoln, Eamerton in 
 Huntingdon, Homerton in Middlesex (hardly Ham- 
 mersmith in Middlesex), Hamerton Green in York- 
 shire, Hamerton Kirk in Yorkshire, Hammerwick in 
 Staffordshire. 
 
 3. TIW, the Old-norse TYE, and Old-german 
 ZIU. — The third day of the week bears among us 
 
 1 Sal. Sat. p. 156. " Deut. Mvth. p. 166. 
 
 ^ Cod. Dipl. Nos. 999, 1039, 1189. 
 
CH. xn.] HEATHENDOM. TIW. 851 
 
 the name of the god Tiw, the Old-norse Tyr. In 
 like manner we find him also giving his name to 
 places. In the neighbourhood so often referred to 
 in this chapter, and which seems to have been a 
 very pantheon of paganism^, not far from Thursley 
 or from Wanborough, we find Tewesley, which I 
 have no scruple to pronounce the ancient Tiwes- 
 leah. Tisleah ^ seems to denote the same name, and 
 it is probable that even a race acknowledged this 
 god as its founder, — the Tiwingas, who gave their 
 name to Tewing in Herts. Tiwes mere^ seems to 
 be the mere or lake of Tiw, and in another charter 
 we have also Tedwes J>orn*, which goes far towards 
 substantiating the German form Ziu. 
 
 The Anglosaxon glossaries are perfectly accurate 
 when they give the rendering Mars for Tiw^, and 
 Tiwesdeeg is rightly dies Martis. It cannot be 
 doubted that our forefathers worshiped this god, 
 as a supreme giver of victory, and especially a god 
 of battle, in some parts of Scandinavia and Ger- 
 many ; whether or not in England appears doubtful. 
 In the mythology of the North he is the bravest of 
 the gods, the one who did not scruple to place his 
 
 ' In a circuit of a few mUes (taken from Elstead -witli a radius per- 
 haps of not more than four) we have Wanborough, Polstead, Thursley, 
 the Hammer-ponds, Waverley, Tewesley, ThunderhiU, Dragonhill, 
 Wonersh, the Devil's Jumps, the Devil's Punchbowl, Wishanger, Esh- 
 ing, Loseley (Loces leah ?), Godalming (Godhelmingham), and — as I 
 believe, in close connexion with these — GyldhUl, Guildford, Guilddown, 
 Erensham (Eremesham), Tilford, Tilhill, Markwick, Ash, and Unstead. 
 
 ' Ood. Dipl. No. 739. ^ Ibid. No. 262. <> Ibid. No. 174. 
 
 ' Mone's Epinal Glosses gives Tiig, Mars, No. 620, and Lye does 
 the same without a reference, but no doubt from some MS. glossary. 
 The form is in the same relation to Tiw as Higan to Hiwan, or gesegen 
 {visus) to gesewen ; but the long vowel is assiu'ed by the double i. 
 
352 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 hand in the mouth of the wolf Fenris, when he de- 
 manded a pledge that the gods would unbind the 
 chain they had forged for him, and on their breach 
 of faith Tyr paid the penalty i. The Eoman his- 
 torian tells of the Hevmunduri having vowed to 
 sacrifice the beaten Catti to Mercury and Mars, by 
 which vow the whole of the horses and men be- 
 longing to the defeated force were devoted to 
 slaughter. Jornandes says of the Goths, " Martem 
 semper asperrima placavere cultura ; nam victimae 
 ejus mortes fuere captorum, opinantes bellorum 
 praesulem aptius humani sanguinis eflfusione pla- 
 catum^." Procopius tells the same tale of his Qov 
 Mrai, that is the Scandinavians : twm Se lepe'^v acplai 
 
 TO KaWiarov avOfiWTTOQ esTiv, ovtrep av oopia^torov ttoi- 
 riaaivro irpwrov' tovtov yap t(j) ' Ajoet dvovaiv, eiret Oeov 
 
 aiiTov vo/niZovai fieyiiJTov elvai^. The Norse traditions, 
 although they acknowledge OJiinn as the giver of 
 victory, are still very explicit as to Tyr : he is par- 
 ticularly Wigagu'S, deus praeliorum, and an especial 
 granter of success in battle, " rae'Sr mioc sigri i 
 orostom^." Perhaps the Tencteri may be added to 
 the number of those who paid an especial honour 
 to Tyr (in German Ziu), since Tacitus makes them 
 say, " communibus deis et praecipuo deorum Marti 
 grates agimus^," where it is not at all necessary to 
 suppose Woden is meant ; and Grimm has good rea- 
 
 ' Hence in Norse lie is called the one-handed god, as Obinn is the 
 one-eyed. The Teutonic gods, unlike the Indian, have not a super- 
 fluity, but on the contrary sometimes a lack, of limbs. It is otherwise 
 with their horses, etc. 
 
 ^ Hist. Goth. cap. v. ' ggy^ Qo^h. ii. 15. 
 
 * Grimm, D. Myth. p. 179. » Hist. iv. 64. 
 
CH. XII.] HEATHENDOM. TI'R. 353 
 
 son to number the Suevi among the worshipers of 
 Ziui. 
 
 The Anglosaxon runic alphabet, which in several 
 letters recalls the names or attributes of the an- 
 cient gods, uses Tir for T : the German runes want- 
 ing a Z=T, apply Ziu : there is however another 
 rune, similar in shape to the runic T, but having 
 the power of EA ; this bears the name of Ear, but 
 sometimes also in MSS. that of Tir : there are ety- 
 mological grounds on which the word Tir, gloria, 
 must be connected with Tiw, and we are hence led 
 to the supposition that Ear may have been another 
 name for that god. This gains a great importance 
 when we bear in mind that in some parts of south 
 Germany, the third day of the week is called, not 
 Zistag, but Ertag, Eritag, Erichtag, for which we 
 should indeed have expected Erestag : and when 
 we find in Saxon Westphalia an undeniably hea- 
 then spot called Eresburg, Mons Martis, now Mers- 
 berg, i. e. Eresberg, the hill of Er, Ziu or Mars. 
 
 Now the Anglosaxon poem on the runic charac- 
 ters has something to tell us of Ear. It says of him. 
 
 Ear biS egle 
 eorla gehwylcum, 
 Sonne faestlice 
 flsesc onginneS 
 hra oolian, 
 hrusan ceosan 
 blac to gebeddan. 
 Blteda gedreosaS, 
 wynna gewitaS, 
 wera geswioaS '. 
 
 ' Deut. Myth. pp. 180,181. 
 
 ' On the Eunes of the Anglosaxons, by J. M. Kemble. Archaeo- 
 logia, vol. xxviii. 
 
 VOL. I. 2 A 
 
364 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 that is, " Ear is a terror to every man, when fast 
 the flesh, the corpse beginneth to become cold and 
 pale to seek the earth for a consort. Joy faileth, 
 pleasure departeth, engagements cease." It is clear 
 that Ear, spica, arista, will not explain this, and we 
 may believe that our forefathers contemplated the 
 personal intervention of some deity whose contact 
 was death. This may have been Tiw or Ear, espe- 
 cially in the battle-field, and here he would be equi- 
 valent to the "Apric jSjooToXoiyoc fiiaKpovoc of Homer. 
 More than this we shall hardly succeed in 
 rescuing : but there yet remains a name to consider, 
 which may possibly have tended to banish the more 
 heathen one of Tiw. Among all the expressions 
 which the Anglosaxons used to denote a violent 
 death, none is more frequent than wig fornam, or 
 wig gesceod, in which there is an obvious person- 
 ality, Wig (War) ravished away the doomed : here 
 no doubt war was represented as personally inter- 
 vening, and slaying, as in other similar cases we 
 find the feminines Hild, Gu^, which are of the same 
 import, and the masculines Swylt, Dea^, mors. The 
 abstract sense which also lay in the word wig, and 
 enabled it to be used without offence to Christian 
 ears, may have been a reason for its general adop- 
 tion in cases where at an earlier period Tiw would 
 have been preferred. Old glossaries give us the 
 rendering Wig Mars, and Hild, Bellona : it is there- 
 fore not at all improbable that these words were 
 purposely selected to express what otherwise must 
 have been referred to a god of perilous influence : 
 Wig was a more general, and therefore less dan- 
 gerous name than Tiw, to recal to the memory of a 
 
CH. xn.] HEATHENDOM. WI'G. 855 
 
 people prone to apostasy. That the latter survived 
 in the name of a weekday serves only to show that it 
 was too deeply grounded to be got rid of; perhaps its 
 very familiarity in that particular relation rendered 
 it safe to retain the name of any deity, as was done 
 by five out of the seven days. But Christianity 
 was tolerant of heathen names in other than hea- 
 then functions, and in the genealogy of the kings 
 of Wessex, Wig is the father of Gewis, the epony- 
 mus of the race. I have already expressed my be- 
 lief that this name represented either Woden or 
 Tiw, and think it very likely that it was the latter, 
 inasmuch as the paganism of the Gewissas seems to 
 have been remarkable, beyond that of other Anglo- 
 saxon tribes : " Sed Britanniam perveniens, ac pri- 
 mum Gewissorum gentem ingrediens, cum omnes 
 ibidem paganissimos inveniret," etc.^ " Intrante 
 autem episcopo in portum occidentalium Saxonum, 
 gentem qui antiquitus Gewisse vocabantur, cum 
 omnes ibidem paganissimos inveniret," etc.^ The 
 events described are of the year 634. We find that 
 Tiw enters into the composition of the names of a 
 few plants^ ; on the other hand it is never found in 
 the composition of proper names, any more than 
 Tir ; although now Tirberht or Tirwulf would seem 
 quite as legitimate compounds as Eadberht, Sige- 
 berht, Eadwulf, Sigewulf 
 
 FREA', in Old-norse FREYR, in Old-german 
 FEO. — The god whom the Norse mythology cele- 
 
 ' Beda, Hist. Ecc. iii. 7. ^ Johann. Tynem. Legend. Nova, fol. 38. 
 ' Thus Old-norse Tysfiola, Tyrhjalm, TysvKr. 
 
 2 a2 
 
333 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 brates under the name of Freyer must have borne 
 among us the name of Frea. It is probable that he 
 enjoyed a more extensive vporship in all parts of 
 Europe than we can positively demonstrate. At 
 present we are only enabled to assert that the prin- 
 cipal seat of his worship was at Upsala among the 
 Swedes. In general there is not much trace in the 
 North of phallic gods ; but an exception must be 
 made at once in the case of Freyr. One of the 
 most beautiful poems of the Edda ^ tells how Freyr 
 languished for desire of the beautiful Gerdr ; it was 
 for her love that he lost the sword, the absence of 
 which brings destruction upon him in the twilight 
 of the Gods. The strongest evidence of his pecu- 
 liar character is found in the passage already cited 
 from Adam of Bremen 2, and what he says of the 
 shape under which Frea was represented at Upsala : 
 " Tertius est Fricco, pacem, voluptatemque largiens 
 mortalibus ; cujus etiam simulachrum fingunt in- 
 genti Priapo." The fertilizing rains, the life-bring- 
 ing sunshine, the blessings of fruitfulness and peace 
 were the peculiar gifts of Freyr ^ ; and from Adam 
 of Bremen again we learn that he was the god of 
 marriage : " Si nuptiae celebrandae sunt, sacrificia 
 oflferunt Fricconi." In his car he travelled through 
 the land, accompanied by a choir of young and 
 
 ' For Skirnis. The legend of Geat and Mas^liild however must have 
 been of this character : and thus Woden may have been in some sort a 
 phallic Hermes. 
 
 " M. Adami Bremensis lib. de situ Daniae. Ed. 1629, p. 23. Ihre, 
 in his Gloss. Sueogoth. mentions forms dug up in the North which 
 clearly prove the prevalence of phallic rites. 
 
 ' See Grimm, Mytholr p. 193 seq. 
 
CH.xn.] HEATHENDOM. FEEA'. 357 
 
 blooming priestesses^, and wherever he came plenty 
 and peace abounded. The beast sacred to Freyr 
 was the boar, and it is not improbable that various 
 customs and superstitions connected with this ani- 
 mal may have had originally to do with his wor- 
 ship. It is not going too far to assert that the 
 boar's head which yet forms the ornament of our 
 festive tables, especially at Christmas, may have 
 been inherited from heathen days, and that the 
 vows made upon it, in the middle ages, may have 
 had their sanction in ancient paganism. But it is 
 as an amulet that we most frequently meet with the 
 boar in Anglosaxon. Tacitus says of the iEstyi, 
 that, in imitation of the Suevish custom, " Matrem 
 deum venerantur ; insigne superstitionis, formas 
 aprorum gestant. Id pro armis omniumque tutela ; 
 securum deae cultorem etiam inter hostes prae- 
 stat^." The relation between Frea and the Mater 
 deorum is a near one. Now the Anglosaxon poems 
 consider a boar's form or figure so essential a por- 
 tion of the helmet, that they use the word eofor, 
 aper, for that part of the armour : 
 
 het 8d inberan he commanded them to bring in 
 
 eofor heafordsegn, the boar (i. e. helmet) the ornament 
 
 of the head, 
 heaSostedpne helm. the helmet lofty in battle'. 
 
 And still more closely, with reference to the virtues 
 of this sign : 
 
 eoforlic scionon the forms of boars they seemed 
 
 ofer hleor beran above their cheeks to bear 
 
 ' Fornman. Sog. ii. 73 seq. 
 
 ' Germ. xlv. ' Beow. 1. 4299 seq. 
 
358 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 gekroden golde, adorned with gold, 
 
 fah and ffrheard various and hardened in the fire 
 
 ferhwearde heold. it held the guard of life ^ 
 
 And again : 
 
 ac se hwita helm but the white helmet 
 
 hafelan werede, guarded the head, 
 
 since geweortSad, adorned with treasure, 
 
 hefongen freawrasnum, set about with lordly signs, 
 
 swa bine fyrndagum as it in days of yore 
 
 worhte wsepna smiS, the armourer made, 
 
 wundrum teode, wondrously produced, 
 
 besette swinlicum, set it about with shapes of boars, 
 
 Sset hine syt5San no that afterwards neither 
 
 brond ne beadomecas brand nor warknife 
 
 bftan ne meahton. might penetrate it^. 
 
 Grimm citing this passage goes so far as even to 
 render "frea wrasnum" by FrotJionis sigm's, and thus 
 connects it at once with Frea^ ; and we may admit 
 at all events the great plausibility of the sugges- 
 tion. But though distinct proof of Frea's worship 
 in England cannot be supplied during the Saxon 
 period, we have very clear evidence of its still sub- 
 sisting in the thirteenth century. The following 
 extraordinary story is found in the Chronicle of 
 Lanercost^ an. 1268. "Pro fidei divinae integri- 
 tate servanda recolat lector quod, cum hoc anno 
 in Laodonia pestis grassaretur in pecudes.armenti, 
 quam vocant usitate Lungessouth, quidam bestiales, 
 
 ' Bedw. 1. 604 seq. 
 
 ^ Ibid. 1. 2895. ^ Mythol. p. 195. 
 
 * Edited in 1839 by the Rev. J. Stevenson for the members of the 
 Bannatyne and Maitland Clubs. 
 
CH. XII.] HEATHENDOM. FREA'. 359 
 
 habitu claustrales non animo, docebant idiotas pa- 
 triae ignem confrictione de lignis educere et simu- 
 lachrum Priapi statuere, et per haec bestiis suc- 
 currere. Quod cum unus laicus Cisterciencis apud 
 Fentone fecisset ante atrium, aulae, ac intinctis 
 testiculis canis in aquam benedictam super ani- 
 malia sparsisset, ac pro invento facinore idola- 
 triae dominus villae a quodam fideli argueretur, 
 ille pro sua innocentia obtendebat, quod ipso ne- 
 sciente et absente fuerant haec omnia perpetrata, 
 et adiecit, et cum ad usque hunc mensem Junium 
 aliorum animalia languerent et deficerent, mea 
 semper sana erant, nunc vero quotidie mihi mori- 
 untur duo vel tria, ita quod agricultui pauca super- 
 sunt." 
 
 Fourteen years later a similar fact is stated to 
 have occurred in a neighbouring district, at Inver- 
 keithing, in the present county of Fife. 
 
 " Insuper hoc tempore apud Inverchethin, in 
 hebdomada paschae [_Mar. 29 — Ap. 5], sacerdos 
 parochialis, nomine Johannes, Priapi prophana pa- 
 rans, congregatis ex villa puellulis, cogebat eas, 
 choreis factis, Libero patri circuire ; ut ille feminas 
 in exercitu habuit, sic iste, procacitatis causa, mem- 
 bra humana virtuti seminariae servientia super as- 
 serem artificiata ante talem choream praeferebat, 
 et ipse tripudians cum cantantibus motu mimico 
 omnes inspectantes £t verbo impudico ad luxuriam 
 incitabat. Hi, qui honesto matrimonio honorem 
 deferebant, tam insolente officio, licet reverentur 
 personam, scandalizabant propter gradus eminen- 
 tiam. Si quis ei seorsum ex amore correptionis 
 
360 THE SAXOXS Es ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 sermonen inferret, fiebat deterior, et conviciis eos 
 impetebat." 
 
 It appears that this priest retained his benefice 
 until his death, which happened in a brawl about 
 a year later than the events described above ; and 
 it is very remarkable that the scandal seems to 
 have been less at the rites themselves than at their 
 being administered by a person of so high a cleri- 
 cal dignity. Grimm had identified Freyr or Frowo 
 with Liber : it will be observed that his train of 
 reasoning is confirmed by the name Liber Pater, 
 given in the chronicler's recital. The union of the 
 Needfire with these Priapic rites renders it proper to 
 devote a few words to this particular superstition. 
 
 The needfire, nydffr, jSTew-german nothfeuer, was 
 called from the mode of its production, confrictimie 
 de lignis, and though probably common to the Kelts^ 
 as well as Teutons, was long and well known to all 
 the Germanic races at a certain period. All the 
 fires in the village were to be relighted from the 
 virgin flame produced by the rubbing together of 
 wood, and in the highlands of Scotland and Ireland 
 it was usual to drive the cattle through it, by way 
 of lustration, and as a preservative against disease 2. 
 
 ^ See Jamieson's Scottish Dictionary, voc. Beltane, and Boucher's 
 Glossary by Stevenson. 
 
 ^ In the Mirror of June Mth, 1826, there is the account of this ha- 
 ving been done in Perthshire, on occasion of a cattle epidemic. " A 
 wealthy old farmer, having lost several of his cattle by some disease 
 very prevalent at present, and being able to account for it in no way 
 so rationally as by witchcraft, had recourse to the following remedy, 
 recommended to him by a weird sister in his neighbourhood, as an 
 effectual protection from the attacks of the foul fiend. A few stones 
 were piled together in the barnyard, and woodcoals having been laid 
 
CH. xn.] HEATHENDOM. NEEDFIRE. 361 
 
 But there was another curious ceremony connected 
 with the lighting of fires on St. John's eve, — pro- 
 bably from the context, on the 23rd of June. A 
 general reference for this may be made to Grimm's 
 Mythologie, pp. 570-592, under the general heads 
 of Nothfeuer, Bealtine and Johannisfeuer ; but the 
 following passage, which I have not seen cited be- 
 fore, throws light on Grimm's examples, and adds 
 some peculiarities of explanation. It is found in an 
 ancient MS. written in England and now in the 
 Harleian collection, No. 2345, fol. 50. 
 
 " Eius venerandam nativitatem cum gaudio cele- 
 brabitis ; dico eius nativitatem cum gaudio ; non 
 illo cum gaudio, quo stulti, vani et prophani, ama- 
 tores mundi huius, accensis ignibus, per plateas, 
 turpibus et illicitis ludibus, commessationibus, et 
 ebrictatibus, cubilibus et impudicitiis intendentes 
 
 illam celebrare solent Dicamus de tripudiis 
 
 quae in vigilia sancti Johannis fieri solent, quorum 
 tria genera. In vigilia enim beati Johannis coUi- 
 gunt pueri in quibusdam regionibus ossa, et quae- 
 dam alia immunda, et insimul cremant, et exinde 
 producitur fumus in aere. Faciunt etiam brandas 
 et circuunt arva cum brandis. Tercium de rota 
 
 thereon, tlie fuel was ignited by will-fire, tliat is fire obtained by fric- 
 tion; the neighbours having been called in to witness the solemnity, 
 the cattle were made to pass through the flames, in the order of their 
 dignity and age, commencing with the horses and ending with the 
 swine. The ceremony having been duly and decorously gone through, 
 a neighbouring farmer observed to the enlightened owner of the herd, 
 that he, along with his family, ought to have followed the example of 
 the cattle, and the sacrifice to Baal would have been complete." The 
 will-fire has been used in Devonshire for the same purpose, within the 
 memory of man. 
 
362 THE SAXONS ESf ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 quam faciunt vohi : quod, cum immunda cremant, 
 hoc habent ex gentilibus. Antiquitus enim dra- 
 cones in hoc tempore excitabantur ad libidinem 
 propter calorem, et volando per aera frequenter 
 spermatizabantur aquae, et tunc erat letalis, quia 
 quicumque inde bibebant, aut moriebantur, aut 
 grave morbum paciebantur. Quod attendentes phi- 
 losophi, iusserunt ignem fieri frequenter et spar- 
 sim circa puteos et fontes, et immundum ibi cre- 
 mari, et quaecumque immundum reddiderunt fu- 
 mum, nam per talem fumum sciebant fugari dra- 
 cones .... Rota involvitur ad significandum quod 
 sol tunc ascendit ad alciora sui circuli et statim 
 regreditur, inde venit quod volvitur rota." 
 
 An ancient marginal note has ionfires, intending 
 to explain that word by the bones burnt on such 
 occasions. Grimm seems to refer this to the cult 
 of Baldr or Beeldeeg, with which he connects the 
 name Beltane; but taking all the circumstances 
 into consideration, I am inclined to attribute it 
 rather to Frea, if not even to a female form of the 
 same godhead, Fricge, the Aphrodite of the North. 
 Frea seems to have been a god of boundaries ; pro- 
 bably as the giver of fertility and increase, he gra- 
 dually became looked upon as a patron of the fields. 
 On two occasions his name occurs in such bounda- 
 ries, and once in a manner which proves some tree 
 to have been dedicated to him. In a charter of the 
 year 959 we find these words : " ^onne andlang 
 herpa^es on Frigedseges treow," — thence along the 
 road to Friday's (that is Frea's) tree^; and in a 
 
 ' Cod. Dipl. No. 1221. 
 
CH. xn.] HEATHENDOM. B^LD^G. 863 
 
 similar document of the same century we have a 
 boundary running "o^ 'Sone Frigedseg." There is 
 a place yet called Fridaythorpe, in Yorkshire. Here 
 Frigedseg appears to be a formation precisely similar 
 to Bseldseg, Swsefdaeg, and Wsegdseg, and to mean 
 only Frea himself. 
 
 BALD^G, in Old-norse BALDR, in Old-ger- 
 man PALTAC. — The appearance of Bseldseg among 
 Woden's sons in the Anglosaxon genealogies, would 
 naturally lead us to the belief that our forefathers 
 worshiped that god whom the Edda and other le- 
 gends of the North term Baldr, the father of Brand, 
 and the Phoebus Apollo of Scandinavia. Yet be- 
 yond these genealogies we have very little evidence 
 of his existence. It is true that the word bealdor 
 very frequently occurs in Anglosaxon poetry as a 
 peculiar appellative of kings, — nay even as a name 
 of God himself, — and that it is, as far as we know, 
 indeclinable, a sign of its high antiquity. This 
 word may then probably have obtained a general 
 signification which at first did not belong to it, 
 and been retained to represent a king, when it had 
 ceased to represent a god. There are a few places 
 in which the name of Balder can yet be traced : 
 thus Baldersby in Yorkshire, Balderston in Lanca- 
 shire, Bealderesleah and Baldheresbeorh in Wilt- 
 shire ^ : of these the two first may very likely have 
 arisen from Danish or Norwegian influence, while 
 the last is altogether uncertain. Save in the gene- 
 alogies the name Bseldseg does not occur at all. 
 
 1 Ood. Dipl. No. 1059, 92. 
 
364 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 But there is another name under which the Anglo- 
 saxons may possibly have known this god, and that 
 is Pol or Pal. 
 
 In the year 1842 a very extraordinary and very 
 interesting discovery was made at Merseberg : upon 
 the spare leaf of a MS. there were found two me- 
 trical spells in the Old-german language : these 
 upon examination were at once recognized not only 
 to be heathen in their character, but even to con- 
 tain the names of heathen gods, perfectly free from 
 the ordinary process of Christianization. The one 
 with which we are at present concerned is in the 
 following words : 
 
 Phol endi Wodan Phol and Wodan 
 
 vuonin zi holza, went to the ■wood, 
 
 da wart demo Balderea volon then of Balder's colt 
 
 sin vuoz birenkit ; the foot was wrenched ; 
 
 thu biguolen Sinthgunt, then Sinthgunt charmed him, 
 
 Sunna era suister, and her sister Sunna, 
 
 thu biguolen Frhi, then Frua charmed him, 
 
 Volla era suister, and her sister Folia, 
 
 thu biguolen Wodan, then Woden charmed him, 
 
 so he wola conda : as he well could do : 
 
 sose benrenki, sose bluotrenki, both wrench of bone, and 
 
 wrench of blood, 
 
 sose lidirenki ; and wrench of limb ; 
 
 ben zi bena, bone to bone, 
 
 bluot zi bluoda, and blood to blood, 
 
 lid zi geliden, Umb to limb, 
 
 sose gelimida sin. as if thej- were glued together. 
 
 The general character of this poem is one well 
 known to us : there are many Anglosaxon spells of 
 the same description. What makes this valuable 
 beyond all that have ever been discovered, is the 
 
CH. xu.] HEATHENDOM. POL. 365 
 
 number of genuine heathen names that survive in 
 it, which in others of the same kind have been re- 
 placed by other sanctions ; and which teach us the 
 true meaning of those which have survived in the 
 altered form. In a paper read before the E.oyal 
 Academy of Sciences in Berlin, Grimm identified 
 Phol with Baldr^, and this view he has further de- 
 veloped in the new edition of his Mythology 2. It 
 is confirmatory of this view that we possess the 
 same spell in England, without the heathendom, 
 and where the place of the god Baldr is occupied 
 by that of our Lord himself. The English version 
 of the spell runs thus : 
 
 The lord rade, 
 and the foal slade ; 
 He lighted 
 and he righted ; 
 set joint to joint 
 and hone to hone, 
 sinew to sinew. 
 Heal, in the Holy Ghost's name' ! 
 
 It will be admitted that this is something more 
 than a merely curious coincidence, and that it leads 
 to an induction of no little value. Now it appears 
 to me that we have reasonable ground to believe 
 our version quite as ancient and quite as heathen 
 as the German one which still retains the hea- 
 then names, and that we have good right to sup- 
 pose that it once referred to the same god. How 
 
 ' " Ueher zwei entdeckte Gedichte aus der Zeit des deutschen Hei- 
 denthiuns. Von Jacob Grimm." Vorgelesen in der Kbnigl. Akademie 
 der Wissenschaften, am 3 Febr. 1842, pp. 10, 11. 
 
 ^ Deut. Mythol, p. 205. ' Chalmers's Nursery Tales. 
 
366 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 then was this god named in England 1 Undoubt- 
 edly Pol or PaP. Of such a god we have some 
 obscure traces in England. We may pass over 
 the Appolyn and Apollo, whom many of our early 
 romancers number among the Saxon gods, al- 
 though the confused remembrance of an ancient 
 and genuine divinity may have lurked under this 
 foreign garb, and confine ourselves to the names of 
 places bearing signs of Pol or Pal. Grimm has 
 shown that the dikes called Phalgraben in Germany 
 are much more likely to have been originally Pfol- 
 
 ' Though little fond of modem Anglosaxon Terses, of modern Latin 
 hexameters or modern Greek iambics, I shall give a translation of these 
 two spells, for the purpose of comparison : 
 
 Pol and Woden 
 
 to wuda fdron 
 
 Bealdres folan wear's 
 
 fot bewrenced ; 
 
 ■Sa bine Sa%u^ begol, 
 
 Sunne hire sweoster, 
 
 ^a hine Frye begol, 
 
 Folle hire sweoster, 
 
 ■Sa hine Woden begol 
 
 Bwa he wel cii'Se : 
 
 swa sy bauwrence, swa sy blodwrence^ 
 
 swa sy li'Swrence ; 
 
 ban to bane, 
 
 bldd to bldde, 
 
 li« to ]i«e, 
 
 swa swa gelimede syn. 
 
 And thus the English one : 
 
 Dryhten rad, 
 fola slad ; 
 se lihtode 
 and rihtode ; 
 sette li« to li«e 
 eac swa ban to bane, 
 sinewe to sinewe. 
 Hal wes tSu, on fea Halgan Gastes naman ! 
 
CH. xn.] HEATHENDOM. POL. 367 
 
 graben, and his conclusion applies equally to Pal- 
 grave, two parishes in Norfolk and Suffolk: — so 
 Wodnes Die, and the Devil's Dike between Cam- 
 bridge and Newmarket. Polebrooke in North- 
 amptonshire, Polesworth in Warwickshire, Pol- 
 hampton in Hants ^, Polstead in Suffolk, Polstead 
 close under Wanborough (Wodnesbeorh) in Surrey, 
 — which is remarkable for the exquisite beauty of 
 its springs of water, — Polsden in Hants, Polsdon 
 in Surrey, seem all of the same class. To these 
 we must add Polsley and Polthorn, which last 
 name would seem to connect the god with that par- 
 ticular tree : last, but not least, we have in Poling, 
 in Sussex, the record of a race of Polingas, who 
 may possibly have carried up their genealogy to 
 Bseldseg in this form. 
 
 The myth of Baldr in the North is one of the 
 most beautiful and striking in the whole compass 
 of their mythology : it is to be lamented that no 
 trace of it remains in our own poems. Still Baldr's 
 lay may not have been entirely without influence 
 upon the progress of Christianity among the Saxons, 
 if, as is probable, it resembled in its main features 
 the legend of the Scandinavians. For them he was 
 the god of light and grace, of splendour, manly ex- 
 cellence and manly beauty. A prophecy that Baldr 
 would perish afflicted the gods ; Frigga took an 
 oath from all created nature that no individual 
 thing would harm the pride of the ^sir, the dar- 
 
 1 PoliMmatiin. Cod. Dipl. Noa. 642, 752, 1136, 1187. Polesleah in 
 Wilts. Ood. Dipl. No. 641. Polstede in Suffolk. Cod. Dipl. No. 685. 
 PolJ>orn in Worcester. Ood. Dipl. No. 61. Polleham, No. 907. 
 
368 
 
 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 ling of the Asyniar. A sprig of mistletoe, at that 
 time too young to enter into so solemn an obliga- 
 tion, was alone, and fatally, excepted. The invul- 
 nerability of the god induced him to offer himself 
 as a mark for the practice of his relatives and 
 friends. Maces, axes and spears fell innocuous 
 from his sacred frame ; but Loki placed a sprig of 
 mistletoe in the hand of the blind Haudr^, and 
 with this, the sole thing that could not be forsworn, 
 he slew his brother. An effort still remained to be 
 made. 0}iinn himself descended to the abode of 
 Hel, in hopes of persuading the goddess of the dead 
 to relinquish her prey. He was successful, and re- 
 turned with the joyful intelligence that Baldr would 
 be restored to the gods, if all created nature would 
 weep for him. All nature did weep for the loss of 
 the god of beauty, save one old crone. When called 
 upon to do her part in his restoration she answered, 
 " What have the gods done for me, that I should weep 
 for Baldr ^ Let Hel keep her dead ! " It is thought 
 that it was Loki who had assumed the old woman's 
 form. Thus Baldr's fate was sealed. The faithful 
 Nanna^ would not survive her beautiful lord, and 
 the gods and goddesses attended round the pile 
 on which their two cherished companions were re- 
 
 - In Anglosaxon, Hea^o, wliich however lias almost always the abs- 
 tract sense of war. 
 
 ' In Anglosaxon, Nd^ : tMs occurs rarely save in composition, where 
 it seems to denote hrayery or courage. But it is to be observed that 
 nd^ is the name of a ship or large boat ; and it is worth inquiry whe- 
 ther the Teutonic goddess Ziza, probably in Anglosaxon Tate, may not 
 have been identical with this Nanua, instead of Frouwa. The dragging 
 about a boat or -ship was peculiar to Ziza's worship. Deut. Myth. 
 p. 237, seq. 
 
CH. XII.] HEATHENDOM. POL. 869 
 
 duced to dust together. But the slain god could 
 hope for no resurrection : his throne was placed 
 in the shadowy realm of Hel, and weeping virgins 
 spread the eternal pall that was to give dreary 
 honour to the god of light in the cold kingdom of 
 darkness and the invisible. The posthumous son, 
 or more likelyre-birth, of the god, avenged his father 
 upon the wretched instrument of Loki's wiles. Yet 
 those who had fathomed the deeper mysteries of the 
 creed knew well enough that Baldr was to rise again 
 in triumph : after the twilight of the gods and the 
 destruction of the ancient world, he was to return 
 in glory and joy, and reign in a world where there 
 should be neither sin nor sorrow, nor destruction. 
 
 Of these details, the Anglosaxon mythology 
 knows nothing, in the forms which have survived : 
 and perhaps in this peculiar myth we may recog- 
 nize something of an astronomical character, which 
 can certainly not be attributed to other Northern 
 legends. However this may be, we must content 
 ourselves with the traces here given of Pol, as one 
 form of Baldr, and with the genealogical relation 
 which has been noticed. Meagre as these facts 
 undoubtedly are, they are amply sufficient to prove 
 that the most beloved of the Northern gods was 
 not altogether a stranger to their children in this 
 island. Perhaps the adoption of another creed 
 led to the absorption of this divinity into a person 
 of far higher and other dignity, which, while it 
 smoothed the way for the reception of Christianity, 
 put an end for ever to even the record of his suf- 
 ferings. 
 
 VOL. I. 2 b 
 
370 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 GEA'T, in Old-norse GAUTR, in Old-German 
 KO'Z. — A cursory allusion has already been made 
 to Geat, probably only another form of Woden, 
 since in the mythology of the North, 0|7inn is 
 Gautr, but certainly the eponymus of the Geatas, 
 that tribe of whom Beowulf was the champion and 
 afterwards the king. Geat appears in the AVest- 
 saxon genealogy as a progenitor of Woden, but this 
 collocation is unimportant in mythological inqui- 
 ries. It is probable that Gapt, whom Jornandes 
 places at the head of the Gothic genealogy, is only 
 a misreading of Gavt, which is the equivalent 
 Gothic form of Geat, and that Sigegeat, Angelgeat, 
 WaSelgeat, which occur in other Anglosaxon ge- 
 nealogies, are identical with him ^. His love for 
 Ma'Shild, a legend unknown to all the nations of 
 the North, save our own forefathers, is noticed in 
 the Exeter Book : it is there said, 
 
 We «8et MseShUde To M^tShild, we 
 
 monge gefmnon the tale have heard, 
 
 wurdon grundlease that endless was 
 
 Geates frige the love of Geat, 
 
 ^aet him seo sorglufu so that the paiu of love 
 
 sleep ealle binom. took all sleep from him^. 
 
 It is much to be regretted that this is all we learn 
 on this subject, which becomes very interesting when 
 
 ' And see Geijer, Gesch. Schwed. i. 30. Gaut, Gautrek, Algaut, 
 Gauthilld. Yngl. Sag. cap. 38. 
 
 Cod. Exon. p. 378. If Geat really he Woden, this is another ap- 
 proximation to Hermes in his phallic character. Altogether the myth 
 of the icpos yaixos, so constant in Greek mythology, is scarcely trace- 
 able in the North. The Woden worship, at least, may have had some- 
 thing more of the character of the Apollo worship among the Dorians. 
 
cH.xii.] HEATHENDOM. GEAT. 371 
 
 we remember how little trace there is of phallic 
 gods in the Northern mythology. But that Gedt 
 was a god, and not merely a hero, is not left 
 entirely to inference : it is distinctly asserted by 
 various and competent authorities : Nennius has 
 declared him to have been films dei, not indeed 
 the God of Hosts, and God of Gods, but of some 
 idol'^. But Asser, who was no doubt well acquainted 
 with the traditions of iElfred's family, says 2, " Quem 
 Getam dudum pagani pro deo venerabantur," 
 which is repeated in the same words by Elorence of 
 Worcester^ and Simeon of Durham^, and is con- 
 tained in a Saxon genealogy preserved in the Tex- 
 tus Koffensis, " Geata, 'Sene ^a hseSenan wurSedon 
 for God." We can therefore have no scruple about 
 admitting his divinity ; and a comparison of the 
 Gothic and Scandinavian traditions proves the be- 
 lief in it to have been widely held. The.name, which 
 is derived from geotan, to pour, most probably de- 
 notes only the special form in which Woden was 
 worshipped by some particular tribes or families ; 
 and the occurrence of it in the genealogies, only 
 the fact that such tribes or families formed part of 
 the national aggregates, to whose royal line it be- 
 longs. But nevertheless we must admit the per- 
 sonality attributed to him by those tribes, and the 
 probability of his having been', at least for them, 
 the national divinity. The circumstance of his 
 
 ' Nennius, § 31. Huntingdon follows Nennius, Hist. Angl. bk. ii. 
 " De Reb. Gest. ^Ifredi, an. 849. 
 ° Flor. Wig. Ohron. an. 849. 
 * De Reb. Gest. Regum, an. 849. 
 
 2b2 
 
372 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [booki, 
 
 name having left such deep traces as we perceive 
 in the quotations given above, proves not only the 
 especial divinity of the person, but perhaps also the 
 political power and importance of the worshippers i. 
 
 S^TEB/E. — Among the Gods invariably men- 
 tioned as having been worshipped by our forefathers 
 is one who answered to the Latin Saturnus, at least 
 in name. From the seventh week-day we may in- 
 fer that his Anglosaxon name was Ssetere, perhaps 
 the Placer or Disposer'^; for Sseteresdseg seems" a 
 more accurate form than Sseternesdseg which we 
 sometimes find. There are both names of places 
 and of plants formed upon the name of this god: 
 as Satterthwaite in Lancashire, Satterleigh in De- 
 vonshire and Sseteresbyrig ^ in the same county, of 
 which there appears to be no modern represeuta 
 tive ; while among plants the Gallicrus, or common 
 crowfoot, is called in Anglosaxon Satorla^e. The 
 appearance of Saturnus as an interlocutor in such 
 a dialogue as the Salomon and Saturn* is a further 
 evidence of divinity ; so that, taking all circum- 
 stances into account, it is probable that when Gre- 
 gory of Tours, Geoffry of Monmouth and others, 
 number him among the Teutonic gods, they are 
 not entirely mistaken. Now there has been a tra- 
 
 ' See the author's edition of Beowulf, vol. ii. Postscript to the Pre- 
 face. Leo's Beowulf, etc. ; and EttmuUer's Beowulf, etc., with the last 
 of whom, upon the maturest consideration, I find it impossihle to agree. 
 
 ' Grimm seems rather to imagine insidiator. Myth. p. 226. 
 
 5 Cod. Dipl. No. 81.S. 
 
 * An edition of the Anglosaxon dialogues on this suhject has heen 
 put forth by the author for the JKMvic Society. To this reference may 
 be made for full details respecting Saturnus. 
 
CH. XII.] HEATHENDOM. S^TEBE, 373 
 
 dition, in Germany at least, of a god Chrodo, or 
 Hruodo, whose Latin name was Saturn, and whose 
 figure is said to have been that of an old man 
 standing upon a fish, and holding in one hand a 
 bundle of flowers, while the other grasps a wheel. 
 Grimm imagines herein some Avorking of Slavonic 
 traditions 1, and following the Slavonic interpreters 
 connects this Chrodo with Kirt or Sitivrat, and 
 again with some Sanskrit legend of a Satjavrata^. 
 But the reasoning seems inconclusive, and hardly 
 sufficient to justify even the very cautions mode in 
 which Grimm expresses himself about this Slavo- 
 Germanic godhead^. More than this we cannot say 
 of the Anglosaxon Ssetere, whose name does not 
 appear in the royal genealogies ; nevertheless we 
 cannot doubt the existence of some deity whom our 
 forefathers recognized under that name. 
 
 ' It is with no disrespect to tlie unrivalled powers of Scott that I 
 enter my protest here against the false costutne of Ivanhoe ; a far more 
 serious objection no doubt is the way in which his brilliant contrast, 
 necessary to the success of a romance, has misled the historian. Had 
 Ivanhoe not appeared, we should not have had the many errors which 
 disfigure Thierry's Conquete de I'Angleterre par les Normands. But 
 when Scott makes Ulrica (Ulrica a Saxon female name !) calling upon 
 Zerneboek, as a god of her forefathers, he makes her talk absolute non- 
 sense. Some Mecklenburg or Pomeranian Saxons, in the immediate 
 neighbourhood of Slavonic populations, or mingled with them, may 
 possibly have heard of their god Czerny Bog, (the black gnd) contrasted 
 with Bjala Bog, (the white god), but assuredly no Anglosaxon ever 
 heard the name of any such deity ; nor does the chaunt of the vindictive 
 lady bear one single trace of Saxon character. In every matter of 
 detail, the romance is only calculated to mislead ; and this is to be re- 
 gretted, inasmuch as the beauty of the whole work renders it a certain 
 vehicle of error; — has rendered it already a snare to one estimable au- 
 thor. M. Thierry has related the effect produced upon his mind hy 
 Ivanhoe. See his Dix Ans d'Etudes Historiques : Preface. 
 
 ^ Deut. Myth. p. 227. ^ See Salomon and Saturn, p. 129, 
 
374 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 From the Gods we pass to the Goddesses : of these 
 we have indeed but scanty record in England. Of 
 the great and venerable goddess Fricge, Woden's 
 wife, we are only told that she gave her name to 
 the sixth day of the week ; and we must admit that 
 this is all we know of her, unless she be implied 
 under some other name, which is possible. 
 
 Beda in acquainting us with the ancient names 
 of the Anglosaxon months tells us of four which 
 were called from their especial reference to the 
 gods : these are Solmona^ or February ; Hre'Smo- 
 naS, March ; Eostermona'S, April ; and Blotmona^, 
 November. Solmona^ he says received its name 
 from the cakes which were offered to the gods at 
 that time^; Blotmona'S from the victims (cattle) that 
 were vowed for sacrifice; of the others he says^, 
 " HreSmona^ is called from a goddess of theirs, 
 — Eheda, to whom they sacrificed in that month. 
 Eostermona'S, which is now interpreted by the 
 'Paschal month,' had its name of old from a god- 
 dess of theirs named Eostre, to whom in this month 
 they offered celebrations." 
 
 The Scandinavian and German mythology are 
 alike destitute of these names ; although among 
 the many goddesses they recognize some two may 
 perhaps be identical with ours. The name Hre^e 
 may possibly mean severe, fierce, and denote a war- 
 like goddess ; but still I am more inclined to con- 
 nect it with the adjective Hro'S, glorious, famous, 
 
 ^ Can this word sol (perhaps s6V) be a contracted form of mfi f K 
 not, I cannot offer an explanation of it. 
 ^ De Natura Eerum, cap. xv. 
 
CH. xn.] HEATHENDOM. GODDESSES. 875 
 
 and to see in it the meaning of the great or glori- 
 ous goddess, that is, in some form or other, Fricge, 
 Woden's wife : it is however not to be forgotten 
 that the German Chrodo, in Anglpsaxon Hro'S or 
 even HreSe, is now admitted, and that this god 
 was in fact Saturn. It is true that we have more 
 than one fragmentary legend in which the name of 
 Saturn survives, but in a heroic rather than a god- 
 like form, and this may have been the cause of its 
 preservation : the Church found Saturn useful, and 
 kept him ; nor is it at all surprising that a change 
 of sex should have taken place : the same thing 
 happened with the German goddess Nerthus, who 
 reappears in the Norse god Niordr, and the classical 
 scholar will at once remember the god Lunus, as 
 well as the goddess Luna^. Whatever explanation 
 we may attempt to give of Hre'Se, it is clear that 
 she was a Saxon goddess to whom at stated periods 
 sacrifice was offered. The same thing may be said 
 of Eostre or Eastre, whose name must be etymolo- 
 gically connected with East, oriens, and who there- 
 fore was in all probability a goddess of brightness 
 and splendour, perhaps also a Beorhte or Bright 
 goddess : she may have been a goddess of light, of 
 the morning beams, of the newly awakening year, 
 when the sun first begins to recover power after the 
 
 ' The name of Nerthus stands in all the best MSS. of Tacitus' Ger- 
 mania, and the change of it into Herthus, though very plausible, was 
 unnecessary. One easily sees the cause of error ; it was thought that 
 Herthus, terra 7nater, was the Gothic Airthus, in Old-german Erdu, in 
 Anglosaxon EorSe. But there is no H in these words ; if there were 
 we should have had a Teutonic Vesta. The goddess's name was Nair- 
 thus, Nerdu, Ner'Se, and her corresponding form in Old-norse, Niordr. 
 
376 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 gloom and darkness of winter. That she was deeply 
 impressed upon the mind and feelings of the peo- 
 ple follows from her name having been retained for 
 the great festival of the church: it may also be 
 fairly argued that she was a mild and gentle di- 
 vinity, whom the clergy did not fear thus to com- 
 memorate. 
 
 Lye's dictionary cites another goddess, Ricen, 
 with the translation Diana, which he seems to have 
 taken from some Cotton MS. It stands too iso- 
 lated for us to make any successful investigation, 
 but I may be excused for calling to mind the fact 
 that Diana is mentioned by the versifying chroni- 
 clers as among the Saxon gods, and also that 
 the superstition known in Germany as the "Wild 
 Hunt," and which is properly connected with Wo- 
 den, goes very generally among us by the name of 
 Ludus Dianae. This, which became the founda- 
 tion of many a cruel persecution, under the name 
 of witchcraft, is spread over every part of Germany in 
 one form or another: sometimes it is [the daughter of] 
 Herodias who is compelled for ever to expiate her fatal 
 dancing ; at other times we have Miner\'a or Bertha, 
 Holda, Habundia, Dame Abonde, Domina, Hera — 
 the Lady, and so on. It is true that our fragmentary 
 remains of Saxon heathendom do not contain any 
 immediate allusions to this superstition, but yet it 
 can scarcely be doubted that it did exist here as it 
 did in every part of the continent^, and one there- 
 
 ' " In coutrariam partem est auctoritas decreti xxvi. 9. y. c. epi. Ita 
 ibi legitur. Illud non est obmittendum, quod quedam scelerate iiiuli- 
 eres retro post Sathan converse, demonum illusionibus et fantasma- 
 
CH. XII.] HEATHENDOM. MONSTERS. 377 
 
 fore would not willingly decide at once against there 
 having been some deity who might be translated by 
 Diana in the interpretatio Bomana. 
 
 FIENDS and MONSTEES.— The community of 
 belief, between the Germans of this island, of the 
 continent, and their Scandinavian kinsmen, does 
 not appear to have been confined to the beneficent 
 gods of fertility or warlike prowess. In the noble 
 poem of Beowulf we are made acquainted with a 
 monstrous fiend, Grendel, and his mother, super- 
 natural beings of gigantic birth, stature and dispo- 
 sition, voracious and cruel, feeding upon men, and 
 from their nature incapable of being wounded with 
 mortal weapons. The triumph of the hero over 
 these unearthly enemies forms the subject of one 
 half the poem. But Grendel, who, from the cha- 
 racteristics given above, may at once be numbered 
 among the rough, violent deities of nature, the 
 Jotnar^ of the North and Titans of classical my- 
 thology, is not without other records : in two or 
 three charters we find places bearing his name, and 
 it is remarkable that they are all connected more 
 or less with water, while the poem describes his 
 dwelling as a cavern beneath a lake, peopled with 
 
 tibua seducte/credunt se et profitentur cum Diana nocturnia Boris dea 
 paganorum, vel cum Herodiade et innumera multitudine mulierura, 
 equitare super quasdam bestias et multa terrarum spatia intempeste 
 noctis silentio pertransire, eius iussionibus obedire veluti domine, et 
 certis noctibus ad eius servitium evocari." Hieroiiymi Vieecomitis 
 opusculum Lamiarum vel Striarum. Mediol. 1490. John of Salisbury 
 notices this iu his Polyczaticus, and Henry More in his Mystery of 
 Godliness. See Salom. Sat. p. 125, seq. 
 
 ' In Beowulf he is continually called Eoten. 
 
378 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. , [book i. 
 
 Mcors and other supernatural beings of a fiendish 
 character. The references are Grindles pyt^, Grin- 
 dies bece^, and Grendles mere^. Grimm, by a com- 
 parison of philological and other data, identifies 
 Grendel with the Norse Loki, the evil-bringer, and 
 in the end destroyer of the gods^. The early con- 
 certed Anglosaxons who possessed another devil to 
 oppose to the Almighty in the Ragnaravkr^, could 
 easily reconcile themselves to the destruction of 
 Grendel by an earthly hero ; although the ancient 
 heathendom breaks out in the supernatural powers 
 attributed to the latter, and which placing him very 
 near the rank of the gods, induce a belief that Beo- 
 wulf contains only the shadow of an older myth 
 which may have been current far beyond the limits 
 of this island ^. It will be suflficient to call atten- 
 tion to the many German tales in which the devil's 
 mother figures as a principal actor, nay to our own 
 familiar expression, the devil's dam, to show how 
 essential this characteristic of the fiend was : the 
 devil of the Church had certainly no mother ; but 
 the old Teutonic evil spirit had, and Loki and 
 Grendel are alike in this. Even the religious view, 
 which naturally shaped itself to other influences, 
 could not escape the essential heathendom of this 
 idea : the devil who is so constant an agent in the 
 Anglosaxon legends, has, if not a mother, at least 
 a father, no less than Satan himself; but Satan lies 
 
 > Cod. Dipl. No. 59. " Ibid. No. 570. 
 
 » Ibid. No. 353. « Mytbologie, p. 222. 
 
 ' The Devil and the Pater Noster were to contend together at Dooms- 
 day : each was to assume fifteen different forms. Sal. Sat. p. 145. 
 ° See Beowulf, ii. Postscript, and the Stammtafel der Westsachsen. 
 
CH.xn.] HEATHENDOM. MONSTERS, 379 
 
 bound in hell, as Loki lies bound, and it is only as 
 his emissary and servant that the devil his son^ ap- 
 pears on earth, to tempt and to destroy. In Csed- 
 mon, the legend of St. AndrevF, Juliana, Gii^lac, 
 etc., it is always the devil's son and satellite vs'ho 
 executes his work on earth, and returns to give an 
 account of his mission to him that sent him. 
 
 Thus throughout the strange confusion which 
 besets all Anglosaxon compositions in which the 
 devil is introduced either as a tempter or a perse- 
 cutor of the holy and just, we may perceive a ray 
 of ancient heathendom, gloomy enough, no doubt, 
 but far less miserable than the vile materialism of 
 the notions with which it has been mixed up. The 
 rude Eoten or Titan is not nearly so repugnant to 
 our Christian ideas as the gross corporeal fiends 
 who have grown out of him, and who play so con- 
 spicuous a part in Anglosaxon hagiology or purgato- 
 rial legends : nor is it easy to conceive any supersti- 
 tion more degrading than that which Eastern or 
 perhaps even Eoman traditions thus engrafted upon 
 the ancient creed. With these we are not called 
 upon to deal in any further detail, for though they 
 
 ^ In the legend of Juliana, the suhordinate devil speaks of Satan as 
 his father and Iring. Cod. Exon. pp. 261, 273. And so also in Salo- 
 mon and Saturn (p. 141), he is called Satan's thane. Again, in the 
 same composition, Satan is called the devil's father : " The Pater Nos- 
 ter will shoot the devil with hoiling shafts ; and the lightning will burn 
 and mark him, and the rain will be shed over him, and the thick dark- 
 ness confuse him, and the thunder thrash him with the fiery axe, and 
 drive him to the iron chain wherein his father dwelleth, Satan and Sa- 
 thiel. "p. 149. In the legend of St. Andrew, Satan himself appears, 
 which may be owing to its Greek origin. See Vercelli Poems, Andr, 
 1. 2388 : still, in another passage Satan sends his children. Ibid. 1. 2692. 
 
380 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 have no claim whatever to be called Christian, they 
 certainly have nothing to do with Anglosaxon hea- 
 thendom. The Grendels and Nicors of our fore- 
 fathers were gods of nature, the spirits of the wood 
 and wave : they sunk into their degraded and dis- 
 gusting forms only when the devils of a barbarous 
 superstition came to be confounded and mixed up 
 with them. There is still something genuine and 
 poetical in the account which a monk of St. Gall 
 gives of the colloquy between the ancient gods 
 when the missionaries settled on the shores of the 
 lake of Constance ; when in the dead of night, the 
 holy anchoret watching at his nets. 
 
 Heard how the spirit of the flood 
 Spake to the spirit of the hill : 
 
 " Volvente deinceps cursu temporis, electus Dei 
 Gallus retia lymphae laxabat in silentio noctis, sed 
 inter ea audivit demonem de culmine mentis pari 
 suo clamantem, qui erat in abditis maris. Quo re- 
 spondente, 'Adsum!' montanus e contra: 'Surge,' 
 inquit, ' in adiutorium mihi ! Ecce peregrini vene- 
 runt, qui me de templo eiecerunt ;' nam Deos conte- 
 lebant, quos incolae isti colebant; insuper et eos ad 
 se convertebant ; ' Veni, veni, adiuva nos expellere 
 eos de terris!' Marinus demon respondit: 'En unus 
 illorum est in pelago, cui nunquam nocere potero. 
 Volui enim retia sua ledere, sed me victum proba 
 lugere. Signo orationis est semper clausus, nee 
 umquam somno oppressus.' Electus vero Gallus 
 haec audiens, munivit se undique signaculo crucis, 
 dixitque ad eos : ' In nomine Jesu Christi praecipio 
 vobis, ut de locis istis recedatis, nee aliquem hie 
 
CH. XII.] HEATHENDOM. MONSTERS. 881 
 
 ledere praesumatis ! ' Et cum festinatione ad littus 
 rediit, atque abbati suo, quae audierat, recitavit. 
 Quod vir Dei Columbanus audiens, convocavit 
 fratres in ecclesiam, solitum signuni tangens. O 
 miia dementia diaboli ! voces servorum Dei praeri- 
 puit vox fantasmatica, cum heiulatus atque ululatus 
 dirae vocis audiebatur per culmina [montium^]." 
 
 But words are hardly strong enough to express 
 the feeling with which an educated mind contem- 
 plates the fantastical, filthy and hideous images 
 which gross fanaticism strove to force into the ser- 
 vice of a religion whose end and means are love ; 
 the material terrors which were substituted for the 
 sanctions of the most spiritual, pure and holy creed ; 
 the vulgar, degrading and ridiculous phantasma- 
 goria devised to destroy the essential selfishness 
 and impurity of men, and startle them into justice 
 and righteousness of life ! The Teutonic Titans, 
 though terrible from their rude strength, and dan- 
 gerous even to the gods themselves, are neither 
 disgusting nor degrading : they are like Chronos 
 and Saturn, full of power and wisdom ; they are in 
 constant warfare with the gods, because the latter 
 are the representatives of a more humane order; 
 because the latter was more civilised : but as the 
 giant race were mighty at the beginning, so are they 
 to triumph at the end of the world ; and it is only 
 when they shall have succeeded in destroying the 
 
 ' Vit. Anon. Sci. Galli. Pertz, Monum. ii. 7. Pertz has justly called 
 attention to the metrical form of this colloquy. It is deeply to be la- 
 mented that we uo longer possess it in its earliest shape, and in the 
 language of its earliest composition. 
 
382 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 gods of 0>inn's race, that they will themselves va- 
 nish from the scene, and the glorious reign of All- 
 father commence. Loki alone has something mean 
 and tricksey in his character, something allied to 
 falsehood — a slight spice of the Mephistopheles. 
 But it is not probable that this belongs to his earliest 
 form, and it appears rather to mark the deteriora- 
 tion of a myth becoming popular, and assuming 
 traits of the popular, humorous spirit, which takes 
 delight in seeing power counteracted by cunning, 
 and revenges itself for the perfection of its heroes by 
 sometimes exposing them to ludicrous defeat. But 
 even Loki was at first the friend and associate of 
 the gods: he was united with them by the most 
 sacred bonds of brotherhood, and his skill and 
 wisdom secured them victory in many a dangerous 
 encounter. Like Lucifer, he had been a tenant of 
 heaven : why he and the gods ultimately parted in 
 anger we are not told ; but we find him pursuing 
 them with the utmost malice, till at length he 
 causes the death of Baldr. He is then bound and 
 cast beneath the worlds, the poisonous snake hangs 
 over him distilling torturing venom : his faithful 
 wife sits by and catches the drops as they fall, but 
 when the vessel in which she receives them is full 
 and she turns for a moment to empty it, the deadly 
 juice reaches the prostrate god, and in his agony 
 he trembles in every limb. This convulsion is 
 known to men as the earthquake. It is only in the 
 twilight of the gods that he will break his chain and 
 lead the sons of Muspel to avenge him upon the 
 race of Oj^tnn. 
 
CH. xn.] HEATHENI)O.AI. DEVIL. 383 
 
 But Loki is no devil in the Anglosaxon sense of 
 Satan and his son ; he is no deceiver or persecutor 
 of men ; least of all is he their torturer in another 
 world. He suffers indeed, but like Prometheus, or 
 Entelechus, or ^geon, and his hour of triumph is 
 to come. There is in his genuine character nothing 
 mean or little, — much indeed that is terrible, gloomy 
 and vague, but nothing ridiculous or disgusting. 
 The Saxon devil with horns, tail, cloven feet, sul- 
 phur and pitch, torches, red-hot tongs, pincers and 
 pitchforks is less creditable to the imagination, 
 and more dangerous to the moral being, of his in- 
 ventors. 
 
 Nor are the occupations of such a fiend less vul- 
 gar than his form : he blasts the corn, wounds the 
 cattle, fetters the hands of the doomed, enters the 
 mouth of those who have not guarded it by the sign 
 of the cross, and in a future state becomes the 
 torturer — in the most material and mechanical way 
 — of those whose life has been spent in the service 
 of sin. The coarse fancy of Marlowe himself halts 
 after the descriptions of the Anglosaxon divines and 
 poets, revelling in this fruitful theme. Unpleasant 
 as such records are, and revolting to our sense of 
 right, it is necessary that we should Icnow what was 
 taught or permitted by the clergy, if we are to know 
 anything of the mode of life and mode of belief of 
 our forefathers. 
 
 As early even as the eighth century, we find so 
 great a man as Beda condescending to admit into 
 his ecclesiastical history, such melancholy evidence 
 of Manichsean materialism as the vision of Driht- 
 
384 THE SAXOXS IN KNGLAND. [book i. 
 
 helm. He tells how such a man in Northumbria, 
 lying at the point of death, had fallen into a trance, 
 recovering from which and being restored to health, 
 he had entered the monastery of Mebose, in which 
 he continued till his death. During his trance he 
 had seen visions which he afterwards communicated 
 to Hamgisl a priest, Aldfri^ king of the Northum- 
 brians, and others. He related that on being re- 
 leased from the body his soul had been led by one, 
 bright of aspect, gloriously clothed, towards the 
 east, into a valley wide and deep and of a length 
 that seemed infinite : one side glowed terribly with 
 flames, the other was filled with furious hail and 
 freezing snow. Either side was full of human souls 
 which were tossed from left to right as by a tem- 
 pest. For when they could not bear the violence 
 of the immense heat, they rushed wretchedly into 
 the midst of the dreadful cold ; and when they 
 could find no rest there, they sprung back again, 
 again to burn in the midst of inextinguishable 
 flames. When Drihthelm saw them thus eternally 
 tormented by a crowd of deformed demons, he 
 thought within himself, " This is surely hell, of 
 whose intolerable tortures I have often heard tell !" 
 But his companion said, "This is not the hell thou 
 thinkest!" and proceeding further, he beheld how 
 the darkness began to thicken around and fill the 
 whole space before him. Suddenly in this deep 
 night he perceived globes of dusky fire cast up from 
 what seemed to be a vast well, into which they 
 fell again, without intermission. In the midst of 
 these horrors his conductor left him. On looking 
 
CH. XII.] HKATHBXDOM. DEVIL. 385 
 
 more intently, he now perceived that the tongues 
 of fire were all full of human souls, tossed aloft like 
 sparks in smoke, and then dragged back into the 
 abyss. And an incomparable stench, which bub- 
 bled up with the vapours, filled all those abodes 
 of darkness. Around him sounded the shouts and 
 taunts of fiends, like a vulgar mob exulting over 
 a captive enemy : suddenly a host of evil spirits 
 dragged through the darkness five souls, one of a 
 laic, one of a woman, one tonsured like a cleric, and 
 plunged them into the abyss amidst a confused roar 
 of lamentation and laughter. Then certain malig- 
 nant spirits ascending from the deep, surrounded 
 the trembling spectator, terrifying him with their 
 flaming eyes and the fire which burst from their 
 mouths and noses, and threatening to seize him 
 with fiery pincers which they held in their hands. 
 From this danger he was rescued by the return of 
 his companion, who conducted him to two corre- 
 sponding regions of eternal bliss, every one of whose 
 details is in the strongest contrast to those already 
 described, but just as material, as gross and sen- 
 sual. The moral of this is too important to be 
 given in any but Beda's own words. " And when, 
 on our return, we had reached those happy man- 
 sions of spirits clothed in white, he said unto me, 
 ' Knowest thou what all these things are which 
 thou hast beheld 1 ' I answered, ' No.' Then said 
 he, ' The valley which thou sawest, horrible with 
 its boiling flames and its stiff cold, that is the place 
 where shall be tried and chastised the souls of those 
 men, who delaying to confess and to amend their 
 VOL. I. 2 c 
 
386 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 sins, yet fly to penitence in the hour of death, and 
 thus leave the body : yet since they had confession 
 and penance even in death, shall all, at the day of 
 judgment, reach the kingdom of heaven. But 
 many, both the prayers of the living, and their alms 
 and fasts, and most of all the celebration of masses, 
 assist, so that they shall be freed even before the 
 day of judgment. But that flame-belching, putrid 
 well which thou hast seen is the mouth of hell it- 
 self, into which whoever shall fall, shall never be 
 set free for ever and ever. And that flowery place 
 in which thou sawest those most beauteous youths 
 enjoy themselves in splendour, is that wherein are 
 received the souls of those who indeed leave the 
 body in good works, but yet are not of such per- 
 fection that they may at once enter the kingdom of 
 heaven; who yet shall all, in the day of judgment, 
 enter into the sight of Christ, and the joys of the 
 heavenly kingdom. For they who are perfect in 
 every word and act and thought, immediately on 
 leaving the body shall reach the heavenly king- 
 dom ; to whose precincts that place belonged, where 
 thou heardest the sound of pleasant singing, toge- 
 ther with the smell of sweetness and the splendour 
 of light^.' " Having thus seen and heard, Drihthelm 
 was allowed to return to the body, where no doubt 
 he- became a powerful champion of Purgatory, 
 But Beda is not satisfied with this tale : he goes 
 on to tell of a Mercian noble, who would not go 
 to confession. At the point of death, be sees two 
 
 ' Beda, H. E. v. 12. 
 
CH.xn,] HEATHENDOM. DEVIL. 387 
 
 angels enter his room, bearing the record of his 
 good deeds, which fill but a small roll : having 
 caused him to read this, they make way for a 
 crowd of fiends, black and foul, who bear the enor- 
 mous tale of his sins of word, work and thought, 
 which also he is compelled to read. Then the leader 
 of the fiends turning to the sons of light exclaims, 
 " Why sit ye here, knowing assuredly that he is 
 ours ? " to which they reply, " Ye say truly : take 
 him, and lead him with you into the accumulation of 
 your own damnation ! " Upon this the good spirits 
 vanish, and two demons, a sort of Occidental Mun- 
 kir and Nekir, smite him with ploughshares on the 
 head and feet, and creep into him ; when they meet 
 within him, he dies and passes into everlasting 
 torments 1. This tale, which Beda heard from the 
 venerable bishop Pecthelm^, he refines upon, ex- 
 plains, and finishes by declaring that he relates it 
 simply for the salvation of those who shall read 
 or hear it. No doubt the distempered ravings of 
 monks, made half mad by inhuman austerities, un- 
 natural restrictions, and wretched themes of con-- 
 templation, would in themselves be of little worth : 
 we can comprehend the visions of a Saint Francis 
 de Salis, an Ignatius Loyola, a Peter the Hermit, a 
 Santa Theresa, and even more readily those of a 
 Drihthelm or a Madame Guyon : but how shall 
 
 ' Beda, H. E. v. 13. 
 
 ^ The first Bishop of Whiterne in Galloway, who died in 737. Any 
 one who desires to learn more of the miserable superstitions which Beda 
 could recommend, may see the account of Fursaeus (H. E. iii. 19), and 
 the MS. lives of the saint of which Mr. Steyeuson has given a notice 
 in his edition of Beda, pp. 197, 199, notep. 
 
 2 C2 
 
388 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND, [book i. 
 
 we understand the record of them by a Beda or a 
 Fenelon 1 
 
 Such authority as this was likely to be followed 
 with zeal ; once open, the career of unbridled fancy 
 was sure to find no limit; the more sure, since 
 then, as now, the fears and miseries of the mass 
 were sources of profit to the few. Then, as now, 
 there were rogues found who dared to step between 
 man and God, to clothe themselves in the coat 
 without seam, to make themselves the mediators 
 between eternal mercy and the perishing sinner. 
 Accordingly in later times we find variation upon 
 variation in the outline already so vigorously 
 sketched; William ofMalmesbury furnishes an ample 
 field for collectors of this kind of literature. I shall 
 content myself here with citing from the so often 
 quoted Salomon and Saturn two passages, which to 
 me are redolent of heathendom, disguised after the 
 fashion which has been described. 
 
 Mseg simle se Godes cwLde Ever may the God's word' 
 
 gumena gehwylcum, for every man, 
 
 ealra feonda gehwone every fiend 
 
 flednde gebringan, put to flight, 
 
 Surh mannes miiS, through, mouth of man, 
 
 manfulra heap the troop of evil ones, 
 
 sweartne geswencan ; the black troop, oppress ; 
 
 nsefre hie Sees syllfoe let them never so strangely 
 
 bleoum bregdatS change their colours 
 
 sefter bancofan, in,, their body, 
 
 feSerhoman onfoS. or assume plumage. 
 
 Hwilum flotan gri'paS, Sometimes they seize the sailor, 
 
 hwilum hie gewendaS sometimes they turn 
 
 ' That is, the Paternoster. 
 
CH. xn.J 
 
 HEATHENDOM. NICOE. 
 
 389 
 
 on Wynnes lie 
 Boearpes and stiooles, 
 stinga'c? nften 
 foldgongendc, 
 feoli gestrudaS ; 
 hwilum hie on "waetere 
 wiog gehn^gaS, 
 hornum geheawa^ 
 oSSset him heortan blod, 
 famig iiodes beeS, 
 foldan geseoeS. 
 H-wilum hie gefeteraS 
 feeges moanes handa, 
 gehefegaS Sonne he 
 set hilde soeall 
 wis laSwerud 
 lifes tiligan : 
 
 dwritaS hie on his waepne 
 waelnota heap. 
 
 into the body of a snake 
 sharp and piercing, 
 they sting the neat 
 going about the fields, 
 the cattle they destroy ; 
 sometimes in the water 
 they bow the horse, 
 with horns they hew him 
 until his heart's blood, 
 a foaming bath of flood, 
 falls to the earth. 
 Sometimes they fetter 
 the hands of the doomed, 
 they make them heavy when he 
 is called upon in war, 
 against a hostile troop 
 to provide for his life : 
 they write upon his weapon 
 a fatal heap of marks i- 
 
 Again we are told, in the same composition : 
 " And when the devil is very weary he seeketh the 
 cattle of some sinful man, or an unclean tree ; or 
 if he meeteth the mouth and hody of a man that 
 hath not been blessed with the sign of the cross, 
 then goeth he into the bowels of the man who hath 
 so forgotten, and through his skin and through his 
 flesh departeth into the earth, and from tnence 
 findeth his way into the desert of helP." 
 
 NICOE. — To the class of elemental gods must 
 originally have been reckoned the Nicor, or water- 
 spirit, whose name has not only been retained m the 
 Water Nixes of our own country, and in the Neck 
 
 ' Sal. Sat. pp. 143, 144. 
 
 ' Ibid. p. 149. 
 
390 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 of Germany, but in our own common name for the 
 devil. Old Nick. According to the account given in 
 Beovi'ulf, these Avere supernatural, elvish creatures 
 haunting the lakes, rivers and seas, ever on the 
 vyatch to injure the v\?ayfarer, and apparently en- 
 dowed with the power of creating tempests. In this 
 semi-Christian view they were fiendish and savage 
 enemies of the sailor, whom they pursued with horns 
 and tusks, dragged to the bottom of the waves and 
 then no doubt devoured i. Probably, like other su- 
 pernatural beings dreaded by our forefathers, they 
 were included in the family of ogres and monsters 
 descended from the first homicide. Yet it may be 
 doubted whether this was the original and heathen 
 sense of the word Nicor. As late as the thirteenth 
 century I find in an old German glossary Neckar 
 translated by Neptunus, the god of the sea ; and it 
 is notorious that one of the names borne by Ojjinn, 
 whenever he appears as a sea-god is Hniku);r and 
 Nikuz. Hence it is not unlikely that in their 
 ancient creed, the pagan Saxons recognized Nicer 
 as Woden. The name Hwala which occurs in the 
 genealogies, and like Geat may be assumed to be 
 only another name of Woden, confirms this view. 
 Hwala is formed from Hwsel, cetus, just as Scyldwa 
 is from Scyld, clypeus, and was probably only a 
 name of Woden as a sea-god. The danger attend- 
 ing the whale or walrus fishery ^ made the first at 
 least of these animals an object of superstitious 
 
 ' Beowulf, passim, 
 
 ' The fislierman in^lfric's dialogue disclaims any intention of whale- 
 iisHng, on account of its dangers. Thorpe, Anal. p. 24 
 
CH. XH.] HEATHENDOM. NIOOB. 391 
 
 dread to the Anglosaxon sailor ; perhaps, as in the 
 dase of the bear, natural peculiarities which are 
 striking enough even to our more scientific eyes, 
 helped to give an exceptional character to the mo- 
 narch of the Northern seas. Be this as it may, it 
 is not without importance that Hwala should appear 
 in the genealogies among names many of Avhich 
 are indisputably Woden's, that in Scandinavia and 
 Germany Nikuz or Necker should be names of the 
 sea-god, and that till a very late period, — when 
 the heathen gods had everywhere assumed the garb 
 of fiends and devils, — the Nicor should appear as 
 the monster of the deep far excellence. The mira- 
 culous power attributed to the Nicor, — in Beowulf 
 he is called " wundorlic weegbora," a supernatural 
 bringer of the waves, — is in itself evidence of earlier 
 godhead ; and in this sense I am disposed to identify 
 him with the demon marinus whom St. Gall defeated 
 by his constant watchfulness. In his altered and 
 degraded form we may also recognize the demon of 
 the lines lately cited, who stabs the horse with his 
 horns while crossing the water. The beautiful Nix 
 or Nixie who allures the young fisher or hunter to 
 seek her embraces in the wave which brings his 
 death, the Neck who seizes upon and drowns the 
 maidens who sport upon his banks, the river-spirit 
 who still yearly in some parts of Germany demands 
 tribute of human life, are all forms of the ancient 
 Nicor; but more genuine perhaps, — certainly more 
 pleasing, — is the Swedish Stromkarl, who from 
 the jewelled bed of his river, watches with delight 
 the children gambol in the adjoining meadows, and 
 
392 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 singing sweetly to them in the evening, detaches 
 from his hoary hair the sweet blossoms of the 
 water-lily, which he wafts over the surface to their 
 hands. 
 
 HEL. — Among the fearful beings whose power 
 was dreaded even by the gods, was Hel, mistress of 
 the cold and joyless under-world. Called, through 
 the fate of battle, to the glories of Wselheal, the 
 Teutonic or Norse hero trembled at a peaceful 
 death which would consign him to a dwelling 
 more desolate and wretched than even that which 
 awaited the fallen warriors of heroic Greece i, and 
 many a legend tells of those whose own hand saved 
 them from a futurity so abhorred^. But Hel was not 
 herself the agent of death ; she only received those 
 
 ' Odyssey, book xi. 
 
 ^ This is so completely familiar to the student of antiquity, that I 
 shall not multiply examples : they may he found in Bartholinus. But 
 one instance I may be excused for citing', inasmuch as it proves how 
 long the heathen spirit suryived despite the peaceful hope and promise 
 of Christianity. Henry of Huntingdon, in the sixth book of his history, 
 relates of Sigeweard the great duke of Northumberland, that hearing 
 of the loss of his son in battle, he exclaimed, " Recepitne vulnus le- 
 thale in anteriori vel posteriori corporis parte ? Dixerunt nuntii : In 
 anteriori. At ille : Gaudeo plane, non enim alio me, vel filium meum 
 digner funere." In 1055 however, oppressed with sickness, he found 
 that his desire was not to be fulfilled. " Siwardus, consul rigidissimus, 
 profluvio veutris ductus, mortem sensit imminere, dixitque : Quantus 
 pudor me tot in bellis mori non potuisse, ut vaccarum morti cum de- 
 decore reservarer ! Induite me saltern lorica mea impenetrabili, prae- 
 cingite gladio, sublimate galea : scutum in laeva, securim auratam mihi 
 ponite in dextra, ut militum fortissimus modo militis moriar. Dixerat, 
 et, ut dixerat, armatus honorifice spiritum exhalavit." Through every 
 word of this passage breathes the old heathen spirit of Haralldr Hil- 
 ditavn, and one feels that to Christianity alone it was owing, that Sige- 
 weard did not prevent an inglorious by a voluntary violent death. 
 
CH.xii.] HEATHENDOM. HEL. 393 
 
 who had not earned their seat in 0]jinn's hall by a 
 heroic fall, and the "Wselcyrian or Shieldmays were 
 the choosers of the slain. The realm of Hel was all 
 that Wselheal was not, — cold, cheerless, shadowy ; 
 no simulated war was there, from which the com- 
 batants desisted with renovated strength and glory ; 
 no capacious quaighs of mead, or cups of the life- 
 giving wine; no feast continually enjoyed and mi- 
 raculously reproduced ; no songs nor narratives of 
 noble deeds ; no expectation of the last great battle 
 where the einherjar were to accompany Allfather to 
 meet his gigantic antagonists ; no flashing Shield- 
 mays animating the brave with their discourse, and 
 lightening the hall with their splendour : but chill 
 and ice, frost and darkness ; shadowy realms with- 
 out a sun, without song or wine or feast, or the 
 soul-inspiring company of heroes, glorying in the 
 great deeds of their worldly life. 
 
 For the perjurer and the secret murderer Na- 
 strond existed, a place of torment and punishment 
 — the strand of the dead — filled with foulness, 
 peopled with poisonous serpents, dark, cold, and 
 gloomy: the kingdom of Hel M'as Hades, the in- 
 visible, the world of shadows ^ : Nastrond was what 
 we call Hell. Christianity however admitted no 
 goddess of death, and when it was thought neces- 
 sary to express the idea of a place of punishment 
 after death, the Anglosaxon united the realm of 
 
 ' So tlie Greeks : 
 
 Has eVXijs "Ai'Soorfie KarekBefxev, iv6a re v(Kpa\ 
 * A<l)pab€€s vaiovaij fiporaiv etStoXa Kay^ovrav, 
 
 Odyss. xi. 473, 
 
394 THK SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 Hel with Nastrond to complete a hideous prison 
 for the guilty : the prevailing idea in the infernal 
 regions of the Teuton is cold and gloom i; the poi- 
 sonous snakes, which waking or sleeping seem ever 
 to have haunted the Anglosaxon, formed a conve- 
 nient point of junction between his own traditional 
 hell and that which he heard of from the pulpit, 
 in quotations from the works of the Fathers ; and 
 to these and their influence alone can it be attri- 
 buted when we find flames and sulphur, and all the 
 hideous apparatus of Judaic tradition, adopted by 
 him. In this fact seems to me to lie a very import- 
 ant mark of ancient heathendom, and one which the 
 clergy themselves admitted, a belief in which they 
 shared, and which they did not scruple to impress 
 upon their flocks, even in spite of the contrary ten- 
 dency of their authorities : it will be sufficient to 
 refer to the description given of hell in the poetic 
 Salomon and Saturn, a composition redolent of 
 heathendom : on the defeat of the rebel angels, it 
 is said, God 
 
 him helle gescop, for them he made hell, 
 
 ■wselcealde wic, a dwelling deadly cold, 
 
 wintre heSeahte : with winter covered : 
 
 waster insende water he sent in 
 
 and wyrmgeardas, and snake-dwellings, 
 
 atol deor monig many a foul beast 
 
 irenum hornum ; with horns of iron ; 
 
 blodige eamas bloody eagles 
 
 and blace nsedran ; and pale adders ; 
 
 1 Fire was too cheerful in the North to he sufficiently an object of 
 terror : it appeared otherwise in the East, where coolness is the greatest 
 of luxuries. 
 
CH. XII.] HEATHENDOM. HEL. 395 
 
 first and hungor thirst and hunger 
 
 and fearle gewin, and fierce conflict, 
 
 eacne egesan, mighty terror, 
 
 unrotnisse. joylessness'. 
 
 Even in their more orthodox descriptions, eccle- 
 siastical poets, though naturally adopting the Ju- 
 daic notions, cannot always shake off the old, ha- 
 bitual tradition of their forefathers, but recur to 
 the frost, gloom and serpents of Nastrond, and the 
 realm of Hel ; of which a passage already quoted 
 from Beda is ample evidence. 
 
 As far as we can judge from the descriptions 
 which survive, the Anglosaxons represented Hell to 
 themselves as a close and covered dwelling, a prison 
 duly secured as earthly prisons are by locks, bolts 
 and bars^. But the popular fancy had probably 
 even then adopted the notion of a monstrous beast 
 whose mouth was the entrance to the place of tor- 
 ment : this appears not only from the illustrations 
 to Ceedmon^, but from the common expression, so 
 long current, of Hell-mouth. From this peculiar 
 feature however we may believe that a remembrance 
 still lurked among our forefathers of the gigantic 
 or Titanic character of the ancient goddess, who, in 
 Norse mythology, was Loki's daughter. In nearly 
 every case, the word Hel in Anglosaxon, and espe- 
 cially Anglosaxon prose, has merely the abstract 
 sense we now give it ; but here and there a passage 
 
 1 Sal. Sat. p. 173. 
 
 ^ Beda himself speaks of " inferni claustra " (H. E. v. 13), and for 
 this there was supposed to he sufficient authority in the figurative ex- 
 pression, Matt. xvi. 18. 
 
 ' Published by the Society of Antiquaries. 
 
396 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 may be found in which we discover traces of the 
 personal meaning : thus perhaps in Beowulf where 
 we find these lines, 
 
 siggan dredmaleas when reft of joy 
 
 in fenfreoSo in his fen-refuge 
 
 feorh' alegde, he his life laid down, 
 
 hteSene sawle, his heathen soul, 
 
 Sser him Hel onfeng. there Hel received him ^ 
 
 However as a death in battle did not consign 
 the warrior to Hel, it is usually Hild or Wig who 
 is represented as ravishing away the doomed hero. 
 Hel was no desired object, to be introduced into 
 the epic as the portion of chieftains and kings. 
 
 FATES. — The Northern creed, and, as it now 
 seems established, the German also, admitted the 
 intervention between man and the gods, of subor- 
 dinate deities or Fates. I call them subordinate from 
 their peculiar position in the fragmentary portions 
 of mythology that survive ; in their nature we must 
 believe them to be of a higher order than the gods, 
 who themselves are doomed one day to perish, and 
 who can probably as little avoid their doom as men, 
 the frailer creatures of their power. It may be that 
 in this, different views prevailed among different 
 classes of men ; the warlike princes and their fol- 
 lowers, who exulted in tales of battle and feasting, 
 may have been willing to see in 0))inn the supreme 
 disposer of events, while a deeper wisdom lurked 
 
 ' Beow. 1. 1698 : and perhaps similarly 1. 357, " Helle gemundon," 
 they worshipped Hel. 
 
CH. XII.] HEATflENDOM. FATES. 397 
 
 in the sacerdotal songs that told how Ur'Sr, Wer- 
 ^andi and Skuld (the Norns of the Past, the Pre- 
 sent and the Future) bore inevitable sway over the 
 inhabitants of heaven and earth, and slowly waited 
 for the period which was to confound gods, man and 
 nature in one vast destruction^. The Norse view 
 admits however of more than three Norns, though 
 it names those only who have been mentioned ; 
 and from the extraordinary relation of those three, 
 
 ' The Greek Fates are also three, and stand in a very similar posi- 
 tion towards the Gods. Zeus himself is not exempt fi-om their power. 
 Prometheus, it is true, will not distinctly assert Zeus to be weaker than 
 the Fates, hut he answers very decisively that even Zeus cannot escape 
 his Fate. 
 
 Xo. Tiff oiiv avayKr]s efrriv OLaKoa'Tp6<f)os J 
 Up. Moipai Tpip.op(pai, fivrj^oi/es r *Epivvv€s. 
 Xo. TovTtDv apa Zevs €<ttiv dadevea-repos J 
 Up. OijKOVV &v eKCJivyoi ye ttjv -rreTrpoipevrjv. 
 
 ^SCH. Prom. Vin. 617-520. 
 The Moipai here are only ministers of a deeper necessity, yet they seem 
 to wield it themselves, and that it is inseparable from justice seems to 
 follow from the venerable goddesses being joined in the task Plato 
 however distinctly names three Moipai, the daughters of 'AvdyKr;, who 
 spin the life of man : what is more to our purpose is that to each of the 
 three, the past, the present and the future are severally distributed, 
 as to Ur«r, Wer'Sandi and Skuld. He says, aX\as fie Kae-qp.ivas nepi^ 
 fii' la-ov rpels, if 6p6va eitda-Trjv, dvyarepas rrjs 'AmyKrjs, Moipas, Xeu- 
 Xeip-ovova-as, (rT€p.p,aTa ini rmv Ke(j)d\wv e^ouo-as, Adxea-cv T€ koI KXadco 
 ■Kai ATptmov, vfiveiv irpos rfjv rav 'Eeiprfvav dppoviav, Ad)^e(nv pen to. 
 yeyovoTa, KXojflo) fie ra ovra, "ArpoTrov fie ra peXKovra. The spindle 
 however lies and revolves upon the knees of 'AvdyKri. De Repub. lib. x. 
 ad fin. The white garments, garlands and throne, as well as the singing, 
 are wanting to our Is^oms, but the resemblance in other respects is very 
 striking. It deserves notice also that the Weird sisters in Macbeth are 
 three ; and even the Odyssey may intend that number, 
 
 €v6a S* eneCTa 
 jretfrerai, dacra ol ai(ra, KaraKKades re ^apeiat^ 
 yeivopeva vr](raVTo XtVo), oVe ptv reKe prjrrjp. 
 
 Odyss. vii. 196-198. 
 It is well known what controversy has arisen as to the real number of 
 'Epivnes intended by .iEschylus in his Eumenides. 
 
898 THE SAXONS JN ENGLAND. [book t. 
 
 it can hardly be doubted that the others are of a 
 different order ; moreover it attributes human pas- 
 sions to them which are hardly consistent with the 
 functions of the venerable Fates ; in this case it is 
 possible that the Valkyriur, a race of beings whose 
 functibns might in some respects be confounded with 
 those of the Nornir, have been so mixed up with 
 them. Man, dealing with the daily affairs of trou- 
 bled life, thinks more of the past than of the future : 
 to him the present is the child of the past, the past 
 the excuse for or cause of all he does and suffers ; 
 his intellect comprehends the events that are com- 
 pleted or in course of completion, but not the inde- 
 finite, illimitable probabilities of the undiscovered 
 to be; hence perhaps UrSr is considered the old- 
 est and most powerful of the Fates ; her work is 
 done, the others are doing or yet to do. Through 
 this progress of opinion it became possible for the 
 conception of the older Fate to include and finally 
 supersede those of the others, as soon as the living 
 belief in their personal agency became weakened. 
 I do not know that any certain trace of these Fates 
 can be found in the High-german countries i, but 
 in the Low-german the eldest Norn still survives 
 long after the introduction of Christianity, in a 
 sense little removed at times from that of Necessity 
 itself. That this should still have been coupled 
 with a lively feeling of personality only proves how 
 deeply rooted the old Heathen creed had been. In 
 
 ' Grimm, Mythol. p. 377, does not seem to lay much stress upon the 
 two instances which he gives, one of which is extremely doubtful, and 
 the other of no certain authority. 
 
CH. xn.] HEATHENDOM. WIERD. 393 
 
 the following instances from the Oldsaxon Heljand^, 
 Wurth might almost in every case be replaced by 
 dod, mors : " Thiu Wurth is at handun, dod is at 
 hendi ; " — the wierd^, or death, is at hand, i. e. so 
 near that she might lay hold of the doomed. " Thiu 
 Wurth nahida thuo," — iheweird drewnigh. ^'Wurth 
 ina benam," Wierd, i. e. the goddess of death, ra- 
 vished him away ; as in Anglosaxon we have Swylt 
 benam, Dea^ benam, and similar. expressions. 
 
 The Anglosaxon equivalent is Wyrd, an expres- 
 sion of the very commonest and most frequent oc- 
 currence. It should however be borne in mind that 
 there are two separate uses of this word, one a more 
 abstract one, in which it is capable of being used 
 in the plural, and which may generally be rendered 
 eventus^, another more personal, similar to the Old- 
 saxon Wurth, and in which it never occurs but in 
 the singular^. In the following most remarkable 
 passage the heathen and Christian thoughts are 
 
 - H^ljand. Poema Saxonicum Saeouli Noni. Ed. A. Schmeller. Mu- 
 nich, pp. 146, 2 ; 92, 2 ; 163, 16 ; 66, 18 ; 111, 4. 
 
 ^ We are fortunate in being able to use not a translation of Wurth, 
 hut the word itself ; I am not aware of its continuing to exist in any- 
 other German dialect. 
 ' Ne wses wyrd Sagen 
 
 •Sset he ma moste 
 manna cynnes 
 
 Hcgean ofer Sa niht. (Beow. 1. 1462.) 
 wyrd ne cu«on. (Ibid. 1. 2467.) 
 ■" One exception to be hereafter noticed seems more apparent than 
 real. If howeyer it be taken in its fullest and ordinary grammatical 
 sense, it will show that all three or more sisters were in contemplation, 
 and that the name of the eldest had become a general expression for 
 themaU, 
 
400 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i_ 
 
 strangely mingled, Wierd being placed in actual ap- 
 position with God, 
 
 8wa lie hyra ma wolde 
 nefne him witig God, 
 Wyrd forstode, 
 . -J Sses mannes modi. 
 
 " As he would more of them had not wise God, 
 Wierd forstood him, and the man's courage." How 
 very heathen the whole would be, were we only 
 to conceive the word God an interpolation, which 
 is highly probable ; nefne him witig — Wyrd for- 
 stode ^ ! The following examples will show the use 
 of Wyrd : — " hine Wyrd fornam," — him Wierd ra- 
 vished away 3; just as in other passages we have guS 
 fornam^, Wig ealle fornam^, swylt fornam^, dea^ 
 fornam'^. "Wyrd ungemete neah®," — Wierd was im- 
 measurably near him ; as in the Oldsaxon passages 
 above cited, and as Dea^ ungemete neah ^. " Ac unc 
 sceal weorSan set wealle, swa unc Wyrd geteo^, 
 metod manna gehwBes^*'," — it shall befal us as Wierd 
 decideth, the lord of every man. " Swa him Wyrd 
 ne gescraf ^^," — Wierd did not appoint. " Ealle Wyrd 
 
 1 Beow. 1. 2104. = Ibid. 1. 2411. 
 
 - Ibid. 1. 2240. * Ibid. 1. 2154. 
 
 = Ibid. 1. 2872. " Ibid. 1. 4234, 4468. 
 
 ' Ibid. 1. 4836. » Ibid. 1. 5453. 
 
 " Ibid. 1. 5048. 
 
 '" This is a most remarkable passage, for Wyrd is distinctly called 
 Metod, a word generally appropriated to God ; but I am disposed to 
 think that Metten, another word for Fate, was uppermost in the poet's 
 mind, — perhaps found in some heathen copy of the poem. " Da graman 
 mettena," saevae parcae. Boet. p. 161. (Rawl.) 
 
 " Beow. 1. 5145. 
 
CH. xii.J HEATHENDOM. WYRD. 401 
 
 forsweopi," — Wierd has swept away. "U's seo 
 wyrd scy'Se'S, heard and hetegrim^," — us doth Wierd 
 pursue, hard and grim in hate. 
 
 These examples will suffice to show how tho- 
 roughly personal the conception of Wierd remained ; 
 and in this respect there is no difference whatever 
 between the practice in Beowulf and in the more 
 professedly Christian poems of the Exeter and 
 Vercelli codices, or Csedmon. But one peculiarity 
 remains to be noticed, which connects our Wierd 
 in the most striking manner with the heathen god- 
 desses generally, and the Scandinavian Nornir par- 
 ticularly. We have seen that Wierd opposes, that 
 she stands close to the doomed warrior, that she 
 ravishes him away, that she sweeps away the power 
 of men, that she decides or appoints the event, 
 that she is hard and cruel and pursues her victims. 
 But she also weaves, weaves the web of destiny, as 
 we can say even to this day without violence. It 
 is necessary to give examples of this expression : 
 "Me ^8Bt wyrd gewsef^," — Wierd wove that for 
 me ; similar to which is, "Ac him dryhten forgeaf 
 wigspeda gewiofu*," — but the Lord gave him 
 the weft of victory; where undoubtedly an ear- 
 lier weaving Wyrd was thought of. " Donne seo 
 Jrag cyme^, wefen wyrd-stafum^," — when the time 
 Cometh, woven with wierd-siscwes, or letters, pro- 
 bably runes. There is a remarkable passage in the 
 same collection^, " Wyrmas mec ne awsefon, Wyrda 
 
 ' Beow. 1. 5624. 2 Cod. Vercel. Anal. 1. 3121. 
 
 ' Cod. Exon. p. .365. * Beow. 1. 1386. 
 
 = Cod. Exon. p. 183. « Ibid. p. 417. 
 VOL. I. 2d 
 
402 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 crgeftum, Sa «e geolo godwebb geatwum freetwa®," 
 — Worms wove me not, with the skill of Wierds, 
 those namely which the yellow silk for garments 
 beautifully form. Here weaving is especially put 
 forward as that in which Wierd excels, her own 
 peculiar craft and business ^. 
 
 Spinning and weaving are the constant occupa- 
 tion of Teutonic goddesses and heroines : Holda 
 and Bertha spin 2, and so do all the representatives 
 of these goddesses in popular tradition even down 
 to the fairies. But the Valkyriur or Shieldmays 
 also weave, and in this function, as well as their 
 immediate action in the battle-field, as choosers of 
 the slain ^, they have some points of contact with 
 theNornsandWyrd^. Gray has transferred to our 
 language from the Nials Saga a fine poem^ which 
 throws some light upon the weaving of the Valky- 
 riur, the wlgspeda gewiofu. The Anglosaxon belief 
 in the Shieldmaidens comes to us indeed in a dark- 
 ened form, yet we can hardly doubt that it survived. 
 The word Wselcyrge occurs in glossaries to explain 
 
 ' I am almost inclined to think tlie words searoriina gespon, tJie web 
 of various runes, merely a periphrasis for wyrd, taken in the abstract 
 sense of event. Cod. Ex. p. 347. 
 
 ^ "As tems ou Berte filait," i. e. in a period anterior to the memory 
 of man : in the days of heathendom, of the goddess Bertha, not the 
 queen. 
 
 ' Waelcyrige is derived from Wsel the slain and cedsan to choose, 
 
 * I do not know whether the expression Hine Wyrd geoiSaB, can be 
 found in Saxon poetry ; but ceosan is a very common word in phrases 
 denoting death, though by Christian poets transferred to the doomed 
 hero, from the god or goddess : sex %n forScure, wintrum wsel reste. 
 Oaedm. p. 99. " Priusquam annis [i. e. vita] praetulerit mortiferam 
 quietem." 
 
 ° The Fatal sisters. See vol. i. p. 70, Mitford's edition. 
 
cii. xn.] HEATHENDOM. SHIBLDMAYS. 403 
 
 Bellona, the goddess of war, and one gloss calls 
 eyes Wselcyrigean, gorgonei, terrible as those of 
 Gorgo ; the flashing of the eyes was very probably 
 one mark of a Wselcyrge in the old belief^, as she 
 floated or rode above the closing ranks of battle. 
 In the superstitions of a later period however we 
 find a clear allusion to these supernatural maidens. 
 A spell preserved in a Harleian manuscript^ con- 
 tains the following passages : 
 
 Hliide waeron hi la hliide, 8a hy 
 ofer Sone hlsew ridon ; 
 WEeron anmode, ^Ahj 
 fer land ridon. 
 
 " Loud, lo ! loud were they, as they rode over 
 
 ' When Dorr visits Drymr under the disguise of Freya, the giant 
 is suspicious of the flashing eyes which he sees under the veil. Loki 
 explains them by the sleeplessness arising from Freya's desire for the 
 giant's embraces. 
 
 Laut und linu 
 
 lysti at kyssa ; 
 
 en hann litau stokk 
 
 endlangan sal : 
 
 " Hwi eru ondiitt 
 
 augu Freyju ? 
 
 Hkki m^r or augum 
 
 eldr of brenna ! " 
 
 Sat in alsnotra 
 ambott fyrir, 
 er otS um fann 
 viS jotuns mali: 
 " Svaf vaetr Freyja 
 atta ndttum, 
 sva var hon otSfiis 
 i jotunheima." 
 
 Hamarsheimt. xxvii. xxviii 
 " MS. Harl. 585, fol. 186. 
 
 2d2 
 
404 THE SAXONS IN ENGLA.ND. [book i. 
 
 the hill: bold were they, as they rode over the 
 land." 
 
 Stod under linde 
 under leohtum soylde 
 Sser 6a mihtigan wif 
 hyra msegen ber^ddon, 
 and hy gyllende 
 garas aendon. 
 
 " I stood beneath my linden shield, beneath my 
 light shield, where the mighty women exercised 
 their power, and sent the yelling javelins! " An- 
 other spell from a MS. in Corpus Christi College, 
 Cambridge, appears to name them more distinctly : 
 
 Sitte ge, sigewif, 
 sigaS to eorSan, 
 nsefre ge wilde 
 to wuda fleogan ; 
 beo ge swd gemindige 
 mines godes, 
 swa bis manna gehwilc 
 metes and eSeles. 
 
 " Sit, ye victorious women (or women of victory) 
 descend to earth, never fly ye wildly to the wood : 
 be ye as mindful of good to me, as every man is of 
 food and landed possession." Grimm has remarked 
 with great justice^ that the sigewif here recalls the 
 names of Weelcyrian, Sigrdrifa, Sigrun and Sigr- 
 liim. I certainly see in Sigewif, women who give 
 victory ; and the allusion to the wild flight and the 
 wood are both essentially characteristic of the Wsel- 
 
 ' D. Myth. p. 402. He cites this spell, but proposes on grammati- 
 cal grounds to read wille for loilde. If any change is necessary I should 
 
CH. xn.] HEATHENDOM. CREATION, ETC. 405 
 
 cyrian, whom Saxo Grammaticus calls feminae and 
 nymphae sylvestres. For many examples of this 
 peculiar character, it is sufficient to refer to the 
 Deutsche Mythologie^. 
 
 CREATION AND DESTRUCTION.— The cos- 
 mogony of the Pentateuch was necessarily adopted 
 by the Saxon converts; yet not so entirely as to 
 exclude all the traditions of heathendom. In the 
 mythology of the Northern nations, the creation 
 of the world occupied an important place : its de- 
 tails are recorded iu some of the most striking lays 
 of the earlier Edda; and several of them appear 
 unconsciously to have .acted upon the minds of our 
 Christian poets. The genius of the Anglosaxons 
 does not indeed seem to have led them to the 
 adoption of those energetic and truly imaginative 
 forms of thought which the Scandinavians proba- 
 bly derived from the sterner natural features that 
 surrounded them : the rude rocks and lakes of 
 Norway and Sweden, the volcanoes, hot springs, 
 ice plains and snow-covered mountains of Iceland, 
 readily moulded the Northmen to a different train 
 of thought from that which satisfied the dwellers 
 in the marshlands of the Elbe and the fat plains of 
 Britain. But as in the main it cannot be doubted 
 that the heathendom of both races was the same, 
 so even in many modes of expression we meet with 
 a resemblance which can hardly be accidental. 
 Like almost every other people, the Northmen con- 
 
 ' Dent. Myth. p. 401, seq.} 
 
406 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 sidered a gigantic chaos to have preceded the world 
 of order. While the giant Ymer lived, the earth 
 was " without form and void." Listen to the words 
 of the Vaulu Spa, or Prophetess's Song : 
 
 A'r var alda . "When Tmer dwelt here, 
 
 )»ar er Y'mir byg8i : 'twas the dawn of time : 
 
 vara sandr ne sasr cool streams were not, 
 
 ne svalar unnir : neither sands, nor seas : 
 
 jor8 fannsk seva earth was not 
 
 ne upphiminn, nor o'er it heaven, 
 
 gap var ginnunga, yawned the gap, 
 
 en gras hvergi ' . and grass was nowhere. 
 
 The sons of Bur however, OJiinn, Vile and Ve, 
 created the vast Midgard, or realm of earth : 
 
 Sol skein sunnan The sun shone southward 
 
 a salar steina on the stone halls, 
 
 jjd var grund groin then was earth grown 
 
 groenum lauki^. with green produce. 
 
 The constellations however as yet had no ap- 
 pointed course : 
 
 Sol fat ne vissi But the sun knew not 
 
 hvar hon sali sitti, where her seat should be, 
 
 mani ];at ne vissi and the moon knew not 
 
 hvat hann megins atti, what his might should be, 
 
 stjdrnur fat ne vissu planets knew not 
 
 hvar J78er staSi fittu^. where their place should be. 
 
 So the holy Gods went to council, and divided 
 the seasons, giving names to night and noon and 
 morning, to undern and evening, that the years 
 
 might be reckoned 
 
 4 
 
 ' Vaulu Spa, St. 3. = i^^^^ g^._ 4_ 
 
 ^ Ibid. St. 5. - Ibid. St. 6. 
 
CH. XII.] HEATHENDOM. CREATION, ETC. 
 
 407 
 
 The construction of the world out of the frag- 
 ments of Ymer's body, the doctrine of the ash 
 Yggdrasil, and of wondrous wells beneath its roots, 
 could of course find no echo here, after the conver- 
 sion. But it is very remarkable how nearly the 
 description of creation given in Csedmon sometimes 
 coincides with the old remains of heathendom : 
 
 Ne waes her Sagiet 
 nymSe heolaterseeado 
 •wiht geworden, 
 ac 8es wida grund 
 stod deop and dim, 
 driifcne fremde, 
 idel and unnyt ; 
 on Sone eagnm wlat 
 stiSfrihS oining, 
 and Sa stowe beheold 
 drednia lease. 
 Geseah. deorc gesweorc 
 semian sinnihte, 
 sweart under roderum, 
 wonn and weste .... 
 folde wses Sagyt 
 grses ungrene ; 
 g&seog feahte 
 Bwearfc synnihte 
 wide and side 
 wonne wsegas^ 
 
 There had not here as yet 
 
 save cavern shade 
 
 aught existed, 
 
 but this wide abyss 
 
 stood deep and dim, 
 
 strange to its lord, 
 
 idle and useless ; 
 
 on which looked with his eyes 
 
 the king firm of mood 
 
 and beheld the place 
 
 devoid of joys. 
 
 He saw the dark cloud 
 
 lour in endless night, 
 
 swart under heaven, 
 
 dusky and desert. . . . 
 
 the earth was yet 
 
 not green with grass ; 
 
 but ocean covered 
 
 dark in endless night 
 
 far and wide 
 
 the dusky ways. 
 
 Then follows the creation of light, the separation 
 of evening and morning, and the production of 
 organic life, as in the first chapter of Genesis. The 
 Wida grund, or vast abyss, is the Ginnunga gap, 
 yawning gulf, of the Edda, and a very remarkable 
 
 1 Csedm. p. 7, 1. 8 seq. 
 
408 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book r. 
 
 parallel lies in the assertion that there was no grass 
 anywhere to make green the earth. 
 
 The world was created out of the portions of 
 Ymer's hody ; but it seems to be a remnant of an- 
 cient heathendom when we find in later times a 
 tradition that Man was created out of the great 
 natural portions of the world itself. An ancient 
 Frisic manuscript quoted by Grimm in Haupt's 
 Altdeutsche Blatter^ says, " God scop thene eresta 
 meneska, thet was Adam, fon achta wendem ; thet 
 benete fon tha stene, thet flask fon there erthe, thet 
 blod fon tha wetere, tha herta fon tha winde, thene 
 thochta fon tha wolken, thene suet fon tha dawe, 
 tha lokkar fon tha gerse, tha agene fon there sunna, 
 and tha blerem on thene helga 6m." That is, — God 
 created him of eight things : his bones from stone, 
 his flesh from earth, his blood from water, his heart 
 from wind, his thought from cloud, his sweat from 
 dew, his hair from the grass, his eyes from the 
 sun, and then breathed into him the breath of life. 
 In the prose Salomon and Saturn we are also told 
 that Adam was created of eight pounds by weight : 
 a pound of earth from whence his flesh ; a pound 
 of fire, whence his red and hot blood ; a pound of 
 wind, whence his breathing; a pound of cloud, 
 whence his unsteadiness of mood ; a pound of grace, 
 whence his stature and growth ; a pound of blos- 
 soms, whence the variety of his eyes ; a pound of 
 dew, whence his sweat ; and a pound of salt, whence 
 his salt tears 2, 
 
 ' Vol. i. Part i. p. 1. 
 
 ' See the Author's edition, p. 181, and the notes at p. 194. 
 
CF.xn.] HEATHENDOM. OBEATION, ETC. 
 
 409 
 
 But a much more striking proof of heathendom 
 lies in the Anglosaxon belief that after the destruc- 
 tion of this creation a more beautiful one would 
 arise ; not only a metaphysical kingdom of heaven, 
 but a concrete world like our own, on a more im- 
 posing and glorious scale. It was the belief of the 
 Northmen that in the closing evening of the ages, 
 the Eagna-rauk, or twilight of the Gods, the old 
 Titanic powers would burst their fetters ; Loki, the 
 Northern Satan, would be released from his bond- 
 age ; Midgard's orm, the serpent that surrounds 
 the world, would rise in his giant fury ; the wolf 
 Fenrir woiild snap his chain and move against the 
 gods; the ship Naglfar, made of the nails of the 
 dead, and steered by Loki, would convey the sons 
 of Muspelheim to Vigrid, the plain on which this 
 heathen Armageddon was to be fought : at their 
 head the terrible Surtr, the black, the destroyer of 
 the gods, beneath whose sword of fire the whole 
 world should perish. 
 
 KjoU ferr austan, Eastward the sHp 
 
 koma munu Muspells shall shape its journey, 
 
 um laug l;^Sir, Muspell's sons 
 
 en Loki st^rir'. the sea shall travel, 
 
 o'er the lakes shall 
 
 Loki steer her. 
 
 0))inn, Thorr, and the other gods shall perish, 
 but not unrevenged : the wolf and the serpent will 
 fall, one by the hands of Vi'Sarr, 0})inn's son, the 
 other under the terrible battle-maul of Thorr. The 
 
 ' Vanlu Spa, st. 50. 
 
410 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 sun and moon and earth will be destroyed, and the 
 ash Yggrdasil wither under the flames of Surtr. 
 
 Sol tekr sortna. Black wanes the sun, 
 
 sigr fold 1 mar, in waves the earth shall sink, 
 
 hverfa af himni from heaven shall fall 
 
 h«it5ar stjornur ; the friendly stars ; 
 
 geisar eimr round the tree 
 
 vis aldrnara, red fire shall rustle, 
 
 leikr har hiti high heat play 
 
 vis himin sjalfan \ against the heaven. 
 
 But the Gods will be found again in I'Savelli ; 
 the earth will arise again from the ocean ; the sun 
 that perished will have left a yet more beauteous 
 daughter to perform her task ; the deities will re- 
 member their ancient power, and the secrets of the 
 great god ; the golden tablets will be found in the 
 grass ; Baldr, the slain god, will arise from the 
 tomb ; Havdr, that unconsciously slew him, will 
 return with him from the realms of Hel, the god- 
 dess of the dead. Vi'Sarr and Vale, sons, or rather 
 new births of OJiinn; Mode and Magne, sons of 
 Thorr, will survive the universal destruction; All- 
 father's glorious kingdom will be renewed, and the 
 power of death and evil vanish for ever. 
 
 Ser hon uppkoma Then sees she rise 
 
 oSru sinni, a second time 
 
 jorS or cegi the world from ocean 
 
 iSjagrcena^- wondrous green. 
 
 Ema dottur One hright child shall 
 
 berr A'lfroSull bear A'lfroSull, 
 
 aSr hana Fenrir fari ; ere her form doth 
 
 1 Vaulu Spa, St. 56. = Ibid. st. 57. 
 
CH.XU.] HEATHENDOM. CREATION, ETC. 
 
 411 
 
 sii skal riSa, 
 
 pd er regin deyja, 
 
 motSur brautir mser ' 
 
 Finnask jEsir 
 a ISavelli, 
 ok urn moldpinur 
 matkan duema, 
 ok minnask far 
 i megindoma, 
 ok a fimbultys 
 fornar runar. 
 
 Jiar munu eptir 
 undrsamligar 
 gulluar tbflur 
 1 grasi finnask, 
 faers i ardaga 
 attar hofSu 
 folkvaldr goSa 
 ok Pjblnis kind. 
 
 Munu osanir 
 
 akrar vaxa, 
 
 bols mun alls batna, 
 
 Baldr mun koma ; 
 
 bua J;eir HoSr ok Baldr 
 
 Hropts sigtoptir 
 
 vel valtivar'^. 
 
 Sal ser hon standa 
 solu fegra, 
 guUi JiakSan 
 a Gimli : 
 
 Penrir rain ; 
 
 thus shall go, 
 
 when gods have perished, 
 
 the maiden on 
 
 her mother's journey. 
 
 ^sir meet 
 in Kavelli, 
 doom with power 
 the great disasters, 
 there remember 
 mighty judgements, 
 and FimbultJ'rs 
 former secrets. 
 
 After, shall be 
 aU together 
 found in the grass 
 the golden tablets, 
 which in time past 
 possessed among them 
 gods that ruled 
 the race of Odin. 
 
 Then unsown 
 the swath shall flourish 
 all bale mend, and 
 back come Baldr : 
 with him HoSr dwell 
 in Hropter's palace, 
 shrines of gods 
 the great and holy. 
 
 There sees she stand 
 than sunlight fairer, 
 aimU's hall 
 with gold aU covered : 
 
 '■ Wafl>rudnis Mai, st. 47. A'lfrb«ul is a name of the Sun, and is 
 said to denote divine splendour. Edd. Lex. Myth, in voc. 
 ' Vaulu Spa, st. 57, 58, 59, 60. 
 
412 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book r. 
 
 far skolu dyggvar there the just shall 
 
 drottir hyggja, joy for ever, 
 
 ok um aldrdaga and in pleasure 
 
 ■ ynSis njota'. pass the ages. 
 
 The conviction that the virtuous vpould rejoice 
 with God in a world of happiness was of course not 
 derived by our forefathers merely from their hea- 
 thendom ; but to this we may unhesitatingly refer 
 their belief, that after doomsday the sun and moon 
 would be restored with greater splendour. The 
 Saxon Menology^ says very distinctly : 
 
 "At doomsday, when our Lord shall renew all 
 creatures, and all the race of men shall rise again, 
 and never more commit sin, then will the sun shine 
 seven times brighter than she now doth, and she 
 will never set ; and the moon will shine as the sun 
 now doth, and never will wane or wax, but stand 
 for ever on his course^." That this belief was not 
 unknown in Germany may be argued from an ex- 
 pression of Freidank, 
 
 Got himel und erde lat zergan, 
 unt wil dernaoh ein schoenerz han*. 
 
 Dim and fragmentary as these rays of light may be 
 which straggle to us through the veils of bygone 
 ages, it is impossible not to recognize in them traces 
 of that primaeval faith which teaches the respon- 
 sibility of man, the rule of just and holy beings 
 
 1 Vaulu Spa, St. 62. ' MS. Corp. Christi, No. 179. 
 
 ' See Salomon and Saturn, p. 177. It may be observed here that 
 the feminine gender of the sun, and masculine of the moon, have their 
 origin in our heathen mythology. 
 
 * Freydanck, Beschied. p. 8. 
 
CH.xn.] HEATHENDOM. SOYLDWA. SOEA'F. 413 
 
 superior to himself, and a future existence of joy 
 and soiTOW, the ultimate consequence of human 
 actions. With what amount of distinctness this 
 great truth may have been placed before their eyes, 
 we cannot tell, but it is enough that we see it ad- 
 mitted in one of the most thoroughly heathen poems 
 of the Edda, and confirmed by an Anglosaxon tradi- 
 tion totally independent of Christianity. Weak as 
 it is while unsupported by the doctrine of a graci- 
 ous Redeemer, it is not wholly inoperative upon the 
 moral being of men ; and its reception among the 
 nations of the North must have tended to prepare 
 them for the doctrine which in the fulness of time 
 was to supersede their vague and powerless desires 
 by the revelation of the crucified Saviour. 
 
 HEROES. — It now remains that we should be- 
 stow a few words upon the heroic names which 
 figure in the Epopoea of the North, and which pro- 
 bably in many cases belong to the legends and the 
 worship of gods now forgotten, or which at least 
 represent those gods in their heroic form and cha- 
 racter ; even as the Iliad in Achilles may celebrate 
 only one form of the Dorian Apollo, and the le- 
 gends of Cadmus and Theseus may be echoes from 
 an earlier cult of Jupiter and Neptune. 
 
 The hero Scyld or Sceldwa^ has been mentioned 
 as the godlike progenitor of the Scyldingas, the 
 royal race of Denmark ; but he also appears among 
 the mythical ancestors of Woden, in the genealogy 
 
 From wHoh form we must conclude for the reading Soyldu (as 
 Wudu, Durn). 
 
414 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 of Wessex. It is a singular fact that the Anglo- 
 saxons alone possess the fine mythus of this hero ; 
 the opening division or canto of Beowulf relates of 
 him that he was exposed as a child in a ship upon 
 the ocean ; a costly treasure accompanied the sleep- 
 ing infant as he floated to the shores of the Gar- 
 danes, whose king he became ; after reigning glo- 
 riously and founding a race of kings, he died, and 
 was again sent forth in his ship, surrounded with 
 treasures, to go into the unknown world, from 
 which he came ; he came to found a royal race^, 
 and having done so, he departs and nothing more 
 is known of him. That this mythus was deeply 
 felt in England appears from its being referred 
 to even by the later chroniclers: ^^elweard^ and 
 William of Malmesbury ^ mention it at length, and a 
 
 ' 'Sone God sende -whom God sent 
 
 folce to frofre, to the people for their comfort, 
 
 fyrenjiearfe ongeat the evil need he understood 
 
 Ba hie &i drugon which they hefore had sufered 
 
 aldorlease. while without a long. 
 
 Beow. 1. 26. 
 ° ^'Selw. lih. iii. He attributes the legend to Sceaf, Scyld's father; 
 his words are : " Ipse Scef cum uno dromone advectus est in Lusula 
 oceani quae dicitur Scani, armis circumdatus, eratque valde recens 
 puer, et ah incolis illius terrae ignotus ; attamen ah eis suscipitur, et ut 
 familiarem diligenti animo eum custodierunt, ct post in regem eligunt : 
 de cuius prosapia ordinem trahit Athulf rex." 
 
 ^ William of Mahuesbury (G. R. ii. 116) adds another peculiarity to the 
 legend, which however he gives to Sceaf, Scyld's father ; he says, " Iste, 
 ut ferunt, in quandam insulam Germaniae Scandzam, de qua Jordanes 
 historiographus Gothorum loquitur, appulsus, navi sine remige, pueru- 
 lus, posito ad caput frumenti manipulo, dormiens, ideoque Sceaf nun- 
 cupatus, ah hominibus regionis illius pro miraculo exceptus, et sedulo 
 nutritus, adulta aetate regnavit in oppido quod tunc Slasvic, nunc 
 vero Haithebi appellatur. Est autem regio ilia Anglia Vetus dicta, 
 unde Angli venerunt in Britanniam, inter Saxones et Gothos consti- 
 
CH.xn.l HEATHENDOM. BEOWA. 415 
 
 desire to engraft a national upon a biblical tradition 
 not only causes Sceaf to be called by some authors the 
 son of Shem, but leads to the assertion of the Saxon 
 chronicle that Sceaf was the son of Noah, born in 
 the ark^, in obvious allusion to the miraculous ex- 
 posure on the waters. The mention of Scani by 
 iESelweard may be taken in connection with a 
 Norse tradition that Skjold was Skanunga go]?, a 
 god of the Scanings. An Anglosaxon riddle in the 
 Codex Exoniensis ^, and of which the answer seems 
 to me to be only a shield, concludes with the very 
 remarkable words, 
 
 nama min is maere, miglity is my name, 
 
 hieleSum gifre, rapacious among men, 
 
 and hffig sylf. and itself holy. 
 
 The second line seems to exclude the supposition of 
 there being any reference to Almighty God, though 
 Scyld, like Helm, is one of his names, examples 
 of which are numerous in all Anglosaxon poetry. 
 There are one or two places in England which bear 
 the name of this god or hero : these are Scyldes 
 treowS, Scyldmere*, and Scyldes heafda^ ; but ex- 
 cept in the genealogy of Wessex and the tradition 
 recorded by ^'Selweard and William of Malmesbury, 
 there is no record of Sceaf. 
 As in the poem of Beowulf, Scyld is said to have 
 
 tuta." Wendover (Plor. Hist.) copies Malmesbm-y, with the explana/. 
 
 tiou of the name Sceafa, from Sceaf a sheaf of corn; others derived it 
 
 from sciifan, trvAsre, "quia fortunae commissus." Die Stammtafel der 
 
 Westsachsen, p. 33. 
 ' "Se wses gehoren in «&e earce Noes." Ohron. Sax. 855. 
 ' Cod. Exon. p. 407". a q,,^ p- j ^Tq 430 
 
 ' Ibid. Nos. 356, 762. » Ibid No I')! 
 
416 THE SAXONS IN ENGIiAJSTD. [book i. 
 
 a son called Beowulf from whom the kings of Sles- 
 wig are descended, so in the genealogy of Wessex, 
 Scyld is followed by Beaw: there is some uncer- 
 tainty in the form of the name, but upon compa- 
 rison of all the different versions given by various 
 chroniclers, we may conclude that it was Beowa or 
 Beow, a word equivalent to -Beowulf. The original 
 divinity of this person is admitted by Grimm, but 
 he suffers himself to be misled by some over-skilful 
 German lexicographer who has added Beewolf to 
 the list of English names for the woodpecker, and 
 would render Beowulf as a sort of Latin Picus. 
 I am not aware that any bird in England was ever 
 called the heewolf, or that there are any supersti- 
 tions connected with the woodpecker in England, 
 as there are in Germany ; the cuckoo and the 
 magpie are our birds of augury. When Grimm 
 then declares himself disposed not to give up the 
 termination -wulf in the name, he has only the 
 authority of the poem on his side, in defence of his 
 theory : against which must be placed every other 
 list or genealogy ; and it seems to me that these 
 are strongly confirmed by the occurrence of a place 
 called, not Beowulfes ham, but Beowan ham^, in 
 immediate connection with another named Grendles 
 mere^: Whatever the name, this hero was looked 
 upon as the eponymus of various royal races, and 
 this, though the names which have survived are 
 obviously erroneous^, is distinctive of his real cha- 
 racter. 
 
 ' Ood. Dipl. No. 353. ' Ibid. 
 
 ^ Stammtafel der Westsachsen, p. 18 seq. 
 
CH.xii.] HEATHENDOM, HYGELA'C. HN^F. 417 
 
 There are various other heroes mentioned in the 
 poem of Beowulf and in the Traveller's Song, some 
 remembrance of which is still preserved in local 
 names in various parts of England. A few words 
 may not be misplaced respecting them. In the 
 first-named poem, the hero's lord and suzerain is 
 invariably named Hygelac ; after whose death Beo- 
 wulf himself becomes king of the Geatas. As Hy- 
 gelac is said to have perished in fiight against the 
 Franks, and as history records the fall of a Danish 
 king Chochilachus in a predatory excursion into 
 the Frankish territory about the beginning of the 
 seventh century^, Outzen, Leo and others have 
 identified the two in fact as well as name, and 
 drawn conclusions as to the mythical hero, from 
 the historical prince. The coincidence is not con- 
 clusive : if Hygelac's name were already mythical 
 in the seventh century, it may easily have been given 
 to any leader who ventured a plundering expedition 
 into the Frankish territory, especially as the war- 
 like records of an earlier Hygelac would be certain 
 to contain some account of Frankish forays : nor 
 was Hygelac, in Danish Hugleikr^, by any means 
 an uncommon name. On the other hand, if we 
 admit the historical allusion, we must assign a date 
 to, at any rate, that episode of the poem which is 
 hardly consistent with its general character, I am 
 
 Leo, in Ms Beowulf, p. 5, cites Gregor. Turon. iii. S, and tie Gest 
 Reg. Francorum, cap, 19, for the details of Chochilacli's invasion and 
 death. 
 
 The name HuhliSk, given in Langeheke, and hy Geijer, from the 
 Ynglinga Saga, as Hugleck. Hist. Swed. p. 378, tab, ii. 
 VOL. I. 2 E 
 
418 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 therefore inclined to think that in this instance, as 
 in so many others, an accidental resemblance has 
 been too much relied upon : it is in fact quite as 
 likely (or even more likely) that the historian should 
 have been indebted to the legend, than that the 
 poet should have derived his matter from history. 
 It does seem probable that Hygelac enjoyed a my- 
 thical character among the Germans: in the "Alt- 
 deutsche Blatter " of Moriz Haupt^, we find the fol- 
 levsdng statement, taken from a MS. of the tenth 
 century. " De Getarum rege Huiglauco mirae 
 magnitudinis. — Et sunt mirae magnitudinis, ut rex 
 Huiglaucus, qui imperavit Getis et a Francis oc- 
 cisus est, quern equus a duodecimo anno portare 
 non potuit, cuius ossa in Kheni fluminis insula, ubi 
 in oceanum prorumpit, reservata sunt et de lougin- 
 quo venientibus pro miraculo ostenduntur." 
 
 But Hygelac is not knoM'n in Germany only : 
 even in England we have traces of him in local 
 names : thus Hygelaces geat^, which, as the name 
 was never borne by an Anglosaxon, — so far at 
 least as we know, — speaks strongly for his mythi- 
 cal character. That the fortunes, under similar 
 circumstances, of a historical prince, of the same 
 name or not of the same name, should have become 
 mixed up with an earlier legend, is by no means 
 unusual or surprising. 
 
 Another hero of the Beowulf cycle is Hnsef the 
 Hoeing, whose fate is described in a fine episode^, 
 and is connected with the poem called " The battle 
 
 ' Book V. part i. p. 10. ' Cod. Dipl. No. 566. 
 
 = Bedw. 1. 2130 seq. 
 
CH-Xii.] HEATHENDOM. WADA. WELAND. 419 
 
 of Finnesburhi." of him too England has some- 
 thing to tell: I find a place was called Hnsefes scylf 2, 
 andfurther that there was aHocesbyrgels^, obviously 
 not a Christian burial-place, a Hoces ham*, and a 
 Hoeing mfed^. But unless resemblances greatly 
 deceive us, we must admit that this hero was not 
 entirely unknown to the Franks also; Charle- 
 magne's wife Hiltikart, a lady of most noble 
 blood among the Swsefas or Sueves (" nobilissimi 
 generis Suavorum puella ") was a near relation of 
 Kotofrit, duke of the Alamanni^ : in her genealogy 
 occur the names Huocingus and Nebi in imme- 
 diate succession, and it seems difficult not to see in 
 these Hoeing and Hnsef. If, as has been suggested, 
 the Hocings were Chauci or Frisians, their con- 
 nexion with the Sueves must be of an antiquity 
 almost transcending the limits of history, and 
 date from those periods when the Frisians were 
 neighbours of the Swsefas upon the Elbe, and long 
 before these occupied the highlands of Germany, 
 long in fact before the appearance of the Franks in 
 Gaul, under Chlodio. 
 
 Among the heroes of heathen tradition are Wada, 
 Weland and Eigil. All three, so celebrated in the 
 mythus and epos of Scandinavia and Germany, have 
 left traces in England. Of Wada the Traveller's 
 
 ' Printed in the first volume of tlie author's edition of Beowulf, 
 p. 238. 
 
 ' Cod. Dipl. No. 595. ' Ibid. No. 1267. 
 
 ' Ibid. No. 1142. ' Ibid. No. 1091. 
 
 ' Thegau. vit. HludoT. Pertz, Monum. ii. 590, 591. Eginbart, § 18. 
 Pertz, Mon. ii. 462, 463. 
 
 2e2 
 
420 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 Song declares that he ruled the Helsings i ; and even 
 later times had to tell of Wade's loat 2, in which 
 the exact allusion is unknown to us : the Scandi- 
 navian story makes him wade across the Groena- 
 sund, carrying his son upon his shoulder ; perhaps 
 our tradition gave a different version of this peril- 
 ous journey. The names of places which record his 
 name are not numerous, but still such are found, 
 thus Wadanbeorgas^, Wadanhlsew*. It is other- 
 wise, however, with his still more celebrated son, 
 Weland, the Wieland of German, Volundr of Norse 
 and Galand of French tradition. Weland is the 
 most famous of smiths, and all good swords are his 
 work. In Beowulf, the hero when about to engage 
 in a perilous adventure, requests that if he falls his 
 coat-of-mail may be sent liome, Welandes geweorc, 
 either literally the work of Weland, or a work so ad- 
 mirable that Weland might have made it.^ Alfred 
 in his Boetius^ translates j^Wefe ossa Fabricii by 
 
 ^ Line 44. See also Cod. Exon. pp. 320, 514. Ettmiiller, Scopes 
 
 •WldEl'^. 
 
 ' Chaucer once or twice refers to tliis in such a way as to show that 
 the expression was used in an obscene sense. Old women, he says, 
 " connen so nioche craft in Wades bote." Again of Pandarus : 
 " He song, he plaied, he told a tale of Wade." 
 
 Troil. Cressid, 
 In this there seems to lie some allusion to what anatomists have 
 termed fossa 7iamciilaris, though what immediate connection there 
 could be with the mythical Wada, now escapes us. It is suificiently 
 remarkable that the Greeks made a similar application of o-Kd(f>os. 
 CO TrayKaTaTTvyov BrnxtTepov airav ytvos' 
 ovK €t6s d(j) rjfiSiv clalv ai rpayadlai. 
 ovdip yap icrp.€v irKriv Traaadav Ka\ aKa<lir}, 
 
 Aristoph. Lysistr. 137. 
 » Cod. Dipl. No. 55, ^ Ibid. No. 18. 
 
 " Beow. 1. 901 » Boet. de Cons. ii. 
 
OH. in.] HEATHENDOM. ^GEL. 421 
 
 " Sfes wisan goldsmi'Ses ban Welondes," where, as 
 Grimm 1 observes, the word Fabricius {faher) may- 
 have led him to think of the most celebrated of 
 smiths, Weland. The nse made by Sir W. Scott of 
 Weland's name must be familiar to all readers of 
 Kenilworth : from what has been said it will ap- 
 pear how mistaken in many respects his view was. 
 The place in Berkshire which even yet in popular 
 tradition preserves the name of Wat/land smith, is 
 nevertheless erroneously called ; the boundary of a 
 Saxon charter names it much more accurately 
 Welandes smi'SSe, i. e. Weland's smithy, his work- 
 shop2. The legend of Weland, identical in many 
 respects with that of the Wilkina Saga and other 
 Northern versions, is mentioned in the Cod. Exon. 
 p. 377. Here we find notice taken of his mutila- 
 tion by NiSaudr, the violence done by him to Bod- 
 hildr, and other acts of his revenge^, all in fact that 
 is most important in this part of his history. Grimm 
 reminds me* that the Wilkina Saga makes Weland 
 
 ' D. Myth. p. 351. " Cod. Dipl. No. 1172. 
 
 ' Weland him be wurman 
 wrseces cunnade 
 
 * D. Myth. p. 351. 
 
 sits San hine NiiShad on 
 n^de legde 
 swoncre seonobande, 
 on-oyllau mon. 
 
 Beadohilde ne wses 
 
 hyre hroSra dea^ 
 
 on sefan swa sar 
 
 swa hyre sylfra Mng, 
 
 Sset heo gearolice 
 
 ongieten haefde 
 
 ISset heo eacen wses, etc. 
 
422 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 the constructor of a wondrous boat, and that the 
 act of the son may thus have been transferred to 
 the father, Weland's boat to Wade. 
 
 In the Northern tradition appears a brother of 
 Weland, named Eigil or Egil, who is celebrated as 
 an archer, and to whom belongs the wide-spread 
 tule which has almost past into accredited history 
 in the case of William Tell ; this tale given by Saxo 
 Grammaticus to Toko, by the Jomsvikinga Saga 
 to Palnatoki, and by other authorities to other 
 heroes from the twelfth till the very end of the fif- 
 teenth century, but most likely of the very high- 
 est antiquity in every part of Europe, was beyond 
 doubt an English one also, and is repeated in the 
 ballad of William of Cloudesley : it is therefore pro- 
 bable that it belongs to a much older cycle, and 
 was as well known as the legends, of Wada and 
 Weland, with which it is so nearly connected. Ei- 
 gil would among the Anglosaxons have borne the 
 form of ^gel, and accordingly we find places 
 compounded with this name, — thus ^glesbyrig, 
 now Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire ; .^glesford, 
 now Aylsford in Kent ; ^gl eslona, in Worcester^ ; 
 ^gleswur'S, now Aylsworth in Northamptonshire ^j 
 also vEgleswyl ; and lastly Aylestone in Leicester- 
 shire. 
 
 The Wilkina Saga and the Scald's Complaint 
 already cited from the Codex Exoniensis, lead us 
 next to the legends of Deodric (Dietrich von Bern) 
 and Eormenric, (Hermanaric), and thl'ough the lat- 
 ter to Sigfried and the other heroes of the Nibe- 
 
 ' Ood. Dipl. No, 549. ^ md. Nos. 591, 423. 
 
CH.xn.] HEATHENDOM. DEO'DRrC. EOBMAJSfRl'O. 423 
 
 lungen cycle. The heroic or even godlike character 
 of Dietrich has been well made out by Grimm \ and 
 the historical Theodoric the Ostrogoth vanishes in 
 his traditional representative. The Anglosaxon 
 poet evidently refers to the latter, not indeed from 
 the story he tells, but from the collocation of Deo- 
 dric among merely mythical personages. Perhaps, 
 as the whole scope of his poem is to relate the mis- 
 fortunes of the great and thus draw consolation for 
 his own, the thirty years' residence in Mseringa- 
 burg may be considered as a reference to Deodric's 
 flight from before Otachar^ and long-continued 
 exile. In a Saxon menology ^ of great antiquity, 
 
 ' D. Myth. p. 346. 
 
 ' The Hiltibrants Lied says, 
 
 Hiltibrant haetti min fater. ih heittu Hadubrant. 
 
 forn her ostar gihueit. floh her Otachres nid. 
 
 hina mit Theotrihhe. enti sinero degano filu. 
 
 sid Detrihhe. darba gistontiim. 
 
 fateres mines, dat uuas so friuntlaos man. 
 For remarks on Deodric's exile see W. Grimm, Deutsche Heldenaage, 
 pp. 22, 24, 34, 30, 37, 201, 204. 
 
 ' MS. 0. C. C. Cantab. No. 179. " On 'Sone eabtateo'San dreg «8e3 
 monlSes by? See Johannes tj'd 'Sees papan -j ^ses martyrea, ee gedyde 
 J>urh Godes myht blyndum men gesyhtse. Done Johannes for a;fstum 
 [hSht cwellan] Theodoricus se wees Gotena cyning in Eauenna ^sere 
 ceastre ; -j sum wSstensetla on ?am ealonde ^e is nemned Liparus, he 
 SiEde sciplKeudum mannum tSset he gesawe Johannes sawle ^ses papan 
 Iffldan Sone cyning ISe hine ofsldh gebundenne on ^cum witum. He 
 cwaeS, se Godes feow, to Sam scipli'Sendum : Girsan daeg on fSa nigo- 
 8in tid daeges, Sajt is on Sone ncin, peodricus wfes gelfeded ungyrd -j 
 unsceod •j eac gebunden be Sam handum, betweoh Johanne Sam papan 
 ■j Finianum 5am ealdormen, "j he wees fram heom aworpen on byrnende 
 seaS on Sysum neah-ealande, •] Sset is nemned Ulcania. And Sa sci- 
 ph'Sende Sa Sfet gehyredon, Hg ymbhydelice amearcodon Sone deeg, -^ 
 him Sa cyrdon eft to Etelwara msegSe, Sser hig- Sone cyning ser lyfi- 
 gende forlston ; -j hig Sa eft hine Sser deadne gem^tton, Sy ylcan dsege 
 ?e his wite Sam Godes hedwe setywed wees. Deet wees swiSe riht Saat 
 
424 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 the author, after stating the eighteenth of May to 
 be the commemoration of St. John, Pope and Mar- 
 tyr, goes on to say, that an anchoret on Lipari told 
 certain sailors how at a particular time he had seen 
 king Theodoric, ungirt, barefoot, and bound, led 
 between St. John and St. Finian, and by them 
 hurled into the boiling crater of the neighbouring 
 island Vulcano. That on their return to Italy the 
 sailors discovered by comparison of dates that 
 Theodoric died on the day on which the anchoret 
 noticed his punishment by the hands of his vic- 
 tims. The author expressly tells it was Theodo- 
 ricus, the king of the Goths in Ravenna ; and he 
 concludes by saying, " That was Theodoricus the 
 king whom we call Deodric," which we can only un- 
 derstand by supposing him to allude to the mythical 
 Deodric. Alfred seems also to have known some- 
 thing of the mythical Deodric when he says, " he 
 wses Amaling," a fact historically true of the Ostro- 
 goth Theodoric, but yjet unlikely to have been con- 
 tained in yElfred's Latin authorities. The Travel- 
 ler's Song says^, " Deodric weold Froncum," Theo- 
 doric ruled the Franks, but this I should rather 
 understand of one of the historical Merwingian 
 kings, than of the Ostrogoth. 
 
 The legends of Eormanric were obviously fa- 
 miliar to the Anglosaxons : in the so often quoted 
 
 he fram '8am twam manniim wsere sended on ISaet ^ce fyr, tja^e he h^r 
 imrihtlice ofsldh on ^isum life. Rset wses psodorious tSone we nemna'S 
 Deodric." See further illustrations of this strange tale in the Deutsche 
 Heldensage, p. 38, where Otto of Freisingen is quoted, hut who does 
 not give nearly so many details as the Anglosaxon legend. 
 ' Trav. Song, 1. 47. 
 
CH. xn.] HEATHENDOM. EORMANRI'C, ETC. 425 
 
 poem of the Traveller's Song, this celebrated prince 
 is mentioned more than once, as well as in the 
 poem which contains the notices of Weland, Beado- 
 hild and Deodric. The character given of him in 
 both these compositions denotes a familiarity with 
 the details of his history, as we find them almost 
 universally in the Northern traditions, and more 
 particularly those of his wealth, his cruelty and his 
 treachery. 
 
 In Beowulf we have a somewhat further develop- 
 ment of his history. We there learn incidentally that 
 Hama (the Ammius of Saxo Grammaticus) carried 
 off from him the Brosinga-men or mythical collar 
 of the goddess Freya. There can be no doubt that 
 this necklace, called in the Norse traditions Men 
 Brisinga, is of a most thoroughly mythological cha- 
 acter^, and any reference to it in Saxon poetry is 
 welcome evidence of ancient heathendom : more- 
 
 ' When Loki announced to Freya that Thorr would not recover Ms 
 hammer unless she married the giant who had become possessed of it, 
 she trembled with rage, so that the halls of the gods shook under her, 
 and the Men Brisinga hurst from her neck : again when Thorr disguises 
 himself in her distinctive dress, he does not forget the necklace, 
 Hamarsheimt, xiii. xv. xix. I am inclined to think the Saxon reading 
 erroneous, and that Brdsinga is a mere error of copying. The meaning 
 of the word is obscure : Brising in Norse denotes a fierce flame, and the 
 name of the collar has been explained from its bright and burning co- 
 lour. Q-rimm suggests a derivation from a verb brisan (found in Jliddle 
 German under the form brisen) nodare, nodis constringere, in reference 
 to the form of its links. But the main difficulty in my opinion is found 
 in the plural genitive of the patronymic, and I would almost prefer the 
 hypothesis of our having entirely lost the lay which described its orio-in : 
 others we certainly have lost which had reference to it, as for instance 
 Loki's and Heimdallr's contention for it. Saxo Grammaticus has a 
 . story probably about its origin (p. 13) which is totally unsatisfactory. 
 Were the Brisingas (sons of fii'e ?) its first possessors or makers ? 
 
436 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [booki 
 
 over the Anglosaxon poet alone mentions it in con- 
 nection with Eormanric. This peculiar feature is 
 as little known to the other Germanic nations as 
 the beautiful legend of Scyld Scefing, the loves of 
 Geat and MtEShild, the dragon-slaughter of Sig- 
 mund, the wars of Hengest and Finn Folcwalding, 
 or the noble epos of Beowulf itself: unfortunately 
 we have no detail as to the circumstances under 
 which the necklace of the goddess came into the 
 possession of Eormanric. 
 
 The Traveller's Song however has traces of many 
 heroes who are closely connected with the tradi- 
 tional cyclus of Eormanric : among these are Sifeca 
 (the false Sibich of Germany) and Becca, the Bikki 
 of the corresponding Norse versions, whom it 
 makes chieftain of the Baningas, perhaps the " sons 
 of mischief" from Bana. Hama, already named, 
 and Wudga, the Wittich and Heirae of Germany, 
 occur in the same poem : so also the terrible Jitla, 
 Attila the Hun, the ^tli of Scandina\'ia, the Etzel 
 of the Nibolungen cycle. In the same composi- 
 tion we find GiiShere, king of the Burgundians, the 
 Norse Gunnar, and German Gunther ; and Hagena, 
 probably the Norse Hogni, and Hagen the mur- 
 derer of Sigfried. The Traveller's Song, and the 
 Scop's Complaint contain no mention of the great 
 hero of the Xorse and German epos, Sigurdr Fafnis- 
 bani, Sigfried, the betrothed of the Shieldmay Bry- 
 hyldur, the husband of the fairhaired Chriemhilt. 
 
 All the more welcome to us is the episode in 
 Beowulf, which not only records the tale of Sigurdr, 
 though under the name of his father Sigmund, and 
 
CH.XII.] HEATHENDOM. BEO'WULF. 427 
 
 makes particular mention of the dragon-slaughter 
 (Fafnis-bani) — which is a central point in the Norse 
 tradition, although hardly noticed at all in the Ni- 
 belungen Lied, — but also refers to the fearful ad- 
 ventures which the Edda relates of the hero and 
 his kinsman Sinfiotli (Fitela) which appear totally 
 unknown in Germany. 
 
 Having said thus much of the heroic personages 
 to whom so large a portion of Northern and Ger- 
 manic tradition is devoted, it becomes possible for 
 me to refer to the great work of James Grimm on 
 German mythology for a demonstration of the con- 
 nection between these heroes and the gods of our 
 forefathers. I regret that my own limits render it 
 impossible for me to enter at greater length upon 
 this part of the subject; but it requires a work of 
 no small dimensions, and devoted to it exclusively : 
 and it is therefore sufficient to show the identity 
 of our own heroic story and that of Scandinavia and 
 the continent, and thus enable the English reader 
 to adapt to his own national traditions the conclu- 
 sions of learned enquirers abroad, with respect to 
 their own^. 
 
 - I would particularly call attention to W. Grimm's Deutsche Hel- 
 denaage, P. MuUer's SagabiblLotliek, and J. Grimm's Deutsclie My- 
 thologie ; the last, a very storehouse of all that bears upon this 
 most interesting and important subject, important whether we consider 
 it merely in a literary point of view, or in the far higher one of a reve- 
 lation of the creed of our forefathers, the sources of their hope and fear, 
 the basis of their moral being and directing motive of their actions. If 
 it be true that nothing human can be without interest for a man, surely 
 that which tells of the religious belief of our forefathers must be of the 
 deepest and nearest interest. It has had something to do with making 
 us what we are. 
 
i-JS THE SAXOXS IX EXGLAXD. [book l 
 
 DIVIXATIOX AXD WITCHCRAFT.— The 
 attachment of the Germauic races to divination 
 attracted the notice of Tacitus ^i he says: "They 
 are as great observers of auspices and lots as any. 
 The way they use their lots is simple ; they cut 
 into slips a branch taken from an oak or beech, 
 and having distinguished them by certain marks, 
 scatter them at random and as chance wills over a 
 white cloth. Then if the enquiry is a public one, 
 the state-priest. — if a private one, the father of the 
 house himself, — having prayed to the gods, and 
 lookins: up to heaven, thrice raises each piece, and 
 interprets them when raised according to the marks 
 before inscribed upon them. If they turn out un- 
 favourable, there is no further consultation that 
 day about the same mat*:er : if they are favourable, 
 the authority of omens is still required. Even here 
 they are acquainted v^ith a mode of interrogating 
 the voices and flight of birds ; but it is peculiar to 
 this race to try the presages and admonitions of 
 horses. These, white in colour and subject to no 
 mortal work, are fed at the public cost in the sacred 
 groves and woods : then being harnessed to the 
 sacred chariot, they are accompanied by the priest, 
 the king or the prince of the state, who observe 
 their neighings and snor tings. Xor has any au- 
 gury more authority than this, not only among the 
 common people, but even the nobles and priests : 
 for they think themselves the ministers, but the 
 horses the confidants, of the gods. There is an- 
 other customary form of auspices, by which they 
 
 ' Germ-x. 
 
CH. xn.] HEATHENDOM. DIVINATION. 429 
 
 inquire concerning the event of serious wars. They 
 match a captive of the nation with which they are 
 at war, however they can come by him, with a se- 
 lect champion of their own, each armed with his 
 native weapons. The victory of this one or that 
 is taken, as a presage." 
 
 The use of lots as connected with heathendom, 
 that is, as a means of looking into futurity, con- 
 tinued in vogue among the Saxons till a late period, 
 in spite of the efforts of the clergy : this is evident 
 from the many allusions in the Poenitentials, and 
 the prohibitions of the secular law. The augury by 
 horses does not appear to have been used in Eng- 
 land, from any allusion at least which still survives ; 
 but it was still current in Germany in the seventh 
 century, and with less change of adjuncts than we 
 usually find in the adoption of heathen forms by 
 Christian saints. It was left to the decision of horses 
 to determine where the mortal remains of St. Gall 
 should rest ; the saint would not move, till certain 
 unbroken horses were brought and charged with his 
 coffin: then, after prayers, we are told, "Elevato 
 igitur a pontifice nee non et a sacerdote feretro, et 
 equis superposito, ait episcopus : ' Tollite frena de 
 capitibus eorum, et pergant, ubi Dominus voluerit." 
 Vexillum ergo crucis cum luminaribus adsumeba- 
 tur, et psallentes, equis praecedentibus, via incipie- 
 batur^." It may be imagined that the horses in- 
 fallibly found the proper place for the saint's burial- 
 place; but what is of importance to us is the use 
 of horses on the occasion. In this country how- 
 ' Vit. Anon. Soi. Galli, Pertz, Monum. ii, 17. 
 
430 THE SAXOXS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 ever we haA'e some record of a divination in which 
 not horses but a bull played a principal part ; and 
 as bulls were animals sacred to the great goddess 
 Nerthus, it is not unlikely that this was a remnant 
 of ancient heathendom. St. Benedict on one oc- 
 casion appeared to a fisherman named Wulfgeat, 
 and desired him to announce to duke .^^elwine^, 
 his lord, that it was his the saint's wish to have a 
 monastery erected to himself, to the pious mother 
 of mercy and All virgins. The spot was to be where 
 he should see a bull stamp with his foot. To use 
 the words of the saint to the fisherman, " Ut ei 
 igitur haec omnia per ordinem innotescas exhortor, 
 sermonem addens sermoni, quatenus scrutetur di- 
 ligentius in loco praedicto quomodo noctu fessa 
 terrae sua incumbant animalia, ac ubi taurum sur- 
 gentem pede dextro viderit percutere terram, ibidem 
 proculdubio xenodochii sciat se aram erigere de- 
 bere." Obedient to the order, duke ^^elwine set 
 out in the morning to find the spot : " Mira res, et 
 miranda, ubi vir praedictus insulam est ingressus, 
 
 animalia sua in modum crucis, taurum vero 
 
 in medio eorum iacereprospexit. Et sicut quondam 
 sancto Clementi agnus pede dextro locum fontis, 
 sic viro isti taurus terram pede percutiendo locum 
 mensaefuturi arcisterii significavit divinitus^." St. 
 Clement's fountain never rolled such floods of gold 
 as found their way to the rich abbey of Eamsey! 
 Other details of heathendom in the practices of 
 
 ' The same wliom the grateful monks have distinguished by the 
 name of Dei amicus. 
 ' Ood. Dipl. No. 581, 
 
CH. xil] heathendom. WITOHORAFT. 431 
 
 ordinary life must be left to the appendix to this 
 chapter; but a cursory reference may be made to 
 what appears to show a belief in the evil eye, and 
 that practice which in Latin is called invuUuatio. 
 The former of these is mentioned in the poem of 
 Beowulf 1, where Hro^gar, warning Beowulf of the 
 frail tenure of human life, adds, "eagena bearhtm," 
 the glance of eyes, to the many dangers the warrior 
 had to fear : 
 
 Nil is Bines masgnes blaed Now is the bloom of thy strength 
 
 dne hwile, for a little while, 
 
 eft Bona biS soon will it be 
 
 Sset tSeo adl oSSe ecg that sickness or the sword 
 
 eafotSes getw^feS, shall part thee from thy power, 
 
 o68e fyres feng, or clutch of fire, 
 
 oSSe flodes wylm, or wave of flood, 
 
 oSSe gripe meoes, or gripe of sword, 
 
 oS6e gares fliht or javelin's flight, 
 
 oBSe atol yldo, or ugly age, 
 
 o86e eagena bearhtm, or glance of eye, 
 
 forsitteS and forsworceS. shall oppress and darken thee ! 
 
 Invultuation is defined by Mr. Thorpe in the fol- 
 lowing words : "a species of witchcraft, the perpe- 
 trators of which were called vultivoli, and are thus 
 described by John of Salisbury : Qui ad affectus ho-» 
 minum immutandos, in moUiori materia, cera forte 
 vel limo, eorum quos pervertere nituntur effigies 
 exprimunt^. To this superstition Virgil alludes : 
 
 " Limns ut hie durescit, et haeo ut cera liqnescit, 
 Uno eodemque igni, sic nostro Daphnis amore. 
 
 " Of the practice of this superstition, both in 
 England and Scotland, many instances are to be 
 
 ' Beow. 1. 3520. ' De Nugis Cmial. lib. i. cap. 12. 
 
432 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 met with ; among the most remarkable, that of Ele- 
 anor Cobhara, duchess of Gloucester, and Stacey, 
 servant to George Duke of Clarence ^." 
 
 But it seems to include also the practising against 
 the life of an enemy by means of a waxen or other 
 fig^ure, in which pins were stuck, or against which 
 a sharp bolt was shot. It is against this crime that 
 the law of Henry the First enacts^: "Si quis ve- 
 neno, vel sortilegio, vel invultuacione, seu maleficio 
 aliquo, faciat homicidium, sive illi paratum sit sive 
 alii, nihil refert, quin factum mortiferum, et nullo 
 modo redimendum sit : " and this is perhaps also 
 intended by the wovdlibldc used by jESelstan^. It 
 is also probable that this was the crime for which 
 in the tenth century a widow was put to death by 
 drowning at London Bridge, and her property for- 
 feited to the crown^. Anglosaxon homilies however 
 also mention philtres of various kinds, which the 
 people are warned against as dangerous and damn- 
 able heathendom. 
 
 Such are the fragments of a system which atone 
 time fed the religious yearnings and propped the 
 moral faith of our forefathers, — faint notes from a 
 chorus of triumphant jubilation which once rose to 
 heaven from every corner of the island. 
 
 How shall we characterize it 1 As a dull and de- 
 basing FetisJi-worsh'j), worthy of African savages ? 
 or as a vague and colourless Pantheism, in which 
 religion vanishes away, and philosophy gropes for 
 a basis which it cannot find % I think not. 
 
 ' Anc. Laws and Inst. vol. ii. Gloss. ' Leg. Hen. Ixxi. § 1. 
 
 ' MSslst. i. § 6, ■■ Cod, Dipl. No. 591, 
 
CH. xn.] HEATHENDOM. CONCLUSION. 433 
 
 Contemplate the child who bounds through the 
 wood, or pauses in delight upon the meadow, where 
 he wantons in the very joy of life itself: to him 
 this great creation is full of playmates, beings ani: 
 mate or inanimate, with whom he shares his little 
 pleasures, to whom he can confide his little sorrows. 
 He understands their language, and in turn he has 
 a language for them, which he thinks they under- 
 stand : he knows more of their peculiarities than 
 the halting step of scientific observation is always 
 able to overtake ; for he knows what science 
 haughtily refuses to contemplate or, it may be, is 
 unable to appreciate. The birds speak to him, the 
 forests whisper to him, the shadows and the low 
 tones of the hill and valley lull him to repose, the 
 winds wanton with his curled locks and blow them 
 over his shoulders, the streams and brooks have 
 spray to play with and sprinkle in his laughing 
 eyes. He stands before the great spirit of nature, 
 face to face, and knows him as he reveals himself 
 in every one of his divine forms ; for the child sees 
 and knows the secrets of God, which the man, alas ! 
 is condemned to forget. Such as the child is, has 
 the child-like nation been, before the busy hum 
 of commerce, the crashing strokes of the piston, the 
 heavy murmur of innumerable spinning-jennies 
 necessarily banished more natural music from our 
 ears. An age that thinks about itself and its own 
 capacity, that reflects upon its own processes of 
 thought, and makes great combinations of powers, 
 and anatomizes nature till it becomes familiar with 
 
 VOL. I. 2 F 
 
434 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 every secret of creation, may be an. earnest puri- 
 tanical age, a stern protestant age, one that will 
 not be fed with imaginative religions, but it cannot 
 be one of implicit, trusting, fearing, rejoicing, trem- 
 bling belief : the age of faith ceased where the age 
 of knowledge began. Man knows too much, per 
 haps believes too little : he will not, and he mus 
 not, yield his privilege of calm, determined, obstl 
 nate enquiry : he will, and should, judge for him 
 self, weigh evidence, compare and reason, and de^ 
 cide for himself how much or how little he will 
 receive as true. How can he wonder at the stars, 
 their rising, their setting or their eclipse 1 He cal- 
 culates where new planets may be found : he weighs 
 them in his balances when found, and tells not only 
 their circumference or their density, but how long 
 the straggling ray of light that started from them 
 was on its journey, before it reached the eye of the 
 gazer. What can these wavering fragments of time 
 and space be to him who calculates duration by the 
 nutation of suns, or the scarcely appreciable differ- 
 ence of millennial changes 1 Let us remember what 
 our fathers were, and consider what we are. For 
 them there was indeed a time, a period to tell of, 
 
 "when the Sun 
 Knew not her dwelling, nor the Moon his power, 
 And the Stars knew not where their place should be ! " 
 
 We know their places, and their dwellings, and 
 their power. They are subordinated to a hypo- 
 thesis of gravitation. For us there is no wavering 
 bridge of the Gods, no Bifrost or Asbru ; our rain- 
 
CH. XII.] HEATHENDOM. CONCLUSION. 435 
 
 bow is a shadowy thing, a belt of deceptive colours, 
 the reflection of a sunbeam in the multitudinous 
 prisms of a shower-cloud. We have no Hammer, 
 wielded by the Thunder-god, and dreaded by the 
 giants ; our Miolner has vanished into the indiffer- 
 ence of opposing electricities. Apothecaries' Hall 
 prepares its simples without the aid of charms, or 
 invocation of divinities ; and though we stand as yet 
 but on the threshold of science, we have closed for 
 ever behind us the portals of mystery and belief. For 
 we are raised upon the shoulders of the times gone 
 by, and cast a calm and easy view over the country 
 which our forefathers wandered through in fear 
 and trembling. We fear not what they feared; we 
 cling not to what they clung to, for relief and com- 
 fort; we have set up our own idol, the Understanding, 
 fortified by laborious experience, taught by repeated 
 struggles and victories, firmly based on conquered, 
 catalogued and inventoried nature, on facts, the 
 stern children of a passionless reality. I know not 
 whether we have gained or lost in this inevitable 
 career of humanity ; I have faith only that He who 
 rules the purpose of the ages, has thus cast our lot 
 in the infinite love and wisdom of his own thought. 
 But not to us, or in our finite forms of thought, 
 can the world be as once it was, and the " dull ca- 
 talogue of common things" admits no admixture of 
 a fancied divinity ; nay, so far are we from seeking 
 to instil spirit into matter, that the informing soul 
 itself ceases to be the object of our contemplation, 
 while we are busied with the nerves and tendons, 
 
 2f2 
 
436 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book I. 
 
 or charmed with the wonderful combination of de- 
 tails that form the perfect whole. We stand su- 
 preme among the subjects of our knowledge ; and 
 the marvels of science itself will now not form the 
 stock in trade of a second-class conjuror. Observe 
 the man who threads his way with imperturbable 
 security and speed through the thoroughfares of 
 a densely-peopled metropolis : the crowd throng 
 about him, yet he yields here, he advances there, 
 till at length, almost unconsciously, he has attained 
 the goal of his desire. He is familiar with the 
 straight lines and angles that surround him, he 
 measures his position and stands upright, mis- 
 taking, if indeed he think at all, the inconceivably 
 rapid calculations of the understanding for acts of 
 his own spontaneous volition. The unaccustomed 
 eye of the child cannot do this ; and he wavers in 
 his steps and stumbles from point to point, help- 
 less, but charming in his helplessness, till practice 
 brings him power, and he too walks and stands 
 upright among men. So is it with the minds of 
 men in early and uninstructed periods, stumbling 
 from belief to belief, resting for support upon every 
 circumstance of surrounding life, and unfurnished 
 with the elements of scientific reasoning, which, by 
 assuring certainty, destroy the vague, indefinite 
 basis of faith, or bring within a narrow and con- 
 stantly decreasing circle, its vague and indefinite 
 object. We believe the results of Geometry, the 
 theorems of analytic mathematics, because we can- 
 not help ourselves, cannot escape from the inevita- 
 
CH. XII.] HEATHENDOM. CONCLUSION. 4.37 
 
 ble conclusion involved in the premises ; but we 
 cannot call this acquiescence faith, or establish 
 upon it a moral claim before our own conscience 
 and our God. And as there can be no reason save 
 in the unintelligible, no faith save in the impossi- 
 ble, all that is brought within the realm of the in- 
 tellect, or the sphere of the possible, is j ust so much 
 withdrawn from the circle of religion. 
 
 The basis of the religious state in man is the 
 sensation of weakness, — whether that weakness be 
 or be not distinctly traced in the consciousness to 
 the ignorance which is its cause, or to the ultimate, 
 more abstract and more philosophical conviction of 
 sinfulness, in the conscience. Man cannot rest for 
 his anxious desire to know the why and how of 
 every phsenomenon he observes : this restlessness is 
 the law of his intellect, that is, the condition of his 
 humanity : he interrogates the pheenomena them- 
 selves, but if they will give no answer to his ques- 
 tion, he will seek it without them. In himself he 
 will seek it in vain. At no time, at no stage of his 
 development can he understand the relation of the 
 subject and the object, or comprehend the copula 
 that unites them. The philosopher the most deeply 
 trahied in watching abstract forms of thought, ac- 
 knowledges with a sigh that even the intuitions of 
 the reason halt in the fetters of the understanding, 
 and that to give objective reality to what can be 
 known only in the forms and through the powers 
 of the subjective, is at best to be guilty of a noble 
 treason to the laws of pure reasoning. And what 
 
438 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 shall he do, who is not trained in watching abstract 
 forms of thought"? Is he more likely to find the 
 answer in himself? Alas, no ! he feels only too 
 surely that his nature can give no satisfying re- 
 sponse ; that his confined and bounded being is 
 itself full of problems which remain unsolved. 
 
 And now let this state be considered with refer- 
 ence to the early inhabitant of a world, whose secrets 
 are yet undiscovered, and on whom no light of hea- 
 venly radiance has fallen. For him, as for us, there 
 is no answer either in the phsenomenon or in the 
 observer : but he has no reason to reject the sup- 
 position of a supernatural influence : everything 
 that surrounds him is filled with evidence of super- 
 natural power. He lives in nearer communion than 
 we do with the world about him : his frame, not 
 yet clogged and vitiated by the habits of an ad- 
 vanced cultivation, is more alive than ours to the 
 external effects of natural causes : the M'orld itself, 
 existing under diff'erent conditions of climate, dif- 
 ferent electrical combinations, not yet subdued by 
 the plough, or the axe of the forester, not yet 
 bridled and trained by the canal, the manufactory 
 or the railroad, has effluences which act upon the 
 nerves and fluids of the man, and which seem to 
 him divine emanations, revelations of the divinity 
 within the lake, the mountain and the tree : the 
 lake, the mountain and the tree he peoples then 
 with gods, — with Nymphs and Nereids, with Oreads 
 and Hamadryads — to whose inward and spiritual 
 action the outward owes its power and its form. 
 
CH. xn,] HEATHENDOM. CONCLUSION. 4<?9 
 
 But the outward and visible is not a sign only, of 
 the inward and spiritual ; it is a symbol, a part 
 of that which it denotes ; it is at once the sower and 
 the seed. 
 
 In no age can man be without the great ideas of 
 God, of right, of power, of love, of wisdom ; but an 
 age that has not learnt to feed upon abstractions, 
 must find the realization of those ideas in the out- 
 ward world, and in a few familiar facts of human 
 nature. It strives to give itself an account of itself, 
 and the result of its efforts is a paganism, always 
 earnest and imaginative, often cruel and capricious, 
 as often gentle, affectionate and trusting — for even 
 in spite of cruelty and caprice, the affections will 
 have their way, and trust will find a home. Its in- 
 consistence is the offspring not of guilt, but of im- 
 perfect knowledge : it seeks the great solution of 
 all religious problems, a mediator between God and 
 man : it is its error, but not necessarily its crime, 
 that it finds that mediator in the complex of the 
 world itself : no other has been revealed to it ; and 
 the reveries of philosophy that haunt the sounding 
 Portico or the flowery swathes of Hymettus, cannot 
 tell of the "Unknown God" to the agriculturist, 
 the huntsman or the pirate. 
 
 I believe in two religions for my forefathers : one 
 that deals with the domestic life, and normal state 
 of peace; that sanctifies the family duties, pre- 
 scribes the relations of father, wife and child, di- 
 vides the land, and presides over its boundaries ; 
 that tells of gods, the givers of fertility and increase, 
 the protectors of the husbandman and the herds- 
 
440 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 man ; that guards the ritual and preserves the li- 
 turgy ; that pervades the social state and gives per- 
 manence to the natural, original political institu- 
 tions. I call this the sacerdotal faith, and I will 
 admit that to its teachers and professors we may 
 owe the frequent attempt of later periods to give an 
 abstract, philosophic meaning to mythus and tradi- 
 tion, and to make dawning science halt after religion. 
 The second creed I will call the heroic ; in this 
 I recognize the same gods, transformed into powers 
 of war and victory, crowners of the brave in fight, 
 coercers of the wild might of nature, conquerors of 
 the giants, the fiends and dragons ; founders of 
 royal families, around whom cluster warlike com- 
 rades, exulting in the thought that their deities 
 stand in immediate genealogical relation to them- 
 selves, and share in the pursuits and occupations 
 which furnish themselves with wealth and dignity 
 and power. Let it be admitted that a complete 
 separation never takes place between these diiFerent 
 forms of religion ; that a wavering is perceptible 
 from one to the other ; that the warrior believes 
 his warrior god will bless the produce of his pas- 
 tures ; that the cultivator rejoices in the heroic 
 legend of Woden and of Baldr, because the culti- 
 vator is himself a warrior when the occasion de- 
 mands his services : still, in the ultimate develop- 
 ment and result of the systems, the original distinc- 
 tion may be traced, and tOyit some of the conclu- 
 sions we observe must necessarily be referred : it 
 is thus that spells of healing and fruitfulness sur- 
 vive when the great gods have vanished, and that 
 
CH. xn.] HEATHENDOM. CONCLUSION. 441 
 
 the earth, the hills, the trees and waters retain a 
 portion of dimmed and bated divinity long after 
 the godlike has sunk into the heroic legend, or 
 been lost for ever. 
 
 I can readily believe that the warrior and the 
 noble were less deeply impressed with the religious 
 idea than the simple cultivator. In the first place, 
 the disturbed life and active habits of military ad- 
 venturers are not favourable to the growth of re- 
 ligious convictions : again, there is no tie more 
 potent than that which links sacred associations to 
 particular localities, and acts, unconsciously per- 
 haps but pervasively, upon all the dwellers near the 
 holy spots : the tribe may wander with all its wealth 
 of thought and feeling ; even its gods may accom- 
 pany it to a new settlement ; but the religio loci, 
 the indefinable influence of the local association, 
 cannot be transported. Habits of self-reliance, of 
 a proud and scornful independence, are not con- 
 sistent with the conviction of weakness, which is 
 necessary to our full admission of the divine pre- 
 eminence ; and the self-confident soldier often felt 
 that he could cope with gods such as his had been 
 described to be. In the Greek heroic lay Tydides 
 could attack, defeat, and even wound Ares : I do 
 not know that the Teutonic mythology ever went 
 so far as this; but we have abundant record of 
 a contemptuous disregard with which particular 
 heroes of tradition treated the popular religion. 
 Some selected indeed one god in whom they placed 
 especial trust, and whom they worshipped (as far 
 as they worshipped at all) to the exclusion of the 
 
442 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i. 
 
 rest ; but more must have participated in that feel- 
 ing which is expressed in a Danish song, 
 
 " I trust my sword, I trust my steed, 
 But most I trust myself at need ' ! " 
 
 while to many we may safely apply what is said of a 
 Swedish prince, "han var mikit blandinn i trunni," 
 he was mightily confused in his belief. Still it is 
 certain that a personal character was attributed to 
 the gods, as well as an immediate intervention in 
 the affairs of life. The actual presence of OJjinn 
 from time to time on the battle-field, in the storm, 
 in the domestic privacy of the household, was firmly 
 believed, in Scandinavia; and it is reasonable to 
 assume that Woden would have been found as ac- 
 tive among our German progenitors, had not the 
 earlier introduction of Christianity into Teutonic 
 Europe deprived us of the mythological records 
 which the North supplies. Beda tells us that 
 Eadwini of Northumberland sacrificed and ofi'ered 
 thanks to his gods upon the birth of a daughter. 
 Ksedwald of Eastanglia, even after his nominal con- 
 version, continued to pay his offerings to idols, 
 and the people of Essex, when labouring under the 
 ravages of a pestilence, abjured the faith of Christ 
 and returned to the service of the ancient gods. 
 But in the personality of God alone resides the 
 possibility of realizing the religious idea. 
 
 1 " Fbrst troer jeg mit gode svard, 
 
 og saa min gode hest, 
 demjist ti'oer jeg mine dannesvenne, 
 jeg troer mig self allerbedst. " 
 Many examples are given in Grimm, Mythol. p. 7. 
 
CH. xii.] HEATHENDOM. CONCLUSION. 44.3 
 
 We possess no means of showing how the re- 
 ligion of our own progenitors or their brethren of 
 the continent, had been modified, purified, and 
 adapted in the course of centuries to a more ad- 
 vanced state of civilization, or the altered demands 
 of a higher moral nature ; but, at the commence- 
 ment of the sixth century we do find the pregnant 
 fact, that Christianity met but little resistance 
 among them, and enjoyed an easy triumph, or at 
 the worst a careless acquiescence, even among those 
 whose pagan sympathies could not be totally over- 
 come. Two suppositions, indeed, can alone explain 
 the facile apostasy to or from Christianity, which 
 marked the career of the earliest converts. Either 
 from a conviction of the inefficacy of heathendom 
 had proceeded a general indifference to religious 
 sanctions, which does not appear to answer other 
 conditions of the problem, or the moral demands 
 of the new faith did not seem to the Saxons more 
 onerous than those to which they were accustomed ; 
 for it is the amount of self-sacrifice which a religion 
 successfully imposes upon its votaries, which can 
 alone form a measure of its influence. The fact 
 that a god had perished, could sound strangely in 
 the ears of no worshipper of Baldr ; the great mes- 
 sage of consolation, — that he had perished to save 
 sinful, suffering man, — ^justified the ways of God, 
 and added an awful meaning to the old mythus. 
 An earnest, thinking pagan, would, I must believe, 
 joyfully accept a version of his own creed, which 
 offered so inestimable a boon, in addition to what 
 he had heretofore possessed. The final destruction 
 
444 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [booki. 
 
 of the earth by fire could present no difficulties to 
 those who had heard of Surtr and the Twilight of 
 the Gods, or of Allfather's glorious kingdom, raised 
 on the ruin of the intermediate divinities. A state 
 of happiness or punishment in a life to come was 
 no novelty to him who had shuddered at the idea 
 of Nastrond : Loki or Grendel had smoothed the 
 way for Satan. Those who had believed in runes 
 and incantations were satisfied with the efficacy of 
 the mass; a crowd of saints might be invoked in 
 place of a crowd of subordinate divinities ; the holy 
 places had lost none of their sanctity ; the holy 
 buildings had not been levelled with the ground, 
 but dedicated in another name ; the pagan sacrifices 
 had not been totally abolished, but only converted 
 into festal occasions, where the new Christians 
 might eat and drink, and continue to praise God : 
 Hre'Se and Eostre, Woden, Tiw and Fricge, Dunor 
 and Ssetere retained their places in the calendar of 
 months and days : Erce was still invoked in spells, 
 Wyrd still wove the web of destiny; and while 
 Woden retained his place at the head of the royal 
 genealogies, the highest offices of the Christian 
 church were offered to compensate the noble class 
 for the loss of their old sacerdotal functions. How 
 should Christianity fail to obtain access where Pa- 
 ganism stepped half way to meet it, and it could 
 hold out so many outward points of union to pa- 
 ganism ? 
 
 We dare not question the decrees of omnipotence, 
 or enquire into the mysterious operations of omni- 
 scient God ; it is not for us to measure his infinite 
 
CH. xn.] HEATHENDOM. CONCLUSION. 445 
 
 wisdom by the rules of our finite intelligence, or to 
 assume that his goodness and mercy can be appre- 
 ciated and comprehended by the dim, wavering 
 light of our reason ; but man feels that in every 
 age man has had a common nature, a common 
 hope and a common end of being ; and we shall do 
 no wrong either to philosophy or to religion, if we 
 believe that even in the errors of paganism there 
 lay the germs of truth ; and that the light which 
 hghteth every one that cometh into the world, was 
 vouchsafed in such form and measure as best to 
 subserve the all-wise, all-holy, and all-merciful ob- 
 jects of creation ! 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
APPENDIX A. 
 
 MABKS. 
 
 The following patronymical names I believe to be those of ancient 
 Marks. The first portion of them is derived from the Codex 
 Diplomatious and other original authorities : the second portion 
 contains names inferred from the actual local names in England at 
 the present day. 
 
 iEshngas. 
 
 Kent. Cod. 
 
 Dipl. : 
 
 No. 111. 
 
 ^scingas. 
 
 Surrey. 
 
 
 314. 
 
 Anningas. 
 
 Northamptonshire. 
 
 445. 
 
 Antingas. 
 
 Norfolk. 
 
 
 785. 
 
 ^feningas. 
 
 
 
 1073. 
 
 Berecingas. 
 
 Essex. 
 
 
 38. 
 
 Besingas. 
 
 
 
 994. 
 
 Banesingas. 
 
 Oxfordshire. 
 
 
 81. 
 
 Boerlingas. 
 
 Kent. 
 
 
 152. 
 
 Beardingaa. 
 
 Kent. 
 
 
 207. 
 
 Beading as. 
 
 Sussex. 
 
 
 314 
 
 Billingas. 
 
 
 
 1000. 
 
 Bruningas. 
 
 
 
 374, 1113. 
 
 Braheingas. 
 
 Hertfordshire. 
 
 
 410. 
 
 Brytfordingas. 
 
 Hampshire. 
 
 
 421, 985, 1108, 
 
 Brydingas. 
 
 Wiltshire. 
 
 
 436. 
 
 Brydingas. 
 
 Dorsetshire. 
 
 
 447. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 
 
 2 G 
 
450 
 
 APPENDIX A. 
 
 
 Bydelingas. Nortliainptoiishire. Cod. Dipl. 
 
 No. 445. 
 
 Beaddingas. 
 
 Me of Wight. 
 
 475. 
 
 Beorhfeldingas. 
 
 
 1175. 
 
 Beringas. 
 
 Kent. 
 
 518. 
 
 Buccingas. 
 
 
 Chron. Sax. 918 
 
 Bulungas. 
 
 Somersetshire. Cod. Dipl. 
 
 No. 569. 
 
 Birlingas. 
 
 Worcestershire. 
 
 570. 
 
 Bromleagingas. 
 
 Kent. 
 
 667. 
 
 Beorganstedingas. 
 
 Sussex. 
 
 663. 
 
 Bocoingas. 
 
 Essex. 
 
 698. 
 
 Beorhtingas. 
 
 Sussex. 
 
 782. 
 
 Bercingas. 
 
 Suffolk. 
 
 907. 
 
 Byrtingas. 
 
 Warwickshire. 
 
 916. 
 
 Culingas. 
 
 Kent. 
 
 132. 
 
 Centingas. 
 
 
 Chron. Sax. 999, 
 
 Crangas. 
 
 Kent. Cod. Dipl. 
 
 No. 179. 
 
 Ceanningas. 
 
 
 1193. 
 
 Coliugas. 
 
 Wiltshire. 
 
 336. 
 
 Cearningas. 
 
 
 1212. 
 
 Ciwingas. 
 
 Hertfordshire. 
 
 410. 
 
 Cytringas. 
 
 Northamptonshire. 
 
 443. 
 
 Cnyllingas. 
 
 Northamptonshire . 
 
 480. 
 
 Cystaningas. 
 
 Kent. 
 
 657. 
 
 Cateringas. 
 
 
 722. 
 
 Coringas. 
 
 Lincolnshire. 
 
 953. 
 
 Cyceringas. 
 
 
 957. 
 
 Dicelingas. 
 
 Sussex. 
 
 314, 
 
 Dentuningas. 
 
 Northamptonshire. 
 
 445. 
 
 Doccingas. 
 
 Norfolk. 
 
 759. 
 
 Eohingas. 
 
 Kent. 
 
 121. 
 
 Englungas. 
 
 
 123. 
 
 Eastringas. 
 
 Northamptonshire. 
 
 480. 
 
 Earmingas. 
 
 Cambridgeshire. 
 
 563. 
 

 THE MARK. 
 
 46: 
 
 Earningas. 
 
 Cod. Dipl. 
 
 No. 1320. 
 
 Embasingas. 
 
 Hampshire. 
 
 673. 
 
 Eastuningas. 
 
 
 1023. 
 
 Eoforddningas. 
 
 Northamptonshire. 
 
 736. 
 
 Erpingas. 
 
 Norfolk. 
 
 785. 
 
 Efflngas. 
 
 Surrey. 
 
 812. 
 
 Erningas. 
 
 Cambridgeshire. 
 
 907. 
 
 Eerlingas. 
 
 Somersetshire. 
 
 73. 
 
 Fullingas. 
 
 
 987. 
 
 Fooingas. 
 
 Kent. 
 
 207. 
 
 Fasingas. 
 
 
 1083. 
 
 Fearningas. 
 
 Hampshire, 
 
 450. 
 
 Fearnbeorgingas 
 
 Kent. 
 
 657. 
 
 Fingringas. 
 
 Essex. 
 
 685. 
 
 FearDingas. 
 
 Somersetshire. 
 
 723. 
 
 Frmnmgas. 
 
 Kent. 
 
 896. 
 
 Glsestingas. 
 
 Somersetshire. 
 
 49. 
 
 Geddingas. 
 
 Middlesex. 
 
 101. 
 
 Gumeningas. 
 
 Middlesex. 
 
 116. 
 
 Gustingas. 
 
 Wiltshire. 
 
 174. 
 
 Getingas. 
 
 Surrey. 
 
 318. 
 
 Garungas. 
 
 Kent. 
 
 364. 
 
 Grundlingas. 
 
 Worcestershire. 
 
 548. 
 
 Gildingas. 
 
 Kent. 
 
 790. 
 
 GiUingas. 
 
 
 809,Chron. 1010' 
 
 Gyrstlingas. 
 
 
 967. 
 
 Hallingas. 
 
 Kent. 
 
 160. 
 
 Hsestingas. 
 
 
 Chron. Sax. 1060. 
 
 Heallingas. 
 
 Worcestershire. Cod. Dipl. 
 
 No. 209. 
 
 Heretuningas. 
 
 Dorsetshire. 
 
 412. 
 
 Hrepingas. 
 
 
 990. 
 
 Eoppingaa. 
 
 Surrey. 
 
 537. 
 
 Hseglingas. 
 
 
 1193. 
 
 2 g2 
 
452 
 
 APPENDIX A. 
 
 
 
 Heantuningas. 
 
 Cod.Dipl. 
 
 No. 1212. 
 
 
 Heartingas. 
 
 Cambridgesliire. 
 
 533. 
 
 
 HwEessingas. 
 
 Sussex. 
 
 591. 
 
 
 Hohtuningas. 
 
 Hampshire. 
 
 633. 
 
 
 Hnutscillingas. 
 
 Hampshire. 
 
 642. 
 
 
 Holingas.^ 
 
 Kent. 
 
 722, 
 
 
 Heningas. 
 
 Northamptonshire. 
 
 733. 
 
 
 Herelingas. 
 
 Norfolk. 
 
 782. 
 
 
 Hodingas. 
 
 Hampshire. 
 
 783. 
 
 
 Hanningas. 
 
 Norfolk. 
 
 785. 
 
 
 Hellingas. 
 
 Norfolk. 
 
 809, 
 
 
 Horningas, 
 
 Hampshire. 
 
 556. 
 
 
 Homingas. 
 
 Norfolk. 
 
 740. 
 
 
 Horningas. 
 
 Oxfordshire. 
 
 775. 
 
 
 Horningas. 
 
 Somersetshire. 
 
 816, 
 
 
 Homingas. 
 
 Cambridgeshire. 
 
 907. 
 
 
 Hicelingas. 
 
 
 971. 
 
 
 Hsecingas. 
 
 Kent. 
 
 364. 
 
 
 Ircingas. 
 
 
 Chron. Sax. 918, 
 
 Lingas. 
 
 Middlesex. Cod. Dipl. 
 
 No. 159. 
 
 
 Lsellingas. 
 
 Essex. 
 
 715. 
 
 
 Lambumingas. 
 
 Berkshire. 
 
 792. 
 
 
 LinfrodingaSi 
 
 
 1133, 
 
 
 Lacingas. 
 
 
 1153. 
 
 
 Merlingas. 
 
 Somersetshire. 
 
 73. 
 
 
 Mundlingas. 
 
 Kent. 
 
 107. 
 
 
 Mallingas. 
 
 Kent. 
 
 240. 
 
 
 Modingas. 
 
 Kent. 
 
 287. 
 
 
 Mich^mingas. 
 
 Surrey. 
 
 537. 
 
 
 Meringas. 
 
 
 809. 
 
 
 Msessingas. 
 
 
 953. 
 
 
 Nessingas. 
 
 813. 
 
Neddingas. 
 
 Oddingas. 
 
 THE MAEK. 
 SuiFolk. Cod. Dipl. No. 907. 
 
 Worcestershire. 209. 
 
 453 
 
 Pegingas. 
 
 
 257. 
 
 Pseooingas. 
 
 Sussex. 
 
 414. 
 
 Purbioingas. 
 
 Dorsetshire. 
 
 418. 
 
 Palingas. 
 
 Sussex. 
 
 432. 
 
 Puningas. 
 
 Sussex. 
 
 481. 
 
 Piooingas. 
 
 
 812. 
 
 Piperiflgas. 
 
 
 1001. 
 
 Peartingas. 
 
 
 1016. 
 
 Eicingas. 
 
 Essex, 
 
 35. 
 
 Roegingas. 
 
 Kent. 
 
 196. 
 
 Eeadingas. 
 
 Berkshire. 
 
 685. 
 
 Rodingas. 
 
 
 907. 
 
 fiooingas. 
 
 
 1014. 
 
 Euwanoringas. 
 
 
 1163. 
 
 Stoppingas. 
 
 Warwickshire. 
 
 83. 
 
 Sunningas. 
 
 Berkshire. 
 
 214. 
 
 Sempingas. 
 
 Lincolnshire. 
 
 267. 
 
 Stseningas. 
 
 Sussex. 
 
 314. 
 
 Scearingas. 
 
 Berkshire. 
 
 357. 
 
 Suntingas. 
 
 North amptonshire . 
 
 445. 
 
 Snotingas. 
 
 
 Chron. Sax. 922. 
 
 SuStuningas. 
 
 Hampshire. Cod. Dipl. 
 
 No. 578. 
 
 Stameringas. 
 
 Berkshire. 
 
 762. 
 
 Seaxlingas. 
 
 Norfolk. 
 
 782. 
 
 Scealdedeningas. 
 
 Hampshire. 
 
 783. 
 
 Stutingas. 
 
 Kent. 
 
 773. 
 
 Soitingas. 
 
 
 1042. 
 
 Terringas. 
 
 Sussex. 
 
 1138. 
 
 Terringas. 
 
 Kent. 
 
 405. 
 
454 
 
 APPENDIX A. 
 
 
 
 Totingas. 
 
 Surrey. Cod. Dipl. 
 
 , No. 363. 
 
 
 Totingas. 
 
 Norfolk. 
 
 785. 
 
 
 Teofuntingas. 
 
 Wiltshire. 
 
 379. 
 
 
 Tudingas. 
 
 Sussex. 
 
 593. 
 
 
 Terlingas. 
 
 Essex. 
 
 907. 
 
 
 I'iccmgas. 
 
 
 928. 
 
 
 Uggafordingas. 
 
 WiltsMre. 
 
 778. 
 
 
 "Wocingas. 
 
 Surrey. 
 
 168. 
 
 
 Wigingas. 
 
 Kent. 
 
 225. 
 
 
 Wigmgas. 
 
 Hertfordshire. 
 
 Chron. 
 
 , Sax. 921, 
 
 Wealthsemingas. 
 
 Hampshire. Cod. Dipl 
 
 .No. 342. 
 
 
 Weodiiningas. 
 
 Northamptonshire. 
 
 399. 
 
 
 "Wrsetlingas. 
 
 
 399. 
 
 
 Wellingas. 
 
 Hertfordshire. 
 
 410. 
 
 
 Wealingas. 
 
 
 716. 
 
 
 
 
 1 1016 ; 
 1 Chron. 
 
 1061. 
 
 Wealingas. 
 
 
 • Sax. 1013. 
 
 Wealingas. 
 
 Hampshire. Cod. Dipl. 
 
 No. 442. 
 
 
 Welingas. 
 
 Wiltshire. 
 
 462. 
 
 
 Welingas. 
 
 
 1069; 
 
 1154. 
 
 Witringas. 
 
 Sussex. 
 
 464. 
 
 
 Wyrtingas. 
 
 Hampshire. 
 
 481. 
 
 
 WoSringas. 
 
 Kent. 
 
 492. 
 
 
 Wudutuningas. 
 
 Hampshire. 
 
 638. 
 
 
 Wealdingas. 
 
 Suffolk. 
 
 685. 
 
 
 Wanetingas. 
 
 Berkshire. 
 
 698. 
 
 
 Witeringas. 
 
 
 992. 
 
 
 Weopingas. 
 
 
 721. 
 
 
 Westmoringas. 
 
 
 Chron. 
 
 Sax. 966. 
 
 Wilringas. 
 
 Suffolk. Cod. Dipl. 
 
 No. 759. 
 
 
 Wselsingas. 
 
 Norfolk. 
 
 759. 
 
 
 Wylfingas. 
 
 
 1135. 
 
 
 "Wratingas. 
 
 
 907. 
 
 
 Wanhaemingas. 
 
 
 1135. 
 
 
THE MARK. 
 
 455 
 
 WinHngas. Cod. Dipl. No. 907. 
 
 Wasingas. 1159; 1173. 
 
 "Wedringas. 907. 
 
 Watingas. 907. 
 
 Wintringas. 953. 
 
 Weargebwrningas. Hampsliire. 783. 
 
 Wimbeduningas. Surrey. 537. 
 
 Ytingas. 
 
 1228. Chron. Sax. 906. 
 
 Dutingas. 
 
 Hampsbire. Cod. 
 
 , Dipl. No. 752. 
 
 Dorningas. 
 
 Kent. 
 
 207. 
 
 Dristlingas. 
 
 "Woroestersbire. 
 
 570. 
 
 Writolas. 
 
 Essex. 
 
 35. 
 
 Hogebura. 
 
 Hampshire. 
 
 589. 
 
 Holigan. 
 
 
 952. 
 
 Momelas. 
 
 
 952. 
 
 "Weegelas. 
 
 Somersetshire. 
 
 774. 
 
 Beohbieme. 
 
 Kent. 
 
 657. 
 
 BurhhSeme. 
 
 Kent. 
 
 688. 
 
 Ceth^me. 
 
 Kent. 
 
 688. 
 
 Cyngbseme. 
 
 
 1212. 
 
 C'rohh^me. 
 
 "Worcestershire. 
 
 507. 
 
 DichSeme. 
 
 Wiltshire. 
 
 778. 
 
 HinhSeme. 
 
 Worcestershire. 
 
 764. 
 
 Middelb^me. 
 
 Hampshire. 
 
 648. 
 
 Monninghdeme. 
 
 Worcestershire. 
 
 645 
 
 LeofesbSeme. 
 
 Kent. 
 
 657. 
 
 Miogb^me. 
 
 Hampshire. 
 
 638. 
 
 PoUiEeme. 
 
 Hampshire. 
 
 642; 1136, 
 
 Secg]i£eme. 
 
 Worcestershire. 
 
 764. 
 
 TJppingb^me. 
 
 Hampshire. 
 
 590. 
 
 Wicb^eme. 
 
 Kent. 
 
 657; 1038. 
 
 Domh^me. 
 
 Worcestershire. 
 
 511. 
 
456 
 
 APPENDIX A. 
 
 
 Beonotsetan. 
 
 Worcestershire. Cod. 
 
 Dipl. 
 
 No. 266. 
 
 Bradsetan. 
 
 "Worcestershire. 
 
 
 289. 
 
 BrMsetan. 
 
 Gloucesterphire. 
 
 
 274. 
 
 Craegsetan. 
 
 Kent. 
 
 
 287. 
 
 Crudsetan. 
 
 Wiltshire. 
 
 
 460. 
 
 Grimsetan. 
 
 Worcestershire. 
 
 
 561. 
 
 Incsetan. 
 
 Worcestershire. 
 
 
 511. 
 
 Mosetan. 
 
 Worcestershire. 
 
 
 266. 
 
 Wreocensetan. 
 
 Worcestershire. 
 
 
 277. 
 
 MAKKS INFERKED FEOM LOCAL NAMES IN 
 ENGLAND. 
 
 -Slbingas. AhmgeT, Surr.; Abinghall, (tZomc. ; Abington, Cami. 
 
 jEblingas. Ablington, Olouc; Ablington, Wilts. 
 
 -iEcingas. Oakington, Carnh. 
 
 .iEceringas. Accrington, Lane. ; Eakring, Notts. 
 
 ^clingas. AckUngton, Nthld. 
 
 Aldingas. Aldingbourn, Sussx. ; Aldingham, Lane. ; Alding- 
 ton, Kent and Wore. 
 
 Aldringas. Aldringham, Suff. ; AldrLngton, Sussx. 
 
 jElcingas. Alkington, Glouc. and Salop. 
 
 ^Icringas. Alkrington, Lane. 
 
 ..^lingas. AUington, Devon, Dors., Rants, Kent, Line, 
 Wilts. 
 
 ^Imingas. Almington, Staff, and Warw. 
 
 jSllmodingas. Abnodington, Svssx, 
 
 -Mfingas. Alphington, Devon ; Alvington, Olouc, Somers. 
 and Devon ; Alvingham, Line. 
 
 .lElpingas. Alpington, Norf. 
 
 jElwingas. Alwington, Devon. 
 
 Angmeringas. Angmering, Sussx. 
 
 Antingas, Antingham, Iforf. 
 
 Ardingas. Ardingly, Sussx. ; Ardington, Berks. 
 
THE MARK. 
 
 457 
 
 Arlingas. Arlingham, Glouc. ; Arlington, Devon, Olouc. and 
 
 Susscc. 
 Armingas. Armingford, Oanih. ; ArminghaU, Norf. 
 
 Arringas. Arrington, Canib. 
 
 ArSingas. Arthington, Yorlc. ; Arthingwortli, Nhamp. 
 
 Artingas. Artington, Sussx. 
 
 .^seingas. Ashingdon, Essex ; Asliington, Sussx., Somers. 
 
 and Nthld. ; Ashendon, Bucks. 
 jEsclingas. Ashling, Suss.r. 
 .^Seringas. Athrington, Devon and Sussx. 
 jEtingas. Attington, Oxf. 
 
 -lEfingas. Avington, Berks, and Hants. 
 
 Bsebingas. 
 
 Bsedingas. 
 
 Bseogingas. 
 
 Baedlingas. 
 
 Baloingas. 
 
 Bffilingas. 
 
 Baningas. 
 
 Beorcingas. 
 
 Beorlingas. 
 
 Beormingas. 
 
 Beorningas. 
 
 Beorringas. 
 
 Beortingas. 
 
 Basingas. 
 
 Bassingas. 
 
 Bafingas. 
 
 Bealingas. 
 
 Bebingaa. 
 
 Beeeringas. 
 
 Beecingas. 
 
 Babbingley, Norf. ; Babington, Somers. 
 
 Baddington, Chesh. ; Badingbam, Suff. 
 
 Badgingfcon, Qlouc. ; Baginton, Warw. 
 
 Badlingbam, Canib. 
 
 Balking, Essex. 
 
 BaUingdon, Essex ; BaUingham, Heref. 
 
 Banningbam, Norf. 
 
 Barking, Essex, Suff. and Mddx. 
 
 Barling, Essex ; Barlings, Lino. 
 
 Barming, Ketit ; Birmingham, Warw. 
 
 Barningham, Sicff., Yorlc. and Norf. 
 
 BarringtoB, Carab., Somers., Berks., Olouc. 
 
 Bartington, OhesJi. 
 
 Basing, Hants ; Basingstoke, ihid. 
 
 Bassingbourn, Camh. ; Bassingfleld, Notts ; Bas- 
 
 singham. Line. ; Bassingthorpe, lAnc. ; Bassing. 
 
 ton, Nthld. 
 Bavington, Nthld. 
 Bealings, Suff. 
 Bebington, Chesh. 
 Beokering, Line. 
 
 Beckingham, Essex, Line, Notts; Beckington, 
 Somers. 
 
458 APPENDIX A. 
 
 Beadingas. Beddingham, Sussx. ; Beddington, Sui-r. ; Beding- 
 
 field, Svff. ; Bedingham, Norf. 
 Baedlingas. Bedlington, Drhm. 
 Becingas. Beecliing Stoke, Wilts. 
 
 Bedingas. Beeding, Sussx. 
 
 Bellingas. Bellingdon, Buelcs ; Bellinger, Hants ; BeUing- 
 
 ham, Nthld. 
 Beltingas. Belting, Kent. 
 
 Benningas. 'Benningbrough, Yorh. ; Benningholme, Yorlc; 
 Bennington, Herts, Line. ; Benningwortli, Line. 
 Bensingas. Bensington, Oxf. 
 
 Berringas. Berrington, Drhm.., Glouc, Salop, Wore. 
 
 Bessingas. Bessingby, York. ; Bessingham, JS[o7-f. 
 
 Beofingas. Bevington, Warw. 
 
 Biccingas. Biekington, Devon. 
 
 BUlingaB. Billing, Nhamp. ; Billinge, Lane. ; BiUingford, 
 
 Norf. ; BUlingbam, Drhm. ; Billinghay, Line. ; 
 BilUngley, York. ; Billingsgate, Mddx. ; Bil- 
 lingshurst, Sussx. ; BiUingside, Drhm. ; Billings- 
 ley, Salop ; Billington, Bedf., Staff., Lane. 
 Bilsingas. Bikington, Kent. 
 
 Bingas. Bing, Suff. ; Bingfleld, Nthld. ; Bingham, Nhamp., 
 
 Somers. ; Bingley, York. 
 Binningas. Binnington, York. 
 Bircingas. BirchLngton, Kent. 
 
 Bridingas. Birdingbury, Warw. 
 
 Birlingas. BirUng, Kent, Nthld. ; Birlingbam, Wore. 
 
 Biteringas. Bittering, Norf. 
 
 Blaecingas. BlatcMngton, Suss.'e. ; Blatchinworth, Lane. 
 Blsedingas. Bleddington, Olouc. 
 Bleccingas. Bletchingley, Surr. ; Bletcbington, Oxf. 
 Blielingas. Blickling, Norf. 
 Bobbingas. Bobbing, Ke)it ; Bobbington, Salop, Staff. ; Bob- 
 
 bingworth, JEssex ; Bobinger, Essea;. 
 Bocingas, Bocking, Essex, Suff. 
 
 Boddingas. Boddington, Glouc, Nhamp. 
 
THE MARK. 
 
 459 
 
 Bolingas. 
 
 Bolingbroke, Line. 
 
 BoUingas. 
 
 Bollington, Chesh. 
 
 Bondingas. 
 
 Bondington, Somers. 
 
 Bonuingas. 
 
 Bonnington, Kent and Jfotts ; Boningale, Salop ; 
 
 
 Boninghall, Salop. 
 
 Bosingas. 
 
 Bossingham, Kent ; Bossington, Hants., Somers. 
 
 Boflngas. 
 
 Bovingdon, Rerts. 
 
 Bradingas. 
 
 Brading, Hants. 
 
 Brentingaa. 
 
 Brantingham, Torlc. ; Breiitinglej', Leie. 
 
 Braheingas. 
 
 Braughin, Herts. 
 
 Bressingas. 
 
 Bressingham, Norf. 
 
 Bridlingas. 
 
 Bridlington, York. 
 
 Brihtlingas. 
 
 Brightling, Sussx. ; Brightlingsea, Essex. 
 
 Brimingas. 
 
 Brimington, Derby. 
 
 Bringas. 
 
 Brington, Hunt, and Nhamp. ; Bringhurst, Letc. 
 
 Briningas. 
 
 Briningham, Iforf. 
 
 Brinningas. 
 
 Brinnington, ChesJi. 
 
 Brislingas. 
 
 Brislington, Somers. 
 
 Britingas. 
 
 Brittenton, Oxf. 
 
 Bucingas. 
 
 Buckingham, Bucks. 
 
 Budiugas. 
 
 Buddington, Sussx. 
 
 Buloingas. 
 
 Bulkington, Warw., Wilts. 
 
 Bullingas. 
 
 Bullingdon, Oxf. ; Bullingham, Heref. ; Bulling- 
 
 
 ton, Hants and Line. 
 
 Buntingas. 
 
 Buntingford, Herts. 
 
 Burlingaa. 
 
 Burlingham, Norf. ; Burlington, Yorh. 
 
 Burmingas. 
 
 Burmington, Warw. 
 
 Burringas. 
 
 Burringham, Line. ; Burrington, Devon, Heref., 
 
 
 Somers. 
 
 Busliugas. 
 
 Buslingthorpe, Line. 
 
 Byttingas. 
 
 Butting Hill, Sussx. 
 
 Caedingas. Caddington, Bedf., Herts ; Keddington, Line. 
 
 Kedington, Essex, Suff. 
 Callingas. CaUington, Cornw. 
 
 Csegingas. Keyingham, Yorh. 
 
460 
 
 APPENDIX A. 
 
 Cameringas. Cameringham, lAnc. ; Cammertoii, Cumh. 
 Canningas. Cannings, Wilts ; Canningfcon, Somers. ; Ken- 
 
 ninghall, Norf. ; Kennington, Berhs., Kent, 
 
 Surr. 
 
 _. ^. , !■ Cardington, Bedf., Salop ; Cardinham, Gornw. 
 
 Cearlingal. 
 Cerringas. 
 
 Cersington. 
 
 Csessingas. 
 
 Ceadlingas. 
 
 Cealfingas. 
 
 Ceandlingas. 
 
 Ceadingas. 
 
 Cyllingas. 
 
 Ceassingas. 
 Cifingas. 
 Cyrclingas. 
 Cidingas. 
 
 Cirmingas. 
 Ciltingas. 
 Cemesingas. 
 Cypiugas. 
 
 Cenesingas. 
 
 Ceopingas. 
 
 Cetringas. 
 
 Claefringas. 
 
 Cyrtlingas. 
 
 Climpingas. 
 
 Cyslingas. 
 
 Carlingcot, Somers. ; Carlinghow, York. 
 Carrington, Chesh., Line, Notts ; Charing, Kent ; 
 
 Cherrington, Salop, Wilts. 
 Carsington, Derby. 
 Cassington, Oxf. 
 Chaddlington, 0.),/. 
 
 Chalvington, Sussa;. ; Kilvington, YorJc. 
 Chandlings, Berhs. 
 Cheddington, Buclcs, Dors. 
 Chellington, Bedf.; ChiUingford, Staff.; Chil- 
 
 lingham, NiKld. ; CMUington, Devon, Somers. ; 
 
 Kelling, Norf. ; Kellingley, Tori-. ; Kellington, 
 
 Yorh. 
 Chessington, Surr. ; Kessingland, Suff. 
 Chevington, Suff., Nthld. 
 Kirklington, Notts, Yorlc. 
 Chiddingfold, Surr. ; Chiddingly, Sv^sx. ; Chid- 
 
 dingstone, Kent ; Kiddington, Oxf. 
 Kirmington, Line. 
 Chiltington, Sussx. 
 Kemsing, Kent. 
 Chipping, Herts, Lane, Glouc, Berlcs., Oxf., 
 
 Essex, NJiamp.. Bucks. 
 Kensington, Mddx. 
 Choppington, Drhm. 
 
 Kettering, Nhamp. ; Ketteringham, Norf. 
 Clavering, Essex, Norf. 
 Kirtling, Oamb. ; Kirtlington, Oxf. 
 Climping, Sussx. 
 Kislingbury, Nhamp. 
 
THE MARK. 
 
 461 
 
 Coceringas. 
 
 Cookerington, Line. 
 
 Cnudlingas. 
 
 KnedUngton, Yorlc. 
 
 Cooingas. 
 
 Cocking, Sussx. ; Oocldngton, Devon. 
 
 Codingas. 
 
 Coddington, Ohesh., Heref., Notts ; Coddenham, 
 
 
 Suff. 
 
 Codringas. 
 
 Codrington, Ohuc. 
 
 Collingas. 
 
 Colliiigbourne, Wilts; CoUmgham, Notts, York,; 
 
 
 Collington, Heref. ; Collingtree, Nhamp. 
 
 Cnossingas. 
 
 Knosaington, Leic. 
 
 Cnottingas. 
 
 Knotting, Bedf. ; Knottingley, York. 
 
 Ciilingas. 
 
 Cooling, Kent ; Cowling, Suff., Yorh. 
 
 Copingas. 
 
 Copping-Syke, Line. ; Coppingford, Hunt. 
 
 Coringas, 
 
 Corringham, Essex, Line. 
 
 Cosingas, 
 
 Oossington, Leic, Somers. 
 
 Cotingas. 
 
 Cottingham, Nhamp., York. ; Cottingley, York. ; 
 
 
 Cottingwith, York. 
 
 Cofingas. 
 
 Covington, Hunt. 
 
 Cramlingas. 
 
 Cramlington, Nthld. 
 
 Creotingas. 
 
 Greeting, Suff. 
 
 Creasingas. 
 
 Cressing, Essex ; Cresaingham, Norf. 
 
 Cridlingas. 
 
 Cridling-Stubba, York. 
 
 Cniogingas. 
 
 Crudgington, Salop. 
 
 Cubingas. 
 
 Cubbington, Warw. 
 
 Cublingas. 
 
 Cublington, Bucks. 
 
 Cwasdringas. 
 
 Quadring, Line. 
 
 Cyoelingaa. 
 
 Cuoklington, Somers. 
 
 Cwaeiingas. 
 
 Quarrington, Drhm., Line. 
 
 Cydingaa. 
 
 Cuddington, Bucks, Chesh., Swr, 
 
 Cydlingas. 
 
 Kidlington, Oxf. 
 
 CuUiiigaa. 
 
 CuUingworth, York. 
 
 Cweningas. 
 
 Quenington, Olouc. 
 
 Culmingaa. 
 
 Culmington, Salop ; Kilmington, Devon, Somers. 
 
 Cylingas. 
 
 Kmingbeck, York. ; KillingbaU, York. ; KiUing- 
 
 
 holm, Line. ; Killingworth, Nthld. 
 
 Dsedlingas. 
 
 Dadlington, Leic. 
 
462 
 
 APPENDIX A. 
 
 Dseglingas. 
 
 Daglingwortli, Qloue. 
 
 Dsellingas. 
 
 DaUing, Norf. ; Dallinghoo, Suff. ; Dallington, 
 
 
 Nhamp., Sussx. 
 
 Deorlingas. 
 
 DarliBgseott, Wore. ; Darlington, Drhm. 
 
 Deorringas. 
 
 Darrington, York. 
 
 Dartingas. 
 
 Daxtington, Devon. 
 
 Dsefingas.' 
 
 Davington, Kent. 
 
 Deoplingas. 
 
 Debtling, Kent. 
 
 Deddingas. 
 
 Deddington, Oxf. 
 
 Denningas. 
 
 Dennington, Suff. 
 
 Deorsingas. 
 
 Dersingham, Norf. ; Dorsington, Glouc, Warw. 
 
 Dicringas. 
 
 Dickering, York. 
 
 Diddingas. 
 
 Diddington, Hunt. 
 
 Didlbgas. 
 
 Didling, Sussx. ; Didlington, Dors,, Norf. 
 
 Dillingas. 
 
 DLllington, Norf. 
 
 Bimlingas. 
 
 Dimlington, Yorlc. 
 
 Dinningas. 
 
 Dinnington, Nthld., Somers., YorJc. 
 
 Dintingas. 
 
 Dinting, Derby. 
 
 Dissingas. 
 
 Dissington, Nthld. 
 
 Distingas. 
 
 Distington, Cumb. 
 
 Dicelingas. 
 
 Ditchling, Sussx. 
 
 Docingas. 
 
 Docking, Norf. 
 
 Dodingas. 
 
 Doddinghurst, Essex ; Doddington, Camb., Chesh., 
 
 
 Kent, Line, Nthld., Nhamp. ; Doddingtree, 
 
 
 Wore. ; Dodington, Glouc, Salop, Somers. 
 
 Doningas. 
 
 Donington, Line, Leic, Salop ; Donnington, 
 
 
 Berks., Glouc, Eeref, Leic, Salop, Sussx. 
 
 Deorcingas. 
 
 Dorking, Surr. 
 
 DormiBgas. 
 
 Dormington, Heref. 
 
 Dorringas. 
 
 Dorrington, Line, Salop. 
 
 Drihlmgas. 
 
 Drighlington, York. 
 
 Dycingas. 
 
 Duckington, Chesh. ; Dykings, Line. 
 
 Dyclingas. 
 
 Duckliagton, Oxf. 
 
 Dylingas. 
 
 Dullingliam, Camb. 
 
 DyniBgas. 
 
 Dnnningley, York. ; Dunnington, Warw., York.; 
 
 
 Dunning-with, Suff. 
 
Dyringas. 
 
 THE MARK. 
 Durringbon, Sussa;., Wilts. 
 
 463 
 
 Ealingas. 
 
 Ealing, Mddx. ; Eling, Hants. 
 
 Eardingas. 
 
 Eardington, Salop ; Erdington, Warw. 
 
 Esingas. 
 
 Eashing, Surr. ; Easington, Buclcs, Drhm., Olouc, 
 
 
 Nthld., Oxf., York. ; Easingwold, Yorh. 
 
 Eastingas. 
 
 Eastmgton, Dors., Glouo., Wore. 
 
 Eastlingas. 
 
 Eastling, Kent. 
 
 Eastringas. 
 
 Eastrington, York. 
 
 Eberingas. 
 
 Ebrington, Glove. 
 
 Eogingas. 
 
 Eokington, Derby. , Wore. ; Eggington, Bedf. ; 
 
 
 Etchingham, Sussx. 
 
 Edingas. 
 
 Edingale, Staff. ; Edingley, Notts ; Edingthorpe, 
 
 
 Worf. ; Edington, Berks., Nthld., Somers., Wilts.; 
 
 
 Edingworth, Somers. 
 
 Eadlingas. 
 
 Edlingham, Nthld. ; Edlington, Line, York. 
 
 Eafingas. 
 
 EflBingham, Snrr. 
 
 Ecglingas. 
 
 Eglingham, Nthld. 
 
 Elcingas. 
 
 Elkington, Nhamp., Line. 
 
 Elringas. 
 
 EUerington, Nthld. 
 
 EUingas. 
 
 Ellmgham, Hants, Norf., Nthld. ; Ellingstriiig, 
 
 
 York. ; Ellington, Hunt, Kent, Nthld., York. 
 
 Elmingas. 
 
 Elmington, Nhamp. 
 
 Elsingas. 
 
 Elaing, Norf. 
 
 Eltringas. 
 
 Eltringham, Nthld. 
 
 Elfingas. 
 
 Elvington, York. 
 
 Empingas. 
 
 Empingham, Butl. 
 
 Eppiugas. 
 
 Epping, Essex. 
 
 Earmingas. 
 
 Ermington, Devon. 
 
 Eorpingas. 
 
 Erpingliam, Norf. 
 
 Eorringas. 
 
 Erringden, York. 
 
 Essingas. 
 
 Essington, Staff. 
 
 Ettingas. 
 
 Ettinghall, Staff. 
 
 Eoferingas. 
 
 Everingliam, York. 
 
 Efingas. 
 
 Evingar, Eanty, Evington, fflouc, Leic. 
 
 Escningas. 
 
 Exning, Suff. 
 
464 
 
 APPENDIX A. 
 
 Fealcingas. Falkingham, Line. ; Felkingtoii, Drhm. 
 
 Fealdingas. Paldingworth, Line. ; Pawdington, Yorlc. 
 
 Fearingas. Faringdon, Devon; Farringdon, Dors., Hants, 
 
 Berks., Somers. ; Farrington, Lane., Somers. 
 
 Feorlingas. Farlington, Hants, Torh. 
 
 Feormingas. Farmington, Oloue. 
 
 Fearningas. Farningliam, Kent. 
 
 Felmingas. Felmmgham, Norf. 
 
 Ferringas. Ferring, Sussx. 
 
 Fiddingas. Fiddington, Gloue., Somers., Wilts. 
 
 FiUingas. FiUingham, Line. 
 
 Finoingas. Finchingfield, Essex'. 
 
 Fingringas. Fingriiiglioe, Essex. 
 
 Finningas. Finningliam, Suff. ; Finningley, Notts, York. ; 
 
 Vennington, Salop. 
 
 Fitlingas. Fitling, YorJc. 
 
 Fleccingas. Fletching, Sussx. 
 
 Fobingas. Fobbing, Essex. 
 
 Folcingas. Folkingham, Line. ; Folkington, Siissx. 
 
 Fordingas. Fordingbridge, Hants ; Fordington, Dors., Line. 
 
 FoSeringas. Fotberingay, Nhamp. 
 
 Framingas. Framingham, Norf. ; Fremington, Devon, Yorlc. 
 
 Framlmgas. Framlingham, Suff. ; Framlington, Nthld. 
 
 Frescingas. Fressingfield, Suff. 
 
 Fringas. Pring, Norf. ; Fringford, Oxf. 
 
 Frodingas. Frodingham, Line, Yorlc. 
 
 Funtingas. Fimtington, Sussx. 
 
 Fylingas. Fylingdales, Yorlc. ; Fylingthorpe, YorJc. 
 
 Gaegingas. Gagingwell, Oxf. ; Ginge, Berks. 
 
 Galmingas. Galmington, Somers. 
 
 Gamelingas. Gamlingay, Camh. ; Gembling, York. 
 
 Garlingas. Garlinge, Kent. 
 
 Gsersingas. Garsington, Oxf. ; Grassington, York. ; Gressing- 
 
 ham. Lane. ; Gressenhall, Norf. 
 
 Gealdingas. Yalding, Kent ; Yielding, Bedf. 
 
THE MARK. 
 
 465 
 
 Geddingas. Gedding, Suff. ; Geddingtou, Nhamp. ; Yeading, 
 
 Mddx. ; Teddingham, Yorlc. 
 
 Gearlingas. 
 
 Yarlington, Somers. 
 
 Gaedlingas. 
 
 Gedling, Notts. 
 
 Gearingas. 
 
 Yarrington, Oxf. 
 
 6estinga3. 
 
 Gestingthorpe, Essex. 
 
 Geofoningas. 
 
 Yeavening, Nthld. 
 
 Giddingas. 
 
 Gidding, Hunt. 
 
 Gedtingaa. 
 
 Yettington, Devon. 
 
 Gildingas. 
 
 Gildingwells, Yorh. 
 
 Gillingas. 
 
 Gilling, Yorh. ; Gillingham, Dors., Kent, Norf. ; 
 
 
 Yelling, Hunt. 
 
 Gimingas. 
 
 Gimingham, Norf. ; Gimmingbrook, Kent. 
 
 Gipingas. 
 
 Gipping, Suff. 
 
 Gislingas. 
 
 Gislingham, Suff. 
 
 Gitlingas. 
 
 Yetlington, Nthld. 
 
 Glaestingas. 
 
 Glastonbury, Somers. 
 
 Glseferiugaa. 
 
 Glevering, Suff. 
 
 Goddingas. 
 
 Goddington, 0.vf. 
 
 Goldingas. 
 
 Golding Stoke, Leic. ; Goldings, 8urr. ; Golding- 
 
 
 ton, Bedf., Bucks. 
 
 Garingas. 
 
 Goring, Oxf., Sxff. 
 
 GoSringas. 
 
 Gotherington, Olouc. 
 
 Grtegingas. 
 
 Grayingham, Line. 
 
 Gystlingas. 
 
 Guestling, Sussx. 
 
 Gytingas. 
 
 Guyting, Glove. 
 
 Haecingas. 
 
 Hackington, Kent. 
 
 Hsedingas. 
 
 Haddington, Line. 
 
 Hallingas. 
 
 Hallingbury, Essex ; Hallington, Line., Nthld. 
 
 Haningas. 
 
 Hanningfield, Essex ; Hannington, Hants, Nhamp., 
 
 
 Wilts. 
 
 Haepingas. 
 
 Happing, Norf. 
 
 Heardingas. 
 
 Hardingbam, Norf. ; Hardington, Somers. ; Har- 
 
 
 dingstone, Nhamp. ; Harden, York. ; Harden- 
 
 
 dale, Wmld. ; Hardenhuish, Wilts. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 2 H 
 
466 
 
 APPENDIX A. 
 
 Herelingas. 
 Hearingas. 
 
 Heortingas. 
 
 Heortlingas. 
 
 Heorfingas. 
 
 Hseslingas. 
 
 Hsesssingas. 
 Haestingas. 
 
 Haeferingas. 
 
 Hafocingas. 
 Hseglingas. 
 Heafodingas. 
 
 Healingas. 
 Haeoingas. 
 
 Hellingas. 
 
 Helmingas. 
 
 Helpringas. 
 
 Helsingas. 
 
 Hemlingas. 
 
 Hemingas. 
 
 Hanesingas. 
 Hcorringas. 
 
 Heofingaa. 
 Hicelingas. 
 
 Harling, Norf. ; Harlington, Bedf., Mcldm., York. 
 Harrington, Camh., Line, Nhamp. ; Harring- 
 
 worth, Nhamp. 
 Harting, Siissx. ; Hartington, Derby., Nthld. ; 
 
 Hertingfordbury, Herts. 
 Hartlington, Yorh. 
 Harvington, Wore. 
 Haslingden, Lane. ; Haslingfield, Camh. ; Hasling- 
 
 ton, Uhesh. ; Heslington, Yorh. 
 Hassingham, Norf. 
 'Kaatm^,Siissx.,Ber'ks, Warw., Nhamp. •,'S.a&\xa^- 
 
 I'eyt, Kent ; Hastingwood, Essex. 
 Havering, Essex ; Haveringham, Suff. ; Havering- 
 
 land, Norf. 
 Hawkinge, Kent. 
 
 Hawling, Olouc. ; Hayling, Hants. 
 Headingley, Yorh, ; Headington, ^xf. ; Hedding- 
 
 ton, Wilts ; Hedingham, Essex. 
 Healing, Line. 
 Heckingham, Norf. ; Heckingfcon, Line. ; Heigh- 
 
 ington, Drhm,., Line. 
 Hellinghill, Nthld. ; Hellingly, Sitssx. 
 Helmingham, Suff. ; Helmington, Drhm. 
 Helprington, Line. 
 Helsington, Wmld. 
 Hembliligton, Norf. ; Hemlingford, Warw.iKem- 
 
 lington, Yorh., Drhm. 
 Hemingbrough, Yorh. ; Hemingby, Line. ; He- 
 
 mingfield, Yorh. ; Hemingford, Hunt. ; He- 
 
 mingstone, /S^it^. ; Hemington, Nhamp., Somer$. 
 Hensingham, Cumh. ; Hensington, Oxf. 
 Herring, Dors. ; Herringby, Norf. ; Herringfleet, 
 
 /SfM^.;Herringstone, Dors.; Heiiingswel], Suff.; 
 
 Herringtborpe, Yorh. ; Herrington, Drhm. 
 Hevingham, Norf. 
 Hiokling, No^f., Notts. 
 
THE MARK. 
 
 467 
 
 Hillingas. 
 
 Hillingdon, Mddx. ; HilUngton, Norf. 
 
 Hindringas. 
 
 Hindringliam, Norf. 
 
 Hooringas. 
 
 Hockering, Norf. 
 
 Hodingas. 
 
 Hoddington, Hants. 
 
 Holdingas. 
 
 Holdingliain, Lino. 
 
 Holingas. 
 
 Hollingbourn, Kent ; HoUingdon, Bucks ; Hol- 
 
 
 '\in^^,Nthld. ; Hollingfcoii,i)«r5.,*Sfeijf., Sussx.; 
 
 
 HoUingworth, Chesh. 
 
 Homingas. 
 
 Homington, Wilts. 
 
 Honingas. 
 
 Honing, Norf. • Honingham, Norf. ; Honington, 
 
 
 Line., Suff., Warw. 
 
 Horblingas. 
 
 Horbling, Line. 
 
 Homingas. 
 
 Homing, Norf. ; Horninghold, Leia. ; Horning- 
 
 
 low. Staff. ; Horningsea, Gamb. ; Horningsham, 
 
 
 Wilts ; Horningsheath, Suff. ; Hornitfgtoft 
 
 
 Norf 
 
 Horingas. 
 
 Horrington, Somers. 
 
 Horsingas. 
 
 Horsington, Line., Somers. 
 
 Hoferingas. 
 
 Hoveringham, Notts. 
 
 Hofingas. 
 
 Hovingham, TorTc, 
 
 Hucingas, or "i „ ^ . 
 
 „ . ■ Huokmg, Kent. 
 Hooingas. J 
 
 Hudingas. 
 
 Huddington, Wore. 
 
 Huningas, oi 
 Hundingas. 
 
 I Hunningham, Warw. ; Hunnington, Salo}j. 
 
 Hunsingas. 
 
 Hunsingore, Yorh. 
 
 Hyrstingas. 
 
 Hurstingstone, Hunt. 
 
 Icelingas. 
 
 Icklingham, Suff. 
 
 niingas. 
 
 Illington, Norf. ; Hlingworth, York. 
 
 Ilmingas. 
 
 Hmirngton, Glouc., Warw. 
 
 Hsingas. 
 
 Hsington, Devon., Dors. 
 
 Immiugas. 
 
 Immingham, Line. 
 
 Impingaa. 
 
 Impington, Camb. 
 
 Ipingas. 
 
 Iping, Sussx. 
 
 Irmingas. 
 
 Irmingland, Norf. 
 
 2 h2 
 
468 
 
 APPENDIX A. 
 
 IrSingas. 
 
 Irthington, Oumb. 
 
 IrSlingas. 
 
 Irthliiigborough, Nhamp. 
 
 Islingas. 
 
 Islington, Norf., Mddx. 
 
 Issingas. 
 
 Issington, Hants. 
 
 Icoingas. 
 
 ItchingsweU, Hants ; Itohington, Glouc, Warw. 
 
 Iteringas. 
 
 Itteringham, Norf. 
 
 Ifingas. 
 
 Ivinghoe, Bucks; Ivington, Heref.; Jevington, 
 
 
 Sassx. 
 
 Lseoingag. 
 
 Laokington, Soniers. ; Latohingdon, Essex. 
 
 Larlingas. 
 
 Larling, Morf. 
 
 Leortingas. 
 
 Lartington, Yorh. 
 
 Leamingas. 
 
 Leamington, Warw. ; Leeming, York. ; Leming- 
 
 
 ton, Glouc, Nthld. 
 
 Leasingas. 
 
 Leasingham, Line. ; Lissington, lAnc. 
 
 Leafeningas. 
 
 Leavening, Yorh. 
 
 Leafingas. 
 
 Leavington, Yorlc. ; Levington, Suff. 
 
 Lsepingas. 
 
 Leppington, Yorh. 
 
 LeSringas. 
 
 Letheringham, Suff. ; Letheringsett, Norf. 
 
 Lseferingas. 
 
 Leverington, Camb. 
 
 Lexingas. 
 
 Lexington, Notts. 
 
 Lidingas. 
 
 Liddington, Rwtl., Wilts. 
 
 Lidlingas. 
 
 Lidlington, Bedf. 
 
 Lidesingas. 
 
 Lidsing, Kent. 
 
 Lillingas. 
 
 Lillings, Yorlc. ; Lillingstone, Bucks ; Lillington, 
 
 
 Dors., Oxf., Warw. 
 
 Limingas. 
 
 Limington, Somers. ; Lyminge, Kent ; Lymington, 
 
 
 Hants. 
 
 Lingas. 
 
 Lings, Yorh. ; Lingbob, Yorh. ; Lingen, Eeref. ; 
 
 
 Lingfield, Surr. ; Lingham, Chesh. ; Lingwell 
 
 
 Gate, Yorh. ; Lingwood, Norf. ; Lyng, Norf. 
 
 Lytlingas. 
 
 Littlington, Camb., Sussx. 
 
 Locingas. 
 
 Locking, Somers. ; Lockinge, Berks. ; Locldngton, 
 
 
 Leic, Yorh. 
 
 Lodingas. 
 
 Loddington, Kent, Leic, Nhamp. 
 
 Loningas. 
 
 Loningborough, Kent, 
 
THE MAEK. 
 
 463 
 
 Lopingas. 
 
 Loppington, Salop. 
 
 Loflngas. 
 
 Lovington, Somers. 
 
 Lucingas. 
 
 Luckington, Somers., Wilts. 
 
 Ludingas. 
 
 Luddington, Line, Warw., Hunt, Nhamp. 
 
 Lullingas. 
 
 Lullingfield, Salop. ; Lullingstane, Kent ; LuUing- 
 
 
 stone, Kent ; Lullington, Derh., Somers., Sussx. 
 
 Maedingas. 
 
 Maddington, Wilts ; Madingley, Camb. 
 
 Mallingas. 
 
 Mailing, Kent, Sussx. 
 
 Manningas. 
 
 Manningford, Wilts ; MamiiDgham, Yorh. ; Man- 
 
 
 nington, Dors., Norf. ; Manningtree, Essex ■ 
 
 
 Monnington, Heref. 
 
 MyrcingaB. 
 
 Marohington, Staff. ■ Markington, Yorh.; Mark- 
 
 
 ingfield, Yorh. 
 
 Mserlingas. 
 
 Marlingford, Norf. 
 
 Meeringas, or 
 
 ■ 1 Marrington, Salop. ; Mering, Notts.; Merrington 
 Drhm., Salop. 
 
 MjTgings? 
 
 Maessmgas. 
 
 Massingham, Norf.; Messing, Essex; Messing 
 
 
 ham. Line. 
 
 MsecciDgas. 
 
 Matching, Essex. 
 
 MaBtingas. 
 
 Mattingley, Hants ; Mettingham, Suff. 
 
 MEegdlingas. 
 
 Maudling, Sussx. 
 
 Mecingas. 
 
 Meeching, Sussx. 
 
 Mellingas. 
 
 Melling, Lane. 
 
 MeSringas. 
 
 Metheringham, Line. 
 
 Millingas. 
 
 MUlingfcoB, Ohesh., Yorh. 
 
 Mintingas. 
 
 Minting, Line. 
 
 MoUingaa. 
 
 MoUington, Ohesh., Oxf., Warw. 
 
 Mottingas. 
 
 Mottingham, Kent. 
 
 Mycgingas. 
 
 Mucking, Essex. 
 
 Nsecingas'. 
 
 Nackington, Kent ; Nedging, Snff. 
 
 Nsessingas. 
 
 Nassington, Nhamp. ; Nazeiug, Essex. 
 
 Nydingas. 
 
 Needingworth, Hunt. 
 
 ' These may properly haye commenced with an H, thus Hnsecingas, Hnut- 
 tingas. Similarly Hnutscillingas, now Nutshalling or Nursling in Hants. 
 
470 
 
 APPENDIX A. 
 
 Niwingas. 
 
 Newington, Kent, Notts, Oxf., York., Qlouc., 
 
 
 Surr., Mddx. 
 
 NorSingas. 
 
 Northington, Hants. 
 
 Nottingas'. 
 
 Notfcing, Bedf. ; Nottington, Dors. ; Nottingham, 
 
 
 Notts, Berks. 
 
 Oddingas. 
 
 Oddingley, Wore. ; Oddington, Qlouc., Oxf. 
 
 Oldingas. 
 
 Oldington, Salop. 
 
 Orlingas. 
 
 Orlingbury, Nhamp. 
 
 Orpedingas. 
 
 Orpington, Kent. 
 
 Osmingas. 
 
 Osmington, Dors. 
 
 Ossingas. 
 
 Ossington, Notts. 
 
 Oteringas. 
 
 Otterington, York. ; Ottringham, York. 
 
 Ofingas. 
 
 Oving, Bucks, Sussx. ; Ovingdean, Su^sx. ; Oving- 
 
 
 ham, York., Nthld. ; Ovington, Essex, Hants, 
 
 
 Norf., Nthld., York. 
 
 Paeccingas. 
 
 Packington, Derh., Leic, Staff., Warw. ; Patch- 
 
 
 ing, Sitssx. 
 
 Psedingas. 
 
 Paddington, Mddx. (? Padan tun.) 
 
 Paellingas. 
 
 Palling, Norf. ; Pallingham, Sussx. ; PalUngton, 
 
 
 Dors. 
 
 Paemingas. 
 
 Pamington, Cflouc. 
 
 Peartingas. 
 
 Partington, ChesJt. 
 
 Paetringas. 
 
 Patrington, York. 
 
 Peetingas. 
 
 Pattingham, Salop., Staff. 
 
 Paefingas. 
 
 Pavingham, Bedf. ; Pevington, Kent. 
 
 Petlingas. 
 
 Peatling, Leic. 
 
 Paedlingas. 
 
 Pedling, Kent. 
 
 Penningas. 
 
 Pennington, Hants, Lane. 
 
 Piceringas. 
 
 Pickering, York. 
 
 Pidingas. 
 
 Piddinghoe, Sussx. ; Piddington, Nhuftvp., Oxf. 
 
 Pilcingas. 
 
 Pilkington, Lane. 
 
 Pillingas. 
 
 Pilling, Latic. 
 
 ' See note, p. 469. 
 

 THK MARK. 
 
 Pitingas. 
 
 Pittington, Drhm. 
 
 Poclingas. 
 
 Pooklington, York. 
 
 Podingas. 
 
 Poddington, Bedf. ; Podington, Dors. 
 
 Puntingas. 
 
 Pointington, Somers. 
 
 Polingas. 
 
 Poling, Sussx. ; Pollington, TorJc. 
 
 Poringas. 
 
 Pormgland, Norf. 
 
 Poroingas. 
 
 Porkington, Salop. 
 
 Portingas. 
 
 Portington, Torh. 
 
 Postlingas. 
 
 Postling, Kent. 
 
 Potingas. 
 
 Poting, York. 
 
 Pucingas. 
 
 Puckington, Somers. 
 
 Puningas. 
 
 Poynings, Sussx. 
 
 Pydingas. 
 
 Puddington, Bedf., Chesh., Devon. 
 
 471 
 
 Esedingas. Kaddington, Somers. ; Reading, Berks ; Reading- 
 street, Kent. 
 
 Rsetlingae. Eatlinghope, Salop. 
 
 Rsefiiingas^. Eaveningham, Norf. 
 
 Esedlingas^ Redlingfield, Suff. 
 
 Renningas. Rennington, Nihld. 
 
 Rioingas. Rickinghall, Suff. 
 
 Riclingas'. Riokling, Essex. 
 
 Ridingas. Riddinge, Derb. ; Riding, Nthld. 
 
 Ridlingas. Ridlington, Norf., Rutl. 
 
 RiUingas. Rillington, York. 
 
 Rimmingas. Rimmington, York. 
 
 Riplingas'. Riplingliam, York. ; Riplington, Hants, Nthld. 
 
 Ripingas'. Rippingale, Line. 
 
 Risingas'. Rising, Norf. ; Rissington, Qlouc, 
 
 Riflngas. Rivington, Lane. 
 
 Rocingas\ Rockingham, Nhamp. 
 
 ' All these words commencing with an E may have originally had an H, 
 in which case we should have had these formations ; Hrajfningas, Hr^^lingas, 
 Hrycglingas, Hreoplingas, Hre6pingas, Hrisingas, Hrioingas, Hriringaa, 
 Hre&wingas, Hrj'cingas, Hreodingas, Hryscingas. 
 
472 
 
 APPENDIX A. 
 
 Eodingas. Eoddington, Salop. ; Eoding, Essex. 
 
 Eollirlgas. Eollington, Dors. 
 
 Eoringas. Eorrington, Salop. 
 
 Eossingas. Eossington, YorJc. 
 
 Eotingaa. Eottingdean, Sussx. ; Eottington, Cumb. 
 
 Eowingas^ Eowington, Wariv. 
 
 Euoingas'. Euokinge, Kent. 
 
 Eudingas'. Euddington, Notts. 
 
 Euningas. , Eunningtoii, Somers. 
 
 Euscingas'. Euskington, Line. 
 
 Eustingas, Eustington, Sussx. 
 
 Ssedingas. 
 
 S«linga8. 
 
 Sealftngas, 
 
 Sandingas. 
 
 Seaxlingas. 
 
 Scealingas, 
 
 Scearningas. 
 
 Scearingas, or 
 Seringas. 
 
 ScearSingas. 
 
 Scrsegingas. 
 
 Soreadingas. 
 
 Seafingas. 
 
 Secgingas. 
 
 SeaSingas. 
 
 Syllingas. 
 
 Seamingas. 
 
 Sempringas. 
 
 Setringas. 
 
 Syfingas. 
 
 Sceabingas. 
 
 Saddington, Leic. 
 
 Saling, Essex. 
 
 Salvington, Sussx. 
 
 Sandriagham, Norf. 
 
 Saxlingham, Norf. 
 
 Scaling-dam, Yorh. 
 
 Seaming, Norf. 
 
 Searrington, Notts; Sharrington, Norf; Sheering, 
 
 Essex ; Sheringford, Norf. ; Sherringham, Norf. ; 
 
 Sherrington, Bucks, Wilts. 
 Soarthingwell, TorJc. 
 Sorayingham, York. ■'• 
 
 Soredington, Line. 
 Seavington, Somers. . 
 Seckington, Warw. 
 Seething, Norf. 
 Selling, Kent; SeUinge, Kent. 
 Semington, Wilts. 
 Sempringham, Line. 
 Settrington, Yorh. 
 Sevington, Kent. 
 Shabbington, BiicJcs. 
 
 ' See note in the preceding page. 
 
THE MARK. 
 
 473 
 
 Sceadingas. Shadingfield, Suff. 
 
 Soeaflngas. Shavington, Ghesh. ; Shevington, Lane. ; Skef- 
 
 fington, Leic. 
 
 Sceaningas. Shenington, Olouc. 
 
 Soyllingas. Shilling-Okeford, Dors. ; Shillingford, Berks, 
 
 Oxf., Devon. ; Shillingstone, Dors. ; Shilling- 
 thorpe. Lino. ; Sliillington, Bedf. ; Skelling- 
 thorpe, Line. ; Skillington, Line. 
 
 Soylflngas. Shilvington, Dors., Nthld. 
 
 Scymplingas. Shimpling, Norf., Suff. 
 
 Soytlingas. Shitlington, Bedf., Nthld., York. 
 
 Scolingas. Sliding, Hants. 
 
 Scyrdingaa. Shurdington, Olouc. 
 
 Scytingaa. Shuttington, Warm. 
 
 Soylingas. Sioklinghall, York. 
 
 Sidingas. Siddington, Glouc. 
 
 Silflngas. Silvington, Salop. 
 
 Sinningas. Sinnington, YorJc. 
 
 Sittingas. Sittingbourne, Kent. 
 
 Sceadingas. Skeokling, York. 
 
 Soeaflingas. Skeffling, York. 
 
 Scyldingas. Skelding, York. 
 
 Soyrlingas. Skirlington, York. 
 
 Sleaningas. Sleningford, York. 
 
 Snoringas. Snoring, Norf. 
 
 Somtingas. Sompting, Sussx. 
 
 Sunningas. Sonning, Berks, Oxf. ; Sunninghill, Berks ; Sun- 
 
 ningwell, Berks. 
 
 SuSingas. Southington, Hants. 
 
 Spaldingas. Spalding, Line. ; Spaldington, York. 
 
 Specingas. Speckington, Somers. 
 
 Spyringas. Spirringate, Gloue. 
 
 Spraettingas. Spratting- street, Kent. 
 
 Sprydlingas. Spridlington, Line. 
 
 Steallingas. Stalling-busk, York. ; Stallingboroxigh, Line. ; 
 Stallington, Staff. 
 
474 
 
 APPENDIX A. 
 
 StSeningas. 
 
 Stanningfleld, Suff. ; Stanningtall, Norf. ; Stan- 
 
 
 ningley, Torh. ; Stannington, Nihld., York. ; 
 
 
 Steyning, Susscc. 
 
 Steorlingas. 
 
 Starling, Lane. 
 
 Stebbingas. 
 
 Stebbing, Essex; Stibbington, Runt. 
 
 Steapingas. 
 
 Steeping, Line. ; Steppingley, Bedf. 
 
 Stellingas. 
 
 Stalling, Kent, Nthld. ; Stillingfleet, Torh. ; Stil- 
 
 
 lington, Drhm., Torlc. 
 
 Steflngas. 
 
 Stevington, Bedf. 
 
 Stocingas. 
 
 Stocking, Herts ; Stocl?ingford, Warw. ; Stoking- 
 
 
 ham, Devon. 
 
 Stomingas. 
 
 Storningley, Yorlc. 
 
 Storringas. 
 
 Storrington, Sussx. 
 
 Stutingas. 
 
 Stouting, Kent. 
 
 Strellingas. 
 
 Strellington, Sussx. 
 
 Stubingas. 
 
 Stubbington, Rants. 
 
 Sulingas. 
 
 Sullington, Sussx. 
 
 Surlingas. 
 
 Surlingham, Norf. 
 
 Swaningas. 
 
 Swannington, Leic, Norf. 
 
 Sweorlingas. 
 
 Swarling, Kent (? Sweordhlincas). 
 
 SweSelingas. 
 
 Swathling, Rants. 
 
 Swefelingas. 
 
 Sweffling, S-uff. 
 
 Swillingas. 
 
 SwUHngton, TorJc. 
 
 S)'dlingas. 
 
 Sydling, Dors. 
 
 Taedingas. Taddington, Glouc., Derby. ; Teddington, Mddx., 
 
 Wore. ; Tiddington, Oxf, Warw. 
 
 Taelingas. Tallington, Line. 
 
 Tseningaa. Tannington, Suff. 
 
 Teorringas. Tarring, Sussx. ; Tarrington, Reref. ; Terriugton, 
 Norf, York.. ; Torrington, Devon., Line. 
 
 Tsetingas. Tattingstone, Suff. 
 
 Tendringas. Tendring, Essex. 
 
 TeorKngas. Terling, Essex. 
 
 Degningas. Thanington, Kent. 
 
 Deddingas. Thedingwortb, Leic, Nhamp. 
 

 THE MARK. 47J 
 
 Docingas. 
 
 Thockington, Mhld. 
 
 "'^ . \ Thorington, Suff. ; Thorrington, Essex. 
 
 Dorningas. 
 
 Thornington, Nihld. 
 
 Drecgingas. 
 
 Threokinghani, Lino. 
 
 Dredlingas. 
 
 Thredling, Suff. 
 
 Dristlingas. 
 
 Trislington, Di-hm. 
 
 Dryscingas. 
 
 Thrussington, Leic. 
 
 Dumingas. 
 
 Thurning, Hunt., Norf., Nhamp. 
 
 Dwingas. 
 
 Thwing, York. 
 
 Tibbiiigas. 
 
 Tibbington, Staff. 
 
 Tidmingas. 
 
 Tidmington, Wore. 
 
 Tilingas. 
 
 TiUingbam, Essex; TiHingtoa, Heref., Staff., Sussx. 
 
 Tissingas. 
 
 Tissington, Derhy. 
 
 Titliiigas. 
 
 Titlington, Nthld. 
 
 Teofingas. 
 
 Tivington, Somers. 
 
 Tocingas. 
 
 Tockington, Olouc. 
 
 Todingas. 
 
 Toddington, Bedf., Glow. 
 
 Toltingas. 
 
 Toltingtrough, Kent. 
 
 Totingas. 
 
 Tooting, Surr. ; Tottington, Lane, Norf. 
 
 Torcingas. 
 
 Torkington, Chesh. 
 
 Tortingas. 
 
 Tortington, Sussx. 
 
 Trimingas. 
 
 Trimmgham, Norf. 
 
 Tringas. 
 
 Tring, Herts. 
 
 Tritlingas. 
 
 Tritlington, Nthld. 
 
 Trumpingas. 
 
 Trumpington, Oamb. 
 
 Tucingas. 
 
 Tucking Mills, Somers. ; Tuckington, Hants. 
 
 Tuscingas. 
 
 Tusbingbam, Ohesh. 
 
 Tuttingas. 
 
 Tuttington, Norf. 
 
 Twiningas. 
 
 Twining, Glouc. 
 
 Twicgingas. 
 
 Twitobing, Devon. 
 
 Tyrringas. 
 
 Tyrringham, Bucks. 
 
 TySeringas. 
 
 Tytberington, Chesh., Olouc, Wilts. 
 
 Ucingas. 
 
 Uckington, Olouc., Salop. 
 Ufflngton, Berks, Line, Salop. 
 
476 
 
 APPENDIX A. 
 
 Ulingas. Ullingswick, Heref. 
 
 Ultingas. Ulting, Essex. 
 
 Upingas. Uppingham, Butl. ; Uppington, Salop. 
 
 Wadingas. 
 
 Wseceringas. 
 
 Wealdingas. 
 
 Wealdringas. 
 
 Wealcringas. 
 
 Wealcingas. 
 
 Wealingas. 
 
 Wselsingas. 
 
 Wseplingas'. 
 
 Wseppingas'. 
 
 Wearblingas^ 
 
 Weardingas. 
 
 Wearlingas. 
 
 "Wearmingas. 
 
 Wearnmgas. 
 WsBiingas. 
 
 Weartingas. 
 Wsesingas. 
 
 Wsetringas. 
 
 Waddingham, Line. ; Waddington, Line., York. ; 
 
 Waddingworth, Line. ; Weddington, Warw. 
 Wakering, Essex. 
 
 Waldingfield, Suff. ; "Woldingham, Surr. 
 Waldringfleld, Suff. 
 Walkeringham, Notts. 
 "Walkingham, York. ; "Walkington, York. 
 Wallingfen, York. ; Wallingford, Berks ; Wal- 
 lington, Hants, Herts, Norf., Surr., Nthld. ; 
 "WaUingwells, Notts'! ; "Wellingboro', Nhamp.; 
 Wellingham, Norf. ; Wellingley, York. ; Wel- 
 lingore, Line. 
 Walsingham, Norf. ; Wolsingliam, Drhm. ; Wool- 
 
 sington, Nthld. 
 Waplington, York. 
 Wapping, Mddx. 
 Warblington, Hants. 
 Wardington, Oxf. 
 Warlingham, Sussx. 
 ■Warmingham, Chesh. ; "Warmingliurst, Susi, 
 
 Warmington, Nhamp., Warw. 
 ■Warningcamp, Sussx. 
 Warrington, Bucks, Lane. ; Werrington, Devon., 
 
 Nhamp. 
 "Warthing, Sussx. 
 
 WasHngborougli, Line. ; Washingley, Hvmt. ; 
 Washington, Berhy., Burh., Sussx. ; Wasing, 
 Berks ; Wessington, Berhy. 
 Wateringbury, Kent. 
 
 ' As tile whole of these names might commence with an H, we should have 
 the following forms : Hwaeplingas, Hwseppingas, Hwearflingas, Hwsetlingae, 
 Hwelpingas, Hwerringas, Hweopingas, Hwltlingas, Hwiteringas, Hwitingas. 
 
THE MARK. 
 
 477 
 
 Waetlingas. 
 
 Weotingas. 
 
 Weolingas. 
 
 "Wendlingas. 
 
 Weningas. 
 
 WeSeringas. 
 
 Westingas. 
 
 Westoningas. 
 
 "Waetlingas'. 
 
 Welpingas'. 
 
 Werringas'. 
 
 "Wippingas'. 
 
 Witlingas'. 
 
 Witeringas*. 
 
 Wittingas'. 
 
 Widingas. 
 WiUingas. 
 
 Wylmingas. 
 
 Wining as. 
 
 Wintringas. 
 
 Wisoingas. 
 
 Wiocingas. 
 
 Widingas. 
 
 WiSingaa. 
 
 Wocingas. 
 
 Weoroingas. 
 
 Wyrlingas. 
 
 Wyrmingaa. 
 
 Watlington, Norf., Oxf. 
 
 Weeting, Norf. 
 
 Wellington, Heref., Salop., Somers., Wilts. 
 
 Wendling, Norf. 
 
 Wennington, Essex, Bunt., Lane. 
 
 Wittering, Sussx. ; Wetheringsett, Svff. ; Wither- 
 
 ington, Wilts. 
 Westington, Glouc. 
 Westoning, Bedf. 
 Whatlington, Sussx. 
 Whelpington, Nthld. 
 Wherrington, Staff'. 
 Wliippingham, Hants. 
 Whitlingham, Norf. 
 Whittering, Nhamp. 
 
 Whittingham, Lane., Nthld. ; Whittington, Derb., 
 Olouc, Lane., Norf., Salop., Staff., Warw., 
 Wore., Nthld. 
 Widdington, Essex, Nthld., York. 
 WUlingale, Essex ; WiUingdon, Sussx. ; WUling- 
 ham, Garni., Line., Suff. ; Willington, Bedf., 
 Chesh., Derh., Drhm., Nthld., Warw. 
 Wilnaington, Kent, Salop., Somers., Sussx. 
 Winnington, Chesh., Staff, 
 Winteringham, Line., YorTc. 
 Wissington, Salop., Suff. 
 Witohingham, Norf. 
 Witohling, Kent ; Wychling, Kent. 
 Withington, Oloue., Heref., Lane., Salop., Staff., 
 
 Chesh. 
 Woking, Surr. ; Wokingham, Berks, Wilts. 
 Workington, Cumb. 
 Worlingiiam, Suff. ; Worlington, Suff., Devon. ; 
 
 Worlingworth, Suff. 
 Wormingford, Essex ; Worminghall, Bucks ; Wor- 
 mington, Glouc. 
 ^ See note in the preceding page. 
 
478 
 
 APPENDIX A. 
 
 WeortSingas. 
 
 Wramplingas. 
 
 Wraettingas. 
 
 "Wrseningas. 
 
 "Wrestlingas. 
 
 "Wrihtingas. 
 
 "Wrihtlingas. 
 
 Weomeringas. 
 
 Wymingas. 
 
 Worthing, Norf., Sussx. 
 
 Leic. 
 Wramplingham, Norf. 
 Wratting, Camb., Suff. 
 "Wreningham, Norf. 
 Wrestlingwortli, Bedf. 
 Wrightington, Lane. 
 Wrilhlington, Somers. 
 Wymering, Hants. 
 Wymington, Bedf. 
 
 Worthington, Lane,, 
 
 The total number of the names thus assumed from local deno- 
 minations amounts to 627, but as several occur once only, -while 
 others are found repeated in various counties, I find the whole 
 number reaches to 1329, which are distributed through the coun- 
 ties in a very striking manner, as the following table wiQ show. 
 
 Bedford 22 
 
 Berks. 22 
 
 Bucks 17 
 
 'Cambridge 21 
 
 Cheshire 25 
 
 Cornwall 2 
 
 Cumberland 6 
 
 Derby '. . 14 
 
 Devon 24 
 
 Dorset 21 
 
 Durham 19 
 
 Essex 48 
 
 Gloucester 46 
 
 Hereford 15 
 
 Hertford 10 
 
 Huntingdon 16 
 
 Kent 60 
 
 Lancashire 26 
 
 Leicester 19 
 
 Lincolnsh 76 
 
 Middlesex 12 
 
 Monmouth 
 
 Norfolk 97 
 
 Northampton 35 
 
 Northumberland ... 48 
 
 Nottingham 22 
 
 Oxford 31 
 
 Rutland 4 
 
 Salop 34 
 
 Somerset 45 
 
 Southampton .... 33 
 
 Stafford 19 
 
 Suffolk 56 
 
 Surrey 18 
 
 Sussex 68 
 
 Warwick 31 
 
 Westmoreland .... 2 
 
 Wilts 25 
 
 Worcester 13 
 
 York (3 Eidings) . . .127 
 
THE MAEK. 479 
 
 There are two slight causes of inaccuracy to be borne in mind 
 in using the foregoing tables : the first arises from the insertion of 
 names which probably do not, the other from the omission of 
 names which probably do, belong to this class. But I think these 
 two errors may nearly balance one another, and that they do not 
 interfere with the general correctness of the results. 
 
 It is remarkable how many of these names stUl stand alone, 
 without any addition of -wio, -ham, -worSig, or similar words. The 
 total number of patronymical names thus found (in the nominative 
 plural) is 190, or very nearly one-seventh of the whole ; they are 
 thus distributed : in Kent, 25 ; Norfolk and Sussex each 24 ; 
 Essex 21 ; Suffolk 15 ; Yorkshire 13 ; Lincoln 7 j Southampton 
 6 ; Berks and Surrey, 5 each ; Bedfordshire, Lancashire, Middle- 
 sex and Northampton, 4 each ; Hertford, Huntingdon, Northum- 
 berland and Nottingham. 3 each; Cambridge, Derby, Dorset, 
 Gloucester and Oxford, 2 each ; Bucks, Devon, Leicester, Salop, 
 Somerset, Warwick, and Wilts, 1 each ; and none at all in the re- 
 maining ten counties. When now we consider that of 190 such 
 places, 140 are found in the counties on the eastern and south- 
 ern coasts ; and that 22 more are in counties easily accessible 
 through our great navigable streams, we shall be led to admit 
 the possibility of these having been the original seats of the 
 Marks bearing these names ; and the further possibility of the 
 settlements distinguished by the addition of -h^m, -wic and so forth 
 to these original names, having been filial settlements, or as it 
 were colonies, from them. It also seems worthy of remark that 
 they are hardly found to the north of the Humber, or about 
 53° 40' N. Lat., which renders it probable that the prevailing 
 mode of emigration was to take advantage of a N.E. wind to secure 
 a landing in the Wash, and thence coast southward and westward 
 as far as circumstances required. Sailors, who in the ninth cen- 
 tury could find their way from Norway to Iceland in sufiicient 
 numbers to colonize that island, who in the tenth could extend 
 their course from Iceland to Greenland, and who had noble spirit 
 enough to confront the perils of the Polar ocean rather than submit 
 to oppression at home, were not likely to find any insurmountable 
 
480 APPENDIX A. 
 
 difiSoulty in a voyage from the Elbe or Skager Kaok to England : 
 and the conquest of the Orkneys and Hebrides, of the south of 
 Ireland and Man, nay of large tracts of England by the Scandi- 
 navians in the ninth, tenth and following centuries, may supply 
 the means of judging how similar adventures were conducted by 
 populations of the same race, and as noble spirit, nine hundred or 
 a thousand years before. 
 
 The following additions may be made to the evidences given in 
 this chapter. 
 
 A marked linden or lime-tree is noticed in Cod. Dipl. No. 1317. 
 Again in Kent we hear of earnes beam, the -eagle's tree, iUcl. 
 No. 287 : it is more probable that this was a tree marked with the 
 figure of an eagle, than that a real bird of that species should 
 have been meant. Further in the boundary of the charter No. 
 393 we have, on Sd,n merkeden ok, to the marJced oak. 
 
 The sacred woods are again mentioned by Tacitus, Annal. i. 59, 
 where he tells us that Arminius hung up the captured Eoman 
 ensigns to the gods of the country, in the woods, luds : we hang 
 them up in cathedrals. See also Tac. Germ, vii., Annal. iv. 
 22. 
 
 The character of the Hark or March is very evident in the fol- 
 lowing passage : " Siquidem in Lindeseia superiori extat prioratus 
 qui Marchby dicitur, longas ao latas pasturas pro gregibus alendis 
 inhabitans, non omnino private iure, sed communem cum com- 
 patriotis libertatem ex dono patronorum participans," etc. Chron. 
 Lanerc. an. 1289. See also the quotations from the Indiculua 
 Pagan, and Synod. Leptin. an. 742, in Moser, Osnab. i. 52, and 
 the whole of his twenty-ninth chapter, for the religious rites with 
 which boundaries were dedicated, especially vol. i. p. 68, note c. 
 
 It is more than one could now undertake to do, without such 
 local co-operation as is not to be expected in England as yet, but I 
 am certain that the ancient Marks ihight still be traced. In look- 
 ing over a good county map we are surprised by seeing the syste- 
 matic succession of places ending in -den, -holt, -wood, -hurst, 
 -fold, and other words which in varia"bly denote forests and outlying 
 pastures in the woods. These are all in the Mark, and within 
 
THE MARK. 481 
 
 tliem we may trace with equal certainty, the -hams, -tuns, -worSigs 
 and -stedes which imply settled habitations. There are few coun- 
 ties which are not thus distributed into districts, whose limits may 
 be assigned by the observation of these peculiar characteristics. 
 I will lay this down as a rule, that the ancient Mark is to be recog- 
 nised by following the names of places ■ ending in -den (neut.), 
 which always denoted cubile ferarum, or pasture, usually for 
 swine. Denu, a vaUey (fem.), a British and not Saxon word, is 
 very rarely, perhaps never, found in composition. The actual 
 surface of the island, wherever the opportunity has been given of 
 testing this hypothesis, conflnns its history. But there are other 
 remarkable facts bearing upon this subject, which are only to be 
 got at by those who are fortunate enough to have free access to 
 manorial records, before the act of Charles II. destroyed all feudal 
 services in England. A striking example of the mark-jurisdiction 
 is the " Court of Dens," in Kent. This appears to have been a 
 mark-court, in the sense in which mark-court is used throughout 
 this second chapter, and which gradually became a lord's court, 
 only when the head markman succeeded in raising. himself at the 
 expense of his fellows : a court of the little marks, marches, or 
 pastures in Kent, long after the meaning of such marks or marches 
 had been forgotten : a court which in earlier times met to regulate 
 the rights of the markmen in the dens or pastures. I am indebted 
 (among many civilities, which I gratefully acknowledge) to the 
 Rev. L. Larking of Ryarsh for the following extracts from Sir 
 Roger Twisden's journal, which throw some light upon what the 
 court had become in the middle of the seventeenth century, but 
 stOl show its existence, and lead us to a knowledge of its ancient 
 form. 
 
 The reader who feels how thoroughly English liberty has become 
 grounded in the struggles between the duties and privileges of 
 various classes, how entirely the national right has been made up 
 and settled by the conflict of private rights, how impossible it 
 was for the union of empire and freedom to exist, — or for impe- 
 rhmi and freedom to co-exist, without the battle in which the 
 several autocracies measured their forces and discovered the just 
 
 VOL, I, 2 I 
 
482 APPENDIX A. 
 
 terms of compromise, — will value this record of the reluctance 
 with which a staunch country squire submitted to the duties of 
 his position. It is not only amusing, but instructive, to watch 
 these men of the seventeenth century, fighting on the minutest 
 grounds of squabble : very amusing, to those who take the world 
 as it is, to have been always as it is, and likely always so to re- 
 main : very instructive to those who know the miserable condition 
 from which such " squabbles " have raised us. There are people, 
 who having no sense of right, but a profound sense of the wrong 
 done them, raise barricades, and overturn dynasties in moments of 
 irrepressible and pardonable excitement : there are people on the 
 other hand who steadily and oooUy measure right and wrong, who 
 take to the law-book rather than the sword, who argue the ques- 
 tion of ship-money, on which a system of government depends, as 
 calmly as if it were a question of poor-rates in a parish attorney's 
 hands, and having brought their right, the ancient right of the 
 land, into light, fall back into the orderly frame of society in 
 which they lived before, as if no years of desperate struggle had 
 intervened, — the law being vindicated, and the work of the work- 
 men done. This work without distinction of Parliamentarian or 
 King's Man was done by the Seldens and the Twisdens, and men 
 of more general note and name, but not more claim to our grati- 
 tude and respect. But to do this, required that study which un- 
 happily our English gentlemen no longer think absolutely neces- 
 sary to their education, the study of the law, of which they are 
 the guardians, though a professional class may be its ministers ; 
 and most amusing now it is to see how zealously these old cham- 
 pions of the law did battle in its defence, even in the most minute 
 and now unimportant details. It was then a happy thing for 
 England that there were courts of Dens, and squires who did not 
 like them : it is now an admirable thing for England that there 
 are courts of all sorts and descriptions, and people who do not 
 like them, who are constantly trying their right against them, 
 constantly winning and losing at the great game of law, or per- 
 haps the greater game, of the forms under which law is admini- 
 stered, — litigious people, — people liking to argue the right and 
 
THE MARK. 483 
 
 the wrong in a strict form of logic, the legal form ; who are 
 always arguing, and therefore never fighting. If there had not 
 been courts of Dens to argue about, — and unhappily, at last, to 
 fight about, — there would most certainly not now be a " High 
 Court of Parliament," for there would never have been those 
 who knew how to establish it. The country-gentlemen of the 
 seventeenth century appeal to the experience of the nineteenth, in 
 every land but this of England, whose steady, legal order the 
 country-gentlemen of the seventeenth century founded ; and the 
 grateful middle class of the nineteenth century in no country but 
 this respond to that appeal in this year 1848, by declaring that no 
 force, whether of king or not of king, shall be known in England, 
 except that of the law, — the great and ancient law, — that all asso- 
 ciations of men are united in a guarantee of mutual peace and 
 security. 
 
 It is now time to return to Sir E. Twisden and the Court of 
 Dens. It appears that this was held at Aldington, and that it 
 claimed jurisdiction over a considerable space. If we follow the 
 main road from Hythe to Maidstone, a little to the north of 
 Aldington^, and running to the east of Boughton, we find a tract 
 of country extending to the borders of Sussex and filled with 
 places ending in -den, or -hurst ; this country of the Dens runs 
 exactly where we should expect to find it, viz. along the edge of 
 tho Weald, within whose shades the swains found mast and pas- 
 ture. I will enumerate a few of the places so named : they can 
 readily be found on a good map of Kent, and form a belt of mark 
 or forest round the cultivated country, quite independent of the 
 woods which once lay between village and village. 
 
 Ashenden. Castleden. 
 
 Bainden. Chiddenden. 
 
 Benenden. Cottenden, Sussex. 
 
 Bethersden. Cowden. 
 
 Biddenden. Prittenden. 
 
 ' Aldington is about 57' east of Greenwich. 
 
 2 i2 
 
484 
 
 APPENDIX A. 
 
 Godden. 
 
 Hazledcn. 
 
 Hcmden. 
 
 Hiffendcn. 
 
 Hollenden. 
 
 Horsmonden. 
 
 Iden, Sussex. 
 
 Marden, Susse.v. 
 
 Newenden. 
 
 Eolvenden. 
 
 Eomden. 
 
 Smarden. 
 
 Surrenden. 
 
 Tenterden. 
 
 Wisenden. 
 
 Ashurst; 
 
 Billinghurst, Sussex. 
 Collmgliiirst, Sussex. 
 Crowhurst, Sussex. 
 Dodhurst. 
 Duckliurst. 
 Ewhurst, Sussex. 
 Fencliuret. 
 Groudhurst. 
 
 Greenhurst, Sussex. 
 
 Hawkhurst. 
 
 Henhurst. 
 
 Hophnrst, Sussex. 
 
 Lamberliurst. 
 
 Midhurst, Sussex. 
 
 Nuthurst, Sussex. 
 
 Penhurst, Sussex. 
 
 Pensliurst. 
 
 Sandhurst. 
 
 Shadoxhurst. 
 
 SMphurst. 
 
 Sinkhurst. 
 
 Sissinghurst. 
 
 Spcldhurst. 
 
 Staplehurst. 
 
 Tioehurst, Sussex. 
 
 Wadhurst, Sussex. 
 
 Warmingliurst, Susscv. 
 
 Alfold, Sussex. 
 Arnisfold, Sussex. 
 Cowfold, Sussex. 
 Chiddingfold, Surrey. 
 Skinfold, Sussex. 
 
 It is not likely that all these various places, the list of which 
 might be greatly increased, were ever reduced under one judicial 
 unity ; but, even with the aid of Sussex, I have been able to men- 
 tion only twenty-five dens, and we know that at least thirty-two, 
 if not forty-four, were subject to the court of Aldington. 
 
 The entries in Twisden's Journal are to the following effect : — 
 " 18th September 1655. I was at Aldyngton Court, at the 
 chusing the officers to gather the Lord's Eent, where grew a 
 question, whither, if the Lord released our Rent, Sute, and Ser- 
 vice, to the Court, we were subject to the slavery of attendance. 
 
THE MARK. 485 
 
 and whither the Tenants could prescribe men, &c., &c., &o., or 
 impose an office upon them, — and it was the whole resolution of 
 the Court, the Lord might sell his quit-rents and all manner of 
 attendance on the Court, and then he could not he t3fed to any 
 
 office, nor the Tenants impose any office upon him 
 
 " The 16th September 1656, I went to Aldyngton Court, but 
 came too late, there beeing layd on me the office for eolleoting the 
 32 Denns, for my land in them. I desired to know what land it 
 was ... in the 32 Dens upon which the office was laid, but this I 
 could not learn .... the issue was, that if they can name the land 
 or descry it, I am to do it, — if not, I refused to gather it." 
 
 " 1658. I was at Aldynton Court again, and then there was 
 much stir about this land which could not bee found. I stiU 
 insisted the Denne of Pleyynden held of Wye, that the 16s. 2d. 
 oh. I payd was for light money in time past. The Conclusion was. 
 They will distrain me if they can find the land, and then come to 
 a trial in their Court which is held at Smethe." 
 
 " 1659. I was at Aldington Court, where I came before the 
 Steward sate, yet were they then chusing for the 32 Denns, and 
 Mr. Short brought me a note for chusing Mr. John Maynard, 
 Serg' at Law .... he was not chosen after the ancient custom of 
 the Court, that is, to present two to the Steward, and he to take 
 one .... The tenants of the 12 Denns pretended if it were some- 
 time a Custom it had been long interrupted, and refused to foUow 
 the example of the 32 ... . after dinner, this grew a great dispute, 
 Mr. Short complaining of partiality, that the choice of one man 
 was received for the 12 and not for the 32 Dennes. This drew 
 on the manner of chusing of the 32 Dennes, which was, that they 
 usually met at 9 o'clock long before the Steward himself could 
 reach the Court, made choice of one man before there was a 
 Court .... This brought forth an excellent order, that the Denns 
 should chuse and present the person by them chosen after the 
 manner the other Culets did .... Coming away, the Bailiff told 
 me he had a writ to distreyn me for the rent of the 32 Denns. I 
 told him I had no land held of it that I knew. . . .Sir Edward 
 Sydnam, Lord of the !Manor, and who is to answer the rents to 
 
486 APPENDIX A. 
 
 the Exchequer, told me I would be distreyned for it, — my answer 
 was, I was not willing to make my land chargeable with a burthen 
 more than my ancestors had paid — that there was a Court of 
 Survey to be kept in the Spring, — that if I could not then dis- 
 charge myself of having land, held of the 32 Denns, I would and 
 must pay it." 
 
 " Aldington Court. 1664. S'' John Maynard Serg' at Law was 
 chosen to the Great Office though it were affirmed, he being 
 Kings Serg' would procure a discharge. The order before men- 
 tioned of 6s. 8d. for such Culets as received from the Steward a 
 transcript of what they were to collect, and 10s. for the Great 
 Office was at this Court willingly assented to." 
 
 This determined refusal of a Markgraviat in the Mark of Kent 
 is amusing enough; the Alberts, Berohtholds and Luitpolts did 
 not make quite so much difficulty about Brandenburg, Baden or 
 Ancona. How the dispute ended I do not know, but the right 
 was not in question : all that Sir Eoger doubted was its applica- 
 bility to himself. StiU the nature of the jurisdiction seems clear 
 enough, and the transition of an old Mark Court into a Lord's 
 Court, with a steward, is obvious from the custom of the Tenants 
 chusing " before the Steward himseH could reach the Court ;" the 
 abolition of which, Sir Eoger naturally considered an excellent 
 thing. 
 
487 
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 THE HI'D. 
 
 B. 
 
 Fbom the tables in the above chapter, it appears that we cannot 
 allow one hundred actual acres to the Hid, and stOl less one hun- 
 dred and twenty. A similar result will be obtained if we examine 
 the entries in Domesday. Thus 
 
 Name. 
 
 Hides 
 
 Acre- 
 age. 
 
 At 30 
 acres. 
 
 At 40 
 acres. 
 
 At 100 
 acres. 
 
 At 120 
 acres. 
 
 Excess 
 at 30. 
 
 Excess 
 at 40. 
 
 Keynsham, Somers 
 
 Dowlish, Somers 
 
 Baston in Gordano, ] 
 
 Somers.'^ J 
 
 Babington, Somers.^ ... 
 Lullington, Somers.^ ... 
 Road, Sotnevs.^ 
 
 50 
 9 
 
 20 
 
 5 
 
 7 
 
 9 
 
 20 
 
 65 
 
 n 
 
 3330 
 680 
 
 1440 
 
 600 
 
 840 
 
 1010 
 
 1210 
 
 2730 
 
 1610 
 
 1500 
 270 
 
 600 
 
 150 
 210 
 270 
 600 
 1950 
 
 330 
 
 2000 
 360 
 
 800 
 
 200 
 280 
 360 
 800 
 2600 
 
 440 
 
 5000 
 900 
 
 2000 
 
 500 
 
 700 
 
 900 
 
 2000 
 
 6500 
 
 1100 
 
 6000 
 1080 
 
 2400 
 
 600 
 
 840 
 
 1080 
 
 2400 
 
 7800 
 
 1320 
 
 1830 
 410 
 
 840 
 
 450 
 630 
 740 
 610 
 
 780 
 
 1280 
 
 1330 
 320 
 
 640 
 
 400 
 560 
 650 
 410 
 130 
 
 1170 
 
 Pilton, Devon..^ 
 
 Taunton, Somers.^ 
 
 Portshead with West- ' 
 bury, Somers.'' J 
 
 1 have intentionally selected one or two examples where the 
 whole acreage exactly makes up the sum of hides multiplied by 
 
 ' Here are to be added 125 acres of meadow and wood, and one leuga of 
 pasture. (Domesd. iii. p. 133.) 
 
 2 Add 27 acres of mead and pasture, and a wood, 6 quadragense long by 2 
 quadr. wide. (Ibid. p. 137.) 
 
 ^ Add 20 acres of mead and pasture, and a wood, 6 quadragense long by 2 
 wide. (Ibid. p. 137.) 
 
 ' Add 91 acres of mead, pasture and forest. (Ibid. p. 138.) 
 
 ' Add 86 acres of mead, etc., and a forest a leuga and a half square. But 
 there was also land not geldable which sufficed for 20 ploughs ; and the 20 
 geldable hides were calculated at 30 ploughs. Taking the same proportion, 
 we ought to reckon not 30 but 33^ hides in Piltou, which at 30 acres would 
 give 1000 arable ; at 40 would giTC 1333j, while the whole acreage is but 1210. 
 This would exclude the calculation of 40 acres ; but we cannot trust the merely 
 approximate supposition that the land of 20 ploughs was to be reckoned in 
 the same proportion as that for 30. 
 
 " Taunton properly is 52J geldable hides, and land for 20 ploughs not geld- 
 able. The 65 hides are made up subject to the same error as the last calcu- 
 lation. The appendant manoi- of Lidgeard, with the meadow pastures, etc., 
 amounting to 519 acres, is also to be added, as well as forest a leuga long, by 
 a leuga wide, and pasture two leugse long by one wide. 
 
 ' To these add 149 acres of mead, etc. Forest 12 quad, long by 3 wide : 
 again forest 12 quad, long by 2 wide, and 6 quadragenje of marsh. 
 
APPENDIX B. 
 
 120, because it is probable that such instances may have led to 
 that calculation : but it is necessary to bear in mind that the Hid 
 is exclusively arable land, and that in the case where the number 
 of hides equalled the whole acreage, there could have been neither 
 forest, nor meadow nor pasture. The notes on some of the entries 
 will show how erroneous any such calculation would necessarily 
 be. And lest this assertion that the hid is exclusive of unbroken 
 land should appear unsupported, I wish the following data to be 
 considered. But first we must see how the hid is distributed into 
 its component parts. In Domesday the hid consists of four yard- 
 lands, virga or virgata : and the virga of four farthings or farlings, 
 ferlingus, ferlinus, ferdinus, fertinus : thus 
 
 1 fertiu. 
 
 4 fertin.=l virg. 
 16 fertin.=4 virg. = 1 hide, 
 whatever may have been the number of acres in the ferling. Again 
 in Domesday, the amount of an estate held by any one is given, 
 together with the amount of wood, meadow and pasture in his 
 hands. If these be included in the amount of the hid, or its parts, 
 which the tenant held, we shall arrive at the followiag results ; 
 which (even for a moment taking the hid at 120 acres) are a 
 series of reductiones ad absurdum. In the Exeter Domesday, 
 fol. 205'' (vol. iii. 187) I find an estate valued at 11 acres ; the 
 pasture etc. mentioned as belonging to it is counted at 20 acres : 
 these, it is clear, could not be comprised in the eleven. But let us 
 take a few examples tabularly. 
 
 Bxon. Domesd. 
 
 Holding. 
 
 Pasture, etc. 
 
 At least. 
 
 f. 210. vol. iii. 191. 
 
 i hide. 
 
 93 acres. 
 
 .'. hide= 186 acres. 
 
 f.211. 191. 
 
 1 virg. 
 
 65 — 
 
 .-. hide= 220 — 
 
 f. 211, b. 191. 
 
 Jferl. (,Vli.) 
 
 6 — 
 
 .-. hide= 288 — 
 
 f. 2il,b. 191. 
 
 Ivirg. 
 
 40 — 
 
 .-. hide= 160 — 
 
 f.212. 191. 
 
 i ferl. 
 
 4 — 
 
 .-. hide= 192 — 
 
 f. 212. 192. 
 
 3 ferl. 
 
 40 — 
 
 .-. hide= 213^ — 
 
 f. 213. 192. 
 
 1 hide. 
 
 164 — 
 
 .-. hide= 164 — 
 
 f. 214. 193. 
 
 1 Tirg. 
 
 40 — 
 
 .-. hide= 160 — 
 
 f. 216. 196. 
 
 1 Tirg. 
 
 37 - 
 
 .-. hide= 148 — 
 
 f. 217. 197. 
 
 1 Tirg. 
 
 84 — 
 
 .-. hide= 336 — 
 
 f. 218. 198. 
 
 Ihide. 
 
 310 — 
 
 .•.hide= 310 - 
 
 f. 224. 203. 
 
 1 hide. 
 
 500 — 
 
 .-. hide= 500 — 
 
 f. 224, b. 203. 
 
 1 ferl. 
 
 106 — 
 
 .-. hide=1696 — 
 
 f. 325. 204. 
 
 1 ferl. 
 
 103 — 
 
 .■. hide=1648 — 
 
THE HI'D. 489 
 
 Now it is particularly necessary to bear in mind that these ridi- 
 culous amounts are the minimum ; that in every case the arable 
 land remains to be added to them, and in some cases whole square 
 miles of forest and moorland. I conclude then that the wood, 
 meadow and pasture were not included in the hid or arable, but 
 were appurtenant to it. Sometimes indeed they bear a very small 
 proportion to the arable, and to the number of cattle owned — a 
 fact perhaps to be explained by the existence of extensive com- 
 mons. 
 
 Let us now endeavour to settle the amount, as well as the pro- 
 portions of the hid and its several parts. As I have said the hid 
 consisted of four virgates, the yirgate of four ferlings\ I do not 
 give examples, because they may be found in every other entry iii 
 Domesday ; but I may add that the gyld or tax payable to the 
 king from the land, is based upon precisely the same calculation : 
 the hid paid 6 shillings (worth now about 18s. 6d.), the virgate 
 Is. 6d., and the ferling JJ- or 4id. Thus (Exon. D. f. 80, 80, b. 
 vol. iii. p. 72) in the hundred of Meleborne, the king had 
 .£18 18s. 4c^d. as geld from 6.3 hides and 1 ferling of land : 
 
 now 63x6s =378s. 
 
 1 ferl. X iid. = Os.i^d 378s. iid. or 18^. 18s. 4id. 
 
 Again (fol. 80, b. iii. p. 73) the king had .£9 10s. 8^d. for 31 h. 
 
 3 V. I ferl. 
 
 i.e. 31 X 6s. =186s. 
 
 3 X Is. Gd. = 4s. dd. 
 
 ix iid.= 0s.2id IQOs. 8id. OT m. 10. 8id. 
 
 in which passage, ferlingus is used for the coin as well as the mea- 
 sure of land. Again (fol. 81, b. vol. iii. p. 74) the geld for 
 60 h. 3 V. 1| ferl. was £18 5s. 0|rf. (" unum obolum et unum 
 ferling"). 
 
 j.e. 60 X 6s. =360s. 
 3 X Is. Cid. = 4s. M. 
 IJ X Os. 4id.= Os. 6ld 365s. 0|<?. or 18;. .5s. O^d. 
 
 Or to test it another way ; the hid= 16 ferUngs, .■. 60 h. 3 v. l^fcrl. 
 
 ' From feower, four. Feorling or Feor'^ing are similar formations, and de- 
 note a fourth, or farthing in money or land ; also in corn (a quarter of corn ), 
 and in the wards of a city. Ellis, Introd. p. 1. note. 
 
490 APPENDIX B. 
 
 =973J ferl. But the ferl. paid i^d. .: 973^ ferl. paid 4380|cZ. 
 whicli gives us the same value 18L 5s. 0|<^. 
 
 Now if we can ohtain the value of any one of these denomina- 
 tions, we can calculate all the rest with security. The value of the 
 virga or yardland we can oh tain : it consisted of fen Norman agri, 
 acrse or acres, perhaps eight or eight and a third Saxon. 
 
 In the Exeter Domesday, fol. 48 (vol. iii. p. 42) we find ten 
 hides of land to he made up of the following parcels, 4 hides 
 + 1 virg. +10 agri +5^ hides + 4 agri; 
 
 then 10 h.=9| h. +1 v. +10 a. 
 orlO-9ih.=lT. +10 a. 
 or4h.=l v.+lOa. 
 
 But fh.=2T. 
 
 .-. 2v. = lT.+10a. 
 2 — 1 T. = 10 a. .-. 1 virga=10 agri. 
 
 But 1 hyd = 4 virg. = 16 ferling. 
 
 .•. 1 hycl=40 acre8=33J Saxon. ' 
 1 ferl. = 2^aei-es=2Jf Saxon. 
 
 It will now be seen why I have given a column in which the whole 
 acreage was measured by a calculation of forty acres to the hid. 
 That this result is a near approximation to the truth appears from 
 the following considerations. In the Cornish Domesday, (a county 
 where arable land bore a very small proportion to the markland, 
 forest and pasture,) there are a great number of estates, valued at 
 one ager or acre. These are generally said to pay geld for half a 
 ferling. Thus in Treuurniuet, one ager paid geld for half a ferl- 
 ing ' : so in Penquaro^ in Trelamar^, in Lantmatin'', in Chilo'- 
 goret", in Eoslet', in Pengelli', in Telbricg", in Earsalan", in 
 Dimelihoo^" ; and similarly in Widewot, two agri paid geld for 
 one ferling". Now throughout Domesday there are innumerable 
 examples of land being rated at less than its real value, or even 
 
 1 Exon. D. f. 227. vol. iii. 20(5. ' Ibid. f. 233. vol. iii. 212. 
 
 - Ibid. f. 234. Tol. iii. 213. < Ibid. f. 235. vol. iii. 214. 
 
 = Ibid. f. 236, b. vol iii. 216. " Ibid. f. 240. vol. iii. 220. 
 
 ' Ibid. f. 245. vol. iii. 225. « n,id. f. 245, b. vol. iii. 225. 
 
 ' Ibid. f. 254. vol. iii. 233. " Ibid. f. 254, b. vol. iii. 2.34. 
 " Ibid. f. 254, b. vol. iii. 234. 
 
THE HI'D. 401 
 
 at its real value ; but I have not detected any instance in which 
 it is rated at more : and in Cornwall especially the rating seems 
 to have been in favour of the tenant. I do not therefore believe 
 that one ager was less than half a ferling : it was either more 
 than half a ferling or equal to it. But ^ ferl. =1| Norman acre, 
 which is more than one statute acre ; therefore we may conclude 
 that the ager or acre was equal to half a ferling. The way 1 under- 
 stand this, is by the assumption that the Saxon acre was some- 
 what larger than the Norman : we know that they differed in 
 point of extent', and it is possible that the original Saxon calcula- 
 tion was founded upon multiples' of eight, while the Norman was 
 reduced to a decimal notation : if this were so, we may believe 
 that the hid was the unit, and that its principal subdivisions re- 
 mained, being familar to the people, but that the value of the acre 
 waS slightly changed. Hence that the 
 
 Saxon hid =32 Saxon acres =40 Norman acres. 
 
 feortSing = 2 = 24 
 
 The document entituled " Eeotitudines singularum personarum " 
 says^, that the poor settler on first coming in, ought to have seven 
 acres laid down for him in seed, out of his yardland ; and the 
 same authority implies that his grass-land was usually short of 
 his need : this it might be, if he had only one acre to support 
 the two oxen and one cow with which his land was stocked on 
 entry. The lot of meadow and pasture attached to these small 
 plots of one ager, is so frequently quoted at thirty agri, in Corn- 
 wall, that one could almost imagine an enclosure-bill to have been 
 passed just previous to the Conquest, under which the possession 
 of even so small a quantity as one acre qualified the owner to re- 
 ceive a handsome share of the waste. 
 
 It is obvious that all these oalculationa are ultimately founded 
 upon the value of the acre relatively to our own statute measure, 
 in which the survey of 1841 is expressed. That ager and acra 
 
 ' Ellis, Introd. p. 1. The fractions, and the admixture of a decimal with 
 the quarterly division, seem to imply that the later or Norman measure was 
 the smaller of the two. ' Thorpe, i. 434. 
 
492 APPENDIX B. 
 
 are equivalent terms appears from their being used interchange- 
 ably in various entries of Domesday. Nor is there any good rea- 
 son to suppose that the Normans made any violent change in the 
 values of these several denominations, although they might adopt 
 more convenient subdivisions of the larger sums. They did just 
 the same thing in respect to the Saxon money. Besides, as it was 
 from the Saxons that they derived the information -which the Sur- 
 vey contains, it is reasonable to believe that the Saxon values were 
 generally adopted, at least as far as the hid was concerned. The 
 minute subdivision of land consequent upon the Conquest probably 
 rendered it necessary to pay especial attention to the smaller units, 
 and I can conceive nothing more likely than a slight change in the 
 value of the acre, while the hid and virgate remained unaltered. 
 Then where an estate comprised only one Saxon acre, it might 
 readily be considered equal to half a ferling, or 1| acre, Norfnan 
 measure, for it would have been difficult and complicated to express 
 it in other terms. In fact where small fractional parcels of land 
 were to be subtracted, the Commissioners were generally glad to 
 avoid details, and enter " A. has so much in demesne, and the 
 Villani have aliam terram, the rest of the land." If the Saxon 
 ager. paid for half a ferling in the time of the Confessor, it was 
 likely to be taken at that value in the Survey ; for the law, quee 
 de minimis non curat, could hardly notice so trifling a deviation. 
 The approximate value of the Saxon acre, however, I have given ; 
 it was one day's work for a plough and oxen, in other words very 
 nearly our own statute-acre. 
 
 That the value of the hide became gradually indistinct, when 
 reckonings ceased to be made in it, and the calculation was taken 
 upon knights' fees, is very intelligible. We consequently find 
 surprising variations in the amount of hides counted to a knight's 
 fee, as well as the acres contained in this last measure. In the 
 time of Edward the Third it was computed that there were 60,215 
 knight's fees in England, which taking the present acreage of 
 31^770,615 gives rather more than 527 acres to a fee : hence those 
 who believed a hide to contain 100 acres, calculated five hides to 
 a knight's fee, in accordance with the Saxon law which made that 
 
THE HI'D. 493 
 
 amount the minimum of a thane's estate, and also to the entries 
 in Domesday, from which it appeared that one miles went from 
 five hides : but here it was overlooked that the hide was exclusively 
 amble land. To such erroneous modes of calculation we owe 
 such entries as the following: — 
 
 "Decem acrae faoiunt fardeUum, iv fardelli faciunt virgatum, 
 quatuor virgatae faciunt hydam, quatuor hydae faciunt unum feo- 
 dum." MS. Harl. 464. fol. 17, b. 
 
 where 1 fardel = 10 acres. 
 
 4 fardels = 40 acres = 1 yirgate. 
 16 fardelB=160 acres= 4 Tirgates= 1 hide. 
 (34 fardelB=640 aerea = 16 virgates=4 hid6s=l knight's fee. 
 
 Again we are told (Regist. Burgi Sci. Petri, fol. 81, b) that 
 " Quinque feoda fuerunt antiquitus una baronia ; et quinquo 
 
 hydae unum feodum ; et quinque virgatae terrae una hyda, quae- 
 
 libet virgata de viginti acris." 
 Or tabularly, — 
 
 1 virgate = 20 acres. 
 5 TirgaLcB= 100 acr6s= 1 hide. 
 25 Tirgates= 500 acres = 5 hides=l knight's fee. 
 125 Tirgates=2500 aore3=25 hides=5 fe.es=l barony. 
 
 which results neither coincide with the last, nor with those of 
 Domesday, nor with those derived from Saxon authorities. 
 
 The hidage of various ancient Gas which has been given in 
 Chapter III. could naturally not be suiScient guide under tlie new 
 shire divisions. Unfortunately we have not a complete account 
 of the hidage in the shires ; nor does what we have coincide with 
 the conclusion arrived at in the course of the fourth chapter. 
 
 In the Cotton. MS. Claud. B. vii. (fol. 2i)4, b), which appears 
 to have been written in the time of Henry III., we have the fol- 
 lowing entries : — 
 
 Hydae. 
 
 In WUtfescyre continentur 4800 
 
 In Bedefordscyre sunt 1200 
 
 In Cantebrigescyre sunt 2500 
 
 In Huntedunesoyre sunt 800| 
 
 In ]S^orthamptescyre sunt 3200 
 
494 
 
 APPENDIX B. 
 
 Hydae. 
 
 In Glouoosterscyre sunt 2400 
 
 In Wirecesterscyre sunt 1200 
 
 In Herefordesoyre sunt 1500 
 
 In Warewycscyre sunt 1200 
 
 In Oxenefordsoyre sunt 2400 
 
 Irf Salopescyre sunt 2300 
 
 In Cestersoyre sunt 1300 
 
 In Staffordesoyre sunt 500 
 
 The Cotton MS. Vesp. A. xviii. fol. 112, b, written in the reigu 
 of Edward I., gives a different list of counties, among which the 
 following variations occur : — 
 
 Bedfordshire 1000 
 
 Northamptonshire 4200 
 
 Gloucestershire 2000- 
 
 Worcestershire 1500 
 
 Shropshire 2400 
 
 Cheshire 1200 
 
 If we pursue the plan heretofore adopted, we shall have these 
 results : — 
 
 County 
 
 Acreage. 
 
 Hidage. 
 
 H. at SO. 
 
 H. at 40. 
 
 Excess 
 at 30. 
 
 Excess 
 at«. 
 
 Eatio 
 at 30. 
 
 Eatio 
 at 40. 
 
 Wilts.. 
 
 868,060 
 
 4800 
 
 144,000 
 
 192,000 
 
 724,060 
 
 676,000 
 
 1 :5 
 
 1:3-5 
 
 Bedf... 
 
 297,632 
 
 1200 
 
 36,000 
 
 48,000 
 
 261,632 
 
 249,632 
 
 1;7 
 
 
 5 
 
 Camb. . 
 
 536,313 
 
 2500 
 
 75,000 
 
 100,000 
 
 461,313 
 
 436,313 
 
 1 :6 
 
 
 4-5 
 
 Hunt. . 
 
 242,250 
 
 800^ 
 
 24,015 
 
 32,020 
 
 218,235 
 
 210,230 
 
 1 :9 
 
 
 7 
 
 Nrhm. 
 
 646,810 
 
 3200 
 
 96,000 
 
 128,000 
 
 550,810 
 
 518,810 
 
 1 : 5-77 
 
 
 4 
 
 GHouc. 
 
 790,470 
 
 2400 
 
 72,000 
 
 96,000 
 
 718,470 
 
 694,470 
 
 1:10 
 
 
 7-25 
 
 Wore. . 
 
 459,710 
 
 1200 
 
 36,000 
 
 48,000 
 
 423,700 
 
 411,710 
 
 1 : 11-75 
 
 
 8-5 
 
 Heref.. 
 
 543,800 
 
 1500 
 
 45,000 
 
 60,000 
 
 502,800 
 
 483,800 
 
 1: 11 
 
 
 8 
 
 Warw. 
 
 567,930 
 
 1200 
 
 36,000 
 
 48,000 
 
 531,930 
 
 519,930 
 
 1 : 14-75 
 
 
 10-76 
 
 Oif.... 
 
 467,230 
 
 2400 
 
 72,000 
 
 96,000 
 
 395,230 
 
 371,230 
 
 l:5-5 
 
 
 4 
 
 Salop. . 
 
 864,360 
 
 2300 
 
 69,000 
 
 92,000 
 
 795,360 
 
 772,360 
 
 1 : 11-5 
 
 
 8-4 
 
 Chesh. 
 
 649,050 
 
 1300 
 
 39,000 
 
 52,000 
 
 610,050 
 
 597,050 
 
 1 : 15-62 
 
 
 U-6 
 
 Staff. . . 
 
 736,290 
 
 500 
 
 15,000 
 
 20,000 
 
 721,290 
 
 716,290 1 : 48 
 
 1 : 36-8 1 
 
 Now either these figures cannot be relied on, or we must carry 
 the hide in this calculation to a very different amount. If we 
 take it at 100 acres, we shall find the whole hidage of these thirteen 
 counties amounts to 25,300 x 100 or 2,530,000 acres, while the 
 
THE PII'D. . 495 
 
 •whole actual acreage is 7,669,905; giving anexoesa of 5, 139, 905, 
 and consequently a ratio of 25 : 51 nearly, or 1 . 2. This would 
 a little exceed the present ratio, which is 5 ; 11, a result which 
 appears very improbable indeed in the reign of Henry III. But 
 when we consider the numberless errors of transcription, so un- 
 avoidable where merely numbers, and not words, are given, and the 
 totally inconsistent accounts contained in different manuscripts, 
 we can hardly rest satisfied that the figures themselves are trust- 
 worthy. Even on the hypothesis that in the time of Henry III. 
 or Edward I. the hide was calculated on the new footing of 100 
 acres, we yet could not reconcile the conflicting amounts assigned 
 to the counties themselves. 
 
496 
 
 APPENDIX C. 
 
 MANUMISSION OF SERFS. 
 
 The following examples of Manumission are illustrative of the 
 assertions in the text. 
 
 And he wylle fSset man freoge 
 aefter his dsege selcne witefaestne 
 man 6e on his timan forgylt 
 wsere. — Archhisliop Mlfnc, 
 996-1006. 
 
 Butan ■Saet heo wylse be Sinre 
 gcpafunga tSset man freoge on 
 selcum tunse selcne witepeownee 
 mann See under hirse gejjeowud 
 -queen ^Ifgyfu. 1012. 
 
 Dset is rest, 'Sset ic geann 
 gijet man gefreoge ^Icne wite- 
 faestne man, Se ic on sprece 
 ahte. — .^l^elstan JE^elinc/. 
 
 And beon heora mann frige 
 sefter heora beira dsege. — 
 Durstan, 1049. 
 
 And it is his will that ye shall 
 manumit, after his life, every 
 convict who has been ruined by 
 crime, in his time. — Cod. Dip}. 
 No. 716. 
 
 Except that she wills, with 
 thy permission, that they shall 
 manumit, in every one of her 
 farms, every convict who was 
 reduced to slavery under her. — 
 Cod. Dipl. No. 721. 
 
 Firstly, I grant , that they 
 shall free every convict whom I 
 got in suits. — Cod. Dipl. No. 
 722. 
 
 And let their serfs be free, 
 after both their lives. — Cod. 
 Dipl. No. 788. 
 
 Dimidiam vero partem hominum qui in memorata terra sub 
 servitute degunt libertate donavimus. — Cod. Dipl. No. 919. 
 
 Geatfleda geaf freolsfor Godes Geatflsed freed, for God's sake 
 
 lufa;] for heora sawlafearfe, Sset and for her soul's need, namely 
 
 is Ecceard smiS, -^ jElstan ;) his Ecceard the smith and jElfstan 
 
 wif, "j eall heora ofsprino boren and his wife and all their off- 
 
MANUMISSION OF SERFS. 
 
 497 
 
 ■j unboren ; ^ Arcil "j Cole, "j 
 EegferS Eadhunes dohter, "j 
 ealle Sa men Sa hednon heora 
 heafod for hyra mete, on Sam 
 yflum dagum. Swa hwa swd 
 gis awende "j hyre sawla ^ises 
 bereafie, bereafige bine God 
 aelmibtig Siees lifes 'j heofona 
 noes : T sy be awyrged de^d "j 
 cwic aa on ecnysse. And eAc 
 beo hafaSgefreod SamenSe heo 
 fingede set Cwfespatrike, Sset is 
 jElfwald, ■] Colbrand, ^Isie, ~j 
 Gamal bis aune, Eadred Trede- 
 wode "3 Ubtred bis steopsunu, 
 AcTilf-] Durkyl'j ^Isige. Hwa 
 'Se beom JSises bereafie God ael- 
 mibtig sie beom "wiaS ■] sanote 
 Cu8berbt. — Geatficed ; about 
 1060. 
 
 And io wille tSset aUe mine 
 men ben frd on birde and on 
 tiine for me and for So Se me 
 bigeten. — Leofgyfu. 
 
 spring born and imbom ; and 
 Arcil and Cole and EogferS Ead- 
 bun's daughter, and all the men 
 wbo bent their beads for food in 
 tbe evil days. Wboso sbail set 
 this aside and deprive her soul 
 of this, may Almighty God de- 
 prive him both of this life and 
 of the kingdom of heaven ; and 
 be he accursed, quick or dead, 
 for ever and ever. And she 
 hath also freed tbe men for 
 whom she iuterceded with Cos- 
 patrick, namely ^Ifwald, and 
 Colbrand, ^Elfsige and Gamal 
 bis son, Eadred Tredewood and 
 Ubtred his stepson, Aculf and 
 TburkOl and ^Isige. "VVhoso 
 depriveth tbem of this, may he 
 have the wrath of Almighty 
 God and Saint Cuthbert. — Cod. 
 Dipl. No. 925. 
 
 And I win that all my serfs 
 be free, both in manor and 
 farm for my sake and tbe sake 
 of them that begot me. — Cod. 
 Dipl. No. 931. 
 
 Her swutelaS on Sisse Cristes 
 beo ^set LeofenoS, ^gelnoSes 
 3unu set Heorstiine, bsefiJ ge- 
 bobt bine 'j his ofspring ut set 
 iElfaige abbod "j set eaUon bi- 
 rede on BaSon, mid fif oran and 
 mid xii heaf don sceapa, on Leaf- 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 Here witnesaeth in this book 
 of gospels, that LeofenoS, ^Sel- 
 noS's son of Harston, hath 
 bought out himself and his off- 
 spring, from abbot jElfaige and 
 all the brotherhood at Bath, 
 with five ores and twelve head 
 
 2e: 
 
498 
 
 APPENDIX 0. 
 
 cildes gewitnesse portgerefan, 
 and on ealre 8£ere burhware on 
 BaSon. Crist hine ^blende Se 
 8is sefre awende. — Convent of 
 Bath. 
 
 Her swntelatS onSisse Cristes 
 bee tSset JEgelsige aet Linttinne 
 haefS gebobt Wilsige his sunn 
 ut set ^Ifsige abbod on Bat5on, 
 and set eallon birede to ecean 
 freote. — Convent of Bath. 
 
 of sheep, by witness of Ledf- 
 cild the portreeve, and all the 
 commonalty of Bath. Christ 
 blind him that ever setteth this 
 aside ! — Cod. Dipl. No. 933. 
 
 Here witnesseth in this book 
 of gospels, that^Selsigeof Lin- 
 ton hath bought out Wilsige 
 his son from ..lElfsige abbot at 
 Bath, and all the brotherhood 
 to eternal freedom. — Cod. Dipl. 
 No. 934. 
 
 Her swutelaS onSisse Cristes 
 bee Saet ^gelsige Byttices sunu 
 hsefS geboht HUdesige his sunu 
 ut set -ffilfsige abbod on BaSon, 
 and set eallon hirede mid syxti- 
 gon penegon to eeean freote. — 
 Convent of Bath. 
 
 Her swutela^ onSisse Cristes 
 bee Sset Godmg se bucca hsefS 
 geboht Leofgife ^a dagean set 
 NorSstoce "j hyre ofspring mid 
 healfan punde set JElfsige abbod 
 to ecean freote, on ealles ?ses 
 hiredes gewitnesse on BaSon. 
 Crist hine ^blende Se Sis sefre 
 dwende. — Convent of Bath. 
 
 Her swTitelaS on Sisse Cristes 
 bee Sset MUaige abbod hsefS ge- 
 
 Here witnesseth in this book 
 of gospels, that ./ESelsige, Byt- 
 tic's son, hath bought out Hil- 
 desige his son from Jjilfsige, 
 abbot at Bath, and all the bro- 
 therhood, with sixty pence, that 
 he may be free for ever. — Cod. 
 Dipl No. 935. 
 
 Here witnesseth in this book 
 of gospels, that. Godwig the 
 buck hath bought Leofgifu the 
 doe at Northstock, and all her 
 offspring, with half apoundfrom 
 abbot JElfsige, that she may be 
 free for ever, by witness of all 
 the brotherhood in Bath. Christ 
 blind him who ever setteth this 
 aside.— Co(^. Dipl. No. 936. 
 
 Here witnesseth in this book 
 of gospels, that abbot .^Ifsige 
 
MANUMISSION OF SERFS. 
 
 499 
 
 freod Godwine bace set Stantune 
 for hine ;] for ealne 6 one hired 
 on BaSan, on Semannes gewit- 
 nesse "d Wulwiges set Priscttine 
 1 ^Ifrices ceimes.— Convent of 
 Bath. 
 
 An ic an mine landsetSlen 
 here toftes t6 owen fihte "j alle 
 mine men fre. — Sigeflced. 
 
 And io an Sset land aet Tit into 
 seynte Paules birke Sen hewen 
 to bedlonde mid al Sset Seron 
 stant, buten Se men Se S^r aren 
 
 fre men aUe for mine soule 
 
 And io an Saet land set SuSereye 
 mid aUe Se flscoSe tSe Serto biietS 
 Sen hewen into sancte Panles 
 kirke, and frie men So men for 
 Se bisoopes soule .... And ic an 
 Sset lond set LuSingloud Offe 
 mine sustres sune "] his broSer, 
 "} fre men So men halue, and set 
 Mindham also for Se bisoopes 
 soule .... And lete mon stonden 
 so mikel so ic Seron fond, and 
 fre men So men aUe for mine 
 soule. . . . — Bishop Deddred. 
 
 Erst for his saule Palegraue 
 into Seynt Eddmund, "j Witing- 
 
 hath freed Godwine Back of 
 Stanton, for his own sake and 
 that of all the brotherhood at 
 Bath, by witness of Seman and 
 Wulfwig of Prisctunand ^Ifric 
 Cerm.— Cod. Bipl. No. 937. 
 
 And to my tenants I give 
 their tofts to be their own pro- 
 perty, and aU my serfs free. — 
 Cod. Dipl. No 947. 
 
 And I grant the land at Tit 
 to the brotherhood at St. Paul's 
 church for the support of their 
 table, with aU that is upon it, 
 except the serfs there ; let them 
 emancipate these for my soul's 
 sake .... And I grant the land 
 in Surrey with all the fishery 
 thereunto appertaining to the 
 brotherhood of St. Paul's 
 church, and let the serfs be freed 
 for the bishop's soul .... And I 
 grant the estate at LuSingland 
 to Offe my sister's son, and his 
 brother, and let half the serfs 
 there be freed, and so also at 
 Mendham for the bishop's soul 
 .... And [at Hoxne] let them 
 leave as much stock as I found 
 there, and let all the serfs be 
 freed for my soul. — Cod. Bipl. 
 No. 957. 
 
 First for his soul, Palgrave to 
 St. Edmund, and half Witing- 
 
 2k2 
 
500 
 
 APPENDIX 0. 
 
 ham half , i half^ehisscop: and 
 alle mine men fre, and ilk hsebbe 
 his toft ■:! his metecii T his mete- 
 corn. — -Durcytel. 
 
 Her swutelaS on ^isum ge- 
 write Saet -iEgelsi on Wuldeham 
 heefS geldned be Siwordes daege 
 biscopes his dohter "J heore 
 dohter ut of Totteles cynne, "j 
 hsefS 6t5ra msenn Sjerin gedon, 
 be ScEre burhware gewitnesse 
 on Hroueoeaster "j be ealle Sebs 
 biscopes geferan. — JS^ehige. 
 
 ham, the other half to the bi- 
 shop : and all my serfs free, and 
 let each have_hi8 toft, ^nd his 
 meatcow and his meatcorn. — 
 Cod. Dipl. No. 959. 
 
 This writing witnesseth that 
 JS^elsige of "Wouldham hath 
 borrowed for the life of Bishop 
 Sigeward, his daughter and her 
 daughter out of Tottle'skin, and 
 hath replaced them by other 
 serfs, by witness of all the com- 
 monalty of Rochester, and the 
 bishop's comrades. — Cod. Dipl. 
 No. 975. 
 
 And alle 80 men fre for unker 
 boSer soule. — Wwlfsige. 
 
 Durkil and ^Selgit unnen 
 "Wigorham into 8e3rntEadmujide 
 so ful and so forS so wit it owen, 
 after unker boSer day,*] Somen 
 half fre, fedwe "j lisingas. — 
 i)ur(yytel. 
 
 And all the serfs free, for both 
 our souls. — Cod. Dipl. No. 979. 
 
 Thurkill and iE«elgi« grant 
 Wigorham to St. Edmund, as 
 full and as forth as we two 
 owned it, after both our Hves, 
 and let them free half the men, 
 both feows and Hsings. — God. 
 Dipl. No. 980. 
 
 The following manumissions from a religious book, formerly 
 the property of St. Petroc's, are selected from a much larger num- 
 ber found in the Codex Dipl. No. 981. The British names which 
 occur in them are of great interest. 
 
 Des ys Saes manes nama Se 
 Eyrhsie gefre^de et Petroeys 
 stowe, Byhstan hite Bluntan 
 
 This is the man's name whom 
 Byrhtsige freed at St. Petroc's, 
 Byhstan he was called Blunta's 
 
MANUMISSION OF SEEPS. 
 
 501 
 
 sunu, on ^Selhide gewitnyse 
 hys igen wif, and on Byrliisiys 
 msesepreostes, and on Eiol, and 
 Myrmen, and Wunsie, Mor- 
 hEeSSo, and Cynsie, preost. 
 
 son, by witness of M'SeUxfS his 
 own wife, and Byrhtsige the 
 mass priest, and Riol, Myrmen, 
 Wynsige, Morhse^So and Oyn- 
 sige the priest. 
 
 Wuenumon and hire team, 
 MoruiS hire swuster and hire 
 team, and Wurgustel and his 
 team, warun gefreod her on 
 tune for Eadryde cynigo and 
 for 7ESel[geard] hiscop an Sas 
 hirydes gewitnesse Se her on 
 tune syndun. 
 
 Wuenumon and her offspring, 
 MoruiS her sister and her off- 
 spring, and Wurgustel and his 
 offspring were manumitted here 
 in the town, for Eadred the king 
 and ^Selgeard the bishop, by 
 witness of all the brotherhood 
 here in the town. 
 
 Marh gefreode LeSelt and 
 eaUe hire team for Eadwig cy- 
 ningconhisSegenreliquias: and 
 he hie het l^dan hider to myn- 
 stere, and her gefreogian on Pe- 
 trocys reliquias, on 'Ssss hirydes 
 gewitnesse. 
 
 Marh freed LeSelt and aE. her 
 progeny for Eadwig the king, 
 upon his own reliques : and he 
 caused her to be led hither to 
 the minster, and here to be freed 
 on Petroc's reliques, by witness 
 of the brotherhood. 
 
 Her kyS on Sissere bee Sset 
 -lEilsig bohte ^nne wifmann On- 
 gyneSel hatte and hire sunu 
 GySicosel setDuroUdemidhealfe 
 punde, set Ssere cirioan dura on 
 Bodmine, and sealde jEilsige 
 portgereua and Maccosse hun- 
 dredes mann .iin. pengas to 
 tolle ; 'Si ferde jEilsig to Se ^a 
 men bohte, and nam hig and 
 freode upp an Petrooys weofede, 
 Sefre sacles, on gewitnesse ^issa 
 
 This book witnesseth that 
 jiElfsige bought a woman named 
 OngyneSel and her son GySic- 
 cael from DurciLd for half a 
 pound, at the churoh-door in 
 Bodmin, and gave -ZElfsige, the 
 portreeve and Maocos the hun- 
 dred-man, four pence as toll ; 
 then went ^Ifsige, who bought 
 the serfs, and freed them at Pe- 
 troc's altar, ever sadess, by wit- 
 ness of the following good men : 
 
502 
 
 APPENDIX 0. 
 
 godera manna : Saet wses, Isaac 
 messepreost, and BleSouf messe- 
 preost, and Wunning messe- 
 preost, andWiilfger messepreost, 
 and GrifiuS messepreost,. and 
 Noe messepreost, and "WuriSiciS 
 messepre(fet, and ^ilsig diacon, 
 and Maccos, and TeSion Mo- 
 dredis sunu, and Kynilm, and 
 Beorlaf, and Dirling, and Grat- 
 cant, and Talan. And gif hwa 
 Sas freot ^brece, tebbe him wiS 
 Criste gemene. Amen. 
 
 namely, Isaac the masspriest, 
 BleScuf the masspriest, "Wun- 
 ning the masspriest, Wulfger 
 tie masspriest, GrifluS the 
 masspriest, Noe the masspriest, 
 WurSiciS the masspriest, and 
 jEUsige the deacon, and Maccos, 
 and TeSion Modred's son, and 
 Cynehelm, Beorlaf, Dirling, 
 Gratcant and Talan. And whoso 
 breaketh this freedom, let him 
 settle it with Christ ! Amen. 
 
 Her kyS on tSissere bee Sset 
 jEUric ^Ifwines sunu wolde 
 peowian Putraele him to n^d- 
 feowetlinge. Da cum Putrael 
 to Boia and bed his forespece 
 to ^Ifrice his bretSere : 6a sette 
 Boia Ses spece wiS ^Ifrice; Saet 
 wses Sset Putrael sealde ^Ifrice 
 .Txti. oxa set Sere cirican dura 
 set Bodmine, and gef Boia sixtig 
 penga for 8ere forspsece, and 
 dide hine sylfae and his ofepreng 
 ^fre freols and saccles fram gam 
 dsege, wis jElfrice and wiS Boia 
 and wis eaUe .^Uwines cyld 
 and heora ofspreng, on Sissere 
 gewittnisse : Isaac messepreost, 
 and "Wunning presbyter, and 
 Sewulf presbyter, and Godric 
 diacon, and Cufure prauost, and 
 "Wincuf, and Wulfwerd, and 
 
 This book witnesseth that 
 iElfric the son of iElf wine want- 
 ed to enslave Putrael as a need- 
 serf. Then came Putrael to 
 Boia and begged his iateroes- 
 sion with his brother jElfric: 
 and Boia made this agreement 
 with ^Ifric ; namely that Pu- 
 trael gave jElfric viii oxen at 
 the church-door in Bodmin, and 
 gave Boia sixty pence for the 
 intercession, and so made him- 
 self and his offspring ever free 
 and sacless from that day forth, 
 as to^lfric, Boia, and'aU^lf- 
 wine's children and their off- 
 spring, by this witness : Isaac 
 the masspriest, "Wunning the 
 Presbyter, Sewulf the presby- 
 ter, Godric the deacon, Ceufur 
 the provost, "Wiucuf, "Wulfwerp, 
 
MANUMISSIOIS OF SEKFS, 
 
 603 
 
 Gestin, Ses bisceopes stiwerd, 
 aad Artaoa, and Kinilm, and 
 Godrie map, and Wulfgdr, and 
 ma godra manna. 
 
 Her cy6 on Syson bee Sset 
 jElwold gef reode Hwatu for bys 
 sdwle a[t]Petrooys stow a degye 
 and sefter degye. An[d] iElger 
 ys gewytnesse, and Godrio, and 
 Wallop, and GryfyiS, and BleytS- 
 cuf, and Salaman. And bebbe 
 be Gode cnrs and sanctes Pe- 
 troeus and sealle welkynes sanc- 
 tas 'Se Saefc brece Sset ydon ys. 
 Amen. 
 
 Gestin. tbe bishop's steward, 
 Artaea, Kinilm, Godrie Map, 
 Wulfgar and otber good men. 
 
 Tbis book witnessetb tbat 
 -(Elfwold freed Hwatu for bis 
 soul, at St. Petroo's, botb during 
 life and after life. And ^Ifgar 
 is a witness, and Godrie, and 
 WaUo«, and GriflltS, and Bleyt5- 
 cuf, and Salaman. And let bim 
 wbo breaketb wbat is done bave 
 tbe curse of God and St. Petroc 
 and all tbe saints of heaven. 
 Amen. 
 
 Des sint Sa menn ^e Wulf- 
 sige byscop freode for Eitdgstr 
 oinig and for hyne sdwle, set 
 Petrocys wefode : Leuhelec,"We- 
 let, . . nwalt, Beli, losep, Den- 
 gel, Proswite, Tancwuestel : an 
 Sas gewitnese, Byrhsige msesse- 
 prost, Mermen masseprost, Mar, 
 Catuuti, Wenwiu Puer, MeS- 
 wuistel, losep. 
 
 Dys syndun S^ra manna na- 
 man Se Wulf sige byscop gefreo- 
 det set Petrocys wefode for Ead- 
 gar and for bine silfne, and 
 Byrbsi ys gewitnese masseprost, 
 and Mermen masseprost, and 
 Morhi : Diuset and eaUe here 
 team. 
 
 These are the men whom 
 Wulfsige tbe bishop freed for 
 Eadgar the king and for his own 
 soul, atPetroc's altar: Leuhelec, 
 
 "Welet nwalt, Beli, Josep, 
 
 Bengal, Proswite, Tancwues- 
 tel : by witness of Byrhsige the 
 masspriest. Mermen the mass- 
 priest. Mar, Catuuti, Wenwiu 
 Puer, MeSwuistel, Josep. 
 
 These are the names of the 
 men whom Wulfsige the bishop 
 freed at Petroo's altar for Ead- 
 gar and himself, by witness of 
 Byrbsi the masspriest, Mermen 
 tbe masspriest and Morhi : Diu- 
 set and all her offspring. 
 
604 
 
 APPENDIX C. 
 
 Dys sindum Sdra manna na- 
 man ^e Wunsie gefreode at 
 Petrocys stowe, [for] Eadgdr 
 cinig, on ealle ^ses Mredys ge- 
 witnesse:Conmonoo,Iarnwallon, 
 and "WenwBsrtSlon and Mseiloc. 
 
 These are the names of the 
 serfs whom Wunsige freed at 
 St. Petroc's, for king E^dgar, 
 by -witness of all the brother- 
 hood : Conmonoc, larnwallon, 
 "Wenweer'Slon and Maeiloo. 
 
 Alfred by his will manumitted all his unfree dependents, and 
 with great care provided for their enjoyment of this liberty : he 
 
 And I pray in the name of 
 God and of his saints, that none 
 of my kinsmen or heirs oppress 
 any of my dependents for whom 
 I paid, and whom the witan of 
 the "Westsaxons legally adj adged 
 to me, that I might leave them 
 free or f edw, whichever I chose; 
 but I for God's love and my own 
 soul's need, will that they shall 
 enjoy their freedom and their 
 choice ; and I command in the 
 name of the living God, that no 
 one disquiet them, either by de- 
 mand of money, or in any other 
 way, so that they may not choose 
 whomsoever they please [as a 
 protector]. 
 
 Cyrelif is a person who has a right of choice, or who has exer- 
 cised a choice : these must have been poor men, free or unfree, who 
 had attached themselves personally to Alfred, voluntarily or not. 
 He provides that these as well as Ms serfs may have full liberty 
 to select any other lord, without disquiet through demands of 
 
 And ic bidde on godes naman 
 and on his haligra, Sset minra 
 maga nan ne yrfewearda ne ge- 
 swence ndn UEenig cyrelif Sara 
 Se ic foregeald, "j me "West- 
 seaxena witan to rihtegerehton, 
 Sset ic hi mot Isetan sw^ freo 
 swd Jieowe, swiSer ic wille ; ao 
 ic for Godes lufan and for minre 
 sdwle ])earfe, wylle Sset h^ s^n 
 heora freolses wyr8e, "j byre 
 eyres ; and ic on Godes lifiendes 
 naman beode, 8set hj nan man 
 ne brocie, ne mid feos manunge 
 ne mid nEeningum fingum, gset 
 hie ne motan ceosan swylcne 
 mann swylee hie wyllan. 
 
 ' Ood. Dipl. No. 314. 
 
MANUMISSION OF SERFS. 
 
 605 
 
 arrears or any other claims. This is confirmatory of the view 
 taken in the text, that the manumitted serf was obliged to find 
 himself a lord, and so did not become fully free. 
 
 And freoge man Wulfware, 
 folgige Sam ?5e hyre le6fo[st 35",] 
 
 ealswa, and freoge man 
 
 WnMsede on Sffit gerdd Sset heo 
 folgige ^tSelfi^de -j Eadgyfe : 
 and heo beowseS Eadgyfe ane 
 crencestrah 1 ^ne semestran, 
 68er hatte Eadgyfu, oSer hdtte 
 JESelgyfu ; ■j freoge man Ger- 
 
 burg 1 Misoin, -] his el, 
 
 •] Burhulfes dohtur set Cinnuo, 
 ■J .^Ifsige "j his wif "j his yldran 
 dohter, T Ceolstanes wif; "j set 
 Ceorlatune freoge man Pifus "J 
 
 Eadwine, "j e ... an wife ; 
 
 ■3 set Eaccaneumbe freoge man 
 M^ehn i Man "] lohannan, "j 
 Sprow T his wif, 'j Ene fsette, 
 •j Gersande "j Suel ; "j set Colles- 
 hylle freoge man ^Selg5'8e "j 
 Biocan wif, "j ^ifan -j Sedan, ■j 
 Gurhannes wif, "j freoge man 
 Wulfware swystor Bryhsiges 
 
 wif, "j Sisne wyrhtan, 'j 
 
 Wulfg5'«e .(ElfswJSe dohtor : "j 
 gif i5Ser hwjic witefeowman s^ 
 buton Syson, Seheogefeowede, 
 heo gelJfS to hyre bearnon Sset 
 hi hine wyHon lihtan for hyre 
 sduUe 
 
 AndletWuIfwarube free, and 
 foUow whom she best pleases, 
 and also . . . . , and let Wulfleed 
 be freed on condition that she 
 follow ^«elflsed and Edith : and 
 she bequeathed to Edith one 
 weaving woman and one semp- 
 stress, the one called Edith, the 
 other -iESelgifu ; and let them 
 free Gerburg, and Miseiti, and 
 his ... . and Burhwulf' s daugh- 
 ter at Cinnuc, and ^Ifsige and 
 his wife and elder daughter, and 
 Ceolstan's wife ; and at Charlton 
 let them free Pifus and Eadwyn, 
 and .... wife ; and at Faccombe 
 let them free -(ESelm, and Man, 
 and Johanna, andSprow andhis 
 wife, and Ene the fat, and Ger- 
 sand and Suel ; and at Coleshill 
 let them free -iESelg^S and 
 Bicca's wife, jEfie and Bede, 
 and Gurhan's wife, and let them 
 free Wulfware' s sister Byrhsiges 
 
 wife and this wright, and 
 
 WulfgJtS .^IfswjS's daughter : 
 and if there be any other con- 
 victs besides these, whom she re- 
 duced to slavery, she trusts that 
 her children will give them this 
 alleviation for her soul's sake 
 
606 
 
 APPENDIX 0. 
 
 Denne an hioSdnhiwumSara 
 gebura 8e on Sdm gafollande sitfc- 
 a^, T Sera |)e6wra manna hio an 
 hyre syna dehter Eadgyfe "] 6sBs 
 jTfes, butan Sam sdiilsceatte 6e 
 man bd Gifle syllan sceal ; "] Mo 
 wylle ,Saet man laete on Sam 
 lande atandan vi oxan "] iiii c^ 
 mid iiii cealfum ; "j of Sam 
 peowan mannan set Cinniio heo 
 becwiS Eadwolde, Ceolstan Ea- 
 stdnes sunu, ■j jEflfan sunu ; "] 
 Bnrhwynne, Martin "j his wif ; 
 ■j hio beowiS Eadgyfe S^r 
 angean ^Ifsige Sene cdc "j Tefl 
 "Wareburgan debtor, "j Herestan 
 ■] his wif, "j Ecelm T his wif, "j 
 heora cUd, "j Cynestan ^ Wyn- 
 sige, "J Bryhtrices sunu, "j EM- 
 W3rane, T Euneles sunu *] ^If- 
 weres dohtor ; and hio becwiS 
 MSe\&&ie Elhhelmes dehter 
 Sa geongran. — Wynjlced, about 
 995. 
 
 Then she grants the convent 
 the boors who sit on rent-paying 
 land, and the serfs she gives to 
 her son's daughter Edith, and 
 also the chattels, except the soul- 
 shot which they are to pay to 
 Gifle. And it is her win that they 
 shall leave on the land six oxen 
 and four cows with four calves ; 
 and of the serfs at Cinnuc she 
 bequeaths to Eadwold, Ceolstan 
 Eastitn's son, and jEffe's son; 
 and to Burhwyn she gives Mar- 
 tin and his wife ; and she be- 
 queaths again, to Edith, JElfsige 
 the cook, and Tefl, Wasrburge's 
 daughter, and Herestan and his 
 wife, Eghelm and his wife and 
 their child, Cynestan and Wyn- 
 sige and Brihtric's son, and 
 Eadwyn, and Bunel's son, and 
 ^Ifweres daughter ; and she 
 bequeaths to ^Selfl£ed Ealh- 
 helms younger daughter. — God. 
 Dipl. No. 1290. 
 
 The next passage which I have to cite is unhappily very cor- 
 rupt, but as the sense is obvious I have given such corrections as 
 were required : the readings of the MS. may be seen- in the copy 
 printed Cod. Dipl. No. 1339. 
 
 And io wUle Saet mine men And I will that my serfs shall 
 
 beon ealle freo .... And ic wille all be free. . . And I will that all 
 
 Saet ealle Sa men Sa ic an freo, the men to whom I grant free- 
 
 Sset hi haebben ealle J^ingSa hy dom shall have every thing which 
 
 under hande habbaS, butan Saet is under their hand, except the 
 
MANUMISSION OF SERFS. 
 
 607 
 
 lond set Herelingum Stigande 
 arcebisceope minum hlaforde, 
 swa hitstent, butan Sa mea beon 
 ealle freo. — Cytel, about 1055. 
 
 land at Harling which. I give to 
 archbishop Stigand my lord, as 
 it stands, only that the serfs 
 are all to be fiee.—Cod. JDipl. 
 No. 1342. 
 
 The following manumissions are recorded by the Convent in 
 Bath. They will be found in the Codex Diplomaticus, No. 1351. 
 
 HerswutelaS on Sissere Cristes 
 bee ^set Eadric set Fordan hsefS 
 goboht Ssegyfu his dohtor eet 
 JElfsige abbod and set Sam hi- 
 rede on Ba8an to ecum freote, 
 and eaU hire ofspring. 
 
 Her swutela'S on Sisse Cristes 
 bee 'SsetM]£nc Scot and^gelric 
 Scot synd gefreod for ^Ifsiges 
 abbodes sawle to ecan freote. 
 Dis is gedon on eaUes hiredes 
 gewitnesse. 
 
 Here witnesseth on this book 
 of Gospels that Eddric at 'Ford 
 hath bought Ssegyfu his daugh- 
 ter from ./Elfsige the abbot and 
 the convent at Bath, that she 
 may be free for ever, and all 
 her offspring. 
 
 Here witnesseth on this book 
 of gospels, that jElfric the Scot 
 and ^SeWc the Scot are made 
 free, for the soul of Abbot ^If- 
 sige, that they may be free for 
 ever. This is done by witness 
 of aU the convent. 
 
 Her s wutelaS on Sissere Cristes 
 bee, Sset^lfwig se red hsefS ge- 
 boht hine selfne ut set ^Ifsige 
 abbot and eaUon hirede mid 
 dnon punde. Bar is to gewitnes 
 eaU se hired on BaSan. Crist 
 hine dblende Se Sis gewrit 
 awende. 
 
 Her swutelaS in Sisre Cristes 
 bee, Sset lohann haefS geboht 
 
 Here witnesseth on this book 
 of gospels, that .lElfwig the red 
 hath bought himself out from 
 jElfsige the abbot and all the 
 convent for one pound. To this 
 is witness all the convent in 
 Bath. Christ blind him who 
 setteth this writ aside ! 
 
 Here witnesseth on this book 
 of gospels, that John hath 
 
508 
 
 APPENDIX 0. 
 
 Gunnilde, purkilles dohter, set 
 Gode, LeofendSes lafe,t61iealfaii 
 punde, on ealles hiredes gewil^ 
 nysse. Crist hine ablende, "Se 
 ^is gewrit dwende. And he 
 hsefS hi beteht Griste "j sancte 
 Petre for his moder sdwle. 
 
 Her s wutelaS on Sissere Cristes 
 bee, ^set S^wi Hagg tet Wide- 
 cumbe hsefS gedon ut his twegen 
 suna set-Sllfsige abbude,on ealles 
 hiredes gewitnesse. 
 
 bought Gunhild, Thurkill's 
 daughter, from G6de LeofenaS's 
 widow, for half a pound, by wit- 
 ness of all the convent. Christ 
 bHnd him who setteth this writ 
 aside ! And he hath given her 
 to Christ and St. Peter for his 
 mother's soul. 
 
 Here witnesseth on this book 
 of gospels, that Ssewig Hagg of 
 Widcomb hath done out his two 
 sons from ^Ifeige the abbot, by 
 witness of all the convent. 
 
 HerswutelatSonSissereCristes 
 bee, Sset JEgylm^r bohte Sse- 
 'Sif'Se set Sfewolde abbude, mid 
 .m. maxan on ealles hiredes 
 gewitnysse ; and ofer his dseg 
 and his wifes dseg beo se man 
 freoh. Crist hine ablende, 'Se 
 Sis gewrit dwende. 
 
 Here witnesseth on this book 
 ofgospels,that^Selm^rbought 
 SseSr5;S from S^wold the abbot 
 for two mancuses, by witness 
 of aUthe convent ; and after his 
 and his wife's life let the serf 
 be free. Christ blind him who 
 setteth this writ aside ! 
 
 Her swutelaS ontSissere Cristes 
 bee, Saet Wulfwine Hdreberd 
 bohte set ^Ifsige abbude, ^If- 
 g^t5e mid healfan punde on ealles 
 hiredes gewitnysse : and Crist 
 hine ablende Se Sis gewrit 
 d,wende. 
 
 Here witnesseth on this book 
 of gospels, that Wulfwine Hoar- 
 beard bought ./Elfg^S from ab- 
 bot ^Ifsige for half a poimd, by 
 witness of all the convent : and 
 Christ blind him who setteth 
 this writ aside ! 
 
 Her s wutelatS onSissere Cristes 
 bdc, ^8et./5Sgylsige bohte Wynric 
 set^lfsige abbude mid anon yre 
 goldes. Dysses ys to gewitnysse 
 
 Here witnesseth on this book 
 of gospels, that.^Selsige bought 
 Wynric from abbot ^Ifsige for 
 an ore of gold. The witnesses of 
 
MAJSrUMISSION OF SEEPS. 
 
 509 
 
 ^Ifryd portgereua and eal se this are JEIfred the portreeve 
 hired on BaSon. Crist hine and all the convent at Bath, 
 ablende Se Sis gewrit awende. Christ blind him who setteth 
 
 this writ aside ! 
 
 HerswutelatS onSissere Cristes 
 bee, Sset Siwine Leofwies sunu 
 set Lincumbe hafaS geboht Sy de- 
 fldede lit mid f if scyllingam and 
 
 penegam xt lohanne bi- 
 
 scope and set eallon Sam hirede 
 onBaSontoecmnfreote: and her 
 to is gewitnesse Godric Ladda 
 and Ssewold and his twegen su- 
 nan Soirewold and Brihtwold. 
 
 Her swiitelaS on Sisse Cristes 
 bee, Sset LifgiS set Forda is ge- 
 freod, and hire twa cUd, for Sone 
 bisoop Johanne and for ealne 
 Sone hired on BaSon, on ^K- 
 redes. gewitnesse Aspania. 
 
 Her cyS on Sisse bee Seet 
 H[un]fl[gd] gebohte WulfgJ^e 
 set jElfrice .^Selstanes su[na] 
 jESelminges, ou "Winemines ge- 
 witnisse eald-portgerefan, and 
 on Godrices hissuna,andon JElf- 
 winesMannan suna,and on Leof- 
 rices cildes set Hymed, and on 
 ^Ifrices jElfhelmes sunu geon- 
 gan : and Brun by del nam Sset 
 toll .on ^Ifstanes gewitnisse 
 msessepreostes and on Leofrioes 
 Winemines sima, and on ma 
 l[Sweda "j gehadodra.] 
 
 Here witnesseth on this book 
 of gospels, that Sigewine Leof- 
 wige's son of Lincomb hath 
 bought Sydefl^d out with five 
 shillings and .... pence from 
 bishop John and all the convent 
 at Bath to be free for ever : 
 and witness thereof are Godric 
 Ladda, and Ssewold and his two 
 sons Seirewold and Brihtwold. 
 
 Here witnesseth on this book 
 of gospels, that LifgiS at Ford 
 is freed, with her two children, 
 for bishop John and all the 
 convent at Bath, by witness of 
 Alfred Aspania. 
 
 Here witnesseth in this book 
 that Hunfl^d bought Wulfg^ 
 from ^Ifric the son of ^Selstan 
 the son of JEgelm, by witness 
 of "Winemine the old portreeve, 
 and of Godric his son, and ^If- 
 wine Manna's son, and Leofric 
 the child at Hymed, and JElfric 
 ^Ifhelm's son, the young : and 
 Brun the beadle took the toU 
 by witness of ^Ifstdn the mass- 
 priest, of Leofric Winemine's 
 son and more persons both lay 
 and ordained. — God. Dipl. No. 
 1353. 
 
510 APPENDIX C. 
 
 These examples, so numerous and varied, supply a very clear 
 view of the mode of emancipation, and its objects, in the Anglo- 
 saxon time. It is to be regretted that we have not more of them, 
 and from other places : but stiU, as it is probable that the sj'stem 
 adopted by the clergy prevailed throughout England, these may 
 serve as a very satisfactory specimen of the usual course on these 
 occastons, — both as to the form of manumission and the method 
 of providing for the emancipated serf. 
 
511 
 
 APPENDIX D. 
 
 OECT'S GUILD AT ABBOTSBDEY. 
 (From the Cod. Dipt No. 942.) 
 
 " This writing witaesseth that Orcy hath granted the guildhall 
 at Abbotsbury and the site thereof, to the honour of God and St. 
 Peter, and for a property to the guild, both during his life and 
 after his life, for a long lasting commemoration of himself and his 
 consort. Let him that would set it aside, answer it to God in the 
 great day of judgment ! 
 
 " Now these are the covenants which Orey and the guildsmen of 
 Abbotsbury have ordained, to the honour of God, the worship of 
 St. Peter, and the hele of their own souls. Firstly ; three days 
 before St. Peter's mass, from each guUdbrother one penny, or one 
 pennyworth of wax, — look which the minster most needeth ; and 
 on the mass eve, from every two guUdbrothers one broad loaf, 
 well sifted and well raised, towards our common alms ; and five 
 weeks before Peter's mass, let each guUdbrother contribute one 
 guildsester full of clean wheat, and let this be paid within two 
 days, on forfeiture of the entrance, which is three sesters of wheat. 
 And let the wood be paid within three days after the corn-con- 
 tribution, from every full guUdbrother one load of wood, and 
 from those who are not full brothers, two ; or let him pay one 
 guildsester of corn. And let him that undertaketh a charge 
 and performeth it not accordingly, be mulcted in the amount of 
 his entrance ; and be there no remission. And if one brother mis- 
 greet another within the guild, in hostile temper, let him atone 
 for it to aR the fellowship with the amount of his entrance, and 
 after that to him whom he misgreeted, as they two may arrange : 
 and if he will not bend to compensation, let him lose our feUow- 
 
613 APPENDIX D. 
 
 ship and every other advantage of the guild. And let him that 
 introduceth more guests than he ought, without leave of the stew- 
 ard and the caterers, forfeit his entrance. And if any of our fel- 
 lowship should pass away from us, let each brother contribute a 
 penny over the corpse for the soul's hele or pay bro- 
 thers : and if any one of us should be afflicted with sickness within 
 
 sixty, we are to find fifteen men who shaU fetch him, 
 
 and if he be dead, thirty, and they shall bring him to the place 
 which he desired to go to, while he lived. And if he die in this 
 present place, let the steward have warning to what place the 
 corpse is to go ; and let the steward warn the brethren, the greatest 
 number that he can ride or send to, that they shall come thither and 
 worthily accompany the corpse and bear it to the minster, and 
 earnestly pray there for the soul. It is rightly ordained a guild- 
 ship if we do thus, and well fitting it is both toward God and 
 man : for we know not which of us shall first depart. 
 
 " Now we have faith through God's assistance, that the afore- 
 said ordinance, if we rightly maintain it, shall be to tho benefit of 
 us all. Let us earnestly from the bottom of our hearts beseech 
 Almighty God to have mercy upon us, and also his holy apostle 
 St. Peter to make intercession for us, and take our way unto eter- 
 nal rest, because for his sake we have gathered this guild together: 
 he hath the power in heaven to admit into heaven whomso he 
 wUl, and to exclude whomso he will not, even as Christ himself 
 spake unto him in his gospel : Peter, I give to thee the keys of 
 heaven, and whatsoever thou wilt have bound on earth, the same 
 shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou wUt have unbound 
 on earth, the same shall be unbound in heaven. Let us have 
 hope and trust in him, that he will guide us here in this world, 
 and after death be a help to our souls. May he bring us to eternal 
 rest ! Amen ! " 
 
 THE GUILD AT EXETEE. 
 
 " This assembly was collected in Exeter, for the love of God, and 
 for our soul's need, both in regard to our health of life here, and 
 to the after days, which we desire for ourselves by God's doom. 
 
CORPORATE EXISTENCE. 513 
 
 Now we have agreed that our meeting shall be thrice in the twelve 
 months ; once at St. Michael's Mass, secondly at St. Mary's Mass, 
 after midwinter, and thirdly at AUhallows Mass after Easter; and 
 let each gild-brother have two sesters of malt, and each young 
 man' one sester, and a sceat of honey ; and let the mass-priest at 
 each of our meetings sing two masses, one for our living friends, 
 the other for the dead : and let each brother of common condition 
 sing two psalters of psalms, one for the living and one for the 
 dead ; and at the death of a brother, each man six masses, or six 
 psalters of psalms ; and at a death, each man five pence ; and at 
 a houseburning each man one penny. And if any one neglect the 
 day, for the first time three masses, for the second five, and at the 
 third time let him have no favour, unless his neglect arose from 
 sickness or his lord's need. And if any one neglect his subscrip- 
 tion at the proper day let him pay double. And if any one of this 
 brotherhood misgreet another, let him make boot with thirty 
 pence. Now we pray for the love of God that every man hold 
 this meeting rightly, as we rightly have agreed upon it. God 
 help us thereunto." 
 
 THE GUILD AT CAMBRIDGE. 
 
 " In this writ is the notification of the agreement which this bro- 
 therhood hath made in the thanes' gild of Grantabrycg. That is 
 first, that each gave oath upon the relics to the rest, that he would 
 hold true brotherhood for God and for the world, and all the bro- 
 therhood to support him that hath the best right. If any gild- 
 brother die, aU the gildship is to bring him where he desired to 
 lie ; and let him that cometh not thereto pay a sester of honey ; 
 and let the gildship inherit of the dead half a farm, and each gild- 
 brother contribute two pence to the alms, and out of this sum let 
 what is fitting be taken to St. ^6elt5ry^. And if any gild-brother 
 have need of his fellows' aid, and it be made known to the reeve 
 nearest the gild (unless the gild-brother himself be nigh) and the 
 
 ' The meaning of cniht is not certain in this passage. It may imply a 
 eerTant, but 1 think it more likely that merely young freemen are intended, 
 who were not fuU citizens, and were therefore not reckoned fuU gegyldan. 
 VOL. I. 2 L 
 
614 APPENDIX D. 
 
 reeve neglect it, let him pay one pound ; if the lord neglect it, let 
 him pay a pound, unless he be on his lord's need or confined to 
 his bed. And if any one steal from a gild-brother, let there be no 
 boot, but eight pounds. But if the outlaw neglect this boot, let 
 all the gildship avenge their comrade ; and let all bear it, if one 
 misdo ; let all bear alike. And if any gild-brother slay a man, 
 and if he be a compelled avenger and compensate for his insult, 
 and the slain man be a twelve-hundred man, let each gild- 
 brother assist if the slain be a ceorl, two 
 
 ores ; if he be a Welshman, one ore. But if the gild-brother 
 with folly and deceit slay a man, let him bear his own deed ; and 
 if a comrade slay another comrade through his own folly, let him 
 bear his breach as regards the relatives of the slain ; and let him 
 buy back his brotheihood in the gild with eight pounds, or lose 
 for ever our brotherhood and friendship. And if a gild-brother 
 eat or drink with him tliat slew his comrade, save in the presence 
 of the king, the bishop or the ealdorman, let him paj' a pound, un- - 
 less he can clear himself with two of his dependents, of any know- 
 ledge of the fact. If any comrade misgreet another, let him pay 
 a sester of honey, except he can clear himself with his two de- 
 pendents. If a servant draw a weapon, let his lord pay a pound, 
 and recover what he can from the servant, and let all the company 
 aid him to recover his money. And if a servant wound another, 
 let the lord avenge it, and the company, so that seek what he may 
 seek, he shall not have his life. And if a servant sit within the 
 spence, let him pay a sester of honey, and if any one hath a foot- 
 sitter let him do the same. And if any gild-brother die or lie 
 sick out of the country, let his gild-brethren fetch him alive or 
 dead, to the place where he desired to lie, under the same penalty 
 as we have before said, in case of a comrade's dying at home, and 
 a gild-brother neglecting to attend the corpse." 
 
 The following document, which seems justly referable to the 
 reiffn of Eadga'r, that is to the close of the tenth century, gives 
 the regulations under which the Hundred was constituted'. 
 ' Thorpe, i. 258, etc. 
 
CORPOKATE EXISTENCE. 616 
 
 " This is the Ordinance how the Hundi'ed shall he held. 
 
 "Pirst that they meet every four weeks, and that each man do 
 right to other. 
 
 " That a thief be pursued, if necessary. If there bo present need, 
 let it be told to the hundredman, and let him afterwards make it 
 known to the tithingmen, and let them all go forth whither God 
 may direct them to their end : let them do justice on the thief as 
 it was formerly Eadmund's law. And be the cedpgild paid to 
 him that owns the chattel; and be the rest divided in two, half to 
 the hundred, half to the lord, except men ; and let the lord take 
 possession of the men. 
 
 " And if any man neglect this, and deny the judgment of the 
 hundred, and the same be afterwards proved against him, let him 
 pay to the hundred thirty pence ; and the second time, sixty 
 pence ; half to the hundred, half to the lord. If he do it a third 
 time, let him pay half a pound : the fourth time, let him lose aU 
 that he hath, and be an outlaw, unless the king will allow him to 
 remain in the land. 
 
 " And we have ordained respecting unknown cattle, that no man 
 should have it without the witness of the hundredman or the 
 tithingman ; and that he be a well trusty man ; and unless he 
 have one or other of these, let no vouching to warranty be allow- 
 ed him '. 
 
 " "We have also ordained, that, if the hundred pursue a track 
 into another hundred, notice be given to the hundredman, and 
 that he then go with them. If he neglect this, let him pay thirty 
 shillings to the king. ., 
 
 '- If any one flinch from justice and escape, let him that had him 
 in custody pay the angild. And if he be accused of having aided 
 the escape, let him clear himseH according to the custom of the 
 country. 
 
 " In the hundred as in every other gem6t, we ordain that folk- 
 right be pronounced in every suit, and that a term be appointed 
 
 ' Compare the farther proTisions of Eadgir's law. Supp. 11. § 6, 7, 8, 9, 
 10, U. Thorpe, i. 274, 276. 
 
 2 l2 
 
516. APPENDIX D. 
 
 when it shall be fulfilled. And if any one break that term, un- 
 less it be through the lord's decree, let him make amends with 
 thirty shillings, and on a set day fulfil that which he should have 
 done before. 
 
 " An ox's bell, and a dog's collar, and a blast horn, each of these 
 three shall be worth a shilling, and each is reckoned an informer. 
 
 " Let the iron for the threefold ordeal weigh three pounds ; and 
 for the single, one pound." 
 
51/ 
 
 APPENDIX E. 
 
 The following documents throw light upon the nature of Lsen- 
 land, and the conditions under which it was held. The first is a 
 detailed account given by Oswald, bishop of Worcester, to king 
 Eadgdr, of the plan which he adopted in leasing the lands of his 
 church : it is reprinted here from the sixth volume of the Codex 
 Diplomaticus, No. 1287. The second is a statement of the way 
 in which an estate of six ploughlands at Wouldham in Kent be- 
 came the property of the Cathedral at Eochester : it is No. 1288 
 in the same collection. 
 
 "Domino meo karissimo regi Anglorum Eadgaro, ego Osuualdus 
 TJuigornensis aecclesiae episcopus omnium quae mihi per ipsius cle- 
 mentiam munerum tradita sunt, apud deum et apud homines gra- 
 tias ago. Igitur si dei misericordia suppeditet, coram deo et homi- 
 nibus perpetualiter ei fldelis permanebo, reminiscens cum gratiarum 
 aotione largifluae benignitatis eius, quia per meos illud quod mag- 
 nopere expetebam mihi concessit internuntios, id est reverentissi- 
 raum Dunstanum archiepiscopum et venerandum jESeluuoldum 
 Uuintoniae episoopum et virum magnifioum BrihtnoSum comitem, 
 quorum legatione et adiutorio meam et sanctae dei aecclesiae que- 
 relam suscepit, et secundum consiHum sapientum et principum 
 suorum iuste emendavit, ad sustentamen aecclesiae quam mihi 
 benigne et libens regendam commisit. ftuare quo modo fldos mihi 
 subditos telluribus quae meae traditae sunt potestati per spatium 
 temporis trium hominum, id est duorum post se haeredum, con- 
 donarem, placuit tam mihi quam ipsis fautoribus et consiliariis 
 meis, cum ipsius domini mei regis licentia et attestatione, ut fratri- 
 
618 APPENDIX E. 
 
 bus meis suooessoribus, scilicet episcopis, per cyrographi cautionem 
 apertius enuclearem, ut sciant quid ab eis extorquere iuste debeant 
 secuadum conventionem cum eis faotam et sponsionem suam ; unde 
 et banc epistolam ob cautelae causam componere studui, ne quis 
 malignae cupiditatis instinctu hoc sequenti tempore mutare volena, 
 abiurare a servitio aecolesiae queat. Haeo itaque conventio cum 
 eis facta est, ipso domino meo rege annuente, et sua attesta- 
 tione munificentiae suae largitatem roborante et confirmante, om- 
 nibusque ipsius regiminis sapientibus et principibus attestantibus 
 et consentientibus. Hoc pacto eis terras sanctae aecclesiae sub 
 me tenere concessi, hoc est ut omnis eqnitandi lex ab eis impleatur 
 quae ad equites pertinet ; et ut pleniter persolvant omnia quae ad 
 ius ipsius aecolesiae iuste competunt, scilicet ea quae Anglice 
 dicuuturciricsceottettoUidest theloneum et tace,idest swinsceade, 
 et caetera iura aecclesiae, nisi episcopus quid alicui eorum perdo- 
 nare voluerit ; seseque quamdiu ipsius tei-ras tenent in mandatis 
 pontificis humiliter cum omni subiectione perseverare etiam iure- 
 iurando affirment. Super haec etiam ad omnis iudustriae episcopi 
 indigentiam semetipsos praesto impendant ; equos praestent ; ipsi 
 equitent ; et ad totum piramiticum opus aecclesiae calcis atque ad 
 pontis aediflcium ultro inveniantur parati ; sed et venationis sepem 
 dominiepiscopi ultronei ad aedificandumrepperiantur,suaque quan- 
 documque domino episcopo libuerit venabula destinent venatum ; 
 insuper ad multas alias indigentiae causas quibus opus est domino 
 antistiti sepe frunisci, sive ad suum servitium sive ad regale ex- 
 plendum, semper illius archiductoris dominatui et voluntati qui 
 episcopatui praesidet, propter beneflcium quod illis praestitum est, 
 cum omni humilitate et subiectione subditi fiant, secundum ipsius 
 voluntatem et terrarum quas quisque possidet quantitatem. De- 
 curso autem praefati temporis curriculo, videlicet duorum post eos 
 qui eas modo possident haci-edum vitae spatio, in ipsius antistitis 
 sit arbitrio quid inde velit, et quomodo sui vello sit inde ita stet, 
 sive ad suum opus eas retinere, si sic sibi utile iudicaverit, sive eas 
 alicui diutius praestare, si sic sibi placuerit velit ; ita dumtaxat ut 
 semper aecclesiae servitia pleniter ut praefati sumus inde per- 
 solvantur. Ast si quid praefatorum delicti praevaricantis causa 
 
L^'NLAND. 519 
 
 defuerit iurum, praevarioationis delictum secundum quod praesulis 
 ius est emendet, aut iUo quod antea potitus est dono et terra careat. 
 Si quis vero, diabolo instigante, quod minima optamus, extiterit, 
 qui per nostrum benefioium aeoolesiam dei fraude, seu in sua poa- 
 sessione aut servitio debito privare temptaverit, ipse nostra omni- 
 que benediotione dei et sanctorum eius privetur, ni^si profundissima 
 emendatione illud corrigere studeat et ad pristinum statum quod de- 
 frandavit redigat, soriptum est enim ' Eaptores et saorilegi regnum 
 dei non consequentur.' Nunc autem propter deum et sanctam 
 Mariam, in cuius nomine boo monasterium dioatum est, moneo et 
 praeoipio, ut nullo modo quis boc praevarioare audeat, sed siout a 
 nobis statutum est, ut praefafci snmus, perpetualiter maneat. Qui 
 custodierit omiii benediotione repleatur ; qui.veroinfringerit, male- 
 dioetur a domino et ab omnibus Sanctis, Amen. Gratanter, reve- 
 rentissime domine, quo tantis tuae donis clementiae, secundum quod 
 totius creatoris oosmi est velle, praeditus sum, meae operam volun- 
 tatis, ut pro te tuisque deum iugiter interpellem, devotus impen- 
 dam, meosque suecessorcs ad hoc bortari studebo, ut domini mise- 
 ricordiam pro te deprecari non desiuant, ut Cbristus pace qui per- 
 henni regnat etbrali in arce te consortio dignum baberi dignetur 
 sanctorum omnium in aula coelesti. Valeat in aevum qui boc 
 studuerit servare deoretum. Harum textus epistolarum tres 
 sunt ad praetitulationem et ad signum, una in ipsa civitate quae 
 vooatur Unigraceaster, altera cum venerabili Dunstano archie]ii- 
 scopo in Cantuaria, tertia cum ^Seluuoldo episcopo in Uuintonia 
 civitate." 
 
 "^i5elbrybt cine bit gebocode " King ^Selberht granted it 
 
 Sim apostole on ece yrfe and by bis charter for ever to the 
 
 bet^hte hit Sim biscope Ear- apostle, and gave it in charge to 
 
 dulfe to bewitenne and his mi- bishop Eardwulf and his suc- 
 
 tergaencan. Di betweonan Sim cessors. However in process of 
 
 wearS hit ute, and hoefdon hit time it became alienated, and 
 
 cynegas oS Eadmund cine ; Si the kings had it down to Ead- 
 
520 
 
 APPENDIX E. 
 
 gebohte hit jElfstan Heahstdn- 
 inc set Ssem cince mid hund- 
 twelftigan maneesan goldes and 
 Srittigan pundan, and Sset him 
 sealde m^st eal -lElf eh his sunu. 
 JEfter Eadmunde cincge Sa ge- 
 bocode hit Eadred cinc^lfstane 
 on ece yrfe : Sa sefter ^Ifstanes 
 dsege wees ^Ifeh his sunu his 
 yrfewserd ; and Sset he ledo on 
 hdlre tungon, and ofteah ^1- 
 frice his bre8er landes and sehta, 
 btitanhehwaet sethimgeearnode. 
 Da for S£6re broSorsibbe geuiSe 
 he him EarhitSes and CrSegan 
 and ^nesfordes and Wulda- 
 hames his dseg. Da oferbdd 
 JElfeh Ssene broSor and feng to 
 his Ifgne : t5a hffifde jiElfrio suna 
 Eadric hatte and ^Ifeh n£enne, 
 Dd geut5e iElfeh Sdm Eadrice 
 EdrhiSes and Cr^gan and "Wul- 
 dahames, and hsefde himsylf 
 ^nesford. Da gewat Eadric 
 &TC -(Elfeh cwideleas, and ^Ifeh 
 feng to his l£ene. Dd hsefde 
 Eddrio lafe and nan bedrn ; Sd 
 geuSe JElfeh hire hire morgen- 
 gife setCrgegan; and stddEarhiS 
 and Wuldaham and Lytlanbroc 
 onhisl^ne. DdhimeftgeSuhte, 
 Sd nam he his feorme on Wul- 
 daham and onSdm 6&an wolde, 
 ac hine geyflade, and he Sa saende 
 to Sdm arcebiscope Dunstdne, 
 
 mund; then ^Ifstdn son of 
 Hedhstdn bought it of the king 
 for a hundred and twenty man- 
 cuses of gold and thirty pounds, 
 and j3Elf heah his son gave him 
 nearly all the money. After 
 king Eddmund, king Eddred 
 booked it to ^Ifstdn as an in- 
 heritance for ever : now after 
 ^Ifstdn's day, Jjllf hedh his son 
 was his heir, and that he proved 
 with a whole tongue, and de- 
 prived ^Ifri'o his brother both 
 of land and chattels, but what 
 he might deserve at his hands. 
 Now for brotherly love he grant- 
 ed him Erith, Cray, jEnesford, 
 and "Wouldham, for his life. 
 Then^lf heah survived his bro- 
 ther, and re-entered on his l^n ; 
 but ^Ifrio had a son called 
 Eddrio, and ^Lfhedh had none. 
 Then ^Ifhedh granted to Eddric 
 Erith, Cray, and Wouldham, 
 and kept JEnesford for himself. 
 Now Eadric died before JElf- 
 hedh without making a will, 
 and^lfhedh re-entered on his 
 l^n. Eddric had a vsddow but 
 no child ; then-Sillfhedh granted 
 her her morning -gift, at Cray ; 
 and Erith, Wouldham and Lit- 
 tlebrook stood on his l^n. When 
 he bethought him, he took his 
 feorm at Wouldham, and meant 
 
LiE'NLAND. 
 
 521 
 
 and lie com to Soylfe to Mm : 
 and he cwseS Ms cwide beforan 
 Mm, and he saette ^nne cwide 
 to Cristes cyrican, and oSerne to 
 sancte Andrea, andSane Jjiiddan 
 sealde Mslafe. Da brsec sy^6an 
 Leofsnnu Jiurh Saet wlf 'Se he 
 ndm, Eadrices lafe, ^aene cwide, 
 andTierewade ^aes arcebiscopes 
 gewitnesse, rid Sa innon Sa land 
 mid Sam wife biitan witena 
 dome. Daman^setSambiscope 
 ciSde, 'Si gel^dde se biscop 
 ahnunga eaUes ^Ifehes cwides 
 to Eirhi'Se, on gewitnesse jElf- 
 stanes bisoopes on Lundene, and 
 eaUes Saes hiredes, and Saes aet 
 Cristes cyrican, and 6aes biscopes 
 jElfstanes an Hrofesceastre, 
 and Wulfsies preostes Sebs sci- 
 rigmannes, and Bryhtwaldes on 
 MsereweorSe, and ealra East 
 Cantwarena and "West Cantwa^ 
 rena. And hit wses gecnsewe on 
 SuS-Sedxan and onWest-Seaxan 
 and on Middel-Seaxan and on 
 Est-Seaxan, Saet se arcebiscop 
 mid Msselfes a8e geahnode Gode 
 and sancte Andrea mid Sam bo- 
 can on Cristes hrode, Sa land 
 Se Leofsnnu him toteah. And 
 Saene £S ndm Wulfsige se sci- 
 rigman, Sa he nolde to Saes 
 cinges handa ; and Ssere wses 
 God edoa ten hundan mannan 
 8e Sane £S sealdan. 
 
 so to do at the other places, but 
 he feU iU, and sent to arch- 
 bishop Diinstan, and he came 
 to him at ScyM: and jELEheah 
 declared Ms will before him, 
 and he deposited' one will at 
 Christohurch, another at St. 
 Andrews, and the third copy he 
 gave Ms widow. But afterwards 
 Leofsunu broke through the 
 will, through the wife he mar- 
 ried, namely Eadrio's widow, 
 and set at nought the arch- 
 bishop's testimony, and rode in 
 upon the land with the woman, 
 without any judgment of the 
 witan. Now when tMs was re- 
 ported to the bishop, he took 
 all the claims of owersMp un- 
 der ^Ifheilh's will, to Erith, in 
 witness of ^Ifstan bishop of 
 London, and all the convent, 
 .and that at Christohurch, and 
 JElfstan bishop of Eoohester, 
 and Wulfsige the priest who 
 was sheriff, and Bryhtwald of 
 Mereworth, and aU the men of 
 East Kent and of West Kent. 
 And it was well known in Sus- 
 sex and Wessex, and Middlesex 
 and Essex, that the archbishop 
 with his own oath upon the 
 cross of Christ, recovered the 
 land which Leofsunu had in- 
 vaded, together with the books, 
 for God and St. Andrew. And 
 
C22 
 
 APPENDIX E. 
 
 Rubric. Diis wslron Sa seox 
 sulung 8Bt WuldahJim sancte 
 Andrea geseald^ into Hrofes- 
 osastie." 
 
 Wulfsige thesheriff received the 
 oath, since he would not go to 
 the king's hand : and there was 
 a good addition of a thousand 
 men who gave the oath. 
 
 Rubric. Thus were the six 
 ploughlands atT^'ouldham given 
 to St. Andrew at Eochester." 
 
APPENDIX F. 
 
 HEATHENDOM. 
 
 The following passages of the Anglosaxon Laws contain general 
 enactments agaiast heathen practices, or references to heathen 
 superstitions. 
 
 " Gif ceorl buton wifes wi'sdome deoflum gelde, he sie ealra his 
 ^hta scyldig, and healsfange. Gif butwu deoflum gelda^, sion 
 hdo healsfange scyldigo, "j ealra £5hta." — LI. Wihtr. § 12. Thorpe, 
 i. 40. 
 
 " Gif feow deoflum geldaS .vi. scill. gebete, oWe his h^d." — 
 LI Wihtr. § 13. Thorpe, i. 40. 
 
 " Gif hwa Cristendom wj^rde, o^Se hseSendom weorSige, wordes 
 oSSe weorces, gylde swa wer swa wite, swa lahslite, be Sam 'Se seo 
 d^d s^."—Eddw. Qu^S. § 2. Thorpe, i. 168. 
 
 " Gif wiccan o^e wiglcras, mansworan oSSe morSwyrhtan, 
 oSSe file, dfj/lede Sebsere horcwenan ahwar on lande witrSan 
 ^gytene, 'Sonne f J'sie hi man of earde "j clsensie Sa J;e6de, oSSe on 
 earde forfare hy mid ealle, biiton hi geswican "j Se deoppor gebe- 
 tan."— &'fZw. Qu'^. § 11. Thorpe, i. 172. 
 
 " Ond we cwSedon be 'S'sem wiccecrseftum, "j be liblacum, "J be 
 morSdsedum, gif man Sser acweald w^re, "] he his setsacan ne 
 mihte, Sset he beo his feores scyldig." — Jl^eht. i. § 6. Thorpe, 
 i. 202. 
 
 " Da ?'e mansweriaS "] lyblac wyrca'??, sfn hi a fram Selcum 
 Godes d.kle aworpene, buton by to rihtre dsedbdte gecyrran." — 
 Eddm. i. § 6. Thorpe, i. 246. 
 
524 APPENDIX F. 
 
 " And gif wiocan ffS^e wigleras, scincrseftigan o'SSe horcwenan, 
 morSwyrlitarL oWe mansworan ahwar on earde wurSan dtigene, 
 fyae hi man georne ut of Sysan earde, "j olEensige S^s J^eode, oS^e 
 on earde forfare hi mid ealle, biitan hi geswican ^ 3e deoppor ge- 
 'heta.n.."—JE^elr. vi. § 7. Thorpe, i. 316. Cnut, ii. § 4. Thorpe, 
 i. 378, 
 
 " And we forbeodaS eornostlice Selene hseSenscipe. H£eSen- 
 scipe his Saet man idola weorSige, Sset is Sffit man weorSige hse- 
 Sene godas ■] sunnan oSSe monan, f^r o'SrSe flod, weeterwyUas o'SSe 
 stanas, oSSe jeniges cynnes wudutreowa, o'SSe ■wiccecraeft lufige, 
 o'SSe morWerc gefremme, on Senige wisan, ffS^e on hlote, o^e 
 on fyrhte, oSSe on swylcra gedwimera tenig J^ing dre6ge." — Onut, 
 ii. § 5. Thorpe, i. 378. 
 
 " Si quis veneno, vel sortilegio, vel invnliuaoione, seu maleficio 
 aliquo, faciat homicidium, sive illi paratum sit, sive alii, nihil 
 refert, quin factum mortiferum et nuUo mode redimendum sit." — 
 LI. Hen. I. Ixxi. § 1. 
 
 The well- and tree-worship noticed in these laws continued to 
 he retained, though in a somewhat altered form, until a very late 
 period ; and especially it was usual to perform religious ceremo- 
 nies at the salt-springs, spots always looked upon as holy'. 
 
 The confessional however was more likely to he in the secret of 
 the popular heathendom than the civil legislator. Accordingly 
 the Poenitentials supply us with a variety of information upon this 
 subject. The Poenitential of Theodore has a long chapter devoted 
 to the heathen practices of communicants, and their appropriate 
 penances. 
 
 " xxvii, De Idolatria et SacrUegio, et qui Angelos colunt, et 
 malefieos, Ariolos, Veneficos, Sortileges, Divinos, et vota reddentes 
 nisi ad aecclesiam Dei, et in Kalendas Januarii in cervulo et in 
 vitula vadit, et Mathematicos, et Emissores tempestatum." 
 
 ' Thorns, Aneod. and Traditions, p. 93. The holy character of the salt- 
 springs is noticed by Tacitus. 
 
HEATHENDOM. 526 
 
 The points principally noted here are, Bacriflcing to dsemons, that 
 is, the ancient gods ; eating and drinking near heathen temples, 
 fana, in honour of the god of the place ; or eating what has been 
 sacrificed to daemons ; or celebrating festal meals in the abominable 
 places of the heathen' ; seeking auguries by the flight of birds, 
 making philacteries or philtres. Other forms may be gathered 
 from the following heads : — 
 
 Si quis maleficio suo aliquem perdiderit vii. annos poeniteat. 
 Si quis pro amore veneficus sit et neminem perdiderit, etc. Si 
 autem per hoc mulieris partum quis deoeperit, etc. Si quis ari- 
 olos quaerit, quos divinos vooant, vel aliquas divinationes fecerit, 
 quia et hoc daemoniacum est, etc. Si quis sortes habuerit, quas 
 Sanctorum contra rationem vooant, vel aliquas sortes habuerit, 
 vel qualiounque malo ingenio sortitus fuerit, vel -divinaverit, etc. 
 Si qua mulier divinationes vel incantationes diabolicas fecerit, etc. 
 Si qua mulier filium suum vel flliam super tectum pro sanitate po- 
 suerit, vel in fornace, etc. Qui grana arserit ubi mortuus est homo, 
 pro sanitate viventium et domus, etc. Si quis, pro sanitate filioli, 
 per foramen terrae exierit, iHudque spinis post se conoludit, etc. 
 Si quis ad arbores, vel ad fontes, vel ad lapides, sive ad cancellos, 
 vel ubicunque, excepto in aecclesia Dei, votum voverit aut exsol- 
 verit, etc., et hoc sacrilegium est vel daemoniacum. Qui vero 
 ibidem ederit aut biberit, etc. Si quis in Kalendas Januarii in cer- 
 vulo aut vetula vadit, id est, in ferarum habitus se communicant', 
 et vestiunturpeUibuspecudum, et assumunt capita bestiarum; qui 
 vero taliter in ferinas species se transformant, etc., quia hoc daemo- 
 niacum est. Si quis mathematicus est, id est, per invooationem 
 daemonum hominis mentem converterit, etc. Si quis emissor tem- 
 pestatis fuerit, id est, maleficus, etc. Si quis ligaturas fecerit, quod 
 detestabile est, etc. Qui auguria vel divinationes in consuetudine 
 habuerit, etc. Qui observat divinos, vel praecantatores, philacteria 
 etiam diaboUca, et somnia vel herbas, aut quintam feriam honore 
 Jovis, vel Kalendas Januarii, more paganorum, honorat, etc. Qui 
 
 ' Refer to Gregory's letter, cited at p. 332 of this volume. 
 Probably " commutant." 
 
626 APPENDIX F. 
 
 Btudent exercere quando luna obsouratur, lat clamoribus suis ac 
 malefioiis saorilego usu earn defendere confldunt, etc. Qui in ho- 
 nore lunae pro aliqua sanitate ieiunat, etc. 
 
 Other fragments of Theodore contain this additional provision: — 
 
 "Qui nocturna sacriflcia daemonum celebraverint, velincanta- 
 tionibus daemones invocaverint, capitc puniantur." 
 
 Archbishop Ecgberht has further details : he says' : — 
 
 " Si quis daemonibus oxigni quid immolaverit, annum umim 
 ieiunet. Quiounque cibum daemonibus immolatum cnmederit, etc. 
 Quicunque grana combusserit in loco ubi mortuus est homo, pro 
 sanitate viventium et domus, etc. Si mulier filiam suam super do- 
 mum, vel in fornace posuerit, eo quod eam a febri sanare Telit," etc. 
 
 The Saxon version in the MS. at Brussels, applies this to other 
 illness besides fever : " Gif hwylc wif seteS hire beam ofer hrof 
 o8be on ofen, for hwylcere untrymtSe hielo .vii. gear faeste." 
 
 The same prelate in his Poenitential ordains ^ : — 
 
 " Gif ^nig man oSerne mid wiccecrsefte fordo, fseste .vii. gear," 
 etc. 
 
 " Gif hwd drife stacan on denigne man, fseste .iii. gear, and gif 
 Be man for 8^re stacunge dead biS, Sonne fseste he .vii. gear, eal- 
 swa hit her bufpon awriten is '\" 
 
 This " stacan drifan " or " stacung " is the invultuatio ■which 
 has been explained in the text, and of which an example has been 
 
 ^ Confessionale, 32, 33 ; see also his Poenitential e, ii. 22, 23. Thorpe, ii. 
 157, 190. 
 
 " Poenit, IT. 16, 17, 18, 19, 20. Thorpe, ii. 208, 210. 
 
 ' This is repeated in the same words in the collection called Canons enacted 
 under king Eadgar, in that portion entitled " Modusimponendi poenitentiam." 
 But as Dr. Kunstman, an authority of the highest character on this point, in- 
 forms me, these Canons are founded upon and contain portions of the very an- 
 cient Poenitential of Cummianus; and we may suppose Ecgberht to have 
 adopted these passages from him. 
 
HEATHENDOM. 527 
 
 given from a charter of Eadgar. Mr. Thorpe's explanation of 
 Staoimg is as follows : — 
 
 " Stacung, a sticking. The practice of sticking pins or needles 
 into a waxen image of the person against whom the ■witchcraft 
 was directed, consisted probahly at first in sticking them actnaUy 
 into the body of the individual, ' gif hwa drife stdcan' on Senigne 
 man ;' but aa this process was no doubt sometimes attended with 
 inconvenience and danger to the operator, the easier and safer 
 method was devised of substituting a waxen proxy, instead of the 
 true man. This pract'ce was known under the name otchjixio, 
 ' quod eiusmodi incantores acus subinde dejigerent in imagines 
 cereas, iis loois quibus viros ipsos pungere decreverant, qui punc- 
 turas ipsas, ac si ipsi pungerentur persentiebant.' Du Cange. To 
 it Ovid alludes : 
 
 ' Devovit absentes, simulacraque cerea flngit, 
 Et miserum tenues in iecur urget acus.' " 
 
 Eogberht thus continues respecting philtres and other magical 
 practices : — ■ 
 
 " Gif hwa wiccige ymbe Eeniges mannes lufe, "j him on sete 
 sylle otS8e on drinoe, o66e on aeniges cynnes gealdorcrseftum, gset 
 hyra lufu forSon Se mdre beon scyle," etc' 
 
 " Gif hwa hlytas ot5Se hwatunga bega, otSBe his wseccan set 
 Eenignm wylle hajbbe, oS8e let Senigre ogre gesceafte butan set 
 Godes cyricean, fseste he .iii. gear," etc. 
 
 " WIfman beo Saes ylcan wyr?Se, gif heo tilaS hire cilde mid 
 sSnigum wicceersefte, oS6e set wega gel^ton Surh Sa eoiSan tihS : 
 eala tSaet is mycel hdeSenscipe." 
 
 The Canons enacted under E^dgdr give the following full de- 
 tails of popular heathendom^ : — 
 
 " And we enjoin, that every priest zealously promote Christianitj', 
 
 ' Repeated in nearly the same words in the ' Modus imponendi poeniten- 
 tiam,' § 39. Thorpe, ii, 274. 
 
 ' Thorpe, ii. 2-19, " And we Iterati ISset preosta gehwilc criBtendc'm georallce 
 4r£ere, -j selcne hffijendom mid ealle adwasce, -j forbedde ■wilweor'Sunga -j 
 
628 A.PPENDIX F. 
 
 and totally extinguish every heathenism ; and forbid well- worship- 
 pings, and necromancies, and divinations, and enchantments, and 
 man- worshippings, and the vain practices which are carried on with 
 various speUs, and with ' frithsplots,' and with elders, and also 
 with various other trees, and with stones, and with many various 
 delusions, with which men do much of what they should not." 
 
 Many of these heathen practices stLU continue to subsist, at 
 least in the memory and traditions of the peasantry in remote parts 
 of England. Devonshire, for example, stUl oifers an unexhausted 
 field for the collecter both of popular superstitions and popular 
 tales, counterparts of which are current in Germany. The Anglo- 
 saxon herbals ' furnish various evidences of heathendom connected 
 with plants, but I pass over these in order to give one or two de- 
 tailed Saxon spells, which are of the utmost value, as bearing un- 
 mistakeable marks of Anglosaxon paganism. The following spells 
 are taken from a MS. in the Harleian collection. No. 585. 
 
 1. " Wis Cyrnel. Neogone w^ran NoSpaes sweoster, fa wurdon 
 Sa nygone to viii. ~j fa viii. to vii. "J fa vii. to vi. "J fa vi. to v. "] 
 fa V. to iiii. 1 fa iiii. to iii. "J fa iii. to ii. "j fa ii. to i. *] fa i. to 
 nanum. fis f e libbe cyrnneles 'j scrofeUef "j weormef 'j Seghwylces 
 yfeles. Sing benedicite nygon sif um ^." 
 
 2 " Se wifman se hire cUd afedan ne m£eg, gange to gewitenes 
 mannes birgenne "] staeppe Sonne f riwa ofer Sa byrgenne, "j cweSe 
 Sonne f riwa Sas word : Dis me to bote S^re laSan Isetbyrde : Dis 
 
 Hcwiglunga -j hwata -j galdra -j manweorSunga -j 6a gemearh 8e man drifiS 
 on mislicum gewiglungum, ■] on frlSsplottum, -j on ellenum, -j eao on dSrum 
 mislicum treowum, -j on stanum, •} on manegum mislicum gedwimerum ^ 
 mon ondre6ga6 fela Saes 6e hi na ne sooldon." 
 
 A various reading adds : — " treowwurSunga *] st^nwur^unga •) 6one de6fles 
 crseft Sse'r man Sa cild furh Sa eoiSan tihS, ~j Sa gemear Se man drihS on 
 geares niht :" — ** tree-worshippings and stone- worshippings, and that devil's 
 craft, whereby children are drawn through the earth, and the vain practices 
 which are carried on on the night of the year." The frSSsplot was a patoh or 
 plot of ground sanctified, ^'e/rsSorf, by some heathen ceremony, a kind of Taboo. 
 
 ' Edited by the Eev. T. O. Cockayne for the Master of the Eolls' Series, 
 18647-1866, under the title of " Leechdoms, Wortounning and Starcraft of 
 Early England." ^ j'oj ^c)^ 
 
HEATHENDOM. 629 
 
 me to bote 8sere swEeran swsert byrde : Dis me to bote tSdere MSan 
 lambyrde. And Sonne tSset wif se6 mid bearne, "j heo to hire 
 hldforde on reste ga, Sonne cweSe heo : 
 " Up ic gonge, 
 
 ofer Se staeppe, 
 
 mid cwioan cilde, 
 
 nalaes mid cwellendum, 
 
 mid fulborenum, 
 
 nalaes mid f^gan. 
 
 And Sonne seo moder gefele Seet Sset beam si cwie, g& Sonne to 
 cyrican, "j Sonne heo toforan San weofode cume, cweSe Sonne : 
 
 " Criste ic ssSde 
 Sis gec^^ed." 
 
 3. "Se wifman se hyre beam dfedan ne meege, genime heo sylf 
 hyre agenes cUdes gebyrgenne dsl, frjj eefter ^on on bldce wuUe, 
 -j bebioge to cepemannum, "] cwe^e 'Sonne : 
 
 " Ic hit bebicge 
 ge hit bebicgan, 
 Sas Bweartan wulle 
 and Sisse sorge com." 
 
 4. " Se [wif|man se Se [ne] msege beam dfedan, nime Sonne dnes 
 bleos cu meoluc on hyre handse, 'j gesupe Sonne mid hyre muSe, "] 
 gange Sonne to yrnendum waetere,*] spiwe Sder in Sa meolc, "j hMde 
 Sonne mid Ssere ylcan hand Saes waeteres muS fulne 'j forswelge. 
 CweSe Sonne Sas word : Gehwer ferde ic me Sone mteran maga 
 fihtan, mid Sysse m£eran mete fihtan, Sonne ic me wiUe habban T 
 hdm gan. Donne heo to San broce ga, Sonne ne beseo heo no, ne 
 eft Sonne heo Sanan ga, "j Sonne ga heo in oSer htis dSer heo ut 
 ofedde, "J S^r gebyrge metes'." 
 
 5. " Wis hors oman ^ mannes, sing Sis friwa nygan siSan on 
 sefen "] on morgen, on Saes mannes hedfod tifan, "j horse on Saet 
 
 1 MS. Harl. 585. fol. 196. 196 b. 
 VOL. I. 2 M 
 
630 APPENDIX F. 
 
 wynstre e&re, on ymendum wsetere, "j wend Sset heafod ongean 
 stream. In domo mamosin in choma meoti. otimimeoti. quod 
 dealde otuuotiua el marethin. Crux mihi vita. e. tibi mors inimici. 
 alfa et o initium et finis, dicit dominus'." 
 
 6. " "Wis Oman. Genim ane grene gjrrde, "j last sittan Sone man 
 on piiddan huaes flore, "j bestric hine jmbutan, "j cweS : pars et 
 o rilli A pars et pars iniopia. e. alfa et o. iitium'." 
 
 7. "Gif "wsennas eglian msen eet tS^re heortan, gange mieden man 
 t6 -wyUe 6e riht e^st yrne, "] -gehlade dne cuppan fuUe for8 mid 
 Sam stredme, "j singe Sieron Credan "j Paternoster, "j ge6t6 Sonne 
 on oSer fset, "j blade eft oSre, "j singe eft Credan "J Paternoster, "J 
 do swd, tSset Su hsebbe free. Do s-wa nygon dagas : sona him biS 
 seP." 
 
 8. " Wits fserstice, Feferfuige, and seo reside netele, 8e Surb sern 
 inwyxS, and wegbrSede : wylle in buteran. 
 
 " Hlude w^ron by la hlude 
 8^ by ofer Sone hlse-w ridan ; 
 w^ron anmode, Sa by 
 ofer land ridan. 
 Scyld 8u Se nu, tSu 8isne niS 
 genesan mote. 
 Ut lytel spere, 
 gif ber iane sie ! 
 Stod under linde, 
 under leohtum seylde, 
 S^r Sa mibtigan wif 
 byra msegen berSeddon, 
 and by gyUende 
 gdras ssendan : 
 ic him oSeme 
 eft ■wiUe ssendan, 
 fledgende fldne 
 
 MS. Harl. No. 585. fol. 197. » Ibid. fol. 197 ' Ibid. fol. SCO. 
 
HEATHENDOM. 63L 
 
 foraae togeanes. 
 
 Ut lyfcel spere, 
 
 gif hit her inae s^ ! 
 
 Sast smrS, sloh seax lytel, 
 
 I'serna wund swiSe. 
 
 Ut lytel spere, 
 
 gif her inne sy ! 
 
 Syx smiSas ssetan, 
 
 waelspera worhtan ; 
 
 ut spere, nses in spere, 
 
 gif her inne sy 
 
 isenes d^l, 
 
 hsegtessan geweorc, 
 
 hit sceal gemyltan : 
 
 gif Su w£ere on fell sooten, 
 
 oTOe wSere on flsesc sooten, 
 
 o^e wSere on blod sooten, 
 
 oWe wiere on IrS scoten, 
 
 nsefre ne s^ tSin lif atsesed ; 
 
 gif hit w^re esa gescot, 
 
 oSSe hit "wEere ylfa gescot, 
 
 o56e hit w^ere hsegtessan gescot ; 
 
 nu ic wille Sin helpan ! 
 
 Dis Se to bote esa gescotes, 
 
 Sis Se to bote ylfa gescotes, 
 
 8is Se to bote haegtessan gescotes ! 
 
 Ic Sin wille helpan. 
 
 Fled pf on fyrgen ! 
 
 heafde halwes tu ! 
 
 Helpe Sin drihten ! 
 
 Nim Sonne Sset seax, ado on waetan^" 
 
 9. "Her^ is seo hot, hu Su meaht Sine eeceras betan, gif hi neUaS 
 
 wel wexan, oSSe S^er hwilc ungedefe fing ongeddn biS, on dr^ 
 
 oS'Se on liblace. 
 
 ' MS. Harl., No. 585, fol. 186. 
 
 " MS. Cott., Caligula, A. Tii., fol. 171 a ; Cookayne, i. 398. 
 
532 APPENDIX F. 
 
 " Genim iSonne on niht, £er hyt dagige, feower tyrf on feower 
 healfa ■gaea landes, and gemearoa hu hi &r stodon. Nim Sonne 
 ele and hnnig and beorman, and ^Ices feos meolc, 8e on Ssem 
 lande si, and Selces treowcynnes dsel, t5e on ^dem lande si gewexen, 
 butan heardan bedman, and delcre namcuSre wyrte dsel, bufcan 
 glappan ^non : and do ?5onne halig wseter S^ron, and dr5rpe Sonne 
 friwa, on Sone staSol Sara turfa, and oweSe Sonne Sas word : 
 Crescite, wexe, et multipUcamini, and gemsenigfealda, et replete, 
 and gefylle, terre, ^ds eor^an, in nomine patris et Jilii et spiritus 
 sancti, sit henedicti ; and pater noster, swa oft swi Sset oSer ; 
 and bare siSSan Sa turf to cyrcean, and msesse preost asinge feower 
 msessan ofer San turfon, and wende man Sset grene to Sam weo- 
 fode ; and siSSan gebringe man Sa turf S^r hi £er w£eron, £er sun- 
 nan setlgange ; and hsebbe him geworht of cwiobedme feower 
 Cristes m^lo, and ^write on ^Icon ende Mattheus and Mareus, 
 Lucas and Johannes. Lege Sset Cristes mdel on Sone pyt neoSe- 
 weardne ; cweSe Sonne : Crux Mattheus, Crux Mareus, Crux 
 I/ucas, Crux Sc's Johannes. Nim Sonne Sa turf and sette S^r 
 ufon on, and cweSe Sonne nigon siSon Sfe word, Crescite, and swa 
 oft. Pater noster; and wende Se Sonne eastweard, and onlut nigon 
 siSon eadmodlioe, and cweS Sonne Sas word : 
 
 " eastweard ic stande, 
 arena ic me bidde : 
 bidde ic 'Sone mjeran diie, 
 bidde Sone miolan drihten, 
 bidde ic Sone haligan 
 heofonrfces weard : 
 eorSan ic bidde 
 and up heofon, 
 and Sa soSan 
 sancta Marian, 
 and heofones meaht 
 and heah reced, 
 Saet ic mote Sis gealdor, 
 mid gife drihtnes, 
 tdSum ontynan. 
 
HEATHENDOM. 533 
 
 Surh trumne gepanc, 
 
 dweccan Sas wsestmas us 
 
 to woruld nytte, 
 
 gefylle Sas foldan 
 
 mid faeste geleafan, 
 
 wlitigigan Sas wancg turf; 
 
 swa se witega cwieS, 
 
 'Seet se hsefde dre on eo^rice 
 
 se Se eelmyssan 
 
 dselde ddmlice, 
 
 drihtnes );ances. 
 
 " Wende Se Sonne f riwa sunganges, astrecee [Se] Sonne on and- 
 lang, and arim S^r Letanias, and cweS Sonne, Sanctus, sanctus, 
 sanetiis, oS ende. Sing Sonne Benedicite ajjenedon earmon, and 
 Magnificat, and Pater noster iii, and bebeod hit Criste and 
 sancta Marian, and Ssere talgan rode, to lofe and to -weorSinga, 
 and Sdm [to] afe -Se Sset land Age, and eallon Sam Se him under- 
 feodde synt. 
 
 " Donne Sset eall sie gedon, Sonne nime man uncuS ssed set 
 selmesmannum, and selle him twa swyle swylce man set him nime 
 and gegaderie ealle his sulhgetedgo tdgsedere : borige Sonne on 
 Sam beame stor and finol and gehalgode sapan, and gehalgod 
 sealt. Nim Sonne Sset s£ed, sete on Sees sules bodig. CweS Sonne : 
 
 " Erce, Erce, Erce, 
 eorSan mddor, 
 geunne Se se alwealda 
 ece drihten, 
 secera wexendra 
 and wridendra 
 edcniendra 
 and elniendra : 
 soeafta hen 
 se scire wsestma, 
 and SSre bradan 
 here waestma, 
 
534 APPENDIX F. 
 
 and SSere hwitaii 
 
 hw^te waestma, 
 
 and ealra 
 
 eortSan wsestma, 
 
 Geunne him 
 
 ece drihten, 
 
 and his halige 8e 
 
 on heofenum sint, 
 
 'Stet ^is yrS si gefriSod wvS ealra 
 
 feonda gehwJene, 
 
 and heo si geborgen wiS ealra 
 
 bealwa gehwylc, 
 
 Sdra lyblaca 
 
 geond land sawen. 
 
 Nu ic bidde ^one waldend 
 
 86 Se 6as weoruld gesceop, 
 
 Sset ne si nan to 6aes cwidol wif, 
 
 ne to Sees craeftig man, 
 
 iSset awendan ne msege 
 
 worud 8us gecwedene. 
 
 " Donne man Sa sulh for8 drife and Sa forman furh onsdedte, 
 cweS Sonne : 
 
 " Hal -wes Sii, Polde, 
 fira modor ! 
 beo 'Su growende 
 on Godes fseSme, 
 fodre gefylled, 
 firum td nytte ! 
 " Nim Sonne ielces cynnes melo, and dbacae man innewerdne 
 handa br^ne hlaf, and gecned hine mid meolce and mid halig- 
 waetere, and lecge under 8a forman furh. CweSe Sonne : 
 " Ful secer fddres 
 fira cinne 
 beorht blo-wende, 
 Su gebletsod weorS 
 
HEATHENDOM. 635 
 
 SsBS taligan noman 
 
 tSe 8ds heofon gesce6p, 
 
 and "Sia eorSan 
 
 Se we on lifiaS. 
 
 Se god se Sas grundas geworhte, 
 
 geunne us grovende gife, 
 
 SsBt us eorna gehwylc 
 
 cume to nytte. 
 
 " Cwe^S Sonne ];riwa Crescite in nomine Patris sit benedicti. 
 Amen : and Pater noster friwa." 
 
 The greater number of these pieces will be found printed very 
 carefully from the MSS., and translated into English, intheEev. 
 0. Cockayne's LeecMoms. 
 
 END OF THE PIRST VOLUME. 
 
 Printed by Taylor and Francis, Bed Lion Court, Fleet Street