, • "» . CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY ENGLISH COLLECTION ^.^,n°\35^ THE GIFT OF JAMES MORGAN HART PROFESSOR OF ENGUSH llf^Xr/ 1^ Cornell University Library DA 145.C77 Romans of Britain. 3 1924 027 949 209 THE EOMANS OF BRITAIN. C/, /ruAxjiAy Vk. /4U^c/<_ aU/f<^^^^^fzkJxAy-^ HENRY CHARLES COOTE, F.8.A. " ' AXXa itoCkccia. yap ev^si X^piSf a/AVa/xovEr Se ^poroi." Find. Isthm. FEBDEEIC NOEG-ATE, No. 7, KING STREET, COYENT GAEDEN. 1878. ft /\x %^<\l,^^^ LONDON : 0. V. WXWOnTB., PBINTEE, EEEAll'S BUHDmaS, CHAUOEET lAHE. PREFACE. The present work is a recension of my " Neglected Fact in English History." I haye now the means of acknowledging the critique with which Mr. E, A. Freeman some few years siace distinguished this former essay. An elaborate review from a historian so famous, so able and so instruit is an honor which should be publicly recognized, and I will ayail myself of my opportunity to make some observations upon it. In this critique Mr. Freeman showed that he was unable to see that the proofs which I had adduced threw upon him, and such others as hold similar opinions with himself, the obligation either of disproving those evidences, or of admitting the conclusions to which they lead. Mr. Freeman, however, has done neither the one nor the other. He has fallen into the error, not mifrequent in VI PREFACE. the lay mind, of not seeing clearly when the onus prohandi is shifted over to his own side. Mr. Freeman consequently feels no diffi- culty in adhering to his old view that the barbarians made a tabula rasa of Roman Britain, leaving therein neither the E,omans nor their coloni. By this convenient process he is enabled to assume at his ease a homo- geneity of face in England which truth plainly repugns. The difficulties of a theory like this of Mr. Freeman, when it is confronted with the actualities of the case, were enimaerated by me in my preface to the " Neglected Fact," and I wiU venture to repeat my recapitula- tion. The theory is entirely irreconcilable with the leading phenomena displayed in the political, social and legal condition of Eng- land, as it is found during the period of the Anglo-Saxon regime. The phenomena which Anglo-Saxons ex- hibit are these : — They are divided into the two classes of PREFACE. VU the privileged and the unpriyileged, — dis- tinctions which the philosophy of history has demonstrated to contain within them- selves the fact, that a nationality from with- out has mastered another and a native nation- aHty, which survives in a subject condition. This general society of masters and sub- jects is steeped in Roman institutions and observances. No part of its life is free from these im- pressions, which dominate alike the thane and the churl. The master holds his land and the servant occupies and tiUs it in unhesitating sub- mission to rules and conditions which the law of the Empire had inculcated and en- forced. The master condescends to Roman taxation in Order to maintain in their pristine state the bridges and causeways of Rome, and the war- Uke defences of those municipia which the Eternal City had founded in Britain. In the Civil, as in the Territorial law, the Roman element prevails. The Roman Cimtates continue in Kfe and VIU PREFACE. action, and the burgesses still follow and obey tbe lex municipalis. The civilization and art of the country are high in degree and Roman in character. The Imperial coinage virtually survives. Roman words of art and manufacture, of weight and measure, of commerce, of law, of civilized amusement, of common and general nomenclature, spring from the lips of the Anglo-Saxon in the utterances of his daily life. Catholic Christianity is distinctly traceable in the land before the Roman monk has nerved himself to his task of pious ambition. All this and more of Roman stamp and derivation are parcel of the organization of the country. Such are the startling phenomena which are to be found in ante-Norman England, and they sharply distinguish it from un- romanized and primitive Germany. But to unromanized and primitive Ger- many the Anglo-Saxon immigrant unequi- vocally belonged. He had never been subject to Rome. The PREFACE. IX Roman legionary had never traversed his soil. There the Roman plough had never turned its mystic furrow round a future city, to be walled, garrisoned and governed in photographic imitation of Rome. The limitary stone and fence of Rome had never discriminated his fields. The national sanction of a monetary ex- change the Anglo-Saxon knew not by the light of his own usages. In a word, barbarism was his sole inherit- ance and endowment. These negations in the original state and condition of the Anglo-Saxon will not allow us to attribute to him the source and origin of the Roman usages of England. But as these usages are found in actual existence in this country, if they cannot be attributed to the leading section of Anglo-Saxon society, they must be attributed to the other section, which, as I have said, is by the philosophy of history demonstrated to be the native and original nationality. If we reject the last-mentioned postulate, and accept the alleged extermination of the PREFACE. E-omano-Britons, we shall find ourselves re- duced to admit, at the starting-point of our annals, a mere absurdity, riz., that a few generations after the Anglo-Saxon occupa- tion, the Anglo-Saxon race, which we know to haye been at the epoch of that event un- equivocally barbarous, was enabled, by con- tact only of a soil once tenanted by a civilized, artistic and policee race, and without commu- nication with that or any other race equally gifted, to become possessed, through sponta- neous and unconditioned development, not merely of civilization, but of the identical civiHzation of the erased race, — a civilization of so peculiar a nature and so precise a degree that in the natural order of statistics it could not be obtained except by direct deri- vation. As this conclusion must of course be re- jected, the ill-considered theory with which it is connected falls with it, and leaves the field open to the substitution of any other speculation which may be more consonant to evidence and general historical analogy^ The rejection of the old theory, however, need occasion no regret in the mind of an PREFACE, XI Englishman. The theory itself is not only untrue as a fact, hut is also disparaging to the national pedigree. It post-dates the English origines, and dries up the springs of our early history, the merits and interest of which are by this supposition lavished upon a race of strangers. It dis- entitles a large proportion of the Britons of Imperial Rome to the sympathies of the pre- sent race of Englishmen, between whom and the Eternal City it leaves a gap without con- nexion or transition. Provincial Britain be- comes a lost nation, and four centuries of historical associations, with their momentous consequences, are divorced from our annals. If this were a matter of historical necessity we should submit to it. But the necessity does not exist, as the commonly received theory is upon its own merits barren and worthless. It can give no explanation of the appearances either on the surface or in the interior of the Anglo-Saxon political, legal and social structure, which, luider such a view, presents nothing but unintelligible anomalies. Even this, however, is not the whole state XU PREFACE. of the case. In addition to this circumstan- tial evidence, cogent and conclusive as it is in the direction which I have ascribed to it, there is direct proof that the Romans who had colonized Britain survived all the bar- barian conquests of our country, and con- tinued to exist eo nomine as a separate and indefeasible caste and nationality. In the composition of the present book, I have intentionally drawn all my references to the public and private condition of England from the times which preceded the Norman conquest ; and I am happy to say that the records thus cited by me, though time and man have made havoc amongst them, are sufficient, when industry is employed in their examination, to satisfy all purposes of historic truth. CONTENTS. PACtE Inteoduotion . ^ ----- - 1 — 16 Eoman Conquest of Britain ------ 17 Tte Inhabitants of Britain are not destroyed by, or de-: ported after, tbe Conquest - 18—21, 128—132, 194—206 The Britons of the Eastern and Mediterranean parts are Teutons in strain ------- 21 — 28 Their Language is Teutonic, affected by Eonaan inter- course --------- 28 — il After the Eoman Conquest the whole of Britain is cen- turiated or allotted in severalty to Eoman and Italian Colonists. — ^Evidences of this Centuriation as extant in this Country and recorded ----- 42 — 121 Political and Social Organization of Britain under the Empire - - -'- - - - - 132, 133 The Political Independence of Britain in the fifth Century by the invitation or permission of the Emperors. — The circumstances under ■which a Provisional Self- Govemment is undertaken by the Eomans of Britain. — The Nature and Limits of this Self-Grovemment - 133 — 153 Self-governed Britain is pressed hard by the Picts and Scots, and under this pressure the Eoman Cities take Anglo-Saxons into their Military Service. — These Barbarians are organized into Oohortes peregrinorum- 153 — 157 These Cohorts and their Leaders afterward revolt, and conquer thelsland, with some exceptions. — Numerous Kingdoms are formed, within which the Eomans of Britain and their Goloni are comprehended as a sub-' ject population ------- 157 — 174 XIV CONTENTS. FAOE The Eomans and tieir Cokmi are not destroyed ' - - 175 — 193 Tie Laeti equally remain — - - - - - - 193, 194 The Barbarians become the paramount governing and legislative Class of Britain ----- 206 — 223 Their Leaders become Kings ------ 223 — 228 The Barbarians introduce their awn Law into Britain for their own exclusive use, and set up a Judicatory for its administration ------- 230 The Status quo ante is substantially secured to the Eomans.— They are allowed to retaia their Cities, their Law and its Procedure, their Eehgion, their private Colleges, and their Listitutions generally - 236 — 424 Other Survivals of Eoman Origin are found in later Ages 424 — 439 The Eomans continue to pay the Tributum (or Land Tax), and to discharge aU Bnperial Onera, as before. — The Triimtvm is paid to the Barbarian Kings for the Maintenance of their Standing Army, &c. - - 236 — 259 The Eomans have a separate Judicature and Judges 293, 449 — 456 The Eomans retain their own Police and their own Police Districts as before ------ 333^ 334 The Ooloni retain their old Position - - - - 277, 278 The Eomans take no part in the Insular Warfare until after the Inroads of the Danes. — ^The Eight of bear- ing Arms is restored to the Eomans, and they thence- forth serve as Soldiers in the Fyrd of the Ealdormen 254 — 256 The Land Tax upon the Estates of the Eomans in the Shires is remitted, but is retained upon their Houses in the Cities -------- 257 The Laws of the two Nationalities, Barbarian and Eoman, are amalgamated. — Their Judicatures are united, the Eoman Judge being abolished - - . _ 449 457 The Barbarians are converted by 8. Augustine - - 421 The Old Catholic Church of Britain is merged into the Augustinian -----_-. 4^5 ^23 CONTENTS. XV PAOE Fate of the Latin Language ------ 461 The Anglo-Saxon Aristocracy, always small in numbers, is nearly annihilated by the Battle of Assandun fought by them against Onut, and with the Norman Con- quest comes their complete dicheance. — The Eoman Caste (or Burgesses) is rehabilitated - - - 466 — 479 Index --------- 481 Erkatum. For ".^Iscesdunj" at p. 10 of the Introduction, read " Assandun." INTEODUCTION. An honest study of our national antiquities has convinced me that, upon the subject of Britain, both Roman and post-Roman, there prevail notions V^ which are entirely opposed as well to truth as to its plainest evidences. The notions to which I refer embody the fol- lowing^ beliefs: — 1. That the populations of the eastern and middle parts of Britain were Keltic when this island was added to the dominion of the empire. 2. That the Roman conquest enured only to a military and governmental occupation of the country, the British population being free to re- tain its own customs, and entirely unaffected by the constitutional forms, the public and private law, and the social habits of Rome. 3. That all persons of Roman extraction — sol- dier, civilian, governor and official — quitted this INTRODUCTION. country at an early epoch in the 5th century, leaving the native Britons to their own exclusive care and guidance. 4. That these Britons, having acquired nothing useful or manly under their former masters, were entirely destroyed or exterminated by the bands of pirates which, in the 5th and 6th centuries, came hither from the North Sea and the Baltic. 5. That all forms of government, all laws and customs, all arts and civilization, traceable in this country subsequently to these invasions, were the direct importation of the invaders, or .were de- veloped out of such importation. 6. That the whole English population — ^high, low, and intermediate — is, except so far as the Norman conquest may have added a French element, homogeneously Anglo-Saxon or Danish. These notions, rash and unfounded as they can be shown to be, have been so long and so repeatedly propounded, that they have obtained from the English mind an unqualified credence. The original evidences, however, which are connected with the subject have led me to form conclusions entirely opposed to one and all of these startling assertions. My conclusions, formed, as I have said, upon a - study of the original evidences, are these :— 1. That the populations of the eastern and INTRODUCTION. 6 middle parts of Britain were Teutonic at the epoch of the imperial conquests. 2. That the whole of this country was colonized by Romans, as well as governed by the imperial authorities. 3. That in view of that colonization this country had received a Roman face and form, its area, which had been centuriated under the rules of the agrimensura, having been allotted in severalty to Roman colonists. 4. That the municipalities of Rome were uni- versally disseminated in this land, the normal territoria being assigned to all those which had received the rank of civitates. 5. That each territorium was divided into cen- tenae and decaniae, for the purposes of police and preliminary critnirial procedure. 6. That the laws and institutions of the empire replaced all the customs and tribule usages which prevailed before the conquest. 7. That the native populations were allotted to the Roman possessores (or landowners) as coloni and prsedial slaves, the two classes which comprehended the farmers and the labourers of antiquity. 8. That the barbarian conquests did not destroy or exterminate any one class of the inhabitants of Roman Britain, not even the Laeti. b2 4 INTRODUCTION. 9. That the descendants of the Roman colonists were left in possession of their lands, their cities, their religion, and their laws. 10. That the coloni and prsedial slaves, the old Belgic or Grermano-British population, remained as farmers and labourers under their new and their old masters. 11. That, in consequence of the barbarian invasions, there were intruded into Britain a ruder human element and a few savage usages peculiar to that element. 12. That for the imperial allegiance was sub- stituted a barbarian king, upheld by a barbarian army, and assisted or controlled by a council formed of the chiefs of that army. 13. That, side by side with the added human element, its savage customs, and the barbarian king and his council, the public and private law, the usages and the civilization of the lost empire, sheltered in the ark of the cities, preserved their vital and active forces. 14. That after the lapse of a few centuries, the Anglo-Saxon aristocracy, always small in number and debased in habits, was nearly, if not quite, annihilated by the unceasing antagonism of the Danes. 15. That the Danish aristocracy, which replaced the Anglo-Saxon, sank in its turn before one blow of the chivalrous Norman. INTRODUCTION. 16. That by the Norman, or rather Gallo- Roman, conquest, the Roman element in England was relieved from its former depression, and, being recalled into political power and social influence, became in a few generations the creator, under providence, of the mediaeval and modern great- ness of England. The Roman element, thus rehabilitated through the great day of Hastings, had all along done its part in preserving and transmitting the deposit of civilization, which it had received at the hands of the empire. What that deposit was it will not be difficult to formulate in its requisite precision. When the barbarians burst over the empire, its general civi- lization was perfect, however certain of the finer arts might have retrograded in aesthetic force or beauty. While the broad conservative polity of the imperial government was in the fullest vigom-, the germ of a free representation of the provinces had emerged into infant life, in the legationes of the cities. The military art was still so well understood, that great generals like Aetius could be created under the influence of its teachings and practice. The glorious language of Rome, a speech for statesmen, and jurists, for moralists and poets, was INTKODUCTION. SO unimpaired in force and elegance, that a poet of Alexandria, who could compare in ids satires with Juvenal, and in his poematia with Martial, had scarcely ceased to write; and the language which, in the mouth of the Romano-Egyptian Claudian, could rival what Rome had produced ia her best age, was the common speech of the world from the torrid shores of the Euphrates touninvitiag Alclyde, in the bleak region of modem Scotland. The conununication, which this common speech implied and afforded, was intensified by those matchless lines of road, which, spreading through aU parts of the empire, were then perfect in their fabric, and uninterrupted in their course. In short, the dream of the philosopher, and the aspiration of the Christian, were fully realized within the wide circumscription of the empire. Everywhere peace reigned and brotherhood pre- vailed ; the one a boon of the State, the other a grace of the universal Church. Such was the situation — ^when, to the supremacy of law, to general fellowship and pervading com- mimion, suceeded an arrest of personal intercourse, and the separation of cognate states — both se- quences of the barbarian invasions hitherto baffled or kept at bay on the frontiers of the empire. Even this was not all. For the laws and social principles of the empire the barbarians proffered INTEOBUCTION. freely the economy and etliics of their own society, personal vassalage and private war, the latter to be redeemed only by a personal tarifE as ludicrously precise as it was indecently particular. These things expressed to Groth and Teuton the ne plus ultra of social science. To meet, to stay, and to repair the mischiefs caused by the working of these brutish rules, the Roman strained liis nerve in England, as his brethren had done elsewhere, and the result was the same here as on the Continent. The reign of law, which had been the creation of Rome, and her gift to the provinces, is distinctly visible in Britain, even after" the Anglo-Saxon conquests. Not even the Danish razzias could extinguish it. The Roman saved the polity, and the laws of his caste. He saved also much of the arts and civiliza- tion of the empire. He did more — ^he never forgot the great race to which he owed his being ; and when the moment of relief came with the advent of the Normans he threw away the Anglo-Saxon mask, rejecting as impure and ignoble all associa- ff-- tions of Teutonic history and folklore, and replac- ing, by Norman appellations, the familiar proper names which he had taken from his conquerors.^ ^ One example, that of a burgess of London, will STiffice. In the archives of that city is preserved a charter, which is textually as follows : — " Wittm Kyng gret Wittm fe and Swegen soyrgerefan and ealle mine thegnas on East Seaxan frendlice. And ic kythe eow thset io habbe geiumen Deormanne minnm men tha hide landes set Gyddesdune the bim of geryden wses. And ic nelle getholian Frenciscan ne Engliscan theet ■'^' INTRODUCTION. The contempt with which he repelled every reminiscence of the Anglo-Saxons, is, however, paralleled by what occurred in other Latin coun- tries. Graul, Spain and Italy have not saved one tradition of their barbarian masters. him set senigan thingau misbeode;" i.Ci "I William the King greet William the Bishop, and Swegen. the Sherifi, and all my thanes in Essex, as a friend. And I make known unto you that I have granted to Doorman my man the hide of land at Gyddesdun that he was deforced of. And I wiU not sufier any Frenchman or Englishman to injure him on any pretext." The charter is thus a confirmation to Deorman of a moderate estate, already his property, named Gryddesdun (mentioned in Domesday as being within the Hundred of Ceffeord, now Chaff ord, in Essex). The place of deposit of the charter, viz. London, would show that that city was the doraioile of Deorman. Taking this inference to he correct, our information respecting Deorman does not stop here. In the Domes- day survey of Middlesex I find the following entry : — " Terra Deobmanni Lundoni^, Osulfstane hundred. "Deormannus tenet de rege in Iseldune dimidiam hidam tense et dimidiam carruoatam. Ibi est unus villanus. Hseo terra valet et valuit X solidos. Hanc terram tenuit Algar homo Begis E. et vendere et dare potuit." These twoDeormans can only he one: Deorman, a king's- man, who, as depositing with the authorities of London the king's confirmation of his land in Essex, should he inferred to be a Londoner, and must be the same as Deorman of London, who, as we have just seen, holds in chief half a hide and more in the neighbouring vill of Islington. The descendants of this Deorman the Englishman, however, did not care to parade themselves under their father's description. The chartulary of the nuns of ClerkenweU, preserved in the British Museum, and from which Mr. Tomlins, in his History of Islington, has made copious and interesting extracts, enables us to pursue the history of this family. By these extracts I find that Deorman had two sons, of whom the one, Algar, became a Prebendary of St. Paul's, London, while the other, named Thierry (Theodoricm), succeeded to his father's estates. This Thierry has a son, Bertram, who, not content with his Norman name, takes a surname also after the Norman fashion. He is Bertram of Barrowe— the manor of Highbury. The same chartulary also shows that the family never returned to English names. The descendant of Deorman, with whom the fanuly terminated in the reign of Henry the Third, was named Alice. INTKODUCTION. Similarly the Romans of England hastened to forget a race of English kings, who, with few ex- ceptions, had been either savage or imbecile — who commemorated the divisions of the island, and recalled the horrors of the Danish raids. One king only was excepted from this general oblivion. The mild and prosperous reign of the Confessor, which had again brought this country into direct com- munication with the world, remained long in men's minds, — perhaps only because he was the last of his line. Even the good and wise Alfred — ^better and wiser by the contrast of his prede- cessors and successors — could not escape the general sentence, and was no more remembered than Ceadwealla or Ine. The monks, too, had not a word to spare for the christianizer of the Jutes, except in their dry chronicles, read only by themselves. Other circumstances also illustrate my assertion. Before the conquest by the Norman there was in England a literature consecrated to Anglo-Saxon myths. The poems about Beowulf, Hengest and the battle of Finnesburh, the fragment of the Niebelungen cyclus, published by Mr. Stephens (if it be genuine), the tale of Weland and Mseth- hild, still exist to attest this fact; and Florence of Worcester asserts it in general terms.^ This literature endured up to the decMance of Anglo- ^ Saxonlea carmma. 10 IXTRODUCTION. Saxon rule, and tlien, with no twilight or interval, it disappeared below the horizon, leaving to pos- terity the task of solving the problem w'hy, having lasted so long, it should vanish so suddenly and so irrevocably. But the very disappearance, ungraduated as it was, of all this corpus of folklore out of a society which must have cherished it, itself supplies the explanation which is sought. These songs and myths were not the amusement of the whole nation — ^not of the burgess and the churchman — ^but of the king's thegns and those other nobles who vaunted a Jutic, an Anglic, and a Saxon descent. They, and they only, delighted in these narratives, and maintaiaed the fashion of them which they had themselves set. But such of these men as survived the prior destruction of ^8ce§dun, were all involved in the erasion of their race which ensued upon the eventful day of Hastings. The burgess, in whom these ballads evoked no echo of feeling, gladly turned to the more congenial traditions which the Cambrian had preserved and inflamed — traditions which exalted the enemies of the Anglo-Saxon, and rejoiced in his repulses by the Eomano-Briton Artorius. The literature of this cyclus took its rise in England, and was com- posed for the delectation of the Lloegrians, who, though they alone of the provincials of Britain had succiunbed to the Anglo-Saxon, could sym- INTRODUCTION. 11 pathize in the victories wHcli others more favoured by Providence had obtained over the common enemy. And this hero of Wales, simply a Roman landowner — not so great a personage as Coroticus who expelled the Graidhill and defied S. Patrick when he took their part — once in the hands of his English eulogists, was, through their un- bounded zeal, clothed with the real history of Constantine the usurper, who had conquered Graul and Spain and threatened Rome herself.^ Thus England is and has been as much a Latin country as Spain or Graul, though, unlike them, she has disguised her pedigree by her adopted Teutonic idiom. The best portion of her popula- tion retains both in mind and body the character- istics proper to this great origin. The physical identity of gentle and middle class Englishmen, with the same sections of society in Italy, is plain to those who really know that country. Equally have the moral peculiarities by which the old Roman was distinguished been prominent in the Englishman. Above all, that love of regulated ' The Artlrarian idea to -vrhioli I allude is entirely distinct from the foreign matters with which, on its revival in the Middle Ages, it was so gracefully clothed. So marvellously did it possess itself of the public mind, that the romancers, to ensure a more favourable reception of their fictions, referred to this cyclus old pre-existing stories of personages entirely unconnected with it [e. g.. Merlin, Peredur or Perceval le G-aJlois, Tristram, church legends like the Saint Grraal, with Joseph of Arimathea and S. Veronica, &c.), and they finally fitted on to it the new tales of Lancelot, Giron le Courtois, and others, which they had themselves invented. 12 INTKODUCTION. individual freedom — a native quality of the Roman municeps — ^has been signally eminent in him. This trait has, however, at no time been con- spicuous in the Teuton, who, in. his ancient comitatus, ceded all liberty into the hands of the lord who led him ; and it is notorious that in modern days he has equally submitted all things to the mihtary idea and its embodiment. While personal liberty has been thus ever largely dis- counted by him, political liberty, so fanatically cherished by Englishmen, and which saw its dawn ia the Latin countries, is but a mere matter of yesterday in Grermany. Notwithstanding these facts, the prevailing merits of Englishmen are, according to some persons, to be attributed to the insular Anglo- Saxon. But all that is known of him, and much is known, demonstrates the complete degradation of his race. His com'age in his early stage was his only title to respect, and this was not in him either a peculiar or an exclusive merit. Bar- barians in the social state of the original Anglo- Saxons are always brave. Courage, therefore, could easily be their attribute at the period of their incursions into this country. It is pre- sumable, also, from the necessity of its exertion, that it continued at least so long as the provincials of Britain were unreconciled to the new dominion, and so long subsequently, also, as the _ conquerors INTRODUCTION. 13 held divided rule over them. But when the native and the conqueror were amalgamated, and all the petty kingdoms were unified under the West Saxon monarchy, the old courage of Jute, Angle and Saxon had so materially deteriorated that they succumbed in a panic to the ruthless energy of the Danes — exact counterparts of themselves in their primitive condition. This disposes of the Anglo-Saxon's claim to valour. What the general character of this ruling caste was we may infer from what we know of the kings, who, being popular and elective, would by nature or design reflect faithfully the vices of their electors. These kings lived in a state of brutal isolation. They were wholly without ^^y' letters. They were surrounded by companions of the old stamp recorded by Tacitus. Energetic pastimes succeeded with unfailing regularity to crapulous indulgence, and, when these cloyed, a creagh into the shire of a neighbouring regulus supplied the necessary excitement and kept alive the cherished memories of old Grermany. This was their life during the period when Worcester- shire was a kingdom. Such a fool's paradise as this could only last a given time. Christianity first, and then the Danes, effectually disposed of the dreams which made it, and acquainted the dreamers with duties and perils to which most of them were to be found unequal. 14 INTRODUCTION. TMs is a truthful summary of that vice and incapacity which invited and secured the nemesis of the Anglo-Saxon race in Britain. But, in spite of all this, and in contradiction to history, reason, and truth, the excessive Teutonism of the late Mr. Kemble could induce him to write so strange a parody of facts as the following in- flated jeremiade exhibits : — "Nearly all European civilization went forth from our shores when the degraded remnants of Roman cultivation survived only to bear witness in their ruin to the crimes of the respective nations, and the punishment which the crimes of nations never yet have failed to bring down upon them. How evidently the finger of Grod showed itself in the irruption of the barbarians may best be learnt from the records of Procopius, Salvianus and other contemporary (?) writers. In reading the accounts given by these hostile wit- nesses, we cannot escape from the conviction that the appointed work of the Teutons was to reinfuse life and vigour, and the sanctity of a lofty morality, into institutions perishing through their own cor- ruption. And the Anglo-Saxons were not the least active in fulfilling their part of this great duty."^ The best answer to a passage like this will be to contrast with it the less exalted conclusions of ^ Introduction to Vol. 1, Cod. Dip. pp. iii., iv. INTRODUCTION. 15 another Teutonist equally zealous as Mr. Kemble, but straying from liini Mo caelo et tota via in his estimate of the good consequences resulting to Europe from the barbarian conquests. In treating the same subject the philologue Massmann remarks as follows :— "Upon the ruins of the Roman colossus they («'. e. the Teutons) had hoped to awaken a new life, to found new states, to underprop the old rotten edifice — a great mistake, Romans and Germans have never entered into genuine affinity." ^ Massmann thus saw a plain truth, which Mr. Kemble failed or was unwilling to perceive, — the total incapacity of the barbarian for anything but i destruction. But though his capacity for destruc- tion was enormous, and was freely exercised, it was baffled by the conservative energy of the Roman element — that element which, while it had created or assimilated from others all that was good and great in them, was equally powerful to retain and cherish what it had thus made its own. This Roman element, to which the greatness of England is referable, has not yet had its historian. I am bold enough to attempt such a history in the following pages. In these it will be my aim to show the original plantation here of that element, ' Preface to Ulphilas, p. xKii. 'hi, 4 A I i 16 INTRODUCTION. and its conservation throughout the disasters of the barbarian era, omtil its relief at the hands of the great dynast who wrested the sceptre of England from the last Anglo-Saxon ruler. In other words, I wiU demonstrate the persistence of the Romans here, in every age of post-Roman Britain. If this task be convincingly executed, I will ask the reader, in the words of the great exile of Vergil, "Italia mecum laetere reperta." THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. I SHALL attempt in the following pages, first, to detail the effects produced upon this country by the Roman conquest ; secondly, to consider whether such effects en- diired beyond the period of that imperial rule which had elaborated and maintaiaed them. The effect of this conquest upon the population of the country is the first to be considered. Csesar, at the outset of his invasion, in speaking of the eastern coast and the mediterranean parts of South Britain, says of their inhabitants that they were " hominum infinita multitiido;"^ and he, we know, had no opportunity of lessening their numbers. This infinite multitude, there- fore, suffered no detriment at his hands. The same people remained statistically unaffected by Eoman power until the reign of Claudius, when Vespasian, as the general of that emperor, received the submission of the south-eastern parts of Britain without very much blood having been shed on either side.^ 1 De Bello GaUioo, Kb. 6, c. 12. ^ The facility of Claudius's conquest has most probably been ex- aggerated. An insoription (1 ZeH, p. 191, n. 1604) does not support the common view. A centurion named L. Gavins SUvanus is therein described as "donis donate a Divo Claudio bello Britannico torquibus, armillis, phaleris, corona aurea." Under conditions such as are here signified there must have been some hard fighting. The corona aiirea does more than suggest this. Such a crown, mtiralis or castreiisis {vallaris)^ vras given to the soldier who had first scaled the walls of an enemy's city or the vallum of his camp (A. GeUius, 5, 6). The event which glorified C. C 18 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. Claudius had no desire materially to diminisli the numbers of the vanquished. His intention was not to destroy, Vt to see the Britains togati,^ and we may believe that part, at least, of his intention was fulfilled. For a generation afterwards there were uprisings ia the eastern parts of Britain, which eviace a numerous popu- lation, but there is no assertion that this insurgent native population was extirpated by the Eomans during the necessary process of its pacation. On the contrary, we find that the general native population was conciliated and managed, king Cogidubnus of Eegni being made legate of the one province of Britain, and continuiag so for thirty years.^ By the time of the emperor Vespasian (a.d. 69) even the Brigantes were pacified; and for the remaining periods Eome only had occasion to war — first in the west, and afterwards in the north. In all these events there is nothing to show extirpation, Silyauus is referred to by Suetonius (Claudii Vita, p. 138, Koth's edition). "Edidit et in Martio campo depugnationem direptionemque oppidi ad imaginem beUicam, et deditionem Britanniae regum." I should mention here that it was thought by my learned friend the late W. H. Black, Esq[., F.S.A., that there had been a previous conquest of some small part of Britain by the forces of the Emperor Augustus. It is certain that that emperor fitted out an expedition against our island, but the veight of evidence is against its having been successful. The subject, however, of this conquest, whether accomplished or intended only, is treated by Mr. Black in a way and with resources which will profoundly interest every scholar and student of history. (See Archselogia, vol. 44, N. S. , p. 6fl et aeq., and p. 81 et seq.) 1 Seneca's Lud. de M. CI. Cses. c. 3. ^ Tacit, de Vita Agricolae, c. 14: " Quaedam civitates Cogiduno regi donatae, is ad nostram usque memoriam fidisslmus mansit." This native king was invested with the citizenship of Rome by the free gift of the emperor, and on this occasion he received, according to custom as on adoption, the two first names of his patron (2 Zell, p. 101), retaining his own old British appellation for the cognomen. His tria namina as a Roman citizen were thenceforwards Tiberius Claudius Cogidubnus. (Hubner's Latin Inscriptions of Britain, insc. 11, p. 18.) THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 19 but much to show that the old population was actually preserved ; and writing a.d. 97, Tacitus tells us expressly that they were so preserved. "Plus tameri* feroci^ Britanni prseferunt, ut quos nondum longa pax emol- lierit: nam Gallos quoque in beUis floruisse aceepimus: mox segnitia cum otio intravit, amissa virtute pariter ac Hbertate: Quod Britannorum olim victis evenit, cseteri manent quales GraUi fuerunt."i Afterwards he says, "Ipsi Britanni deleotum, ac tributa, et injuncta imperii munera impigre obeunt." The Britanni olim victi of Tacitus, who are thus referred to as still extant, occupied those parts of Britain which afterwards fell into the hands of the Anglo-Saxons. Ptolemy (a.d. 120) describes Britain by its nations as well as its towns. The nations were therefore existing, and we find, besides other tribes, our native Brigantes, Parisii, Coritani, Oatieuchlani, Trinobantes, Atrebatii, Kantii, Regni, Belgae. Herodian speaks of the southern Britons existing as a subject nation ia the time of Severus, a.d. 197 : — his words are, " b rZ Cm ''Puyi.a.ius eSvei.''^ Marcianus the Heracleote (a.d. 250) says of Britain that " she contains thirty-three nations" (exf' Se b avrri Eumenius (a.d. 297), comparing the state of Britain ia Caesar's days with its state in his own days, hints nothing of there having been a change of race in the general body of the natives : — ^rather his words imply the contrary. He says : — "Adhoc natio etiam tunc rudis . . . adhuc seminudi," &c.* ' Agricola, c. 11. - Lib. 3, c. 14. ' Lib. 1, p. 57, Greog. Mia., ed. Huds. * Pan. Const. Cses. c2 20 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. He afterwards speaks of Britanni (southern and eastern) as welcoming tlie Emperor in a way tliat can only apply to natives. Elsewhere lie calls tlie Britons ";8ocm." He says, " Quid de providentia, qua sociis sibi junctis se ejusmodi judicem dedit, ut servitutem passes juvaret recepta lihertas, culpae conscios ad pcenitentiam revocaret impunitas." ^ Again, that the "British nationality, in its wide sense, existed, is proved by the fact, that the Eoman armies were recruited from it, and that a large foreign army was stationed in Britain to keep the nationals of all parts in order. The transmission of native local names adopted and ratified by the Eomans into Anglo-Saxon times is another evidence of the perpetuation of the nationality, and this transmission has occurred very noticeably. These are names of cities, not of tribes, as in Graul. ' This may appear a difficulty to some. But if it is a difficulty it is one which we share in common with Spain. There are found Tarraco, Malaca,&c., all old names of cities, but not the faintest trace of a tribule designation, and yet we know that the Spanish populations, Keltic and Iberian, subsisted unimpaired. But iu truth the Romans never destroyed a native population. Those smaller peoples which showed themselves exceptionally recalcitrant to the beneficial severity which characterized the rule of those conquerors, were occasionally deported, but such instances are very rare. And the testimony of Ta<5itus proves that the Britons were, on the contrary, precisely of that material which his nation loved to preserve and improve. The Britons had that industry which, while it supplied materials for taxation, made it easy of sufferance. That they were fit stuff for the army the same great historian has also ' Pan. Const. Aug. THE ROMANS OF BKITAIN. 21 assured us. Such a population, therefore, would neither be destroyed nor deported. Again, the Eoman preserved the harbarians from dying through each other's hands. The Eoman was emphatically a peacemaker to the ever-warring, self-destroying bar- barians. Without the providential interference of Eome the savage tribes of Europe would have in time annihilated each other.i As, therefore, we neither know nor can conceive any extermination of the Belgse of Britain during their con- quest by the Eomans or after their subjugation, we have only to consider what influences affecting this nationality could have been brought to bear upon it during the period extending from a.d. 50 to a.d. 450. I think that no in- fluences could have been brought to bear upon the Belgse other than those which affected the Gauls and the Kymry ; and these nationalities, whatever were the influences in operation upon them, were left unaffected either in temper- ament or language. Next in order follows the question what was this British nationality — ^was it Keltic or Teutonic in strain ? In re- spect of the Britons whom we are now considering Caesar asserts two facts : firstly, that the Britons of the sea coast had come from Belgium;'^ secondly, that most {plerique) of the Belgse in Graul were descended from Oermans, who 1 It oonfirms my conviction of this truth to find a learned Greek, M. Pittacis, one of a nation -which might seem to have lost most through the Roman dominion, writuig thus upon the expression "atmf xIscia,om," , so often found in Greece on the hases of imperial statues. "After all there was truth in this adulation, for the Romans saved the world from the savagery of Phamaces and Philip, from the civil wars of Attains, Eumenes and Antiochus, from the thievish rapines of the Aetolians and other wild heasts in hxraian shape, and from the immense multitude of rohbers by sea and land then infesting the world." (K«l toi xo\aixt\irixu!, iixaws /A o\oi toDto, &c., in the Ephemeris Archaiologice, Athens, p. 420.) 2 Cffis. de B. G. lib. 5, c. 12. 22 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. at a remote epoch had crossed the Rhine and settled in Gaul.i From this evidence of Caesar it is clear that the Belgse of Britain are in precisely the same predicament as the Belgse of Granl — ^the majority is Grermanic.^ For it would be an ahsurdity to suppose that of the Grallic Belgae the Keltic minority ^nly emigrated to Britain, and that the Grermanic majority had no share in this prehistoric emi- gration. And we have the eyidence of Tacitus, an author eminently weU informed respecting Britain through his father-in-law Agricola, that the Belgse of Britain re- sembled the Belgse of Graul — " proximi Gallis et similes sunt . . . sermo hand multum diversus."^ > There was, therefore, no difference between the insular and the conti- nental Belgse — ^they were the same people, i. e., they were Grermans and spoke the same language as that great race. There is no excuse, therefore, for the imaccountable but prevailing mistake of confounding Belgse with Kelts.* 1 Cses. de B. G. lib. 2, o. 4. ^ The description of Bonduea giyen by Dio Cassius (in Ziphilin's Epitome, Ldi) expresses the German not the Keltic type. This celebrated virago "was tall, truculent in her general appearance, and very harsh of voice. The latter characteristic could never apply to the Kelt, unless pro- nunciation has very much changed between then and now. Her hair, which was very long ("oSo-av /*£%/)( twv 7^oyTwy," says the outspoken Greek), was extremely yellow. This, Tacitus has assured us, was a characteristic of the Gennans, and distinguished them from the Kelts. (De M. G. c. 4, and De Vita Agric. c. II, " rutUae comae.") ' De Vit. Agric. o. 11. * Strab. Geograph. lib. 4, c. 1. He says plainly and simply, "The Gauls are divided into- three nations, caUed Aquitani, Belgse and Keltse: the Aquitani being distinct, not merely iu language, but in bodily ap- pearance, and -more resembling the Iberians than the Gauls. The rest have a Gaulish look, but do not all speak the same language ; some, however, only differing a little in their languages." Oi fA,h S»i, rjiiy^f Sjpfoiiy, 'Axvhayovs, xxi BiXfa! xxXovylts xa) KeXT«f. Toifs fA,h Axv'irctyovs, TiXewr IfyiXXofy/xevouf, oil TTTyXwrTT) /xoyoVy «XXa xa] rots (ri/i,cunt, lfii,((iip£i!' ISyipmv ju,a%.\ov, fi FaXaTaif. Xoiis Si Xoixovs r«X«TiKw /cisv THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 23 What, however, has principally influenced writers to helieve that the Beiges of Britain were Kelts has been a misapprehension of another fact. They have found Belgse inhabiting countries or localities which exhibit traces of Keltic nomenclature, and this nomenclature they have gratuitously assumed to be Belgic. This fact, how- ever, is perfectly explicable upon wholly different grounds. The Belgas were later inhabitants of this coimtry than the Kelts, who were the original settlers ; they had expelled those previous natives from their seats, and had driven them westward ; ^ they had adopted the Keltic names which had been impressed on the land, and with which they had become well acquainted in the tedious process of ■ their conquest. - In the same manner we find our North American brethren inhabiting within the cinctures of ter- ritories stni called by the uncouth names of their lied Indian predecessors, but for all that totally unaffected by any influence of these departed tribes. That the iusular Belgee, with whom we are concerned, were distinct and different from the Kelts of the same island, and spoke a language which the Kelts did not speak, can also be shown by evidence derived from Keltic sources of unimpeachable credit. T*!!* o>}/jVj ofAoyT^iiiTTOvs S ov wavT«f, aXX iviovs fAtxfiov -TraDotXXaTTOVTiXf raTs tyXbirrats. There is nothing in these remarks of Straho to contradict or disprove the assertion of Caesar that the Belgse were not Kelts, and vre must carefully hear in mind that the dictator, as having to deal practically with the languages of Gaul, is a better and more certain witness in what he asserts affirmatively than even Strabo. The concluding observation of the latter has reference merely to the border tribes of Belgse and Kelts, whose languages in his time (more than 20 years after Csesar) had began to approximate more than before, through the effects of communi- cation and mental contact which result from peace and a common subjection. ' Cassar de B. G. Hb. 5, c. 12. 24 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. This evidence, ia itself a pregnant revelation, will precede what I shall afterwards adduce when I identify more precisely the language which the British Belgse actually spoke. At a period long after the iacoming of the Anglo-Saxon, the Kymry divided the southern part of Britain into two nationalities, — ^thefLloegrians and their own. The Lloe- grians occupied the eastern coast and the interior. They were, in fact, our Belgse. These two nationalities were distinct and hostile. They had arrived in Britain at different pre-historic epochs, and at the period of history their old inimical antipathy was maintained, and aggravated by the circumstance that each spoke a different language. For the truth of this asser- tion, we have the direct evidence of Welsh tradition contained in the Triads. The latter, alone, it is true, will not satisfy the mind of the impartial student, but there is, fortunately, evidence (and of a high character) that sustains these simple assertions. I mean the testimony of Kymric bards, who are not only authentic but contempo- raneous \rith some of the Anglo-Saxon advents, and they also support the ethnological tradition before mentioned, by the strong aid of indirect testimony. Nennius, who should, at least, be an authority upon these points, gives the following names of bards who (in the 6th century) "in poemate Britannioo claruerunt" — Talhaiam, Aneurin, Taliesin, Llywaroh Hen, and Oian.^ As the expression of these specific names must be taken to be an exclusion of all others from the category, we are entitled to take these bards to be the exponents of British poetry in that age. Of these five British bards we have ' Turner's Vindioation of the G-enuineness of the Ancient British Poems of Aneurin, &o., pp. 116, 117, 118. THE EOMANS OF BRITAIN. 25 remains of three only, viz. Aneurin, Taliesin, and Llywaroh Hen. Now the evidence of these bards indicates clearly the mutual hostile antipathy of these two sections of the Britons. Lloegrians join the Anglo-Saxons ia attack- ing Q-loucester, Cirencester and Bath — aU cities situate amongst Keltic populations.^ They ]'oia the Angles in attacks upon Cumberland — a Keltic country.^ Lloegrians, specified also as Bemicians and Deirians, in company with the Angles, attack Stratclyde, — another Keltic kingdom.^ This general union of Lloegrians with the Glerman in- truders agaiast the, Kelts, carries with it the presumption that the Lloegrian and the Kelt were not close congeners. In regard to my Second assertion, viz. that there was a marked and radical difference between the languages of the Lloegrians and the Kymry, we have ia Llywarch Hen's poem upon Kendelan, the chief of Powis, irresistible evidence of its exactness. The chief defends Trenn with men of "the common language" agaiast the Lloegrians, who, being thus contrasted, could not have participated in that common language of the followers of the priace of Powis. Moreover, a perusal of the remaias of Kymric poetry gives us the following general facts, which it is the more ■ "We know from the Anglo-Saxon Chroniole that the Saxon chieftains, Cuthwin and Ceawlin, in the year of onr Lord 577 took these three cities ; and -we learn from Llywarch Hen in his elegy upon the death of Kendelan (the Candidan of the Chronicler), that the Lloegrians sided •with the Saxons in these aggressions (VUlemarque's Poemes des Bardes Bretons, pp. 76, 82, 88). ' Llywaroh Hen's poem upon the death of his sou (Villemarqufi, pp. 150, 156), and TaKesiu's song to Urien (Hid. pp. 424, 426, 428), and elegy upon the death of Owen {ibid. p. 442) . The river mentioned in the first of these poems is the well known Lune. ' The Qododin (Villemarque, pp. 254, 260, 266, 276, 284, 308, 324, 330, 354). 26 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. important to know because they have heen constantly con- cealed or misrepresented by imcandid Kelticists, viz.,^ 1, the bards who were contemporaneous with the advents of the Anglo-Saxons only recorded the invasions of those parts of Britain which were then, and continued for centuries afterwards, to be Keltic, some of them being so stUl: 2, these bards celebrate those wars and battles only which occurred between Kymry and Anglo-Saxons : 3, in these battles and wars the Anglo-Saxons were assisted by the Uoegrians against the Kymry.^ Lastly, if we examine into the genealogy and country of aU those bards whom Nennius mentions, we shall find that they are British only in the restricted sense of being Kymry. None of these are men of Kent, or Sussex, or Yorkshire, — I mean of those counties which we now know by these familiar names. All these are positive facts. But there are also negative facts of some significance. Though the fate of Trenn and of Penguem is feelingly told, yet no bard teUs the tale of the fall of Anderida, or the battle of Wippedsfleot. The authentic Kymric bards have not preserved one Lloegrian name, or one Lloegrian tradition in a credible form.^ While we have Brito-Keltic lays of British encounters with the West Saxon and the Angle, there is none which tells V Villemarqud, p. 72. 3 Kymric history is also in the same predicament. In the " Annales CamhriEe" (puhlished by Petrie, p. 830), from the year of our Lord 444 to 516, nothing is said of the contests between the Anglo-Saxon and the Briton. In the last-mentioned year, however, we have ' ' beUnm Badonis. ' ' Here the Brito-Kelt was touched. It must at the same time be observed, that modem writers have endeavoured to correct the short-comings of the honest old bards by transferring their geography to the other side of the island. Under this treatment Llongborth or Langport in Somer- setshire (see Lady Charlotte Guest's Mabinogian, vol. 2, p. 151) becomes Portsmouth, and Basa is converted from Baschurch in Shropshire to Basing in Hampshire (see Villemarque, Bardes Bretons, pp. 67, 87). 3 Villemarqu6, pp. 4, 26, 36, 70. THE KOMANS OF BKITAIN. 27 of encounters with the Jutes and South Saxons, and there is no bard who is recorded to have related such. This, therefore, which cannot be accident, must lead ub to the conclusion, that in the woes or in the glories of the Lloe- grians, the bard and his Keltic hearers felt that they had no concern or part. The conquests of Kent, of Sussex, of Essex, of Wessex, were nothing to them. But when in later days the Anglo-Saxon pushed his aggression into Keltic territories, then the bard could commemorate the deeds done, and the misfortunes suffered, by kings and chiefs of his own and kindred states. These facts positive and negative completely refute the position that the Lloegrians were Keltic. There is another argument to the same effect, and it is a strong one, derivable from the name Kymry. The name is not archaic, and is etymologically explainable. Zeuss has demonstrated the meaning and etymology of Kymry. It^means compatriot, and nothing else.^ In its origin it is not a proper name ; but it became so after the Anglo-Saxon invasion. It is applied by Llywarch Hen to his own Keltic countrymen, as contradistinguished from the Lloegrians.^ The latter were not Keltic, for the Kelts reject and disown them. The Keltic Britons would appear to have adopted this new-fangled name, as a bond of union among themselves, and as a mark of exclusion of all aliens in blood. For Briton had been made by the Romans a name common to aU these insular subjects of the empire — to the Lloegrians equally as to themselves. We thus find that the Lloegrians — Caesar's Belgse — were distinguished in race and language, as in feeling, from the Kymry, i. e. neither their language nor themselves ' Zeuss's G-ramiiiatioa Oeltioa, edit. 1853, Leipsig, vol. 1, p. 226. * Villemarqu6, p. 156. 2H THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. were Keltic. Their language, therefore, must have been Teutonic, and in fact it was that form of the Platt-Deutsch which has been erroneously called Anglo-Saxon. Those who hold the opinion that the so-called Anglo- Saxon language was that which the Anglo-Saxon spoke on his advent, and imposed upon his new subjects to the suppression of their own Keltic and Latin, are hopelessly refuted by the nature and character of the language itself, as I shall hereafter more particularly show; and it is a most decisive circumstance in regard to this fact, that we find no statement or intimation anywhere in the records which have come down to us, that during the historic period of the Anglo-Saxon rule, after the speaking of Latin was discontinued,^ that there was any other than a common language — ^that which is familiar to us under the erroneous name of Anglo-Saxon. Of this common language we have specimens in all its dialects. These linguistically are four only — West Saxon, Mercian, East Anglian and Northumbrian. The first, the dialect of the entire kiagdom of the West Saxons, was also the language of Kent, Sussex and Essex. Of this language, the oldest examples transmitted to us belong to Kent. 'I allude to the laws of ^thelbert, and the boundaries stated vernacularly in a charter of that king.^ There is no reason to suppose that the laws are 1 See post. 2 Kemble, vol. 1, p. 1, Charter dated April 18, a.b. 604. There is probably a still older specimen of the Kentish dialect in existence. A ■well-known collection of laws attributes itself in its own proem to the Kentish Irings Hlothsere and Eadrio ("Dis syndon Jia domas Tpe HlotJsere xmd Eadrio Cantwara cyningas asetton"). Their own in- trinsic evidence proves these laws to be archaic. The use of the word " eorl" in the sense of noble shows this. The sixteenth paragraph of these laws (1 Thorpe, p. 3i) deals with "Lundenwic" (or London), as being within the Kentish kingdom. But at the date of the respective THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 29 modernized, the more particularly as ia their present ap- pearance they present archaicisms. Now the language of these documents is a pure and rich Teutonic, closely allied to the Frisian and to the Platt-Deutsch of the continent. Such a Teutonic dialect might be expected in Wessex, Sussex and Essex, as these countries took their names from Saxon invaders. But how is this idiom consistent with the Jutish occupation of Kent? The Jutes, who occupied that coimtry, were unquestionably of Scandiaavian strain. And if they were the sole or the predominating inhabitants of Kent, the dialect of that country would present the peculiar and unmistakeable properties of the Norrsena.^ reigns of Hlothsere and Eadric, London belonged to Meroia. Kent lost that city, a.d. 527, when Ercenwin founded the kingdom of Essex, uniting London and Middlesex to the first-mentioned county (see the preface to Dr. Bosworth's Dictionary, p. v). Thenceforward it was lost for ever to Kent. In Eoman times it was a city of the Oantuarii. Ptolemy enumerates as the towns of this people Londinium, Daruenum and Rutupium. The Eavennese geographer, writing from books much earlier than his own. time, places London in connexion with the cities of Kent in such a way as to identify it with the country of the Oantuarii, ' ' Lemanis, Dubris, Durovemum Cantiacorum, Eutupis, Durobravis, Londini, Tamese." As a result of the Jutish conquest of Kent, London was incorporated in the new barbarian kingdom. ' I have assumed that the general characteristics of the two great families of languages, the Teutonic and the Korse, were severally the same in the fifth and sixth centuries of the Christian era as they were at later periods when they are known to us by moniiments, and I consider this assumption, which regards only general character and fundamental distinctiveness, to be unassailable. In other words, if we find (as in the instances before us) two languages peculiar in themselves and distinct from each other during the historical period, we have a right to infer that the peculiarity and the distinction are only the continuation of a peculiarity and a distinction which existed at a previous epoch, though that epoch be pre-historic. And this inference will be the stronger the less distant those periods are from each other. A very able and accom- plished writer, who has made a sterile subject not only interesting but agreeable (G-. S. Pennington, in "An Essay on the Pronunciation of the Greek Language," p. 253), observes, "Now, in answer to this general proposition .{i.e., that all ' languages are short-dated), I only ask the 30 THE ROMANS OF BKITAIN. But the language of Kent presents nothing whatever of the kind. It is clear, therefore, that, so far as Kent is concerned, the Jutes had not imposed their language upon the natives, any more than they had imposed their name upon the country. But as the natives had induced their conquerors to retain the name, so also they more easily prevailed upon the descendants of those conquerors to speak the language of the country. If we next examine the dialects of the AngHan countries of England, vi^:., Northumherland, Mercia and East AngUa (of all of which we have specimens), we again find only a contradiction. Eor though the occupants of these coimtries, as commonly understood, were Angles, /. e. Scandinavians,^ reader to study a passage of Homer and then one from Apollonius of Rhodes, to compare a chapter from Plato with one from Lucian. What avail against such evidence any general aphorisms on the short duration of language? .... Our argument here txims not upon particular words of which Horace's maxim is true." The differences between Irish and Kymric (both very discrepant languages, yet both akin), going back to the pre-historic period, present an unassai]fl,bly analogous case. It is, however, quite clear that in the tenth century the discrepancy between the Danish idiom and the Anglo-Saxon dialects was so considerable that S. Dunstan could speak of the former as being unintelligible to his own countrymen. "The kingdom" (he Said to the imbecile .ffithelred on the occasion of his coronation) ' ' shall be transferred to another kingdom, cujus ritum et linguam gens cui praesides non novit." (Book of Ely, lib. 2, 0. 79.) 1 Mallet regards the Angles equally with the Jutes as Danes (Bohn's edition, pp. 181, 182). Professor Bask supports his opinion that the Angles were Teutons, by the circumstance of their association with the Saxons in the conquest of Britain — which is no argument at all; — ^by the fact of the language of the Angles iu England being Germanic, not Scandinavian — which can only be an argument if the immigrant Angles can be proved to have extirpated the original inhabitants, and to have become the sole population of the portions of England which fell under their dominion. I refer to Mr. BlackweU's edition of Mallet. This work though apparently a recension, is in many respects an original work of great learning and merit. Professor Stephens (Gent. Mag. vol. 1, N. S. p. 179) says that the Angles came from Denmark. He denoimees the contrary opinion held by Germans as being entirely without foundation. , THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 31 the language of them all is really Teutonio,^ and Is also the same lainguage as that of Kent. Here, therefore, we have again the same difficulty as in Kent, accompanied, in the ' The earliest specimen extant of the Northumbrian dialect is the com- mencement of Osedmon'a poem recited by King Alfred in his translation of Beda's history.. This extract dates from the middle of the seventh century. Mr. Kemble says of it, " There is not the slightest reason for doubting its being as old as it professes to be; or admitting the opinion of those who would represent it as a modem and corrupt version of an older text." In the faith that this is a genuine remain of its asserted age, Mr. Eemble in his paper on the North Anglian dialect, in the "Proceedings of the Philologioal Society" (vol. 2, p. 119 et seq.), explains the peculiarities of this Northumbrian dialect by a theory that the Northumbriems were Frisians. In his opinion they could not be Angles, though history and political tradition always asserted them to be such. " This, of course" (he says), "is totally untenable, for critical history cannot be composed out of contradictions to the only evidences upon which history itseK is based." Again, the canticle recited or com- posed by the dying Beda was considered by Mr. Kemble to be in the Northumbrian dialect (Stevenson's Beda, Introduction, p. xvi, and note). But here, also, the language is not Anglic. It is virtuaEy what is called "West Saxon. This is shown by the Lindisfame and Eushworth Gospels (published by the Surtees Society). These specimens of the so-called AngUo dialect of the North are of high antiquity, but their language is essentially the same as what has been called West Saxon. The verbal termiuation iu "as" is found in them, but quite as often the termination in "ath" is employed. The infinitive ends in "a" without the final "n." But this latter discrepancy is not found iu the Durham Psalter (MS. Brit. Mus.; Cott. Vesp. A. 1). There the infinitive ends iu "an" as in the West Saxon, and Mr. Kemble considers the Psalter to be older than the Durham Gospels — "an earlier as well as a more correct monument of the language, completed either before the Northmen had exercised any iofluenee upon the pure Northumbrian or by some person removed f rqm the sphere of that influence ' ' [ib id. ) . The East Anglian dialect, as shown by the wills of Mibio and Luba and the Homily "iu natale S. Eadmundi" (in Thorpe's "Analecta"), is in still closer approximation to the West Saxon. On the Mercian dialect Mr. Thorpe (in the preface to his edition of the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle," p. viii, in note) remarks: "The two dialects (i. e. the Mercian and West Saxon) have, I believe, been never satisfac- torily distinguished." And the correctness of Mr. Thorpe's views is corroborated by the fact that the Mercian diplomata published by Mr. Kemble are drawn up iu a dialect which is identical with the West Saxon. ' For charters of Mercian kings, «. g., see Kemble, vol. 1, p. 114. 32 THE ROMANS OF BEITAIN, case of Northumbria, by the same fact of the native names of the country being preserved — Bemicia and Deira.^ Finally, the dialect of Essex, Middlesex and Wessex is, as it might be expected to be, Teutonic, and at the same time it is, what it might not be expected to be, the same dialect as all those which have been previously discussed. In fact, all these dialects are identical in the essential and fundamental properties of a language, — in. grammar, construction and vocables; and this identity exists notwith- standing the fact, that between the natives of Kent, East Anglia, Mercia, Wessex and NorthTunbria — ^if they are to be considered as exclusively Jutes, Angles and Saxons — no privity of blood can be presumed. And as the one did not teach philology to the other, there must, therefore, have been a common source for this identity of language. But before we endeavour to trace this source we will direct our attention to the form of the Teutonic language of Anglo-Saxon England. In this language there are strong and startling peculiarities as contrasted with both and either of the Saxon dialects of the continent. In the first place, it is polished to a degree of refinement, com- bined with an extent of force and strength, that no other Germanic dialect has ever exhibited. It has also, at some very early period, undergone. a course of phonetic softening, which can be duly appreciated by confronting it with the Grothic of Ulplulas. Each of these things is an irrefragable mark of length of time consumed in the process of culti- vation. Now, the conditions under which a language is thxia perfected are these, and these exclusively. There has been a primitive state of civilized society, which has tamed down and polished a previously rude or harsh language. There has been a succession and perpetuation of that ' See post. THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 33 civilized society wHch has maintained and upheld the language in its improved and cultivated form. The latter condition is as necessary as the first, for this failing the language falls to pieces, and takes a weaker form of bar- barism and phonetic decay. Further, the Teutonic of Anglo-Saxon England is not the unmodified Teutonic of any part of the G-erman continent. It had and has a sound always unknown to the whole of Germany and Scandinavia — ^the sound represented in our alphabet by the letter w. None of the invading tribes either did or could have brought this into Britain. They found it here, in the language of the Beiges, whereon it had been impressed by the Roman conqueror and settler. It was the living sound of the Roman consonant v,' the digamma ' That this was the true pronimoiation of the consonant u of the Romans there is a catena of indisputable proof, from a quarter of a century before Christ untH the end of the 5th century of our era. This Roman consonant was the same as the .iEolio digamma. What was the value of the latter is shown by Priscian (lib. 1), who says: — "Vloco consonantis posita eandem prorsus in omnibus vim habuit apud Latinos, quam apud .ffiolos digamm.a F." QuinctUian (quoted by Zell, vol. 2, p. 36, n. 17) says, "though we do not use the -35olic digamma, 'vis tamen nos ipsa persequitur.' " What the sound of the digamma was Dionysius of Halicamassus tells us explicitly: " aivn^is ^ap m tou oLpxotion ExX^fftv, us Ta TToXXa, 'npoTiQtvai twv oyojU,ciruVj oiroaiiiv olI apya^i huo ^uyYiivTbiv EyEHOVTO Trtv ov ffvWoiCrfli evi aroi^iiai 'ypce^o/AEvnv, touto Se fw uvntp ytijut.fAot Strrats etti /Atav opSriv eirii^EV'pv/jt.ivov roCis 'jrXa'y/air," &c., i.e., the ancient G-reeks were accustomed to prefix to names beginning with a vowel the syllable " ou," written with one letter. This was like a double F (Antiq. Rom. lib. 1). Of the Roman sound Aulus GreUius (Kb. 14, o. 5) says, " Nam divus et rivus et clivua non us syllaba terminantur, sed ea quae per duo uu scribenda est, propter cujus syllabae sonum declarandum reperta est nova litera F, quae digamma appellabatur." Martianus Capella thus lays down the pronunciation of the consonant «, "V ore constricto, labrisque prominulis exhibetur" (lib. 3). So in Greek writers, Latin names, such as Victor, Vibius, and the like, are spelt 'OvUmp, 'Ov/£ios, &c. (see Eusebius passim, the G-reek Anthologia, &o.). The old sound is not yet gone in its old seat at Rome, and amongst Romans Tevere is pro- nounced Teooere, avuto is amoooto, novanta is noooanta, &c. These sounds are often heard by me in London in social intercourse with Roman C. D 34 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. of the ^olians, from whom the Latin race of Italy was descended. The Eomans of the continent so pronounced their v, and the provincials of the West could not do otherwise than follow this pronunciation.^ It even still lingers in the sounding of some words in modem Rome. This letter w, flierefore, contains within itself the early history of our country, and Englishmen may exult in their possessing so irrefutable an evidence of a great descent. It is a shihboleth which honourably distinguishes them from the Grerman and the Scandinavian, testifying to the settlement in this island of an earlier and a nobler race long preceding the advents of the barbarians who after- wards divided and renamed it. The Romans so impressed upon the vernacular of the Belgic cohni and proletariate the rich broad ring of the digamma that it has never siace left our island. Neither Anglo-Saxon nor Dane, Norman nor Gascon could weaken or efface its masculine echo. The Beige contiaued true to this Roman teaching, and pronounced his own Venta and Vectis, "Went and Wight. The Roman mnum and vicus were stUl to him vdne and wic. Even the rude God of the Anglo-Saxons became Woden, and two heroes of their folk lore became Weland and Wada. So ingrained was the sound that when the Norsemen re-introduced to his notice the hated vicings of the Baltic, the Beige could only call them wicings. And when in their turn the names of Neustria came in, they underwent a corresponding modification. friends of imimpeaohable birth. It is curious that in the learned and interesting discussion -which was maintained in the pages of the Academy a few years ago, no one appeared at all to know this modem fact (vol. 2, pp. 251 et seq.). 1 Iddorus testifies to the proTinoials of the West being accurate ad- herents to Boman phonetics, " Omnes occidentis gentes verba in dentibus fr^gimt sicut Itali et Hispani" (Ub. 9, c. 1). THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 35 S. Valery became S. "Walery,^ GmUamne was Wilhelin, and still remains much the same, viz., William. This commutation of sound contiaued to fight for a position throughout the Middle Ages. Ladies and gentle- men pronounced and wrote velvet as if it were welvet.^ The hahit was iaveterate ia London, perhaps it is not yet quite discontiaued there. For centuries the respectahle Londoner spoke after this manner ia spite of the satirist and the playwright, who never tired of reminding the polite that a citizen called veal weal, and victuals wictuals. But the same satirists and playwrights did not know that the Londoner committed only the venial fault of pro- nouncing foreign words according to the law of his own long-descended phonetics. There must be, as I have said, a common source for idioms so accordant as those of the Jutes of Kent, and of the Angles and Saxons of the rest of England, as we find them even at a period so little removed from the date of the conquests themselves. As these con- querors had no common language when they settled ia Britaia, but spoke at least two widely separated idioms, the common source of what is virtually the one language of England is not to be found in any language common to all the conquerors. As, therefoire, the source of the accordant English dialects cannot be foimd on the Continent, it will have to be looked for elsewhere, viz., in Britaia itself. And, as I have already shown, it is in reality to be found ia the language of the Belgse. It was this language — of the coloni and proletariate of Britain — which the Jutes, Angles and Saxons speak and write when we know them in historic times, and not the languages of ' A. S. Chron. p. 358, Thorpe's edition. ' Surtees' " Wills and Inventories," passim. n2 36 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. their specific nationalities. The common source which gave a common tongue to all these varied invaders was the tongue of their own suhjects, which they had no choice iu the circumstances hut to adopt and use. Of the justness of this conclusion, there is also evidence in the language itself. Besides the Roman sound of the w, there is another fact connected with the so-called Anglo-Saxon idiom, which is demonstrative of its being a language spoken at one period hy a Germanie nation conversant with Romans. It is a language studded with Roman words so rife and so frequent, that we may classify them. These words, while they run through the phases of peace and war, emhody the civilization of Rome in its most conventional fonns. That the verbal impress of the Imperial City is distinct and iatelligible the reader will see by a list of Roman words, which I will lay before him. The list is this : — adfinie, adfinis (an agrimensorial term).' ables. amber, amphora. ampulle, ancer, ampulla, anchora. CEefestre, capistrum. camp, caudel, campus.^ candela. carcem, career. carene. caraenum. ceastl, j castel, I castello, ) castellum aquae.' ' " To faem ealdan adfini " (5 Kem. C. D. p. 194). 2 "Todan camp" (3 Kem. C. D. App. p. 425), "to -wigau campe" (5 Kem. p. 313), " gelecan campe" (2 Kem. p 216), "to rocggan campses geatae " (5 Kem. p. 255). 3 "And )ionon suS rihte -wifS ]jara stanocastla and fonne of Jjsem Btanceastlum to pyddesgeate " (2 Kem. C. D. p. 172, a.d. 931). "On anne stan castel" (3 Kem. p. 397, appx.). " Of maeres elsede up on ta castello easte weardre" (li. p. 462, appx.). THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 37 cawl, oeaster, cerse, cirse, oieten, cluse, coc, col, oorte, cortSer, culter, cyoeue, oyl, oyse, cyste, demm, disc, dol, earce, ecede, ele, eln, fsemne, faji, fio, finie, fore. oauHs. oastrum.' cresco, cresoere.' cerasus. oastaniie, olausum.' coquus. oollis.* oohortia (cohors). cohortis (cohors). culter. coquiaa. culeus. caseum. cista. damnuin.' discus.^ dolus.' area.' acetum. oleum. ulna. faemina. vannus. ficus. finis. ^ furca. • Castrwm under the empire means oppidum (Isid. Origines, Ub. 15, c. 2). Servius (6 .ffineid, v. 775) says, "Castrmn civitas est." In a deed of A.D. 823, Viterbo is called " oastrum." (See " Scavi di musarma," in the BuUettino di Boma for 1850, p. 91.) ^ Cresco (provincial Latin), .ffiUric's Vocabulary. ^ i.e., a narrow pass ; .Alfred's Orosius (Thorpe's edition, p. 508) : "Jset hi ]ia clusan to brsecon," i.e., "that they might take the pass." « 3 Kem. C. D. p. 81. * ' ' Nu gyt to dsege hit is on leoJJum sungen hwylcne demm hi Eomanum gefeoHan " (Thorpe's Orosius, p. 302). ^ Apicius and Apuleius both use this word in the sense of dish. ' See the " Rules of the Cambridge GruUd," post; Thorpe and Kemble both so interpret the word. 8 Thorpe's "Analeota," p. 479. ' " Of Jsem finie" (5 Kem. C. D. p. 194), " andlang weges to cleran finie" {ih. p. 195). 38 THE KOMANS OF BRITAIN. fos, fonte, \ tunte, i getrum, -gimm, inoe, laene, lin, , lo«, lyswe, mangere, meowle, mere, msere, mil, TTiil-n (a mill), mortar, mul, mynet, mytte, mytta, ortgeard, OBtre, psell, pending, peppor, pipor, pic, pil, pise, fossa.* fons, fontis.* tiimm. gemma. cannabis. uncia. linea.' limim. lodix. laesio.* magnaiius.' mulier. meruB.' miUe, for mille passuum. molimim, mortarium.' i mnlus. \ mullus. moneta. modius. hortus. ostrea. palliimi. pendo, pendere.' piper. pix. pila.9 pisran. 1 3Kem. p. 169: " Eaatriht in fos." » "^t Cendeles fimtan" (2 Kem. 0. D. p. 293); "on fontan hkwe" (3 Kem. p. 394, appendix) ; "to bsecce fiintan" (4 Kem. p. 27). 3 " On Ja ealdan laenan" (5 Kem. p. 345), for limes linearis (an agri- mensorial term) ; see post. * LL. ^thelberht, oc. 3, 73. 5 "Negotiator magnarins" (Apul. Metam. lib. 1, o. 5). See also 2 OreUi, p. 231, Inso. 4074, "corpus corariommmagnariorTmi," and " mag- narins pistor" (ib. p. 264, Insc. 4264). * " On mere hwites seoUres" (3 Kem. C. D. p. 255), and " msere pmiagas" (LL. .fflfredi, o. 3). ' Passim in the books so ably edited by Mr. Cokaine. 8 "D pend" (Abba's Will, 1 Kem. C. D. p. 310); afterwards (ib. p. 311) the fnll word "pending" occurs. ' "];anen on fa stanen pUe;" "of fsere stanen pile," &c. (6 Kem. p. 232.) THE ROMANS OP BRITAIN. 39 port, portiis.' , porta.* profian, probare.' pimd, pondo. pyrige, pyrus. pyt. puteus.* scale, scala.^ sceaoere, exactor (tributorum). segn, signum. sester, sextariua. spata (.ailfrio), spata. spyrta, sporta. steor (bord), dexter. strsBt, strata. Bweot, secta. sjmb.el (banquet), symbola. syrf. sorbus. teefel, tabula lusoria." teppere, tabemarius. tigol. tegula.' torr. turris.^ wallerwente, valorem aequautes.' weall, vallum. ' Port (the masculine noun) is portus. * For port, as porta, see 1 Kem. C. D. p. 174; "be eastan porte" (spoken of a borough). 3 LL. Wihtraed, o. 28 (Thorpe), c. 30, Schmid's edition. * " "Waster pyt," in the city of Winchester (3 Kem. p. 359). In the Paenitentiale of Eogbert (2 Thorpe, pp. 220, 221), "puteus" is rendered "pyt." ' " Of Jsere stansoale on store" (Homing, p. 39). « Mart. 14, ep. 17. ' "Tigelleag,"i.«. brickfield (5 Kem. p. 267); "tigelsemas," i.e. tile Vilns (Kem., No. 695. 8 " On fone torr" (4 Kem. p. 79), "to edswiSe torre" {ib. p. 36, and 5 Kem. p. 267). So in the Psalms (Thorpe, p. 151). ' La-w of the Northumbrian priests (2 Thorpe, p. 298). This remark- able word occurs three times, so that there is no room for supposiag a mistranscript. It is employed to express the jury of peers to be em- panelled for the trial of a king's thegn, a landowning man, or a oeorl accused of paganism. The meaning is given in the text itself by the equivalent vrords " his geUcan," which we know to mean only equals in pecuniary value. For such a use of aegiuantes, Yeigil is a warrant — " aequante ventos sagitta." 40 THE KOMANS OF BKITAIN. wenole, anoiUa. wio, vious.' Tilla, wella, , villa.* This is not a large list, but it reveals mucli. It proves, firstly, that sunultaneously, and on the same soil, the Latia and the Belgic languages existed together as spoken idioms, for the Latin words which I have adduced are such, and refer to such matters that they cannot he assigned to any supposed later introduction iato England hy the Roman clergy of the middle ages. Secondly, these Latia words are, in themselves, an epitome of what im- perial Eome had done for Britain. By them we trace that Eome had bmlt her cities here, had imported her far- reaching taxation, and had introduced conveniences before unknown ; that the agrimensura and colonization had come with her ; that scientific culture of the land had followed ; that the arts which ameliorate, adorn and sustain human life, and those usages which are the result of civilization, had been her gifts. All this we have been enabled to see, because, while Eome thus brought to the native Briton this immense accession of knowledge, she taught him at the same time the words of her own language, which reproduced these realizations; and the reader must not forget that the Latin words recited by me are survivals ' Village "of Jisere byrig to aure ■wio" (^Ifric's Homelies, Thorpe's edition, vol. 1, p. 402) ; street, ib. vol. 2, p. 374. * This is the most characteristically Roman word of all. By one way only could it have come into this country — ^through the Romans and their conquest. This word of itself alone proves the oenturiation and Roman colonization of OUT island. It is interesting also as, with "weaU" and "wic," it shows the value of the digamma — "an healf tun que ante pertinebat to WUburge weUa" (2 Kem. pp. 66, 67, ,A.ii. 859). In another place, the word is preserved intact — "ubi vulgus prisco [sic) relatione vocitat set Oswalding uiUa" (2 Kem. p. 227, a.d. 940). King Eadmund's conveyancer, when he comes to the ' ' parcels, ' ' calls this villa. oi Oswald " Oswalding tun." THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 41 only which in the 10th and llth centuries still made head against the rising flood which had submerged a larger vocabulary. We may, therefore, consider it to be demonstrated that the language which we have been accustomed to caU Anglo-Saxon was the adopted, and not the native, tongue of the Jutes, the Angles and the Saxons of this country. This abandonment by the barbarians of their original dialects led, in after times, to a curious confusion in then- own minds, as to what they really were themselves, in an ethnological sense. As their common language had caused this confusion, they could get no help from what would otherwise have afforded them the best assistance in dis- criminating their nationalities. Accordingly, we find Jutes and Saxons calling themselves Angles, and Angles called Saxons,' and it does not diminish the embarrassment when we find, also, the Kymry calling them aU Saxons, without any attempt at a distinction. But this latter appellation was derived from Roman times. "What I have thus adduced is, I venture to consider, complete proof that the original Belgic inhabitants of Britain survived the Roman conquest, and remained upon their own old British ground unimpaired in numbers and imchanged in language by any of the effects and con- sequences of that conquest. ' Ine and Ms West Saxons (LL. Ine, oo. 24, 46, 54, 74) call them- selves Englishmen, in the teeth of their own name. E converse, the Angles of Northumbria are called Saxons. When ^thelfrith led his army of Angles in a.d. 606 against the city of Chester, and lEiflicted much havoc on the inhabitants of its territory, S. Augustin is cited by the annalist (A. S. Chron. sub anno 606j as having prophesied this mischief, because he had said that the Wealas should die at the hands of the Saxons ("hi sculon set Seaxana handa forwurSan"). King .Slthelberht also calls his own people — the Jutes — "Anglorum gentem" (Bed. E. H. Ub. 1, 0. 25). 42 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. Having secured my position thus far, I have next to ascertain ia what way the Roman government disposed as well of this Belgic population as of the land on which it sat. Throughout the history of Eome, colonization invariably succeeded conquest. The land of a conquered nation became the property of the Roman people. But the state was the trustee for that people, and could retain the newly-acquired territory as a source of additional revenue, or could sell it in order to apply the proceeds in the pay- ments of the public debt. These, however, were not the only applications to which the hard-eaxned gains of the legionaries and their commanders were directed. There was a third mode, the most momentous of all. The new territory, on the rogation of consul or tribime, could, by an act of the legislature thus initiated, be granted and appropriated to private individuals — a portion of the Roman people or their privileged allies. All these courses were taken — ^the first and second were employed to a small and Hmited extent only, while the third was the great leading political idea of Rome, never absent from the minds of her statesmen or her people.^ It was of this habit of his countrymen to deport them- selves whithersoever their government invited them, that Seneca has emphatically said, " Wherever the Roman has conquered, there he inhabits." And the same great vmter has with equal point asserted, " There is scarcely a land ' There is preserved in tte Digest (41. 1. 16) a passage of tlie great lawyer Trebatius, the friend of CScero, ■vrHch gives succinctly the con- stitutionlal law upon this subject. " Trebatius ait " (says Florentinvis) " agrum manucaptum Umitatum fuisse, iit sciretur, quid cuique datum esset, quid venisset, quid in pubUoo reUctum esset." THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 43 which the natives have to themselves. The Eoman is everywhere engrafted upon them."^ Roman colonization was therefore rife in every captive land, as the Roman delighted to call a conquered country. And it could not fail of being so, for that alone could meet and resist the pressure of Roman necessities. That measure alone could provide for active and needy citizens the champ lihre which was wanting to them at home ; that alone could furnish those sufficient means of support under which a race multiplies without deteriorating. And while the wants of an abounding population were thus supplied, the statesmen who governed Rome foresaw in these colonists — ^these Romans out of Rome — an advanced guard of their city, in whom lay a sure means of retaining and perpetuating her conquests. The world was to be made Roman by the organized transportation of Romans into new countries, and no nation has ever responded more heartily to a similar caU.'^ ' Seneca (Cousol. ad HelTium, c. 7): "Hie deinde populus quot colomas in oumes provinoias znisit. Ubicimque vioit, Bomanus habitat. Ad banc conuuutationem locorum libenter nomina dabant, et, relictis aris flviie, trans maria sequebatur oolonus senex." iJ. 0. 8 : " Vix denique invenies terram quam adhuo indigenae ooltint. Fermixta omnia et insititia sunt." '' Sic. . Flaeous, p. 155, Lachman: "Cansam autem dividendorum agrorum bella fecerunt. Captus enim ager ab hoste, Tictori militi veteranoque est assignatus, hostibus pulsis." "Ut numerus oiyiuni, quern multiplicare divus Augustus conabatur, haberet spatia in quae subsistere potuisset." (Hyginus in Lachman's edition of tbe " Gromatici Veteres, " 2 toIs. 8vo. Berlin, 1848-52, p. 113.) [My subsequent references to tbe works of tbe Tarious agrimensorial writers are to this edition.] The consuls, in expostulating with the Latin colonies, laid down the same principle, " sed Eomanos inde oriundos, inde in colonias atque in beUo agrum captum urbis augendse causa missos." (Liv. xxvii. o. 9.) The colonists also were the adyanced guard of Home, protecting her extended frontier. So Horace says. Sat. lib. ii. 1 : — " Nam Venusinus arat finem sub utrumque colonus. Missus ad hoc, pulsis (yetus est ut fama) Sabellis, Quo ne per vacuum Komano incurreret hostis." Or, as Tacitus expresses it, " Colonia deducitur in agros captives, sub- 44 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. To this great privilege of colonization none were ad- mitted save Eioman citizens, Latins and Italian socii.^ Such being the raison d'etre of Roman colonization it conld neither he infrequent nor spasmodic. It was in fact regular, systematic, and, as events favoured it, con- tinuous. This re-settlement of a country, as it in truth was, was conducted upon a plan and a system worthy of that nation of statesmen. Each act of colonization meant the founda- tion of a new city, with an allotment thereto as and in the name of territory, the latter to be legally subject to the municipal authority of that city, and to be divided and assigned to the colonists in proprietary grants. This was a colony — in other words a renewal and reproduction of the original city in a strange land.^ sidiiun adrerBUB rebelles, et pro imbuendis sooiis ad offioia legiim." (Ann. xii. 31.) ^ See the Zex Thoria agraria, o. 23 (1 Zell, p. 222). The oolonistg are " oives Komam, socii et nominis Latini." Tacitus (Aim. lib. 14) tells us how 70,000 "civium et socjorum" fell in the defence of the colonies of Camulodunum and Verolamium. See also Livy, passim, as to colonies. * It is consequently merely an error to suppose that colonies were sent to those cities only which in later days are found in possession of this name. Whenever land {ager) was divism assignatus (to use the words of Prontinus, lib. i. p. 2), there was by necessity a colony, because that land was territory, and Romans, Latins or Italians had receiTod assignments of it under the express contract of settling upon them. This was the original meaning of the word eolonia. Though in later days a meaning of municipal difference was attached to it, originally it had reference to the body of colonists, not to the city which they were to found, or to the territory which was to be assigned to it. The future city might be mimicipium, forum, prmfeetura, eondliabuhmi (see LL. MamlUa, Koscia, Peduoea, AUiena, Fabia, in Lachman, p. 263 et seq.), names at one time familiar to the Roman system, and expressing differences in municipal organization, in priTileges or obligations relatively to Home, but all agreeing in the one fact that they were Roman colonies. Afterwards, but much later, the term eolonia was applied to the city itself, as expressing a municipal difference and prerogative, and civitas became the general name for all colonial cities which, however they naight differ in some points, agreed in the circumstance of having a territory attached to them. ' ' Civitates enim quarum oonditiones alias sunt coloniae dicuntur, THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 45 The aim of the government being to deport a certain number of Romans, Latins or Italians, the territory to be enjoyed by the colony would be an amount of land at least adequate to that numerical necessity. This would necessitate a previous survey, in order to obtain a know- ledge of the acreage to be dealt with. The Roman go- vernment would seem at all times to have possessed know- ledge obtained in this way. Appian, in his Illyrica,^ speaks to measurements having been made by Roman engiaeers of that country so accurate as to correct previous but less exact opinions. The ayrimensores refer to a mea- surement of the whole Roman world, conducted under the orders of Augustus.^ Theodosius the younger, in the fifteenth year of his reign, ordered " provinoias or bis terrse in longitudinem et latitudinem mensurari."' The tech- nical name of a territory also was pertica, a word iavolviag the meaning of measurement.* mtmioipia, quaedam prsefeotvirse." (Sio. Plaoo. p. 135.) There is an interesting disputation in Atilus Gellius (xvi. 13) upon the differences between eoloniae and mimidpia. These differences, even in his day, were hard to catch, the historical rights and obligations upon which they had been founded having faded into oblivion. He says, "Sic adeo et municipia quid et quo jure sint, quantumque a colonia differant igno- ramus." He adds that there was a general opinion that a so-called colonia (or municipium having /ms eoloniae) was greater or more respectable than an ordinary municipium. " Existimamusque meUore conditioue esse colonias quam municipia." The emperors granted /»s eoloniae to cities which had never been colonies. There is an illustration of the fact last referred to which is sirfficiently curious to deserve quotation. Lampridius, in his Life of Commodu^ (vol. i. p. 96, Peter's edition), says that the emperor wished to abolish the name of Rome and to call her Colonia Commodiana, although we must, of course, assume that he had no intention of expelling her inhabitants and of colonizing her afresh. 1 Cap. 1. ^ Liber Coloniarum, i. pp. 239, 242, and Latinus and Mysrontius, p. 348. ^ See the Itinerarium Antonini, cited in Godefroye's Note to the Theod. Code, ii. pp. 353, 354. * " Solum autem, quodcunque colonise est adsignatum, id universum pertica appellatur." (Frontinus, lib. ii. p. 26, and agrimensores passim.) 4b THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. Sucli being the object and general principle of Eoman colonization, it was carried into practice by tbe following machinery. A law was passed — by the senate and people in re- publican times, in after-times by the Emperor alone — authoriziag the plantation, and defining aU that was necessary ia relafion thereto. Without such a law, called lex colonica, no colony could be despatched and established.^ The details of such a law were manifold. Though no law of this nature is textuaUy extant, it may be possible, if some little pains be taken, to collect and restore its leading provisions. Such a synthesis I have attempted, and now offer. A lex colonica enacted that a colony should be sent out. It appointed the officers who should carry this proceeding into execution. In the time of the republic these were usually triumviri, who should act during a definite period judged sufficient for the purpose.^ In later days a military officer seems to have been the functionary ap- pointed by the emperors.' The law determined the number of the colonists ; de- creed the formation {constitutio) of a civitas or chef-lieu ; and settled the nature of its municipal government and its privileges in the face of Eome, whether it should be municipium, prmfectura or conciliahulum^ Again, the law assigned to the colony its territory.^ It defined that territory en bloc, giving its dimensions and ' See Livy and the Lib. Colon, passim. " Hi agri leges aocipiunt ab lis, qui veteranos deducimt, et ita propriam observationem eorum lex data prsestat." (Hyginus, p. 117.) Called " lex civitatis " in Cod. Just. 11. 29. 4. ^ Liv. xxxiv. 53. 3 Lachman, pp. 244, 253. 1 LL. Mamilia, Eosoia, &o., ib. 263—266. THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 47 its confines.^ It fixed the breadth of the roads, ways and lanes {limites) -which should divide the allotted estates {centuriae) from each other.^ It directed that the land of which the limites were composed should be taken out of the son of the estates assigned, or that they should be independently provided for out of the territory.^ It fixed the acreage of the centuria or normal estate of the colony, and the amount thus fixed prevailed through- out the territory.* When the rules of Roman colonization became fixed, it was usual not to allot out centuriae at a less dimension than of 200 jugera. Occasionally the law provided that the centuria should be of 240 or 210 jugera.^ I should remark in. this place, that, the lex colonioa making it absolutely imperative that the territory should be divided into square or rectangular centuriae of the dimen- sion enacted by it, there would be land left which could not undergo such a division as would yield these strict quan- tities. Under these circumstances, in order to obey the law ia the letter at least, assignments of land were made amounting to half or more than half the centuria, viz., 110 or 120 acres, or not less than 50 acres. These were the only exceptions from the one fixed quantity of the full 1 Hyg. p. 118. " Hyg. pp. Ill, 169, 175, 194. Also Lib. Colon, p. 212. ^ "In agris oenturiatis excipitur limitum latitudo causS itineria." (Prontinus, ii. 58.) " In quibusdam regionibus cum limites late patere juberent, modus eorum limitum in adsignationem non venit. Ssepe enim et viaruin publioarum per centuiias modus exeeptus." (Hyginus, p. 120.) " Limitum quoque modus in quibusdam regionibus per amplum spatium exeeptus est, in quibusdam vero mode adsignationis cessit. ' ' (Sio. Placous, p. 158.) Wben the roads and lanes were made out of tte centtiriae "whidi abutted upon them, they were not public property, ho-wever much the public might use them. This is conTeyed by the words "iterpopulo non debetur," used by the agrimensores in these cases. (See Lib. Colon. Lachma,n, passim.) * Lib. Colon, passim. 5 Hyginus, p. 170 ; Sio. Flaecus, p. 159 ; Frontinus, p. 30 ; M. J. Nipsus, p. 293 ; and Lib. Colon. 210 waA passim. 48 THE ROMANS OF BEITAIN. centuria wMcli the law permitted to he made ; but to dis- tinguisli them from the latter, the two first were called a, pro centuria, the other a. pro dimidia centuria.^ The lex colonica fixed the quantity of land (modus) to be granted to each colonist.* One colonist might take a centuria to himself. Three, four or more might have one divided amongst themselves in what the law called acceptae, laciniae or praecisurae. Others might have a grant of several centuriae without interveniag Umites. Such an imion of centuriae was either latus fundus — a continuation of two or three centuriae only,' or it was saltus, an union of twenty -five centuriae.* Such extraordinary grants were conditioned upon one or both of two things, — ^the high rank of the allottee,^ and the inferior value or excessive amplitude of the land to be allotted.^ 1 Hyg. pp. 110, 111; Lib. Colon, i. p. 213. 2 Front, ii. pp. 46, 47. 3 HyginuB, pp. 46, 47. "Aliquando integras plenasque centmiaa binas, pluresve oontinuas, imi nomini redditas inyenimus ; ex quo intel- Hgitur redditum sumn, lati fundi. Hi per contiuuationem servantur oenturiia." (Sic. Flaoo. p. 157.) This is the only passage in antiquity which gives the exact and technical meaning of latiftmdi or latifwndia. * Lib. Colon, i. p. 211; Ibid. ii. p. 262; Sic. Flaoo. p. 188. Varro calls four conjoined centuriae a saltus (De re ruatioa, 1, 10) : " Hao porro quatuor centuriae conjunctae, ut sint in utramque partem binae, appel- lantur in agris divisis Tiritim pubUce saltus. ' ' This was evidently an old definition of saltus, extended afterwards as the agrimensores defined it. Porphyrion, the annotator of Horace, ii. 569, Havthal's edition, explains saltus thus, " latis fundis porrectis per plurimos montes." See also an interesting passage in Frontinus, p. 53, which gives us a large notion of the Koman proprietor: "Praecipue in Africa ubi saltus non minores habent privati quam respublicEe [i. e. cities) territoria ; quin immo multis saltus longe majores sunt territoriis. Habent autem in saltibus privati non exig^um populum plebeium {i. e. coloni) et vicos circa villam in modum munitionuin." "Non enim omnibus ceqnaliter datus, sed et secundum gradum militiae et modus est datus," &o. (Sic. Flacc. p. 156.) "Nam cum siguis et aquila et primis ordinibus ac tribunis deducebantur, modus agri pro portione officii dabatur." (Hyginus, p. 176 ) " Hyg. pp. 170, 171 ; Lib. Colon, ii. p. 262 THE BOMANS OF BRITAIN. . 49 The lex cohnica determined the tenure of the land in the territorium — ^whether it should be whoUy juris ItaKci or jpossessio merely, — whether portions of it should be the one or the other. These two kinds of property in land may be thus defined: The one was ia law an estate of absolute property, held by the proprietor of no person, freely alienable, devisable and hereditary as a right ; also it could not be charged with the trihutum or direct land tax. - The other (possessio) was an estate held of the government, and neither alienable nor hereditary in the strict sense of right, but m. the theory of law resumable at will by the state. It was subject to the trihutum. As its defects of tenure were only devised to secure the realization of this important impost, the estate was in practice as firm, alienable and hereditary as the other. The state only interfered with its course of enjoyment when the tax was in arrear. Then, and then only, it resumed possession. These observations are sufficient for the present. Here- after I shall have to resume this part of my subject in order to treat it in detail.^ But whether the land of the territorium was to take the name and quality of ager privatus or possessio, it was in either case an estate of severalty, and the rules of the limitatio applied to the one just as much as the other.^ This law gave jurisdiction to the municipal authorities over the persons of the colonists.^ It defined the liability of these colonists to perform and execute municipal duties and obligations.* It gave a power of electing muni- ' "Etenim civile est debere eoa {i.e. possessores) disoretum finem habere, quatenus quisque aut oolere se sciat oportere, aut iUe qui jure possidet possidere." fProntiuus De Controversiis Agrorum, Lacbman, p. 36.) 3 Hyg. p. 118 ; Lib. Colon, u. p. 164. * Front, ii. pp. 52, 53. C. E 50 • THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. cipal officers, and defined what functionaries they should be.i The law entered also into the details of matter subsidiary to these greater directions. It determined the subdivision of the territory into the lesser pagi? It enacted that termini, i.e. terminal signs, should be placed nponithe confines of the territory and its pagi? It determined the nature and form of these termini. It enacted that other termini should be placed upon the lines of the various limites, as definitions of the private estates of the colonists, in a manner and to an extent which will be the subject of our subsequent consideration. It directed that all these stones should be appropriately and significantly inscribed, and it prescribed the nature and particulars of the inscrip- tions.'* It enacted the irremovability of these terminal signs, and prohibited encroachments upon the limites.^ The lex colonica lastly contained the names and designa- tions of the colonists to whom the assignations were to be made.^ The assignment of a territorium, with appropriate privileges and obligations, in the manner just specified, was, however, not confined to cimtates alone : to the castella upon the sea-shores and all the frontiers of the empire were allotted Kke territories, the estates iuto which they ^ The lex eoloniae of Pisa is recited in a decree of that city as giving it the right of appointing dutmwiri (1 Zell, p. 372). " Cum primum per legem eoloniae duosviros creare et habere potuerimus." See also the Iiex Municipalis Malacitaua, edited by Zell, c. 52, p. 11, as to the election of dmmwiri, aedilea and gieaestores ia the colony of Malaga. ^ I have no direct authority for this: but it is inferible. The lex colonica was regarded as a final settlement of aU that concerned the territorium and its internal afiairs. 3 See post. * Lib. Colon, i. p. 212. "Soriptos ita ut jusserit." See aiaopost. ' LL. Mamilia, &o., p. 263 et seq. ^ Lib. Colon, paiaim. THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. - 51 were parcelled to be exclusively held by military tenants, who rendered watch and ward in their towers.^ Such were the principal contents of a lex colonica. It constituted not only a direction to the duumvirs, triumvirs or other commissioners, but was also an authority to be appealed to whenever in after days questions arose upon those internal arrangements of the territory to which its provisions referred. "Ergo omnium coloniarum muni- cipiorumque leges semper respiciendae erunt, itemque exquirendum nunquid post legem datam aHquid, ut supra dixi, commentariis aut epistulis aut edietis adjectum est, aut ablatum," says Hyginus.^ It was the organic law of the country. Such a law having been passed, the commissioners, with a requisite stail, proceeded to the scene of action. This staff consisted of a military corps, augurs, agrimensores, and architects, with their respective assistants.' In the first place, the demarcation of the territory, in accordance with the measure appointed to it by the lex, was effected by the agrimensor. ' Cod. 11, 60, c. 2. "Quicumque castellonmi looa quoounque titulo possident, oedant ao deserant, quia hie tantum fas est possidere oastellorum tenitoria, qtiibus adscripta stmt, et de quibus judioavit antiquitas." See the same law ia the Theodosian Code, 7, 15, o. 2. There is also an interesting passage in reference to these castles in the " Anonymus Scriptor gubditus Notitise Imperii" (Gothofredus's edition of the Theodosian Code, Tol. ii. p. 393), Tiz. "Est inter commoda reipublicae utilis limitum cura ambientium ubique latus Imperii, quorum tutela assidua, casteUa meUus prospioient, ita ut millenis interjectis passibus, stabilimuro et £rmissimis turribus erigantur, quas quidem munitiones possessormn distributa solli- oitudo sine publico sumptu oonstituat, vigiliis in his et agrariis exercendis." See alBo ibid. 7, 14, o. 1, de Burgariis. Frontiuus also (ii. p. 35, Lachman) speaks of the territory of a casteUum. The Castellum Arsagilatnm (in Africa) had an orio (or senate). See Eenier's Inscriptions Eomaiues de I'Algerie (in the Annali di Eoma, vol. 32, p. 87). Another (iij Hyg. p. 194. » Lib. Colon, i. p. 212, ' Pages 111, 158. * Sic Kaco. p. 153. See Lib. Colon, pastim. THE KOMANS OF BRITAIN. 57 however, absolutely distinct. The agrimensores, who speak of hoth, distinguish the one from the other. The military ways also were sometimes made before the formation of the colonial Hnes,^ though more generally they were made afterwards.^ The statements made by the Eoman lawyers in refer- ence to these roads of the empire have managed to perplex the subject in the minds of those who are not acquainted with the clear statements of the less accessible agrimensores, speaking upon a subject of their own art. This obscurity thrown by the jurists has arisen, however, solely from their using one set of terms, and the agrimensores another. There is accordingly no real difficulty in the matter. The lawyers, using popular and general phraseology in speaking of pubHc ways, mention only ways military and Adciaal. TJlpian defines and distinguishes the two ways thus : ' — " Vise vicinales quae ex agris privatorum coUatis fact£8 sunt, quarum memoria non extat, pubHcarum viarum numero sunt. Sed inter eas et cseteras vias militares hoc interest, quod vise militares exitum ad mare, aut in urbes, aut ad flumina publica, aut ad aliam viam militarem habent; harum autem vicinalium viarum. dissimilis con- ditio est, nam pars earum in militares vias exitum habent, pars sine ullo exitu intermoriuntur." This passage from the great jurist proves that the mae mdnales and the lesser ' Balbus, the agiimeiisor wto accompanied TTajan into Dacia, ■writes to his friend Celsus, ' ' At postquam primnm hosticam terram intraTiniiis statim, Celse, Caesaris nostri opera mensurarum rationem exigere coepe^ runt" (p. 92, Lachman). Tiberius, the emperor, speaks of "itinera ante colonias munita" (ibid. p. 271). ^ SeeHyginus, p. 169. "Velut hi qui sunt per viam pubKoam miHtarem aoti." See also the same author (p. 179), where an example is given of a deeumanus maximus of a colony being taliieu along the Via Appia, The ■words used in the Lib. Ooloniar. p. 241, "per certa loca viae militares finem faoiimt," sho'w the same thing. ' Dig. 43, tit. 7, 0. 3. 58 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. colonial Mmites are the same.^ It also shows that the limites maximi and the mae militares are aU confounded imder the one latter term. Why this happened is ohvious. The lawyers, like the puhUc, did not affect the pedantic and old-fashioned phraseology of the agrimensores when they spoke of roads, any more than they did when they spoke of estates,* which latter they never called centuriae but always fundi, a word in common daily use by the pubKe. There was also another reason for it ; the limites maximi answered the same purposes as the viae militares, were framed upon the same plan, had the same breadth, and were kept up by the same means. The latter being more numerous, their appellation, therefore, absorbed and superseded the other. This is a sufficiently probable ex- planation of a fact which of itself cannot be denied. The limites or roads which I have described divided every one centuria or .normal colonist's estate from the others. These centuriae were, as we have seen, estates of 200, 210 or 240 jugera, according as the lex colonica di- rected or provided.^ If they consisted of 200 jugera they were generally quadrate in form. . Under the other dimensions they took the form of rectangles, broader than long, or longer than broad, receiving ia these cases the appellation scamnate or strigate.^ As soon as the decumanus mammus and cardo maxinius had been made, the agrimensor set out centuriae on both ' TJlpian, Dig. 43, tit. 8, c. 2, B. 22, has another definition of Ticinal ways, " Vicinales sunt Tlse, quae in Tiois svmt, aut quae in vias ducunt." * The centuria of 200 jtigera was the more normal and usual quantity. See the Lib. Colon, and the agrimensorial books passim. Also the Lex Thoria, c. 28 (1 ZeU, p. 225 ; Varro de Lingua Latina, lib. i ; Colu- mella, Ub. 5, c. I). The later text writers also preserved a tradition of its being so. Isidore, p. 369 (Lachman), defines the centwia as "ducenta jugera ;" and so says another writer at p. 372. Festns (sub voce Centuria) gives the same definition. ' Front, i. p. 3; Hyg. p. 110 et alibi passim. THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 59 sides of these lines, viz., to the right and left of the deeumanus . maximus, and on the further and the nearer sides of the cardo masdmus. These first rows of centuriae were thus bounded hy the limites macdmi on two of their rectangular sides, while their two other (or succeeding) deoumanal and cardinal limites were drawn, as I have said, parallel with the limites maximi. As with the roads so it was with the estates, and the centuriae were continued until the marches were reached. Under such a scheme all the centuriae started from the deeumanus maximus and cardo maodmus, the practical di- rection of the agrimsnsor (whom I have followed), for setting out these centuriae, being "applicemus nunc singulas centurias decumano sive kaxdini."^ By these limitary ways each centuria stood isolated and self-contained.^ Even more, for unless these ways should be wilfully and fraudulently effaced in after time the centuria would remain, and was intended to remain, eter- nally the same.' This, strange as it may appear to us, was the aim and intention of the Roman law. It was with the centuria as one and indivisible, however in fact it were internally divided in the course of time, that the law dealt; upon the one undivided centuria the state levied its taxation and imposed its various other obligations. The solicitude of the civil law was therefore to preserve the centuriae within their original and normal boimds, not ' Page 196, Laohinan. * " Quatuor limitibus olausmn." (Front, ii. p. 30.) ' This may be iUustrated by a passage ia the Digest (33, tit. 7, o. 27, § 5). A-fmidus [i. e. a centuria, see ante) had been devised "eiun suis salictis et silTis." But as these willow grounds an.d -woods, though adjacent and contiguous, were not within the ftmdus, they did not faes, "id tantum oedere legato quod verbis oomprehendisset." It ia elsewhere said in the Digest (50, tit. 16, c. 60, § 2), "sed fundus quidem suos habet fines ; locus vero latere potest quatenus determinetur et definiatur." 60 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. permitting them to be made greater or less in acreage and dimensions. To assist and facilitate this object of the state the law, as embodied and enforced ia each lex colonica, provided that the centuriae should aU. severally bear vritness, ia a language of permanent and inviolable signs, to their relative position and bearing, to their definition and de- monstration, and to the lengths of their square and rectangular sides. These eloquent signs, ia obedience to that inspiration of variety vphich pervaded all Roman modes, were as discrepant from each other in their detail as they agreed in their object. Of these signs the most interesting as well as the simplest division consisted of what the agrimensores called centurial stones. There were other kinds of signs as certain though less obviously intelligible. The latter we will consider ia their due order, taking the centurial stones first. These were inscribed and uniascribed. The inscribed centurial stones may be divided into the following categories : 1. Stones showing the numeri limitum} These may again be subdivided into such as contain also the regional description of the centuria and such as omit it. 2. Stones showing the numerus pedaturae. Both these categories show also the nomen possessoris or name of the grantee. The uTi in scribed stones embrace — 1, those which marked the recturae or lines of the estates : 2, those which showed by their conformation that they were meant to demonstrate that the point at which they were placed was a trijmium or quadrifinium, i.e. the point where three or four square or rectangular centuriae all as it were met together. I have said that the first categoiy of stones received as ' These are the technical phiaees of the agrmeneores (pp. 172, 196, 217, 222, Lachman). THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 61 its inscription the numerus Kmitum, the munhers of the documanal and cardinal Hnes of road by which the estate was bounded. What limites were considered to bound the estate iu this sense, and upon what principle they were numbered, will require a detail to render the explanation intelligible. We have seen that a territory was divided mensoriaUy into four compartments (as it were), technically called regions. Two of these regions lay to the right and left of the decumanus maximus, the other two beiag beyond or on this side of the cardo maodmus.. All the lesser limites were marked out within these regions. According as the lesser decumanal limites approached or receded from the right or the left side of the decumanus maodmus, so they took their number. According, also, as the lesser cardinal limites were ia similar succession to each other beyond or on this side of the cardo maximus, so were they numbered in reference to that position. Into this numeration neither the documanus maximus nor the cardo maximus were allowed to enter. This exclusion of the limites maximi from the numeration makes the numbering, which, as we shall see, was given to the lesser limites, iateUigible ; for, by their exclusion, each centuria was regarded as having for its own peculiar boundary-roads one decumanus and one cardo only ; and it was of these two limites that the number and regional specification were iascribed on the stones of each This may be illustrated by the following example : — To the right of the decumanus maximus is a centuria, bounded by the first lesser decumanal limes in that region. This same centuria, which lies on the other side of the cardo maximus, is bounded by the first lesser cardinal limes in that region.^ The fit inscription for the stones inclosing 1 Hyginus, pp. Ill, 112, 194, 195, 196. 62 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. (as the agrimensores called it) an estate so situated is "DDI," «VKI."i The fit inscription for another eenturia, just as near to the decumanus maximus, hut on the left iostead of the right, and placed similarly as regards the cardo maximus, is "SDI," and "VKI." So the appropriate inscriptions for a eenturia equally approached to the right or to the left of the decumanus maadmus, hut on this side of the cardo maximus, are "DDI K K I," "SDI K K I." ^ Inscriptions for the termini of estates more removed from the limites maximi wiU easily and readily suggest themselves. Sometimes the letters showing the regional position of the eenturia were omitted in the inscription. Hyginus means this when, after reciting the full inscription, he says of it, " est optima ; licet et quomo- docunque inscriptum sit, perito mensori non latehit, quoniam certus est lapis quo eenturia cluditur ; " ^ and one of the inscriptions in the diagram illustrating his text exhihits only the decumanal and cardinal figures, without giving what I have called the regional letters.* The stones of the second category were simpler in their nature. They were inscrihed with the pedatwra, or amount of feet of one side of the eenturia, either in the integral number or in divisions of it. These numbers, through the unyielding necessities of space, were not expressed in ordinary Eoman numerals, but by notae — mysterious letters which did duty for them.^ But however mysterious these notae look, we are in no difficulty as to their interpretation; 1 Hyginus, pp. Ill, 112, 194, 195, 196. 2 Hyginus, pp. 195, 196. D and S, it is scarcely necessary to say, stand for Dextra and Sinistra ; D and K, for Deomnanus and Cardo, or an oblique case of those nouns ; K and V, for Citra and Ultra respectively. ' Hyginus, p. 173. * Diagr. 145, A. 5 Hyginus, p. 309. See also pp. 358, 359. THE KOMANS OF BRITAIN. 63 for we possess the key in two treatises wliich have come down to Tis.^ As I have hef ore said, the figirres expressing the pedatura would he either the whole amount of the feet of one com- plete side, the stones heing siugle, or, the stones heing more or less multiplied, the numher would run on from one to another, according to the iutervals of distance, until the fuU pedatura of the entire side was attained. In aU cases the calculation was made — "Ut ah uno ad unum dirigantur," says one professor.^ " Q/uantum compotum hahuerit tantujn quseris ah eo ad aliud signum," says more explicitly another master.' Of these stones, as of those of the first category, normally there were four; viz. one at each comer, " Omnibus in mediis tetrantibus lapides de- figemus," says Hyginus.* Siculus Maccus affirms the rule, but speaks of exceptions.^ Under these exceptions they might be " a capite usque ad caput," ^ or two stones only, one commanding the line of the decumanus, the other that of the cardo.'' These would be quite sufficient to show the surface measurement of the estate.* Very often these stones were more numerous.^ " Saepe enim plures et in uno rigore" (i.e. a straight line), says Hyginus.^" We have seen that the lex colonica of a territory established the 1 Hyginus, p. 309, and pp. 358, 359. 2 Hyginus, p. 109. 3 Latinus V. P. Togatus, p. 309. See also Lib. Colon, p. 213. * Page 194 ; also at p. 195 lie says, "His anguUs lapides defigamus." 5 Page 142. 8 Ihid. ' That this is the meaning of caput, Bee Marcus Junius Nipsus, p. 286, aj)« There would not therefore be the same space between the terminal stones of a centuria of 200 feet and one of more, i.e. when those stones represented the full length of the sides contaioing the right angle.^ There was a third category of these stones, which omitted both the' numeri limitum and the numerus peda- turae, retaining solely the nomen possessoris.^ There was also another stone partaking of the character somewhat of this latter, hut which, by the nature of the inscription, could only be placed upon the estate in times succeeding the original colonization. I mean the stone which bears upon it, not the nomen possessoris, but the nomen fundi.* This was the legal appellation of the estate, the name which the tax-gatherer and the recruiting officer put into their books, the conveyancer into his deeds and wills, and the registering clerk into the register of sale and transfer.* It was a derivative from the nomsn posses- soris, or the name of the original grantee. This nomen fundi is interesting, for it was meant by law to be as eternal as the fundus or centuria itself. We shall see hereafter how weU this object was attained. The mode of inscribing all these stones was either on the tops or on the sides.* The lateral plan, however, was used universally to express pedatwra^ and was also con- sidered by the professores to be the best method for aU ' Ante, and Sic. ITaoous, p. 159. 2 Sic. Flaccus, p. 169. ^ See post. * This is meant by the words " ager ejus in nominibuB Tillarum et possessorum," &o. (Lib. Colon, p. 239.) Villa is heve -aBei ior fimdm, as the latter is legally employed for the coUectiye villa and estate. " Ager cum aedificio fundus dicitur." (Dig. 50, 16, c. 211.) * Dig. 50, tit. 15, c. 4 ami passim. « Hyg. pp. 171, 194. ' Hyg. p. 172.' THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 65 purposes. " Latera autem lapidum recte inscrituntiir, quoniam ampliores numeros capiunt. Nam vertioibus insoribi non facile omnia possunt." ^ Sometimes oentuiial stones -were uninscribed: "Multi tantum decumani maximi et cardinis lapides insoripsenmt, reliquos sine inscriptione ad parem posuerunt: quos ideo quod nulla significatione apparent quoto loco numerentur mutos appellant," says Hyginus.^ These last-mentioned sorts of stones being of the same formation, and laid down ia the same manner, as the inscribed stones, served the same purpose so long as they remained iuYiolate.^ There was also a further and abbreviated method adopted by the agrimensores upon some occasions. Instead of separate stones to each centuria placed in the modes which I have mentioned, the agrimensores put one or more stones uninscribed, but shaped specifically* for this purpose, in the angle or poiat where three or four centuriae met and coalesced (as it were) together.* Where this angle or point was wiU easily suggest itself to the reader ia a diagram of three or four square or rectangular centuriae. This point was technically called in the one case trifinium, in the other quadrifinium.^ ^ Hyg. 173 ; see also Hyginus, p. 194. 2 Page 172, ib. ' "Ad rationem vel recturas limitum pertinent." (Lib. Colon, p. 213.) * For the shape of the trifinial stones, see pp. 305, 306, 307, 361 of Laohmau's CoUeotion, and the diagrams. 5 ' ' Kam in supradiotis locis, ubi limitem opere manuum homiuum ordinavimus, tnrminos non neoesse habuimus ponere, nisi in oert^ ratione in trifinio aut in quadrifinio." {Ex libris Magonis et Vegoise auotonim, p. 349, Lachman.) ^ In the Theodosiani et Valentiniani Constitutiones, p. 273, Lachman, a ^ci/Zmmm is defined to be " convenientia trium oenturiarum." "Trifi- nium dictum eo quod trium possessionum fines attingit. Hinc et qua- drifinium quod quatuor " (p. 367, Lachman). " In trifinium, id est, in eum locum quem tres possessores adstringebant." (Sic. Flaccus, p. 141.) , C. F 66 - THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. When a single stone was employed to mark a tnfinium it was triangular in shape.^ Dwarf round columns, called " termini angustei," were also used terminally.^ They were totally uninscribed. Where good stone failed, the termini might be pali lignei, congeries lapidum C ANDIDI FIDES XX MM ' This is an inscription of extraordinary interest. Fides is indubitably a bad reading for the colonist's cognomen. But bad as the reading is, it is of little consequence, as it in no way disguises the character of the stone or interferes with its attribution. It is a stone showing the nunieri limitum. The xx express the number of the decumanal limes, as the im is the number of the cardinal limss upon both which the eenttcria of Candidius was situate. The inscription is either ia part effaced, or it omitted to state whether the decumanal limes was in the right or left region of the territory as divided by the decumanus maximus, and whether the cardinal limes was on the further or the nearer side of the cardo maximus {i.e., ultra or citra). But for such omissions by agrimensores one of their writers has prepared us. A stone (found in Monmouthshire) of the same character but less perfect in the iascription was preserved at Mathem in the same county. The inscription was copied by Camden, who read it thus :— ^ > VMI V ALER M A XSIM I ' Grough's Canideii, iii. 375 ; Hiibner, p. 57, insc. 215. It is super- fluous to remind the reader that the mark at the commencement of this inscription (and which will be found in others that follow) is the well known siglum for the word eenturia. It is the Etruscan C {vide the Etruscan Alphabets, in pi. xl. vol. iii. of " L'Etrurie et les Etrusques " of Des Vergers). ' Gough's Camden, iii. 109, 117. Hiibner (p. 40, insc. 113) adds " coh." before the " vm." This is entirely unwarranted. THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 85 But by Gougli's time tlie numerals viii, -which stood for the cardo, as being last in order, had disappeared. The numerals expressing the number of the decumanus, which must have preceded the others, were effaced when Camden first saw this stone. There is another stone of this same character which gives also the regional position of the centuria. In this case it is, as we shall see, the regio sinistra or southern half of the territory as divided by the limes decumanus. This stone, now no longer ia existence, was found in a mound ia a Eoman camp near Trawsfynidd in Merioneth- shire, called Tommen-y-mur (or the Mount of the WaU), and through which the Roman road Sam Helen passes. The inscriptions on this stone are as follows : — SXXXIX > AND PXXXl X > I VLI MANS PCXX V ' The regional reference "sxxxix" appKes equally to the one centuria as the other, and defines both estates as being situate on the thirty-ninth limes or road of the sinistral region of the territory. Whether they were tcltra or citra cardinem is not stated. Of stones which show the numerus pedaturae, with the nomen possessoris, there are examples in the two inscriptions just given. Near the great wall is a stone with an inscription of a 1 Archseologia, xiv. p. 276, and plate x. fig. 2. The inscriptions are, however, imperfectly given. They are published by Hiibner as I have quoted them (p. 44, insc. 143). OO THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. kindred character, where notae and cyphers are unques- tionaUy comhined. > CLAVD I PR XXX S ' And in the same locality is another stone of the same allottee. > PED CLA (VDI) B RM The letters ia the second Hne of this inscription are aU notae. Of my third division the instances are most nmnerous, and their interest is very great as furnishing us with the family names of the Eoman ancestors of the colonists. In different parts of England and Wales have been found centurial stones with the following epigraphs : — > M ARI I ' > VAL M AXr > RVFI SAB I N I (i. e. Kufii Sabini.) ^ > VALERIVERI (t. e. Valerii Veri.) ^ > TR E BON I N E POTI (i. e. Trebonii Nepotis.) ' > I VLS (i. e. JuUi Severi.)' 1 Hiibner, p. 139, iiise. 782. 2 lb., p. 168, inBO. 970. 3 lb., p. 127, insc. 681. * lb., p. 127, insc. 685. 5 lb., p. 127, insc. 682, and p. 133, insc. 737. = lb., p. 133, insc. 738. ' lb., p. 156, inBO. 905. s lb., p. 181, msc. 1053. THE BOMANS OF BRITAIN. 87 > I VL RVFI ' > VAR (j. e. Varii.) ^ > HOS LVPI (j. e. Hostilii Lupi.) ^ > HO RTi€ M AXI M I (». e. Hortensii Maximi.) * > PO M PE RVFI (j. e. Pompeii Eufi.) * > GELLI PH I LI P P ' > CL PR I SCI (j. e. Claudii Prisoi.)' > M VN ATI MAX' > ARRI ' > VOCO N 1 CO (i e. Vooonii Constantis.) ' Hubner, p. 112, inso. 630. It occurs three times. ' a., p. 97, inso. 462. 3 lb., p. 114, iaec. 552. 4 lb., p. 120, insc. 608. 5 lb., p. 120, inso. 611. « lb., p. 122, inso. 631. ' lb., p. 149, insc. 856. 8 lb., p. 140, inso. 785. 9 /*., p. 112, insc. 627. '» lb., p. 115, inso. 564. 88 THE ROMAT>IS OF BRITAIN. > C I VLI I CAEC I N I AN I ' > PLAN (t. e. Planou or Planii.) " In Cardiganshire we find a stone of the same category, but the more interesting because it contains the names of two colonists, jofnt allottees of the one centuria. Though this divisional allotment of centwrias was constantly made amongst colonists who were not considered deserving of an entire centuria, this is the only instance that has come down to us so far as I know.^ The inscription is as follows : — > APTI M' EN N I VS PR I M VS ' Of my fourth division is a stone found near the great wall, and thus inscribed : — > P P» These two letters are notae. Another stone, found in Carnarvonshire, has the follow- ing epigraph : — PCXXV» These letters are notae and cyphers. A stone of my fifth division has been found in Mon- mouthshire. It has the following inscription : — > VECI LI AN A (i. e. the centia-ia of VeoiHus.) ' ' Hiibner, p. 40, inso. 114. 2 lb., p. 40, inso. 115. 3 Hyginus Grromaticus (Laohman), pp. 200, 201. * Hiibner, p. 44, inso. 148. 5 Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries, vol. 4, 2nd Series, p. 25. This has been explained as ' ' centuria primi pili, ' ' but such an inscription is much too vague for a military reference. ^ Hiibner, p. 35, insc. 151. ' lb., p. 40, inso. 116. THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 89 The reader will have ohserved that in the aforegoing instances in which the name of the possessor of the centuria is inscribed, that name is either the nomen singly or m conjunction with the cognomen. This occiirrence of the nomen is not accidental, hut is due to a rule of the formal language of Rome applicable to these epigraphs. It is unnecessary to remind the reader that the same word centuria which we have had before us BO often has another and a totally different meaning — that of a division of a military cohort. To this last-mentioned centuria it has long been an unthinking habit on the part of the learned, not only of this country, but of Germany, to attribute true centurial stones, such as I have described. These imfounded ascriptions have been made only because the learned have failed to realize not only the rule which, as I have just stated, governs the epigraphs of true centurial stones, but another and a different rule, applying with an equal force to inscriptions which have reference to Tm'li ta.T-y centuriae. These important principles may be thus formulated : — 1. Whenever a centuria of land is mentioned in con- junction with a single name of its proprietor, that name must be the nomen. 2. Wherever a military centuria is mentioned in con- jimction with its centurion, and a single name only of the latter be given, that name will be the cognomen. These rules will constitute a test able to determine the meaning of the word, whenever it is found in epigraphy eonjoined with a single proper name. That these are true rules I shall have no difficulty in showing. Hyginus, speaking of the inscriptions upon the centurial stones which were put up on the original setting out of the colonists' allotments, says of these stones that some of them stated who were the allottees: " Alii ipsarum cen- 90 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. turiarum sic quern ad modiun qui in lateribus inscrip- serunt." ^ A similar rule is laid down by Siculus Flaccus ia similar terms : " Etiam titulos fiuitis spatiis positos habent, qui indicent, cujus agri, quis dominus, quod spatium tueatur." ^ A later compiler of a treatise attributed to Boetbius uses expressions nearly identical witb those of Siculus Flaocus : " Aliquotiens enim petras quadratas et soriptas, quae indi- cant oujus agri, quis dominus, quod spatium tueantur."' These three authorities, while they prove that the colonist had his name inscribed on the centurial stones of his estate, omit to say whether it was his full name or any and what part of it. We are not, however, without means of supplying the omission, for the mode ia which the estate was registered will afford a reflected light on the question. Speaking upon this point Siculus Flaccus says distiuotly, that, in addition to certain agrimensorial details, the nomen of the grantee and no more was recorded in the register : " Inscriptiones itaque in centuriis sunt tales, dextra aut sinistra, decumanum totimi, ultra citrave, cardinem totum, assignatum illi tantum. Inde sub- scriptum est nomen, cui concessum est."* Further on the same writer says that two persons of one and the same nomen are often found upon the original register as grantees of the same allotment : " Et aes respicitur, id est, quas quique acceptas defendant, qui- busque personis redditum aut conunutatum sit pro suo. Saepe etiam unius ejusdemque nominis duo domini ac- ceptam sibi defendunt."' This drcumstance is said by ' Page 172, Lachman. * Page 146, iS. ' Page 402, ib. * Page 155, ib. " Page 161, ib. THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 91 the same author to be a cause of confusion, " quae res quamvis sit confusa," &c., and we may easily imagine that it would be so. Such is the rule laid down by Siculus Flaccus.^ The lAhri Coloniarum use the same phraseology, e. g., " Ager ejus in nomiaibus possessorum est adsignatus." ^ Another agrimensor (Hyginus) varies this rule slightly. He gives us the entries of the colonists' names upon the register, "quod in seris Kbris sic inscribemus," ^ as of prcenomen and nomen, but omits the cognomen, as the others have done, viz., " Lucio Terentio, Luci fiHo, Graio Numisio, G.F. Aulo .... Numeriifilio."* The foregoiQg statements, though not aU identical, are not discrepant. The entry on the register simply gives us one more name than the text- writer Flaccus and the Libri Coloniarum. But this additional name is, as we see, the prceiionien only, not the cognomen. In none of these au- thorities is the cognomen given, and this omission is the more important, because, if it did not appear on the register, it woxdd be (officially at least) unknown to the agrimensor, one of whose duties was, as I shall show, to inscribe the centurial stones. All the authorities which I have cited make it therefore abundantly clear that the cognomen of a grantee did not appear upon the register. Moreover, though probably sufficient of themselves, they do not stand alone, but are confirmed by the practice of the lawyers and conveyancers of Rome, who, ia describiag an estate, iavariably call it by the nomen of the origiaal colonist to whom it was granted v" ' Page 160, Laohman. " Agri .... assignantur Tiiitim nominibus." 2 Page 239, ih. 3 Page 201, ib. * For Numerius as a prcenomen see Pestus. For Numisius as a nomen see OreUi, 449, 7, "Nnmisia, C. L. Glafyra." Also Kevue Archfiologique, vol. xvii. N. S. p. 289. 5 Dig.' 30, 85, 10. 92 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. "fundus Comelianus," " fundus Trebatianus,"! and passim, "fundus Aurelianus, fundus Petronianus, fundus Muna- tianus, fundus Lincinianus," ^ " fundus Flavianus, fundus Clodianus, fundus Pompeianus."' Amongst tlie fundi belonging to the Oollegium Silvani were " fundus Lolli- anus, fundus Pescennianus, fundus StatuUianuB, fundus Junianus."* The'family estate of tbe Vespasii was called Vespasiae.* The house-agents also followed the same rule. When they sold or let a house they called it by a name derived from the nomen of the proprietor — ^K. (easa) Oppiana, K. Postumia, Insula Arriana.^ Suetonius illustrates the rule in a fragment of his lost work "De Tiris iUustribus." He says that an estate allotted to the tragic poet L. Accius, when Pesaro was colonized, was in his (Suetonius') own days called " fundus Acoi- anus," "A quo et fundus Accianus juxta Pisaurum dicitur, qtiia illuc ex urbe inter colonos fuerat deductus."' The choice of the nomen for registration and for the appellation of the estate was most probably a reminiscence of the old time when land belonged collectively to the gens and not to the individual. That such a state of things once existed is demonstrable out of the fact that even in the historic period the ge7is was the last remainder man in law whenever a gentilis died without lawful heirs, i.e., agnates: "Si nullus agnatus sit eadem lex XII. Tabularum gentiles ad hsereditatem vocat." ' But whatever was the 1 Dig., 32, 35, 2. 2 1 ZeU., p. 393. The Tabula AlimentariaTrajana. ' lb., pp. 396, 397. The Tabula Alimeutaria Zdguram Baebianonun. 4 lb., p. 50. * Suet, in Vita Vespasiani (Eoth's edition, p. 225). « OrelU, 4333, 4324. ' Roth's edition, p. 295. 8 Gaius, 3, 17. THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 93 real ground of this selection of a name, it is quite eertaia that the nomeii of the origiQal grantee, once imposed, be- came so essentially a part of the estate that it never left it. We have seen what Suetonius says, and Italian deeds of the tenth century furnish instances of these names beiag even then in existence iu Italy, appended to the estates to which they were first given.^ As I have said, the centurial stones were iuscrihed and placed iu their due positions hy the agrimensor,^ who ac- companied the commission under which the lands of a colony were to be set out and allotted. This agrimensor could not go beyond the four corners of the commission, and the panel of names attached to it, for under that com- mission he was, though an important, yet a subordinate and assistant ofiieer only. The position of the agrimensor accordingly was this, as regarded these stones and their iascriptions : If the nomen only appeared on the register, as some of my authorities state, he had no choice but to inscribe that name only upon the stones, for he could find none else. If the praenomen and nomen both appeared on the register, and he elected to iascribe one only of such names, that name must be the nomen ; for the praenomen, like our christian name, was no name of itself to place formally before the world as the sole designation of an iadividual. In either case, therefore, when there was one name only iuscribed upon the stones, that name was by necessity the nomen. But when we turn to the designations of military cen- ' See ante, p. 80. 2 "'S.J^ila^mGrl•OTaa,tio\m de limitibtis eonstitiwndis" (p. 195, Lachman). " Incipiamus ergo ponere lapides a decumano masimo et Kardine inscrip- tione qua debet. " "Inscribendi nobis vma sit ratio." (Ibid.) "Cum oeuturias onuies inscriptiones lapidibus termiaaverimus, &o." [Ibid. p. 196 and passim.) 94 THE ROMANS OF BKITAIN. turiae we find an entirely difEerent rule foUowed out in regard to them. Of this rule we have evidences of the very first order in the various latercuh militum collected and published by Olaus Kellerman in his great work upon the Vigiles of the city of Eome.^ In the appendix he has given us not only latermla of the Vigiles, but of Eoman soldiers of other denominations. But as the Vigiles were organized upon precisely the same plan as the legion, evidence of their practice is evidence of the general mili- tary practice also, and what is true of the epigraphy of the one is applicable to the other as well.^ In regard to the Vigiles we have (iv. ibid.) the full names of the centurions given thus : — Centuriones. C. AntoniuB, C. F. Antiillus. P. JElius, P. F. Bomtdus. Ti. Claudius, T. I. P. Ruimus. Sevenis. M. Antonius, M. F. Valens. .... Julius Sohsemus. M. Mummius, M. F. Veriuus. At V. ibid, we have the muster-roU of the gregarii of each centuria, the latter taking the cognomen of its cen- ' Vigilum Bomanoruin latercula duo CoeUmontana magnam partem militiae Komauae explicantia. Bomae, 1835. ^ The constitution of the Vigilea was the same as that of the Legion. Kellerman (who wrote under the inspiration of the great Borghesi), says (p. 1, ibid.) "Ea vero peropportune est diversorum militiae urbanse generum inter se similitudo, ut optimo tuo jure tibi lioeat ad alium genus transferre munera atque instituta quae in alio existere cognoveriB. Ita quaeeunque noTa apud vigiles inveneris (invenies autem neque pauca neque levia) eadem reote cohortibus et praetoriams et urbanis attribueris, si ea modo exceperis quae nisi solorum vigilum esse non potuerunt. Tota autem militia urbana non ita dispar erat militiae legionariae, ut non magnam partem munerum novorum legionariis quoque cohortibus recte attribueris. Ut paucis dicam, his monumentis totse Bomanoruin rei militari lux affertur, maxime erro militiae urbanae imprimisque militiae vigilum urbanorum." Borghesi (vol. ui. CEuvres completes, p. 542) takes the same view: " Ora 1' ordinameuto dei vigili non era cosi discorde da quelle del resto deUa milizia urbana, ed anche della legionaria che nella massima parte non oonvenissero insieme," &c. THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 95 turion, viz. of one of the persons whose full names I have quoted, and of others whose full names are lost : — Centuria AntuUi. Centiiria Solismi. Centuria Euflni. Centuria Seneoionis. Centuria Valentis. Centuria Torquati. Centuria Verini. Centuria RutUiani. Centuria RomuK. Centuria Taurisci. Centuria Seven. Centuria Auluporis. At p. 26, ihid., we have the fuU names of other centurions and similar muster-rolls of their men under each of their centuriae. These are the centurions of this list : — C. JuKus Ingenuus. C. Julius Quintinus. C. Valerius Victor. C. MancUius Juvenis. Their centuriae are thus designated : — Centuria Ingenui. Centuria Quintini. Centuria Victoria. Centuria Juvenis. At p. 30 (Appendix), ihid., we have another Hst of centurae : — Centuria Serotini. Centuria Zeuonia. Centuria Csesi. Centuria Peregrini. Centuria MarceUini. Centuria Verini. Centiiria Provinoialis. Centuria Eufini. Centuria Juliani. Centuria Candidiani. Centuria Quadrati. Centuria Severiani. Centuria Juventini. Centuria Victoria. Centuria Cordulonis. At p. 46 (Appendix), ibid., we have another list : — Centuria Ruii. Centuria Sabini. Centuria Grani.' At p. 48 (Appendix), ibid., we find a similar list : — Centuria Flacidi. Centuria Severi. Centuria Catti. Centuria VitaUs. Centuria Clementis. Centuria Potentia. Centuria Juati. Centuria Kaui. Centuria Prieoi. ' See next note. 96 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. And so on, wheresoever suoli centuriae are mentioned in epigraphy.^ The reader will, I trust, excuse the length with which I have treated this point. It is important as showing the distinction between the one kind of centuria and the other. But though common sense would require that a name used as a nomen should helong in quality to the category of nomina, as old tradition had determined them, this was not in practice always -so. In the later days of the empire cognomina are found used as and for nomina. But we must not think that this exceptional practice was due to wan- tonness or mere caprice, — on the contrary, it had reason in its origin. A freedman, sometimes perhaps from a de- licacy of feeHng, instead of taking his master's nomen as he was by law entitled to do, — an act which would bring bim more ostensibly within the clan of his patron, — assumed the cognomen of the latter as and for his own nomen gentilitium, and such name thenceforward continued in the family of the freedman and was publicly received as a nomen? ^ "Centuria Baxbati" (No. 1020, ZeU); "Centuria E«perti" (OrelU, 3541); "Centuria Lucani Augnrini" (a double cognomen. No. 1032, ZeU); "Cob. III. Centuria Probiani" (Dr. Bruce's Eoman Wall, p. 264); "Centuria Bassi" (Muratori, p. 790, 2); "Centuria Sabiniani" l^hid. p. 544, 4) ; " Centuria Grani" [ihiA. p. 1093). [This is G-rauus, and should not be confounded with Granius. Granus is found in company with other unquestionable cognomina in an early martyrology (Euinart's Acta Martyrum, p. 512, in note) — "Granus, HUarius, Donatus, Concessus, et Satuminus."] In Keinesius (28, 11) occurs " Centuria Vari" : this is Varus. Por this cognomen see OreUi, 3892; Gruter, 172, 2; and ZeU, No. 900. 2 2 ZeU, p. 10 (Verbesserungen). He quotes the Atti dell' Academia pontific. di Arch. x. p. 191. As an example (amongst many) may be adduced "Sex. Scutarius Successus" (1 ZeU, p. 97, insc. 833). It is this state of things which made Mommsen (Inscriptiones regni NeapoU- taui Latinae, praef. p. xv.) say that "in sequiori aetate" it is impossible to separate nomina from cognomina. THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 97 We have evideiice of this application of the cognomen in. the epigraphs of some true centurial fetones found even in England. At Slack, in the county of York, was found a stone having the following iusoription : — > REBVRRIANI ' This name is of course in form and quality an induhitahle cognomen, hut that does not at all prove that the stone Kas any military reference or allusion. Nothing has ever heen discovered iu the neighbourhood to favour the view that military works were at any time executed there to any extent, which would require or justify an inscription in that sense. Besides this lettered stone there are others entirely devoid of inscription — muti, as the agrimemores expressively called them ; hut they all testify by their forms, however dissioiilar to each other, that they have a significance peculiar to the art. Near Seisdon Common, in Staffordshire, is a large ' 3 GflugVs Camden (the edition in four Toliimes), p. 274. Grough, while publishing the inscription correctly in his plate, reads it wrongly in his text, and Watson (History of Halifax) copies the text. The nomen Eeburrius is the root of this name (1 Zell, p. 91, inso. 764, " Eehurrius Virilis"). Curiously enough, this rare and probably humble nomen has been dignified by Gibbon with an especial comment. Ammianus Mar- cellinus, in a passage of his history, which has more the air of satire than plain truth, says of the citizens of Rome of the fourth century, "praeno- minum claritudine conspicui quidam, ut putant, in inimensum. se extollunt, cum Eeburri, et Fabunii, et Pagonii, G-erionesque adpeUentur, ao Dahi cum Tarraciis et Perrasiis aliisque ita decens sonantibus originum insig- nibus multis." (Lib. 28, o. 4, § 7.) Gibbon's comment is this: "The minute dUigenoe of antiquaries has not been able to Teiify these extra- ordinary names. I am of opinion that they were invented by the historian himself, who was afraid of any personal satire or application." (Decline and Pall, vol. 3, o. 31.) Whatever maybe true of the other names, Eeburrius is a genuine one, though soaioely aristocratic. 98 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. triangular stone, called tlie war stone.^ This by its shape must be trifinial.^ At Maryport, in Cumberland, is a triangular stone of the same nature, but with the letter K inscribed upon it.' Near Kiaver, in StafEordshire, is a large stone, called the Bolt Stone, of a square figure and tapering towards the top, having two n&tches on the summit.^ In Caistor Field (Caistor iu Northamptonshire) there are " two stones upon a green balk, descending to Ghm Wade Ferry ; they are nicked at the top like arrows."' These three stones are each the "temainus bifurous," which marked a trifinium.^ In describing another terminal stone, equally uninscribed, I will quote the words of my learned friend, W. Thompson "Watkin, Esq., who has seen it, and has been the first to record it. " Close on the borders of Derbyshire, and a little above Lyme Park in East Cheshire, are some stones marked in the ordnance map in old English character as the Bow Stones. They are referred to in very ancient writings. They consist of a large oblong stone buried in the ground (depth uncertain) and only about three inches above the surface. In this oblong stone are placed two cylindrical stones, looking like attenuated Roman milliaries. I did not measure their circumference, but it would be about 1 WMte's G-azetteer of Staffiordshire, p. 291. My learned friend W. Thompson Watkin, Esq., has favoured me with this reference. 2 Ante, p. 66. ^ This stone is published in Dr. Bruoe's Lapidariimi Septentrionale. As to the use of "K" for "C," see 2 ZeU, pp. 63, 65 (note 10). * Brayley & Britton's Beauties of England and Wales, p. 851. The stone is also described in Shaw's Staffordshire. * Grough's Caistor, p. 109. J. Batteley, S.T.P., archdeacon of Can- terbury (Antiquitates S. Eadmundi Burgi, a.d. 1745, p. 49), says of these stones, "Duo oblongi lapides, qui in antiquis aliquot agrorum circumja- centium descriptionibus, S. Eadmundi lapides vocautur." * liachman, p. 305, and diagram 237. THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 99 two feet. The northern one is just four feet high, the southern one three feet three inches. They have an iaoli- nation towards each other. As far as I can recollect they will he ahout two feet asunder at their base, and about eighteen inches at the summit of the slender one. To what depth they are let iato the flat stone there seems at present to he no means of judging. " This flat stone will be about four and a half to flve feet long by three feet broad, and is almost north and south. " The shorter stone has a square hole in it at the top (about two inches square) of no great depth, perhaps one and a half to two inches, but both this and the other stone are much worn." In explanation of the terminal character of these curious stones, I will offer the followiug references : — There is to be found in the agrimensura " lapis intra lapidem," both "in trifinio" and "iu cursorio."' There are "tres termini in imum," described in the same science.^ There are " termini factura tomatUes, hoc est rotundi subtUissimi " ' also found in it. These latter stood "in quadrifinio." The square hole let into the shorter stone is an unequivocal feature of termini.^ All these things summed up together lead to the conclusion that the object described by Mr. Watkiu is triflnial. A stone which marked subsecwa is stUl extant at Thames Head in Gloucestershire, on the borders of the counties of Wilts and Grloucester. It is uniuscribed. It is shaped like a horse-block,^ and answers to diagram No. 307 of ' Page 342, Laohman. ' a. pp. 342, 353. 3 lb. p. 361. * lb. See the diagrams on plates 30, 34, 35, 36, 37. * I am indebted for this information to George E. "Wright, Esq. , F. S. A. , whose obliging courtesy also furnished me with a sketch of the stone itself. h2 100 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. the agrimensores. It shoiild therefore be " terminus qm suhsecivum demonstrat."^ Another stone of this kiad is to he seen {teste me ipso) in Claydon Lane, near Sunderland.^ Of Eoman hotontini in England there is such plain evidence, that the careful and ohservant Grough, even iu his uncritical ^ge, was struck with their agrimensorial meaning and value. He remarks, " The writers of boun- daries say little hillocks of earth, called botontines, were placed on bounds, so that I am apt to think most of the tumuli and round hillocks we see scattered up and down the country were raised for this purpose, and that ashes, coals, potsherds, &c. would be found under them, if they were searched."^ When Cuckhamsley barrow in Berkshire was opened, there was found in the centre " an immense oaken stake, bound with twigs of wiUow and hazel."* This stake pre- sented evident traces of the action of fire.' This is a palus picitus.^ At Langley, near Arkesden, in Essex, a tumulus of considerable size was opened by Lord Braybrooke. It con- tained broken pieces of Roman brick, glass and Samian ware, near the centre.' At Elton, near South Dalton, in Yorkshire, was foimd what Mr. C. Monkman, to whom I owe the information, has called " a buried structure." It consisted of two parallel 1 Vide the diag. 307 and p. 342, Laclunan. ^ It is now marked with the letters 0. P. (Claydon parish). 2 Gough's Camden, ii. 271. * History and Antiquities of the Hundred of Compton, Berks, by William Hewett, junior, p. 100. 6 Ii. « Ante, p. 70. ' Notes on Koman Essex (vol. 1, p. 198, Transactions of the Essex Archseologioal Society). THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 101 walls of chalk and sandstone, eleven feet in length and about two feet in height. The hollow space or trough was nearly two feet wide. It was roofed over with slabs of sandstone. Within the trough were burnt stones, char- coal, a quern or millstone, and portions of an amphora and of another Roman vessel. The whole was covered by a mound. At Helperthorpe, in the wolds of Yorkshire, was found a botontimis which contained a feature iu addition to what may be called its ordinary instrudura. The mound enclosed pieces of pottery glazed and unglazed, an iron horseshoe, scraps of fragments of red tile and of glass, and lamps of burnt sandstone. Under this mound there lay upon the ground a cruciform platform, protected by walls built of native chalk. This cross was Greek ia form, and was raised m relief upon the natural ground. ^ The cross is the " antica et postica " of the agrimensores, and as such has been explained before.^ In this instance we see the cross was covered by the mound. But this was not always the case. Sometimes the cross was outlined upon a raised platform and left perfectly open. In Somersetshire, at a place called Banwell Camp, is an earthwork, consisting of an oblong enclosure with the angles roim.ded off. This earthwork is fifty -five yards in length and forty-five ia breadth, having a sHght agger and fosse. In the centre is a ridge of earth forming a Greek cross, raised about two feet above the rest of the enclosure, and four feet broad. ^ 1 Buried Cruciform Platforms in Yorkshire, by Ctarles Mnnlmnan, vol, 2, pp. 69 — 75, Yorkshire Aiohseological and Typographical Journal. This paper is a model of its kind. Its perspicuity and exactness leave nothing to be desired. ' Ante, p. 67. The agrimensores themselves called the "antica et postica" a crux. (DolabeUa, p. 303, Lachman.) ' 2 Phelp's Somersetshire, p. 108. 102 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. In the parish of St. Margaret, county Hereford, lias been found an earthen embankment, cruciform in shape.^ Within the waUs of the eastellum at Eichborough, county Kent, is still to be seen a Latin cross. Within the interior area, towards the north-east, is a platform of flints embedded in mortar, and covered also with a layer of mortar four or five inches thick.* In relief upon this platform is the Latin cross referred to. It is composed of square stones, and is four to five feet above the surface.^ Why this agrimensorial cross should be where it now is — ^within the four walls of a eastellum — ^it is not difficult to explain. When this sign was laid down no eastellum existed. The fortress is one of a chain of such erected in the third or fourth century to secure the Idtus Saxonicum, and it had been built upon centuriated ground e:q)ropriated for the purpose. Of examples of the arcafinalis, the number is very great, and fresh instances are constantly becoming known. The examples known of this interesting sign are also aU well defined, and luckily, owing to the interest which they have excited in the puzzled minds of their discoverers, they have for the most part been well and particularly desraribed. like the hotontini, they have contained not only manu- factured and selected objects of human industry and art, whole or fragmentary, but the agrimensorial cross has like- wise appeared in some of them. Over some of these arcce a mound of earth has been heaped. At Swinton, on the wolds of Yorkshire, was a mound, nearly circular and about seventy feet in diameter, within a few yards of the old Eoman road, now quarried away, which led from Ebuxacmn to Prsetorium. When it was • Gent. Mag. N. 8. pp. 387—89, vol. xl. " Antiquities of Kichborough, Reculver and Lyinne, by diaries Boach Smith, p. 44. THE ROMANS OF BRITAIX. 103 opened, a cruciform excavation of eight feet nine inches in depth, cut iu the solid oolite, was exposed. The arms of this excavated cross were in line with the cardinal points, and were exactly of the same length, measuring from extremes, north and south and east and west, just nineteen feet. They were six feet wide at the point of iutersection and five feet at the ends. The sides were perpendicular, cut with great exactness, and at the bottom was a perfectly flat surface of oolite. Upon this level bottom was built a platform, also in the form of a Greek cross, the arms of which extended nearly the whole length of the excavation, and were two feet high and two feet wide. The space between the sides of the excavation and the platform was filled up to the level of the platform with soil, and over aU there was a thick bed of beaten clay. Above this, in ascending order, the excavation was filled with soil con- taining Eoman pottery, a Roman horseshoe, beds of clay and charcoal, quantities of glazed pottery (which Mr. Monkman considered all to be Roman), burnt stones, flag- slates (one with a hole bored through it), a bone pin, &c. ; and over aU these a mound of about three feet of altitude, formed of soil, clay and burnt stones.' Near Fimber, another village on the Yorkshire wolds, was a mound formed of gravel and clay. It stood upon a bed of clean chalk gravel. Below this moxmd was found a cruciform excavation, with arms of equal length in the direction of the cardinal points. The depth of the excava- tion was nine feet, and the length of each arm from the poiat of intersection was ten feet six inches. The width of each arm at the bottom was nearly four feet, and the floor, which was perfectly level, consisted of undisturbed gravel. Upon the floor was biailt a regular, but partly > Buried Cruciform Platforms in. Torkshire, by Charles Monkman, Yorkshire Archseologioal and Topographical Journal, vol. 2, pp. 72, 73. 104 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIK. destroyed, wall or platform of oolite, lias and chalk stones •witli some clay. With the exception of the chalk these materials had aU heen brought from a distance. This platform was also cruciform, havirig been built along the four arms of the excavation and termiaating within two feet of the ends in all four cases. Where it was perfect, this walled platform measured eighteen inches in width and eight inches in height, and this discovery thus far exactly coincided with what was found at Swinton. At Fimber there was an additional feature — a second and more recently-walled cross or platform. This was destroyed in reaching the other. It was found at an elevation of five feet above the base of the excavation, and was four feet below the natural surface of the ground. This latter cross was nearly perfect, and was walled with two, and in some cases three, courses of stones, and was filled in between the walls with chalk, gravel and clay. Each arm of this upper cross was about eight feet six inches long, sixteen inches wide, and from eight to ten inches high. The stones composing the outer walls were chiefly of chalk, some of which showed signs of slight tooling. The part between the lower and upper crosses or platforms was filled in with gravel, containing numer- ous pieces of split bones of animals, some shards of glazed pottery, portions of charred wood and many iron naUs. Upon and around the upper cross or platform was also chalk gravel, which contained a greater number of shards of glazed pottery, broken bones of animals, burnt and decayed wood and iron nails, a bronze fibula and some thin straps of bronze.^ From some arcaefinaks the mound is entirely absent. ' Buried Cruciform Platforros in Torkshire, by Charles Moukman, Yorkshire Arohaeologioal and Topographical Journal, toI. 2, pp. 74, 75. THE ROMANS OF BKITAIN. 105 On the sunimit of Jordan Hill, near Preston, in Dorset- sliire, were foimd tlie remains of a temple. Within this temple was found a dry well, fourteen feet deep. This well was dauhed aU round with a lining or pargeting of clay, in which was set edgewise (like Dutch tiles round a fire-place) a layer of old stone tiles, which, from their peg- holes, appear to have been used or prepared for use on roofs of houses ; at the hottom of the well, on a substratum of clay, was a kind of cist formed by two oblong stones, and in this cist two small Roman urns, a broad iron sword twenty-one inches long, an iron spear-head, an iron knife and steel-yard, two long irons resembling tools used by turners, an iron crook, an iron handle of a bucket, &c., but no bones. Next above this cist was a stratum of thick stone tiles, like those which lined the well, and upon it a bed of ashes and charcoal ; above these ashes was a double layer of stone tiles arranged in pairs, and between each pair was the skeleton of one bird, with one small Roman coin ; above the upper tier of tiles was another bed of ashes. Similar beds of ashes, alternating with double tiers of tiles (each pair of which inclosed the skeleton of one bird and one copper coin), were repeated sixteen times between the top and bottom of the well ; and half-way down was a cist containing an iron sword and spear-head, and urns like those in the cist at the bottom of the well.^ It is curiously corroborative of the terminal character of this area that the agrimensores have declared it to have been the practice of proprietors to build upon trifinia or quadrifinia such a temple as was found at Jordan HiU.^ 1 Gent. Mag-N. S. xxii. pp. 635, 636; Proceedings of Society of Antiquaries, vol. 4, 2nd S. p. 225 ; and Price's Koman Ajatiquities, pp. 34, 35. The last named is a work of extraordmaiy interest and erudition. ' iProntinuB, lib. 2, p. 57 (Lachman), and ib. p. 302. 106 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. At the NothumlDerland Couiity Court house, outside of Newcastle, was found such another area finalis. It was a well, finely cased with Eoman masonry. It had a circular waU, raised within another strong wall, in the form of a trapezium, and the space between them was traversed with strong connecting beams of oak, both hori- zontally and perpendicularly, and then tightly packed up with blue clay. Two of the perpendicular beams had large stags' horns at their lower ends, apparently to assist in steadying them tOl clay sufficient was put round them to keep them upright.^ At Bakesboum HiU, near Canterbury, a very elaborate area was found.^ In making the excavation which led to the discovery, oaken beams, a foot square, first appeared, and then the planking of a quadrilateral oaken shaft to the depth of six feet, then heavy cross beams, then planking again, termi- nated by four cross beams at the top. These lay twenty- five feet below the surface. The cross-beams were six feet six inches in length, firmly mortised together. The planks were mortised or rabbeted together, and let into the beams, each plank being pierced by transverse ties, crossing the comers of the shafts inside, and giving to the entire structure the appearance of having a flight of steps within. These ties projected two or three inches on the outside. The entire fabric was of oak. The interior quadrature of the shaft was three feet three inches, the cross-ties about a foot long, the beams six feet six inches and twelve inches square. The top of the shaft, as I have intimated, was 1 Hodgson's History of Northumberland, vol. iii. p. 173, quoted by Dr. Bruce in. his Eoman Wall, p. 101, 3rd ed. *. Vol. ii. Arohseologia Cantiana (a paper by John Brent, jun., F.S.A.); Price's Roman Antiquities, pp. 37, 38. THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 107 covered witli open jdaiiks. The structure was entirely fiUed with laxge flints. Towards the base was a single um, about ten inches in height, formed of blueish-blaek clay. It was protected by large flints arched over it. Beneath it was a layer of flints, then five urns, one central, and one in each corner of the shaft. At Heydon Hill, about half-a-nule from the village of Heydon in Essex, was found an area which has been described in the following detail. It was a small and nearly square room dug into the northern side of a little hiU, and built round with pieces of chalk, the top of the structure having about four feet of earth above it. The bottom of the floor is of lumps of chalk, and at its northern side is another raised smaller portion of the same material about a foot in height. Around three sides of the floor is a trench, which was foimd filled with char- coal and ashes. Surrounding the whole is a wall, four feet high, composed of irregular pieces of clunch (or hard chalk) rudely squared. A small brass of Constantius II., fragments of Samian and other Eoman fictile ware and implements, and a bronze bracelet or anklet, were found in the area} In Biddenham Field, about two miles from Bedford, and about 100 yards from a Roman road, a shaft was dis- covered. It was of some depth, and contained a series of deposits in the following order: — Burnt stones, Roman pottery, Roman sculpture, burnt stones again, altar slab, burnt stones, stone whorls, leather soles, logs of wood, and fragments of Roman pottery in sufficient quantity to make fifty urns. The shaft was filled up with pebbles, which ' Joumalof the British Archseological Association, vol. iv.; and Price's Boman Antiquities, pp. 36, 37. 108 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. had been calcined to their centre, and were dispersed from the top to the bottom.^ At Ipsden, in Oxfordshire, was found an arcafinalis. The description given of it is this : ^ — It is now situated in the middle of a shaw or copse. Its mouth is very narrow, and its sides of rough lihbed chalk. Its depth has not been estimated. At some considerable depth from the surface, not stated, three huge logs of wood stood per- pendicularly pointing towards the mouth. On each side of the well, about twenty feet from the surface, was a line of steps, cut into the chalk with marveUous skill and regularity, and of the shape and size of a lady's stirrup. At Wellingborough, in Northamptonshire, was found an area finalis? It is thus shortly described : — In digging for ironstone a pit was found containing bones of deer and several Roman ollae, one of which was perfect. The pit was neatly lined with limestone, and had a sloped bottom. At Ashill, in Norfolk, on some high ground were found three arcae finales close to each other, two of them at least containing unbroken ollae amongst other things. One area was about eight feet deep, and would appear to have contained what was thought to be an old oak-chest. This chest was carried away. The second area was better in- vestigated. Within it was a carefully fitted frame-work of oak. The internal measurement of this frame-work was three feet and a half on each side, the external being four feet and a half. These massive pieces were all axe- hewn, and were fitted together somewhat like an Oxford picture-frame — almost the exact counterpart, in fact, of ' Associated Arohiteotiiral Societies Reports, vol. iv. p. 283 ; and Price's Roman Antiquities, before quoted, p. 34. ^ Price's Roman Antiquities, p. 37. 3 Building News, Sept. 18, 1868. THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 109 the best timter-work of the present day in a metal mine. The frame was filled in with the clayey soil of the spot to the depth of ahout six feet. The pit was also Uned with oak. In the soil which filled up the frame was found a small round bronze fibula of late Roman type. At six feet from the surface were Samian ware, broken pottery, charcoal, stones, a basket, a strainer, the bones of an ox and of a bird. At ten feet were foimd more Samian ware, drinking cups, the whole of one and the greater portion of another, and paterae, broken pottery, part of the wall-plaster of a Roman house, having a well-known pattern on it, a knife- blade with part of the wooden handle, a whetstone, a stone which might have been a hammer. At fifteen feet were foimd more broken pottery, the staves of an oaken bucket, parts of four well- worn sandals, the bones of deer, pig and goat, oyster and mussel shells. At nineteen feet, which was the next layer — ^vegetable and other matter forming each of the layers — ^were found a broken bottle, large stones, four ollae, a bent piece of iron, a, fibula, a large olla turned over on its side. At twenty feet was found b, fibula of a harp form. At twenty-four feet there were four ollae, two of which were whole, the other two having been broken by large stones, and also bones of deer. At twenty-^ix feet and below were three ollae, one large and two small, also a piece of wood. At twenty-eight feet were deposited stones, ollae, a basket, an olla and bottle (between which were placed stones), a layer of large stones, bones of ox and pieces of leather. At thirty feet was a layer of stones and sUt, ollae and bones of deer. At thirty-two feet were deposited stones, ollae, a bottle. 110 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. fragments of coarse brown ware, several ollae (some of which were broken) and fragments of Samian ware. At thirty-three feet were found stones, fragments of Samian ware, bones of deer, an oUa of a knotted type, broken neck of an amphora, a bucket ten inches high, its iron handle and cleats to secure it to the vessel, several pieces of wood, part of a quern stone, a muller for grinding pigments, an olla and a piece of leather. At thirty-four feet were found a knotted olla, a handle of stag horn, large stones, some of which had been burnt, ollae with twisted hemp or sedge round the neck, and a small olla. From thirty-six feet the deposits were ollae, bones of deer, pieces of wood, a bottle, several pieces of tile, a clam vessel, a broken olla, a basket of sedge, Samian ware and a piece of water willow. From thirty-eight feet and a half to forty feet were found stones, a fragment of a wide-rimmed olla, fourteen other ollae witb slipknots of cords on them, all the bones of a haunch of venison. One of the olla had been mended with pitch. At forty feet was a floor of flints, and underneath it the solid clay. The number of ollae found in this area was about 100, and of these more than fifty were perfect. They were all imbedded in leaves. They were laid in all sorts of ways. There were no himian bones. The third area was only partially excavated. It was lined with oak planking. Two elegant vases were found, and then the investigation was discontinued.' At Duston, near Northampton, were foimd in the iron- stone under the surface soil three areae arranged in a ' Norwich Mercury, Oct. 24, 1874. THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. Ill radiating form. They were at a depth of four feet in the rock, and had a flooring covered with ashes, among which were burnt stones and a nest of later small Eoman coins. ^ I have before said that altars to Silvanus were terminal. Of these altars we have many instances ia England.^ The examples found iu England and "Wales which I have described, sufficiently evince the infinite variety of the formal details of the agrimensura, and will help ma- terially to verify the assertion of Boethius : — " Termiai vero non sunt omnibus locis, sed infinita sunt multa alia testimonia." ' I have kept entirely distinct the subject of territorial signs — those stones and those earthworks which demarcated one territorium from another. Of the first I know none ia England or Wales. Of the second there is a most interesting example at LUboume in Northamptonshire — on the borders of the three counties of Warwick, Northampton and Leicester. At this place is a series of three high artificial earth mounds of the precise shape and disposition represented in a diagram, which illustrates the text of an agrimensor.* Of one of the hills for min g this great conjoint earthwork Grough says, " at Lfllbome in the county of Northampton there is a conical hill, near which some people digging in the hopes of treasure found only coals."* This three-fold mound, being too large for a centurial 1 Vol. ix. N. S. Numismatic Chronicle, p. 169 ; Price's Eoman Antiquities, p. 39. ' Hiibner, p. 166, insc. 959, at Netherby ; ii. p. 75, inso. 304, at Milbume Manor. One was found outside Kewcastle (Bruoe's Eoman "WaU). ^ Lachmau, p. 403. * No. 241, Lachman, p. 306 (Latinus). ' Grougli's Camden, vol. ii. p. 271, and note. He means charcoals, or carhones. See ante, p. 70. 112 THE ROMANS OF BKITAIN. mark, and being at the point of junction of three terriioncc, must te taken to represent a territorial, not a centurial, trijwiAMm. The outlines of territoria were so irregular, as we may ahimdantly see in the figures which accompany the treatises of the agrimensores, that the confines of two or three ter- ritoria could ea^y and must have constantly been foimd to converge. From centuriation I will pass on to limitation. Of the limitation of England and Wales there should be to our hand the amplest evidence and illustration ; but imperfect observation in some cases, and defect of technical knowledge in others, have mystified a subject which may be said to lie under our eyes. I mean that antiquaries, whenever they have written upon this subject, have almost invariably omitted to mention the breadths of the Roman roads which have fallen under their notice. The gravity of this omission will be evident to all who shall have fol- lowed the course of my previous remarks. Simultaneously also with this omission to observe facts with the exactness requisite for their due comprehension, ovir antiquaries have never directed their attention to the books either of the agrimensores or the jurists — the only writers who could give aim and significance to facts exactly noticed and ascertaiaed.' Under such circumstances, it cannot be a matter of surprise that a subject, simple and intelligible enough if its study were duly prosecuted, has never been presented ia a clear, satisfactory or reasonable form. Had it been otherwise, the notion so long upheld, and stiU pre- vailing, that the Romans made four or five prolonged highways only in and through this land, could never have attracted even the inclination of a belief. 1 I except Gough, but he is the only instance to the contrary. THE KOMANS OF BRITAIN. 113 These remarks axe meant only to show that to apply the true Roman Umitatio and its rules, which we have seen, to England and Wales is at least a novelty. For- tunately, though it be novel, there is no real difficulty in the subject. One or two clear and intelligible instances of this limitation (as the absence of general measurement wiU. not allow more) will be sufficient for illustration. The county of Lancaster is " intersected from end to end by four great roads of the Romans ; two run from east to west, and two from north to south." ^ So Surrey, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Berkshire and other English counties are similarly decussated by the Roman roads of the greater magnitude. In all these cases such roads are the decumanus and cardo mamni of Roman territoria, and the towns of Roman foundation, at the point of intersection of these roads, are the civitates to which those territoria belonged. So SHchester affords a reasonable presumption that it was the civitas of a territory which may have been the the present Hampshire.^ The Rev. J. Gr. Joyce, F.S.A., has shown' that from the forum of SHchester, disinterred by himself, there start four roads, N., S., E. and "W. This is what shoidd normally be in a colonial civitas,^ for these roads are the inchoate limites maadnii which were to be afterwards extended throngh the territoiy of the colony. That they were so extended there is stiQ ' Whitaker's History of Mamoliester, i. 110, 2nd edition; Baines's Lancashire, toI. i. p. 13. * It is no objection to SHchester being what I have suggested it was, that it is on the borders of the temtorium of another civitas. This ooca- sionally happened; see diagram No. 151, Lachman, which represents a city placed upon ^efinitima linea. 3 Proc. Soo. Antiq. 2 S. iii. 496. * Ante. 114 THE HOMANS OF BRITAIN. the clearest evidence remaining upon the face of the country.' Near Caistor, in Northamptonshire, there is a Roman road called the Forty-foot Way,^ the ordinary breadth of the decumanus maximus. The examples cf centuriation and limitation, given by me and which need not be multiplied, are sufficient to demonstrate that the system of the agrimensura vsras carried into execution in all its varying details in every part of Roman Britain. Of this general fact they furnish direct and irrefutable evidence. Sufficient as this is to prove my intention, the evidence however does not stop there. There is invaluable proof of a separate and distinct order obtain- able in the times following the Roman obedience, which confirms and illustrates the same agrimensura, and which shows it to have been then as much a Hviug and practised system as it had ever formerly been. The evidence which I refer to is comprised in the parcels or specific descriptions and definitions which in Anglo- Saxon deeds are contained in or appended to these instru- ments, and it ranges from the seventh to the close of the eleventh century. This body of proof is enormous, and it demonstrates as conclusively as the actual Roman signs the ubiquitous existence iu our own land of the workings of the agrimensura. The whole coimtry of England, sub- sequently to the barbarian conquests, still persisted in showing the same Roman face which it had originally received. The surface of England is traversed by roads of all the kinds defined by the agrimensores. There were still * See Cruttwell's Tonre through Great Britain, ii. 199. * Gongh's Camden, ii. 269 and 292, 2nd edition. THE KOMANS OF BRITAIN. 115 the great lines — ^those which led to and from a county town or city and which facilitated the inarch of troops. They had then come to he called portwegas, ceasterwegas, fyrdwegas, herestrsete. These were broad and high, and ran ia the direction of the cardinal points.' There were other ways, serving more exclusively the purposes of agriculture. They were cartways (wsenwegas) ; they were small. They were lanes (lanan) ; hut as they all severally opened into the great high roads,^ they afforded the means of general communication throughout the length and breadth of the territory. All these roads, great and small, subserved the vital purpose of the agrimensura. They demarcated and de- limited the estates of the landowner. They were limites or Hmitary ways, and were stUl so called, viz. mserwegas.^ Centurial stones are everywhere in England remaining in their old places and testifying to their old meanings and iatents. They are expressly called limitary stones • "Portweg " (6 Kem. C. D. p. 8, and 4 Kera. p. 98) ; "Portatr^t " (6 Kem. 0. D. p. 31) ; "se Lundenweg" {ib. p. 31) ; "hehstr^t" (i«. p. 60) ; " se wic-sreg " (5 Kem. p. 126) ; "se bradweg" (iJ. p. 392) ; "se hig weg " {ib. p. 392) ; " se brada herpaS " (iJ. p. 391) ; " se ];iod-weg " (ii. p. 187) ; " se herpaS " (iJ. p. 194, " fortJ norS andlang wegea to Jiou herepaS Jje soyt to Jisere byrig to West Clerau") ; "Ceaster herpaS" (i4. p. 217) ; "East hserepaS" {ib. p. 221) ; " cyniiiges heiweg" '(2 Kem. C. D. p. 66). ^ Smaller roads leading to the highway. "Se smalaweg" (6 Kem. C. D. p. 31, and 5 Kem. p. 352) ; " andlang fses smalan weges to Jam herepaSe" (5 Kem. C. D. p. 297) ; " se lylia weg" {ib. p. 297 and 3 Kem. C. D. p. 33) ; " waenweg" (6 Kem. C. D. p. 8) ; on fa ealdan lanan nySewearde" (3 Kem. C. D. p. 345) ; ".ffigleslona" (3 Kem. C. D. p. 32). 3 "Maerwegas" (3 Kem. C. D. p. 32). These are the cardinal and decumanal lines. The same charter distinguishes from these the smaller limitary ways. "Ondlang Jjses lytlan weges Jjset hit cym3 on Jone norSran mserweg ; ondlang mserweges Jset hit cymtJ on .^gleslonan." The examples are passim ; "of San stone andlang mereweies" (6 Kem. C. D. p. 231) ; " on iEgan stane on mrerweg " (3 Kem. C. D. p. 384) ; "on ]!one meerwege" (ii. p. 32) ; " se norSra mserweg" («4. p. 33) ; " maerweg " (5 Kem. C. D. p. 321). l2 116 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. (gemseigtaiias). A single stone is spoken of as standing alone. Two stones are mentioned as being both together. Several stones are enumerated in succession as placed upon the same estate. Some are stated to be in a heap, in a pile.' Botontini continually occur under the names of limitary- barrows (gems^beorgas) and earth barrows (eorgheorgas). Sometimes three are placed in immediate juxtaposition.'* ' Stones are mentioned descriptively a« terminal, "panen on msere- stan ; of J-an stone andlang mereweies " (6 Kem. C D. p. 231); "of gemerstane" (3 Kem. C. D. 403); "on Jione maeratan" [ih. p. 439,appen.). They are spoken of singly. " Se hola stan " (5 Kem. 0. D. p. 105) ; "sestan" (ii. p. 107); " se stan on hriogweg" (ji. p. 153); "toanan stane" (3 Kem. C. D. p. 403); "on Jione anlipian stan" (ii. p. 467). These single stones are sometimes named, probably from a past or pre- sent proprietor of the estate which they helped to demarcate, e.g., "BriS-wiSe stan" (6 Kem. C. D. p. 24) ; "Manning stan" {ib. p. 56) ; "Wullafes stan" (5 Kem. C. D. p. 107) ; "Boddan stan" {ib. p. 121) ; " Cybban stan" (ib. p. 401) ; "of Mgaa stane on mserweg" (3 Kem. C. D. p. 384). Stones are mentioned as being several in number, placed separately. "To fan stan; of tfan to Jian o]ieran stan; Jiaet swa to Jian Jriddan stane ; and to fan feortfan stan " (6 Kem. C. D. p. 216). Ceolwin, in a devise of land to the convent at Winchester, gives the bonndaries as follows: " forme on senne stan at Ceolaoumbes heafod; fonne on aenne stan on Woncmnb .... J-onne on senne micelne stan at fera hlinoa to east heafdnm ; foune on of erne micelne stan on f am wege middan on fare dense" (5 Kem. C. D. p. 137)); "andlang sealt strsete to fam stane; of fam stane to fam oferan stane; fset swa to fam friddan stane, and to fam feortTan stane" (3 Kem. C. D. p. 38). Stones are placed together. In two's : "of fam streate to fam twam stane" (3 Kem. C. D. p. ^4) ; " of So iberghen on fe foer stanas " (3 Kem. C. D. p. 415, appen.). In heaps: " fonne nor?5 on fone lytlan stan beorh" (6 Kem. C. D. p. 36) ; " to fan lytlan stan beorge" (5 Kem. C. D. 194); " f anen on fa stanen pUe" (6 Kem. C. D. p. 232). In rows : "on fa ealdan stan reawe" (3 Kem. C. D. p. 460, appen.) ; "on ane stanrsBwe" (5 Kem. C. D. p. 153). '^ "ponne of gemerstane on gemffirbeorgas ; fonne of langan dene neoSewearde to anan stane ; fonne of er wodnesdic ; fset to fare eoi«byrig; fonne fonan to oxnamere middeweardne ; fonne fonan on lytlan beorg to anan stane" (3 Kem. C. D. p. 403, app.); "marbeorh" (5Kem. G.D. p. 198). "EorSbeorg." &ee ante. "On fa THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 117 Trifinia and quadrifinia are found under tlie equivalent words " OTeo_gem8ero," "feowergemsBro."^ Ditches are defined to be terminal.^ Bridges are equally so.' Hedges and hedgerows answer the like purpose.* Stone walls are in the same category.^ E.oman stone sepulchral chests are stUl found and appealed to as boun- daries.^ The small Eoman piQars, once called "termini augustei," Burvive in all their limitary meaning.' The area finalis is extensively referred to.' ealdan eor^yrig" (4 Kem. C. D. p. 74). "pa Jireo beorgas" (5 Eem. C. D. p. 17) ; "aerest of frim beorgam on Cobbandene" (4 Kem. C. D. pp. 48, 49). * "Innan jjrim gemseran" (Heming's Cibartulary, p. 75); "JJreo gemsero" (ij. p. 159) ; " f eower gemasro " ( Ji. 160); " on f eower gemsere " (ih. p. 411). " "M^rdic" (6 Kem. C. D. pp. 28, 220); "dio" is mentioned frequently in the sense of boundary in 5 Kem. C. D. p. 394 ; "fos" for fossa (3 Kem. C. D. p. 169). ' Agrim. Laohman, p. 361: "Pontem marmoreum in fine inTenies. Pontem de lapide vivo in fine invenies. Pontem ex caloe factum in fine invenies." So in 2 Kem. C. D. p. 250, "pset andlang bHtSan otS Jia stanbrioge." * No one can forget the sweet verses of Vergil — " Hinc tibi quae semper vioino ab limite saepes Hyblaeis apibus florem depasta salicti, Saepe levi somnum. suadebit inire susurro." The references to hedges and hedgerows in England are frequent. In Mr. Cockayne's publication (vol. 1, p. 395), we find a magical direction, " sleah serine stacan on middan Jam ymbhagan." The Diplomata give us the hedge and the hedgerow as terminal; "se gemserhaga" (5 Kem. C. D. p. 70 ; 6 Kem. C. D. p. 9) ; "m^rhege" (3 Kem. C. D. p. 32) ; " andlang hegersewe" (5 Kem. C. D. p. 374). * Stone wall, the maceria of the agrirmnsores : " Ofer fJone hseSfeld in stanwale; andlang Tpseie wale in Tpone portweg" (4 Kem. C. D. p. 98). ^ "Of Jam tfome on So stan oysten on holencumbe" (4 Kem. C. D. p. 8.) ' What the Anglo-Saxon charters called a " jtapol" (passim) was the "terminus augusteus" — a round short column. (Lachman, p. 341, diag. 273. See, also, Boethius (ib. p. 401), "terminos augusteos, id est, rotundos in effigiem oolunmae.") ' It is called miBrpyt, or Umitaxy well. "Of Heortwyllan on Ja ealdan 118 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. There were mile stones so called and so understood/ Besides all this ohjective display of the surviviag agri- mensura, Latin words connected with the craft so clung to the earth that the rural proprietors and their tenants never ceased, even under the harharian monarchies, to retain and employ them. No Teutonic friction could wear out the impress of such words as strata (strset), finis (finie), fons (fonte), puteus (pyt), casteUum aquae (castel), fossa (fos), campus (camp), cohors (corte), villa (weUa), pila (pil), turns (tor), vicus (wic), castrum (ceaster), portus (port), &c? Trees are still regarded as terminal.' Even as withered stuhhs they still perform this duty.* Nay, more, so en- grained is the purpose of termination that it survives the tree itself, and the place of the latter becomes the termimis.^ stige ; fset andlang stige on Jione nwerpyt" (3 Kem. 0. D. p. 442) ; " JiSBt from ];am geate on gerihte east to maere pytte ; Jonne of Sam pytte' on gerihte to )>am etane" [iB. p. 421); "andlang heldan weges on Jane pyt" {ih. p. 420); "Janne on )>ere herepaSe on fane pet" (ib. p. 415) ; " of Kam paeKe on tJsene maerpytt" (4 Kem. C. D. p. 19); "Jionne gaeS hit nortJ ofer hyrel to Jjam pytte se is set landgemare" (3 Kem. C. D. p. 435); "\set fram Jam geate on gerihte east to nMerpytte; yaans ai 37am pytte on gerihte to Jam wylle" (2 Kem. C. D. p. 250). » " Of fsere bnman to mila stane" (3 Kem. C. D. p. 382). » See tmte, pp. 36 — 40. ~~ 3 "Andlang mereweies to bikan trove" (6 Kem. C. D. p. 231) ; " Jset hit cymS to mser apeldran," i. e. the limitary apple tree (3 Kem. C. D. p. 390). As a consequence of their being terminal, trees like stones, under the same drftomstances, take names from the proprietors of the land, -which they define : " Alberhtes treow " (5 Kem. C. D. p. 267) ; ' ' swa andlang Jses leas Jset hit cymtJ sef t on Jione stan set Tanhlaw set "Wulfherdes treo" (3 Kem. C. D. p. 124) ; "to f rim fomim" (5 Kem. C. D. p. 339) ; "on fif >omas" (4 Kem. C. D. p. 74) ; "»om" (6 Kem. C. D. p. 220); "on senne elebeam" (5 Kem. C. D. p. 374, and ih. p. 70); "to fan eUeue" (6 Kem. C. D. p. 2) ; "to fan senlypan ellene" (5 Kem. C. D. p. 398) ; "on fa aenlypan ac" [ib.) ; " to f^re syrfan," i.e. the torbus [ib. p. 262) ; "to fon readleafan mapuldre" {ib. p. 298). * " Of fJsere byrig on f one ao stjj) ; of Kam stybbe eft on fa haran apeldran" (4 Kem. C. D. p. 75) ; " on faene ealdan eUenstyb" (ii. p. 74). ' " On f one ealdan treowstede" (5 Kem. C. D. p. 105). THE ROMANS OF BEITAIN. 119 Some trees bear the old EiOman marking on their bark.' I must not omit to say that the "Welsh laws bear the same testimony as those Anglo-Saxon deeds. Termini and natae appear in the former under these names, and the limes is defined precisely as the agrimensorea define it.^ I have dwelt at this length upon the subject of centuri- ation and its evidences iu Britain, because it was a means to a great end, viz. the general Roman colonization of our country under the auspices of the imperial government, — a fact not even suspected by our popular historians. Under this system of governmental plantation, only citizens, Latins and Italic sodi, were thus honourably deported and estated. Only with such privileged emigrants did ' Arbores notatae: "of linleage more on Ja gemeoroodan lindan ; of tJsere gemearoodaii lindan," &c. (6 Kem. C. D. p. 182) ; "of Tpan markedan ok to fege rok" (6 Kem. C. D. p. 231). Mr. Kemble has referred to these two instances of marked trees, a lime and an oak, but without suspecting the meaning of the notation (vol. i. Eng. Hist. p. 480, app.). There are other examples: "on Ja gemearcodan lyndan" {ib. p. 182) ; " andlang weges to cleran finie ; Jset to Jare gemeorcodan sefsau . . . of ])am boxe to fare gemeorcodan ao set Alebuman" (5 Kem. C. D. p. 195). At 5 Kem. p. 389, in a charter of Eadwig, one of the termini is " oristel msel beam," i. e. a tree marked with a cross. A per- ambulation of Colchester and its liberties, temp. Charles II. (Morant's Essex, book i. pp. 92, 93), records trees marked with crosses, — an alder, a poplar, an oak, an old oak. ' The stone terminus (maeu tervyn) is spoken of passim in the Welsh laws, and the regulations respecting it are many. ' ' Whoever shall remove a public meer stone between two trefs (i. e. centurise) is to be fined," &c. (Venedotian Coder book ii. o. 25, Aneurin Owen's translation.) By "Welsh laws" {ib. p. 525) the removal of a " maen tervyn" is punishable as theft. The liims is referred to as "a road which may preserve a meer with the side of the road." (Page 96. See also Gwentian Code, c. 32, par. 5, p. 373, and Welsh Laws, o. 25, par. 4, p. 525). It is further said (Dimetian Code, book ii, c. 23, par. 40, p. 271), "Whoever shall deface a mark upon a meer (here is meant a meer stone), between two lands or two trevs," shaU be fined, and must restore the mark to its former state. The word translated mark is "not" in the original. It is interesting to find the words terminus and notae incorporated into the vernacular of Wales, and existing therein long after the severance of the country from the empire. 120 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. Eome colonize her new acquisitions.' Never at any period of her history did she extend this great prerogative to barbarians. When in very late days she placed such men in some isolated parts of the empire, neither were these men colonists nor were their settlements colonies. Such settlers were specially called Laeti, from a word of their own language. They were allowed to inhabit neither cities nor towns already existing, and none such were founded for their reception. They were planted in the open country ; generally on the borders of the empire. As the colonization of Britain was fully completed before the accession of CaracaUa, her colonists were thus all of genuine Italian blood. Having thus undeniable evidence of a Boman coloniza- tion of this country iu the fact which I have proved of its centuriation, we can neither ignore nor deny the permanent presence of Romans in Britain, not as soldiers and civil officials merely, but as a proprietary whose descendants, in inheriting what their ancestors had received, perpetuated this Roman presence as lords of the soil ; and these Romans and their descendants were proprietors of the whole of that soU, for the centuriation which I have described is universal in this country, the signs which still record it being found in every pai^ of Britain.^ This evidence of Roman colonization must therefore be admitted to be sufficient to estabUsh that fact in its fullest extent. But besides this general evidence of this general fact, there is particular proof of it also — Roman statistics, giving the names of the actual Roman colonists, to which no denial can be made. The very centurial stones on the ' See ante, p. 44. ' See ante. THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 121 estates of tlie colonists supply, in many cases, the names of their owners. And these inscriptions reveal to us that the settlers were genuine memhers of the great and time- honoured gentes of Rome and Italy. This the reader can see for himself if he will refer back to the inscribed nomina given by me iu detailing the stones themselves.^ These nomina are but a very faint reflection of what really exist and are elsewhere described, still less do they represent whaH; once existed lq Britain. In the nomina so given by me the reader wiU have found Valerii, Julii, Claudii, Rupilii, Marii, Comelii, Trebonii, Varii, Hostnii, Hortensii, GreUii, Munatii, Arrii, Voconii, Ennii, Plancii, YecUii, Artii and others. Poor members possibly of those great gentes, but none the less genuine examples of the noble old stocks which had made their arduous apprenticeships in life upon their own peninsula before conquering and inhabiting the less genial world outside of Italy. Besides this list of good names which the stones have yielded, other evidence quite as excellent in its own way tells us that the Calpumii were also settled in Britain as colonists. In the 5th century this gens is represented in Britain by the great Saint Patrick — ^Calpumius Patrioius.^ The unvarying loyalty of Britain to the empire, at all periods of her history, is another proof of the existence of a generally disseminated Roman proprietary, and there were no parts of it which were excepted from this cha- racter. All Britain was equally loyal. "When one Valentinus, being an exile in Britain in the 4th century, essayed to stir up a rebellion here, he solicited not the landlords, but " the exiles and the soldiers.'" "We know 1 See p. 84 et seq. " See post. ' " Exsules soUioitabat et milites." (Amm. Marc. 28, 3, 4 and 5.) 122 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. also that the rebellions in Britain, which were many, originated solely with the imperial army, there posted, and were confined to that army. There is also an iateresting statistical illustration of the truth of what I have said. The economic condition of Britain in a.d. 297 has been made known to us by an imperial panegyrist, and his account, discount it as you please, shows a country exceptionally flourishing. The rich natural productions, the worked minerals, the flocks and herds, the revenues of all kinds, the exports, the com- mercial imports and port dues of Britain, aU insisted on in the panegyric, had made her temporary loss to the empire as serious as the recovery was a just subject for imperial gratulation.^ But a state of things where the soil above ground and the strata under it were worked equally into teeming abundance, where the resort of traders knew no limit, where the tax-gatherer foim.d an ample and ready harvest, is conditioned only upon the presence of enlight- ened and energetic residents, who could direct and enforce the application of mere native labour — ^viz., Eoman colonists. This colonization by Rome was commenced so soon as circumstances warranted it. When Boadicea broke into open rebellion she destroyed two Roman cities (" Si/o 'noKas 'Piu/xaixar") ^ — ^that is, the civitates of two colonies which had been then already founded. By Nero's time, therefore, the Eoman colonization iu Britain was thus far advanced. Two cities had been built. Two territoria had been centuriated and allotted to Eoman colonists. The knowledge or belief on the part of the British queen that this confiscation of ' Eumenii Panegyr. Caes. "Et sane non (sicut Biitamua« nomen mmm) ita mediocris jactura erat rei publicae terra, tanto frngTim utere, tanto laeta mnnere pastiomun, tot metallorum. fluens riyis, tot veotigaU- bus quaeetuosa, tot accinota portubus, tanto immensa circuita." ' Dio. Cass. (Ziphilin. Ixii.) THE EOMANS OF BRITAIN. 123 the country was to be pursued to the end, was the alleged motiye of her defection.^ In the prostration of the natives which followed upon her defeat, the colonization was prosecuted without stint or intermission until the whole area of the country was disappropriated and resettled. There is unluckily no " liher eoloniarum " for Britain, and we are left entirely without official details of the successive foundations of those colonial cities which eventu- ally covered our island. But we know from Marcianus the Heracleote that in his days (a.d. 250) there were fifty- nine cimtates in Britain;^ and the foundation of these, with the dispatch of their aecompanyiag colonies, shows very clearly that the colonization of Britain had been carried out with more than reasonable speed. This was exactly what might be expected. What Rome could do ia this way is illustrated by what was done by Trajan in the case of Dacia. Of this colonization Eutropius says : " Ex toto orbe EiOmano infinitas eo copias hominum transtulerat ad agros et urbes colendas." ' In this assertion of Eutropius, who was a great public servant of the empire, there was no exaggeration. Any number of free colonists was always forthcoming whenever the call for them was made. When Camulodunum and Venilamium were captured and destroyed, shortly after their foundation, seventy thousand Roman citizens and Italian socii fell in defending these new homes;* and it must always be remembered that these colonies were not of proletarians, what in a latter age were called ^^eSew, not ^ lb. " Lib. 1, p. 57 (Hudson's Geog. Mjh.): " m\si! Jirifni^oui »' 9'." ' See a very interestiiig pamphlet entitled " Coup d'CEQ sur I'Histoire des Eoumains," par A. Treb. Lauriani, Buouresti, 1846. * Tacit. Ann. lib. 14. 124 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. a mere cbnl or military canaille. The coloDists, as I have Irefore remarked, were Eoman citizens, Latins and Italian socii.'^ Men, and women also, of the highest birth and social standing were amongst every expedition of this kind which left the shores of Italy.'' The soil of Britaia heiag thus appropriated, our next consideration regards the peoples from whom it had been taken. This question is so great that it can only be answered after a review of those rules of state and public law which at the time of the Roman conquest governed the treatment and determination of such problems. At such time in Italy and all the western provinces of the empire the lands of aU Eoman proprietors were cul- tivated by farmers who could not leave the soil on which they were settled, but who at the same time enjoyed an absolute fixity of tenure in respect of their holdings. These men were called by the honourable name of coloni. As an order they were first instituted in and for Italy. From Italy the institution was extended into the coimtries conquered by Eome, as and when they were converted into provinces. As regards Italy the eoloni had not been there from aU time, and they were by no means an early institution. In Varro's age there were no eoloni in the peninsula. There were only farmers proper — mercenarii as they were called, men perfectly free like the tenant farmers of England and Ireland, who could hold at will, or by their own choice, bind and be boimd by leases {leges cohnicae)? They were ^ See ante, p. 44. ^ Dio CasBiuB (Ziphilin. Isii.) : rkt lyip rfvytuxas, rocs 6t«y£veo?aTtfr," &0. ' Varro (lib. 1, c. 2). Porphyrion, the commentator on Horace (in Berm. ii. 6), sho-ws the import of this old word "mecenarius" very clearly. A farmer {mercenari/m) having found a treasure on an estate THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 125 the homines liberi who cultivated a rich man's estate when he elected to have freemen upon it instead of leaviag it to he worked by his slaves and their overlookers/ But ia times succeeding Varro these free cultivators, already decreasing ia numbers when he wrote, fell off more materially stOl, and the land called loudly for a class which should adequately replace them. These yeomen — small proprietors some of them, all of them sons or de- scendants of small proprietors — were disappearing, not because war had made an end of them as some superficial writers have needlessly supposed, but because they had betaken themselves iato the rapidly aecrmng provinces which war laid at the feet of the state as a trustee for its people. The charm of proprietorship, though in a strange country, allured the Italian to all parts of the world, and thus dispeopled Italy of her yeomanry. The young and the old, the women and the children, all tramped off to their new settlements, carrying with them the traditions of the agricultural science of their own fair land.^ The humble haeredium which some of them possessed was willingly sold to stock the allotted centuria m. Gaul or Hispania, in Pannonia or Ehaetium. Meanwhile the rich neighbour at home rounded his estates by continued acqui- sitions, and Italy found herself without skilled and earnest cultivators. " Latifundia perdidere Italiam," said PHny,' in view of this and of this only. But no political want, which statesmanship could reach to, remained long unremedied or unsuppHed at the, hands wMoli lie fanned ("in quo operam mercenaiiam faciebat"), purchases the estate, but still from habit works as before ("labori solito operam dedit "). 'Varro, Hb. 1, c. 17. * See Seneca, as quoted at p. 43 ; Tacit. Aimal. lib. 14. ' See p. 48. " Longos jungere fines agrorum." (Lucan. Ub. 1, V. 167.) 126 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. of the masters of the world. So Roman statesmen pro- vided a resource which at least neutralized this general evil. It was a steadfast practice of antiquity that victors transferred a population which they had conquered to their own land, where the vanquished were to be personally free, but to be whoUy outside of the rights and privileges of the original inhabitants. This is the explanation of the two parties which existed in the old Greek cities. This is the explanation also of the relative position of the patrician populus and the unprivileged plehs in the old days of Eome. The latter, being metoeci, shared with the former neither in office nor intermarriage, until such time as they won these and other rights for themselves by incessant struggles and strife. The Roman statesmen knew what their forefathers had done, and knew also that they had done wisely for their times, when the arm of the strong man was required and was wanting. They determined, therefore, to renew this practice of old days, and thus to recruit the exhausted rural population of Italy. The government accordingly collected cultivators from aU parts of the subject world, and settled them upon the estates of Italy,' giving to these men the perpetual right, through their descendants, to participate in the fruits of the soil, while they were forbidden to quit the soil itself of which they had this modified possession. They were never to leave the land, and the land in return was never to cast them off.^ Not- withstanding this addiction to the soil, these men were, as 1 " Tunc longos jnngere fines Agrorum, et quondam dura sulcata CamiUi Vomere, et antiques Curiorum passa ligones Longa sub ignotis extendere rura colonis." (Lucan, lib. 1, v. 167 et leq.) ' Steepost. THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 127 1 Have said, called by the honourable name of coloni — an ellipse for coloni rurisprivati. They were also called in Italy by a word of Greek origin — metoeci. Both words testify to the transference which these persons had undergone. I am not able to say when precisely this great measure was first put in practice; probably it was reserved for Augustus to introduce it into Italy — at least on anything like a large scale. It is certainly clear that it is in his time we find this order of men first spoken of as a general population of the country parts,^ and the " Liber Colo- niarum" gives an express instance of the colonization by Augustus of a confiscated Italian territory, accompanied by an assignment of metoeci to the colonists.'' Once esta- blished in Italy, it was easy to apply the principle to the provinces, and in them, after the time of Augustus, they are everywhere foimd. We have seen that the coloni of Italy were a foreign ' Colonus had acquired the specific sense of cultivation of the soil hy Ovid's time. The word occurs, passim, in the Metamorphoses (lib. 6, w. 317, 8, 9) : ' ' Lyciae quoque fertilis agris Non.impune deam veteres sprevere coloni. Res obscura quidem est ignobiHtate virorum." Ji. (lib. 5, w. 478, 9) : " Fregit aratra manu, parilique irata colonos Ruricolasque boves leto dedit." li. Qih. 15, V. 373) : " Kes observata colonis." The same precise meanmg is given to the word by Pliny (N. H. lib. 8, e. 45). The proprietor (he says) who killed his ox, " Socium laboris agrique culturae," was punished in an equal degree with him who had killed his cofowM*, " tamquam colono suo interempto." Statins (Theb. lib. 9, v. 192), as may be expected, has the word in the sense before mentioned. " Gaudet ager, nmgno subeunt clamore coloni." Columella speaks of coloni as general everywhere. ' Lib. Col. p. 238 (Lachman). "Ager ejus miKtibus metyois nomi- nibus est adsignatus." This is said of Teanum Siriciuum, colonized by a law of Augustus. 128 THE KOMANS OF BRITAIN. importation. But what was the origin of the provincial coloni ? Were they the original natives thus converted into a new order, or had the quondam cultivators of these coiin- tries heen destroyed or deported? Destruction is out of the question, for the Eomans, as a rule, preserved the original populations with a view to carrying out their pur- poses of recruitment and taxation. But deportation is another thing, and we must not conceal from ourselves that such deportation did take place occasionally. For it was an early custom of the Eomans to transfer an oh- noxious set of tribes from their original seats to a more distant locality, where isolation would eradicate or neutra- lize any manifested implacability to their new masters. Thus the ever faithless Ligures, 40,000 in number, besides women, children, and slaves, were transplanted by the republic into Samnium, where they were long afterwards known as ligures Baebiani and Comeliani, from the leges Baebia and Cornelia which authorized their removal.' It was quite possible, therefore, that the Britons as a prsedial population might have been from time to time deported, if any of their natural qualities were such as rendered that drastic method of purging a country at all necessary. Their qualities, however, were, on the contrary, such as made them the most serviceable subjects which the empire ever possessed, at least amongst the barbarians. The island had been won without any unreasonable diffi- culty, and Tacitus avers that even so early as his day the natives of Britain were perfectly obedient both to the tax-gatherer and the recruiting officer,^ viz. in respect of 1 Liv. 40, c. 38. Tabula Alimentaria JAgamm Baebianornin (1 ZeU. p. 394; Hin. N. H. 3, 11). ^ « De Vita Agric. "Ipsi Britanni delectmn, ac tributa, et injuncta THE KOMANS OF BRITAIN. 129 all that Eome required of her subjects. So great an apti- tude for reasonahle submission could not but improve with time, and in after days there was no dependency of the empire more faithful than Britain. Dangerous men in high places could be transported to this island with entire security to the state.* The imperial authorities had no fears as regarded the Britons. There was no home-rule agitation. There were no hagaudae here as in Graul. One great element of mischief had been eliminated by the Romans here as ia other countries. The Roman con- quest, by the confiscation of the whole soil and its redispo- sition in. severalty amongst Roman citizens, had stamped out every trace of the troublesome tribule organization. The new system introduced by Rome, which had converted the natives iato coloni, had, in the partial proprietorship which it thus assured to them, made the re-settlement of the land no real change at all for them. It certainly inflicted no loss or detriment upon the natives. The agri- cultor received in exchange for a floating and undefined interest ia all the lands of his tribe a defined and tangible form of private tenant-right. Under the old system the land had belonged to the concrete_sept itself . Though no tribesman possessed a rood in. special property, he could never be displaced from the general estate, or be excluded either from some sort of participation in the fruits of its ill-tilled com lands, or from the benefit of the common pasturage. All enjoyed these two advantages, though all did not simidtaneously unite in the peaceable efforts of pro- duction. While some of the tribules went out on the war path — a pursuit which combined poaching with murder — the others remained at home to provide by sowing and imperii munera impigre obeimt ; si injuriae abaint. Has aegre tolerant, jam domiti ut pareant, nondmn ut serviant." * Amm. Marc. 28, 1, 21. 0. K 130 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. reaping a fund of cereals upon which all should thereafter contriye to subsist.^ The new Eoman plan, while it resembled the old harharian one in giving to the natives as coloni an interest in the land, secured to them at the same time peace and a degree of plenty which never were realized under the principle and practice of the trihe. If the cohni now" worked for their Eoman landlords, they had before laboured for their own absent feUows ; and the distinction was too inappreciable in effect to penmt on their part any regret for the past. They had thus no sub- ject for complaint, and none was ever made by them. The question which I have asked can therefore be answered with absolute certainty. As the British populations were in no one instance destroyed or deported, they were necessarily converted into cohni upon the allotments of the Eomans in Britain. No other fate was left to them, for no barbarian natives were permitted after conquest to retain a proprietary share in their forfeited soil. Tacitus, in his rhetorical way, says what is tantamount to this. He tells us that the colonists of Camulodunum treated the natives of that territory as slaves.^ This is only saying in other words, that with ^ Caesar de B. Gr. (lib. 6, o. 21), says of the Grermans generally, who were in this state, "Neque quisqxiaiii agri modvim oertvun aut fines proprios habet. Sed magistratus ao principes, in annos singulos, gentibus oognationibnsqne hominum qni nn& coiemnt, quantnm eis, et quo loco visum est, attribnnnt agri, atqne anno post alio transire cogiont." Elsewhere he says of the Snevi {ib. lib. 4, c. 1), "li centnm pages habere dicnntur, ex quibus quotannis singula Tnillia armatorum, bellandi causa, suis ex finibus educunt. Keliqui domi manent ; pro se atque illis colunt. Hi rursus inTioem anno post, in armis sunt ; iUi domi remanent. Sio neque agricultura, neque ratio, neque nsas belli intermittitur. Sed priyati ac separati agri apud eos nihil est. Neque longiuB anno remanere uno in loco, incolendi causa, licet ; neque multum frumento sed maximam partem lacte atque peoore vivunt, multnmque sunt in venationibus." No better precis of the tribule state can be conceived than this account left us by Caesar. * Annal. lib. 14. The words are, "Quippe in coloniam Camulo- THE ROMANS OF BEITATN. 131 the allotments of land to each colonist was an allotment also of natives as coloni. "What Tacitus speaks of occurred a.d. 61. In the fourth century cohni were spread all over Britain just as much as in the other countries of the empire.' In carrying out this system of assigning coloni the Eomans had showed both judgment and humanity. This was the outcome of the principle ingrained in the Roman character — " parcere subjectis." In setting out the lines of each tenitorium the imperial commissioners followed those only which the land of a tribe took, because the government knew that it was politic as well as humane stiU to keep together as coloni in the new district those who had lived imder their bar- barian ties in the old one. The irregular lines of the tribe land became perpetuated in the outline of the territory, and are still seen in our shires.^ dvumm recens deducti pellebamt domibus, exturbabant agris, captivos, Bervos appellando. " • We learn this from an interesting passage in Ammianus MaroeUinus, ■ lib. xxvii. 8, 7. The army of Theodosius (the general), in the neigh- bourhood of London, attacked and defeated the forces of the Plots and Soots, and recovered from them the booty which they had collected from the neighbouring tributarii ("quaim tributarii perdidere miserrimi"). This was one of the appellations of the coloni, they being so called because the tributum was collected from them as the occupiers of the land. (Cod. Theod. Tol. 1, p. 453, Grodefroye's paratitlon.) See also the rescript of the emperor Constantinus to Pacatianus, the vicar of the Britains (Cod. Theod. xi. 7, 2, a.d. 319) : " unusquisque decnrio pro ea portione con- veniatur, in qua vel ipse, vel colonus, vel tributarius ejus oonvenitur." The expressions in the rescript prove that the coloni were general all over the island. '^ Some of the common forms given in the diagrams of the agrimensores (viz. 2, 3, 4, 5) show outlines which set rules at defiance, while those of others are what might be more reasonably expected — squares or paral- lelograms. It is impossible to regard the irregularity of the first as originating merely from the taste or caprice of the Roman commissioners who made the dem.aroation. There must, therefore, have been a reason for this departure from rule. And no more sufficient reason can be ■ conceived than what I have advanced. We know that cities were named k2 132 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. These facts show us the Eomto proprietor and the British colonus living amicahly together upon the soil of Britain. Though voluntarily severed from the land of his fathers, the Eoman has brought with him into this island all that civilization which was the inheritance of Italy. Origiually a municeps of some Italian city, he had hut exchanged that form of domicile for one newly founded here, and the Kke municipal ohligations and honours awaited him in his new seat. His religion came with him; and his taxes and his oner a of all kinds, if they were not carried by him hither, at least arrived here as soon as he did. In short, his Eoman citizenship and his special municipal obligations attached themselves as closely to him in cloudy Britain as under the more favoured skies which he had for ever abandoned. Here also as elsewhere the administrative forms of imperiaUsm were inseparable from the presence of the municipality. As soon as territoria were formed they were massed into provinces, over each of which presided the imperial judge, called the praeses, who exercised in the emperor's name the highest eiiminal and civil jurisdiction, a small reserve only being committed to the municipia. The police of the provinces was arranged in accordance with that exquisite administration which distinguished the Eoman empire. The military occupation of the island was perfect, and high functionaries in all departments completed the sum of stringently salutary rule.^ This was the outward form of administration to which our island was subjected ; but there was more still. The from the tribes which respectively dwelt round about them. And it would seem to follow, as a sequence of logic, that the territories of those cities represented the lands of those tribes. THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 133 introduction of the Roman as a settler implied also the introduction of the whole body of Roman law, puhlic and - private. This law was personal to himself, and was carried hy liim into every new country of the Orhis Romanus to which the act of his government had trans- ferred him. The law therefore which was administered in Britaia by the praesides was the same code which was appealed to at Rome, in Italy and aU the other provinces of the empire. Its rules and its principles were as well understood and as accurately enunciated at Eboracum or Venta as at Bononia and Augnstodimum, or iu the seat of power itself. And it could not be otherwise ; for to each praeses was assigned a council of legal assessors, who should find all the learniag that was required in the everyday dispensation of justice.^ So iavariable was this practice, that only one exception to it is known, and it has been recorded as such. This exception occurred during the last and worst persecution, when the ruthless Diocletian commanded or sanctioned this anomaly, because he desired that the laws should be badly adnunistered in order to secure convictions among the Christians.^ Though we know that there must have been such assessors ia Britaia, from general usage and analogy, it is an interesting circumstance that we have also direct proof of their existence here.^ Other evidence is also preserved proving more directly the identity of the law administered here with that general system which was administered ia the empire. Whenever a doubtful and unprovided case occurred in a provincial ' See post. ^ Vide post, p. 144. ' " Juridici" and " legati jtiri dicundo" for Britain are mentioned in four inscriptions (see Annali delP Instituto, vol. 24 (9 N. S.), p. 24, in a paper entitled "Iscrizioni di Sepino," by Count Borgliesi. Tliese officials were assessors to praesides. 134 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. court — one such as the assessors of the praeses could not find determined in their books — ^the legal authorities wrote thereon to the emperor, and the latter, by his own legal coun- cil, solyed the difficulty ia an imperial rescript, to be perhaps thereafter codified and perpetuated. And there is evidence that Britain was jiot excepted from this wholesome rule.^ Such was and continued to be the condition of Britain after the Eoman conquest until the begioniag of the fifth century, when the general troubles of the empire and her own especial harassment at the hands of Caledonian savages and G-erman pirates, forced upon her an independence which she had neither sought nor desired. This period of independence was longer than is com- monly supposed. The dates assigned by the Anglo- Saxons to their several conquests in Britain demonstrate two facts in relation to it — firstly, that the conquest of Kent, the earliest of aU, did not foUow so closely upon the governmental abandonment of Britain as some histo- rians have imagined ; secondly, that between the last conquest and this formal abandonment there intervened the space of nearly a century and a half. During this time there was a complete de facto independence of Britain : she governed herself without imperial forms, and defended herself without aid from the empire. The manner in which she discharged the burthen of this independence demonstrates the great extent of her Roman population and the vigour of her Roman traditions. For under no other conditions could so grave a task have been so satisfactorily executed, or so enormous a strain have been so stoutly sustained. It is an opinion general amongst teachers and students of history that of this period intervening between the • Vide the rescript of Constantine to the vicar Pacatiamus, referred to ante, p. 131, in note '. THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 135 imperial rule and the conquests of the barbarians nothing is known, and nothing therefore should be said of it. I do not, however, take this desponding view, nor do I think that there is any necessity for so absolute an admission of ignorance. In spite of what is commonly believed, I do not think that this, which is iu many respects the most interesting period of our annals, is so completely lost to history, for through all its obscurity there are glimpses of certainty, both as regards the affairs of Britain and the state of her institutions. As to her history, we have notices of contemporaries, which if brief and restricted are still perfectly clear and intelligible. "What the facts are which these notices contain I will exactly detail in their order of time.^ Some time in a.d. 407 Constantinus was elected emperor by the Eoman army in Britain. But this did not take place until after his two predecessors here, Marcus and Grratianus, had been elected and murdered, the election of Constantinus not occurring until four months after the murder of Gxatianus. As all this happens ia the same year, we cannot ascribe the election of Constantinus to an early part of a.d. 407, but must rather assign its date to the close of that year. After his election we find that he removed the Eoman troops from Britain ; began and com- pleted a successful campaign in Graul against the imperial generals ; took measures for the repression of the roving barbarians ; and despatched an expedition into Spain under the command of his son Constans, who, after having been equally fortunate in his military exploits, returned to Graul, prepared and commanded another expedition into the same country, and carried through another campaign. 1 Zoslmus, lib. 6. 136 THE KOMANS OF BRITAIN. The major and more effective portion of the Roman army being under these circumstances absent in Spaia, the barharians who were in Gaul and ia Britain harass these countries to such an extent that the provincials take up arms against them, and in so doing assume their own independence of the empire ; the Britons, we are informed, giving the example to the Grauls. For all these events, which are told in some detail by Zosimus, we must allow two or three years. By these means we arrive at a.d. 409, Under this year we have the following corroborative statement of the chronicler Prosper, brief and dry certainly, but emanating from one who lived at the period : — " Hac tempestate prse vale- tudine Bomanorum vires funditus attenuatse Britannise" — ^that is, " in consequence of the weakness of the Romans the strength of Britain was fundamentally weakened."^ The meaning of this sentence is neither more nor less than this — ^that in consequence of the removal of the usurper's troops the Romans of Britain were left without special protection against the inroads of the northern and Saxon barbarians. They were free, however, to avail them- selves of their own courage and resources, and they did so with effect, as we shall shortly see. What I have thus succinctly narrated is a tolerably clear precis of what occurred in regard to Britain at this mo- mentous epoch. But it is the result which chiefly con- cerns us, — ^the assumption of independence by this island, or rather her drifting into autonomy without effort of her own. As an accomplished fact this independence, as we are expressly told by Zosimus, followed closely, perhaps immediately, upon the departure of the usurper Constan- • Petiie's Monmnenta Historica Britanniea, vol. i., and Bouquet's Reoueil des Hietoires des Gaules et de la France, vol. i. THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 137 tine. This historian, after saying that Constantine was away in Gaul occupied with the barbarians there, and that the major part of his army was ia Spain, as I have before mentioned, adds, " The barbarians living beyond the Rhine, carrying aU before them in their incursions, compelled the inhabitants of Britain and some of the nations in Graul to separate from the government of the Romans {i.e. the imperial government) and live inde- pendently (xafl" lawTov), no longer obeying the laws of the latter. The inhabitants accordingly taking up arms, and fighting on their own behalf, freed the cities from the barbarians that had invested them, and all the Armoricans and other provinces of the Gauls, imitating the Britons, freed themselves ia Kke manner, and expelling the prae- sides {ap-xpvras) of the Romans, set up a government ac- cording to their own discretion." ' The three principal facts related in this pregnant pas- sage should be considered each in its succession of order and date. The first and most important statement of all is that the Romans of Britain in the teeth of the Lex Julia Majestatis, which had disarmed the whole Roman world and made all warfare save under immediate imperial authority a crime and a treason,^ took up arms, and, by an ^ " rTavVtf xar e^ovaictv e-jtiovtes ol v'jte^ tov *P?ivoy Ga^Gd^oty xttTBcrricav us avayKfiv Toys te Triv BpETTfltviKriv yrnTOy ojKoSvTtff, Ktu Tuv EV K.£\ro7s eQvuv eviiXj t^j *Pftj/*fl(/ajv ctpxfns afjToa^^yAtj xttt xixQ lavlov CtoTEyEiVj ovxt% roU rovriiiv Einxxovovru vQfAOts. Ol' Te ovv e« T^r BpeTTtfv/ctf oitXa Ev5iJv7£f, Kcct tjipm aurm irpOKtv^vv EvjavTESj *lX£o9E^&j(r«v Tiljv fffiKUfAiyuy CapSapwv Tar TroXgif, K«i o Ap^opj^^or a-Tray, xai ETipat TotXHTuv Evap^latij BpETTavoyr fj.ifj.'ntsafj.Eym xxli tov laoy dpSf ^XEu6£flW(T«v rpo'jTOVy £xC«XXoy(7o£i /AEV Toys ^V (i}f/.cuovs ctp^oilins olxiTov St xaT E^ouff/av TTOXirtV/AlX KA^tGrccuoLiV (lib. 6). ^ Big. 4:8, 6, 1. Lege Julia de vi publica tenetur, qui arma tela domi suae agrove in villa praeter usum veuationis vel itineris Tel naviga- tionis coegerit" [ib. § 3). "In eadem causa sunt, qui . . . servos aut liberos homines in armis habuerint" {ib. § 1). "Eadem lege tenetur cui pubes cum telo in publico fuerit" (Dig. 48, 4, 3). "Eadem lege 138 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. army or armies voluntarily raised, liberated themselves from their enemies through open and honourable warfare. The second is that the barbarian invasions had compelled the Romans of Britain to take this step, there being no imperial army here to afEord them that protection which would have rendered unnecessary any defensive acts of their own origination. The third averment is that this state of things — ^the presence of barbarians on their soil, and the infraction of law which they themselves had, though reluctantly, com- mitted — drove the leaders of the Eomans of Britain of necessity still further. It impelled them to form a govern- ment of their own — a government by necessity entirely denuded of all purely imperial forms. It is true that Zosimus does not say^that the Romans of Britain had expelled the praesides. It was the Armorieans and other provinces of the Grauls (he says) that did this; and as he makes no such statement regarding the Romans of Britain, it is quite clear that so exact and lucid a narrator as this Byzantine everywhere shows himself to be, neither implies nor intends it to be understood that they also expelled the imperial functionaries. Nor was there any occasion for or any possibility of their doing so, because these very functionaries had left the island some time before that date, viz. when the usurping emperors were elected. Under such pseudo-emperors, the nominees only of the rebellious army, no duly constituted officials could have continued in office. Any successors also whom the usurpers might appoint would vacate their employs when the power which had called them into being quitted the island, and we have seen that Constantino and his army (i. e., the Lex Jidia) tenetur et qui injussu piincipis bellnin gesserit, deleotumve habuerit, exercitumve oomparaverit . . . quive privatus pro potestate," &o. THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 139 very soon abandoned this country to support their larger designs upon the continent. The domestic government, therefore, which the Eomans of Britain thus setup was, under such circuna.8tances, unimperial in form, and, as far as intention went, was provisional only. What it more particularly was we have now to consider. In A.D. 410 the emperor Honorius relaxed the Lex Julia in their favour, and, to use the words of the edict in which it was embodied, he " monished them to protect themselves." ^ These latter words are to be noted. They are found in another and similar imperial edict issued to the general lioman world in a.d. 440, when Genseric the Yandal was threatening with his fleet the coasts of the empire, and they must therefore be taken as the technical words which enured to a relaxation of the Lex Julia? The meaning of this rescript is plain. It was meant to encourage the efforts of the Eomans of Britain, and to save them from the legal consequences of their own bravery. It expUoitly sanctioned what they had done, and directed them to persevere in the course of conduct thus commenced. Political self-government, and self-defence and protection — each an act of rebellion under the Lex Julia — ^were legalized by this edict in the past and in the future. These two legalizations, however, are not all that is contained in the four comers of this momentous document. It confirms also the peculiar form of provisional government which the necessities of the eoxmtry had driven its Eoman inhabitants to adopt. This peculiar form of government ^ The words of Zosinnis (vi. 10) are-^" 'Ovwp/oy St y^g/Ayggg-t ir^oi ras Iv "^ The emperors Theodosius and Talentinian say, " Siagulos universosque nostros monemtis edicto, ut Eomani rohoris confidenti^ ex animo quo detent propria defensare cum suis adrersus hostes, si vis exegerit, salva discipllaa publiea, servataque ingenmtatis modestia, qiiibus potuerint utantur armis," &o. (Leges Novellae Theodosii, A. lib. 1, c. 20.) 140 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. was the rule of the whole country hy its civitates. This the rescript itself proves. For it is addressed, not to the vicar, not to the count or to the duke of Britain — those high civil and military governors of this island, all men appointed by the emperor. Nor again is it addressed to the praesides of the provinces, in whom severally was vested the judicature of the country, and who were also equally appointees of the emperor. But it is addressed to the cities of Britain — an inferior grade in the hierarchy of the empire. How is this to he accounted for ? Easily and satisfactorily upon the state of facts which the omission of these higher names unequivo- cally discloses. There was no vicar, no count, no duke. Neither were there any praesides left in the island. In short, there was no representative of the imperial govern- ment in existence here. No appointee of the empire had survived the disruption of imperial forms which had swept through Britain. There remained only the cities. These existed and were in action as fully as they ever had been, because they had an independent vitality of their own. The ancient laws which had called them into existence had, by the form of their creation, made them once for all permanent and self-supporting. These cities, it is true, were subjected to the high civil powers of the praesides, in whom alone the power of the sword in judicial action was vested. It is equally true that in military and political matters other functionaries of the empire exercised the fullest and least restricted control over them. But in spite of all these shortcomings, the cities of all the provinces, colonized as Britain, Gaul and Spain had been, represented in their constitution the old independent cities of Italy, or rather Eome herself. Though now limited in power and independence, they had been formed on the same municipal model and theory under THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 141 which these old historic towns had flourished in times long past. The shadow of ancient municipality was stiU upon them aU. Their senates and officials derived no portion of their varied authority from the emperor, but from the Roman inhabitants of the cities to which they belonged. The cities, therefore, stood when all else fell, and their officers it was who had stepped into the place of power left vacant by the retirement of the imperial functionaries, and had, as we shall see, by a seasonable development of their authority, made themselves equal to the general government of the land. To them, therefore, in the name of the cities, the rescript was directed. It acknowledged the status quo of Britain, and by this acknowledgment legally conveyed to the cities what they had irregularly but pardonably assumed under the /orce majeure of their domestic calamities. The cities had, therefore, caught up the imperium, civil and military, when it was heedlessly thrown away on the departure of the imperial governor, the military commanders and the praesides of the provinces. Through the rescript, as an enabling and rehabilitating act of the emperor, the ordines of the cities were now become grantees of the imperium in the fullest degree, and had an unexceptionable right to embody their new authority in any convenient agencies consistent with the general law. The mode usually adopted by that law was to commit provisional action to special commissioners, called comites, whenever great and sudden needs required or compelled a departure from political common form.^ Such a special commissioner accordingly each civitas ' Zell (vol. ii. p. 247) says of these comites, — "a frequently employed title for high offices, with a particular designation denoting the function. ' ' 142 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. appointed to act for and on its behalf, as well in the city itself as also in its territorium, during this trying inter- regnum. And he was called comes civitatis, in accordance with the rules and precedents of the Imperial Chancery. When S. Q-ennanus was over here on his second visit (a.d. 447 or 448), his biographer, Constantius, tells us that he met such a emnes civitatis} He calls him "regionis primus ;" but these words should make no difference, as they have precisely the same meaning. When subsequently the Anglo-Saxons came here they found the comes civitatis in full action in every territorium. As they did not interfere with any of the existing con- ditions of the Roman life, save only in deposing the EiOmans from political and financial power,'' they continued ' Bollandists' Acta Sanctorum m^isis Julii, die 31, torn. Tii. Vita S. Germani. " Elaphins qvddam, regionis illius prtams " (p. 216). Begig here has the sense of territorium. See Sic. Maccos (Lachman, p. 35) : " regionea autem decimus, intra quarmn fines singularum coloni- arum aut munioipiorum magistratus jus dicendi et coercendi est libera potestas." So in Cod. Tkeod. 2, 16, 2: "locis, regionibus, atque provinciis." This life of 8. Germanus was written by Constantius, a priest of Auxerre, and a contemporary of the great bishop. The BaUaudists say of him (p. 191), " Vir tantus fuit, ut vix ei parem aetas ilia tulisse Tideatur." His work to which I refer was finished about A.D. 473. It was published to the world about A.D. 483. Two of its dedicatory epistles are addressed severally (p. 201) to S. Patiens, bishop of Lyons, and to S. Censurius, bishop of Auxerre. Such dedications are guarantees of the writer's care and veracity. The BoUandists are, therefore, amply justified, under these circumstances, in saying, "Diu ergo cum sancto, de quo scribit, ejusque aequalibus, vixisse debuit, quod ad reliqnam soriptoris hujus auctoritatem pondus addit gravissimum" (p. 191). S. Germanus made two visits, or rather discharged two missions to Britain — ^both being made at the request of the Catholics of the island — to stay the growth of the Pelagian heresy. The first was in a.d. 429 (pp. 195, 196, and p. 63). The second was in a.d. 447 or 448 (p. 197). Of the first Constantius says (p. 211), "Eodem tempore ex Britanmis directa legatio Gallicanis episcopis nuntiavit pelagianam perversitatem in locis suis late populos oconpasse; et quamprimum fidei Catholicae debere suocurri." Of the second legation (p. 216), he says, "preoes omnium deferuntur." THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 143 the office of the comes, calling him in their own Teutonic idiom the " ealdorman," and granting the office to one of themselves. In the same manner they perpetuated the territorium, which was subject to him under their own word " sojT," or shire. The mistake of regarding the ealdorman as a barbaric functionary has arisen out of the simple circimistance of the barbarians having adopted here as they did on the continent, through the same necessity, the territorial or- ganization of the country which they had conquered. They organized nothing themselves beyond what was to be necessary to enable them to retain the power which they had gaiaed. In other respects they only adopted what they found. In the case of the comites civitatum the course was simple and obvious. They had been the judges and rulers of the Romans while they remained independent. They should be judges and rulers of the same people after their subju- gation, but with this difference, the comes civitatis hence- forward to be appointed for each territory should be not a Roman but a barbarian — a member of the now pre- dominant caste. This is nothing more than what would be expected of aU men. The barbarians took security to pre- serve the power which they had had some trouble in obtain- ing, by appointing one of themselves to a high post over the subjected race. Precisely what I assert to have occurred in self-governed Britain, occurred also in self-governed Graul, and under identical conditions.^ It is interesting to ' M. Fustel de Cotilange, ia some remarkable papers, published in the Kevue des Deux Mondes (tome 99, p. 267), has observed, "En realte ces oom.tes merovingiens, mi-partie !Franos, mi-partie Gaulois, etaient les successeurs des comtes que 1' empire avait etabU dans chaque cite au v" sieele." (InTasion Grermanique au t= sifeele, son caraotere, et ses effets.) This fact is treated more completely in M. de Coulange's History, since completed and published. 144 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. find a coincidence between these two Roman countries under circumstances where we have a right to expect it. The comes civitatis thus appointed was not only general of the army of each city and its territory, hut judge of a high court simultaneously instituted to try aU matters criminal and civi^ arising within the circumscription of such city and territory. But appointed thus and under these circumstances the eonws lacked what each imperial praeses had always had — a body of professional juris- eonsiilts, who should counsel and direct him in his admi- nistration of the law. Under the provincial system these men, though nominally assessors, were in reality the judges of the province. They never left the side of the praeses, and nothing was ever done by him without them. They were nominated by the emperor or in his name, and were sent out from Italy with every new praeses.^ To this practice there had been but one exception throughout the long years of the empire. It occurred during the fierce persecution of Diocletian, and its object was as exceptional as the practice itself. Amongst the evil deeds of that emperor Lactantius narrates that he sent into the provinces as praesides uneducated, military men without assessors — " Indices militareB humanitatis et literarum rudes sine adsessoribus in provineias immissi."^ Such an exception coidd form no precedent for Christian times. The comes, therefore, having succeeded for the time to the judicial authority of the praeses, could only exercise it under the conditions which had attached to the greater functionary, and was therefore to be provided with a body of assessors. But under the altered circumstances of Britain, again divided from the world, a staff of home- 1 See Dr. Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Boman Antiquities, mi voce. ' De mortibus perseoutorum, c. 22. THE ROMANS OP BRITAIN. 145 bred professional jurisconsiilts could scarcely be got together for the use and behoof of each separate comes. And it was quite out of the question that Rome, who had withdrawn her maternal care until better days might come round, should commission and despatch legal func- tionaries out of harassed Italy to a scene of still greater danger and disturbance. In this emergency the self-aid which had distinguished the Roman race again displayed itself. "With the thoughtful retrospection of that great nature which belonged to them, the Romans of Britain went back to a practice of the republic and the empire, by which classes of men, unconnected with the law as a pro-, fession, but otherwise elevated in social station, were extemporized into judges. The cultivation which they had received, the experience of public affairs which posi- tion and wealth had forced upon them, the honour which in such men is entailed from father to son, were ia the eyes of the Roman pubHc sufficient guarantees for the due execution of judicial duties. I allude to the equites of Rome.' Under circumstances corresponding to those in which the equites had been called into judicial action, the Romans of Britain had recourse to a procedure in every way analogous to this old and wise precedent. They deter- mined that the landowners of the territory should be summoned to each court of the comes civitatis, and should be CO- judges with him thereat. That this system, which is also found ia England after the Anglo-Saxon conquests,^ but was not the product of ' Dr. Smith's Dictionary of Grreek and Koman Antiquities, suh voce. 2 In Anglo- Saxon England, after the amalgamation of the two races (see post), these assessors are called deman (judges), witan (counsellors), and scinnen. See the Laws of Hlothsere and Eadric, c. 8 ; of Ine, c. 8 ; of Eadgar, c. 3 (1 Thorpe, p. 266); of Cnut, c. 16 («. p. 384); and of Henry I. c. 29. See also the Book of Ely, passim, for the Latin term C. L 146 THE ROMANS OF BEITAIN. Germany, was thus created and practised during the inde- pendence of Britain cannot be disputed. It agrees with the old Eoman principle, which I have stated, and is no property of the barbarian judicature described by Tacitus.^ At the mals of old Q-ermany it was not landowners and aristocrats that attended in order to adjudicate, for there were none such' in existence, but the general rough blanketted public of the tribe.^ During aU the period that Britain thus governed herself, she stiU belonged as by right so in intention to the empire. It is true that she had been left by that empire to do her best for herself without help or co-operation from her suzerain. But, to meet this requirement, she had fairly exerted herself under the guarantee which the emperor had given her — ^the rescript of Honorius before mentioned. The senates of Britain knew that for whatever they might do in aimed self-defence and protection in those troubled times, that was their warrant. Under that no penalties, such as the Lex Julia menaced, could attach to them and their ministers when peace should return, and the empire should be restored. But ia all this there was neither refusal of allegiance on the one side, nor abandonment of dominion on the other. Of the truth of the first assertion, there is evidence in the fact of the appointment of those merely provisional officers Judi0a. In Hickes' Thesaurus Lingg. Vett. Sept. vol. 2, p. 59, it is said of the act of a deforoer that he "rad tJa uman 8a land mid Jjsem wife butan witena dome." Without these demam the ealdorman could not decide, and they could not decide without him. The one and the others were aolidaires. The ealdorman (or the sntgerefa), with the witan, made a court. The witan were previously summoned (see the authorities before cited) to every ciretiit and assize. The right of judicature in the individual wita is called thegnacipe by the laws, as a right belonging to landowners. 1 Tacit. deM. G. cc. 11, 12. » li. THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 147 the comites civitatum. That this is a reasonable inference, is confirmed by another fact. The biography of S. Ger- manus by Constantius proves distinctly that in the time of the saint, the first half of the fifth century, there were no kings in Britain, for he saw none here on the occa- sion of either of his two visits to this coimtry. At the same time, it cannot be doubted that a monarchy or monarchies would have been the inevitable outcome of a genuine spirit of independence or rebellion.' Again, the Romans of independent Britain minted no autonomous types. No coins of kings, or cities of Britaia, owning no obedience to the empire, have been found here or elsewhere. What money has been found, seeming to be of this epoch, is a very mean and petty mintage made in imitation of well-known imperial types, without an allusion to exist- ing circumstances. Nor, on the other hand, did the empire make any aban- donment of dominion on her side. As long after as a.d. 537, we have, on the part of a great imperial officer, a clear declaration to the contrary — that the empire had never relinquished her rights over this island. In that year Belisarius, in the name of his sovereign, made an actual grant of Britaia to the Groths, whom he had defeated before Rome. His words, which show the interpretation put upon the rescript at head-quarters, were these : — "'H/xeiV Se TotQqis ' S. Jerome's oft-quoted phrase, "Britaimia fertilis provinoia tyran- norum" (43, ad Ctes), though relied upon by some who assert the contrary, does not help in the least. The great saiut, who wrote these words in a.d. 400, must not be understood to refer to reguU flourishing in Roman Britain during any part of her independence. The tyrants to whom he alludes are the pseudo-emperors set up and deposed in rapid succession by that portion of the imperial army which was quartered in Britain. l2 148 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. B/JETTfliv/av oXviv auy^'^poviJ.sv ex^iv, /aei'^'W to icapaitoXv 2,\Mskias ovaacVj xal Fajxaciajv xarwoov avixaQev yiyevni^hriv. This was the political condition of the island. What was its condition ia other respects can be also as clearly and satisfactorily explained. The whole of the Eoman system — the Romana consuetudo^ — with the exception of the provincial organisation, remained entire and intact. The demonstration of this assertion is contained in the fact, which I shall afterwards go into evidence upon, that this Eoman system, with the exception before shown, was still in active existence under the Anglo-Saxon kings — a fact from which must necessarily be inferred its existence during the independence of Britain. That on a provisional government being thus established, the • domestic resources of the island were found amply sufficient to defray its necessary agencies, we cannot hesitate to believe, for its wealth and population were both great, as we have already seen. Though the Picts and the Irish tribes of both islands had to be met, and armies had to be raised by the cities for that purpose, two of the onera patrimonialia charged, as we shall afterwards see, upon all lands in all territories, supplied the men that were required, and also all their necessary military equipments.' That both these charges continued to be en- forced during the independence precisely as they had been under the empire, we shall know from the fact, to be hereafter shown, that they remained as burthens upon the lands of the Romans subsequently to the Anglo-Saxon subjugation, and did not cease until long after the Norman conquest.* ■ ProcopiuB de Bello Vaudalico, lib. 2. ^ This is an expression of Cassiodoms, wMcli he puts into the mouth of Theodoric. (Variar. 3, 17.) ' Fo8t. The "tirocinium," " vestis militaris. " * F08t. THE KOMANS OF BRITAIN. 149 More especially to pay and support these troops, as well as to defray other expenses of general government, the trihutum or land-tax was still coEected by the cities. It had been, from its first imposition, the main stay of the Roman government when sudden war arose; and when war became systematic and inevitable, its chronic continu- ance had been determined on.^ It was in the beginning a war tax, and it continued to be specially affected to the payment and furnishing of armies so long as the empire endured.^ That the Eomans of Britain collected it, is proved by the fact that after the Anglo-Saxon conquests this impost still adhered to the estates of the Romans, and to the houses in the cities and boroughs^ equally their pro- perty. That the agar vectigalis, another great source of public income, was neither alienated from the fiscus, nor usurped and diverted by private persons, however influential and great, is plain from the fact that it continued to exist in its old form and conditions throughout the Anglo-Saxon period under the translated expression folc land, or public land.* That the old imperial forfeitures for what we call treason and felony still enured during the independence is proved by their appearance in subsequent ages as rights of the Anglo-Saxon kings.* ^ This is expressly asserted by Roman authorities (Dig. 48, 18, 1, 20). "In causa tributorum, in quibus esse rei pubKoae nervos nemini dubium est," &o. Ulpian (Dig. 50, 16, 27) says that triiutinn is so called, "ex eo, quod militibus tribuatur." Cerealis, in his address to the Treveri (Tacit. Hist. 4, 75), said, " Neque quies gentium sine armis, neque arma sine stipendiis, neque stipendia sine tributis haberi queunt." ' See post, "laudgafol." * See^os*. 150 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. As regarded the civil and criminal law of the empire, both these branches of the great Eoman jurisprudence prevailed during the iadependenee. That this vs^as so we shall see when we come to examine into what was the general law of England before the Norman conquest.^ The police of tlj,e empire and its local distribution, the municipalities and their officers, their administration and mode of self-government, their collection of revenue and its application,^ stOl existed unaltered during the in- dependence as under the empire.^ That this was so is proved by their unimpaired contiuuity throughout the Anglo-Saxon period.^ In short, nothing was repealed or revoked save the brilliant imperial staff which had been distributed through the island, and the grand proviueial system, all which had in times preceding bound the dependencies to the central authority. The only innovation was that which, as we have seen, ensued upon the suspension of all provincial government, and the consequent necessity of provisionally representbig imperial power by a new official, who should by his appointment supply the political, military and judicial vacua left by the disappearance of the high im- perial functionaries. But the vesting of the imperium in each several city, and the civil and military exercise of it through its special officer, the comes civitatis, would not of themselves have been of much use in protecting the country against its rude Caledonian and Saxon foes. These were severally enemies to tax to the utmost the powers of defence of any civilized country. The terrorism of a ruthless aggressor is more felt by a cultured than by a barbarous nation. Britain as we know took high rank as a civilized member THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 151 of the empire, and it miist be borne in mind that in addition to the appalling character of both sets of invaders they were old and persevering enemies. The Saxon had never ceased to attack her for nearly fifty years,^ and the Picts and Soots were ever at her door, sometimes even inside her home. She had become independent because having been thus attacked, Rome was not able to help her against these inroads. To resist therefore such persistent and formidable enemies more strength was required than the limited army of a single territory could furnish, acting piecemeal and separately. And yet we know that for a time Britain successfully resisted the combined forces of three of the most savage nationalities of that age. The conclusion from this is I think inevitable, that the cities of the Belgic division of Britain united themselves into a confederacy for defence or offence, and it was the efforts of this confederacy which resisted and for a time beat off the intruders. But this unfortunately was not the whole of the situa- tion. Besides the enormous evil of foreign aggressions, Britain from the old feehng of hatred of Lloegria for Cambria — of the Beiges for the Kelts — adopted even by her Roman inhabitants, had split into two camps, thus aggravating her danger from without by mutual animosi- ties within.^ Under such conditions the isolation of each city in military matters is an impossibility. Britain having made this start in independence, per- ' Ammianus MaroeUimis, speaJdng of a.d. 364, says, "Hoc tempore velut per imiversmn orbem Eomanvun beUioum oanentibus bucoinis, exoitae gentis saevissiinae limites sibi proximos persultabant. G-allias Eaetiasque suntil Alamanni populabantar ; Sarmatae Pannonias et Quadi ; Picti, Saxonesque et Scotti et Atacptti Britannos aerumnis vexavere oon- tlnms" "(26,"47 5)7 • ' "^ 152 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. severed in the direction thus imposed upon lier, and there is ground for believing that she achieved a reasonable success in the new life. At aU events it is quite clear that for twenty years after the date of the Honorian rescript nothing occurred within the island, either to interest or arouse ,the feelings or curiosity of the rest of Europe. There were no state bankruptcy, no massacres by natives or foreigners, no risiag of class against class. From the non-mention of any such things in connection with Britain in the continental annals of the time, we are entitled to infer that the public life of Britain, if not enviable, was at least comfortable.^ After these twenty years are passed, Constantius, the biographer of S. Grermanus, comes to our assistance, and through his aid we again step forward into the" light of history. The subject of his biography, his bishop and friend S. Grermanus, in a.d. 429, visits South Britain, and finds Saxons warring conjointly with Picts against the Romano-Briton upon his own soil. The barbarians, however, are not invincible, but on the contrary experience a severe defeat at the hands of the Britons.^ Another blank occurs, and twelve years pass away. But during this lapse the partnership for destruction and plunder which had, as we have seen, subsisted between the Saxons and the Picts, has been dissolved, and the Saxons appear without their former allies. In a.d. 441, the Saxons are masters of Britain — at least of some parts of it. Under that year Prosper says: " Britannise usque ad hoc tempus variis cladibus eventibusque laceratse in ditionem Saxonum ' See ante, p. 142, ia note as to Constantius. 2 "Interea Saxones Pictique bellttm. adyereus Britones junctis TiribTis susoepervmt" (Bolland. torn. vii. p. 213). After tMs followed the Alleluia yictpry, and it is remarkable that subsequently to this Constantius speaks of our country as " opulentissima insula." THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 153 rediguntur," ' i.e. after teing torn by many previous calamities, the Britons submit themselves to the authority of the Saxons. The date given to this fact by Prosper cannot he justly disputed, as we have seen that in a preced- ing date he is corroborated by Zosimus, whose accuracy is beyond dispute. At this date Constantius again comes to our aid, and through him we are enabled to trace out the nature and character of the submission of the free but harassed Britons to their new masters and protectors. In a.d. 448, S. Germanus visits South Britain for the second and last time. His historian, Constantius, as he speaks of no war or turbulence in those days, so he compels us to infer that all was then peace, or what in that age would be considered so, in those parts which he visited. This comment of Constantius upon the text of Prosper imlocks the whole mystery of the Anglo-Saxon occupation. Peace at this early period between the Briton and the Anglo-Saxon demonstrates that this submission of the Briton was a free and voluntary coalition with the Saxon, following upon the separation of the latter from the ferocious and more barbarous Pict.^ This fact of course raises the question — Why did the Saxon dissolve his partnership with the Pict? The same sense of an advantage, or the same need of an ally, which prompted hiTn to form an alliance, would compel him to 1 Bouquet (Eecueil des Histoires des Gaules et de la France), vol. 1, p. 639. The Chronioler is either Prosper Aqnitanus or Prosper Tyro (see Bouquet, vol. 1, p. 635). Petrie gives the readieg " latse," which is not yery intelligible. ' Aneurin, in the Gododin (Villemarque, p. 324), expressly charges the Lloegrians with having given an asylum to the Saxons ; and in a previous passage of his poem (p. 264) he aUudes to the Lloegrians having formed an alliance with the Angles, whom he designates as "unbaptized ad- venturers." 154 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. continue it, for it must not be forgotten that the Saxon was a robber by sea and strand, — ^not an invader of territory and an aggressor of inland cities, like the Frank and the Alleman. And we have seen that even as conjoint armies the hordes of Saxon and Pict were not invincible. Singly, therefore, the Saxon might reasonably expect, in spite of his undaunted valour, that the equally courageous and more disciplined Romano-Briton should, at least, be his match. The plunderer and soldier of fortune in all ages, as he does not fight for chivalry and sentiment, so he never tempts a danger or incurs a labour which are beside the object of gain ever proposed to his mind. The Saxon, therefore, did not contend single-handed with the Eomans of Britain when he left the alliance of the Pict. Such a line of conduct was too obviously opposed to the views for which he had left his native shores. He did not isolate himself from both contending parties, but entered the military service of the Roman, because the latter was best able to compensate and reward ''him, and the two then jointly repulsed and destroyed the other invaders of this island. This fact, that the Saxons entered the service of the Romans of Britain, and, under their command, combatted the Plots and Scots, must be taken as admitted. The bar- barian traditions (as we shall see) assert it imequivocally. But, at the same time, the special account given by the Jutes says of themselves, at least, that they came into this country because they were invited out of their own, and that they joined the Romans upon this invitation.^ In this assertion there is no manifest improbability. Taken by itself, the story would be likely enough, but there are circumstances connected with the whole of the case which 1 Bed. H. E., A. S. Cliion. mb anm 449. THE ROMANS OF BEITAIN. 155 altogether impugn its credibility. For this evocation of the Jutes directly from the shores of 'the North Sea or the Baltic becomes impossible, when we take into our consi- deration the actual position of things. If the alliance of the Picts and Scots had continued with the Saxons, who had already arrived in Britaia, as we have seen, without any invitation at all from its inhabitants, the Saxons, who afterwards appeared upon and ia consequence of such a Roman invitation, must have met in hostile collision upon British soil, notwithstanding all their cousinship, and they would have been expelled along with their allies — ^the Picts and Scots. But no such collisions are recorded. No such expulsion is mentioned. On the one side are Plots and Scots, and on the other are Romans with their new allies. The Saxons are all foimd on one side — that of the Romans. This being so, the only conclusion to be drawn is, that the Saxons now on the side of the Romans are the same Saxons who had formerly warred against them, but for reasons of their own had exchanged their aUiance with the Picts and Scots for a well paid and comfortable engagement under the Roman flag. That the Romans of Britain should have enrolled these barbarians under their own banner was perfectly natural. They had known cognate barbarians of various tribes engaged in the service of the empire.^ Men of the wildest races even had served in Britain, where they had shown themselves, imder the discipline enforced upon them, orderly and obedient. The same results might, therefore, be ex- pected from the Saxons in their new service. Again, if ' The Notitia gives the folio-wing barbarians as serving in Britain in their respective cohorts, viz. Prisivones, Nerrii, Menapii, TaifaJi, TWgri, Usipii. See also an excellent paper on the aiixiliary and other forces of the empire, by TV. Thompson Watkin, Esq., in the Proceedings of the Evening Meetings of the London and Middlesex Archaeological Society. 156 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. Buch bartarians as these were not accepted, there was now no chance whatever of obtaining others. The Franks and neighbouring Teutons, who had flocked to the standard of Eome whilst the empire stood, were no longer to be obtained as mercenaries. They were dispersed throughout the empire as conquerors and settlers. No outer barbarians remained for the Romans of Britain but the Saxon, the Angle, and the Jute. Once submitted to the military service of the Eomans, the latter formed them, as had been done under the empire, into cohorts — cohortes perigrinorum — giving to each cohort the accustomed ensign, appropriated to it by the rules of ' the imperial service — ^the draco, or dragon. And the dragon thus given never left the grasp of the Anglo-Saxon. It floated before their kings in every battle-field of England, and finally sank, never to be raised again, at the fatal fight of Hastings.^ This fact is in itself an irrefutable proof that the barbarian had in his early stage taken service Tinder the Roman — the Roman of Britain.^ The alliance of the Anglo-Saxons with the Romans of Britain is otherwise confirmed. There are certain genuine antique Kymric poems which not only teU the same fact of the alliance, but show that these barbaric coalitions extended beyond Cantium, and were entered into generally by the Romans of that portion of Britain which is now England. These poems, which I have 1 The Romans of Britain, in their independence, had an army formed after the Eoman system. It is true that they could not well do otherwise. But there is evidence of the fact. S. Germanus met "vir trihunitia« potestatis" in Britain. (BoUandists, torn. vii. p. 213.) 2 I know that Jomandes (De rebus Geticis) says of the Saxons that they were "quondam mihtes Romani." But he is alone in such assertion, and it is opposed to the fact that their way into the empire and their commnnioation with it were completely barred by other barbarians. (See post.) THE ROMANS OF BEITAIN. 157 quoted before for another purpose, categorically state that the Llocgrians, jointly with the Anglo-Saxons, attacked Grioucester, Cirencester and Bath — that the Lloegrians, jointly with the Angles, attacked Cumberland — that the Lloegrians, specified as Bernioians and Deirans, ia com- pany with the Angles, attacked Stratclyde.^ Aneurin, ha. the Gododin,^ makes it an accusation against the Lloegrians that they gave an asylum to the Saxons (i.e. the same Angles who shared iu the attack on Strat- clyde). In a previous passage of the same poem he had. referred to an alliance formed by the Lloegrians with the same Angles, whom he appropriately designates "un- baptized adventurers.' These Romans of Britaiu, whose monograph I am now writing, having thus succeeded in detaching the Saxons, or whatever name the barbarians called themselves by, from the "barbarica conspiratio," utilized their strength, and by its means inflicted a full measure of retaliation upon Pict, Scot, Kelt and the Roman of West Britain.* But the submission of the barbarians to the alliance which they had contracted was not fated to last. The Jutish tradition, which I have mentioned, says of Cantium that the barbarians after a time picked a quarrel with the Romans of that country, and then acting on the aggressive won from them Cantium., thus conferring upon it the ' Ante, p. 25. ' ViJlemarque, p. 324. ^ li.p. 264. * Mr. Wright (The Celt, the Roman, and the Saxon, p. 393) says, "It ' is also worthy of remark that all the Eoman towns on the Welsh border to the north of Gloucester were destroyed, apparently before the period of the Saxon invasion." In his Ethnology of Southern Britain, p. 148, he refers by name to these towns, viz. Arioonium, Magna, Brevenium, TJriconium, Isoa. We know that TJrioonium fell under the joint attack of the Anglo-Saxons and Lloegrians. 158 THE KOMANS OF BRITAIN. sorry pre-eminence of being the first barbaric kingdom in Britain. This tradition is told us by the same authors to whom I have before referred, viz. Beda, the Anglo-Saxon chronicler, and Alcwine. AH their stories upon this point are so curious that I shall be excused, I trust, for giving them in their native longueurs, — the more so, aa the exercise of a little wholesome critique will enable us to see in them more of the true general history of our country than a mere Kentish tale might at first sight promise us. The story told by Beda ' is as follows : — " They, i. e. the Britons, took counsel together as to what should be done, and where assistance should be sought for, to avoid or repel the savage and iacessant inroads of the northern nations, and it was determined by all, including their King Yurtigem, that they should call in the nation of the Saxons from the parts beyond the sea, which act must be regarded as intended by Providence, as it was in reality, for a punishment for their wickedness. In the year of our Lord, 449, Marcianus began to reign jointly with Valen- tiuian, and was emperor for seven years. At that time the nation of the Angles, or Saxons, invited by the before- mentioned king, comes to Britain in three long ships, and settles itself in the eastern part of the island, at the bidding of the same king, as intending to fight for the country, but in fact to conquer it. The Saxons accordingly battle with the northern invaders and beat them. When the news of this had reached home, with information also of the fertility of the island and the backwardness of the Britons, there is immediately sent over a larger fleet carrying a stronger band of armed men, which, joining the cohort ' In the Historia Ecclesiastioa, lib. i. co. 14, 15. The history was written some time between a.d. 729 and 737, the years of the accession and resignation of King Ceolwnlf . THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 159 that first arrived, made the army invincible. Accordingly, those who now came over received a settlement ia land, hy the gift of the Britons, upon condition that they, the Saxons, should fight for the peace and safety of the country, the others paying them duly for their military service. There had come men from the three stronger peoples of Germany, that is to say, Saxons, Angles, Jutes. * * * Their first leaders are said to have been two brothers, Hengist and Horsa. * * * Without delay, therefore, troops from the before-mentioned nations flocked emtdously into the island, and this population of strangers began to increase so much that they became a terror to the natives who had called them in. Then having suddenly made peace with the Picts, whom they had by that time driven far back, they began to turn their arms agaiast their allies. At first they compel them to supply them more abundantly with pro'sdsions, and seeking an occasion of quarrel they protest that unless a more profuse supply of provisions be granted they wiU break their agreement and devastate every part of the island, and they very soon put their threats into execution." This is not the only account given by Beda. We have another statement of his iu the Chronicon swe de sex mtatibus smcuK, under the year 459. This slightly differs from the first. Hereiu he says : " The nation of the Angles or Saxons comes to Britain in three long ships. When report had announced at home that this expedition had prospered, a stronger army is sent out, which, joining the former, first drove away the enemy, then, turning its arms agaiast its allies, it subdued by fire and sword nearly the whole island from east to west, upon the pretence that the Britons gave them iasufficient pay for their services as soldiers." Here it is the pay that falls short, not the provisions, as 160 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. in the first account, but the difference is a mode of ex- pression only. Both words must he taken to mean the same thing. . The next account that has any pretension to originality is that of Alcwine. It is in date a generation later than that of Beda, hut there is no reason to consider it borrowed from that writer. The presumption is strong to the con- trary, and Alcwine also apparently writes from a York- shire man's point of view. He says, " Urbis (i. e. York) tunc tenuit soeptmm gens pigia Britcmum, Qiaae fere continuis Pictonun preBsa duellis Servitii ponduB tandem vasta subivit, Nee valuit propriis patriam def endere scutis, Vel libertatem gladiis revocare patemam." In this state of circumstances, as the poet goes on to say, the " duces regni " invite the Saxons over. They accept the invitation, and afterwards defeat the Picts. But in telling ub this rather diffusely, Alcwine neither speaks of kings of Britain, nor alludes to Vortigem, though there was nothing in the laws of verse to make the mention of that monarch impossihle. The Torkshire divine had, therefore, not much faith in any one of them. His story proceeds thus. After the victory over the Picts the Saxons become discontented, and demand higher pay. This demand being apparently met by a refusal, a war ensues, and the Britons are expelled. " Haec inter majora dari stipendia poscit Extemus edbimet miles, haec cansa dnelli In sociam fuerat gentem convertere fermm, Et pigrum populum patrio depellere regno." ' This is the cream of this poetaster's account of the affair. He winds up with some cant about the Saxons ' See Alcwine's poem "De pontificibus et Sanctis ecclesiae Eboracensis." (Gale's Scriptores, p. 703.) THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 161 being a people favoured by God as keeping his command- ments. But this is not singular. Some modem writers have said the same of the Turks. Next in order comes the story told by the writer of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. In the five MSS. which Mr. Thorpe has edited there are discrepancies more or less infer 'Se. The account given in the Bodleian, Laud MS. 636, is in the following words : " In a.d. 449 Marcianus and Yalen- tinianus began to rule, and reigned seven years. In their days Wyrtgeom invited the nation of the Angles to this country, , and they then came in three keels hither to Britain at the place called Heopwin's Meet. The King Wyrtgeom gave them land in the south-eastern part of this country, on condition that they should fight against the Picts. They then fought against the Picts, and were victorious wherever they came. They then sent to the Angles and ordered them to dispatch more assist- ance, and ordered that the feebleness of the Brito-Romans and the riches of the country should be told them. They then soon sent hither a greater force to the assistance of the others. Then came the men from the three nations of Germany, &c."^ It is observable here, that, though we have a British king named Wyrtgeom, we have no Hengest. The Cotton. MS. Domit. A. viii. (much later than the ^ "An. 000CXU3L. Her Martianus- and Valentinus onfengon rice, and rixadan vii winter. And on heora da,gum gelaSode Wyrtgeom Angeloin hider, and hi ],a, oomon on Jjrim oeolum hider to Brytene, on Jam stede Heopwiues fleot. Se cyning 'WyTtgeom gef heom land on suSan eastan jjissum lande, wiiS Jan Jie hi soeoldon feohton wiS Pyhtas. Heo Ja fuhton wis Pyhtas, and heofdon sige swa hwer swa heo comon. Hy Ja 8endon to Angle, heton sendon mara fiiltum, and heton heom secgan Brytwalana nahtsoipe, and ]iea landes oysta. Hy Jja sona sendon hider mare weored ]>am ojirum to fultuine. Da comon Jia men of jjrim meg'Simi Grermanie," &o. C. M 162 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. other) varies the story thus: "a.d. 448. In this year John the Baptist showed to two monks, who came from the East to pray at Jerusalem, his head in the place that formerly was Herod's dwelling. At the same time Mar- ciamis and Valentinianus reigned, and at that time came the race of the Angles to this country, invited by King Wyrtgeom to help him in overcoming his enemies. They came to this country with three long ships, and their leaders were Hengest and Horsa. First of all they killed and drove away the king's enemies, and afterwards they went against the king and agaiast the Britons, and they de- vastated the coimtry with fire and the sword's edge.''^ In this last version we have upon the stage, in addition to Wyrtgeom, the British king, Hengest and Horsa, the leaders of the Angles. The three other MSS. (Corpus Ohristi College, Cam- bridge, CLXxii., Cotton. Tiberius, A vi. and Cotton. Tiberius, B i., are all in substance of the same tenor as the Cotton. MS. first referred to). There are two Celtic narratives also, which should by no means be passed over. Gildas, writing late in the sixth century in the Historia, c. 23, says : " That proud tyrant Gurthrigem, leader of the Britons, and all his coimseUors, are so blinded that they invite the ferocious Saxons to assist them in repelling the northern nations. * * * * They obtain provisions 1 "An. ccccxLvm. Her Johannes Baptista setywede twam mnnecon, Ja comon fram east-d^le to gebiddene M on Jerusalem, his heavod on ]7are stowe \e h"wilan was Serodes Tranung. On ]7one ylcan timan Martianns and Valentinianus rixodan, and on ])am timan com Angelcynn to tJisum lande, gelatSode fram Wyrtgeome cing;e, hini to helpe, his fynd to overoumende. Hi comon on Jis lande mid jirim langan scipan, and heora heretogan waeron Hengest and Horsa. Ealra serost hi Jes cinges fynd ofslogon and aweg drivan, and syiJSan hi wenden agean Jione cing, and agean Ja Bryttas, and hi fai^ydon Jurh fyr and Jiurh swyrdes egge." THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 163 and pay as soldiers, but, pretending that the latter is in- sufficient, they break their agreement and depopulate the country." Nennius, another Celtic writer (at the close of the ninth or beginning of the tenth century), in his Historia Britonum (cc. 28 et seq.) says : " GTiorthigem reigned in Britain, and whilst he reigned in Britain he was pressed by dread of the Picts and Scots, by a Roman invasion, and by fear of Ambrosius. In the meanwhile there came three keels exiled from Germany, in which were Hors and Hengist, who were brothers. * * * Ghiorthigem received them benignly, and gave them the island, which in their language is called Tanet. This was in the year of our Lord 447." Nennius goes on afterwards (ec. 36, 37) to tell that the king promised the Saxons food and raiment, and they covenanted to do battle with his enemies. But the bar- barians becoming multiplied ia number the Britons could not feed them, and told them so. Hengest afterwards sends for more men from Grermany, and the conquest of Britaia is commenced. I should say that Nennius in each of his two prologues says that he has compiled his history from histories and annals of the Saxons, inter alia. The histories which I have quoted are the only autho- rities referred to by our modem historians in narrating the barbarian invasion of Kent, and they never allow us to suspect that there ever has been any other ancient account of this event. There is, however, another ancient account of the conquest of Kent, the more noticeable as, with a sKght but necessary verbal correction of the record itself, it disagrees with the generally known narrative iu a most material point. Though the historian ia question was a writer evidently entitled to the highest credit — ^perhaps m2 164 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. even already otherwise known' — no EngHsh or Grennan author, not even Lappenherg, who claims for himself to have considered ancient English history more critically than aU his predecessors, has been aware of the pregnant passage which I shall lay before the reader. The work itself to which I refer is called " Historia Miscella." It « is the production of an ancient hut anonymous Italian historian, who wrote nearly as early as Beda, and that the particular statement with which we are concerned is worthy of full credit may he affirmed upon the general ground that the other portions of the same work display unim- peachable accuracy and sound judgment. I must premise by saying that as regards the chapter in question there is special ground for assigning to it the only credit which I claim for it, viz., that it is a correct report of an old English tradition. The special ground is this. Before the time of the writer the English of all classes, noble and ignoble, high functionaries and leading men, flocked over to Home whenever an excuse permitted it. These are the words of Paulus Diaconus in his History of the Lombards.^ Any Italian clerk, therefore, writing early English his- tory after the date of this influx, would have opportunities of acquiring from these travelling English the best inf orma- ' Published by Muratori, in his Scriptores Eerum Italicarum; and Muratori and Eoth (in his preface to his edition of Suetanius, p. Ill) attribute the work to Faulus Diaconus. Mai, in his Commentarii Praevii to his Juris CivHis ante JustmShei Reliquae iueditae, also quotes the Historia Miscella as having been written by him. * Lib. 6, c. 37. "His temporibus (i. e. of the Emperor Anastasius, A.D. 700) multi Anglorum gentis, nobUes et ignobiles, viri et foemime, duces et primates, divini amoris instinctu, Komam venire eonsuevenmt." Beda in his Chronicon (Stevenson's edition, vol. ii. p. 203) has a similar passage: — " HisTeinporibus (i.e. in the time of Theodosius, a.d. 720) multi Anglonmi gentis, nobiles et ignobiles, viri et foeminffl, duces et privati, divini amoiis instinctu, de Britannia Bomam venire consueverunt. ' ' THE EOMANS OF BRITAIN. 165 tion upon the subject', and we may fairly assume that this Italian historian, instead of drawing upon his imagination for his facts, obtaiaed them more honestly by these means. Under these circumstances, if we find him difEeriag from our native historians, it wiU. be only reasonable to conclude that he has not invented, but has truthfully recorded, another phase of English tradition, neglected or inten- tionally rejected after a time by our own countrymen. It is in the fourteenth book that we find the account of the subjugation of Kent, and of the events which preceded it. This I will extract, and we can then compare it with those which have been already quoted. This writer says that, after Aetius had declined to assist the Britons, some of them rally and expel the iavading Picts and Scots, while others become subject to them: "quidam Britan- norum strenue resistentes hostes abigunt, quidam vero coacti hostibus subjiciuntur." The latter words refer to the Picts taking possession of and settHng in the province of Yalentia, the extreme northern point of Roman Britain. The writer then proceeds as follows : " The rest of the Britons («. e. the whole of the present England and "Wales) invited the nation of the Angles with their king Yertigem to the defence of their country. The Britons received them as friends and treated them as comrades ; but after a time there came a change to the contrary, and instead of helpers and defenders they found them enemies and assailants. Subsequently {i. e. to the invitation) the nation of the Angles or Saxons comes to Britain in three long ships. When the news that this expedition had prospered reached home, there was dispatched nevertheless a manifold army, which, joining the first men who had arrived, drives out the enemies on account of whom its services were reqtured, and then turns its arms against the Britons, 166 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. upon the false pretence that they were not ready to pay them what was due to them for serving as soldiers, and it subdued by fire and sword nearly the whole island from east to west." (" At vero residui Britannorum Anglorum gentem cum suo rege Veiiigemo ad defensionem suae patrise invitaverei quos cum amicali societate exceptos, versa m contrarium vice, hostes pro adjutoribus impug- natoresque senserunt. Sequenti deinceps tempore gens Anglonmi, sive Saxonum, Britanniam tribus longis navibus advehitur. Quorum dum iter prosperatum domi fama retulisset, mittitur nilulominus exercitus multiplex, qui, sociatus prioribus, primum hostes propter quos petebatur, abigit ; deinde in Britones arma convertit, conficta occa- sione, quasi pro se eis militantibus minus stipendia prse- parassent, totam prope insulam ab oriental! ejus plaga usque in occidentalem, iucendio vel gladio sibi subegit.") ' In the first place I call the reader's attention to the first words of the first sentence of the Latin passage quoted, and to my translation of them. I treat the collocation of the words thus cited as superior to its grammar, viz. that " cum suo rege.Yertigemo" has reference to the two words which immediately precede it ("Anglorum gentem "), the " suo " beiag a soloecism for " ejus," or an unwarranted and unnecessary interpolation into the original, such as often occurs in MSS. of greater writers.^ Without this correction there is only an absurd and unnatural inversion of words perfectly out of place in a sentence of a plain prosaic author. It is not, however, my intention to leave this important * Muratori's SoriptoreB Eeram Italioamm. * The error comprehended in the repetition of "suae" is a very common one in MSS. of the classics. "Prava vicinorum Tooabulorum iteratio," as Lachman has described it. See Bemays' preface to his edition of Lucretius, and his illustrations of this. THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 167 fact to be decided upon the internal evidence, not of a sentence but of half a one only. I wiU support my cor- rection by independent facts, which will materially assist the presumption which I have hazarded. The account agrees with the commonly known narratives in the main point, that the Angles were invited over to Britain, and entered iuto the military service of the Britons, biit afterwards on a pretext turned their arms against their hosts and subdued them. If my emendation however be right, it difEers from the other accounts in one point, — a point which, I thiok, is not only interesting but important also, viz. in ignoring Hengest, and replacing biTin by Vortigem. This variation becomes more material, because there is evidence that the other tradition, to which Hengest is attached, was also known in Italy at the same time. For the anonymous geographer of Eavgcuia, in all probability a contemporary as well as a compatriot of our historian, mentions Hengest as the leader of the Saxons.^ It is true he calls him " Ans^s," but the blunder was an easy one to the soft-speaking Italian. That being so, it follows that this variation is intentional. The anonymous his- torian, as knowing both stories through EngUsh informa- tion, selected that to which his English informants attached the most credit, and I will show that the latter were right in so doing. The account itself, the most valuable which accident has ever concealed and preserved, agrees with ' V. 31. "In oceano vero oooidentali est insiJa, quse dioitur Biitaimia, ubi olim gens Saxonnm veniens ab antique Saxouii cum principe suo, nomine Ansohis, in ea habitare Tidetnr." J. L. C. Grrumu (Deutsche Mytbologie ; Sohopfung, p. 537, edit. Gottingen, 1843) thinks that the geographer meant ^sc, the son of Hengest. ' ' Das kann Hengist sein, Oder nooh lieber Oesc, dessen Sohn, den ioh mit Askr vergleiohen habe." This is not a happy conjecture. 168 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. what Beda and tlie others have said as to the great fact that the barharians first entered the military service of the Eomans of Britain, and afterwards, when they felt their own strength, rebelled agaiast the former, alleging as a pretext that their pay was not sufficient for their necessi- ties, or not equal to their merits. But in spite of this agreement, so far, between the old accounts and the newly discovered version, there is a dis- crepancy on another point, which makes a distinct issue between them. The new account ignores Hengest altogether, and for that hero substitutes Wyrtgeom, whose nationality thus becomes altogether changed. The Italian historian de- monstrates the latter to have been not a Eomano-Briton, but a Teutonic barbarian. This is an important difference, but it is just the kind \ of variation which proves the recently discovered account ! to be the true one. Wyrtgeom could not have been a ! Eoman, for his name is Teutonic. Though " tigem " is ' Keltic, the real temunation of the name is "gem," and that is undeniably Gothic and Teutonic. If there had been a king of Britain at that time, as we know from Constantius that there was not, he would have been taken out of the paramount race, viz. from the descendants of the Roman colonists, and woidd have borne Roman names (of which we should at least have known one) — all derived from his ancestors, and consonant to the forms of the language which he spoke. And that language was Latin, employed in all the cities and towns by the upper and middle classes of Britaia.^ Latin names were used by all persons of these classes, and we find them in general acceptation. We have before seen a few of ■ Fast. THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. - 169 such names out of the many engrafted into Britain,^ those which epigraphy has preserved. But there are others also, which occur in literature, and have the same value as a testimony to history. An inscription has been preserved which gives us an "eques singularis," named Niger Marinianus, who is described as "natione Britannicianus."^ The last word is a form of late imperial times. Another inscription, of the same date probably, gives us SiLvanus, a " negotiator cretarius Britannicianus."^ The protomartyr Albanus, who suffered in the last persecution, was a Roman of Britain.* At the same time perished iu Britaia another Christian, a bishop named Angulus, martyred in " Britanniis civitate augusta," i. e. in London.^ At the synod of Aries, a.d. 314, were present Eboiius, Bestitutus and Adelphius, bishops, Sacerdos, a priest, and Arminius, a deacon, all Britons.^ We have another Romano-Briton of world-wide celebrity at the beginning of the 5th century — Patricius, the son of Calpumius, who was the son of Potitus, who was the son of Odysseus.' Fastidius, " Britanniarum episcopus," was 1 Ante, p. 121. " 1 Zell, p. 123, No. 1067. " Britannioianus " ooctirs in the Notitia. " Invicti iimiores Britanniciani," and " Exculcatores Juniores Britan- mciani" (c. 19, in Partitius Occidentis). 3 lb. p. 29. No. 284. * Of the reality of Albanus there is no reasonable doubt. Constantins tells us that S. Germanus visited his marfyriimi. Venantius Foitunatus commemorates him with high praise — " Egregium Albanum foecunda Britannia profert." (Lib. 8, oarm. 4. Quoted by Buinart in his Acta siacera Martyrum, p. 333, edit. Eatisbon, 1859.) ^ See the Martyrology of the Pseudo-Hieronymus in Haddan & Stubba' Councils and Ecclesiastical Documents relating to Great Britain and Ireland, vol. i. p. 28. ^ Petrie's Collectanea. 170 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. contemporary with the more notorious Pelagius, another Eomano-Briton. ^ Gratiamis, a pretender to the purple, a.d. 407, was a municeps of some unnamed city ia Britaia.^ When S. Germanus was over here, in a.d. 429 and 448, just at the time that' the supposed Wyrtgeom should have existed, the only name of a living iadividual which his hiographer gives us is a Graeco-Latia one, a form very common under the empire, viz. Elafius, a functionary of Britain.' And we must not forget that when the poet Ausonius, in the 4th century, satimes a probably ficti- tious Briton, he does not call him by an uncouth barbarian name, but gives biTn appellations that any other Roman might have borne, as nomen and cognomen, — SUvius Bonus.* As upon this evidence of names prevailing in Britain, Wyrtgeom could not be a Roman, we have no help for it but to accept the assertion of the Italian historian (under the verbal correction proposed by me), and believe him to be what he really was, a Teuton or a Jute. But what was the reason which induced the Jutes to ehmiuate their real old leader Wyrtgeom from the tradition of the conquest of Cantium, and to substitute the mythic hero Hengest for him ? The answer is this. They dis- carded the true heretoga and adopted the mythic warrior, simply because he was mythic. Wyrtgeom was a leader famed for no other exploit save the invasion of Kent. He was entirely unconnected with any mythus, which the barbarians either reverenced or regarded. In a word, as time had gone on the decendants ' See Germadius in Petrie. ' Orosius, lib. 7, o. 40. ' See ante, p. 142. * Epigg. 109—114. THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 171 of the Jutes tecame great men, and the true tradition of their iQcoming was insufficient for their very natural vain- glory. So Wyrtgeorn was not enough for them. There was, however, an epic warrior not oonflned to a mere petty division of England, hut who had left his name upon Friesland and Holland, who had in popular estimation huilt the burg of Leydon (a castelliim of Drusus), and who had won the castle of Fin, another hero as shadowy as himself. AH this they had sung or heard sung over their beer. This hero was Hengest, the Angle, upon whom songs, which we still possess, had thrown aU the charm of adventurous romance. ^ And if excuse were required for making the substitution, something like palliation was not wanting. Between the fabulous Hengest and the real Wyrhtgeom there was the connection of race. For all or some of these reasons the Jutes deposed Wyrtgeorn. And as names were admittedly scarce ia their traditions of this epoch, they generously transferred him to the other Upon this confirmatory evidence we must accept the Italian narrative with full faith ia its substantial truth and accuracy, that narrative estabHshiag as a historical fact that there was an alliance of the barbarians as mer- cenary soldiers with the Romans of Britain, and that subsequently to such service there was a disruption of that alliance, followed by the conquest of what is now England and part of Scotland. ' Beowulf, cantos 16, 17, and the fragment called the "Battle of JFinnesburh." * Henry of Huntingdon says of these leaders, ' ' Quia multi eraut, nomine carent" (see the passage quoted, post). The strange application of names may be illustrated by another example. Horn and Rimenild, "who are commemorated in what is, perhaps, the only old English romance which has survived the Norman conquest, have the same appellations as Chriemhild and the Horny Siegf rid, but the pair of names is appropriated in England to a totally distinct tale. 172 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. The Welsh poems which I have tefore cited show that what is told of Cantium applies with equal truth to those other parts of Britaia, which eventually hecame harbarian kingdoms.^ In these parts also peregrini had been enlisted in the service of the ckitates, and the barbarians who coiild revolt in Cantium would as willingly rebel anywhere else. The ready pretext which such men would allege, if they took the same trouble to allege any at all, would be that their pay or their rations were withheld, or were in- sufficient. What was so well begun in Cantium spread easily into the other territoria. Por as the invasions by Pict and Scot continued as before,^ the same reason for enlisting peregrini also continued. But these latter are servants only until their own strength has culminated "by accessions of other hungry adventurers from Germany ; and as fresh and ruder bar- barians arrive, new kingdoms are formed until the Hept- archy, or whatever was the number of these pitiful divisions, is for the time completed.^ These Anglo-Saxon conquests were thus effected, not all at once, but separately and at different dates. The intervals between them are so considerable that the first conquest is a remote event in comparison with the latest. Kent and Sussex are believed to have been conquered, the one in the middle and the other at the close of the 5th century. 1 Ante, p. 157. ^ South Britain was not free from the habitual inroa4ls of Pict and Scot until the 7th century. Under a.d. .597, the A. S. Chronicle says of CeolwuU, King of Mercia, who began his reign in that year, " He ever fought and won against the Angles, the Konmna (Wealas), the Picts and the Scots." "And symble he feaht and wan, ojjjje -mX Aogelcymi, o\\e wis Wealas, oJi];e wi5 Peohtas, ojije wi5 Scottas." 2 The kingdom of the Hurcias never comprised mcftre than Worcester- shire and Herefordshire at the most. THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 173 Mercia (rectitis Mercnaland) is stated to have been made into a kingdom by the Angles, under Creoda, in A.D. 586. East Anglia and Essex were both won, as some say, ia A.D. 527. William of Mahnesbury, however, makes Sleda to have been the first king at so late a date as a.d. 587. Bemicia was conquered by the Angles under Ida in a.d. 547, and Deira by ^EUa in a.d. 559.^ Connected with most of these conquests is a very curious circumstance which should not be passed over, for it bears directly upon the maimer in which they were effected. I allude to the absolute unauthenticity of the names of the chieftains to whom the successes are attributed. I have already shown that Hengest had nothing to do with the conquest of Cantium, and his equine brother must be as unreservedly dismissed, because his title to our credulity is dependent solely upon the historical credit of his sup- posed associate. Port,^ a leader of the West Saxons, is nothing else than a personification of " portus magnus," the great Eoman municipimn of Wessex. The same inexactness of assertion, the taking of the Piroeus for a man, as was done by Lafontaiue's travelled monkey, made of Durobrivis the Jufcish caboceer Eof .' To exactly the same category belongs another West Saxon champion, Wihtgar, the supposed conqueror of the Isle of Wight and the builder of Carisbrook, which, as men believe, carries within it a fragment of his name. ' Dr. Bosworth's preface to his Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, ' For this name see the A. S. Chron. sub a.d. 501. ' Bedae H. E. Kb. 2, c. 3. "A primario quondam illius [i.e. Duro- brivis) qui dioebatur Hrof." That this was a really Jutist tradition is confirmed by a charter (a.d. 762), wherein Sigered of Kent speaks of a house "in civitate Hrofi" (1 Kem. Cod. Dip. p. 134). 174 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. This dougMy Wilitgar is on dissection, however, found to be not a real man, but an eponymus, and a reproduction of Wihtwaru, the men of the Isle of Wight. This is no play of words after the manner of the great Irish dean, no anticipation in remote ages of "Jeremiah king" developed or deteriorated inio " gherkia," but a sober, serious, verbal conversion conceived and brought forth out of a dull Jutish brain, — a conversion that warmed the heart and flattered the national vanity of an outer barbarian during his in- tervals of appreciative sobriety. How this was brought about is distinctly traceable.^ First there was " Wihtwara byrig," the city of the men of "Wight, so called by the Jutes in supersession of its true Eoman name, just as Durovemum was called by their brethren " Oantwara byrig," the city of the men of Cantium. This " Wiht- wara byrig" is our modem Carisbrook. Succeeding "ea&- scopas" adroitly turned this into " Wightgares byrig," the castle of one Wihtgar, and thus Wihtgar became an entity ; and as mendacity " vires acquirit eundo," he soon 1 The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle furnishes this clew. Under a.d. 530, there is an entry which different MSS. give differently from each other. Two of them relate that " Cerdic and Cynric took Wight the island and slew many men afWightgara byrig," that is rectiiie "Wihtwara byrig," the city of the men of Wiht, the modem Carisbrook. Two other MSS. repeat the fact of the capture of the isla.nd by Cerdic and Cynric, but say that the slaughter of the defenders took pla«e at " Wihtgaras byrig" — Wihtgar' 9 city. This reading is the one preserved in Carisbrook. Under A.D. 519 the same Chronicle commemorates two heroes named Stuf and Wihtgar, and puts them forward as the leaders of the first West Saxon expedition. Under a.d. 634 (A. S. Chron.), this Stuf and this Wihtgar are called the nephews of Cerdic and Cynric, and it is said that those Mugs gave Wiht to them. But this assertion of relationship is inexact, for Cerdic and Cynric themselves are father and son. Matthew of Westminster makes Stuf and Wihtgar out to be Jntes. He says of Osbnrh, King .Wilfred's mother, that she was " nobilis ingenio, nobiliB et genere, quae erat filia Oslae f amosi pincemae ^thelwulfi regis ; qui Oslac Gothus erat natione, ortus enim erat de Gothis et Jutis, de semine scilicet Stuf et Wihtgar." THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 175 obtained a history of his own, was affiliated to another nonentity and became the nephew of Cerdic. This is the way in which Anglo-Saxon heroes were made. But though this is not history itself, it has a value of its own which partakes of history. All these sham names were invented in later days of the Heptarchy (so to call this wretched period), because real heroes were wanting to all these multiplied conquests. If amongst the leaders there had been a Clodwig, a Theodoric, an Alaric, or a Genseric, theix true names could not have failed to have accompanied their conquests, because the conquests themselves would have ennobled their names. But this is not the case with the supposed conquerors of Britain. There is no name of any one conqueror of which we are sure, though there are several which we know to be false. For this reasou alone it is plain that the con- quests of Britain were neither so rapid nor so complete as the Teutonist believes or would have others believe. On the contrary, they were slow, interrupted and gradual, occupying more than a hxmdred years in their making. Some of them could not have been conquests at all. On the throne of the then recently formed kingdom of East Anglia there sat in the 7th century a king of the Roman name of Asing..' Three of the new kingdoms take the existing names of the countries which the supposed con- querors occupied — I refer to Cantium, Bemicia, Deira.^ What does all this mean ? Certainly not conquest in the extreme sense demanded of that word ; but some ar- rangement — some compromise, for the Romans of Britain and their cohni. Under the conditions referred to, there * Bed. H. E. See also post as to the true asoription of the name. » Post. 176 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. could be no erasion of the original poptilation, no enslave- ment even of any portion of it. The descendants of the Roman colonists would remain, and their farmers and labourers — ^the original Belgic people — ^would equally con- tinue their relative existence. This fact has failed to be recognised by modem Eng- lishmen. It would, however, have been as dear to pos- terity as it was to the Romans and their coloni themselves, but for a singular misfortune which has befallen Britain alone of all the provinces of the empire. The barbarians who settled here were not content to caE our Romans by the name which belonged to them, and by which the civi- lised world knew them, but out of the abundance of their caprice they fastened upon them the substituted name of Wealas, just as they called the Mediterranean Sea the " Wendel Sea." Why the Romans should be nicknamed Wealas is no more intelligible than that that vast and beautiful lake should have been made to take in exchange for its own intelligible appellation another which appeals neither to sense nor to euphony. But such as it is, this perplexing piece of gibberish has succeeded in easting over English history a glamour of improbability and self-con- tradiction, that only the true interpretation of the word win be able to remove. Whatever surprise the reader may feel at my herme- neutics, I can assure him that I am making no idle and unfounded guess, though I am free to admit, with some feeHng of shame for my predecessors, that there has been a consensus on the part of the learned to take the word to meam the Kymric Celts. ^ 1 E. g., Mr. Thorpe, in Ms "Index of Places and People," subjoined to his excellent edition of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (toI. i. p. 396), under the name "Brytwalas," says, "Brito- Welsh or Celtio inhabitants of THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 177 This, however, is not the truth. Its real and proper meaniag is something totally different. It is revealed to us plainly, directly and vdthout any ambages whatever, hy the grammarian .lElfric in his invaluable Glossary, which gives Latin, words and phrases, with their explanations and translations in Anglo-Saxon. In this book the Latin phrase "jus quiritium" is translated " Weala sunder riht."' It is most unaccountable that this pregnant passage should have been passed over unnoticed or unread from the day when the learned Somner first edited this Griossary. - I admit that this work has always been rare, but at the same time it has never been inaccessible, and its rarity is a quality which should have rather encouraged its perusal and made it well known, at least to antiquaries.^ This word "Wealas," like other words, following the Horatian law, after a time went out of use. Another Anglo-Saxon Glossary, more recent than that which is attributed to ^Ifric, repeats the same Latin phrase which I have cited, but translates it, " Eomwara sundor riht."' The word "Wealas," at the date of this treatise, was fallen out of public circulation in England, and we shall here- after see the reason of this disusance.* But it still con- tinued in vogue as expressing the Romans of the "Western or Kymrio side of Britain. These were always called' ""Wealas" by the Anglo-Saxons, and they are, as we all know, called Welsh to the present day by EngHshmen. The gentlemen of "Wales should not quarrel with us for Britain." Under "Wealas, WaJas (dng.Wealli)," he says, "the "Welsh, \ the original inhabitants of Britain, afterwards those only of Wales and Comwall, or the Keltic parts of South Britain." 1 Somner's edition, p. 57. * See potit. ' Mr. Thomas Wright's Vocabularies, vol. ii. p. 49. * A. S. Chron. passim. C. 178 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. fixing upon them this name, however uncouth it may sound to their ears. Its intrinsic meaning, now made clear to them, will entitle it to more than grace at their hands. It defines their true origin; for as the gentlemen of their country they could not he of the same race as the yeomen wiA. proletarii, however they may now seek to deceive them- selves upon that point. In the middle ages, even after their acceptance of the vernacular of the coimtry, they had stiU. a sutstantiaUy correct idea of their own origin, for they did not hesitate to assert of themselves that they were Aeneadae — ^ia other words, Romans. This is the upshot of the well-known fable which in the middle ages was Lavented. in "Wales as the exponent of the national origin of Welshmen. This fable set forth that Brutus, a son of Aeneas the Trojan, had left Italy to settle with his following in this our island, and that both the old coimtry and the new colonists, who exterminated or ex- pelled a ruder race, received a name from their leader. Now a theory of national origin is always meant to apply only to the dominant people of the country. The lower population, ever a different stock, is left entirely unaccounted for. The proprietary of Wales, when they invented or countenanced this theory, knew perfectly well that they were of the Latin race, and had come from Italy or the cognate countries, for their own family traditions told them so. Again, this fable was not composed before the tenth century, and until the ninth the higher orders of Wales went on writing Latin epitaphs upon their relatives and friends. As they thus wrote the language of Home, knowing it only through the tradition of their ancestors, without further communication from abroad, they could never have forgotten out of what nationality they them- selves had come. But though Rome, which had sent the original immigrants, woidd, if she had continued to be such as she had been, have afforded an origin more than sufficient THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 179 for all earthly pride, the actual city and the hiunhled con- dition of its once great denizens, pressed hard in Italy and in Gaul by coarse adventurers from beyond the Ehine, discouraged open recognition, whatever truth itself might whisper. Under these circumstances the poets came to the rescue, and reconciled the conflictiag feelings of the Romans of Celtic Britaia. • The bards of that country retained Italy as the starting-point of the race, but referred back its pro- genitors to the heroic age. The same Troy which they knew in VergH and in Livy to have been the mother of Rome, was, through a son of Aeneas, to do a hke service in peopling Britain. With the motive thus given the "Welsh myth becomes respectable, and it is fortunate for archaeology that it has been preserved in all its starthng audacity. Besides this application of the word "Wealas" to the Romans of Britain, whether on its eastern or its western side, the Anglo-Saxons, with perfect correctness, gave the same appellation to the Romans of Gaid — calling them Galwealas, i.e. GraUo-Romans.' In precisely the same way the empire of the Grreeks was correctly called by the Anglo-Saxons " Weala rio" — i. e. the kingdom of the Romans — ^its true and public denomination.^ It was over these Wealas, not Kymric Celts but Romans, that the Anglo-Saxons, after their defection, obtained their ' A. S. Chron. a.d. 650, 660, 693. Under a.d. 1003, is the first oeourrenoe of the word French. ^ In the " Scopes widsiS" («. e. the Poet's Peregrination), the poet says of himself (w. 52 and following) — "And mid Casere, se ]ie win hurga, geweald ahte Wiolan, and Wilna and Wala rices." n2 180 THE KOMANS OP BRITAIN. successes. Everywhere Wealas («. e. Eomans) opposed the progress of the invaders, defending their own country, as they best could, inch by inch. The Jutes found Eomans (Wealas) in Cantium.' JEUe met the same people in Sussex.^ In the seventh century Ceolwulf, of Wessex, had continual fights with Eomans (Wealas), as his ancestors had had in former years.' And the poet who sang the battle of Brunanburh, in a.d. 937, has recorded what he had learnt from his predecessors — ^that the enemies whom the Angles and Saxons overcame were Wealas — ^Eomans.* Of all these conquests, the most detailed account that has come down to us is that of the acquisition of the territoria which afterwards composed the kingdom of Wessex. In the annals which narrate the combats which preluded this conquest, the references are sometimes to Wealas, at others to Britons. For reasons which I shaU afterwards adduce,* it is quite certain that these and other facts, recorded as having occurred in the early history of England, are drawn from contemporaneous annals. This early history was drafted iato the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.^ The events 1 A. S. Chron. sab annifl 449, 468, 473. * lb. sub anno 485. ' lb. See post. * A. S. C!hron. a.d. 937. ' ' SyStf an easfan hider Engle and Sexan npp becomon, of er brade brunu Biitene sohton, wlanee wig smiSae, Wealas of eroomon, eorlas arbwate, eard begeaton." Mr. R-eeman (in MacmiUan's Magazine) has interpreted this passage as showing that the Komans (Wealas) were annihilated by the barbarians. It means exactly the contrary. ' See post. » A.D. 556—614. THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 181 thus told range in their dates from a.d. 556 to 614, even subsequently, therefore, to what is considered the com- menoement of the age of historic light — the conversion of .Ethelhert. In A.D. 556, Cynric and Oeawlin fight with the Britons at Banhury, in Oxfordshire.' In A.D. 571, Cutha fights with the Britons at Bedford, and takes four towns, viz. Lenbury and Aylesbury ia Buckinghamshire, and Bensiagton and Ensham ia Oxford- shire.' In these fifteen years no great advance was made. In A.D. 577, Cuthwin and CeawUn fight with the Britons at Dereham in Grioucestershire, and take three cities (ceastra), viz. Gloucester, Cirencester and Bath.' Here at last is a real advance, a substantial gain. We might imagiae that this would have satisfied the chiefs of the West Saxons, and perhaps it did, so far as regarded their desire merely for permanent acquisition. But the old German spirit described by Tacitus was at its fuE, and creaghs were necessary to keep the idle barbarian amused, and to maiatainthe reputation of the blood-seeking chieftains. Accordingly, imder a.d. 584, we find the following entry in the Chronicle: — "Ceawhn and Cutha fought with the Britons at Pethanleag. Cutha was killed, and CeawHn took many towns and innumerable spoHs and angrily returned he to his own" ("yrre he hwearf to his agenum").^ The Wiltshire conquests, however, are not secure. In a.d. 592, there was great slaughter of the barba- rians at Wansborough in that county, and Ceawlin is "driven out." Where he was driven to the Chronicle ■ A. f!. Chron. 182 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. does not state. All this means retrogression on the part of the invaders.' In A.D. 597, Coelwulf began his reign, and (says the chronicler) eyer he fought and won as well against the the English race as against the "Wealas (Romans), the Picts and the Scots.' . In this we have demonstrated a state of incessant unrest, in which all parties, Roman and barbarian, share. But there is no extermination, no putting of entire populations to the sword, as modems would have us believe. Very far from it, for several years afterwards the Romans are still to the fore, still are to be combatted. In A.D. 614, Oynegils and Owichelm fought with the Wealas (Romans), at Bampton, in Oxfordshire, and kiUed of them two thousand and forty-five or sixty-five. This is a very important statement, when we compare it with facts which preceded it in date.' We have seen that in a.d. 556, Oxfordshire was first attacked — ^that in a.d. 571 parts of it were taken; yet notwithstanding this the Romans of that coimty were still so unsubdued that nearly sixty years afterwards a battle could be fought between them and the same West Saxons, upon the old fighting-ground of Oxfordshire. We have too the statistics of the mortality, and we see that the Romans lost a trifle over 2,000 men. This number of the slain on one side shows a well-contested field, for an earlier flight on the part of the Romans would have very con- siderably diminished the patriotic loss. But an enduring battle means loss on both sides, while in no age of the world would the slaughter of 2,000 men sufficiently express the utter destruction of an entire nationality. . Ab the histories can teU us of no greater losses of the Romans than this, we must conclude that the latter sur- ' A. S. Chron. THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 183- vived all these baxbajian raids and conquests, and we shall be quite rigbt m our conclusion. Eor we have plain and unmistakeable evidence of the survival of the Romans, not only in Wessex but in every other part of Britain. In the first place we have conclusive evidence that the before-mentioned loss of 2,000 men to the Romans did not annihilate that section of their race which inhabited within the circumscription of the West Saxon kingdom. * In a.d. 688 — 725, that is, during the reign of Ine, Romans genera- tim, without distinction of county or town, are still to the fore. And they not only exist as Romans, but, as I shall afterwards show, they are landed proprietors, large and small, burthened as of yore with the old republican and imperial trihutum} Besides also these rich and these comfortable Romans, there are others equally Roman who are not fortunate enough to possess a rood of land of their own. But they are Romans for all that, and out of these latter we find that King Ine has been gracious enough to make one his studgroom (horswealh).^ There is therefore still a general body of Romans within the West Saxon kingdom — a nation I should rather say. Where there could be all these classes and gradations of men such as Ine's laws attribute to his subject Romans, it is only rational to conclude that the latter were a very numerous and abundant population. Equally with Ine, his remote successor .^fred legislates for the Romans of his West Saxon kingdom.' And • LL. Ine, cc. 23, 24, 32. 2 lb. c. 33. 2 In the Laws of .Alfred (no doubt a very late production of that king) , the "Wealh," or Eomaii, is not mentioned eo nomine. He is spoken of only as a "srxhynde" (LL. JElfred, oo. 10, 18, 30, 39, 40). "We know from Ine (LL. o. 24), that this was a legal appellation of the Wealh (or Eomam). See also ^osi. 184 THE ROMANS OF BKITAIN. history records shortly before the death of this king the decease of a high Anglo-Saxon official, who was gerefa or judge of the Eomans.' There can therefore he no doubt that the Romans were a preponderating population, so far as numbers went, in the "West Saxon ^kingdom, and we aU. know how large a part of England was comprised ia that kingdom. As the other conquests of Britain must be presumed to have been far less difficult than this, for they certainly were all less protracted, we must surely assume that the Romans of those parts of Britain were proportionately less liable to the customary destruction which war brings in its train. More Romans therefore woidd survive these other conquests, and this necessary inference is confirmed by direct and positive evidence. Some old laws of the Angles of Northumberland, without date, but passed or compiled subsequently to the conver- sion of these barbarians, speak of Romans in that kingdom.^ In the 10th century there were Romans in Londbn and Middlesex.' For the rules of a guild of that period pro- vide for the special treatment of a Roman thief. And thfere is no ground afforded by the text for believing that they refer to a solitary instance of this sort of marauder. "We may therefore infer that this one criminal was not the sole representative of his great race in the home county, even as regarded felony ormisdemeanor. But there is another source of evidence upon this subject which, like the true interpretation of the word " "Wealh," 1 " "Wealhgerefa" (a-b. 897, A. S. Chron.). This expression startled Mr. Thorpe, 'trho has appended a side-note of donbt ("sio in M8S.). There is no occasion, however, to doubt the accuracy of the antique transcriptionB, which all agree in regard to this word. The personage in question was Wulfric, " cynges hon^egn." See eisopost. « 1 Thorpe, p. 186, c. 7. ' lb. p. 234, and see post. THE KOMANS OF BRITAIN. 185 has entirely escaped the ohservation of historians. Names are recorded in Anglo-Saxon England which are demon- strably Roman or Italic — cognomina and nomina. These were, of course, appellations of the Eomans of Britain and their descendants, and had survived with their hearers into these later days. Some few of them are traceable in Anglo-Saxon times stiU existing in their true and original forms, unimpaired and unmodified by their circulation among the barbarians. The East Anglian regal name of Atiri a, is -^vell known to the readers of Beda. This is purely Italian. A rescript of the Emperor Antoninus is addressed " A. Annae militi," a legionary who lived before the law of CaracaUa, and must therefore have been of Latin or Italian birth.^ A miles regis (king's thegn) of Edwin of Northumber- land was named Bassus .^ Cotta, a cognomen of the gens Anrelia,^ is found in Essex and Meroia as the name of an Anglo-Saxon thegn.* East AngHa gives us two Roman names of enormous interest — ^Maccus and Tucoa. Byrhtnoth, the famous ealdorman of East AngHa, had a thegn who possessed the first name. The contemporary poem that records the battle of Maldon says — peer stodon mid WuMstaue, wigan imforhte, ^If ere and Macous, modige twegen.* (There stood with Wufstan fearless warriors, ,^fere and Maccus, two high-spirited men.) 1 See Cod. Just. 12, tit. 35, o. 1. 2 Beda's Hist. Eool. lib. ii. o. 20. 3 ZeU, vol. ii. p. 97. * Kemble's Cod. Dip. vol. i. pp. 60, 101. 5 Thorpe's Analeota, p. 134. 186 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. This is not the only reference to Maccus. Under the slight variante of Maous this name is found as of land- owners of Torkshire and Lincolnshire as late as the reign of the Confessor." Maccus occurs frequently on pottery as the cognomen of a potter. I tak^ this name, however, to be not Maccus, the Oscan harlequin, hut another reading of Maeoius, a nomen? Thus the nomen Trosius is found written Trossus, e. g., Caius Trossus Epigonus.^ Tugea. is found in the Book of Ely, in the following passage:* — "The abhot came at the appointed day, and the woman was present with him, and with her Othulf of Exning and Simund, and his nephew Tucca, and ^gelwaxd and Osbem of Saham, and Alfstan of Fugelbum, and JEthelstan the priest, and his brother Bond, and Wulf- helm, and nearly all the bettermost men who were in the same town" (Cypenham in East Anglia). — " Venit igitur abbas ad statutum diem, sed et mulier predicta aderat ibi, et cum ea Othulf de Exninge et Simimdus, et nepos ejus Tucca, et -^gelwardus, et Osbemus de Saham, et Alfstanus de Eugelbume, et Athelstanus presbyter, et frater ejus Bondo, et Wulfheknus, et omnes fere meliores qui in eadem ■dlla erant." I quote the whole passage, because the juxtaposition of the names demonstrates that Tucca was one of the landed aristocracy of East Anglia. At a previous period (in A.D. 839) a thegn of Canterbury of the same name attests a charter of land of -31thelwulf of Mercia.^ But Tucca 1 Domesday, Yorkshire, 325, 330*; Line. 358 big (Index of Persons entered in Domesday in the time of King Ed-ward the Confessor, in Ellis's Greneral Introduction to Domesday, vol. ii.). " ZeU, vol. ii. p. 91. 2 Ii. pp. 94, 181. * Lib. 2, 0. 11, p. 128 (Dr. GEes's edition). " Kemble's Cod. Dip. vol. ii. p. 3. THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 187 could never claim tartarian descent. It is a cognomen of the gens Plotia. All scholars know the learned friend of Vergil, who with Varius revised the ^Eneid.^ Martial also had a friend of that name, and has addressed am epigram to him.^ Of two other categories of Roman cognomina found under the empire, and though variations from the general system, yet perfectly lawful and recognized, we have examples in Anglo-Saxon England. Of the first mentioned category, the cognomina were derived from places, and though sometimes affixed to, or assumed hy, persons of low birth, they are more often perhaps the appellations of persons of good standing.^ The proper name Xflic^LPCcurs as telonging to an ealdor- man.* This is not the apostolic Lucas, itself a corruption of Lucius, hut a real Eoman cognomen, adopted from the Etruscan city.^ The proper name Aesica is found belonging to a landowner or landowners in Kent in the years 697 and 710 or 715. For this there is the evidence of ' Suet, deperditomm libronim reliquiae, Eoth's edit. p. 296. Donatns gives us the information that it was Plotius Tuoca who aided L. Varius in the task. Vita P. Virgil, o. 15 (published in the Parma edition of Vergil). ' Lib. vii. epig. 41. ' Euphrates was the name of a philosopher known to Pliny (lib. i. epis. 10). The beautiful female cognomen Ida (see Servius's note on Vergil, lib. ix. v. 174 ; and MiUin's Voyage dans les departemens du midi de la France, toI. i. p. 513), is taken from the mountain. Memphis is both a man and woman's name (Zell, vol. i. p. 77, insc. 597 ; J. Capito- linus's Life of the Emperor Verus ; Aug. Script. Peter's edit. vol. i. p. 74, " Agrippus cui oognomentuin erat Memphi"). * Kemble's. Cod. Dip. vol. iv. p. 300, No. 967. " On fset gerad Je Jset stande Je wit beforan Jam ealdormen Lucam," &c. 5 Hubner's Corpus Inscrip. Brit. (p. 271, insc. 1336, 57. 6), "M. Lucoa." It occurs again in the same collection, in the objective case, and with one "o" only, "Luoae" [ib. p. 302, insc. 1337, 46). 188 THE ROMANS OF BKITAIN. deeds.' In Beda's history it is the name of a hoy, the pet of the nims of Barking in Essex.^ It is, as the reader is aware, the name of a well-known station on the great Roman wall. The second category of irregular Roman eognomina, which I have referred to, affected to give female nouns to men and male noims to females.' Of the first there is an iostanoe to he found ia Anglo-Saxon England. A hurgess of Canterbury, named Lucaena , is mentioned in a charter of A.D. 868.* This is no other than the Grraeco-Roman female name Lucaena.' These purely Roman names, unclipped and unworn, the same as they went forth from the Roman mint, are sur- vivors out of a multitude, and prove hy their own con- tinued existence the survival also of the Roman colonists in their descendants. But it must not be thought that they are the only Roman proper names to be found in Anglo-Saxon times. Others are recorded equally Roman, though they have undergone a terminal change suitable to ' KemUe's Cod. Dip. toI. i. p. 50 (a.d. 697) ; ib. p. 55 ; also in Kent (a.d. 700 or 715). In the first the name is given Aessioa, in the other Aesica. 2 Beda, Hb. iv. c. 8. ' Of female nonns doing duty for mascnline eognomma there are many instances extant. A few will suffice to prove the practice. Vinnius ABella IB known to all who read Horace (Hb. i. epis. xiii.). In the Decreta Oolonlae Pisajiae in L. et C. Caesarum defunctorum honorem" (Zell, vol. ii. pp. 370, 371), are found "Q. Sertorius Q. P. Pica;" "A. Albius A. F. autta;" "L. Otacilius Q. P. Panthera." Lamia also is a distinguished cognomen of the empire [ib. p. 97). Statins's friend Stella ("juvenis optimns et in studiis eminentissimus," lib. v.), who was the husband of Violantilla (ib.), is another and better known instance. Por the converse in the case of women see ZeU, vol. ii. p. 96. * Kern. Cod. Dip. vol. ii. p. 89. s " Dis manibus Lucena. T. L. Staphyia." This inscription occurs on an urn at Home. See No. 2234 of Mr. J. B. Parker's Catalogue of Photographs of Sculpture. THE KOMANS OF BRITAIN. 189 the indoles of that Teutonic dialect, which turned Petrus and Paulus into Petre and Paule. The names are these : — Artor, ArtonuB.' Basse, Bassus.^ Clare, Clarus.' Patrice, ■ Patrioius.* This is but a small list, but it contains two names not easily surpassed in true greatness, — ^names which as long as patriotic Talour and missionary devotion command human love and respect will never be forgotten. While some representatives of the gens Artoria passed safely through the storms of their native land, and were still country squires even in the time of the Confessor in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, another who settled in the west of Britain became supereminent as Arthur. In spite of Celtic efforts to the contrary this name is demonstrably a Roman nomen. Epigraphy has preserved it through all ' See Index of Persons entered in Domesday in the Time of King Edward the Confessor (vol. ii. Ellis's G-eneral Introduction to Domesday). The references to the name in Domesday are Yorkshire, 308, 316, 329 i; Lincoln. 341. In Index of Tenants in Capite {ib. vol. i.) is "Artor presbyter." The reference in Domesday is Yorkshire, 330J. Per the Roman name see ZeU, 1, p. 180, ias. 154:2. "M. Artorius M. P. Pal (j. e. Palatina trihu) Vioasius" {ib. ins. 927, p. 111). "Memoriae Artori Julii Augendi." ^ " Basse" (A. S. Chron. stii anno 669), a priest. ' Vol. ii. Kem. Cod. Dip. p. 297 (a.ij. 949). Clare attests amongst the thegns, "Dunstan abbas," and "Oscetel oircweard" (i.e. sacristan), follow him. For Clarus, see 1 Zell, ins. 685, " C. Aorio Claro ;" also ii. ins. 491. * Patrioius is a most common cognomen of the later days of the empire. Our own Saint Patrick was the son of a Koman deourion, probably of what is now Dumbarton. See his Own Life in the Conf essio (referred to by me on several occasions), and Dr. Todd's Saint Patrick, Apostle of Ireland, a Memoir of his Life and Mission. The Anglo-Saxon form Patrice is preserved in " Patrices hits" — Battersea. See Index Locorum to Kemble's Cod. Dip. 190 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN, the periods of the empire, and Juvenal has eternized it in a verse : — " Vivant Artorius istio et Catulus." ' It was fortunate for this great assertor of patriotic freedom against the Baltic savages that he had so fair- sounding a name. If he had been Blossius or Bubhius, Babbius or Eamrftius, Munna or Gabba, the muse might have blushed, and left one of our greatest heroes uncom- inemorated. For some such morally insufficient reason she has not a word to say for Coroticus,^ perhaps as great a warrior and as good a patriot, for he liberated his country from the Graedhil, and was bold enough to quarrel with a saint, who took their part. These two small lists must not be taken as proving the actual paucity of such names in the times preceding the Norman conquest.^ The political history of England only gives us the names of kings and members of the dominant class of Anglo-Saxons. The charters of land, of which we have so many, deal almost exclusively vrith grants by kings and mtan out of the public land, and both grantor and grantee were of the barbarian caste. It is plain, therefore, that though a few Roman names may crop up in such documents, the latter are not the places in which we are boimd either to seek or to find them.* But other records than these we now have none. 1 Sat. iii. T. 29. * See poat. That dim celebrity, Aurelius AmbrosiuB, if he ever was an entity, is probably indebted for his historical mention (meagre as it is) to the perfect euphony of his two names. ' It should be said that besides the proper names above mentioned, and other proper names of barbaric origin, there were, in addition thereto, christian names given at baptism, these being postponed to the others in accordance with the continental system, e. g., CeadweaUa Petrus, Biscop Benedictus. See a paper entitled "Some Obserrations on the Anglo- Saxon Christian Names" (in the Transactions of the Evening Meetings of the London and Middlesex Archaeological Society), where the subject is fuUy examined. * At the same time we must not forget that a conquered nationality THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 191 From the atsenoe, therefore, of such names in places which d priori ought not to contain them, it would be rash to infer that they never existed at all. The actual find of those few Roman names that I have given rather raises the just presumption that more of them did exist, however the contemporaneous evidence upon that point does in fact faU us. It is, however, that source of proof only that is wanting. Other evidence leading to the same conclusion is to be found in sufficient abundance elsewhere. And this latter evidence exists where it has never been suspected, but where it should be — in the surnames still rife amongst Englishman, which can only be resolved into Roman nomina and cognomina. Of these surnames the radical portion is perfect, the terminations merely having undergone that modification which the Anglo-Saxon idiom required. One surname very commonly found in the London Directory has not even undergone this trifling change. Anglo-Saxon or English Name. Roman or Italian Name. Babb,' Babbius. Bubb,2 Bubbius. Bm,3 Billius. Bloss,* Blossius. Deok,= Deccius. more or leas apes the names of its conquerors. Under the empire we find, even amongst the disdainful G-reeks, the Roman names of Strabo, Lucianus, Ammianus Maroellinus, and the like. The adoption of Anglo- Saxon proper names by some Komans must, therefore, be presumed, just as after the Norman Conquest the burgesses of London took to themselTes Norman appellatives. See the case of Deorman's children and descendants, ante. ' Garrucci (Grraffiti di Pompei, p. 95) says the gem Babbia was Oscam. Zell has (vol. ii. p. 88) incorrectly spelt the name of this gens Babia. ' Kellerman's Vigiles, vol. vi. p. 262: "C. Bubbius Piimus." This is not given by Zell. 3 ZeU, vol. ii. p. 88. 4 lb. 5 Minin's Voyage dans les departemens du midi de la France, vol. i. 192 THE ROMANS OF BKITAIN. Eoman or Italian Name. Dunne, ^ DTiTiniuB. Egg,» EggiuB. Epp,3 Eppius. Gabb,* Gabba. G«nt,5 Geutius. Gm,« GiUius. Goss,' Gossius. Hick, i^cce,' looius. Keok,9 Cecoius. Kimber, Cimber. Luck,i» Luooius. Mack," Maccius. MiTin/^ MinTiinR, MiiTin, Mvmiis," IVfiiTiTilns^ MmiTifl, MoU," Mollius. Natt,>5 Natta. Nairn," Naimius. Nob," . Nobius. p. 516 : " Quintus DeooiuB EiiohtMus." This is a form of Decius. In the later period of the empire middle consonants were doubled. 1 Dmme, A. S. (Kemble's Cod. Dip. vol. vi. p. 212): "L. Dunnins apella." Zell, ins. 132. The Anglo-Saxon adjective d/un is to be distinguished from the proper name Bumm. 2 ZeU, vol. ii. p. 90. 3 " Eppius Stolo," who wrote the epitaph on Ennius ; also Zell, vol. ii. p. 90. * Gabba, (Mart. lib. x. epis. 101.) 5 Zell, vol. ii. p. 90. » lb. ' ^■ ^ lb. The reader need not be incredulous in regard to this corruption. The village of Hackney should be and formerly was Ackney ; earlier BtiU it was Acana ig (the island of oaks). « Zell, vol. ii. p. 89. i» Zell, vol. ii. p. 91. " lb. " lb. " lb. Munna, the friend of Martial. (Lib. x. epig. 36; lib. ix. epig. 82.) " ZeU, vol. ii. p. 91. '* Natta is to be read as a cognomen in the Bullettino di Koma for 1851, p. 190 ; also in Acron's Commentary, Havthals' edit. vol. ii. p. 134. i« ZeU, vol. ii. p. 91. '' See ante as to the dnpUcation of the medial letter. THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 193 Anglo-Saxon or Enslisli Name. Roman or Italian Name. Nuim,' NiiTinius. Off,2 Offius. Paok,3 Paooius. Patrick, Patrice : A. Saxon, Patrioes hiS— Battersea,* Patricius. Pile,5 Pilius. PeU,« PeUiua. Eamm,' Rammius. Sioh,8 Sicoius. Semi,9 Senuius. Suett,i» Suettius. ■ Tapp," Tappius. Tidd,i2 Tidius. TiU," Tillius. Tite," Titius. Titt.'s Tittins. Besides the Eiomans in Britain, there is found here another population, which was common to all the pro- vinces of the Western Empire — ^the Laeti. ' Zell, vol. ii. p. 91; also "L. Nuimius Alexander." (Pontanus's Notes to Ms edition of Maorobius, p. 743, edit. Lug. Bat. 1628.) ^ For Offius, see Cic. Ad familiares, 7, 5. ^ Zell, vol. ii. p. 93, a nomen^ "L. Lutatius Paooius" (OreUi, ins. 6393), a cognomen. * Patricius is a most conmion cognomen of- the later days of the empire. Our own Saint Patrick waa the son of a Roman decurion, probably of what is now Dumbarton. See bis Own Life and Dr. Todd's Saint Patrick, Apostle of Ireland, a Xemoir of his Life and Mission. « Zell, vol. ii. p. 92. 8 lb. ' lb. Bullettino di Roma, 1852, p. 138. A Capuan votive inscrip- tion : — " P. Rammius P. L. Chrestus, Navigator." 8 Zell, vol. ii. p. 93. 9 lb. and ZeU, ins. 1640 and 1294. i» ZeU, vol. ii. p. 93. 11 lb. 1^ Tidius, ZeU, vol. ii. p. 93. The medial consonant doubled. 13 TilliiiH Cimber, the assassin of Csesar. (Suet. Divus JuUus, p. 34, Roth's edit.) ZeU, vol. i. ins. 1643: "M. TiUius Rufus." (Horace, lib. i. sat. 6, V. 24. See ZeU also, vol. ii. p. 93.) 1* ZeU. vol. ii. ib. 15 Tittius, 1 (Transactions of Essex Arch. Society, p. 145): a potter's name — a dupUoation of the middle consonant. C. O 194 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. The Laeti, who, though not Eoman, were part of the later Eoman system, were still a factor in the sum of the inhabitants of Britain after the Anglo-Saxon conquests, as they had been before. "We find them in Kent under the unaltered name of Lsetas, ia the time of King >iEthelbirht. They were as separate and disfinct from the Anglo-Saxons as from the Eomans, though themselves the descendants of barbarians cognate to the first. Their numbers and influence must have been considerable to have entitled them to this special consideration.^ As we must thus reckon the Laeti amongst the progeni- tors of at least some portion of modem Englishmen, they deserve a few words of explanation. Towards the end of the empire, perhaps earlier, the Eoman government settled colonies of peaceable barbarians — ^men weary, perhaps, of the chronic bloodthirst of their savage neighbours — ^in different parts of the orhisRomanus? Britain came ia for her share of this recruitment, and a colony of Yandals, probably the forefathers of King ^thel- birht's Lsetas, was planted here, though it is not stated ia what territory they settled.' From all these authorities, neglected, ignored and mis- understood as they have been, there is only one true and just conclusion to be drawn, viz. that the Eomans of Britain were not destroyed by the Anglo-Saxons, but remained upon the soil the embodiment of the laws and civilization of that great empire which had passed away in Western Europe. 1 LL. .^thelbirht, c. 26 ; 1 Thorpe, p. 8. « See Grodefroye's note to the Theod. Code, 13, 11, 9 ; also to ib. 7, 20, 12. The Laeti were particularly ahimdaut in Ganl, and more so in the northern part of it. For that reason Zosimnfl caHa them a " Gtallio nation" — "AcTour cQyoy raXarixov" (Ub. 2). 3 Zos. lib. 1. THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 195 After a perusal of what I have stated and proved, I think there will be few persons who will any longer main- tain or assert, as has heen maintaiaed and asserted, that the whole popidation of Eoman Britain perished by the sword in their conflicts with the Anglo-Saxons.^ This is the case for the survival of the Romans of Britain into the England of the barbarians, and I think no reason- able person can say that it is not fully made out. But as there are persons who cannot patiently estimate a mass of particular facts, howsoever laid before them — in other words, cannot appreciate what lawyers call evidence — ^I will examine this question of persistence upon its proba- bility also, viz. upon the general and admitted facts which have reference to or are connected with it. We have seen that when the imperial government relaxed -> its hold upon Britain, that country was inhabited by a thriving and populous nation, composed of the descendants of the original Roman colonists (its upper classes), and the \ original Belgic natives^ (its lower classes). That being so, i the question obviously puts itself, what has become of this nation, in both and either of its component parts ? Has this nation left nothing besides its memory? Is it only a lost humanity? Are none of us who are now living the bodily successors of either of its divisions ? Are all Eng- lishmen to regard their blood as derived exclusively from Denmark or the Duchies ? Some theorists think so, and even applaud themselves on this supposititious origin. But mere belief alone will not do ' No one should object to the use of this convenient oollectiTe. It can support itself on its o'vro. merits and also upon ancient authority. It ■well expresses the invading tribes, when there is no necessity for discriminating them, and it has the sanction of the barbarians themselves. (See Kem. Cod. Dip. passim.) ' The reader will bear in mind that I am only treating of England proper. o2 196 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. much either for history or pedigree. There must be some- thing else, which if it is not evidence, must look a little like it — something that must make a theory possihle or probable to some minds. It has been done in this case. To support such a view of history and national pedigree, it is necessary (and the theorists have realized the necessity) that the older nationalities must be entirely disposed of; for if any of them remain, the boasted barbarians cannot be exclusive pretenders to the honour of produciag the modem Englishmen. The obnoxious elements of Roman and Belgic blood must be forcibly eliminated out of England, and this the theorists propose to do by one of two modes, perhaps both of them, viz. a compulsory emigration of the entire nation of Britain, or its utter and imreserved annihilation. These two propositions shall be taken each in its turn. In regard to the first, I will begin by asking to what other land were the inhabitants of Belgic Britaia to migrate ? No answer, I think, can be obtaiued to this very necessary question. Roman Britaia, as I have said, was, before and during its independence, essentially a nation. The stationary and true elements of a nation being landed proprietors, farmers and labourers do not lightly quit their native soil, even granted the possibility of another land at least suitable to receive them. But where was such a land, which should thus take the place of our Britain? Hl-bestead as our country was at this time, the rest of Europe was in a worse position still, more-abounding and better-sustained hordes of ruffians ravaging or occupying it. No motive, therefore, could induce, for no attraction could invite, the Romans and coloni of Britain elsewhere, and it irresistibly follows that the population of this country, in all its statistical divisions, did not migrate from our island. But if these inhabitants of Britain did not quit our soil, what became and what has become of them ? Some theo- 'THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 197 rists answer this plain inquiry hj quite as plainly stating tliat they stayed at home to be thereafter totally destroyed by the iucoming barbarians. Here, however, we have a new supposition, requiring separate consideration, though I must say very little thought will dispose of it. But as every man, woman and child of our generation meekly believe ia this generally-difEused theory, it is my duty to examiue how far such a contiugency was possible at the hands of warriors who, as they came by sea iu the very small and far from numerous craft of their country, could never have mustered in large numbers. It is curious that even the critical Gf^erman, whose judgment and learning generally keep him right, should have done his best to inflate this unhistorical bladder. But the excusable desire to add the greatest kingdom of modem days to the Teutonic family has been his easily-traceable motive. The chief probability in favour of this strange theory is obviously the change ia the name of this country from Britain to Englaland, or land of the Angles. And this change of name, standing by itself and without the light of analogy, might plausibly be urged as proof of the expulsion or extermination of its British inhabitants. It is of course true that, at a period succeeding the Anglo-Saxon conquest, the ancient name of the island has fallen, and that some of its new masters have given it a designation derived from themselves. But if we examine this fact by the analogies which the histories of other countries afford, the plausibility of the weak hypothesis which has been founded upon it entirely disappears. We find that Gaul became the land of the Franks and the Burgundians, Northern Italy the land of the Lombards, and Neustria, in after days, the land of the Normans. But in all these and other instances, the new appellation arose not from the depopulation or the expulsion of the old inhabitants, but because the dominion 198 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. of the countiy had passed away to another race of men, who had become the political nation. So fifteen counties of England, in later days, became the Denalagu and ceased to be England. " Yicti Tictorum nomen accipiunt," says Servius, the learned annotator of Vergil.^ The mere change of name of a country cannot, there- fore, be assumed to prove the destruction of its original inhabitants. But I will not let the question rest here, for there is more stUl that bears upon the problem. An examination of what were probably the numbers of the invaded nation of Britain and its foes shoidd have its weight in determining this question. The long and pro- tracted struggle of the Eomano-Britons with their foes speaks decisively for the existence of a nimierous popula- tion, such as would enable this country to support so constant a draft on its strong and youthful iahabitants. The general scene of battle was the table-land of Britain, and there small bands of natives, dependent solely upon individual strength and prowess, without advantage of mountain and crag, could not have endured the shock of their enemies for more than a fractional portion of that time which the conquest really occupied. But Britain was never otherwise than populous. "When she had by the Roman conquests become a collection of provinces of the empire, the petty distinctions of tribes had died away amongst its inhabitants, and the population had merged into an associated mass, protected by its masters from all foreign foes, and patient of the requirements of the tax-gatherer and the recruiting officer. The Romans had reclaimed and cultivated the land, and had profusely interspersed it with cities and municipia. Under such auspices civilization produced its usual effect of augumentation of population. ' Aeneid, v. 6. THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 199 These general facts will giye us at all times a teeming population on the side of the natives of Britaia. On the side of their future conquerors, Jutes, Angles and Saxons, it may be confidently asserted, that their numbers could never have been large. To determine the numbers of such warriors as were sent forth by each of these tribes, we have only to consider the resources in respect of population which their countries possessed. A reference to the geography of Jutland will demonstrate that the numbers of the iavading Jutes must have been small. And this conclusion is con- siderably strengthened by facts consequent upon their British conquest. They at no time imposed their own name upon their new country ; but, on the contrary, ap- propriated to themselves the old native name, calUng themselves Cantware and Oentiagas. And at a period of little more than a generation after they had made good the foundations of their new kingdom of Kent, they lost a jewel of their crown — ^London and Middlesex — ^to the Saxons, who founded the kingdom of Essex. They were too weak to retain it. The Angles were another small tribe. Their insigni- ficance had even been a subject of remark to Tacitus. The only questionable fact is that of the numbers of the Saxons. But before we can hope to approximate to the num- bers of the invading Saxons, we must first determine what tribes are meant by that name. And in determining this question, we must be careful of our chronology, and not syn- chronize the Saxons of the fifth with the Saxons of the ninth century, — of the age of Charlemagne, when they had outgroAvn their native seat, and were a mighty alliance of inland Germans. But they were a tribe before they were a confederation. Tacitus, though he knew the Angles, had never heard of the Saxons. It is reasonable to suppose, therefore, that they were small in numbers and insignifi- 200 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. cant in other respects. This ignorance on the part of Rome was shown hj its historian, in a.d. 98. In the second century, i.e. a.d. 120, we find the Saxons named for the first time. For this information we are indehted to Ptolemy ; that geographer places them " upon the neck of the Kimhric CJiersonese ; " and also in three small islands towards the mouth of the Elhe, — in fact, in Holstein. They are then a trihe only, or at best a very small nation. But they are a seafaring trihe or nation ; and in a few gene- rations afterwards, though stiU confined to the same Chersonese,! we find them taking a high rank in piracy, grievously annoying the coast-dwellers of the empire. But as Englishmen well know, by the history of their own Drakes and Frobishers, piracy on the very largest scale can subsist and support itself upon small numbers. It requires heart and skill ; multitudes of men cannot follow it, and are not needed or to be desired. The effective forces are multitudinized by the changes and velocity of their movements, — their quickened means of aggression, and their unfailing facilities for escape.^ We have, there- fore, no necessity for a large population in a piratical community. Thus the Saxons, so long as they confined themselves to the sea and to piracy, had sufficient supplies of population in themselves for all the necessities of their mode of warfare. ' Late in the 5th century they were still confined to Holstein. Stephamis Byzantimas (a.d. 490) says, ^^Ea^oyts t^vos olxovv Iv t^ Kt/A-^pix-f Xl^iroyruru,^' 2 These qualities were peculiarly predicable of the Saxons. Orosius says of them (lib. 7, c. 32), "Saxones Trrtute et agilitate terribiles." Anunianus's testimony is more detailed (lib. 28, o. 2, s. 12), "Nee quis- quam adventum eorum cavere poterat inopiniun, non destinata sed varia petentium et longinqua, et qnoqno ventus duxerat, irrumpentium; quam ob causam prae cseteris hostibus Saxones timentnr ut repentini." Again (id. XXX. 7, 8), "Inter haec tamen caute gesta jam eonversos ad metu.- endam rabiem Saxones semper quolibet inexplorato irmentes delatosque tunc (A.r. 375) ad terrestres tractus." THE ROMANS OF BKITAIN. 201 And they did confine themselves to the sea so long as the sea afforded them the only outlet for their ferocity and enterprise. This limitation continued so long as the Franks barred the ingress into the empire of the Germanic tribes which were behind them.' But when the Franks had themselves entered into settled possession of the Gallic provinces, leaving the Rhine as it was in the time of the empire, to be guarded only by limitary troops, not by a nation, there appears upon the scene of history a host of confederated tribes calling themselves Saxons. These are an inland army. It is superfluous to say that these are neither the Saxons of Ptolemy nor Stephanus the Byzan- tine, whose only outlet was the Elbe. How this confederacy was formed and why it assumed the Saxon name is in no way our concern. It is sufl3.cient to have shown, that before it was formed there was a tribe of Saxons, seafarers and pirates, small in numbers but isknied in their craft, and masters of the sea and of all who dwelt by its coasts. It was this tribe of Saxons, and not the confederation of Saxons of later days, that sent forth its aggressors to this island. I think, therefore, it may be safely concluded that the numerical strength of the invaders was sufficient only to provide masters for the conquered race, not colonizers or substituted and exclusive inhabitants. This renders entirely untenable the theory of an exter- mination of the original inhabitants of Britain — a theory which Gibbon has pronounced to be an " imnatural sup- position." ^ And whUe such a supposition is thus contra- dicted by probability, it propounds for Britain alone a peculiar state of things diametrically opposed to that which ' See Eaynouard's Hiatoire du Droit nmnioipal eu France, vol. 1, Ut. 2, ch. 1, pp. 245, 246. 2 Hist. c. 38. 202 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. existed in Gaul and Italy. JElla and Hengest are made to do what neither Theodoric nor Clodwig contemplated ; what neither Dane nor Norman conld effect. Contemporaneous history also acquits the Anglo-Saxons of the extermination by omitting to charge them with it.^ Besides this silent evidence there are facts which speak out to the contrary. "We find a kingdom in the south-east retaining the name of a British nation ; two large king- doms in the north and east retaining the British names of British nations ; a large kingdom in the interior, which if it does not retain a British name has one which certainly does not belong to the conqueror, — and yet we are told that all British men were rooted out and dead. It is, however, simply impossible that the foreign conqueror should call himself King of Bemicians when there were no Bemicians, King of Deirians when there were no Deirians, or King of Kentish men when there were no Kentish men ; and yet the kings did so.^ This is not all. In the assertion that the Romano- Britons were exterminated, there is propounded as a truth that which would be, if true, an entirely unexampled and isolated fact in history — ^the extermination of a populous ^ Prosper Aq^uitanTis (a.d. 455) says only, "Britamiiis ttsque ad hoc tempua variia eladiitta eventibuaqtie laceraim in ditionem Saxont/m redigimttir" (see post) ; and Stephanns Byzantinns (a.d. 490) thus categorically asserts the survival of the Boman Britons; " Oi Taurny (i.e. Britain) oixomra XifiTum ' That the Anglic kings of Northumberland called themselves, and were called by their subjects, Mngs of the "Bemicii" and "Deiri," see Eddius'sVita Wilfridi (a.d. 730), pp. 214, 219, 259; St. Boniface's epistles to Osred, rex Bemioiornm et Deirormn (a.d. 765) ; and Beda's History, p. 153, of the Historic Society's edition. For evidence that the Deirians and Bemicians were British and not Anglic, see post. For Cantuarii, see Beda's History, p. 111. For Centisemen, see Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. The rubric of the laws of Hlothaere and Fadrlc calls them kings of the Kentish men — Cant*ara cyningas (Thorpe's Laws, vol. 1, p. 26). THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 203 and civilized race by a few hordes of piratical and nulitary marauders. But would the conquerors he willing to wipe from the face of the earth the surviving inhabitants of the country which they had appropriated? I think not: for such a desire on their part would negative the object and purpose of their own expeditions, formed solely for the acqidsition of territories and their accompanying popu- lation. The lower natives, therefore, would be spared, that their industrial arts might supply the wants and minister to the luxuries of their new masters. -This even is an extreme view, for no known conquests, not even the Turkish, have ever yet been driven to this point of severity ; and certainly the victories of the barbarians in the other parts of the empire were proveably not carried out to this bitter end. For though the barbarians all desired settlements on Roman soil, there was enough and to spare for them and the original inhabitants too, especially as the public land and the private estates of the emperor were thrown into the general hotch-pot. This greed for settlements outside of the cold and humid regions of the north had corrupted the virtue of the old Greiman heart. Besides ferocity and sensuality, both ex- cessive, but which may only mark the boyhood of a great nation, the German tribes in those ages which succeeded the date of Tacitus's narrative were distinguished from other human beings by so utter a want of faith, honour and veracity, that the Eoman world, practical as it was, felt itself puzzled to know how to deal with these truculent prevaricators. "Whatever treaty they solemnized, what- ever promise they made, the barbarians never failed to infringe the one and ignore the other before the writing 204 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. was dry and the witnesses were well dismissed.^ The Franks were conspicuous for this startling form of deceit, always exhibited under the exterior of a good-natured heartiness ; a state of metaphysics which revolted the proud and therefore honour-loving Italian.^ But this sustained and hahitual falsehood, scarcely natural to man in that stage of unculture, was prompted and upheld solely by the barbarians' greed for a new home. This ambition had upheaved all Germany. Having seen better things, the hard condition of their native wilds had become intolerable, and they longed for the luxurious villas, the subservient tenants, the accomplished slaves of the Roman teiritoiy. Having seen these " commoda vitae," these phases of secular happiness, they felt it impossible to return to the husks and draff of old Ger- many. But the worth of new acquisitions upon Roman territory was conditioned upon the existence of, at least, the colonic provincials. Without their persistence the promised gain would have been no better than a disappointment and an illusion. The barbarians, therefore, would not permit themselves to destroy either the coloni or the slaves of their new countries. And they themselves never pretended that they had destroyed the other portion of the population — the Romans. In the old songs which they roared over their ale and their meed, they exulted only because they had overcome the Romans.* The remembrance of this 1 See Ammianns MarceUmus, passim, as to the Alemaimi, e.g. (lib. 21, 3, 1) "post ictumfoedus," &c. 2 VopiscuB in Vita Proctdi (Peter's edit. vol. 2, p. 212) : " ipsis proden- tibus Francis, quibus familiare est lidendo fidem frangere." ' See the poem on " the battle of Brnnanburh," quoted ante. THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 205 great conquest was suiHcient, without anything more, to keep the muddled hrain of the Anglo-Saxon in a ferment of pride, which was to cease only with his own annihilation.^ But though there is no ground in fact for this alleged destruction of the Romans of Britain and their coloni, that destruction is a sine qud non of another theory, which, though equally unfounded, is a great favourite among modem his- torians. The latter have believed that the Britons of the eastern and midland portions of the island were just as Keltic as the western portion. As I have already demonstrated this view to he entirely inexact, considered as a matter of fact and historic truth, it remains only to show how this strange hut important error origiaated. It owes its rise to a word merely — to nothing graver or weightier. It has always been known that the Anglo-Saxons called the inhabitants of those parts of Britain out of whose country they made their kingdoms, Wealas. It has been equally well known that the same Anglo-Saxons applied the same word Wealas to the inhabi- tants of the western portion of the island, some of whom were undoubtedly Kelts, so far, at least, as regarded their lower population. In other words, the Anglo-Saxons called the inhabitants of the whole island (Caledonia excepted) But, said the historians, this word means Kelts ; therefore all the inhabitants of Britain were Kelts. And just because the inhabitants of Britain were Kelts, as they chose to think ^ The conquest of Britain -would seem inexplicable were it not for the conquest of Gaul by cognate barbarians. Graul, whose natives were among the best soldiers of the legions, succumbed in less time to bar- barians, her inferiors in all soldatesque qualities. Ammianus Marcellinus, a good judge of soldiers, says of the Gauls (lib. 15, c. 12), " Neo eorum aJiquando quisquam, ut in Italia, munus martium pertimescens pollicem, sibi praecidit, quos locaUter murcos appellant."' The aUusiou is to the eoloni of Italy. 206 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. tkem, it became absolutely neoessaiy to kill tbem off. This was perfectly logical, for if tbey had been suffered to live into later days they must have proved by the evidence of th.e language which they spoke and speak that they were not Keltic. That being so, it was absolutely necessary to put this nation out of existence, and to make of our part of Britaia a taiula rasa ready and fit to receive the new social impressions, which the crapula and bloodthirst of old Grermany should forcibly substitute for the government, the laws, the arts and the civiKzation of the empire. The reader, however, has abeady seen what this word Wealas really meant, and he wiU not be deceived by any false though popular conclusions drawn from its equally false interpretation. It follows from the foregoing observations that the van- quished were quite as much aHve as the victors. There was a new nation it is true established upon the soil of Britain, but that new nation had neither expelled, nor, as we shall afterwards see, even dispossessed the older nation- ality which it had found and encountered. The latter stOl existed and was recognised for what it really was, — Roman. After the conquests, both the new and the old nationality Kved together upon the broad area of what once was Britain, but was thenceforward a congeries only of petty principalities, dominated by an inferior and a ruder race. They severally so lived in the only way which was possible to them under such circumstances, viz. separate and apart, — the barbarian living more barharieo, the Roman more Romano; but with this modification of the life of each, the barbarian has all political power in his hands, while the Eoman has forfeited it entirely. The barbarian is armed to the teeth, while the Eoman is for the time entirely disarmed and defenceless. THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 207 These are the relative conditions of life of the two nationalities. But ia addition to that modification which had been made ia his condition, through the fact of his race having heen converted by the conquest into a domi- nant caste upon a foreign soil (the very opposite of what it had been in old Grermany, where all freemen were equal), the new Hfe of the barbarian in Britain became ineradi- cably coloured by the priaciples which had impelled the invasions and effected the conquests. It had not been the nations of Grermany, but armies drawn from that wild and unquiet land, which had subjugated our too attractive country. And these expeditionary armies had been each and aU. formed and conducted upon the peculiar principle which alone governed the formation and conduct of every expedition that ever went out of ancient G^ermany. It is easily demonstrable that the same old principle which regulated the formation and conduct of other war- like incursions of the Grermans regulated also the invasions of Britain made by the same German races. What this principle was, a luminous passage ia the Commentaries of the imTTiortal Eoman shows us. He says : — " Ubi quis ex principibus in conciUo se dixit ducem fore, ut qui sequi veUnt, profiteantur : consm-gunt ii qui et cau^am et hominem probant, suumque auxilium poUicentur, atque ab multitu- dine collaudantur."^ It was not therefore necessary that an aggressive expe- dition should be the well considered act of a nation or a tribe, though such a contingency may be of course con- ceived. Generally and normally such a razzia was the idea and conception of a gallant and conspicuous individual, who could, as Caesar has thus told us, through his personal influence attract the necessary numbers of volunteers from ' De B. a. Ub. 6, c. 22. 208 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. amongst his barbarian brethren to follow and support his intended venture. These co-adventurers, however, as we learn from another source, for Caesar has withheld the information, were not the loosely associated comrades of a Morgan or a Blackboard. But ia such adventures as Caesar refers to, the public law of Germany imposed an obligation of a solemn and sacramental character upon all who preferred their companionship in fair and open war- fare of this nature. For this all-important iuformation concerning the in- ternal constitution of these bands we are indebted to Tacitus.^ He says that every princeps or leading man in Germany had a troop of persons whom he had himself selected, and that these persons, who were attached to biTin by oath or solemn engagement, were called his comites or companions. They were to him an honour ia peace and a rampart in war. In other words, they were an army of guerilkros ia the service of that princeps. As an army they were equipped and fed by him, and as the princeps could only acquire by war the means of such equipment and subsistence, war was the special pursuit and occupation of both leader and men. This principle, which we find for the first time defined ia the pages of Tacitus, though its workings are described by Caesar, is that Germanic vassalage which was afterwards in its developed action to revolutionize Europe, and which has left its traces and consequences indelibly impressed upon the constitution of every portion of that empire which the Germanic conquests subverted. This institution and the honour ia which it was held by the barbarians astonished the philosophic Roman historian, but no one can deny that its effects ia after ages demon- ' De M. G. oc. 13, 14. THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 209 strated that it was "an institution excellently adapted to the purposes both of general conquest and of special per- sonal aggrandisement. The pregnant words of Caesar thus give us the preliminary conditions of every accredited invasion of Britain by the Anglo-Saxon bands, for in these words are contained the motives and the means by which all Grermanic conquests were actuated and effected. If for the common term "priiweps" we substitute the proper name JElla, Cerdio or Ida, there will be in the general expressions of the Roman a particular description of a specific fact. We can therefore, upon such authority as this, unhesi- tatingly assume that the invasions of Brifain., Kke all other Germanic invasions, were not the corporate act of a nation warring agreeably to the practices of civilization, but the voluntary and isolated expeditions of chieftains and their comites. And we shall be strengthened ,in this assumption by other evidences of this barbaric custom, for we find that the Batavians, who at an early period entered the military service of the empire, at aU times insisted and obtained that they should be led by their own notables.' In other words they carried on war in the imperial service under the same immediate organization as that under which they would have effected a creagh against a neigh- bouriag tribe. And we are assured by Ammianus Mar- cellinus, himself an old soldier, that this was the general practice under the empire in the case of all the cohorts of Goths and Teutons engaged ia the service of Rome.^ ' Tacit. Hist. iv. 12. " Transmissis illuo cohortibus, quas, vetere instituto, nobilissimi populaiium regebaut." In a.d. 357, Ammianus MaroeUinus says of them (16, 12, 46),."Batavi venere cum regibus." Tbe Batavians were old military servants of the empire. " 31, 16, 8. These cohorts were officered by their own countrymen. Ammianus records an exceptional instance of some of these bodies of peregrini in Asia Minor having Roman officers (reotores Komanos), and adds, " quod his temporibus rare contingit." 0. P 210 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. We thus see that each member of every expeditionary- corps -whioh came first to serve and afterwards to master the Eomans of Britain, was considered to be not so much the retainer or servant as the comes or companion of the leader. In the language of the barbarians who invaded this country he was accordingly caUed a gesith — a word of exactly the same meaning as the expression which Tacitus has used — comes. But in Anglo-Saxon England of after- days this word, though it still retains its plain and primi- tive sense, has also a high political and social signification, to all appearance totally inconsistent with its first and original import. For it signifies landowner, gentleman, noble. Such a startling development of meaning, though perhaps not standing alone, must seek for itself an ex- planation outside of etymology, and as history has added to the word its secondary sense, she will not disappoint us if we ask that explanation of her. We have seen that the conquest of each subjugated portion of Britain was made by a leader (or lord) and his army of devoted companions. But when this conquest was completed, and its advantages were realized by all, these companions could not better ensure the remembrance of their victory than by perpetuating the name under which they had obtaiued it. They were companions before they were landlords and aristocrats, and just because they were companions had they elevated themselves to this high position iQ their newly-acquired country. The name, therefore, was their title to their lands and their social rank. It was ennobling also, because it recalled the agency by which they had attained, this wealth and greatness, and all who bore it were by that name associated personally with the stupendous triumph of their forefathers.' ' For gesiS, see Ine's Laws, c. 60. For its derivative gesitJcund (descended from a gesiS), see the Laws, passim. Though gesiS afterwards went out of use, gesiScund remained to the end of the monarchy. Besides THE ROMANS OP BRITAIN. 211 In tMs word gesith we have, therefore, the concrete fact as well of the conquest of Homan Britain by Grermanic tribes, as also of the mode and means by which that eon- quest was effected. And besides the evidence of these facts, we have in the same word the less direct assertion of those exclusive privileges which the conquest insured to the victors and their descendants, viz. wealth, power and pre-eminence. In the later days of the Anglo-Saxon monarchy, the gesith, with that taste for neologism which is found in all ages and countries, exchanged the name of companion for the more submissive appellation of thegn, or servant. But this new word neither meant nor involved any real change in the condition of the man himself. As companion, the Anglo-Saxon had submitted his individual will to his lord. As thegn, he could do no more. In reality, therefore, thegn was a truer denomination than ever gesith had been. But whatever was the motive for the change, it was verbal only. The substituted word had all the meanings which had belonged to the older and more honourable term — no more and no less. Thegn, like the other, meant warlike retainer, landed proprietor, gentleman, noble.' the Laws, the older diplomata illustrate the word gesiS in a full and very interestiug manner. In 1 Eem. Cod. Dip. pp. 161, 162 (a.d. 778), Cynewulf of "Wessex makes a grant to Bica, "comiti meo ao ministro." The deed is attested by a personage who adds to his name "feeder comitis regis." In the same vol. pp. 96, 97 (a.d. 736), .aSthelbald of Meroia speaks of " venerando oomite meo Cyniberhtte," and "fidele duce atque comite meo Cyniberhtte." A charter of Beorhtrio of Wessex (it. p. 191, before a.d. 790), contains this attestation, "Signum mauus Wigbaldi comitis." In vol. ii. of the Codex, p. 208 (a.d. 938, the latest notice which I have found), .3ilthelstan grants "cuidam adoptive fldeli meo comiti, JEthelstauovocitato." The adjective "adoptivus" expresses well the gesithship. ' As servant, see Thorpe's Cod. Exon. p. 297. ' ' ' Sum biS f egn gehweorf on meodu healle." I. e., " one becomes a familiar servant in the festive haU." p2 212 THE KOMANS OF BRITAIN. But even after he had thus attained that new position to which wealth and power, unknown to him in the old country, had advanced him in the new one, he was still, in deed and in truth, a gesith as much as when he first entered Britain. He and his comrades were still the soldiers who composed the barbarian army of invasion and conquest, but which had now become an army of occupation by the necessity of the situation. This army was per- manent; it could not disband itself, for it had no home now but its new one, and that could only be retained by the same means through which it had been won — ^by war or readiness for war. As every Anglo-Saxon in Britain was a member of that army, so every descendant of an Anglo-Saxon was equally enrolled in it. The barbarians had few or no enemies from without, but they had many within. All the subjected Romans were of that category. It was a necessity, therefore, that the barbarian army should remain immortal and cemented as at first by the obligation of the comitatm. This army, which had been mercenary under the Romans before its revolt, continued to be paid after that revolt had culmiuated in conquest. The only difference lay in the paymaster. In the first instance the Romans had had the power of the purse, but conquest had transferred that power to the leader of the barbarians, their heretoga. So again, ib. p. 433 — " Se woima fegn" (i. «., " the pallid servant "). As military retainer and a valorous person, see .ffilfrio's Homilies, 1 Thorpe's edition, p. 342. "Maran lufan nimtJ se heretoga on gefeohte to )>am cempan J;e aefter fleame his wiSer winnan Jiegenlioe oferwinS, Jjonne to Jam ]ie mid fleame ne setwand ne J>eah on nanum gecampe naht Jegenlioes ne gefremode " {i.e., " The leader in battle takes more love to the warrior who, after running away, overcomes his adversary like a thegn, than to him that never actually ran away, but nevertheless in no conflict did aught really thanelike." For landowner, noble, and gen- tleman, see the first Capitulum of the " Eectitudines singularum perso- narum " and the Laws, passim. THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 213 While he was lord of the barbarians he was king of the Romans, and had succeeded the emperor in all his rights over the latter. One of the most onerous obligations of the Roman was to pay the tribiitum (or land tax). This the barbarian king now collected or received of the Romans, and with this he paid the army of his countrymen. With the result of this and other taxes he was weU content, and though the Roman was, by the tenure of his land, bound to provide recruits for the standing army of the country,' the barbarian king, too prudent to put arms into the hands of his domestic foes, remitted for a time the enforcement of this obligation. As an army, therefore, all the barbarians were paid and maintained at the cost of the conquered race, which shared neither in its powers nor its emoluments. But besides being an army, or rather because they were an army, the barbarians were also the advisers and coun- cillors of their leaders, and as such they were called his tvitan. Though bound by oath to follow and obey him, to sacrifice life for his sake, they were men turbulent and fierce with arms in their hands, and he must in his txfm perforce defer to their joint and prepondering opinion. He must consult and advise with them upon all matters which regard the newly-subjected country. Upon these the inte- rests of the leader and his comites are one, viz. to hold fast what they had severally won. This was the situation during the prosecution of the conquests, and it was the same after their completion. In the leader and his advisers — the army — is the government of the country. And this form of polity endured until the arrival of the Norman. It is superfiuous to say that into this army no Romans were admitted, as the general and preponderating rule. I ' &ee post. 214 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. do not of course mean to say that there may not have heen men of the subject race allowed to become king's men — specially so favoured and advanced. In fact, we shall see that this was so. But these men were exceptions. The position of their general race was entirely different. This generality was not graced with any trust or confidence on the part of the alien king, and they could not be so graced. Although the Roman was, as we have already seen, by the law of his tenure bound to find rscruits for a national army, the king never availed himself of this right, and there was no occasion for his doing so, for the wars of the Heptarchic kings, never better than creaghs and Eed Indian ambuscades, could be prosecuted and resisted by the Anglo-Saxons themselves without their needing any augment of their numbers. But when the Danes appeared on the scene, war itself took another form. It was no longer a pastime which would relieve the ennui of listless inoccupation. It was now an antagonism that allowed of no compromise between the contendLag parties — a war prosecuted by the one side for rapine and power, and sustained by the other with a full consciousness of the crisis upon which they had fallen. Life, wealth and supremacy were all at stake in this frightful struggle. All the world knows that in this contest the Anglo-Saxon was beaten, discouraged, cowed. But he had a resource which he might hope would not fail him. He knew the tenure under which his Roman subjects held their land, and one of the oner a of that tenure was to provide recruits for the imperial army. This liability of Roman landowners had survived, and could be now worked for the good of their new master as well as it had been for the benefit of the emperor. It existed in as full force as at any time previously, though the barbarian king had feared or disdained to invoke such THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 215 dangerous assistance from Ms possibly discontented sub- jects. Up to that time he had never required such aid ; his own army of gesithas sufficed for all his purposes. At this crisis he resolved to call out the Eomans ; but though his own geban^ evoked them, their ealdormen led them. The king disdaiaed to impart to them an honour due only to his Grermanic comites. The Romans, in the face of this peril, in which all participated and which was as grave to them as to their superiors, answered the call to arms and defended the common country. What consequences not immediate came out of this I shall have to state ia another part of this book.' Henceforward there were two armies ia England, the king's and the ealdorman's. I will return to the king's army. At the outset of each conquest the army which had effected it would be large, and the conquests could not have been effected without considerable forces. But, if large at first, a few generations of peaceable settlement ia this coimtry, of intermarriages with the fair and breeding daughters of the Belgic coloni, to whom likeness of race, of language and of grossierete would irresistibly attract them, to the neglect of the prognathous Eowenas^ of their own tribe, had augmented geometrically the numbers of the barbarian people, and, therefore, of the barbarian army, untH the burthen of their stipends outran the pecuniary means of their kings. For it must never be forgotten that this army was a paid — ^probably a well paid — force. The barbarians had revolted from the Eoman of Britain because, as they said, he had not compensated them as ' See post. ' The responsibility of this expression rests with Dr. Kollestone (Arohseologia, vol. xUi. N. S. p. 459). 216 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. their services merited.' Of tlie peril of iasufficient pay the barbarian kiag had had full waming, and he was not likely, with the astuteness of his race, to fall into it. Accordingly he solved this social and political question in his own way. He reduced his army to a small force, and paid these few as UberaUy in proportion as his ancestors had remunerated their many, pocketing the balance of what the land tax and the public glebe brought in, and laying it out upon the coarse pleasures of himself and his commemales. He had, probably, no harem to maintain, but the crapula of his associates and servants was an equally insatiable abyss. He could well afford this reduction of his army, for the conquered race had long since acquiesced in the inevitable subjection. The conquest was riveted into their being and could not be detached. Britain, also, was unassailed by outward enemies. Under such circumstances a reduction of the army was easy and practicable. Moreover, also, it was a matter whoUy within his own judgment and decision. The members who formed the army were his sworn ser- vants. They were bound to him and to him only by the old G-ermanio oath of fealty — the hyldath.^ But until the Anglo-Saxons had been summoned from their homes and that oath had been administered, they were freemen only— :his political subjects, and no more. They were no part of his army untU the sacramental obligation was imposed and accepted. It is, therefore, quite clear that this army, so far as regarded its numbers, was perfectly elastic in the king's hands ; he could amplify it or he could diminish it. But it was now his interest to reduce it, and he reduced it accordingly, a small force only being stationed near the ' See OMte, p. 160. 2 See the oath in 1 Thorpe, p. 178. THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 217 king's person, and taking its turns of service and of fur- lough. The Grermanic army thenceforward diminished from generation to generation, until, in the palace accounts of King JElfred, it is a body-guard only of bellatores} But though these hellatores were the working army of the king, all persons about his court and in attendanoe upon him — the highest functionaries and the lowest officials, were all king's thegnas and gesithas ^ — and aU were his soldiers also. For king's thegn and kiag's soldier meant one and the same thing — they were convertible terms. Whom Beda calls "miles regis" his royal translator iuvariably interprets " cyniuges pegn."' The court was the head-quarters of the Grermanic army, and all freemen commorant there were the army itself. But though diminished in numbers, the barbarian army has lost no one of its old prerogatives and powers. It is still the army of invasion and occupation, is stiU. an heir- loom of the conquest, is duly officered as before,* is stiU ' Matthew of Westminster, in a passage (sub anno 888), evidently taken from a historian of the age of .3!lfred, calls them "hellatores. The passage in its entirety is also found in the falsa Asser. ^ 1 Kem. C. D. p. 102. The witan who have passed a grant and attest the record of it are persons whom the Mng (Eadberht of Kent, A.D. 738) calls his comites, i.e., gesithas, "testes quoque idoneos com- mites meos confirmavi (sic) et conscribere feci." Here royal influence shows itself — in the word "feci" In a grant (a.d. 875, 2 Kem. C. D. p. 102), the royal grantor says, "Cum eadem lihertate, quam .3JIIfredus rex Occidentalimn Saxonum, necnon set (sic) Cantwariorum, mihi in jus proprium cumi multorum fidelium testimonio donavit." The fideles in Anglo-Saxon records are the immediate vassals or men of a king or lord. ' See Beda's Ecclesiastical History and King .Alfred's translation of it, ^ When the barbarians entered the service of the Romans of Britain they would be formed, as under the empire, into cohortes peregrimirtim. These would be severally subdivided into decuriae (or decaniae), and centuriae (or centenae). That the subdivision continued unto Anglo-Saxon times we have evidence. In a.d. 963 (2 Kem. p. 392), King Eadgar grants " cuidam decurioni mihi oppido fideli. 218 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. paid and rationed as in the first days of its service in this land. It is still led by the king only. It stUl, as in the time of its primitive strength, furnishes the advisers and counsellors of the king, the men to whom he refers aU matters of moment and concern. But now to express this its particular action it calls its memhers, when convoked for that purpose and no other, witan (advisers), and the meeting itself vntena gemot. At this meeting of advisers were aU the warriors and king's thegnas, all the officers of state of any degree, from the ealdorman of a shire to a cupbearer and chamber keeper then in actual attendance " in curte regis," or who could be conveniently got at if it were wished.' It mattered little or nothing who they were or what was their number. Great or small, few or many, they were king's thegnas, milites regis, and they represented the old army of conquest — in other words, the king's own following, the same in essence, though their number was decreased, as when it was unlimited. This mode of constituting the gemot explains another fact — ^perhaps it is itself explained by it — ^the diversity of the places at which the same king holds these parliaments.' This curious fact, which it wotild be hopeless to attempt to understand in the case of a really general assembly of representatives of the whole nation, or even of any one distinctive class or caste of it, becomes perfectly intelligible upon this explanation. In these tdtan and their lord resided all political, admi- ' In Kem. C. D. vol. i. p. 11 (a.d. 675), King Oawine, of Kent, uses this expression, " in praesencia principtun meorum qui ad praesens haberi possunt, lioo est Cantuariorum quos jure ac propria nostra potestate adipiscimur, pro testimonio confirmationis ad subscribendum ac ad oou- senciendtuu mihi huic donationi condirsi in hunc locum qui dicitur Dorovemis." ' See the A. S. Chron. and Kemble's Cod. Dip., passim. THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 219 nistrative and legislative power. But as the king was a corporation sole that never died, and they were a scratch pack of privy councillors and legislators, got together for the occasion, as the Anglo-Saxon authority has declared of them, they came in time to do little but register his edicts like a divan of the east. All this went on in England as long as Providence per- mitted the farce to be played, and, as far as words went, the vdtan seemed to make laws,^ to proclaim wars and to settle their preparatories,^ to make peace,' to enfranchise and grant away the public lands.* In later days they abjectly voted the tax which should soften the hearts of later and ruder barbarians than themselves — the Danegeld. These are not all the real or the nominal powers of the teitena gemot. The ^dtan have the exclusive power of trying king's thegnas — ^their own peers. They convict and punish or they absolve them ; they resciad former sentences passed upon them by their own court, and reinstate and rehabili- tate them.' The reason why they had this power is clear ' See the expressions used in King .Alfred's Laws: " mid minra witena geJJeahte" — "by counsel of my witan" (1 Thorpe, p. 58); "hie Ja cwsedon Jset him licode eaJlum to healdenue" (ib.). ' In A.D. 992, the king and "all his witan" determine on the steps necessary to be taken for the shipfyrd (A. S. Chron.). In a.d. 1002, they vote away a ffafol to the Danes («J.). In a.d. 1010, a witena gemot is called to decide on measures of general defence [ib.). " ponne bead man eaUan witan to cynge, and man sceolde Jonne rsedau hu man Jiisne eard werian eoolde." ^ In A.E. 879, there was held a witena gemot (" Angelcynnes"), which settled peace, and a modus vivendi between the Danes and the English (1 Thoj-pe, p. 152). In a.d. 1011, the king and the witan endeavour to negotiate a peace with the same foes (A. S. Chron.). " Sonde se cyning and his witan to ]jam here, and geomdon friSes and him gafol and metsunge beheton, witJ );am J>e hi heora hergunga beswicon." ^ As to the grant and enfranchisement of foUland, see Kemble's Cod. Diplomatious, passim. No grant is to be found that has been made without the consent of the witan. ^ JEthelred (1 Thorpe, p. 296). " And nan man nage nane socne ofer cynges Jegn but cyng syU." This jurisdiction was exercised by the 220 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. and conclusive. It was another unmistakable reminiscence of the conquest. When a freeman in old Germany took upon him the obligation of the comitatus, he forfeited the privilege of his birthright — ^to be tried by his peers at the general mal of the freeman.^ But though he forfeited this right, he obtaiaed another — to be tried by his lord and his brother comites, who would do him as much justice as the mal itself would have done. This condition of course lasted only with the expedition. It ceased with its completion and the return of all the adventurers to the fatherland. But the expeditions which were dispatched to Britain never returned. The armies and the system under which they were raised became fixtures in the new country. In the early age of the conquests all the Anglo-Saxons belonged to this army, and justice was therefore done to them under its agency and according to its forms only. There was no other tri- bunal for them. But, as is obvious, this state of things could not last for king jointly with his witan. A. S. Chron. a.d. 1048 : " Tha sende se cyng ffifter eallan his witan and het hi cuman to Grleaweceastre," &o. (for the impeaohinent of Godwin). In the same year "Tha geraedde se cyning and his witan thset man soeolde othre sythan hsebban ealra gewitena gemot on Lundene to hser festes emnihte," &o. (for the outlawry of Swegen, Godwin, and Harold). In a.d. 1055 (A. S. Chron.), a witena getnot outlawed Borl .Sllfgar for treason. See also an earlier ease (in A.D. 901), in 5 Kem. Cod. p. 149. A. S. Chron. a.d. 1052: "Thaowseth man micel gemot with«tan Lundene, and ealle tha eorlas and tha betstan men the waeron on thison lande, wseron on Jisem gemote. Thaer bser Grodwin eorl up his mael and betealde hine thser mid Eadward cyng his hlaf ord and mid ealle landleodan thset he wses unscyldig thaes the hiTti geled wses, and on Harold his sunn and ealle his beam," &e. Godwin and Harold, with their followers, and also the queen, were reinstated. At the same gemot, Archbishop Robert, and "all the I^enchmen," were outlawed. ' Tacit, de M. G. c. 12: "Licet apud concilium accusare quoque et discrimen capitis intendere." THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 221 all time. It did not last beyond a given period. There came an epoch when, as we have seen, a part only of the Anglo-Saxons ia Britain were enlisted, because a small army only was required to protect the interests of the descendants of the invaders and to keep up the prestige of victory. Prom this epoch there grew up a distinction —j amongst thegnas (or gesithas) . All landowning Anglo-Saxons i continued to call themselves by this honoured name, though | no longer enrolled soldiers of the Teutonic army, because J they were descendants of soldiers and could at any time be called upon to become king's soldiers themselves. Thenceforward, though thegnas, they were not king's thegnas. That title only belonged to those who, high or low, had taken the hyldath to the king and were his actual military servants. All those other thegnas, as not , being in the king's army and part of his folgath, had no privilege to be tried by king's thegnas, no right to sit l in judgment over them. They were not their peers. The king's thegnas only — the army proper — could do what it had done before, adjudicate under the king's presidency upon the cases of king's thegnas, those who vsdth them- selves composed the army and were their peers. But the thegnas, Anglo-Saxons as much as the others, though fallen out of the army owing to the softening influences of time over the consequences of the conquest, were Grerman freemen, having as much need of justice, or what passed for such in their minds, as the others who could obtain it of so exalted a tribunal. What was to be done ? This can be readily answered by showing what was done. When their fathers joined the expeditionary bands they had by that act of their ovm suspended their ordinary rights of freemen in order to attain those other privileges which the comitatiis gave them. These rights, however, though suspended were not lost ; and when the 222 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. army no longer comprehended tliese Anglo-Saxons, and tlie king no longer imposed upon them this special obliga- tion to himself, they were simple German freemen again. And to German freemen belonged, as we know, the right of trying and of being tried by their brother freemen — their peers. This old, dormant, but never-forgotten right revived to the Anglo-Saxon thegn, and he did not hesitate to exercise it, for without it he was left in his new country devoid of all means of obtaining redress or relief. The Roman court of each territorium'- could not assist him, for he was not a Roman, and, as a full-bom barbarian, he would have re- fused the necessary submission with unmodified scorn. But here old German custom came to his aid. The thegnas unattached to the king and his army met in mal in their several shires and occupied themselves- with adjudicatiag upon all matters that concerned themselves. Their old traditions, such as Tacitus has recorded, told them what easy forms were necessary to assemble the multitude of judges — ^now Anglo-Saxon landowners. In such judges as these resided the fullest knowledge of the laws to be thus administered — ^the rough customs which appraised the price of a man's blood, the value of a dis- rupted toe-nail, a bruised arm, or the virginity of a deflowered Teutonic maiden. This court was found as soon as it was wanted. Living expounders of law were rife, and for a president they had not far to seek. The grajio of the canton had long been left behiad in old Germany, but the comes civitatis, though sitting in the court of the Romans, was a German like themselves ; he was also the leader of the canton of the new country in which they all dwelt — the territorium. ' See ante. THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 223 Under his presidency, therefore, they assembled, and were themselves the deman or judges, and so called them- Such was the army, such the idtena gemot — the one commanded, and the other presided over, by the barbarian king. From both and each this kiag was inseparable. The effect of each conquest was to make of the heretoga a king, for it gave to his function the element of permanency, and entailed upon the barbarians the absolute necessity of finding him a successor, or, rather, an endless series of successors. But however contiaued that succession might have been, the Anglo-Saxon king to the Anglo-Saxons was still a heretoga, stiH the elected condottiere, as was his far-ofE predecessor who first invited volunteers to follow biTn to the winning of Britain. For the witan, i. e., the army or barbarian nation, on a king's death elected his successor. ^Ifric, perhaps an archbishop of Tork, but, at aU events, a learned monk of the tenth century, lays this down as a constitutional principle.^ He says, " Ne mseg nan man hine sylfne to cynge gedon, ac past f olc hsefs eyre to ceosenne pone to cyninge pe biTn sylfum licatJ. Ac sySSan he to- cyninge gehalgod bis, ponne hsefs he anweald ofer pset folc, and hi ne magon his geoo of heora swuran aseeacan. — (A man cannot make himself a king, but the nation has the free right to choose him for a king that pleases themselves. But after he is consecrated as king, then he hath empire over that people, and they cannot remove his yoke from their neck.)"^ In Anglo-Saxon theory and in Anglo-Saxon forms, therefore, the king was still to be the barbarian heretoga of a barbarian army, elected by the latter to further and 1 See ante. ' Thorpe's JElfric's Homilies, vol. i. p. 212. 224 THE ROMANS UF BRITAIN. support its own acquisitive aims and purposes.^ In this de facto election of a Mng, long after tlie monarchy had virtually become hereditary, we therefore see another device of the subtle barbarians to retain the hold which they had obtained. The heretoga summarized the means which had prostrated the Romans of Britain. These were to be for ever paraded before their eyes, and the terrorism of their defeat was to be iuculcated as a constitutional lesson. This Jieretoga turned kiug was, however, as time went on, a difierent person from the German commander of old days. When the witena gemot had become such as I have described it, the barbarian king was practically a despot, even iu regard to the descendants of the iuvaders — ^his own countrymen. Of the Romans he was, of course, by the fullest right — that of conquest — the untrammelled master. By the effect of that conquest he had become invested with all the rights over the Romans which their former master, the emperor, had possessed and exercised. As regards them, the Anglo-Saxon king is ultimate landlord of the whole soil of Britain.^ He takes the land tax exigible from that soil and from the houses erected upon it.' He takes all octroi and port dues.* To biTn devolve aU lands and chattels escheated for crimes and felonies.* ' So TadtuB, in speaMng of the Caninefates, a German tribe (Hist. iv. 0. 15), says, " dtix deligitur." '' See resumability of land, post. ' As to Icmdgafol, see post. * See^o*<. * Dig. 43, 4, 11. "Haereditas fisco vindioetnr" for the crimen tnagistatia — a high treason. For forfeitures in respect of crimes gene- rally, see Dig. 48, 13, "De bonis danmatorum." "Hyda quoqne et dimidia ei ablata est apud Eamingeford, quae per pugnam et per furtuB' THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 225 He is the ultimate court of appeal of Ms kingdom, and to him come for redress and rehabilitation aU complainants of wrongs done hy the judges of the shires.' In him is vested a right of exacting board and lodging for himself and his men ia their progresses through the land.2 In bJTn is vested the right of calling out the Roman army, and of requiring from the Roman landowners the warlike equipment and clothing of that army.^ To him belongs the public land of the kingdom — that land which the barbarians called " folcland." * I have before alluded to this category of land. This is the place to state more particularly what it was. At the epoch of the conquests of Britain there was in every newly- constituted kingdom a reserve of public land, which had facta erat transgressioni obuoxia." (Book of Ely, Dr. Griles' edit. p. 159.) So also {id. p. 157) it is said, "Qnas terras . . . per transgressioneiu amisitjWaldchist, etonmiaquaeliabebat." So in Thorpe's Diplomatarium, p. 173, a man is convicted of cattle stealing, and the sheriff thereupon seizes his property (yrfe) to the king's use), saying that he did so because he was a Hngsman (and man gerehte Jiset yrfe cinge, for tfon he wses cinges mon). This distinction is only taken to show that the convict was not the man of any private lord. So in 3 Kem. C. D. p. 125 (a.d. 963 — 975), land at ^gelesvpyrS is forfeited by a widow and her son for murder, she being convicted and drowned at London Bridge, and her son escaping and being outlawed. In the common form of words, it ia said of a forfeiture for felony that the sheriff took " Ja are to ]>£es cinges handa,." In the Book of Ely, p. 116, is another instance. Wulfwin (Wlwinus) and his wife ' ' multis modis et teste populo per transgressionem' ' lost five hides. The expression "teste populo" means by the adjudica- tion of the deman or county court judges (see ante). The English word gewitnasse sometimes has that meaning, .fflthelred, LL. c. 1 (1 Thorpe, p. 282) : "And ne bete nan man for nanre tyhtlan butan hit sy Jjses oynges gerefan gewitnasse," i.e., " Let no man pay damages for malicious prosecution, except on the sheriff's adjudication." . ' See the Anglo-Saxon Laws, passim. ' See post. ^ See the king's charters, enfranchising folcland, in Kemble's Codex Diplomaticus, passim. C. Q 226 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. belonged to the emperor, upon whom had devolved all the rights of the Roman populus, not as an individual but as the state itself.' This land was technically called a^er vectigalis, an expression which lets us fully into its character and condition. In other days it had been formally called ager publicus. But the change of name had in no way affected the application of its revenues. This land was entirely distinct from the private property {res prwata) of the emperor. It was in the hands of farmers or lessees, who paid their rents to the receivers and agents of the imperial treasury. Or it was left wholly in the possession of the coloni settled upon it. Though thus not appropriated in severalty, it had been formally centuriated with the other land of the territoria, and must not be confounded ' For the old phrase of the republic, ager ptiblicus, see Liv. passim. Suetonius (D. S. c. 21, p. 10, Koth's edit.}, says, "agrumque Campauum ad suhsidia rei publioae vectigalem reUctum." The explanations given by the agrimensores are minute and technical. !Froiitinufl, i. p. 8 (Lachman), says, "Est et ager sunilis subseciTonua conditioni extraclusus, et non adsignatujB, qui, si rei publicae populi Bomani, aut ipsius coloniae, cujus fine circumdatnr, sive peregrinae urbis, aut locis saoris aut religiosis quae ad populum Komauum pertinent, datus non est, jure subsecivorum, in ejus, qui adsignare potueilt, remanet potestate." This passage is repeated by Boethius (ib. p. 400). Hyginns (iA, p. 116), says, "Veotigales autem agri sunt obligati, quidam r. p. p. K. ; quidam coloniarum aut municipiorum aut civitatium aliquarum. Qui et ipsi plerique ad Komanum popiiLuni pertinentes ex hoste capti, partitique ac divisi sunt per centurias, ut adsignarentnr miUtibus quorum virtute capti erant, amplius quam destinatio modi, quamre militum exigebat nnmems. Qui superfuerant agri, vectigalibus subject! sunt, alii per anuos, alii vero numcipibus ementlbus, id est conducentibus in annos oentenos." See also Sic. Kaecus (p. 162). Hyginns (p. 205) says " Multi ejns- modi agrum more colonico decima,nis et cardinibuB diTisemnt, hoc est per centurias, sicut in Pannonia .... agri vectigales multas habent consuetudines. In quibusdam proviuciis fructus partem praestant certam, alii quintas, alii septimas, alii peconiam, et hoc per soli aestimationem." As to subsecwa, see ante and Idb. Colon, i. p. 242: "Alia loea sunt subsedlva, quae in mensuram non venerunt. Si convenerit, inter posses- sores possidentur (i.e., in common) . Si non convenerit, remanet potestati. ' ' At p. 234 (ti.), it is said, " ager ejus juasu Augnsti veteranis est cnltnra adsignatus. Caeterum in ejus jure et in publicum resedit." THE KOMANS OF BRITAIN. 227 with suhseciva^ which in most cases devolved upon the landowners of each civitas as additional compascua. After the conquests this land became the king's, hut not in the sense of severalty.^ He left it in the hands of the ceorls planted upon it, or he leased it to grantees.^ But as he could not part with the property in it except by the consent of his mtan, he held it as trustee only; and as he represented the state and had the responsibility of supporting the barbarian army, its revenues, joiatly with the proceeds of the tributum, went in satisfaction of those and other expenses. It was stOl called public land, for the Anglo-Saxon expression applied to it means precisely that and nothing else. It was eenturiated, i. e., it was hided.* It paid rent in money, in kiud, and in conies.^ ' See ante. ' That the legal estate of folclaud was in the king, but at the same time as a trustee only, the following citations will amply show. In A.D. 811, in a deed of king Csenwulf of Meroia (1 Kem. C. D. p. 243), a portion of foleland is described as ' ' terrulae sui (j. e. of the king) propriae publicae (sic) juris." InA.n. 847 (2 Kem. C. D. p. 28), ,S!thelwnlf, the West Saxon king, conjointly with his witan, grants to himself a portion of foleland in full property. This public land is called "cyninges foleland" (2 Eem. C. D. p. 65). In later days it is called common land^ i. e. of the state. In a deed of king Eadwig (a.d. 956, 5 Kem. C. D. p. 341), are mentioned "ten hida gemenes landes Tpe Eadwig cyng geboeade Byrhtrioe his Jiegene." The same expression occurs in 6 Kem. C. D. p. 110, and page 114, but as " Communis terra" (a.d. 982—983). ' See LL. Eadweard, c. 2 (a law against deforcement) . The ealdorman .Alfred (a.d. 870—899, 2 Kem. Cod. Dip. p. 120), in his last will, after giving his son three hides of bocland, adds, "and gif se oyning him genunan wille fees foleland to Jaem boclande, Jonne hsebbe and bruoe." In 2 Kem. C. D, p. 65, are these words, " cyninges foleland quod abet Wighehn et WuMaf." * See the king's charters, by which foleland is enfranchised, in Kemble's Cod. Dip. passim. ° Called in the deeds (C. D. Kemble, passim) "fiscale tributum," "regale tributum," &c. In Anglo-Saxon the rent is called gafol, " gafol Jie to Mode hlaforde belimpaS " (ii.). In Homing, p. 104, q2 ' 228 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. The king has also the dominium of the great pubKc roads of Britain.^ But all these rights are imperial prerogatives. They were each and aU enjoyed and exercised by the emperor in Britain, as long as that country remaiued an appanage of the empire. The harharian kiag was therefore become haeres of the imperial rights. But how had he become so? Long before any of the conquests there had been a provi- sional government established iu Britain, as we have seen, by which the imperial rights had been transferred, though in intention for a time only, to a cmnes civitatis. When the barbarian heretoga was become by conquest the emperor of the Eomans in Britain, he resumed as emperor from each several cmnes civitatis what had thus been committed to him in comm£ndam. The reader will have found in these preceding observa- tions a sufficient explanation of the revolution, political and social, which directly passed over the barbarians and their kings through the consummation of their conquests. In his moral aspects, however, the Anglo-Saxon, notwith- standing these great events, was unchanged and unmodified is the following passage: "Gafol Jie his nu get to cyninges handan ageofan sceolan of Jaeni daek pe Jiser ungefreod, to lafe waes faere cyning feorme, ge on hlutrum alotJ, ge on hnnige, ge hrytJum, ge on Bwynum, ge on sceapum," &o. (Corvees.) — Called in the deeds (Kem. C. D. passim) "opus regale," " t1 exacta opera," "regale servitium,""regali8 servitns," "opera vel regis vel principis," i. e. ealdorman (Heming, p. 109). 1 liL. .aithelred, 4, 4 : "in via regia." The LL. Hen. 1, 10, 2, say " omnes herestrete onmino regis sunt." The word "herestrete" is in faToor of this text being of a date prior to the Norman Conquest. And the definition of a via regia {ib. 80, 3) is so thoroughly Koman that it supports the view which I have taken. " Etiam via regia dicitnr, que semper aperta est, quam nemo concludere potest vel avertere miniK suis, que dncit in civitatem, vel burgum, vel castrum, vel portnm regium. £t unaqueque civitas tot magistras vias, quot magistras portas habet, ad theloneum et oonsuetudines insignitas." THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 229 from what lie was when he left his native country. When he first entered Britain, while the Glennans of all denomina- tions were more or less savage, the Anglo-Saxon's remoteness from the empire, and his non-participation in its military service, had uitensified that savagery to a degree which is scarcely conceivahle. The eulogist of the barbarians, Salvi- anus,thus appreciates, with others, the future conquerors of Britain — " Gens Saxonum fera est, Fraucorum rniideliB, Gepidarum inliuniaiia, et Hunnorum impudica ; OHmium denique gentium Barbaranim vita Titiosa." ' Symmachus^ and Sidonius Appollinaris' give the same testimony as to the "feritas" of the Saxons. The extreme ferocity of this nation remained impressed upon their cha- racter even in England to the very latest days.* Scalping ' De Providentia Dei, lib. i. Even the Germans upon the borders of the empire, though affected so far by Eoman contact as to set up terminal stones (A mm. Marcel. Hb. 18, 2, 15, "terminales lapides") ■were really as untouched by the civilization of their neighbours as any Indian tribe in the States. The same AUemanni -who affected these boundaries, though Hving on the Ehine, and in full view of better things, dwelt miserably in rude huts. Symmachus, in his Laudes ad Valentinianum (a.d. 360, Mai's Vaticana Fragmenta), says of these sheeUngs, " Vilibus cuhninibus contecta gurgustia." Even they, placed as they were, were as drunken as the others. The same panegyrist says also of the AUemanni, *'Vls. desudata in diem crapula." The night hardly sufficed to evaporate the fumes of their intoxication. Tacitus had already said the same of the entire nationality (De M. G. c. 22) : " Diem noctemque continuare potando nulli probrum." Sidonius ApoUinaris speaks of the Burgundian as a glutton who greased his hair with rancid butter (Car. xii.) — " Quod Burgundio cantat esculentus, Infundens aoido comam butyro." ' Lib. 2, epis. 46. ' Lib. 8, epis. 6. * Cnut. LL. 0. 30. These are not Danish, but English laws. The book of Ely gives the fact (p. 209, Giles's edit.). " Nonnullos cute capitis abstracta cruoiavit." The Englsh word was " haettian." 230 l-HE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. continued in our land as a legal punislmient for no very extraordinary offences until the close of the monarchy. His laws, the only restrictive system to which the Saxon bowed, were as savage as himself. Though the barharian became a landowner and a gentleman, he still adhered to the old rude customs of Grennany, which in his eyes con- stituted equity, law and social science. It was not until later days, when his imitativeness had developed itself, that he adopted for his own the laws of his Eoman subjects.^ Besides the comitatus, which supplied to him the theory and practice of political government, there were two customs, both commemorated by Tacitus, which formed his civil and criminal code.^ One of these was the mulct for theft, or mayhem. The other was the death feud (fses), to be bought off only by a horrible tariff, which gauged the price of the slain man's blood. These were the compendious principles which comprehended all barbarian polity and jurisprudence. We know that the Anglo-Saxon practised them on his first arrival here, because in after ages we find them solemnly and complacently codified by him for general use in this country,' and as they are attributable to no other race which has left its mark upon our island, they must be his and his only. If we duly consider this character of the Saxons, and the nature of the laws by which they chose, to be guided — ^laws accurately refl^ecting their own savageness — ^we can only conclude that they were whoUy unfit to live in the midst of their new subjects. They thought so themselves, for they did not settle iadiscriminately in their new acquisitions. They avoided Roman cities, where they could not but be contrasted with civilized men. They selected their new ' Sieepost. ^ Tac. de M. G. cc. 12, 21. ^ See the Laws, passim. THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 231 settlements in the open. This fact is notorious of the other Germans, and is equally true of the Anglo-Saxons. Ammianus MarcelHnus has told us that the Alemanni shunned Roman cities as they and others shunned Roman husta,^ that reserved outside comer of a city in its lowest quarter where Eoman dead were burned.^ What were the horrors and pollutions attached to a Eoman hustum Horace has told us, and we may almost imagine them without him. As the tainted air of this terrible spot was extended by the imagination of the barbarian to the whole city, he was never tempted to enter and search out what there was therein of genial comfort or refined luxury. By this feeling of unconquer- able distaste for towns and town buildings our own barbarians, the Anglo-Saxons, were equally overpowered. The barbarians settled in the territoria of the cities, as .the same Ammianus teUs us;^ and there, also, we find them in Britain, never in the inside, but always on the outside of the boroughs. Mr. Kemble, without being aware of the full force of his discovery, has shown that the appellations of a great number of English villages are derived from the names of Grermanic tribes and families.' This interesting fact, which he was the first to indicate, confirms the assertion of Ammianus and makes it general. These names re- placed the Latin names of the mci. Even in Gaul not one of the latter remains in existence. ' It was not only the mci which got to be thus trans- formed in name. Eoman towns even underwent the same new naming at the behest of the barbarians, who dwelt like gipsies on their outside. Wseringa wic, War- ' lib. 16, 2, 12 ; and see post. ^ Ante. ^ Kemble's History of the Anglo-Saxona, vol. i. pp. 449 — 479. 233 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. wick, is in point. The Waeringas who lived under the walls of the Eoman town gave it its new style ; and the same trihe has left its impress also upon the various Warringtons of England. So the Snottingas, a sept prohahly as unsavoury as their name, dw^t outside the walls of Nottingham — ^in Anglo-Saxon, Snottinga ham. So also of the Wsetlingas was formed WatHngton in Norfolk ; and the same rough horde encamped upon the sides and waste of a continuous series of great Eoman roads, which afterwards got to be named from them WaetlLnga strset — our own "WatHng Street.' Another trihe, the Eamingas, did the same by another series of great Boman roads, from them thereafter called Eaminga strset,^ which later Englishmen corrupted into Ermin Street. This fact, as interesting as the other, did not present itself to Mr. Kemble. Mr. Kemble's theory, which I unhesitatingly endorse, is well illustrated by some expressions of Henry of Hunt- ingdon, who seems in this, as in other passages of his history, to have made an excerpt from contemporaneous annals. Speaking of some of the barbaric invasions, he says : " Ea tempestate venerunt multi et saepe de Grer- mania et oocupavenmt East Engle, et Merce. Sed necdimi sub uno rege redacti erant. Plures autem proceres cer- tatim regiones occupabant, umde ionumerabilia bella fiebant. Proceres vero, quia multi erant, nomine carent." The barbarians occupy the regions, i.e., the territoria, not the cities, just as Ammianus has said of the Alemanni. I 2 Kem. Cod. Dip. p. 250, a.d. 944. ' Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries, 2nd Series, vol. 3, p. 49. This paper, by C. S. Perceval, Esq., F.S.A., upon a charter of TTing .^thelxed, relating to Fenstanton, is a model of treatment for suclt matters. THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 233 Like his Anglo-Saxon subjects the king, too, preferred a temlDer-lDiiilt house in the country to a substantial stone or brick mansion in a city, the former abode of a praeses or a comularis. Such a haraque was the dwelling where Edwin of Northumbria received a deputation of Christian missionaries, discoursing with them much after the manner of a Seneca chief. The pervious nature of the building described by Beda is applicable only to a shanty.^ King -^thelbirht's tun, his own residence, as he states in his laws, would be no better.^ Though no fact can be considered better proved than this predilection of the barbarian for the country, we must be careful not to give him any credit for this preference. "We must not suffer this circumstance to mislead our judgment in his favour, because in most instances such a preference is the result of good taste or a charming placidity of temperament. In the barbarian it was not so much a love of the country as an inaptitude for the town. In most cultivated persons the liking is equal for both, and so it displayed itself in the Latin race. The charm of varied society which the city furnishes is rivalled in its turn by the fascination of those manly pursuits which the country affords and the high physical enjoy- ment which they ensure. The German preferred the country because he felt him- self unfitted for the town. But to ascribe to the Latins, as is usually done, an exclusive love of Hfe in cities is to assert of them that which can be contradicted by the reading of the merest sciolist. To the Latins we owe the villa and the villeggiatura, agriculture and the garden. " Te digna manet divini gloria ruris" ' says a poet as divine as the country which he celebrates. ' H. E. 2, 13. 2 LL. 0. 5. 3 1 Georg. v. 168. 234 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. The whole nation to which such a poem as the Georgics was addressed must have had a feeling for the country as intense as that which inspired the poet himself. Every- where in England we still see what the love of the Latin for the country has enduringly done for us. The English cottier has nevgr forgotten the lesson, as profitahle as graceful, which the Roman landlord taught his fore- fathers. The peasant's garden of herbs, with its borders of flowers, is the characteristic of the lowly homes of England as it was of the casulae of Italy. Of such a cottage-garden Vergil, in his youthful num- bers, which foretold the sweetness of the later eclogues, has said, — "Hortus erat casulae jtmotuB, queiii vimina pauoa Et calamo reoidiva levi nmniebat ariiudo ; Exiguus spatio, variis sed f ertilie herbis. Nil illi deerat, quod pauper exigit ubus. luterdum loouples a paupere multa petibat : Neo sumptus erat hujus opus, sed regula ourae, Siquando vacuum casula, pluviaeve tenebant, Festave lux ; si forte labor cessabat aratro ; Horti opus iUud erat." ' It was because the Roman so loved the coimtry that he never failed to import into Italy all the fruits, the legumes and the stock that could be transferred and acclimatised there, and thus Italy became the nursery ground of Western Europe. For whatever was raised there was, by a policy as wise as it was generous, imreservedly introduced into all new colonies.^ Such was the position to which conquest had advanced 1 Moretum. » In this -way the cherry, which LucuUus had brought from the extreme limit of Asia Minor into Italy, accompanied the first of the coloniBts iato Britain (Pliu. N. H. lib. 15, c. 30). THE KOMANS OF BRITAIN. 235 the Anglo-Saxons and their heretoga. The barbarians have not only enriched themselves with a share of the lands of the vanquished, but they have become ia relation to the latter the paramount race. On the other hand, the Eiomans have ceased to be the governing caste. They have ceased also to be, as they had been, the political masters and the soldiers of Britain. In both these respects the barbarians have taken their place. But loss of political power is always followed by a cor- responding diminution of social standing. This we shall see the Romans lost also, and the rude barbarians ruth- lessly and intentionally stamped iato their new subjects, for the time at least, the iadelible brand of iuferiority of caste. The Teutons, as we have seen, gave to each man his price of blood. In their own country, where aU freemen were equal, this gauge would never vary. But when they had transported themselves into the empire, and had suc- ceeded iu subjectiug its Roman inhabitants to their own sway, they felt themselves compelled to legislate afresh upon this important subject. New conditions of life pre- sented themselves to their mental gaze. They were them- selves greater men than heretofore, and they had attained the highest human ambition — other beings were their own acknowledged and indisputable inferiors. Tinder such circumstances, the old tariff of blood required resettling. This resettlement was effected after the following plan — in the largest of the barbarian kingdoms, and we may, therefore, infer that much the same sort of thing was done elsewhere. In Wessex, even in a latter age when the two nationalities were drawing closer to each other, and the Roman had been already admitted by the Anglo-Saxon to share in bis bar- 236 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. barian customs,^ the Eoman was still of only half the per- sonal value of the Anglo-Saxon. The Eoman is classed as " six hynde " only, while the Anglo-Saxon is " twelf hynde," — ^the meaning of these strange words heing that the price of Mood in the two cases is severally six hundred and twelve hundred^hillingB.^ This stamping the Eoman with inferiority was inevit- able. It may even be said that a contrary course would have been not only impossible but suicidal on the part of the rough conquerors. In aU other respects, however, the conditions of life of the Eoman were, perhaps, as easy as could be even wished. The Eomans were allowed to retain and enjoy their lands, and these lands were left to their possession and enjoyment, just as they had been held by them under the empire and during the independence, viz., subject to the tributum and aU provincial onera. The Eoman of Britain is still a landowner.^ Such he is declared to be in "Wessex and in Northumberland,' the two great Saxon and Anglic kingdoms of the series. As he was such in these two pre- ponderating divisions of the barbaric population, it cannot be doubted that he was equally so in the other Saxon and Anglic kingdoms — ^Essex, Sussex, Mercia and East Anglia ; and Kent can have been no exception to this general fact. The Eoman also still lives in the town or country house, which his ancestors had built for him after the manner of their great country, that form of mansion which the bar- 2 LL. Ine, cc. 24, 32. There the Eoman is called "Wcalh" and " Wyliacman." In LL. iEafred, cc. 10, 18, 30, 39, 40, he ia spoken of under his designation of six hynde. See post. ' lb. and 1 Thorpe, pp. 186, 188. THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 237 barians had taken as the model and for the residence of their kings, their ealdorman, and their twelf hijndes} The Roman's land was, we shall see, continued to hiTTi upon the same tenure hy which he had holden it before the barbarian conquest; as the same obligations remained upon it, the tenure which had been invented for the purpose of justifying and enforcing them would remain also. Eoman estates under the empire were of two kinds, as I have already stated. The first and oldest in date, called ager privatus, was permanent, absolute, unconditioned here- ditary property. This was the old Italic res mancipi? Such an estate was the great privilege of the Italic soil, but this special prerogative could be extended to land in the provinces, which in that case was " in solo Italico."' The other tenure, which was called possessio, was vastly subordinated to the first, both in fact and in theory. It was not absolute property. It was not hereditary, except by the sufferance of the state. For the state, in forming that tenure, only granted away the possession of the land to the possessor, as such a landowner was called, and could resume that possession whenever it was reasonable to do so. As against the state, the heirs of the possessor were considered to have no rights of succession, if the state ' LL. Alfred, c. 40. As the word for an ealdonnau'a house it occurs in the poem on the death of Byrhtnoth — " on burh uidan hale to hame." The field in whioh the great Roman villa of Bignor (Sussex) is situated is still oaUed the "Bury field." ' The LL. Coloniaxum call these estates "locahaereditaria" (pp. 226, 258, 259, Lachman] . Of the holding by possessio, it is said, " jure ordinario possidetux" {ib. pp. 226, 259). ^ "Italica praedia" (Inst. 2, 1, 40). Ulpian's Fragments, edited by Mai (tit. 19), say : " Mancipi res sunt praedia in Italioo solo, tam rustica qualis fundus, tam urbana quails domus." 238 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. determined to enforce its right of resumption. But, in point of fact, this did not matter at all, for tlie state, as we sliall see, did not in practice exert that right. The estate of possessio was therefore in theory defeasible, ia fact iadefeasible, and under this sufferance of the state was bought and sold, transferred, devised and inherited as regularly and'as effectually as the ager privatus itself. These peculiarities, striking as they were, did not make up the sum of its qualities. It was distinguished also by other incidents as broadly distinctive as those which I have mentioned. The ager privatus, the favoured old Italic form of real property, whether in Italy proper or what was called only "solum ItaUcum," could not be subjected to a standing land tax or other obligation.^ It is clear, therefore, that as the great republic extended its conquests, and with them the allotment of colonial estates to its citizens, it would have been a practical absurdity in statesmanship to have extended this disadvan- tageous form of tenure to the new acquisitions. To multiply this estate would nullify the advantages of conquest by destroying all fresh sources of revenue at a time when an augmentation was needed. A new form or modification of estate was, therefore, to be created for financial purposes. This was accordingly done, and the lands of the provinces were allotted as possessio. The peculiarities of this estate, which have never received the attention which they deserve,^ arose so precisely out of its ' Frontinus de ControTersiis Agrormn (Lachman's Grromatici Veteres, p. 35) : '* per Italmia ubi nullus ager est tributariufl." At p. 36 these estates are spoken of as '* agri immiiiies et privatii." See also Agexmius (pp. 62, 63— Lachman). So in Dig. 50, 15, 1, 8, and Theod. Cod. 14, 13, 1. The land is "solum immune;" the immunity is "jus ItaUcum" (ii.). See post, in note. ' The posaeteio in the provinces is passed lightly over by Savigny, and THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 239 origin, that they can he hest explained hy reference to that alone. The estate of possessio took its origin thus : — From an early period the great warring repuhlic had felt the necessity of a full treasury, as well for the mainten- ance as for the extension of its conquests; and the occasional land tax to which the estates of all citizens were suhjected as each new war arose, though of little power to effect this great object, was always more than able to excite the murmur of a discontented plebs. At the same time, so cherished hy the Roman constitution were the interests of the people, that it was a fundamental part of its law that, so soon as fresh territory was won, the state should divide it in aUodial allotments amongst the poorer citizens. But with the consequences which I have mentioned, and in view of the great puhUc interests at stake, to continue this distrihution of territory amongst persons who would grudg- ingly render to the state an insufficient due, would seem a measure calculated only to ensure public bankruptcy and ruin. So the governing families of Eome thought, and, in the wisdom of their order, they determined upon a course of action which should perpetuate a supply of ever-increasing revenue, without attacking the purses of the reluctant ^/eSs. The measure was simply this : the state, instead of alienating, retained the dominion of lands captured from the enemy, granting possession of them to colonists who, while they should pay an annual tithe of the products, should be bound to surrender their holding whenever the state should is not noticed at all by M. Mace. There exist, howerer, in Gains and the agrimensores, very good materials for its elucidation. Its interest, as being the type which the Eoman conqueror selected for the subject world, is undeniably great, and is heightened by the fact that it remained in legal existence until the days of Justinian (Inst. 2, 1, 40). 240 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. for any reason think fit to resume possession of what was legally its own property. This possessio, as it was techni- cally called, thus had within it none of the legal elements of absolute property. On the part of the state it was nothing else than a mere concession to an individual of the right to create and collect the fruits of the land for the ulterior purpose of paying a standing imposition to the state, while the property remained in the latter.' In theory, therefore, this holding could not be lawfully mancipated; ^ in other words, it could not lawfully be trans- ^ In regard to the ownership being in the state, Grains lays down a general position in these words : " In eo solo (i. e. in solo prorinciali) dominium populi Sonmni est vel Caesaris. Nos autem possessionem tantum et ueiraifructum habere videmur" (Comm. lib. 2, s. 7 ; see also the same author, lib. 2, s. 21). With the same meaning, Frontinus (Laoh- man, p. 36, De Controversiis Agrorum) remarks, "Habent autem pro- vincise . . . stipendiarios (supple agros), qui nexum non habent." As the ownership was in the state, so it would ever remain ; for by law there could be no defeasance arising out of " usucapio," or prescriptive occupation ; any person so usurping or occupying land could only hold it under its old title of possessio, without acquiring a better one. Aggenus tJrbicuB (p. 82) remarks : " Jurisperiti . . . negant illud solum, quod solum populi Romani coepit esse, ullo modo usucapi a quopiam mor- taHum posse." In the same intent Craius (lib. 2, s. 46) observes, "Item provincialia prsedia usucapionem non recipiimt." In regard to the purposes of the tenure Frontinus (Lachman, p. 36) says, " Possidere enim illiH (i. e. possessoribus) quasi fructus toUendi oaus^ et praestandi tributi conditione concessiun est." The same agrimensor calls the posaesaiones " agros stipendiarios." Gains (lib. 2, s. 21) says, "In eidem caus^ sunt provincialia praedia, quorum alia stipendiaria, alia tributaria vocamus. Stipendiaria sunt ea quae in his provinciis sunt, quae propriae populi Komani esse intelliguntur. Tributaria sunt ea quae in his provinciis sunt quae propriae Caesaris esse creduntnr." Justinian (Inst. 2, 1, 40) says in the same manner, "Vocantur autem stipendiaria et tributaria praedia, quae in provinciis sunt." ' Gains, Ub. 2, s. 21. Frontinus (Lachman, p. 36) observes upon this, "Veneunt sed nee mancipatio eorum legitima potest esse." So the Vaticana Juris Romani Fragmenta say, "praediiim stipendiarinm neo mancipi." Mancipation, which meant a conveyance of absolute property, applied not only to a bond fide sale, but also to a devise by will ; for the mancipation, or imaginary sale of an hiBreditas, was a testament. (Graius, lib. 2, 8. 102.) These possessiones, as our last authority shows, notwith- / ^ ■ I) '"; , ~ THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 241 ferred by sale or devised by will. Either of these disposi- tions would be an arrogation of dominium or ownership which did not belong by law to a possessor. In short, the vendor would sell and the testator would devise under a bad title, because the state could at any time come in and resume the occupation of its own property, or dispose of it by colonial assignments ia fee simple, the doctrine of tisu- capio, or prescription, having no application as against the sovereign Roman people, or its successor and representative, the emperor.' That the resumability of possessiones by the state at will was an admitted principle of the Roman law, however the advisability of resumption might be an open question, is abundantly proved by the history of the agrarian laws, where we find the principle directed in its rigidity agaiust estates held by private persons.^ For such reasons of finance, as I have stated, the prin- ciple of possessional holding was extended to the territorial standing the strict principle of law, were in fact alienated by will and deed, or descended to the heirs in the due course of nature ; and, for all practical purposes, such a title was perhaps as good as one apparently better, because as regarded the world it was private property, and no person could usurp a possessio with any greater facility than he could usurp an estate of ager privatus. Frontinus (Laohman, p. 36), spealdng of the possessiones, says, > ' ' neque possidendse ah alio quseri (aoquiri) possunt;" and further on he says, " Vindicant [i.e. possessores) tamen inter se nou minus fines ex sequo ao si privatorum agrorum. Etenim civile est dehere eos disoretum finem habere, quatenus quisque aut colere se sciat oportere, aut Ule qui jure possidet possidere. Nam et contro- versias inter se tales movent quales in agris inununihus et privatis." ' See ante, p. 240. ^ The instance of resumption quoted by Savigmy from Orosius is less strong, as it refers to property in the hands of the public priesthood of Eome, which the state reclaimed and sold. The passage is as follows : — ■ "Namque eodem anno {i.e. ann. 661) . . . . loca puhlica quae in circuitu capitoUi pontiiicibus, auguribus, decemviris et fiaminibus in possessionem tradita erant, cogente inopiS vendita sunt." (Savigny on Possession, p. 137, Sir E. Perry's translation.) C. K 242 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. conquests made by the Republic beyond the limits of Italy, and, with few exceptions, no other estate was known in the provinces except the possession The charges upon it, however, were resettled and extended, the tithe being converted into a standing land tax, called trihutum, or stipendium,^ and afterwards censm, which was regulated by the acreage of the estate ; and additional obligations, which I shall afterwards have occasion to refer to, were imposed upon it, both for the domestic behoof of the provinces and for the general advantage of the empire. I have said that by law a possessio was inalienable by the possessor. This extreme principle, however, of lq- alienabnity, was at all times open to relaxation where the possessor could show reasons for parting with his estate. In such a case, the chief magistrate of the pro- vince would allow the sale to be made, and would ratify the transaction. But without his consent the sale was invalid.^ 1 Thus the Lex Thoria, passed a.tj.o. 643, provides for portions of the public land in Africa being assigned to stipendiarii, i. e. grantees who should pay stipendium (1 Zell, p. 230, and c. 37 of the law itself). The duumvir, or conunissioneT, is directed " id stipendiariis det, adsignetve, idque in formas publicas facito, uti referatur, ita ut e re ei videbitur." That the proportion of towns or cities paying stipemHttm in and for their territories preponderated immensely over the free towns and territories is shown by Pliny. Out of 175 oppida in Baetica nine were coloniae, eight were munidpia, twenty-nine were Zatio donata, six libertate {donata), three foedere {donata), and 120 were atipendiaria (N. H. 3, 1). The same author says of CSterior Hispania that there were 197 oppida, of which twelve were coloniae, thirteen were oppida civium Bomanorum, eighteen were Latini veteres, one was oi foederati, and 135 were atipendiaria {ib.). ^ See Gains, ante, in note ; Dig. 50, 15 ; Agennius (Lachman, p. 4). ' A law of Valentinian, Theodosius and Arcadius (a.d. 386 — Cod. lib. 10, tit. 34, s. 1) is clear upon this subject. "Si quis decnrionum vel mstica prsedia, vel urbana venditor necessitate coactus addicit, interpellet judicem competentem, onmesque causas sigillatim, quibus strangulatnr, ezpouat et ita demum distrahendee possessionis f acultatem accipiat, si alienationis neoessitatem probaveiit. Infinna enim. venditio erit, si hsec fuerit forma neglecta," &c. This passage is specially directed to the THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 243 Permission would, probably, be granted with facility in tbe case of a priYate individual, the interest of the state being limited to the revenue which his land produced, and the public services which, as we shall see, it also rendered. But in the case of a possessor who was also a curialis, or senator of a city, as personal duties, for which his landed estate qualified him, were in addition required from him, the estate would be less facile. Provincial land thus was, in the main, granted both by the republic and the emperors as possession only, equally useful to its owner and to the state.^ In accordance with this rule we find as a fact that the prevailing estate in Britain was possessio. This we learn through another fact, viz., that the coloni of ovx country were also called tribictaru, as being settled upon land which paid tributum, in other words, -was possessio? But though the tenure oi possessio was general throughout Britain, yet traces of the agerprivatus also' are equally visible. possessio of a deourion, tut by necessary implication it shows that the same form was by strict law applicable to the cases of possessio held by any other person of a different position ; the law in fact being revived for more cogent application to the case of the deoiirion for reasons of state. See also a law of Gratian, Valentinian and Theodosius (a.b. 399, Theod. 3, 1, 8), invalidating such contracts of sale Tuadefurtim. I Agennius (Lachman, p. 4), speaking of the provinces, says, "Dum privatuB laborat in proprio, et tributum pubHco et sibi alimonia arva excolendo procurat." ^ The Emperor Constantius, in writing to the vicar of Britain (a.d. 319), testifies to "coloni" and "tributarii" in Britain generally; and as this emperor's rescript is a reply to a report of the vicar himself, the latter had, of course, as minister of British finance, stated that fact to the emperor in seeking his direction concerning this class of men (Cod. Theod. xi. 7, 2; and see p. 131, in note). Under about the same date (a.d. 368), Ammianus MaroeUinus has occasion also to speak of the "tributarii" of the territory of the Civitas of London — the county of Middlesex, in fact (27, 8,7). Tributarii were coloni with this diflerenee — they belonged to estates from which tributmn was exigible. The coloni, simply as such, might belong to ager privatus, which never paid land tax at all. r2 244 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. This last-mentioned property existed in all the Eoman pro- Tinces, tlirough special concession of imperial favour.^ That it was to he found ia Eoman Britain is demonstrable. We have seen tliat the emperor Constantius and his -vicar, in A.D. 319, speak of coloni in this country wlio are not " tributarii," for they are distinguisbed from the latter. These cohni, tberefore, belonged to fundi wbich did not pay the land tax. Sucb an exemption, bowever, was only possible in the case of true ager privatus, where the land was in tbe eye of tbe lawyer and the tax-gatberer "in solo ItaKco." This land tax, paid by tbe possessiones, provided a fund for tbe general expenses of tbe state, and went no further ia its application. The local expenses of eacb eivitas and its territory bad to be met by other imposts, which were equally laid upon tbe possessiones, and being so laid, they came to be regarded as furtber conditions of this sort, of bolding. Whilst tbe band of tbe state was in for this kind of work, other and strictly general obligations were added to tbe burthens of land. These collective cbarges were denominated onera (or mimerd) patrimonialia. Specifically they wevepontium refectio, arcium munitio (or refectio),marum munitio (or refectio), tironum productio, and praebitio hospita- litatis. Under these obligations, the possessor within tbe territory of any given eivitas was bound to contribute, according to tbe extent of tbe acreage whicb be had under cultivation, to tbe repair of tbe bridges upon the leading bnes of road, and of those same lines of road witbin the territory, and also of tbe walls and bastions of tbe eivitas itself. He was further required, ia respect of tbe same land, to find recruits 1 Hygimis (p. 197) : " Except! sunt fundi bene meritorum ut in totmn privati iuiis esseut, neo uUam colonue mumficentiam deberent et essent in solo popuH Komani." THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 245 for the imperial armies, and to subsist and receive the emperor and his attendants when they made a progress through the province. The following excerpts from the imperial law will illus- trate these onera : — First, as to the " murormn exstructio." " Omnes proviaciarum rectores Uteris moneantur, ut sciant ordines atque iacolas uxbium singularum muros vel novos debere faeere vel veteres firmius renovare; scUicet hoc pactd impendiis ordinandis, ut adscriptio currat pro viribus singulorum, deinde adscribantur pro sestimatione opens futuri territoria civium, ne plus poscatur aliquid quam necessitas imperaverit, neve minus ne instans impe- diatur efEectus. Oportet namque per singula non sterilia juga, certa quseque distribui, ut par ounctis prsebendorum sumptuum necessitas imponatur." (Cod. 8, 11, 12.) "Ad portus et aquseductus et murorum iastaurationem sive extructionem omnes certatim facta operarum coUatione instare debent." (Cod. 8, 11, 7.) "Turres novi muri qui ad munitionem splendissimaB urbis exstructus est, completo opere prsecipimus eorum usui deputari, per quorum terras idem murus studio ac provisione tuse magnitudinis ex nostrse serenitatis arbitrio celebratur. Eadem lege in perpetuum et conditione servanda ut annis singulis hi, ad quorum jura terrulse demigraverint, proprio sumptu earum instaurationem sibimet intelligant pro- . curandam, earumque usu publico beneficio potientes, curam reparationis ao solicitudinem ad se non ambigant per- tinere. Ita enim et splendor opens et civitatis munitio cum privatorum usu et utUitate servabitur." (Cod. 8, 11, 18.) " Constructioni murorum * * * universi sine ullo privUegio coartentur; ita ut in his dumtaxat titulis uni- versi portione suse possessionis et jugationis ad haec mcenia 246 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. coaiientur : quo ita demum, a sunmiis ad infirmos usque sarcina deourrente, ferendi oneris non leve solatium, sed in commune omnibus profuturum, communi labore cure- tur." (Cod. Tbeod. 16, 1, 49.) As to the "Itinerum, sive viarum munitio," and "pontium instqictio," the following extracts wiU be equally iUuBtrative : — " Emphyteucarii possessores, qui mansuetudinis nostrse beneficio ad extraordinaria minime devocantur munera, sicut cseteri proviaciales obsequium suum itiaeribus muni- endis impendant. NuUa enim ratione debent ab boo, quod in commune omnibus profuturum est, sejungi." (Cod. 11, 65,1.) _ . .' . . "Absit ut nos instructionem vise publicse et pontium stratarumque opera, titulis majorum principima dedicata later sordida munera numeremus. Igitur ad instruc- tiones reparationesque itiaerum pontiumque nullimi genus bominum, nulliusque dignitatis ac venerationis meritis ces- sare oportet." (Cod. 11, 75, 4, and Theod. Cod. 15, 3, 6.) "Nam sunt vise publicse quse pubHce muniuntur et auctorum nomina obtiaent. Nam et curatores accipiunt et per redemptores mimiuntur, et in quartindam tutelam a possessoribus per tempora summa eerta eadgitur." (Siculus Flaccus de Conditionibus Agrorum, Lachman, p. 146.) " Causam vero pontis Liquentiae * * * ged ita cum instaurari oportet ut a possessoribus civitatis ejus, terri- torio suo, quotiens usus poposcerit, reformetur." (Theod. Cod. 11, 10, 2.) As to the " prsebitio" or " prsestatio tironum," the fol- lowing excerpts will suffice : — " Tironum prsebitio in patrimoniorum viribiis potius quam iu personaxum mimeribus conjocetur," et seq. (Cod. Theod. 7, 13, 7.) "Eeparandi felLoiter exercitus cura, conferri debere THE EOMANS OF BKITAIN. 247 tirones a possessore eensuimus." (Leges Novelise Theo- dosii, A. tit. 41, 1.) As to " hospitalitatis prseMtio," I offer the following quotations : — "Cum ad felicissimam expeditionem nxuninis nostri omnium proYincialium per loca, qua iter arripimus, deteant nobis soUta ministeria exhiberi," et seq. (Cod. 10, 49, 2.) " Munus hospitis in domo reeipiendi non personse, sed patrimonii, onus est." (Dig. 50, 4, 14.) ^ The same " hospitahtas " was extended to the high officers of the army. In a letter of the Emperor Valerian, iaserted in Vopiscus's Life of Prohus, it is said : " Hospitia prseterea eidem ut trihunis legionmn praeberi jubebis."^ In TrebeUius Pollio's Life of Claudius, the Emperor Aurelian is represented to have commanded a praefectus praetorio to show to Claudius, then a tribune only, "tantum ministeriorum, quantum nos ipsi nobis per singulas quasque decrevimus civitates."' There was still another onus upon long-sufferiag land. This further burthen required the landowner to supply clothes of aU kinds for the use of the imperial armies — " nulitaris vestis." * I incHne to think, however, that this was not an additional weight, and that its amount or value was taken iuto account in the settlement of the general land tax. A word should be said as to the mode in which the public works to which some of the onera were applied were 1 See also Cod. 12, 40. * Peter's edition, vol. ii. p. 188. ' lb. vol. ii. p. 134. * Cod. 12, 39, "De militari veste." See also Theod. Cod. 7, 6, and Grodefroye's Faratitlon, vol. ii. p. 262. 248 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. effected. Though, as we have seen, the cost fell upon the landowners of the territorium, the works themselves could not he commenced except by the order of the emperor ohtained through the praeses of the province.' Such as I have described them were the peculiarities of the estate oipos^ssio under the empire. But they are also precisely what are the peculiarities of the general and prevailing estate in land throughout England in the historic period after the barbarian conquests, as I will next proceed to demonstrate. In the first place, no landowner in Anglo-Saxon England could alienate house or land by sale or gift, except by the leave or licence of the king ; and this rule of law applied to all classes within the realm, and to women as well as men. Eanberht, Uhtred and Aldred, private persons, sell and convey to Headda — "Terram juris nostri." They do so — "Cum licentia et permissione piissimi regis Offani Meroiorum." (KemUe, vol. 1, p. 128, a.d. 759.) Oswald, A.D. 962, conveys land of the same character — " Mid getJafimge and leafe Eadwardes Angul oyniages and 2E\ieieH Mercnalieretogan." (2 Kemble, p. 383.) The same formula is repeated by the same vendor in other conveyances; vide Kemble, vol. 2 and vol. 3, passim. Healthegn Scearpa, a.d. 1026, grants land — " Per oonoessionem domini mei regis Cnut." (4 Kemble, p. 32.) Eadsig, A.D. 1032, obtains the consent of Cnut and ^Ifgifu— "?5£et he moste ateon Saet land set Apoldie swa him sylfan leofost waere." (4 Kemble, p. 37.) ' "Muros autem mmiioipalos, nee reficere licet sine principis Tel praesidis auctoritate." {Dig. 1, 8, 9, 4.) " De operibus, quae in muris, vel portis, vel rebus publicis fiunt, aut si muri extroantur, Divus Marcus rescripsit, praesidemaditumconsulere prinoipem debere." (Dig. 50, 10, 6.) THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 249 Bisliop Lyfing, a.d. 1038, conveys an estate — ' ' Cum lioentia Haroldi regis ao Leof rioi duois Meroiorum. ' ' (4 Kemble, p. 59.) The same bisliop does the same thing in a.d. 1042— "Cum lioentia Heardeonuti regis ao Leof rioi duois Merciorum." {Ih. p. 69.) At p. 262 of 4 Kemble is a licence of King Badward to alienate. Leofric and Godgyfu settle land upon St. Mary's Church for a service — " Eallswa man hsefS on Paules byrig binnan Lundene." This is done — "Be Eadweardes cynges fulra leafe." (4 Kemble, p. 290.) An exchange of land is made a.d. 956 between a bishop and an abbot, and it is said that — "tfis wses Eadwiges leaf cyninges." (5 Kemble, p. 378.) At p. 232 of vol. 4 of Kemble is a general confirmation by King Eadward of previous grants — " Aiid io wiUe 5set selo Ssera lauda Se on mines f seder dsege Iseg into Cbristes cyrcean, wsere hit kinges gife, wsere hit bisoeopes, weere hit eorles, -wsere hit tJegenes, eaU io wUle ?^set seloes mannes gife stande." In Thorpe's " Diplomatarium," Ceolmunding haga (^. e. Ceolmund's house and premises in London) is sold by its owner to the Bishop of Worcester, the king con- senting. ^ No testator or testatrix could devise land without the consent (prior or subsequent) of the king. The wUl of Beohtric and ..iElfswith contains a legacy to the queen — "To foresprseoe Sset so owyde standan mihte." (Kemble, vol. 2, p. 380.) ' As to houses in boroughs, see Ellis's General Introduction to Domesday. 250 THE EOMANS OF BKITAIN. Afterwards is a prayer — ' ' And io bidde for Godes liif an minne leof an hlaf ord tf set he ne tSa&ge Saet senig man vinoeme owyde awcende." .Mfheali (a.d. 965—975) makes his will— " Be his cyne hlafordes getfafunoge." He commences mith. this annoimcement, and ends thus — "And KisserBB getfafuncga tSse se cynung geafJae is to gewitnsesBSE '^lfSry« «ffis cynincges wif." (3 Kemble, pp. 127, 128.) Wulfwaru ia her will (3 Kemble, p. 293) says — "Io Wulfwaru bidde mine leof an hlaf ord MiSelied kyning him to sehnyssan Sset io mote beon mines cwydes wytSe." She devises her patrimonial estate. At pp. 314, 315, of 2 Kemhle is a record showing how Kong j^thelred — " GrenSe tJset ASerioes owyde set Boooinge standan moste." Queen .^Ifgyfu (a.d. 1012) begins her will in these words — " fis ys .ffilfgyfse geguming to hire cyne hlafordse, Jset is ])set heo hine bit for Godes lufun and for cynescypsB tJset heo mote beon hyte cwydes wyr^e." (2 Kemble, p. 359.) In the course of the dispositions (p. 360) she devises her own estate — "Be miaes hlafordes ge?Jafiingse." ^thelstan JEtheling by his wiU (2 Kemble, p. 362) gives an estate to .33mere, adding — "And io bidde minne feder for Godes .^hnihtiges Infan and for minon Sset he tSes gen Tine ?Se io him gennnen hebbe." He afterwards (p. 364) begs all the witan to assist — "Sset min. owyde standan mote, swa mines feder leaf on minon oyde stent." This will is also given by Mr. Kemble (vol. 3, p. 363), and there the King's consent to his son's will is set out at length — "Nu tfancige ic minen feSer mid ealre eadmodnesse on Godes .ffilnuhtiges naman ISsere andsware tfe he me sende on iSaae frydae sefter middes snmeres messe deg bse .ffilf gare .ffiffan sima ; tSaet wses THE KOMANS OF BBITAIN. 251 Sset he me oydde a mities feder worde Sset io moste be Godes leafe and be his geuimen luiure are and minre sehta swa me mest red Suhte segSeT ge for Grode ge for worulde ; and Sisse andawaro is gewitnesse Eadmimd min broSor, &o." In the Book of Ely (Giles's edition), p. 207, Leoflsed, daughter of Byrfnoth, in her mil thanks King Onut — " Quod oiroa me, anoillam vestram, benigne agere voluistis, et mihi de Bubstantiis meis, ex quo vir meua ablatua est, a me pro libitu disponere voluistis." -. She goes on to say — " Haec et alia ego, anoUla tua, tarn eoolesiis quam domesticis, domine rex, tuo favore post diem meum esse dispone, et rata in aerum con- sistent. Nemo ea praeter te, quod absit, subtrahat vel minuat." A similar licence is given to the relict of Urc by King Eadward (4 Kem. Cod. Dip. p. 200).' The principle of such a rule as that which I have just described is this. The king's permission is necessary for all these different forms of alienation, because the res sought to be transferred are not the absolute property of the apparent owners. The dominium is really in the king, however the usufruct may be enjoyed by the possessor. The former therefore may resume into his own hands that property which another has hitherto enjoyed through royal permission only. The king, haviag the right of resump- tion, must be appealed to whenever a possessor seeks to divert that permissive usufruct, and, as the permission is always granted, it is presumable that the resumption must be conditioned on some reasonable ground. But in all this is involved nothing else but that same right of conditional resumption which, as we have already seen, lies at the root of the Eoman tenure oipossessio. The other great peculiarity of possessio is also foimd in England after the conquests. I mean its subjection to ' See also ii. p. 300. 252 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. land tax — ^the basis on which the resumability of that form of property rested. This trihutum, subsequently called laiidgafol, the Romans of Wessex continued to pay in respect of their estates in the territoria or shires until after the great .Alfred had passed away.^ ^So also the Eomans of Northumberland discharged this impost upon their lands in that kingdom until the same date.^ As to these. two countries, this fact is evidenced by laws which have come down to us ; and we know at the same time that the same Romans paid land tax in respect of their houses in the boroughs of those countries' as long as the monarchy lasted and longer stm. It cannot be doubted that the Eomans of the other 1 LL. Ine, o. 23, speaks of "Wealh gafolgelda," and c. 32 of the same laws, in speaking of the " Wyliso man" who has a hide of land, shows the two to be the same, as their " weres" are identical. .Alfred, in his laws,' retains the diBtinotive name of eix hynde for the Boman — a word derived from his tarif of hlood (see awfe) ; and a six hynde, we know from Ine, was a Roman proprietor (c. 24) — a "Wealh gafolgilda," as Ine calls him. « In the Nor* leoda higa (1 Thorpe, pp. 186, 187), it is said, " If a Eoman have a hide and pay the king's gafol his wergild is 120 shillings" (and gif Wiliso man geSeo fset he hsebbe hiwisc landes, and maege cyninges gafol forSbimgan, ]»onne biS his wergild CXX scOl.). There is a mistake in these figures. They must be read "CCXX," i.e. twohnndred and twenty shillings. This is proved by a corresponding passage in the other MS. of the same laws, printed by Mr. Thorpe immediately vmder the text of the first. Without this correction the Eoman landowner would be inferior to his own colonus, which, besides being an absurdity, is contradicted by provisions appearing elsewhrae, viz., that he is three times his superior in social e.stimation — sixhynde to twyhynde. The passage which I refer to is also in other respects noteworthy. It says, " If a Roman be so rich that he has coloni and a possession in land, and can pay land tax to the king, his wergild is 220 shiUings" (and Wealisc monnes wergild, gif he beo to Jam gewelegod Jaet he hyred and eht age, and Jiam. cyng gafol gyldan, hit MS, fon CCXX sciU.). Mr. Thorpe has strangely mistranslated the words " hyred and eht" by " hide of land and property." ^ See Ellis's General Introduction to Domesday, vol. i. 190 et mq. THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 253 kingdoms were charged with the same tax upon their estates therein situated, and this presumption is confirmed by the fact that they paid landgafol for their houses in the boroughs of those kingdoms, and continued to do so as long as the Anglo-Saxon monarchy lasted.^ The Anglo-Saxon at no period paid tribidiim for his land in the shire, and he scorned to possess a dwelling in any city or town. Of this fact, though it is perfectly iucontrovertible, there is only negative evidence; the Anglo-Saxon is never men- tioned as paying land tax in the passages where the Roman is so referred to, and the word " gafolgelda," as applied to the latter, is employed by way of antithesis and distinction from the Anglo-Saxon. The same immunity was enjoyed by his barbarian brethren of the continent — of the other Roman provinces ; and his cannot be supposed to have been the only stock of the same usurping race which would throw away the fruits of their victory and condescend to imperial taxation in its most oppressive form. The fact, therefore, of the incidence or non-incidence of the land tax distinguished the one nationality from the other. The Roman, however, chafed under this distiuction, which was at least invidious after the two races had lived together side by side for many generations — the more so that, as we shall see, its imposition ajfforded a pretext to the conqueror for continuiag the disarmament of his Roman subjects. But this invidious burthen, this jealous withholding of arms from the Romans, were not to last for ever. That ' Ellis, ante. See also what is said post, as to the landgafol of the boroughs. 254 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. cloud of Wood which afterwards enveloped unhappy England began at length to form. The Danes directed their assaults upon this country, prosecuting them with a ruthless vigour which signalized them as masters of the art of butchery. For some time the Anglo-Saxons'struggled, unaided, in the defence of 1;he country, but their efforts were half- hearted and unavailiag; and so the situation continued until A.B. 894, the Danes still gaining ground untU a climax was reached. In that year the Danish tempest was beating over the whole kingdom, and the Anglo- Saxons and their king were at the lowest point of depres- sion. At the beginning of that year, the Eomans of London were first called out and joined with a detachment of the royal forces ; they went to Bamfleet, where they stormed Hsesten's fortification with great slaughter, taking prisoners and booty away with them into London.^ As the year wore on the situation became more desperate still, and then a levy en masse of the Eomans was determined upon. The king's ban went forth calling upon the Roman bur- gesses of the cities to arm the cohni of their estates in the shire, and take up arms themselves in the king's servicOi The words of the annalist (very probably King Alfred himself^), in stating this fact, are these': — "-^thered, the ealdorman, ^thelm, the ealdorman, and ^thelnoth, the ealdorman, and certain king's thegnas, collected an army from every borough east of the Parret, west of Selwood, east and also north of the Thames, and west of the Severn — even some part of North Wales {i.e. Chester)." 1 A. S. Chron. : "Mid Jam burgwarum," ' So Mr. Thorpe thinks. ' A. S. Chron. : " Of seloere byrig be eastan Pedredan, ge be westan Sealwuda, ge be eastan ge be norSan Temese, and be westan Saefem, ge eac sum dsel Jises Nor® Weall cynnes." THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 255 Here was an end of barbarian pride ; the more so that the aid of these new leTies, taken from the subject race, resulted in the greatest "victories over the Danes that had up to that time been achieved. In the following year (895) the burgesses of Chichester put the Danes to flight, with great loss on the part of the latter.^ In the next year (896) a great force of the burgesses of London went out to attack a Danish fortification upon the river Lee, but on this occasion they were themselves routed, four king's thegnas being slain.^ In a.d. 915, in the reign of ./Alfred's successor, Eadweard, the men of Hereford, of Gloucester, and of the neighbouring boroughs, are recorded to have fought and defeated the Danes with great slaughter.^ These notices suffice to show that the subject nationality was again in arms, combatting as in the days of its in- dependence, for the safety of the possessions which their great mother country had given them, and which they still retained. The Eomans formed a part of the ealdormen's levies, a portion of the general — ^the national army.* After the Romans had been thus marshalled under the lead of the ealdormen, they counted heads, and finding themselves more numerous than the Anglo-Saxons proper, they did not delay to construe these suggestive statistics in their own way. They saw in them a right to their own equality with the Anglo-Saxon upon the subject at least of taxation. And as they had arms in their hands, they claimed and enforced this right to equalize what was before imequal — ■ the incidence of the tributum upon the lands of the Eomans 1 A. S. Chron. * A. S. Chron.: " Mioel dsel burhwara," &c. ' A. S. Chron. : "pa men of Heref orda, and of Grleawoeastra, and of Jam niehstan burgum," &o. * See ante. 256 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. in the shires. This tax the Romans compelled the Anglo- Saxon king and his toifan to remit to them, leaving only that proportion of it which fell upon their houses in the boroughs. No one knows the year in which this remission was made, but we can approximate to the date, and we can also satisfy ourselves as to what was the cause of this revolution. We know that the trihutum was levied upon the lands of the Romans as late as ia King Alfred's reign, and we know also that ia no succeeding king's laws is that tax ever again mentioned. Simultaneously also with this silence all allusion to the Romans under the name applied to them by the barbarians ceases in law, in history, and in public instruments. The impost, and the people upon whom it is levied, both disappear. The interval between the latest perception of the tax and the first phenomenon of its oblivion gives us the date of the repeal, and that date gives the motive for the cession. For that only a political motive can be presimied, and it must have been a great and powerful one. This the general circumstances of the time supply, and they were such as imperatively required this instalment of equity towards the conquered Romans. Without the presence of such circumstances, operating as an irresistible pressure, no barbarian king and no divan of the barbarian caste could have divested themselves, and those whose interests they represented, of so large, so certain and so convenient a fund as the landgafol or trihutum. And if we reflect that the collection of this lucrative tax ceased when money was most needed by the king — ^when the Danish wars were becoming chronic — ^the more necessarily it follows that compulsion was employed by those whose interest it was to obtain this relaxation. In noting the total inconsistency of the time with the grace thus con- THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 257 ferred, it should not escape us that the continuance of these Danish wars eventually led to a reimposition upon all aUke of a similar land tax, thus unseasonably aboKshed at their conunencenient. In a succeeding age the king and the vritan had no alternative, in the iaterest of the country, but to re-establish the old tax under a new name — Danegeld — makiag it, however, incident upon all landed property, whoever were its owners. This abrupt termiaa- tion of the land tax, as an impost upon the Eomans, can only be explaiaed as an act of favour towards them, which their own strength had extorted from the dominant caste, and thus one of the barriers existiag between the two nations was cast down. Connected with the repeal of the tributum is a circum- stance which must have some great historic meaning, though history unfortunately has not taken the trouble to explaia it. The landgafol is abolished in respect of land in the shires. The greater part of it therefore — four-fifths at least — -is remitted to the Roman subjects. This was a great victory for them. But there remaios a small portion of the tax which is still levied — the tributum upon the houses of the same Eomans in the boroughs. This land- tax upon houses — burgage tenements, as they were after- wards called — -was never repealed. It was iu after ages bought off merely by the boroughs themselves. But the same pov. er, the same influences, and the same con- siderations which had compelled the rescission of the largest portion of the tax, coidd or might have obtained its entire repeal. This is too plain a proposition to allow of denial or controversy. But if it is admitted, as it must be, it follows plainly that the Romans did not insist upon that entire repeal of the land tax which would have seemed most to conduce to their interests as a separate nationality. In any case the leaving the tributum upon houses in the 258 THE ROMANS OF BKITAIN. boroughs, and the remoTing it from estates in the country, though these houses and these estates equally belonged to the same tax-paying caste — the Eoman — must be taken as evidence of a compromise between the two castes. The tax of small productiveness was to remain, wHle the tax of larger proportion was abolished ia favour of the sub- jugated nationality. But if all power were then, as it had been, on the side of the king and the barbarians, the tax must have remained as unrepealed and unreduced as any tax in Turkey. If, on the other hand, the Eomans had found them- selves an unequivocaEy preponderating force in the island, they would have put themselves on an even line with the other caste, and, as that caste paid nothing, they would have claimed a complete relief and have also paid nothing at all. But neither of these two things happened, and the reason of the non-occurrence of either was this. The Eomans were no longer willing to remain a dormant section having no share in the personal dangers and re- sponsibilities of the other caste. They were as ready as the Anglo-Saxons to fight in defence of the country ; and if they were thus prepared to perform their proportion of a common duty, there was obviously no longer any neces- sity for the perception of the whole of the obnoxious tax, for that had been retained and applied to the payment and support of the barbarian army when it was a force de- serving the name. But now it was no longer to be an army. It was only to be a body-guard for the king, com- posed of his own mercenary gesithas. The real army was thenceforth to be the unpaid levies of the ealdormen, in which Eomans and thegpias of the shires were to fight shoulder to shoulder against the common enemy. For the payment and support of the king's hirelings a fraction THE ROMANS OF BKITAIN. 259 merely of tlie integral product of the tax •would be amply i ; sufficient. That fraction could be supplied by a levy of the land tax, limited to the houses of the Eomans within the walls of the cities and boroughs merely. That this frac- ; tion should still be levied — that the tax should be an incidence upon such houses only — ^the Eomans unhesitat- ingly consented. This is the true explanation of what otherwise is an unmeaniag anomaly, but thus explained will rank as a historical fact of the highest importance. All the patrimonial onera also were contiuued after the conquests. Land and houses are subject to three leading obligations, ^ collectively called the "threo neode" and the "trinoda .' necessitas." ^ Individually they are burhbot, brycgbot and | fyrd. These three necessities are general and common burthens, to which all the hidage of the shire contributes. No terms can reach over a wider space than these and other terms of a similar significance which are applied to them in the Anglo-Saxon conveyances. Whether the land- owner parts with a house and premises in a city, an unwaUed village, or a manor in the open country, he transfers it imbued with the unextinguishable charges of the three necessities. And to the close of the monarchy the trinoda necessitas is an unfailing reservation in every conveyance of house or land. ^ The Eeotitudines (p. 432, vol. i. Thorpe) ajEfirms this position. Of the thegn it is said "Jset he Tpieo Jjinc of his lande do, fyrdfsereld, and burhbote and bryoge-weoro." And see also the Diplomata generally, and La-ws of ^thehred, post. The charter of the Confessor to the Abbey of Evesham (4 Kemble, No. 801, a.d. 1054) contains the same old re- servation. There was a brycgbot for London, a.d. 1097 (Anglo-Saxon Chronicle). In a.d. 1088, WiUiam the Bed availed MmseH of the fyrd, according to Anglo-Saxon forms and rules. "When he was besieging the Castle of Rochester, he (says the Anglo-Saxon Chronicler) "bead thset Eelo man the ■wsere uimithing sceolde cumau to him, Frencisce and i '1(jI EngHsoe." The Cbronicler adds, "him com tha mioel folo to." See also Ellis's General Introduction to Domesday. s2 260 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. To discharge the burthen of the buxhhot, the landowner was bound to find labour and material to repair and reinstate the walls and bastions of the chief town of his own shire. Under the obhgation of the brycgbot, the hidage of each county was bound to repair or rebuild the bridges connected with "the highroads of the county/ and also to repair those roads themselves.^ To discharge the burthen of the fyrd the landlord was bound to find soldiers who should serve in the king's army during any expedition of aggression or defence which the suzerain should ordain. Under this obligation every proprietor was compelled to raise to the utfare, or expedition, a certain quota of the free men who lived upon his estate, proportioned to the number of hides of which the estate was composed.^ These men thus recruited were ceorls — farmers, or free labourers. The fyrd of each county was kept distinct, and was marshalled under its own ealdorman. ' Cfer. the "brycgeweorc on Hrof esceastre " in the Textns Eoffensis (Oxon. 1720). Por the better understanding of this very interesting record, it must be obserred that Kent -was subdivided into two shires, East and West, conterminous with the ecclesiastical dioceses of Canterbury and Rochester. See Palgrave, vol. ii. p. colxxii, quoting the Tex. EofE. 116, and Sax. Chron. a.d. 999. See also 4 Kemble, p. 266; 6 Kemble, p. 81. The reader who will refer to the original will see that the bridge of Rochester was of timber. lu the material, therefore, it resembled the majority of Roman bridges in the provinces — ^pontes tabellarii. Vide OreUius, vol. ii. pp. 70, 71, inscriptiones 3300, 3308. ^ The rubric to the 66th law of Cnut is " de viis publids stemendis," though the law itself in words refers only to the burhbot, brycgbot, and fyrd fare. Leo (Die Angelsaohsischen Ortsuamen, p. 56, edit. Halle, 1842), apparently without being aware of this passage, lays down positively that brycg meant a made road. But there is evidence more direct even than this of this meaning of "brycg." For the word "lithostratos," JEUric, in his Vocabulary, gives as its Anglo-Saxon equivalent "stanbricge" (Wright's edit. p. 22). Ducange tells us {sub vocibus) that "lithostrotum" and "lithostratnm" mean "via communis." 3 Cnut, cc. 78, 79. THE ROMANS OF BETTAIX. 261 These three ohligations were comniaiided and imposed upon the country, when the necessity arose, by the gehan or edict of the ting.^ There was another obligation upon land which, though not general, like the three before described, is found in special instances. This was called " sceorp to fyrdscipe," i. e., clothes for the army.^ There is no difficulty ia recognizing in this both the Roman phrase and the obligation which it expressed, — "militaris vestis."' Equally in England is found the enforced liability to entertain the king and the king's men — the praebitio hospitalitatis. This we shall have again under consideration when we come to consider the state and condition of the boroughs.* It is thus clear that possessio, with its peculiarity of title and tenure and all its concomitant public obligations and burthens, remained in England during the rule of the Anglo-Saxons; and it is equally interesting to find that 1 ^thelred's Domas, c. 26 (Thorpe, vol. i. p. 310): "And teo man geome ymbe friSee bote and ymbe feos bote aeghwar on earde and ymbe burhbote on aeghwyloan ende and ymbe briobote and ymbe fyrdunga eac he \)am Tpe man gerade dd yonne neoA si ' ' — i. e. according to what is always ordained when there is a necessity. From other sources we leam that the ordinances touching these matters were royal bans. .3ilthelbald of Mercia (Eemble, vol. i. p. 119) releases all monasteries and churches ' ' a publicis vectigalibus et ab omnibus operibiis oneribusque, nisi sola, quae communiter fruenda sunt, omnique populo, cdieto regis, facienda jubentur, id est instructionibus pontium, vel necessariis defen- sionibus arcium contra hostes non sunt rennenda." The Eectitudines, after enumerating the three necessities, adds, "Eac of manegum landum mare land riht arist to cyniges getanne, swilce is deorhege," &c. A specimen of this ban, so far as regards the fyrd, is found in the Anglo-Saxon Chron. Ai-d. 1088. The long "bead Sat selc man ]ie wsere unni'cJing sceolde cuman to him, Frencisce and Englisce, of pmie and of Eectitudines singularum personarum, c. 1. 3 Ante, p. 247. * Post. 262 THE ROMANS OF BKITAIN. the other estate, the ager primtus — that exception to the general holdings of the proviaces — is also traceable in the same England. For the proof of this fact, as for much other iavaluahle information, we are indebted to the accurate and legally-minded monk of Ely. He says, that there was, iu Huniiagdonshire, " terra tarn libera quce per forisfacturam non possit iri perditum."'- Of land of this nature, however, only four hides could he found in that county. The hfycgeiweorc, in the Textus Roffensis, has been before referred to as illustrating the operation of one of the three obligations upon land. A very iaterestiag cir- cumstance connected with this document must be stated. A careful examination of the localities comprised in it shows that several, though not many, other townships of the same district are omitted iu this mention of contri- butories. The reason for this omission would, of necessity, be the exemption of these places from the operation of the tax. But the exempted land, thus omitted from the taxation of "West Kent, and the estates ia East Anglia which "could not be lost," must be the same sort of property. For the iaability of the latter to sustain a forfeiture could arise only out of such a condition of exemption as the former enjoyed. As to the Romans were thus left the possession and enjoyment of their lands, it may be assumed that no change was made in the outward form and distribution of those lands. This was the case. We find the land held and occupied in the same peculiar estates which the Romans had fashioned when they colonized and settled the country, viz., iu centuriae. It is true that in later days, when we best knew the 1 Vase 139, Dr. GUes's edit. THE ROMANS OF BKITAIN, 263 state of Britain under its new name of England, the Eoman word has vanished, and in its room we find only " hid" and " hiwisc," words meaning " family." We find also the Latin words "mansio" and "mansa" in use as having an equivalent meaning, Buf, in spite of these disguises, any and aU of these words mean centuria and nothing else. The distrihution of England into hides is universal. After the conquests — during the historic period of England — the hide is the aU-pervading estate. Land takes no other outward and objective form. All England is hided,i and no reference to any other mode of partition and de- limitation is ever made.^ The later land tax, called the Dane geld, is assessed upon, and in respect of, each hide, while, at the same time, it is a tax upon the entire soU of England.' The centuria consisted, as we have seen, either of 200 or 240 Jugera, the number varying with the territoriuni, whose lex colonica had originally settled the amount.* The dimension of the hide was equally two-fold, some shires having one dimension, and some the other. This difEerence is never found in the same shire. The hide of 200 acres is the most prevailing description. It is exclu- sively the hide of the south of England. The other hide — of 240 acres — ^is general in East Anglia, and, probably, was prevalent in the north of England also.' Upon these ' See the Liber Custiimamm in vol. 2 of Riley's Liber Albua. See also the Anglo-Saxon text, published by Sir Henry EUis in his General Litroduotion to Domesday; ^ See Kemble's Codex Diplomatious, passim ; also the Book of Ely, passim. So Beda (H. E. hb. 4, c. 16) calls the hide "aestimatio Angliae." See also i6., lib. 1, o. 25, and Ub. 2, o. 9, lib. 3, c. 4, lib. 4, e. 16, (for the term " naensnra Anglorum " applied to it.) ' See Domesday. * See ante, pp. 47, 48. ^ For the hide of 200 acres, see the authorities quoted in Dr. Leo's 264 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. premises it is, therefore, indisputalDle tliat the centuxia and tlie hide are the same old, permanently-founded, Eoman estate. They are severally of the same dimensions, and they are subject to the same law of variation. Their identity, therefore, is assured, if only (Bcer anA Juger meant the same thing. Of this, however, there can be no doubt ; for the learned ^Elfric, in his Griossary, translates the one word by the other, and, in addition to this, interprets " centuria" by " twa hund seoera."^ This full or entire hide of England, as it was technically described,^ had no other dimensions save these two. But there is another hide, neither full nor perfect, which is always qualified when mentioned at all by the number of acres of which it consists — the hide of 120 acres. This hide is never spoken of as a hide absolutely, but always with the unfailing addition of its acreage. It is invariably found in those shires where one or other of the fuU hides prevails.' ■work on tlie Kectitudines, p. 116. It was the hide of Kent and Sussex. For the hide of 240 acres, see the Book of Ely, Dr. Giles's edition, pp. 132, 145, 149, &c. (hyda de duodecies XX acris). It -woiild be a painful exhibition to give all the hallucinations which have been entertained and expressed upon the subject of the superficial contents of the hide. The authors themselves have called these aberrations by the graver name of calculations. One of them, the latest of aU, -will suffice for the reader. Mr. Eemble (preface to vol. 3, Cod. Dip. p. 30) says, "According to my calculations (he gives none, however,) the hide contained very nearly 30 acres of our present measurement." For this curious judgment there is not the slightest ground or even excuse. 1 See .^Ifric, mti vocibus. ^ See^os*. 2 The Book of Ely calls the hide of 240 acres "hida Integra" (pp. 128, 131), and " hida plena " (p. 140). But while this is referred to as being the prevailing measure, the same book speaks of the hide of 120 acres as being also found in the same countries [ib. , passim) . The same thing occurs in Kent, where the_8ulung, or full hide, was 200 acres. EUis (General In- troduction to Domesday ,'vol. 1, p. 148) quotes from Agard to show that in the litii year of Edward I., an inquest found that at Hokinton, in Kent, there were "12 hidse terrse," eeich containing " lq se sexies viginti acras THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 265 The explanation of this is ohvious. It is the procenttiria, and is, of course, another evidence for the identity of the Eoman and English estates. But the hide, though its naeasurement was thus pre- cisely determiaed, was not an estate of abstract dimensions — one that could be formed, unmade, and reformed at the caprice or necessity of an individual. It was an estate of ancient foundation, formed for all time, and continuing to be ever circumscribed by the bounds which had been originally assigned to it. Its existence was as separate and distinct as its form was permanent and fixed. It could never lose its individual identity, not even by merger. For this reason it had its own proper name.^ So when, in the later days of the Anglo-Saxon monarchy, the kings created socnas {maneria),'th.ej did so by annexing together J several hides ; but the latter, though conjoined, all re- mained as distinct and separable from each other after and notwithstanding the conjunction equally as they had been before it.^ There was an increment to each hide which must not be forgotten, over and above the acreage which went to constitute its due dimensions. Pasture and woodland were attached to several hides in conjunction for the common usufruct of the occupiers of each hide.' "We have seen terrse." iElgar in his -will {circa a.d. 958, 6 Kem. C. D. p. 12) says, " and ic ^Selgar an an hide lond Jes Je JEulf havede he himd twelfte acren, ateo swa so he wille," i.e. a hide of 120 acres. ' See Kemble's Cod. Dip., passim. E.g. "Mansam, quod [sic) solito TooitatuT nomine Theofecan Hyl" {ib. toI. 3, p. 34), " unam videlicet mansam, quod solito vooitatur nomine Batenhale " [ib. p. 51). ^ So North-wold (Book of Ely, G-Ues's edition, p. 157) was a manor consisting of twelve hides. So constituted was the manor of Lindune {ib. p. 116). So also the Domesday commissioners were directed to ascertain " how many hides each manor consisted of" (Ellis's General Introduction to Domesday). ' E.g., in 5 Kem. Cod. Dip. p. 326, it is said that to an estate made up of five hides at Cusanhrieg belong sixty-five acres of common land 266 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. that tMs commonage was a riglit incidental to several adjoining centuriae under precisely the same circum- stances.'- There is an additional identification of the hide with the centuria. The centuria of 200 jugera was divided by the agri- mensores into iowcjuga of 50 Jugera eaoh.^ The suluns of 200 acres was similarly divided into four Juga.^ There are other identifications of the hide and the Both words, hide (hid) and hiwise, mean /«»«%.* But the word centuria, though not directly meaning the same thing, was otherwise tantamount to it. For it was the measure of land which the Eoman law considered could be cultivated " ab ipso possidente*" — ^in other words, upon such a quantity a provincial Eoman family could be suffi- ciently and adequately maiatained.* "Fanulia" would seem to have finally superseded "centuria" in the common (" and on ]jan gemanan lande gebyraS Jjarto fif and sixti aecoera "). So a common wood of hides is spoken of in 3 Kem. Cod. Dip. p. 423, app.: " Of Pucamvylle and lang broces to hida ■wndu"). In 6 Kem. p. 243, it is said of six sulungs at Bromley in Kent, " haec utUitas silTarum. ad eandem terram pertinet." In ih. p. 116, it is said, "And Tpava twegra hyda wndu innan gemaeunesse." Bishop 'Werfiith's will (Kemble, vol. ii. p. 100) : "Heo haebhe tha wndu raedemie in Jasmwudu Je fa oeorlas hrucaS, and ec ic hire lete to ]>!et oeola grsef to snndran." King Eadgar's Laws, o. 8 (Thorpe, i, p. 274) : "Mid his tunscipes gewitnesse on gemsenre Isese gebringe." Rectitudines [ih. p. 438); " Oxan hyrde mot Iffiswian 11 oxan oSSe ma mid hlafordes heorde on gem^nre Isese," &c. See also Ine's Laws, c. 42. 1 Ante, p. 76. '' " Ager jugariuB in qtiinqnagenis jugeribns" (p. 247, Lachman). 3 EUis's Grcmeral Introduction to Domesday, vol. i. p. 155. * See Bosworth's Dictionary, tmder these word?. "What Beda calls "familia," King .Wilfred translates " hid." It means not the family of a oeorl, but of the lord of the " ham." See^os^. 5 Sio. Haoous de Condicionibus agrorum (Lachman, p. 136). THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 267 parlance of the provincial, and tlms to have led to the words -which we find in England. That the hide owed no part of its origin to the barbarians is inferrible from another fact. It was found in Cornwall, on the conquest of that coTintry by the Anglo-Saxons. It , was, therefore, the old provincial estate there, — ^in other words, it was the centuria?- This is negative only, though valuable as that. 5ut that the hide is positively a Roman form of estate is also plainly demonstrable. King Ine tells us that it is a distribution of real pro- perty, which the Romans of his days held in England.^ But as these Romans would only retain what they pos- sessed before, and would make no new acquisitions after the Anglo-Saxon conquests, it follows that the estate which the barbarians called a hide, though belonging to a Roman, was as much Roman as its proprietor. And this obvious conclusion is strengthened by what I shall have to say upon the subject of the union of five hides in the hands of one proprietor. This conjoint estate, the same king declares, could be and was held by individual Romans.' We know also that this Roman estate of five hides became general amongst the barbarians of England, who even, as we shaU. find, adopted its estimate into their own sociology. A thegn or landowner of good position was, in later days, held to have qualified up to that position only if he pos- sessed five hides.* 1 3 Kern. 0. D. pp. 11, 12. King Eadgar grants (a.d. 967) to Wulfnotli. Eumancant, his faithful "vasallus," three mansat (or hides) situate at Lesmanaoo.and Pennarth. The boundaries of these hides are the same as those of any English hide. The " herpaS" is one of them. 2 LL. Ine, 0. 32. . 3 iJ. c. 24. 4 lb. 00. 14, 46, 52, 53 and 54 ; .Wilfred's Laws, c. 11, and else- 268 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. Metaphor, in tliis measure of land, became precise and technical phraseology ; and an union of twelve thegns to testify the innocence of an accused was known to the tri- bunals as an oath of sixty hides. But five hides, at the computation of the hide general and predominant throughout England, comprized 1,000 acres. What is the rationale of this curiously conventional rule? The explanation must be sought for in the Roman law. The soil of the provinccB had in most countries — cer- tainly in the barbarian parts of Europe like Britain — ^been taken from the natives and given away by the emperor to Eoman settlers, who were to hold these grants by the title, and under the obligation, of possessio, as we have seen. But aE possessiones were subject to the rule of the lex Licinia, and its amendment, the lex Sempronia ; each of which laws remained in force to the end of the empire. By the lex Licinia, a Eoman citizen was allowed to hold a grant of public land, by the title of possessio, to the extent of 500 jugera only. This was the limit of the legal modus or measure of estate. The lex Sempronia afterwards en- larged this limit to 1,000 acres, allowing this double measure to a Eoman citizen who had at least two sons. This law gave to each of these sons 250 acres ; but as these sons were unemancipated, it was, in effect and reality, a permission to a citizen so situated to hold as much as 1,000 acres, and was a prohibition to hold more. -This modus of 1,000 jugera^ was Horace's ideal of a large estate, afEording where. The keynote to these texts is found in the "North leoda laga" (Thorpe, toI. 1, pp. 186, 188), and in the "Be leod geSineffum and lage" (ii. p. 190), where the five hides are declared to be the qualifying estate of a "gesith" or "thegn." 1 See Appian, De BeUis Civilibus, Kb. 1, c. 11. Appian, while he puts the extension granted by the Lex Sempronia at 2bO jugera to each son of ^e paterfamilias, does not limit the number of the sons. The number. THE ROMANS OF BKITAIN. 269 tHe type and qualification of a well-to-do Eonian citizen.^ "We thus have two measures, in accordance with which the public land was allotted under the empire. Of these, the measure of 500 jugera was called simpleXy as the other was denominated duplex} The double measure in the pro- vinces, as in Italy, naturally attracted the admiration, if it did not excite the envy, of the less fortunate natives. There is also reason to believe that it was far from in- frequent among the colonists, for we have the testimony of the agrimensores that the provincial possessores were large landholders.^ But land, when it was given to the soldier (and most of it was so given),* was in proportion to the rank and mili- howerer, -was limited, as we leam from Liyy through his epitomizer. The words of the latter are these (lib. 58): " Ti. Sempronius Grracohus tribunus plebis cum legem agrariam ferret adversus volimtateiii seuatus at equestris ordinis, ne quis ex publico agro plus quam mille jugera pos- sideret," &c. 1 "Arat Palemi mille fundi jugera." (laVediuniKufum, lib. 5, ode 4.) Again, ia the first satire, he says : — " Vel die, quid referat infra Naturae fines -riventi, jugera centum, an MiUearet?" ' Frontinus (Laehman, p. 46) and also Agennius (ii. p. 77) have the following remark: "Geminus in proTinciis modus ab alio possidetur; ab alio ne quidem simplex." The context afterwards shows that the double modus contained a thousand y«^era. Allotments made beyond the modus were denominated WHcessiyMnt^i. Hyginus (Laehman, p. 197) says; " Concessi sunt fundi ei, quibus est indultum, cum possidere uni ouique plus quam edictum continebat non liceret." ^ Agennius TJrbicus (Laehman, pp. 84, 85). * Dolabella (Laehman, p. 304) says, " Ideoque si qui imperatorum aut consulum pugnantes terras adquisierunt nomini Komano et partiti sunt Teteranis aut mUitibus Eomanis," &c. Hyginus {ii. p. 176): "Erat tunc prsemium terra et pro emerito habebatur. Multis legionibus con- tigit bella feliciter transigere et ad laboriosam agxi culturse requiem primi tirocinii gradu pervenire." See also the Liber Coloniarum (lib. ]) for grants to the soldiery. 270 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. tary merit of the grantee.^ A possessor, therefore, of 1,000 mgera being necessarily a Roman officer of merit and dis- tinction, created in the puhlio mind an impression that his rant and position were inseparably connected mth the amount of his estate. He was an ohject of respect and admiration to the other provincials, who accepted the measure of his land as the measure of his rank. This well-defined rule of English sociology, borrowed directly from the constitutional law of Rome, confirms beyond all question the absolute identity of the centuria with the hide. No more need be said on this poiat. As the land system in England was thus precisely the same as that which prevailed ia imperial Britain, we must not be surprised if we find also that the same mode of conveyance and assurance of land was practised ia England after the conquest, as had been prescribed for this country by the courts and the lawyers of Roman Britain. In the one period as in the other the same practices are distinctly visible. By the Roman law where there could be no mancipatio (a form of conveyance only applicable to ager primtus), it was absolutely necessary that there should be traditio corporalia, or actual livery. Without that the dominium or ownership did not pass to the purchaser or donee. Traditio, therefore, was employed where res nee mancipi and possessio changed hands.^ 1 Sienlus Flacous (Lachman, p. 156) : "Nou enim onmibus sequaliter datus, Bed et secimdiun gradum militise et modiis est datus," &c. Hygiaus (ti. p. 176) : "Nam cum sigms et aqviila et primis ordinibus ao tribimis deducebantur, modus agri pro portione officii dabatur." 2 ' ' Traditio propria est alienatio rerum nee mancipi. Harum rerum dominium ipsa traditione adpraehendimus, scilicet ex justa causa traditae sunt" (Hip. Flag. Mai, tit. 19). "Professio donationis apud acta facta, cum neilue mancipationem neque traditionem subsecutam esse dicas, THE ROMANS OF BEITAIN. 271 This traditio was preceded by a deed of conveyance, called imder the empire liber or libellus} The deed was registered, and the livery was recorded in the registry, either of the praeses or of the curia of the civitas.^ Of these Roman practices there was no discontinuance what- ever. There were two modes of sale and transfer of land re- cognized in England after the barbarian conquests. One of these was called gem~it, but more often loc (book), as the other (which was oral merely) was called gemtnesse. There is no difficulty in traciag the first ia the deed made so familiar by the great collection of Mr. Kemble. As regards the other form, which was simply the nuncupation of a contract, the transaction would be valid if it took place in the presence of a port-gerefa at a gemot of his borough, or of a scir-gerefa at B,folcgemot of his shire.' In regard to the Anglo-Saxon deed itself there is a striking peculiarity which forces itself on our notice. The vendor grants and conveys the estate by the name under which it is commonly known, and beyond stating the measure in hides never attempts a description of the pro- perty, or gives what we should call parcels or abuttals in destmationem potius Kberalitatis quam effectvun rei aotae continet " (Frag. Vatic. De donationibus ad legem Cinciam). " Quod si praedia rustioa vel urbana plaoitum continebit, soriptura quae ea in alimn trams- ferat emittatur, sequatur traditio corporalis, et rem fuisse completam gesta testentur. Alitor OTiim ad novum dominium transire non poa- sunt, neque de Toteri jure discedere" (Tbeod. Cod. ii. 29, 2). 1 Siee post. ^ Eaynouard's Histoire du Droit municipal en IVance, torn. 1, Hv. 1, chap. 20, and the authorities quoted therein. 3 iElfred's Laws, c. 41. Book of Ely (p. 117): "Haec itaque emptio et oonventio in territorio quod dicitur Grautebrygge facta est coram meUo- ribua ejusdem proTiuci^." The manor of Lindun and its appendices were puichased. lb. p. 120: Certaiu land at Stretham -was bought "coram omnibus apud eivitatem quse dicitur G-rantebrygge." 272 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. the tody of the deed. These are always appended to it, and are meant merely to assist the purchaser in recognizing his new property, when livery or actual possession is given by the vendor or his attorney.^ This again is a Roman survival; these parcels being couched in terms strictly conformable with an example given by the agrimensor Hyginus.^ ThS intention iu either case was to carry into effect the same purpose : — ^viz., " ut certa et vera proprietas vkinis prcBsentibus demonstretur." ^ Besides a deed and its accompanyuig formalities there was another assurance which by the Roman law was re- quired of the vendor. The intended purchaser of land could compel the vendor to give security agaiast a possible eviction after sale by any person having a better title or holding a mortgage upon it. The vendor gave a bond with sureties, — "vades de emptione." This security enured to the same effect as our modem covenant for title.* This peculiar rule of Roman practice survived, and was ui full operation throughout England during the Anglo- Saxon monarchy.^ ' Hlothhari of Kent (a.d. 679) gives ifiis) certain land "juxta notis- simoB tenninos a me demonstratos et procnratoribns meis" (Kemble, vol. 1, p. 21). ' Laclunan, p. 114. The example in Hyginus is of a territorium. But this does not make any difference. ' Vaticana Juris Komani Fragmenta, Eomae nuper ah Angelo Maio detecta et edita, Lipsise, 1825, p. 8. "Id etiam volnmus omnibus iuti- mari, nostras clementiffi pla^nisse, nemiaem dehere ad venditionem rei cujnslibet adfectare et accedere nisi in eo tempore, quem. inter venditorem et emptorem contractus solemniter explicatur, certa et vera proprietas Tidnis prsesentibus demonstretur ; usque eo legis istius cautione currente, ut, etiamsi subsellia vel, nt vulgo aiunt, scamna vendantur ostendeudae proprietatis probatio completur" (Constantine, a.d. 313). * "Ante pretium solutum domims quaestione mota, pretiiun emptor solvere non cogitur, nisi fidejussores idonei a venditore ejus erictionis nomiae offerantur" (Dig. IS, 6, 18). See also Dig. 21, 2, 6 ; Cod. Just. 8, 44 ; and Mai's Vaticana Juris Bomani Fragmenta. * Book of Ely, p. 136 : " Ordehnus erat utrimque testis, ac fidejussor THE EOMANS OF BRITAIN. 273 « The rule had Its exceptions. Byrtnoth, the abbot of Ely, bought an estate on the witnessing of the whole city of Cambridge, and, having paid the money down, required of the vendor "vades de emptione." The answer to this was, that Cambridge and Norwich, and Thetford and Ipswich, were towns of Kberty and dignity so great that if any one bought land there («'. e. within their- territories), he would not need vades)- In other words, the burgesses of each of these old Eoman towns could prove, by their universal testimony, that in their town and its territory it was the custom not to require such vades. And by the Roman law also in this case custom settled the question whether the security should be required or dispensed with.^ Besides the Roman landlords of Britaiu there were other persons, as I have abeady iutimated, who, though subordiuate and iuferior, had stiU. an interest ia the soil quite as vested and equally indefeasible as that of their superiors. These were the cohni, once, as I have said, the original Belgic natives and lords of the British soil, but after the Roman conquest converted into the prsedial ministers of their new masters, and compelled to cultivate, as the severalty of others, what had been the common territory of the tribes, of which they had once been the miserable units. By accepting this colonic condition at the hands of hujus emptionis." lb. lib. 2, o. 18. — St. iEthelwold bought ia Stretham, of Alfwold, a hide and two wears (gTirgites) : " Et duo fratres aequivoci, scilicet duo Alfehni, quorum uni oognomentum erat Polga, vades hujus rei erant.*' ' Book of Ely, p. 140 (Dr. Giles's edition): " Oui omnes respondentes dixerunt, quod G-rantebruoge et Norwice et Theoforth et Grippeswio tantae libertatis ao dignitatis esaent, ut, si quis ibi terram compararet, vadibus non indigeret." As to the terms "dignitas" and "libertas" applied to a Koman city, see post. ^ Dig. 21, 2, 6: "Si fundus venierit, ex consuetudine ejus regionis, in qua negotium gestum est, pro eviotione caveri oportet." C. T 274 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. the Eomans they had escaped the other alternative of con- quest — ^unconditioned servitude.^ We have seen that Britain, like the other parts of the empire, was cultivated by those native fanners to whom the Roman state had thought good to cede fixity of tenure, and to whom the Eomans themselves gave the name of eoloni? The colonus was in all strictness of speech the farmer of his epoch,' paying to his landlord a rent in money, in kind, or in services.^ But whatever the rent or the services were, the one could not be increased nor the other be ' By tlie law of nations the British natives might hare been all sold as slayes, for conquest had reduced them to that condition. ("Cum loca capta sunt ab hostibus . . . homines Uberi in servitutemperveuiunt." Dig. 11, 7, 36.) ^ Isidore (Origines, lib. 9, c. 4) calls these eoloni " coloni ruris privati." He distinguishes them from " inquilini," the latter being " emigrantes," and "non perpetuo permanentes," a distinction which we know also from the laws. S. Augustine (De Civitate Dei, 10, 1) says, " Coloni appeUantur, qui oonditionem debent genitaU solo propter agrioulturam sub dominio possessorum." ' See the 48th title of the Code (lib. 11), "De agrieolis et censitis et colonis." * As to rent in kind and in money, an authority in the Codex says : "Domini praediorum, id quod terra praestat, acoipiant, pecuniam non requirant quam rustici [i.e. coloni) optare non audent, nisi eonsuetudo praedii hoe exigat." (Cod. 11, 48, 5.) Tacitus (M. G-. c. 2.5) observes upon the render in kind as f oUows : ' ' Frumenti modum dominus aut pecoris, aut vestis, ut oolono, injungit." See also Godefroye's Faratithn. Theod. Cod. vol. 1, p. 450. As to services. Columella (lib. 1) is quite expUoit: " Comiter agat (i.e. the landlord) cum colonis, facilemque se praebeat; avarius opus exigat, quam pensioues, quoniam et minus id offendit, et tamen in universum magis prodest . . . Sed nee dominus in unaquaque re cum colonum obUgaverit, tenax esse juris sui debet sicut in diebus peonniarum, ut lignis, et caeteris parvis aooessionibus exigendis, quarmn cura majorem molestiam quam impensam rusticis afEert." It must not be forgotten, however, that the landlord was bound to provide upon his estate a bakehouse and a Tnill for the use of the coloni. (Columella, lib. 1.) "Fumum et pistrinum quantum futurus numerus colonorum postulaverit." THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 27.5 multiplied or aggravated.' He has the three names of the free Eoman, and/ under the decree of Caracalla, he is as much a Roman citizen in name, and in some other respects, as the most exclusive burgess of a Eoman city.' But distinct from these characteristics, which belong to the polity of all civilized nations, he had others which place him in an age and under data entirely apart. He was not a slave; on the contrary, he was distin- guished from the latter as being and being styled free.* But his freedom was in one important respect limited, for he was, in the words of the law, sermis terrce,^ and the proprietor of the estate to which he was ascribed was, by the same law, denominated his patronus.^ The relative 1 " Quisquis oolonus plus a domino exigitur quam ante consueverat, et quam in anterioribus temporibus exaotum est, adeat judicium, oujus primum poterit habere praesentiam et facinus comprobet, ut ille qui convinoitur amplius postulare quam accipere consueverat, hoc facere in posterum prohibeatur, prius reddito quod superexactione perpetrata nosoitur extorsisse." (Cod. 11, 50, 1.) 2 Cod. Theod. "Decolonis." Orelli, ins. 4644: "C. VergUius Mar- tanus oolonus agri C. AeUi Aenei AmUenae certae oolonae agri S.S. anorum XXII. coiugi," &o. Another example is also given. The eolonus is not mentioned in the laws "de restitutioue nataHiun," only servi are. 2 Dig. 1, 5, 17: "In orbe Romano qui sunt, ex constitutione impera- toris Antonini, cives Komani effiecti sunt." * See the 48th title of the Code (lib. 11), "De agiicolis et censitis et colonis," &c. 5 Cod. 11, tits. 51, 52. ^ Cod. Theod. 5, 11. Tor this reason lawyers called the colomts by the name of eliens also. See Paulus, Dig. 47, 2, 91 : " Si libertus patroni, vel eliens, vel mercenarius," &c. The close resemblance between the old dims and the new colmus made G-aius say of the former, "Nostro juri subjeotus, qualis est eolonus et iuquilinus." But the relation between patronus and eliens in ancient days was not confined to this subjection of the one to the other. The patron was bound to defend and protect his client (A. GeU. 5, 13) ; and Vergil accordingly places in hell the patron who had defrauded his client (Aeneid, 6, v. 608), ' ' pulsatusve parens, Aut fraus innexa clienti." t2 276 THE ROMANS OF BKITAIN. condition of the landlord to tlie tenant was denominated patrocinmm.^ His relation to the soil consisted in his being indissolubly attached to it. He could neither be separated from it by his own act without the concurrence of his patronus, nor by the act of his patronus without the con- currence of himself.' If he quitted the estate to which he was ascribed without the leave of his patronus, the latter might pursue him by law. The landholder who received him was punishable by fine, and the colonus was considered to be and was punished as having stolen himself.^ On the other hand, the ascription to the soil gave the colonus, in return, relative rights in the face of his patronus, for the latter could not separate him from the estate. The colonus was sold with the estate, and the estate could not be sold without him.* He had a right to property acquired by himself, and could hold it as apeculium.^ He could contract lawful matrimony.^ He could not bring an action against his patronus.'' As a freeman he was liable to the conscription, for, as 1 For this word see Cod. Theod. 11, 24. 2 Cod. 11, 51, 52, and 47, 8, 15; Dig. 43, 32, 1; Theod. Cod. 13, 10, 3. ' Cod. 11, 48, 23 : " Si celaverit vel separare se conatus f aerit, seeun- dum exemplum eervi fugifdvi sese diutinis insidiis furari inteUigatur." (Theod. Cod. 4, 23.) In this there is a depth of law which deserves a full explanation. But for the principle thus invoked, viz. that a theft was committed by the runaway upon himself, he might in time make a title to himself hy usumpio, or longi temporia praescriptio. " Servum fugitivum sui f urtom f acere, et ideo non habere locum nee usucapionem neo longi temporis praescriptionem manifestum, ne eervorum fuga dominis suis ex quacunque causa fiat damnosa." (Cod. 6, 1, 1.) * Cod. 11, 48, 2, 7, 21 ; Theod. Cod. 13, 10, 3. * Cod. Theod. 5, 11, 1, and Cod. 11, 50, 2. « Cod. 11, 48, 24. ' Cod. 11, 50, 2. THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 277 slaves could not Tje enlisted, tirones or recruits were taken from among the coloni} As a consequence of his peculiar position in relation to his patron, offences against the latter, his wife or her hushand, their children and kindred, assumed a graver character and were punished more severely than the acts of an ordinary freeman. The law went so far even as to class these ofEences under the head of parricide.^ There was a poorer kind of eolonus to whom custom and the law gave the name of casarkis} But numerous as were these coloni and casarii, they were not able to stamp out or entirely overlie the low class free proprietors. These are still found even under the empire.* The same eolonus remained in this country after the barbarian conquests, but then he is called by the general name of ceorl, and sometimes gebur.^ The distinguishing points of the eeorl are these. He is the farmer of the ' Cod. Theod. 7, 13, 6, 8, 16 (and note) ; Dig. 49, 16, 11 : "Ah omni militia servi prohibentur." See also letters 38 and 39, Ub. 10, of PUny the younger and the Emperor Trajan. Vegetius (Hh. 1. c. 7) complains of the possessores in his age palming off their weaker coloni for recruits. " Posaessoribus indicti tirones, per gratiam aut dissimulationem pro- bantur, talesque sooiantur armis, quales domini habere fastidiunt." = The la-w is laid down fully by CaUistratus in Dig. 48, 19, 28, 8 : "Onmia admissa in patronum, patronive filium, patrem, propinquum, maritum, uxorem, oseterasque necessitudines, gravius vindicanda sunt quam in extraneos." So, also, the Lex Pompeia, as recited in Dig. 48, 3, 12 : " Lex Pompeia parrioidii, quoniam caput primum eos apprehendit, qui parentes cognatosque aut patronos oceideriat." ' Cod. Theod. 9, 42, 7: " Quot sunt casarii vel coloni," See also Grodefroye's note. "Vel" must be taken to have the value of " aut." * Theod. Cod. 11, 24, 5. "Si quis agricolis vel vicanis propria possi- dentibus," &c. 5 For ceorl see the laws, charters, &o., passm. The ffeiur is also mentioned in Anglo-Saxon laud law, but this is only another word for ceorl (see the Eectitudines). His liabilities are the same, and he is equally a fixture upon the land (6 Kem. C. D. pp. 211, 212). In the last- mentioned docimient the following strong expression is used of a i/eliiir : ""Wserlaf hatte "Wserostanes feeder wees riht seht to Heetffelda." 278 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. country; lie pays rent to his landlord in money, in kind, or ia seryices;^ but the services are defined and settled.^ He is, however, called a free man, and he contracts lawful matrimony.' But there is still an vigly notion in the ruling miad^that his connection with the land is something closer than a freeman's should be, for he is not allowed to leave the land by any exercise of his own free wiU. In the words of Anglo-Saxon law he has not the liberty of choice.* If therefore he quit the land without his lord's permission, he commits a crime, for he steals himself.^ ' Eeetitudines singularum personamm (Thorpe, vol. 1, p. 432): "On BUmon {i.e. landum) he sceal land-gafol eyllan." He is called gafolgelda, or rent-payer, by Ine (c. 6), %b. p. 106. The ceorlas of Hyssehume (5 Kem. Cod. Dip. p. 147) pay forty pence per year for each hide (hiwisc), besidea renders in kind and in services. In 2 Kem. p. 355, in another case a rent of 51. is reserved, the rest of the render being paid in land. '^ See the Sectitudines. ' LL. Hen. 1, c. 76, s. 3. The ceorl's right to marry appears generally in Anglo-Saxon muniments. * .Sllfred's-willinKemble'sCod.Diplom.vol.2,p. 116 : "Andiobidde on Grodes naman and on his haligra Jiaet minra msega nan ne yrfewearda ne geswence nan nsenig cyrelif {lege cyreleaf) )>ara fe ic forgeald .... ac ic for Grodes lufan and for minre sawle Jiearfe wille Jaet hy syn heora f reolses 'wyrSe and hyra eyres; and ic on Grodes lifiendes naman beode Jiset hy nan man ne brocie ne mid f eos maminge, ne mid naenigum ]>ingpim Jiset by ne moston ceosan swylcne man swylce hy wUlan." These passages in the great king's testament show the rule by the exceptions which he injoins. Cyreleaf really means free will. The monk MMtvh uses "eyre" in the theological sense of the term. He says of the angels, " Grod hi gesceop ealle gode, and let hi habban agenne eyre." (Homilies, 1 Thorpe, p. 10.) * Laws of King Ine (Thorpe, vol. i. p. 126) : " Gif hwa fare tinaliefed fram his hlaforde o]j]ie on oSre scyre hine bestele," &c. The same expres- sions are applied to the theow, though the punishments for the same offence are widely different, being hanging according to one text (Ine, c. 24, Thorpe, vol. i. p. 118), and stoning according to another (Judicia Civitatis Luodonise, Thorpe, vol. i. p. 234). THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN . 279 He is said to follow the land,' and not only he but all his future progeny ia aU time to come are just as inex- tricahly attached to the land.^ If he neglect duly to pay his rent, his lord may content himself to distraia without arbitrary seizure of more, or he may grant him neither property nor Hfe. In an earlier authority we find, that the lord might scourge and imprison him.^ But there was also a cheerful, because a reciprocal, side to the state of the ceorl. Though he could not leave the land, his landlord also could not remove him from it, provided he paid his rent, or performed his services;* and after his death, it was transmissible to his heirs.^ He could possess property in the fullest sense." He is the man, or inferior vassal of the thegn, to whose estate he is ascribed, and the thegn, considered correla- tively, is his hlaford or lord.' 1 3 Kem. p. 351. .ffilfrio's wiLl, a.d. 996—1006 : "And X oxan and II men he him becwsetJ, andfilgan hi Jiam. hlafordsoype tSeSset landtohyre." - At 2 Kem. C. D. pp. 108, 109, six ceorlas are transferaed from one royal possession to another (a stretch of law) . They are so transferred "mid heora teame and mid Jjy tuddre Tpe fram him cume a on ece yrfewardnesse." ' Supplement to Eadgar's Laws (Thorpe, vol. i. p. 270). .3!lfred's Laws, c. 35 («}. p. 84), prohibit these and other demonstrations against an "unsinning" ceorlish man. ^ Laws of "William the Conqueror, o. 29 (Thorpe, vol. i. p. 481): "Nee licet dominia removere colonoa a terris, dmnmodo debita servicia per- solvant." 5 Ine's Laws, c. 38 (Thorpe, vol. i. p. 126) . In the passage referred to, "frumstol" is "patrimonial estate." ' iElfrio, in his G-lossary, translates "peoulium" by "ceorUc sehta." ' The ceorl was "man" (see Ine's Laws, c. 70), and his superior was "hlaioxi" {Eectitudines, "hlaiordfeormian," sm5 "geneatesriht"). The true vassal, viz., the thegn, was "man" also (see Ine's Laws, o. 70), and his superior was " hlaford" (see Wihtrsed's Laws, c. 5, and Ine's Laws, c. 50). At 2 Kem. C. D. pp. 108, 109, ceorlas are called "homines" and " men." The theow was not a "man." In the " Institutes of Polity" (2 Thorpe's LL. p. 314), the lord and his men, the lord and his "nydfeowas," are contrasted. 280 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. He is drafted to tlie fyrd, wherein lie must follow his lord xinto the death.^ He can never throw o£E his allegiance to his lord, and offences conunitted hy him against that lord take the deeper dye of treason and felony.^ In return for this submission and obedience, the lord ft ' protects hiTTi agaiost the outer world.^ There is another kind of farmer, but of a lower rank than the ceorl. This man is called cotesetla (or cottager), and is contrasted with the ceorl, because, unlike him, he pays no rent in money or kind, and renders no defined services. In fact he performs only conies.'^ But equally with the ceorl he has fixity of tenure of his bit of land, and he is a freeman, however hardly bested he be. Besides these compulsory ceorls there were others, pass- ing under the same generic name, who, though equally ignoble, were absolutely free — ^in fact, free proprietors.' Slaves continued to belong to the Eomans and to the coloni after the barbarian conquests as before them. Of these slaves, those of the household are not thrown together into one iadisciiminate mass as in old Germany. There, as Tacitus shows, they were one unrelieved collection of ^ Ine's Laws, c. 51, and Cunt's Laws, oo. 58, 78 and 79. The Saxon Ckronicle mentions ' ' cyrlisoe men ' ' as manning a fortress in the year 893 (see Thorpe's ed. p. 164). * See Alfred's Laws, a. VI: " Swa mot se hlaford {«.«., orwige, or with- out oonmiitting war) mid ])y men feohtan." ' See passim in the Laws. * Reetitudines, " Cotsetlau riht" (p. 432, 1 Thorpe). " Ne Jiearf he {i.e., 'i'Tn Jonne gesibbast waere " {i.e. his heir that should be to Tn'm nearest of kin). In the Book of Ely (Dr. GUes's), p. 123, and passim, a deceased's haredes take his estates. Cnut's Secular Domas, c. 79 : " And fon Jia yrfe numan to lande and to aehtan, and scyftau hit swiSe rihte" (i. e. according to law, as I have said). The reader will have seen, hy what has gone before, that the succession before the Norman Conquest and what is called gafolkind are the same. The latter word has occasioned much unnecessary puzzlement among lawyers and antiquaries. In strict form it should be "gafolgecynd" — the generation of rent payers, i.e. ceorlas (or colon!). The succession amongst men of this class was governed, like the succession amongst their superiors, by the Koman principle (see the quotation from Cnut, ante), and it simply continued amongst them after the droit d'atnesse had been otherwise established. In after days the word, not unnaturally, came to be considered to express a difference of tenure. • See the Introduction to Coote's ' ' Practice of the Ecclesiastical Courts." THE KOMANS OF BBITAIX. 287 in the property wliicli lie left, and any alienation of this quota was rescinded by the j^rieses on the complaints of the persons thus disinherited.' As this quota became finally fixed, the next of kin, who came within the equity of the regulation, had an indefeasible estate in it, in spite of the testator's will. The next of kin who thus could not be excluded by a testator were his parents and children — words which in- cluded also grand parents and grandchildren." In some cases, also, but in later days, brothers and sisters had the same privilege.^ The proportion allowed was a fourth of the whole estate, and, however numerous or few the claimants might be, they shared this amongst themselves.* It was called the " legitima pars." The same rule of law is found in England very shortly after the Norman Conquest. But though our earliest re- cord of it dates after a.d. 1066, it is evident from the way in which it is mentioned that it is no introduction of the Norman — ^the more so, that it is a prominent incident of gavelkind, which latter no one can think for a moment of ascribiag to Norman influences. It was also the law of every other part of England.^ 1 The will itself, in fact, was revoked pro tanto. The application on ■which this redress was obtained was a " querela de inoffioioso testamento. ' ' (Dig. 5, 2 ; Cod. 3, 28 ; Inst. 2, 18. See also " Vaticana Juris Eomani IVagmenta," and Calvin's Lexicon Jnridioiun, sub "De inofBcioso testa- mento.") The same principle was applied to a gift (without considera- tion) under the Lex Cincia (Vatioana Juris Komani Fragmenta) . = Inst. 2, 18, 1. ^ In Ulpian's time they were not entitled (Dig. 5, 2, 1). See also Inst. 2, 18, 1. * TJlpian, in Dig. 5, 2, 8, 8. So the Cod. 3, 28, 6. See also the passage before referred to of the Vatican Fragments, and Inst. 2, 18, 6. ^ Custumal of Kent at the end of Kohinson's ' ' Common Law of England, or the Customs of Q-aveUrind." "Ensement soit les chateux 288 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. There is one slight discrepancy between the law of legitim as it existed under the empire, and as we find it in after ages in our own country. A widow does not appear to have been entitled to a pars legitima under the civil law.' On the other hand, she was subjected under that law to a rule, the hardness of which, however, muiit be imputed to an antique and engrained superstition, rather than to the genius of Latin legislation. A widow marry- ing again within a year of her husband's death — a period called her luctus — forfeited the whole of what her husband had settled upon her by deed, or had devised to her by his will.2 Originally a Eoman widow was bound thus to mourn , (lugere) during the Eomulian year of ten months only. It might be thought that with the lapse of time, and the introduction of Christianity, this old-world rule would have died out. Quite the reverse, however, happened. Gratian and Yalentinian, towards the very close of the Western empire, aggravated the severity of the old law by inter- pretiag the year to mean the fuU. Julian computation, re- confirmed the old forfeiture, and branded the hasty widow de gavelkiade partis en tres apres les exequies, et les dettes rendues, si il y eit issue mulier en vye, que le mort eyt la une partie, et les fits et les filles muliers I'autre partie, et la fenime la tierce partie. Et si une issue mulier en vye ne soit eit le mort la meite, et la femme en Tye I'autre meytie." The custom was not confined to Kent, but even in Swinburne's time it was a custom "not oneleye throughout the province of York, but in many other places besides within this realm of England." (Law of WiUs, 3rd part, s. 16, p. 104, edit. 1590.) It was, however, originally not a custom, but the general law of the land. Eleta, Ub. 2, c. 57, makes the present law of England the exception ; and Magna Charta (9 Hen. 3, c. 18) says, " Omnia catalla cedant defuncto, salvia nxori ejus et pueris ipsius rationalibus partibus." The "partes rationabiles" were the "legitim," and the widow and children and others had their action at law for them. (Cowel.) The portion which the testator had the right to dispose of was called ' ' portio defuncti' ' — ^in English, the ' ' deadman' s part." 1 See Grodefroye's Paratitlon to lib. 2, tit. 19, c. 1, Theod. Code. 2 Cod. Theod. 3, 8, I ; Cod. 5, 9, I, " De secundis nuptiis." THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 289 with indelible infamy.' The words of the law for their tren- chant ferocity deserve reproduction. " Si qua ex faeminis perdito marito intra anni spatium altari festinarit innubere . . . probrosis inusta notis, honestioris nobilisque personae et decore et jure privetur; atque omnia quae de prioris mariti bonis, vel sponsahorum, vol judicio defuncti conjugis con- secuta fuerat, amittat." The feeling in the Latin mind which roused this im- moderate burst of passion, even from the mouths of Christians and lawyers, was this : — The peccant widow was stiD. the wife of the deceased man. For ten months she continued bound to the dead by her vows made to the living. For her there was no release from the obligation until the anniversary of her loss had rolled round again. Till then the ashes of the deceased were stilL warm. If the widow married again before time had given this permission, she was not the wife of the new suitor, however formal may have been the ceremony which united them. In the harsh interpretation of her fellow men and women she was his pellex merely.* Moreover the amorous pair who could not temper down their passion into waitiag those ten moons had something else to fear, besides even the hard blows of the law and the rebuffs of society. The anger of the manes of the first husband might be excited. Apuleius, who tells us ■ Cod. Theod. 3, 8, 1. ^ Lactautius tells us that Valeria, the widow of Galerius, went in her mourning attire to Maximianua soon after her husband's death (adhuc in atris vestibus erat mulier, nondum luotus tempore impleto). The emperor offered her marriage, which she declined, saying "non posse de uuptiis in illo ferali hahitu agere, tepidis adhuc oineribus mariti sui." (De Mortibus Persecutorum, c. 39.) Lucan inveighs against such a marriage in these words (3, v. 23) : " Innupsit tepido pellex Cornelia busto." Apuleius calls such a second marriage immature. See post. C. V 290 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. this, speaks of the husband's anger however as potential only, not as the invariable consequence of such a hack- sliding. It may have heen perhaps conditioned on the fervour of his affection in the flesh and its subsequent survival, and where that was lukewarm or absent no danger would ensue.' But for all this it is plain that there is something still lacking to complete the explication of this enduring piece of folk lore. We have the fact that the ghost is susceptible of offence, and that the law is vigilant to protect the dead husband if the persons by whom alone the offence can be given can be deterred therefrom. At the root therefore of this law is the desire on the part, — first of the tribe, and lastly of society, to spare him a discomfort, which must reach Him though out of the flesh. Here surely we have the rationale of the old Aryan suttee-saorifioe. By the latter institution, which saved a great deal of trouble by making a second marriage impossible, our dis- tant eousias of India kept the ghost's equanimity for ever unruffled. The manes of Latium, more placable through their greater knowledge of the world, consequent on their more extended migration, accepted subsequently an easy compromise, contenting themselves with enforcing only a ten months' vacation. Within that moderate period they generously circum- scribed their rigour of principle and power of mischief. At the same time it cannot be concealed that the manes of a wife were either less irritable or could be more safely '■ CSiarite being preseed by her husband's murderer to marry before the expiration of the term, thus excuses herself : — " £oni ergo et optimi consules, si luctui legitimo miserrimae faeminae necessarium concesseris tempus, quoad residuis mensibus spatium reliquum compleatnr anni." She adds, as an inducement to his compliance, the possible wrath of the manes : * ' Quae res quum meum pudorem turn etiam tuum salutare com- modum respicit, ne forte immatoritate nuptiamm indignatione justa manes acerboa mariti ad exitium salutis tuae suscitemus." fMetam. lib. 8, c. 9.) THE EOMANS OF BRITAIN. 291 neglected. The surviving husband was bound to no period of luctus. This law of enforced mourning and its sanction con- tinued in England, and is declared by ^theked and Onut. They direct that if the widow marry again before the expiration of twelve months from her first husband's death, she shaU forfeit her morgengyfu (or settlement), and all possessions which had accrued to her through her previous marriage.' It is startUng to reflect on the long life of this grim old superstition. From the remote past which first witnessed it take the form of definite authority, it has never ceased to exert its tyranny .over the too sympathetic portion of the fair sex. And there are stUl yeomen's widows in remote manors, even of our chilly island, who have had occasion to lament its undiscriminating rigour. It is thus evident that the victors ceded to the van- quished people of this country all their peculiar laws, and the administration of those laws. But this fact is one which should not surprise us. Like other conquerors in other ages the Anglo-Saxons were under the necessity of doing one of two things — ^they must either impose their ovra. barbarian laws upon the Romans, taking upon them- selves at the same time the administration thereof, or they must leave the Romans alone to enjoy and administer their owa. refined and thoughtful jurisprudence. The first alternative was purely impossible, for even the barbarians would see that their own principles of law — bloodmoney, mayhem and manship — were inapplicable to men bom of a more refined race and trained in another school of thought. At the same time it is much to be doubted whether men like the Anglo-Saxons, who valued 1 LL. .^Ethelred, 5, c. 21, and 6, o. 26 ; Cnut (Secular), o. 74. u2 292 THE ROMANS OF BBITAIN. these three principles as privileges each of the highest grade, would think it right or hecoming or safe to impart to a vanquished nation henefits which would raise it up to their own high level. Such an idea must therefore he unhesitatingly dismissed. The other alternative which I have stated becomes the only possibility, and I shall without difficulty prove that the same general fact which is well known of the Komans in France, Italy and Spain — ^that they lived sub Romana lege — was equally true of the Romans of Britain. I there- fore do not hesitate to repeat that the Anglo-Saxons left to the Romans of Britain the enjoyment of their laws and the free and unrestricted administration of those laws. There ■ has been preserved to us a most interesting document of the tenth century, which, among very valuable references to the law and the social conditions at that day of London and the county of Middlesex, con- tains the following paragraph bearing closely upon our subj ect. "If we should be able to catch him (i. «., a fugitive thief), (it was agreed) that the same thing should be done to him which was done to a Koman thief, or that he be hanged." (" Gif we him fonne to cuman moston, Jjset him man dyde Jiset ylce \e man WyUsocan Jieofe dyde, o]/)ie hine man anho.") ' From this pregnant passage the plain and only con- clusion is that two systems of law had at some recent • 1 Thorpe, p. 234. This document is referred to, post. This is an allusion to what was always done to a thief, according to Roman law, immediately on his apprehension. He was put to the rack in order to obtain from him full answers to all questions which the poUoe would put to him. By strict Koman law it was pretended that servi only could be put to the torture. But in practice pleheii, i, e., coloni and ordinary poor or disreputable people, were so treated when occasion required. The Dig. 48, xviii. (De quaestionibus) contemplates servi only being tortured; but on reading this with the Cod. Just. 9, 41, 11, it is perfectly clear that poor freemen were equally subject to the qimeatio. In Dig. 48, 19, 28, 1 1 , we find the expression " liberi plebeii et humiles personae. " See post. THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. ' 293 period prevailed in each English shire, the Roman civil law being one of those two. They also equally demon- strate that two practices also had prevailed, of which one was applied to the Romans only ; and it is unnecessary to say that if the Romans had their law and their practice, the barbarians would of necessity have theirs also. But, with different laws and a different ordo judiciorum, the Romans must also by necessity have had a court of their own wherein their own affairs only should be heard and decided in accordance with their own laws and through the medium of their own practice.'' It is true that as the ealdorman, qua comes civitatis, was judge of the territorium or shire, there was in theory one court of judicature only for each shire. But practically, though he was the only judge, there were two sides of it, the barbarian and the Roman, he sitting in the one with barbarian assessors and in the other with Roman assessors. It is very probable that this state of things continued for a long period. But however long or short that period was, I will show that in the ninth century is found the ealdorman executing his integral ofB.ce of judge through two deputies, one called the " ealdormannes gingra" and " principis junior," the other Wealhgerefa, or reeve of the Romans. As yet there is no scirgerefa in existence. It is not difficult to decide what the separate duties of these two officials were. The one necessarily adjudged the cases of the barbarians, the other of the Romans. The existence of this functionary, the Wealhgerefa, is, I venture to say, a new historical fact of which it is ' It is very well known that imder precisely analogous oiromnstances this was the case in G-aul. There, as late as the tenth century, Koman judges sat in the county court — on the Roman side of it — and decided exclusively all oases arising between Komans. (Raynouard's Histoire du Droit municipal en France, torn. ii. liv. 3, ch. 1, pp. 6, 7.) 294 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. impossible to over estimate the importance. He can only be what I assert he was. He is neither hurhgerefa nor ealdormannes gingra, for these two have their own appro- priate vocations as well as names. He can, therefore, be confoimded with neither of these, and must be plus both and different frqpa both. Besides, a difference of name means in every age a difference of function. The ealdormannes gingra and the Wealhgerefa went out of vogue at one and the same time. After the ninth century they are never more mentioned. "With the decease of the names was a decease of the two of&ces. They were superseded by the seirgerefa, whom the king appointed.' The reason of all this is clear. The Romans had broken down the barrier between themselves and the Anglo-Saxons. The two nations were become commiDiis populus,' and the separation of. courts, which reflected the separation of the nations, was no longer possible. I have said that in the sectional court that was held for the exclusive use of the Eomans of Britain the Roman procedure was followed in each of the two divisions of judicature, the civil and the criminal. The procedure in a civil suit (Judicium privatum), accord- ing to the rules which obtained in the empire at the epoch when the barbarian monarchies were founded ia Britain, was as follows. An action was formulated by the plaintiff.^ He next ' " Ealdormaimes gingra" (LL. Alfred, e. 38); "jmiior principis" (2 Kem. No. 258, p. 2S, a.d. 845). The mirgerefa was also called the kiag's gerefa, as receiving his appointment from the king, similarly to the burhgerefa (LL. ^thelstan, 1, c. 1 ; LL. Eadgar, c. 3 ; LL. Cnut, c. 33 (Secular) ). That the Wealhgerefa was himself an appointee of the king seems more than probable from the way in which he is spoken of (see post). This may have been the reason for the kings themselves appoint- ing the seirgerefa who succeeded him. * See post. ' Calvin's Lex. Juridicum, sui voce "actio." THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 295 cited the defendant into court to answer that action.' On the appearance of the defendant the plaintiff stated his case in what was called the intentio. To this the defendant pleaded in what was called the depulsio {ov repukio). If the latter required it, there was further pleading until a joinder of issue was reached. The issue or issues were called status or status causae. They arose out of the plead- ings, which were in their nature and intention issuable." The evidence in support of the issues was entirely voluntary on the part of all the witnesses, whether they were for the plaiatiff or for the defendant. Until the reform of Justinian the subpoena did not exist in civil causes.^ The witnesses produced at the trial were examined, cross-examiaed, and re-examined.* The judge who heard the case made his decree (decretinn) — a judgment for the plaintiff or the defendant.^ ' Calvin's Lex. Juridioum, sui voce "actio." ^ " Intentio est id, quod primum dicit, qui movet litem, sive accvisator sit, sire petitor id est : ' Occidit patrem Sextius Eoscius. ' Eepulsio eat, 'non oooidit.' Ex intentione et repulsioue nasoitur quaestio 'an oooi- derit.' . . . Hie est status causae, qtii nascitur ex intentione et re- pulsione." (C. Julii Viotoris Ars Rhetorica, in Mai's Juris civilis ante Justinianei reliquiae ineditae.) " Nunc dicendum est, quo modo status inveniantur in causa. Inveniuntur igitur per intentionem et depulsiouem. Intentio est obj ectio ejus f aoti, quod in judicium venit. Depulsio quaedam resistens intentioni, ut si dioatur, 'Ocoidisti patrem:' 'non occidi.' Ex his duabus inter se concurrentibus vocibus nascitur quaestio quae dicitur status ; quod ibi quasi ad pugnandam actionem acies ordlnata consistat." (Martianus Capella, lib. 5, p. 144, Roth's edition.) ' Cod. 4, 20, 16, De testibus; Noyell. de test. 90, 8. Accordingly great facilities were afforded for giving evidence in civil matters. The judge who tried the cause might take the evidence orally, or he might read at the trial evidence taken elsewhere ; the latter consisting of depositions made before any magistratus within whose provinces or territories the vpitnesses might be. See Cod. 4, 20; ii. 4, 21, 18. See also the expres- sions used in Dig. 22, 5, 3, §§ 4 and 22; and Quintilian, Instit. Orat. 5, 7. * Pliny's Letters, passim. * Calv. Lex. Jurid., s«5 voce. 296 THE llOMAXS OF BRITAIN. Besides those formalities which I have mentioned there was another, stritingly illustrative of the peculiar genius of the Roman law. In the first stage of the proceedings preliminary oaths were taken by each side. It was optional for the plaintiff to put the defendant to this oath, but if he did so he was in turn bound to take it himself. In the one case the plaintiff swore to the truth of his cause ; in the other the defendant made oath ia general terms to the equal good faith of his defence. This was of course done with the view of checking im- moral and unjust litigation, either in the instance or the defence, through a direct appeal to the conscience of the suitors, and was in its form and intent distinctively Roman.' The civil procedure which we find in Anglo-Saxon times assumed the following character. In the first place an application, by way of plaiat or action,^ was made by a plaintiff to some person having authority in connection with the shire and its judicature. The immediate consequence of this step was the grant- ing to the plaintiff of a summons against the defendant.' In the words of the Anglo-Saxon law, the latter was mooted (i. e. was cited) to a county court to attend on some • 1 Domat, p. 452 (Dr. Strahan's translation), Dr. Smith's Classical Dictionary, and Calvin's Lex Jurid., mh voce "jnramentum." See also Dig. 12, 2, 34. ' We may judge of what the plaints were from the forms of preliminary oaths which hare been preserved. See poet. 3 In the Laws of Hlothhsere and Eadrio (c. 8) it is said, " If a man make plaiat against another in a suit, and he cite (moot) the man to a methel or a thing," &c. (Gif man oSeme sace tihte, and he Sane mannan mote an meSle ojijie an ];inge.) Here the plaiat precedes the citation or summons. In the Book of Ely (p. 150 of Dr. Giles's edit.), Brihtnoth the ealdorman orders a defendant to be sunmioned (jnssit summoneri). These two pas- sages being read together support the assertion in the text. THE KOMANS OF BKITAIN. 297 day during the ordinary sittings of the scyrgemot, or at a court specially appointed.' The plaintifE equally with the defendant received a STunmons to. attend the trial, as soon as the day was fixed. ^ On the day so appointed, hoth suitors attended the court. They brought with them their several witnesses, and the trial took place. As the first thing of all, the plaintifE was called upon by the judges to make his claim (geagnian).' This was initiated by his taking an oath describing his claim and averring that it was just and well founded.* This was the plaintifE's fore-oath, a step which could never be dispensed with,' and if the plaintiff would not give it, judgment went for the defendant.'^ After this was done the plaintiff "led" his witnesses.' Attention is due to this word, for it expresses the voluntary attendance of witnesses upon a plaintiff, that which iu Anglo-Norman law was afterwards called suit or suite. ' Besides the ordinary sittings of the county court, which were five in number, three being held in cities and two in the country, the ealdorman could appoint as many others as should be necessary. (Cnut's Laws, Secular, o. 18 : "buton hit oftor neod si.") " Book of Ely (ed. Griles), p. 139: "Nee mora, fit maxima concio, snmmonetur Wlnothus (defendant) ad placitum, summonentur et filii Bogan (plaintiffs)." Seep. 138, ib. ^ Cod. Dipl. vol. ui. p. 292: "Then man assigned "Wynflsed that she mxLBt ffeahnian," &c. * li. and Gnat's Laws, Secular, c. 22. Por the oaths themselves, see 1 Thorpe's Laws, pp. 179, 181, 182. The first show the following claims, viz., for stolen cattle attached ^«««s another man; for damages in respect of warranty ; for damages on a guarantee ; for money due and owing ; in ejectment. ^ Cnut, as above. ^ Book of Ely, p. 139 : " Sed filii Bogan (plaintiffs) noluerunt suscipere juramentum, statuerunt itaque onmes ut Wlnothus Blunteshamhaberet." ' Book of Ely, pp. 130, 139, "produxit, adduxit ;" Col. Dipl. as above, Wynflsed "led the ahnung;" Confessionale Ecgberti, c. 34, " Se Se biS on aSe gelsedd," &o. 298 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. This leading was peculiar to the civil action. The wit- nesses so led by the plaintiff attended out of friendship or a sense of justice and duty. Their attendance was en- forced hy no legal compulsion ; they were not subpoenaed and did not appear to a call. In a civil sijit there existed no legal means of enforcing the attendance of witnesses either in the interest of plaintiff or defendant. And, as it was in the power of these witnesses to stay away or refuse their attendance when and as they pleased, the trial of an Anglo-Saxon action was often deferred over a space of years. ^ This ultroneous character of the witnesses should be noted, as it is the great and leading distinction between the evidence in civil and in criminal cases. The plaintiff's witnesses on their production all in turn took the following oath : — " In the name of the Almighty Grod, as I here for N. in true witness stand unbidden and unbought, so I with my eyes oversaw, and with my ears overheard, that which I with him say."" If this oath be not sufficient to show that the witnesses gave testimony in a civil suit in the sense in which we now understand that term, we learn from another source that they did so ; that they afforded details at the same time that they directly verified the fact or transaction in question.' It appears that a definite number of consentient wit- nesses was necessary to prove the plaintiff's case. If this definite mmiber gave a consensual testimony, the plaintiff. ' Book of Ely, p. 141. " Qvia de causa Hg et altercatio permaxima orta est, et multos annos habita, inter eos;" and {ib.) "res etenim eadem nmltis annis in lite versabatur." ' See oaths in Thorpe's Laws. Also Cnut's Laws, Sectilar, c. 23. ' Book of Ely, p. 150. The ealdonuan "Teniens ad Dittune, coepit ibi disserere et enarrare causas et calnmpnias, conventiones, et pacta infracta, quae habuit super eum, per testimonium multorum legalium hominum." See also a clearer instance at p. 130, " producti ergo testes . . . per- hibuerunt testimonium," &c. Then foUow details of evidence. THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 299 in the words of the Anglo-Saxon law, gave the full oath.^ It may be fairly supposed, however, that the number varied with the nature and character of the suit ; the vin- dication of a strayed cow would not demand an equal number with the claim for a manor and its royalties. And witnesses would be more numerous in civil cases than in criminal, as the issue of the latter would be more narrowed. If the full oath was not given, the plaintifE was non- suited.^ If on the contrary it was given in its fulness, it then became incumbent upon the defendant to make out his defence if he had one.^ If he had no defence, that is, if he would not consent to take the fore-oath which I shall presently mention, and which was the prelude to his evidence, the plaintiff was entitled to judgment.* If the defendant had a defence to the plaintiff's claim he pro- ceeded as follows : — Before the examination of the plaintiff's witnesses he ' Cod. Dipl. vol. iii. p. 293. " Then she led the ahnung, &c. until all the full oath were forth come both in men and women.*' Book of Ely, p. 139: "Wlnothus adduxit secum illuo perplures -riros fideles, Boilioet omnes meliores de vi. hundredis . . . Tunc Wlnothus adduxit fideles viros plusquam mille ut per juramentum illorum sibi Tindioaxent eandem terram." Wlnothus was defendant. ^ This may be inferred from the fact of the law requiring the full oath to be adduced by the plaintiff. ' See the Cod. Dipl. as above. Here the plaintiff had taken the fore- oath, and had led up the full number of witnesses, who swore with her. " Then quoth the witan, who were there, that it were better that man let (the defendant's) oath away than that man should give it, because there- after there would be no friendship," &c. The judgment of the court was that the land should be restored to the plaintifE. * Cod. Dipl. as above. Book of Ely, p. 150: "Cui, omnia illata denegamti et contradicenti, statuerunt ut cum jiire juraudo se purgaret ; quod cum facere nequibat, nee, qui secum jurare debuerant, habere poterat, decretum est, ut eo expulso Biihtnothus alderman utrisque hydis uteretur." 300 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. took his fore-oath.' This contained his defence, and was either tantamount to a joinder of issue, or compelled it on the part of the plaintiff. After the examination of the plaintiff's witnesses, the defendant led or produced his own, who took an oath similar to that o| the others. If the defendant's witnesses sufficiently contradicted those of the plaintifE, or adequately proved the defendant's case, the latter was dismissed.^ If the evidence on the part of the defendant broke down, the plaintiff was entitled to the judgment of the court, and obtained it. The court in its judgment assessed damages in cases where they were claimed.' Such a trial as I have described, viz. an ejectment, has been resume by a contemporary in these words : — " Calunmiam explicuerunt, et causam ventilavenmt ac discussenmt ; cognitSque rei Teritate, per judicium abstulemnt Bluntesham a filiis ' See 1 Thorpe, pp. 178, 180, 181. The instances there giren are as follows, viz. ; that defendant bought the chattel claimed by plaintiff as the property of another person ; that the chattel was defendant's own property, Ms own rearing ; that there was no defect or blemish in it at the time of sale ; that defendant owed nothing ; that he had discharged the amount ; that the estate in question had descended to defendant from an ancestor ; res judicata (on the last plea see Cnut, c. 80 (Secular), where the law on this point is laid down). The first plea deserves some further comment. It was a defence well known to the Roman law. " CSvile est, quod a te adrersarius tuus exigit, ut rei quam apud te fuisse fateris, eidiibeas venditorem. Nam a transeunte et ignoto te emisse dicere non convenit Tolenti evitare alienam bono Tiro suspicionem" (Cod. 6, 2, 5). As to this rule in Sngland, see .ffithelred, c. 8 (p. 288, Thorpe, vol. i.) ; and, passim, in the Laws. ^ Book of Ely, passim. ' LL. Hlothsere and Eadric, c. 10; Book of Ely, p. 137: "Tunc judicantes statuerunt ut abbas suam terram . . . habere deberet. Statuerunt etiam, ut Begmundus et cognati praefatae viduae suum piscem de VI annis abbati solverent, et regi forisfacturam darent. Statuerunt quoque, ut si spoute sua hoc reddere noUent captione suae pecuniae constricti justificarentur." The j^ecania here means stock. See Book of Ely, p. 123. THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 301 Bogau pro duabus causis ; quarmn prima haec est, quia mentiti f uerant, qmoqnid dixerant de Tope et de avia sua (i. «., they claimed tlie estate as formerly belonging' to their imcle) ; altera vero haeo est, quia proprior erat iUe ut terram haberet qui oyrographum habebat quam qui non habebat." ' After judgment followed execution.^ By the Roman law, a decree obtained against a debtor or defendant had the effect of hypothecating the whole of his property, in aE. its component parts, to the extent of the judgment. The defendant's estate from the date of the decree became so many individual pignora, or rather hypothecae, available for the plaintiff's behoof. But the latter had to apply to the court, in a distinct proceeding, to enable him to effect this result, and the following form was then gone through. The defendant as owner of the property thus pledged by operation of law, was cited by means of three separate citations, to show cause why the creditor should not be put into possession of each pignus in default of the judgment being otherwise satisfied. Such default ' being made the plaintiff was, by another decree, put into possession of the impignorated res, and, being thus in lawful possession, he was enabled to sell it, and out of the proceeds to retaiu what was due to him. If a buyer could not be found, and the property was under or did not far exceed the amount of the judgment, the court appropriated the res itself to the plaiutiff, and it became thenceforth his own lawful property.' 1 Book of Ely, p. 139. ^ See the concluding sentence in note ^, p. 300. ' Dig. 42, 1, 6, § 3. " Judicati actio . . . rei perseoutionem continet " {lb. c. 31). " Debitoribus non tantum petnntibus dies ad solvendum dandi sunt, aed et prorogandi, si res exigat. Si qui tamen, per contumaciam magis quam quia non possunt explioare pecuniam, differant solutionem, pignoribus captis compeUendi sunt, ad satisfaciendum" {ib.). The con- tumacy referred to is thus explained [ih. o. 53, s. 1) : "Contumax est qui tribus edictis propositis, vel uno pro tribus, quod vulgo peremtorium 302 THE ROMANS OF BKITAIN. This mode of execution remained in force throughout the barharian monarchy. In much later days the idea of impignoration was lost, and the process took the simple form which we have long had in the fi. fa. A declaratory law of King Cnut shows the old Roman form.' " Let no man take a nam (i. e. levy a distress) before he has thrice in the hundred '' prayed his right. If at the third time he hare no justice, let him go at the fourth time to the shiregemot, and let the sheriff appoint hiTn a fourth term. If that then fail, let him take leave either from hence or thence that he may seize his own." (And ne mine nan man nane name, ne innan scire ne ut of scire, ser man haebbe jrriwa on hundrede his rihtes geheden. Gif he set Jiam )iriddan cyrre nan riht usebbe, Jonue fare he feortSan siSe to scirgemote, and seo seyr him sette Jone feortJan andagan. And gif se ])onne herste, nime )ionne leafe ge heonon ge Jiauon jjset he mote hentan sefter his agenan.)' appeUatur, Uteris evocatus praesentiam suifacere contenmit." Cod. 7, 53, 1 (De exsecutione rei judicatae) : "Nimis propere judex pignora Marcellae capi ac distrahi jiissit ante rem judicatam. Prius est ergo, ut servato ordine actionem adversus earn dirigas, et, causa cognita, sententiam accipias." iJ. s. 2 : "Si causam judioati non novasti, rem judicatam praeses pro- vinciae etiam pignoribus captis ac distractis ad emolumentum perduci jubebit." lb. a. Z: " Si itaque praesidem provinciae qui rem judicatam exequi debet, adieris et allegaveris res soli, quae pignori datae sunt, diu subhastatas ex compacto sive ambitione diversae partis emptorem non invenire potuisse, in possessionem earum te mittet." Dig. 42, 1, IS, 3 : " Si pignora quae capta sunt, emptorem non iuveniant rescriptum est ab imperatore nostro et divo patre ejus ut addicentur ipsi cui quis condem- natus est. Addicantur autem utique ea quantitate, quae debetur." The whole proceeding is summarized in a passage of the Code, as follows (7, 53, 9): "Eos, quos debitores tuos esse contendis apnd rectorem conveni provinciae, qui sive debitum confessi sive negantes et convicti fuerint oondemnati ; neo intra statutum spatium satisfecerint quum latae sententiae pignoribus etiam captis ac distractis secundum ea quae saepe constituta sunt, meruerint executionem juris formam tibi custodiet" [i. e. the praeses). The student of ancient Koman law will know that the con- demnation of the res instead of the debtor was, though an alleviation of a previous harsh law, precisely the same in juridical form as that of the man himself. See "manus injectio," in Dr. Smith's Dictionary. In fact, the proceeding was transferred without alteration from the thing to the man. It was an addictia in each case. 1 Secular Laws, c. 19. 2 In the shire court, held in a hundred. ' LL. Hen. I. 81, 3 : " Nulli sine judicio vel licencia namiare liceat." THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 303 From the decree of the praeses lay an appeal to the emperor in Roman times. How this was managed during the altered system of the independence of Britain, I do not know. But it is perfectly certain that in Anglo-Saxon times there was a procedure tantamount to it by which the failure or miscarriage of justice at the hands of the ealdor- man of the shire was supplied or corrected by recoiirse to the king himself. And as this proceeding was not a matter of favour, but a right of the subject — a dehitum justi- tiae, it is quite clear that it was nothing less than an appeal.' Another favourite and peculiar measure of Roman law was retained — I mean arbitration. We find it mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon laws and elsewhere.^ Along with this system of private law, and the means of obtaining its remedies and advantages, there were left also to the Romans of Britain their criminal law and its procedure, such as it had prevailed imder the empire. This concession to the Romans of their public law was made upon precisely the same grounds on which they had been permitted to retain the other, — viz., necessity. A person might be either accused by a private prose- cutor, or he might, according to the nature of his offence, be apprehended and charged by the police, to be by them sent to trial before the praeses.^ In the first case the accuser or private prosecutor made a formal accusation, which he either presented in writing at the office of the praeses, or it was taken down apud acta, i.e., entered in a book kept at the same place by some official of the same high judge.* ' See the Laws, passim. ' Hlothsere and Eadric, o. 10. Tkorpe's Biplomatarium mentions a case referred to three country gentlemen, as arbitrators (sEeman) . ' See ^05*, where the subject of the stationarii is treated. * Paulus, in Dig. 48, 2, c. 3 ; ib. tit. 5, 11, § 6 ; Cod. 9, 2, 8. 304 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. After this the accused, according to the nature of the charge or his position in society, was sent to prison, confided to the safe keeping of a guard, or was admitted to hail.' In the case of a private prosecution the pleadings were the same in form as ia the ciyil suit, and equally made an issue.^ This does nof, however, seem to have heen the case in prosecutions by the police.' In such cases the information (or criminating evidence) of the police was read out to the accused, and he was iater- rogated thereon. If he admitted the charge, as the Chris- tians did ia accusations grounded on their religion, there was an affirmative issue, and sentence only remained.' If the accused denied the charge, there was a negative joinder of issue, and the case went on to trial upon its own merits, just the same as if issue had heen joiaed upon written pleadings, as in the case of an accusatio or private prosecu- tion. In either case the prosecutor was bound to prove his intentio, as his affirmative assertion was called, quite as much in a criminal as in a civil case.* There was, however, a special incident which applied to the case of an accuser, or private prosecutor, as dis- tiaguished from that of a policeman or public prosecutor, who could never be suspected of malice. The first- mentioned had the fear, as he had the possibility, of a talio before his eyes.' On his own side, the accused, once ia possession of the ' Dig. 48, 3, I, and the capita which follow. See also Calvin's Lex. Juiid. and Pestns, mb voce " Tades." ' See ante, in note. ' See post. * Dig. 48, 18, 18, § 2. ' See^o»<. THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 305 charge made against him, was hound to purge or clear himself: "purgare se dehet," says the great lawyer TJlpian.' The harshness of this rule asks for an explanation, which may, however, he easily and satisfactorily given. Por, in spite of the ill-chosen expression, there was ia reality no actual injustice done to the accused. It was after all only a fa^on de parler, for the texts prove that its operative meaning was no more or less than this, — the reus, when a prima facie case was made out agaiast him, was bound to rebut it.2 A Roman criminal trial was a public inquest conducted by the magistrate who presided over the country where the crime was committed.^ The law called it emphatically an iuvestigation of the truth.* This great local judge ordered all such witnesses to appear as the accuser vouched (laudavit), and as he himself thought necessary.' In other words, they were subpoenaed. And as these were days of limited locomotion, aU. the necessary witnesses would be within the summoning power of the judge. ' See the expression, Dig. 48, 1, 5 ; ib. tit. 4, 11 ; it. tit. 17, 1, 3. So Apuleius (De Mundo, o. 35), says, "Reus purgandi se necessitate, iusectandi studio aoousator venit." * That the Roman system rendered the truth attainable "we are assured by a Roman subject and citizen. Apuleius (De Magia) says, "Quippe insimulari quivis innocens potest, revinoi nisi nooens non potest." ' Fassim in the Laws ; St. Cyprian, epist. 54 : " Cum statutum sit ab omnibus nobis . . . ut unius cujusque causa iUio audiatur, ubi est criinen admissum." * Cod. 9, tit. 41, c, 8. ^ Cod. Theod. 11, tit. 39. c. 13 ; and Godefroye's learned and interesting note; Cod. 4, c. 20, §§ 11, 16; Novell. 90, §8; Symmach., ante. For an exception to the rule see Pliny's Letters, Mb. 5, ep. 20 ; see also Domat (Strahan's translation), vol. i. p. 451. Dr. Smith is thus wrong in stating generally that there was no subpoena before Justinian (Classical Dictionary, p. 529). C. X 306 THK ROMANS OF BRITAIN. Every person who could he alleged to be cognitor ml prmsens was sutpoenaed.^ The evocation of the witnesses hy the court rendered them only one set. This is contrasted with the production of witnesses on each side in a civil suit.^ Witnesses in criminal cases were always confronted vnth the judge.* Witnesses beiag gathered together by these means, it would frequently happen that they knew nothiag of the matter upon which they had been summoned. The Roman law provided for this. The witness being sworn to give his testimony of what he knew, might swear that he knew nothing.'' The Roman law affected a number of witnesses.' One witness, whatever his position, was not allowed even to be heard.^ The number varied with the cause. Some- times there should be three, sometimes five.' But what- ever the required number might be, it was essential to the case set up, and without it the case failed. The accused was allowed the privilege of obtaining the rejection of a witness by showing a just exception against him, e.g. 1 See the expressions used by the Coimcdl of Carthage quoted by Godefroye, in his note to Cod. Theod. 11, tit. 39, c. 8 : "In judicium ad testimonium devocari eum quia cognitor vel prseseus faerit." ^ Cod. 4, tit. 20, § 11. That the evidence taken at a criminal trial was considered one context only — ^the result of the judicial inqxiiry — appears by the expressions of Constantiue (Cod. Theod. 11, tit. 36, c. 1) : " Quod si reus .... partem, pro defensioue sui ex testibus quaes- tioneque propositi, possit arripere parte vero obrui, acousarique Tideatur, ' ' &c. M)ig. 48, tit. 18, 0. 1, §21; Cod. 4, tit. 20, § 14, "Ad judioantis intrare secretum." * Justinian's recital in Cod. 4, tit. 23, § 16. 5 Dig. 22, tit. 5, § 1, § 2; ib. § 12, § 3, § 2. 6 Cod. 4, tit. 20, § 9. At pp. 46, 79, of the edition of the Welsh laws by the Record Commission is found this expression, — "the testimony of one witness is no testimony." ' Cod. 4, c. 20, § 15. THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 307 that he was publico judicio damnatus, bribed, infamous in character, or the like.^ If such an exception was proved, the witness was not called. The law required that the conviction should be upon the agreement of the witnesses. Constantiae says, "Omnium qui tormentis vel interroga- tionibus fuerunt dediti, in unum conspirantem concor- dantemque rei finem convictus sit : et sic ia objecto flagitio deprehensus, ut vix jam ipse, ea quse eommiserit negare sufficiat."'* The proof adduced before the judge instructed his conscience. "Si nulla probatio reHgionem cognoscentis instruat," says a legal authority.' StOl he was free to use his judgment conscientiously: " Yerumtamen quod legibus omissum est, non omittetur religione judicantium, ad quorum officium pertinet, ejus quoque testimonii fidem, quod iategrse frontis homo dixerit perpendere," says another great authority.* In the criminal proceeding the prosecutor was obliged by law to take the oath of calumny in. all cases.^ I have alluded to the private prosecutor's liability to the infliction of a taliom case of his failure of proof. In spite of the formidable associations of that word, however, it meant damages only for malicious prosecution, at least in eiviliEed times, and these the judge assessed in the pro- ceedings themselves.^ Every private prosecutor, ia his petition of accusation, bound himself to submit to such a sentence ia case of failure.® No doubt however the » Dig. 22, tit. 5, § 3, § 5. 2 Cod. Theod. 9, tit. 40, c. 1. 3 Dig. 48, tit. 18, 0. 1, § 17. * Dig. 22, tit. 5, c. 13. ° Domat, vol. i. p. 452 (Strahan's translation), and Dr. Smith's Dic- tionary. See aJso Dig. 12, tit. 2, § 34, Calvin's Lexicon Juridicum, sub voce. ^ Cod. Theod. 9, 10, 3: " Non ignarus eandem sententiam subitumm, x2 308 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. sentence on the prosecutor was in direct ratio to tlie nature and degree of tlie charge made by him. In a criminal prosecution during the Anglo-Saxon times, the proceeding was as follows : — The delinquent was accused by some person who pro ea vice was prosecutor.^ This preliminary form was probably gone through in the hundred or tithing which committed him.^ The accused was at liberty to give security to appear and take his trial in the coimty court, if he could provide it, and that security might be given upon his own property or be that of bail. Otherwise he was consigned to the king's prison, to be there kept until the day of trial.^ On that day he appeared in discharge of his bail, or was brought up by the custodian of the gaol. The court being assembled, the prosecutor took a fore- oath of the following tenor :* — " By the Lord I accuse not N. either for hatred or for envy, or for unlawful lust of gain ; nor know I anything soother ; but as my informant to me said, and I myself in sooth believe, that he was the thief of my property." The crime would of course vary. This fore-oath was indispensable, and gave to the accusa- tion (tihtl) its legal effect.^ si crimen otjectum non potuerit oomprobare, quam reus debet exoipere." Symmaohus (lib. 10, epist. ult. quoted by Godefroye in his note to tbe aforegoing text) says : ' ' Supererat, ut erimine non probato in acciisatorem formidata reis poena transiret." Finally Aulus GeUius (lib. 20, c. 1) tells us what tbe talio really was. "Nolo hoc ignores, hanc quoquc ipsam taKonem ad aestimationem judiois redigi necessario solitaia." The word " aestima.tio" thus used implies by necessity damages in money. 1 LL. Ine, c. 62; LL. .S!lfred. o. 22. The latter clearly refers to a criminal prosecution. See the use of the word " jppe" in the " Poeni- tentiale" of Ecgbert, addit. c. 2 (2 Thorpe, p. 232). ^ See^o*^. 3 LL. Ine, -o. 62. * See oaths in Laws. ' Ordinance respecting the Dunssetas, c. 6. THE ROJIATvS OF BRITAIN. 309 When tlie prosecutor had taken the oath, the aooused was bound to clear himself " if he dared." ' The trial from this period became the "lad" or clearing of the accused.^ The order of his purgation was as follows: He took an oath, in assertion of his own inno- cence, of this tenor :' — " By the Lord I am guiltless both in deed and counsel of the accusation (tihtl) which N. charges against me." This was the preliminary of the "lad."* The fore-oath of the accused had therefore the effect of a plea of Not Gruilty, and upon this issue the evidence was gone into. Without it, i.e. if the accused dared not take it, there could be and was no trial, for there was no innocence to assert, the accused being considered guilty, because he had rejected the means which the law allowed him of asserting his innocence. I have said that the accused was bound by law to clear himself of the charge. This neither in fact nor in theory amounted to the same thing as the throwing upon him the onus of proving his own innocence, for by the manner in which the evidence was collected and obtained the result of the trial was practically the same as if the onus prohandi lay upon the prosecutor. The marshalling and taking of the evidence was thus conducted : — There was only one set of witnesses in a criminal matter, and this was in general parlance called the "lad," as the clearing of the accused depended upon the result of its ' .Alfred and Guthrum's Peace, o. 3 : " gif he hine ladian dyn-e." ^ The Laws, passim. ' See oath in Laws. * Lie, 0. 54. 310 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. testimony.^ These witnesses were not led or produced either by the prosecutor or the accused. They were not voluntary. On the contrary, their attendance in court was whoUy compulsory, for they were named, i.e. nominated and subpoenaed, by the sheriff of the county,^ that officer being in these ages the vice-judge of the county. They were summoned by Tn'-m from the hundred where the corpus delicti lay, i.e. the venue or vicinity.' The witnesses so summoned were the equals or peers of the accused.* . A larger number of witnesses was named than was afterwards actually sworn.' Where witnesses were thus forced upon the accused, it would be only fair that there should be some power in him of obtaining their rejection should they be proveably uncreditable, hostile, or malignant. This safeguard against injustice most amply existed.^ The accused might choose his witnesses, to the extent of a defined number, out of the gross number summoned, and the choice of these witnesses was the rejection of the rest. The selected witnesses were denominated the cyreath.' The witnesses were then sworn in the following formula, that is, if they could consent, all or in major part, to take ' Ine, 0. 54 ; Dxmssetas, c. 6 ; ^thelred's Domas, c. 13. 2 ^thelred's Domas, c. 13 ; ^thelstan's Laws, o. 9 ; Laws of the Northmnbrian Priests, cc. 51, 52, 53. 2 HlotHhaere and Eadrio, o. 5. This' is a direct authority ; hut the general rule of law is also inferrible from the sub-mle, that where the accused was in/amis the oath was to be summoned out of several hundreds. (Cnut's Laws, c. 22.) * Ine's Laws, c. 30 : "by his own were." But this is stated more ex- plicitly in the Laws of the Northumbrian Priests, cc. 51, 52, 53 ; and Wihtrsed, c. 21 ; .Alfred and Guthmm's Peace, c. 3. * See post. « " Odium Tel aliquidcompetens." Hen. L, LL. c. 31, s. 8; .Sthelstan, c. 10. (Perjury.) ' Dunsaetas, o. 6 ; Cnut, c. 66. See also LL. Hen. I. c. 31, ss. 6, 7, 8. These sections refer to the jury. THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 311 it.i The oath was this : — " By the Lord the oath is clean and unperjured which N. (the accused) has sworn." It would seem probable that a majority of the oath found the verdict, for as they were witnesses nothing more was required than a weight of evidence. If the whole or the majority took this oath, the accused was acquitted.^ If they declined to take the oath, wholly or in part, the oath burst (as it was said) and the accused was convicted — ^the lad had failed.' As a general nile it would seem that the witnesses in a criminal prosecution did not give evidence iu the sense by which we now understand the word, *. e. specific testimony, but were Hmited to the form of general oath which I have before quoted. The rationale of this is not far to seek : the court had taken effectual measures to summon those who were best acquainted with the fact at issue — ^murder, robbery, or whatever it was. And whatever opinion they had deliberately formed and solemnly enunciated might be accepted by the court without criticism.* It would seem, however, that there were occasions when the court would take evidence subsidiary to the oath. In a record, of a date between a.d. 872 — 915, it appears that a man had stolen cattle, and as he fled a bramble tore his face.' This wound was put forward as evidence against ' See oaths in Laws ; Thorpe, vol. i. p. 181. The position of this oath, as foUowing those of the prosecutor and the accused, skowa it to be that of the jury. 2 .ffilthelred's Domas, c. 13. ' LL. Eadward, o. 3; Dunssetas, oo. i, 6. The latter authority regards the oath as being Urn, but the metaphor is not very dissimilar. There is a solution of continuity in each. * LL. WihtrEed, c. 21 ; Domas of .Slthelred, c. 136 (1 Thorpe, p. 298). The first authority declares the verdict to be uncontrovertible, the other that the " doom " of the jury shall stand. ^ Thorpe's Diplomatarium Anglicum aevi Saxonioi, p. 172: "pa he fleah, ]>a to rypte hine an brember ofer Jiset nebb." 312 THE KOMANS OF BRITAIN. the accused wlien he contested the charge of theft.^ But to make evidence of this wound, a witness who saw it when it was fresh, and could depose at the trial to that special fact, must have heen examined, and he would certainly be in all respects what is now called a witness, giving what we should caU evidence. The result of the swearing in the hd, whether it showed the consensual opinion of aU or of a majority only, was held to carry conviction of the fact in question, and to hind the court, with whom there rested no discretion, whether they should believe or disbelieve it.* Upon this result the judges made their decree. ' " pa he aetsacan wolde fa ssede him man ])8et to tacne" (ii.). * It will be a rude disillusioimieiit to the Teutonists to find that the jury of England was neither the imagining of the great literary Mag, Tfing Alfred, nor of the pre-historic Teutons. The Scandinavians, though sup- ported by the authority of the eminent commentator Sir William Black- stone, who ascribes the merit of the institution to a contemporary of our King Eegberht, have no better right to what he quaintly calls its "invention." It is perfectly true that the jury is found at or after a certain epoch in Scandinavia, but only so as our pennies and our shillings were also a coinage of those regions, and for the same reason. They were all — jury, pennies and shillings — ^imported into this far North by Norsemen who had sojourned in England and had learned soine of the ways and institutions of Englishmen, with the words by which they were known. The propaganda of England upon these and other matters in ancient times deserves a treatise of itself. The Baltic tribes borrowed and still retain our English steorbord, the first syllable of which is the Latin ■woT&Jexter (see ante, p. 39). But the jury, as it existed in the time of the Anglo-Saxons, and as I have described it, is not confined to England proper; it is found in another part of Britain also, and at the same time, viz. in Wales. There, however, in accordance with the origin which I have traced for it, we have a right to expect it. And finding the same institution in both countries, Lloegria and Wales (the latter calling it raith, see LL. Hoel Ddha), we know to what law it has owed its common origin, viz. the Koman law. Under these circumstances it will excite no surprise if we discover it also in Gaul, under the rule of the Franks (see Capit. lib. 3, c. 78, p. 885, Lindenbrog). This last-mentioned fact has afforded an argument to a Grerman man of letters (Dr. Brenner), to attribute in all seriousness a Norman provenance through the Pranks to the old English jury. THE ROMANS OF BEITAIN. 313 If the prosecutor failed to establish his charge, he was ordered by the court to pay damages to the defendant.' There is another peculiarity of Eoman legal practice which we see in existence in this country long after the Anglo-Saxon conquests. It is this: hy the Eoman law when a suitor was disabled by years or circumstances from taking a present part in an action he could depute a friend, who would assume the place of his principal and be his alter idem to all intents therein. He was called a procurator, and was as personally affected by all orders made in the suit as if he were plaintifE or defendant.^ There were no official procuratores in the Eoman courts, such as those with whom under so many names we have been familiar in our own age. This artificial rule survived into the rude times of the Anglo-Saxon government. A king's thegn could appoint hisforim/rhta, ot procurator, in his lawsuit.^ Ihisform/rhta took the fore-oath for his principal, and in aU respects represented hi-m at law (mid rihte) .' And it is noticeable, as demonstrating the Eoman origin of this agent, that when we come to a purely barbarian custom, such as the buying off of a blood feud, the agent for the murderer is not forim/rhta, — is not the Eoman procurator. He is forspreca^ — the savage intermediary who palavers in a blood feud between the two fanulies, more harharico, like a Mingo or a Delaware. ^ See Alfred, o. 22. TMs is the meaning of angylde; see Thorpe's Grlossaiy, vol. ii., sub voce. It is totaBy different from wiU, or fine. 2 Dig. 3, 2, and Cod. Theod. 2, 12. ^ Thorpe, p. 192 ; Kanks, § 3. " Ge moste sySSan mid his forage his hlaford aspeKan set mislicum neodan, and his on spseoe gerseoan (». «., propound his claims and accusations) mid rihte swahwser swa he sceolde." In the Rules of the London Guild (see post) the word forwyrhta is found in the general sense of procurator^ or attorney. « LL. Eadward, o. 7 ; 1 Thorpe, p. 250. 314 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. The reader mil recollect that in stating the preliminary condition of a Roman criminal trial, I made mention of the apprehension or arrrest of the accused or offender by the agency of the police. This was no anachronism on my part. There was a police diffused over the entire empire, the force having the name of militea Britain came in for her share of this protective army, and after the dichiance of the empire here her police remained as before: That it so continued during the independence is proved by the fact that it remained after the barbarian conquests, and is demonstrably in no way their invention or idea. Upon the Anglo-Saxon subjugation of Britain, the in- stitution was left whole and intact along with the general body of Roman law and its administration, to be exercised by the Romans of Britain over their own nationality and their coloni and dependents. In making this assertion I am aware that I am statiag an entirely new fact, both as regards the empire and our own island. But that it is new in no way impairs its truth or impedes its demonstration ; and it is merely in- explicable that such a force as that which I refer to, though its evidences should have forced themselves upon the com- prehension of the learned, has nevertheless been ignored as a thing which existed not. Kellerman does not mention them, though the force of which he specially treated bore unquestionable affinity to these milites, and the scope of his work took in every other form of the soldiery of the empire.' CardinaH,'' Grote- 1 Vigilnm. Eomanorum Latercula duo Caelimontaiia magnam partem militae Eomanae explioantia, Komae, 1835. Sieepost, in note. ^ Memorie Eomane. THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 315 fend,i ZeQ.,^ and Dr. WiUiam Smith,' observe the same silence. The milites stationarii were no part of the ancient con- stitution of Rome, hut owe their origiu to Augustus. That emperor, finding Italy at the close of the civil war a prey to armed rohhers, posted stations (stationes) in opportune places to restraiu this general evil.* In other words, he instituted for Italy a police and police magistrates.' This police of Augustus was extended and improved by Tiberius, who took measures for assuring peace from out- rages, robberies, and riots, by posting stations of soldiers throughout Italy more abundantly than before." After this introduction into Italy, we find this police, imder the name of milites stationarii in the west, and irenarchae in the east, extended to every part of the empire. The laws speak of them in a sense of general application.^ Eusebius constantly refers to them in Asia.^ The novelist Xenophon, of Ephesus, iatroduces one as iu Cnicia.^ The Acta sincera Martynim record their severities in Gaul, Africa, Greece, Spain, Asia, and elsewhere.^" ' Grrotefend in Pauly's Eeal-Enoyolopadie, under the word "legio." " Handbuoh der Eomisolien epigxaphik. Zweite Theil, p. 301. 3 Classical Dictionary. Static (castra) and static (fisci) are the only references. * "Igitur grassaturas, dispositis per opporttma loca stationibus, in- hibuit." (Suet, in D. Aug.) 5 Henry Salusbviry Milman, Esq., F.S.A., has shown, in a paper of rare merit and interest, read before the Society of Antiquaries, but not yet published, that these milites had been already appointed for the pro- vince of Judaea. A previous trial was thus prudently made of them before their introduction into Italy. ^ Imprimis tuendae pacis a grassatuiis ac latrociniis sediticnumque lioentia curam habuit. Stationes mUitiun per ItaUam solito f requentiores disposuit." (Suet, in Tib.) ' The passages are quoted ^os*. 8 In his Ecclesiastical History. ' See the quotation post, in note. '" Acta sincera Martyrum, by Euinart, edit. Katisbon, 1859. 316 THE ROMANS OF BKIT.VIX. Ammianufi MarcelHnus gives instances of tlie action of this force at the two extreme points of the empire ; the one on the Grerman and the other on the Persian horder.^ An inscription still preserved at Saepiaum, in Southern Italy, shovrs ns how the force worked there ;^ and in Dacia Mediterranea an epigraph of the briefest kind is evidence of its existence ia that late acquisition of the empire.' These two latter are the only references of epigraphy which time has capriciously preserved upon this subject.* That the stationarii were policemen, as I have said, in spite of their honourable name of milites,^ is shown by the attributes which belong to them. In the exercise of their o£&ce they apprehend and imprison (or lock up), without special warrant,^ aU persons who have broken — or may be suspected by them of having broken — the laws. ' See post, in note. ^ For the inscription on the wall of Saepinum see post. ' See Seivert, Inscriptiones monumentomm Komanonun in Dacia Mediterranea, Viennae, 1773. Insc. 217. This book is not in the British Museum. I quote J. F. Massman's LibeUus Auxarius, p. 11. The in- scription is "Milites ex Statione." * It is true that a graffito has been found at Pompeii with the words "Crescens stationarius" (Grarrucci, Graffiti di Pompeii, p. 95), but this may refer to a fiscal officer. * Other functionaries came under the like name of milites, e.g., the agentes in rebus. This was the general appellation of all the various grades of officials employed in, and upon the business of, the vast Home Office of the empire (ZeU, Anleitung zur Kenntniss der Romisohen In- schriften, p. 262). S. Augustin (Confess. Ub. ix. c. 8), speaking of his friend Erodius, says, " Qui, cum agens in rebus militaret, prior nobis ad te conversns est et baptizatus, et reUcta militia saecnlari adcinctus in tua." So also, ii. Ub. -piii. c. 6, he says, "Et reKcta militia saeculari servire tibi. Erant autem ex eis quos diount agentes iu rebus." " Dig. xi. 4, 4 : " Stationarii fugitivos deprehensos reote in custodia retinent." In the Acta Martymm, the stationarii apprehend Montanus and his companions and take them to their lock-up (Ruinart, p. 275). "Igitur apprehensis nobis et apud regionantes (i.e., stationarios, see post) in custodia oonstitutis." Am. MarceUinus (xxviii. 6, 27) tells us how one THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 317 The stationarius wlio had thus apprehended a criminal or a suspect took him hef ore his own officer. This officer we find to he a centurion (or centenarim), or his deputy.^ Eor this purpose the centurion was a police magis- trate, for when the prisoner was hrought hefore him he investigated the charge, and either committed him for trial or discharged him.^ In the investigation of the charge the prisoner was searched' and interro- PaUadius, taTing been arrested, oonuaits suicide in the look-up ("in statioue primis tenebria obserrata oustodum absentia," &e.). ' The action of the centurion is illustrated by the following narrative preserved in Eusebius (H. E. from the Apology of S. Justus, Hb. iv. 0. 17). A man of bad character, who had been repudiated by his wife, in revenge formally accused her of being a Christian, but afterwards dropped his proceedings and persuaded a centurion of stationarii to appre- hend S. Ptolemaeus, who had converted her. Ptolemaeus is subsequently interrogated and committed by this centurion. He is tried before the praeses and condemned. See also E-uinart, p. 101. We find in one instance that a benefieiarius commits. "Cassander beneficiarius hoc scripsit," that is, drew up the notoria, or commitment. Acta SS. Agapes, Ghioniae, Irenes, &c. (Kuiaart, p. 424.) The full expression in this case is beneficiarius eenturionis, or sub-officer acting for the centurion. So in the "Latercula VigUum" of Kellermann we find mentioned beneficiarius praefeeti, beneficiarius subpraefecti, benefi- ciarius iribwnij beneficiarius eenturionis. The beneficiarius was distinct from and superior to the secutor or mere orderly. The same Latercula mention a secutor tribuni, as well as a beneficiarius tribuni. ZeU (vol. ii. p. 305) says, " Es sind darunter begriffen (s. e., amongst the mitttes principales) fiir den fold dienst, die optiones und beneficiarii, stellvertreter xmd gehOfen (leutenants und adjutanten) der obem offizier- stellen; die standigen ordonanzen (beneficiarii, secutores)." ^ Dionysius, Bishop of Alexandria, in his letter to Fabianus (Euseb. H. E. lib. vi. c. 41), says that Nemesion, an Egyptian, had been charged before the centurion (IxiXToxTapx?') with being the companion and associate of thieve. This charge broke down. The centurion, however, committed him for trial as being a Christian. ' As to searching see Ammianus MarceDinus, xxi. 3, 6. Vadomarus, a German chief in collusion with Constantius, attacks the Q-erman border in order to keep Julian employed thete. Vadomarus sends a secretary (or ' confidential person) to Constantius to give information. The stationarii intercept this man, as one travelling without an apparent object, search him, and find upon him the chief's letter to Constantius. 318 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. gated,' the rack being used^ when ordinary means of per- suasion failed. If the prisoner was committed he was in due time and form sent on to the city within whose territory the cen- turion (or centenarius) who had so committed him held office. There the prisoner was handed over to the officiwm of the praeses, an& they consigned him to the prison of the cwitas, where he remained until his trial.' At the same 1 Dig. xlviii. o. 3, 6. "Sed et caput mandatorum extat, quod Dims Kus, quumprovinoiae Asiaepraeerat, sub edioto proposuit, ut ireuarohae, quum apprehenderiiit latrones, iuterrogent eos de sociis et reoeptator- ibus," etc. * " Tunc attentantur numerosis durisque cruoiatibus per stationarium militem. (Passio Jaoobi, Mariani, et aliorum pluiimorum martyrum in Numidia, p. 270, Buinart.) What the stationarii sought by the question is declared by Ammianus Marcellinus (Hist. lib. xxii. 16, 23) : " Et nulla tormentorum vis inveniri adhuc potuit, quae obdurato illius tractuB latroni invito elicere potuit, ut nomen proprium. dioat." ' Fassim in the Acta Martyrum : In the Acta SS. Satumini, Dativi, et aliorum plnrimormn in Africa (p. 415, Kuinart), certain holy men being apprehended by the statimiarii in a private house are (p. 416) sent on to Carthage, and are there handed over, " ad offioium Annulini tunc pro- oonsulis." Those officials put them into the common gaol, and they are afterwards brought up by the offleium at the trial (ab officio proconsulis offieruntur). So in the Acta SS. Didymi et Theodorae Virginis (p. 428, Euinart) : "In civitate Alexandria Proculus, cum sedisset pro tribunali, dixit, Vooate Theodoram virginem. Ex officio dictum est : adsistit Theodora." In the Acta SS. Martyrum Fructuosi episcopi, Augurii et Eulogii diaconorunx (Euinart, p. 265), " Aemilianus praeses dixit : !Fruc- tuosum episcopum, Augurium et Eulogium intromittite. Ex officio dictum est: Adstant." There is an essential difference between career and euatodia, as I have before mentioned. Career is the prison to which persons were sent on their being committed. So in the "Passio SS. Epipodii et Alexandri" (Buinart, p. 121): "Itaque captos etiam ante discussionem career accepit, quia manifest! putabatur criminis nomen esse ipsa appeUatio Christiana." So also in the "Passio SS. Perpetuae et FeUcitatis cum sociis earum" (ib. p. 138), the Christians were apprehended (apprehensi sunt), and after a few days' detention were sent to the career (post paucos dies reoipimur in carcerem). The career was situated in the ewitaa or chief town of each territoriitm, and was under the charge of the decurions of such ckiias. THE KOMANS OF BRITAIN. 319 time was lodged with the offieium of the praeses a report of the centenarius who had conunitted the accused. This report was called notoria, notaria and elogium, and con- tained the charge.^ To this were added the iaterrogation and answers of the alleged criminal, and most probably also the depositions of witnesses.^ The prisoner was tried In the "Acta SS. Martyruiu Claudii, Aeterii, et aliorum" (Eiiinait, p. 309), tlie praeses says: "OfBerantur deoretioni meae Ghiistiaui, qui traditi sunt ourialibus hujus oivitatis ab officio." Again ia Paulus's Sentences, edited by Amdt, tit. vi. 2, s. 4, we find the mimicipal magistrates are charged with the custody of all criminals committed for trial, and are bound to hand them over to the offieium of the praeses for production when the trial is fixed. They consequently must have kept them in a prison of their own. The words are " Magis- tratus municipales ad offieium prsesidis provinoiae vel proeonsulis com- prehensos recte transmittunt." ' S. Augustin. in epis. 159 : " Circumcelliones illos, et clericos partis Donati, quos ad judicium pro faotis eorum pubUcae disciplinae eura deduxerat, &c." Idem in epis. 159: "Qui non accusantibus nostris, sed illorum notoria, ad quos tuendae publicae pacis vigilautia pertinebat, praesentari videantur examini. " Cod. Theod. 16, 2, 31: "Siquisinhoo genus sacrilegii proruperit, ut, in Ecclesias CathoHcas irruens, sacer- dotibus et mioistris vel ipso oultui loooque aUquid inportet injuriae, quod geritur, literis ordimmi, magistratuum, et curatorum, et notoriis appa- ritorum (quos stationarios appellant) deferatur in notitiam potestatum, &c." In the Acta of SS. Agape, Chionia et Irene (Euinart, p. 244 et seq.) we find a notoria recited : " Cum praesideret Duloetius, Artemensis soriba dixit: oognitiouem. de his qui praesentes sunt a stationario missam, si jubes, legam. Jubeo, inquit Dulcetius praeses, te legere. Tunc ait scriba, Ordine tibi meo Domino omnia, quae scripta sunt, recitabo ; Cassander beneficiarius hoc scripsit. Scito, mi Domine, Agathonem, Agapen, Chioniam, Irenem, Casiam, Philippam, et Eutyohiam nolle his vesci, quae diis sunt immolata. Eas igitur ad tuam amplitudinem ad- duceudas esse curavi." 2 Dig. xlviii. o. 3, 1: "Sed et caput mandatorum extat, quod Divus Pius, quiun provinciae Asiae praeerit, sub edioto proposuit, nt irenarchae, quum apprehenderint latrones, interrogent eos de sociis et receptatoribus, et interrogationes literis inolusas atque obsignatas ad oognitionem magis- tratus mittant." This speaks only of interrogating the criminal and taking his answers. In many or most cases there must have been other evidence, and these depositions would be transmitted along with the rest. The word "oognitio," as applied (in previous note) to the investigation made by the centurion, can only have this more extended meaning. So 320 THE ROMANS OF BKITAIN. at the next gaol delivery of the city when the praeses arrived there in the course of his circuit.^ At the trial the stationarii prosecuted.' The notoria formed the indictment, being read at the opening of the trial.' The evidence was got up by the stationarii, and was gone into as fully as if there had been no preliminary inquiry. The persons liable to the attentions of this police readily suggest themselves. Individuals found wandering in the country who were unknown and could not give a good account of themselves, or who were too well known to allow any such account to be credible,* robbers, thieves and S. Cypriani, epis. 48: "Et urgentibus fratribus imminebat oognitionis dies, quo apud nos causa ejus ageretur." 1 As to the oircuits of tbe praeses, see the Theodosian Code, i. tit. 7, and Go&.eiioye'BFaratitlon (De officio reotoris provinoiae) — "certo anni tempore civitates provinciae obire debebant {i.e., the praesides) atque in his locis, quibus praesto esse possent omnibus, sedem constituere, provincialiumque querelas excipere." See also ib. c. iv. Cassiodorus speaks of it as the old law and 'ciistom. of the empire (Var. v. 14), and calls the circuits " discursus judicum." In Eusebius, Hist. Eoc. lib. v. o. 1, S. Pothinus is kept in prison until the coming of the praeses. In Acta SS. Martyrum Claudii, Asterii, et aUorum (Huinart, p. 309, in note) : ' ' Onmesque viiicti in carcerem tnisi sunt, usque ad adventum pro- consulis Lydiae. Cum autem proconsul oircumiret provinciam, factum est ut perreniret ad .^geam, ubi sedens," &c. The Acta SS. Martyrum. Tarachi, Probi, et Andronici, illustrate this fully. (Ib. 452 et seq.) Numerianus Maximus, the praeses, is found sitting at Tarsus, then at Lisoia, and afterwards at Anazaria, aU cities of his province. The old classic word conventus even was retained, "Statute forensi conventu." Acta proconsularia Martyrum Scillitanorum. [Ib. p. 131.) ^ Cqd. Just. ix. 4, 1 : "In quacuuque causa reo exhibito, sive axjcu- sator exstat, sive eum. publicae soHcitudinis cura produxerit," &c. As may be easily supposed, people were very glad to push off upon the stationarii the disagreeable task of prosecuting. A law of Diocletian and Maximian prohibits this. (Cod. Just. ix. 2, 8.) " Si qnis se in- juriam ab aliquo passum putaverit, et querelam deferre voluerit, non ad stationarios decurrat, sed praesidialem adeat potestatem, aut libellos offerens, aut querelas suas apud acta deponens." 2 See ante, in note. * Dig. xlviii. e. 3, 6 : "Igitur, qui cum elogio mittuntur, ex integro THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 321 their associates/ cattle-stealers and horse-stealers.^ But, perhaps, runaway slaves' and Christians* taxed their audiendi sunt, etsi per literas, missi fuerint, vel etiam per irenarchas produoti." lb. "Et ideo qtiiim quis ayaxpimv feoerit, juberi oportet venire irenaroham, et quod soripserit exsequi, et si diligenter ao fideliter hoc fecerit, ooUaudandum eum, si parum prudenter, non exquisitis argu- mentis, simplioiter denotare, irenarcham minus retulisse. Sed si quid maligne interrogasse, aut non dicta retulisse pro dictis eum oompererit, ut -vindicet in exemplum, ne quid et aliud postea tale faoere moliatur." So in Cod. Just. Mb. xii. tit. 22 (Constantius, A.D. 355) : " Cuxiosi, et stationarii, vel quicunque funguntur hoc munere, orimina judicibus nun- tianda meminerint, et sibi neoessitatem probationis inoumbere, non citra periculum sua, si insontibus eos calunmias nexuisse eonstiterit. Cesset ergo prava consuetudo, per quam carceri aUquos immittebant," i.e., the bad custom of coimmitting persons without evidence. ' "We have two illustrations of this in Ammianus Marcellinus. One has been given before. The other (xxviii. 5, 3) is as follows : Antoninus, a defaulting rationalis, having determined to fly into Persia, and sell his knowledge of the empire to the great king, buys a property over the Persian border, in order that on pretence of visiting it he may pass without being detained and questioned through the midst of the sta- tionarii. ("Atque, ut lateret stationarios mihtes, fundum in Hyaspide, qui locus Tygridis fluentis adluitur, pretio non magno mercatur.") " Robbers and thieves were the original objects of Augustus's law {see ante). Tertullian (in apologetico) says: "Latronibus investigandis per provincias militaris statio sortitur." An interesting inscription, which still remains upon the walls of Saepinum, illustrates what I have said in the text. This inscription contains a correspondence which passed between the stationarii and magistrates {i.e., duumviri) of Saepinum and Bovianum on the one part, and the procuratores rei privatae of the emperor on the other. The latter say that they have received a complaint from certain conductores of the emperor's flocks, that the stationarii and magistrates of Saepinum and Bovianum, in the passage of the former over the mountains, outrage both horses (jmnenta) and shepherds, insisting that the latter are runaway slaves, an d have stolen the horses, and that upon this pretext they retain the emperor's sheep ^pastores, quos conductores habent, dicentes fugitivos esse, et jumenta abacta habere, et sub hao specie oves quoque dominicas redhibeant). See ZeU, vol. i. p. 336. 3 Dig. xi. 4, 1, s. 2 : "Est etiam generaKs epistola Divorum Maroi et Commodi, qua deolaratur et praesides et magistratus et milites stationa- ^ Christians were always liable to be punished as such whether there was a general persecution or not. Octavius (in M. Eelix, c. 35) says, C. Y 322 THE EOMANS OF BRITAIN. energies most. They also prosecuted publicans, gambling- kouse keepers and butcliers, whenever these persons ex- ceeded the hounds tolerated by law; and in order the better to have them in hand the stationarii entered them rios dominomm. adjuvare debere in inquirendis fugitivi8, et ut inventos redderent, et ut ii, apud quos deliteBcant, puniantur, si orimine contin- gantur." Again in Dig. xi. 4, 4, Paulus says, "Stationarii fugitivos d^prehensos reote in custodia retinent." So in the Sentences of Paulus, edited "by Amdt, tit. -vi. a. 30. The charming story of Androoles, narrated by an eye-witness, illus- trates this. He was a slave who had fled from his master, a high Roman functionary in Numidia, on account of ill-treatment. He escaped to the desert, and lived there for three years with a Uon, whose heart he had won by dressing his wounded foot. The slave, tiring at length of this Hfe, left the desert and was taken up by the stationarii as soon as he trod provincial ground. They transmitted him back to his master, who had by this time returned to Rome, and the latter, as a punishment, sent him to the amphitheatre to combat beasts, as the law allowed a master to do. In the circus the slave found in a lion which was pitted against TiiTn his old Numidian friend, and the latter, instead of devouring, caressed him. (G-ellii Noctes Attioae, lib. v. o. 14.) The stationarii in this narrative are called milites simply. That the milites stationarii are meant however admits of no doubt. "Denique de vestro numero career exaestuat: Christianus ibi nullus, nisi.aut reus suae religionis, aut profugus." The nature of persecu- tions is not always clearly understood. Among instances of the law in its ordinary course dealing with Christians is one told by Eusebius (H. E. lib. V. c. 21) of Apollonins, who was tried and executed at Eome, ia the time of Commodus, for being a Christian, there being no persecution at the time. So iu the same manner Luoian's Peregrinus is arrested and tried for being a Christian (De Morte Peregrini, oo. 12, 14) when there is no persecution afloat. A persecution was a totally different thing. That was a series of prosecutions decreed by the reigning emperor and carried out by the praesides, to each of whom came a separate rescript from the imperial chancery. In the Acta Prooonsularia S. Cypriani (Ruinart, p. 261), the pro- consul Patemus says to the bishop, " Sacratissimi imperatores Valerianus et GaUienuB literas ad me dare dignati sunt, quibus praeciperunt eos, qui Romauam religionem non colunt, debere Romanas ceremonias re— cognoscere." By the refusal to do the latter, more frequently called "caeremoniari," Christians convicted themselves, and nothing remained for the praesea but to punish. THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 323 in a register.^ In this same register also were recorded the Christians of the district, in order to facilitate the looking of them up when occasion required. Lastly, we find the stationarii employed in the execution of more humhle and peaceful duties, viz. distraining for rent or other dehts.^ Haying traced the history and duties of the miUtes stationarii so far, I will now pass on to the organization of the force. The force was appointed in and for the terri- torium of each city of the empire.' Over this force, so ' The officers of the stationarii included the Christians in this register, ostensibly for the purpose of having them in hand, but really that they might levy black mail upon them for letting them peaceably continue their xmlawful observances. Tertullian vouches this to us. He says (De fuga in persecutione), "Nescio dolendum an erubescendum sit, cumin matriclbus beneficiariorum et ouriosormn inter tabemarios et lanios, et fures balnearum, et aleones, et lenones, Christiani quoque, vectigales oontinentur?" He also tells us that the churches levied a voluntary rate upon themselves to meet this necessity. {lb. "Massaliter totae ecclesiae tiibutum sibi irrogaverunt." — "Pacisoeris cum delatore vel mUite.") In telling us this Tertullian has made a more important contribution to Christian history than at first sight might be thought. For he shows us hoTV, with a few exceptions, when individual prosecutors {accusatores) put the law in force against Christians out of spite or bigotry, the latter could lead a tolerably quiet life, though in the daily practice of rites con- demned by the law, being simply enabled to do so by bribing the officers of the stationarii under whose ken they came. The Eoman stationarii were, I have said, as the police are with us, the general prosecutors, and few persons were inoUned, with the prospect of a talio, to compete with them in that responsibility. * Cod. Theod. ii. 30, 1, and G-odefroye's note. ' Cod. Just. X. 77 : " Irenarchae, qui ad provinciarum tutelam quietis ac pacis' per singula territoria faciunt stare concordiam, a deourioni- bus judicio praesidum provinciarum idonei, nominentur." (Honorius and Theodosius, a.d. 409.) The same expression, "per singula terri- toria," occurs also in Cod. Theod. 12, 14, 1 — the same law. The inscription at Saepinum {ante) illustrates this also, for the com- plaints upon the subject of the stationarii recorded in that inscription are made directly to the dtmmmri. For this reason they are called regionantes in a passage in the Acta y2 324 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. stationed, there presided a head official called princeps pacis} In Asiatic Gbreece he was called the irenarch.^ We also find centurions or centenarii} Though the direct eyidenee of the details of the organiisation of the stationarii is restricted to these two words, that is by no means the limit of our knowledge upon this suhject. As the stationarii were milites, they were by necessity Martyrum (p. 275, Euinart), "Igitur apprehensis nobis, et apud regio- nantes in custodia oonstitutis, sententiam praesidis milites nunciare audivimns, quod heri corpus nostrum minaretur urere." Eegio is used for territorimn in the Acta Disputationis Sancta Achatii (ib. p. 199) — " Scutum quoddam ac refugium Antiochiae regionis." So in the Agri- mensores, passim. 1 Acta SS. Tryphonis et Respicii Martyrum (Euinart, p. 209) : " Missis igitur ex officio apparitorum rapti sunt a Frontone pads principe Aprimae civitatis, qui exierat ad exquisitionem sanctorum cum persecutoribus. Hoc autem erat indictum a praefectis. Quos inventos tradiderunt mili- tibus, qui ligaverunt cos et traxerunt in civitatem Meetem, ibique in carcerem missi sunt ab Aquilino praefecto." I am inclined to think that the princeps paeis is referred to imder the words praefeetus pacis in Cod. Theod. ii. tit. 30, o. 1. In the same manner Aristides, quoted in Euinart, p. 92 in note, speaks of a oustos pacis (piixaxa rns e/prvm). The princeps pacis was appointed either by the praefeetus praetorio or by the praeses, out of a number of names of the notables (locupletiores) of the territory submitted to biTn by the senate of the city, or he was appointed by the senate itseU, with the approval of the praeses (judicio praesidis). See Cod. Theod. xii. 14, 1, Cod. Just. x. 75, and Aristides quoted by Euinart at p. 92, in note. 2 The Asiatic Greeks applied the word irenarch to all grades of the stationarii ; e.g., Xenophon of Ephesus, in Ms novel, lib. iii. c. 9, says : * ' Tl^ptXaos TtSy ayrtp tuv irpairat 5yva/*c£vwv a/»X£iv ju,Ey £^£tporoyriQri Ttjf Eipnvnf rrif £v KtXjx/«, IfEXOftJy Se Im XmcTwy t^nrrnrtYj rieyixiyt rivet! (Tv\}M^uy \niTras.^^ Here we have already a princeps pacis of a city and its territory. The xlviii. 3, 1, 6, Dig. quoted ante, uses irenarch, firstly, for the stationarii generally ; and, secondly, for an officer of the body — a centurion. At p. 85, Euinart, in the passion of S. Polycarp, the irenarch who apprehends S. Polycarp is a simple stationarius. Godefroye (in note Cod. Theod. xii. 14) observed this contusion. He says: "Eosdem vero cum stationariis facio irenarchas, quique sub irenarchis his erant . . . Ergo iidem irenarohae et stationarii, saltern qui stationariis praeerant. Graeco enim verbo in oriente irenarchae, qui alibi stationarii." ^ Centurions (and centenarii) of stationarii occur continually in the Acta Martyrum and in Eusebius. See ante, in notes. THE UOMANS OF BRITAIN. 325 divided into coliorts precisely in the same manner as the legionaries, the praetorians, the urhan militia, the voluntarii, the peregrini and vigiles^ (a kindred force) were. The scheme of the army required this, and under this scheme a cohort was divided into centuriae (or centenae), officered by centurions (or cenfenarii), and into decuriae (or decaniae), commanded by sub-officers called decurions (or decani). And it was a peculiarity of the last7mentioned sub-officer that he was one of the ten whom he commanded.^ Thus organized, the force with its head was subordinate to the ' Kellermanii regarded tlie Vigiles as organized upon the same plan as the legionaries, and compiled his work on the Vigiles to prove this. He says (p. 1): "Ea Tero peropportnne est diversorum militiae urbanae generum inter se similitndo, ut optimo tuo jure tibi Uoeat ad alium genus transferre mimera atque instituta, quae in alio existere oognoveris. Ita quaeounque nova apud vigUea inveneris (invenies autem neque pauca neque levia) eadem recte cohortibus et praetorianis urbanis attribueris, si ea modo exceperis quae nisi solorum vigilum esse non potuerunt, Tota autem militia urbana non ita dispar erat militiae legionariae ut non magnam partem munerum novorum legionariis quoque cohortibus recte attribueris. TJt pauois dicam his monumentis totiKomanorum rei militari lux afpertur, maxime vero militiae urbanae imprimisque militiae vigilum urbanorum." Borghesi entirely agreed with Kellermann. In his review of the Vigiles, reprinted in the collected edition of his works (Oeuvres completes, vol. iii. p. 542), he says : " Ora 1' ordinamento dei vigili non era cosi discorde da quello del resto della militia urbana, ed anohe daUa legionaria, che nella massima parte non convenissero insieme." ^ Vegetius, lib.ii. c. 13: "Antiqui cohortes in centurias diviserunt . . . centnriones insuper qui nimo oentenarii vocantur . . . singulas jusserunt gubemare centurias. . . . Kursus ipsae centuriae in contubemia divisae sunt, ut decern militibus sub uno papilimie degentiius unus quasi praecsset decanus, qui caput oontubemii nominatnr. Contubemium. autem manipulus vdcabatur." Modestus (Lihellus de Vocabulis rei milltaris ad Taciturn Augustum) says: "Erant etiam centuriones, qui singulas centurias curabant, qui nunc oentenarii nominantur. Erant decani decern militibus praepositi, qui nunc caput contubemii vocantur." So also Isidorus, Orig. lib. ui. c. 3. The expression in Vegetius, "decem militibus sub uno papUione degen- tibus unus praeesset decanus, ' ' shows clearly that the decanus was himself one of the ten, i. e. their primus (see post, in note) ; and I do not hesitate to hold this view, though Facciolati and EorceUini have expressed a different 326 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. magistrates of the city, whose territory they were appointed to guard and protect.' This, so far, is I think tolerably clear, and it only remaias to consider what were the stations from which these milites derived their name. In the first place it is perfectly certain that the stations were sub-divisions of the territory of a city, because, each body of stationarii being appointed to act for a particulax territory,^ its stations would necessarily be within that territory. We know, therefore, what was the area within which the stations were situated. Oiar information does not stop here. We have authority, as I shall show, for concluding that some of these stations, the more important ones, were co-extensive with the pagi of a territory. The authority for this assertion is as follows. Late in the empire the duties of the praepositus pagi were accumulated upon the irenarchs, i. e. the officers of the stationarii.^ What the pagus was is definitely known. It was a sub-division of the territory of every city. Within this range the prae- one. Tlieysay, siib noee deoanus, "deoanus (Sixip^os) in exeroitu dioebatnr qui decem praeerat miiitibiis, ita ut ipse esset xmdecimus." Tlie reason wliy tlie decanus is tlius reckoned as a miles, together ■with the milites 'whom he commanded, is simply tMs ; he was a miles (though at the same time a sub-officer), and therefore, in the numerical divisions of the army where the milites were numbered, he was by necessity reckoned up with the other milites of his own division, and could not be throvra. out of the calculation. Zell (vol. ii. p. 30i) observes : ' ' Alle steUen abwarts von dem centurio (bei ims leutenante, vmteroffiziere, gefreite) zahleu zu den soldaten milites, nur heissen sie milites principales; (mit principales werden aber auoh zuweilen aHe ohargirten, die offiziere mit inbe- griffen, bezeichnet,) die iibrigen milites mimioipes (Veget. ii. 7) oder 1 See the inscription at Saepinum, ante. ' See ante. ' Dig. 1, i, 18, 7: " Irenarchae quoque, qui disoipUnae publioae et oor- rigendis moribus praefioiuntnr, sed et qui ad reficiendas vias eligi solent," &c. The "praefeotus pacis" mentioned in Cod. Theod. ii. tit. 30, c. 1, is identified by G-odefroye with the praepositus pagi. THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 327 positus pagi raised recruits,^ collected taxes,'^ and conducted tlie repairs of the roads.' "When therefore these duties, purely local, were imposed upon an officer of the stationarii, in addition to his own as executed hy him in his own district, it is reasonable to suppose that the latter was at least co-extensive with the scene of the new and additional duties, for otherwise it would he simply out of his power to perform them. That this is a correct supposition is shown by a docu- ment preserved iu Busebius's Ecclesiastical History — ^the dispatch of the praefedus praetorio Sabinus — ^whioh con- tains the emperor Maximin's famous palinode, directing the persecution in the Bast to be stayed.* This document is addressed to the praesides of the provinces {-Trpo^ rous xaT %^ws vryavfji^imus) , and orders them to write to the rationales, the duumviri of the cities {arpafnyohs) , and to ^q praepositi pagorum of every city, i. e. of its territory [vpamcomrois rod Tcdyou iKdarfts tcoKeojs). On its receipt (says Busebius) the various praesides communicated the decree to the rationales, the duumviri, and " rots kout aypohs kT!irBrayii,EMois" i. e. the officers of the stationarii, whom the instrument itself has previously called praepositi pagorum. In this, therefore, we have evidence that some of the police districts were co-extensive with the pagi. We know, also, that ia Italy, after the barbarian conquests, the police district, which was then called centena, was the same as the 2^0'gii'S, so far as names are concerned, for the two words pagus and centena are used interchangeably.' The pagus, however, was, as we aU know, a very old ' Prontinus (Lachman, p. 63). 2 Cod. 10, 72, 2. ' Sioulus Kaoous (Laolmiaii, p. 146), and "ExlibrisMagoms" (iS.p. 348). * H. E. lib. ix. c. 1. ^ See post, in note. 328 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. division of a terrUorium, long antecedent in date to the institution of tlie stationarii, and, though applied to the police system, as we have just seen, existed independently of it. It cannot, under these circumstances, he the proper or original appellation of a police station. The names of police stations would, most prohahly, be taken from the divisions of the force posted at them. That this was really so I think I can prove. In the Acta Sincera Martyrum ' I find the word centuriaria used iu a sense which shows that it can only mean statio centuriaria. In the Passion of SS. Jacobus, Marianus and others is the following passage : — "Vixdum enim biduum fluxerat, et ecce Marianum et Jacobum carissimos nostros sua palma quaerebat: nee, ut aliis ia locis, unus hoc, aut alius, stationarius miles agebat, sed Centuriaria. Nam violenta manus, et improba multi- tudo sic ad villam quae nos habebat, quasi" ad famosam sedem fidei convolsirat." ^ In the construction of this passage "statio" must be understood. "Manus," the only other word which can be supposed, and is grammatically accor- dant with " centuriaria," is out of the question entirely ; for, if that had been meant, the writer of the Passion would have simply said " centuria." If we can take this to be the right interpretation of centuriaria, we are in a position to go further, and may expect to find another form of station, answering to the correlatives of a centuria, viz. its decuriae or decaniae. Such a station, if we follow a rule for which there is sufficient precedent, would be decanica (statio being understood) or deeanicum. In cor- I Ruinart, p. 269. ^ This is the reading of the Cod. S. Maximltii Trevirensis and is unquestionably the true one. The only other reading of the MSS. is "centurio," but the sentence -which foUo-ws renders this impossible. See Euinart, note 6, p. 269. THE IIOIIAKS OF BRITAIN. 329 roTaoration of this opinion I will say, that there is actually to be found the word decanicum, used by good writers in the sense of a look-up. BasHius Diaconus (in libello ad Theodosium et Valentinianum) a.d. 425 — 450, uses the word. He says : ^ " KaxErStv twitro^A.hoi dicrryi^A.i^a. h rZ SezaVDioj, xaxsr yvfjLVovs ril^a.!, ws Srtfj.iovs yia.] uisw&uvovs nfjiuol^ EKoXdaav." This is not the only instance. The word is also used by Justinian iu precisely the same sense. In the 79 Nov. cap. 3 is an enactment against civil judges who shall try a cause against a monk or a nun. Then follows this provision against the inferior officers of the court: " £i Je ys spdiiTopes ol roX/Avsavres TrpoaayayEtv oXair JTro/xvr/triv, vTT avrSv rav OBolpiXsardrcov iinaalmcov xojXusijQcoaav, xal xaBsip- yiaOcoaccv £v roir Ka.\ouj/,smis SexocVMOis, naivas rar •npoarMoiiaas v(piS,ovres." In the LatiQ text: " Sia vero exsecutores siat, qui omnino citare audeant, ab ipsis Deo carissimis episcopis prohibeantur, et locis, quae decanica appeUantur, inclu- dantur, poenas convenientes subituri." Calvin, in his Lexicon Juridicuni, has this observation upon the preceding passage iu Justioian : — " Decanica, in Novell, p. 79, loca simt pubUca, quae tamen non sunt carceres, Kcet in ea quandoque rei conjiciantur custodiae causa." Calvin is thus clearly of opinion that a decanicum was a place of temporary custody — a look-up. But if decanicum has this meaning, and is derived, as of course it is, from decanus and decania, what can it be if it be not the station of a decania of stationarii ? The actual stations themselves were ia large villages. Libanius, the sophist,^ says :^- "siffi xcijMai fj^syakat, itoXXZv kudarv ^sa<7loTSv, aZrai xa.riic(pEvyov(jiv OT( rovs ISpviJiimvs ar par tar as," i.e., there are great villages belonging to many landowners ; these (their inhabitants) ' Quoted by Godefroye iu his Conunent upon God. Theod. xvi. 5, 30. ^ Quoted by Godefroye, Cod. Theod. toI. iv. p. 173, in note. 330 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. fly to the milites stationed, viz. in such villages. This passage can have no reference to milites of the army, for they -would he stationed not in villages, but in eastra (harracks) or castella and praetenturae (forts). This is all I have been able to collect upon the subject of the milites statipnarii. After the fall of the western empire these milites station- arii nominally disappear. But, as a poUee still exists in all the countries where these milites formerly performed their functions, it will be reasonable to inquire what affinity this new police bore to the old. Preliminarily I will observe, that, whether the two forces were the same or diverse, there would be necessarily one ostensible difference between them. While the Roman police was a paid body, the post-E/oman police, Kke the post-Roman army, would be unpaid. For, when the imperial government ceased, all salaried functionaries and officials were effaced from the western world. The paid army of the empire was replaced by unpaid levies, and the free men in like manner did gratuitously the duties of policemen. The element of pay in the one force, and its absence in the other, being there- fore no part of the essence of either system, the identity or diversity of the two depends on their other details, and can only be determined by a careful comparison of both organizations. We have seen what the Roman police was. What the post-Roman police was can be made out quite as completely. In the times following the barbarian conquests in Europe the territorium of every city is called the county, and this for police purposes we find divided into centeiiae and decaniae. This division and these names prevail in Italy, in France, in Spain, and even in Wales and Brittany.' 1 'For Italy see Luitprand (Mnratori, Kertun Italioarum Scriptores, vol. u. p. 60, Hb. V. c. 15), wlio says, "Be servo fugace et advena THE ROMANS OF BKITAIN. 331 Over each cenfena is a eentenarms, over each decania a decanus ; all these ofilcers were, on the continent, subject to the comes, or civil and military chief of the county. homine, si in alia judiciaria iaventus fuerit, tiiao decanus, aut saltarius, qui in loco ordinatus fuerit, oompreliendere eum debeat, et ad sculdasium suum perduoat. , Et ipse souldasius judici suo oonsignet, et ipse judex potestatem habeat emu inquirendi, Tinde ipse est. Et si inventus fuerit qued servus sit, aut fur, mox mandet ad judioem, aut ad dominum ejus uude ipse fugerit." The Souldasius is the judex pagi, i. e. the oentenarius. (See Muratori's note to iJ. p. 60.) For Eranoe see Maroulfus, Eorlnnlae solenmes pubUcorum priTato- rumque negotiorunij o. 11, p. 1220 : " Oarolus, rex Pranoorum," addresses a grant of immunity from toU to "ducibus, comitibus, domestiois, vicariis, oentenariis, vel omnibus agentibus nostris." So also ib. o. 177, p. 1295. Decani are also mentioned by name elsewhere. It is true that a oente- narius is found in the Lex Salica (o. 46, p. 334 and c. 48), but that does not prove him to be a German invention. The whole of that code is full of Koman imitations — one even that would scarcely be expected, viz. the tractio testis per aurem, the only mode known to the world of making a witness in civil causes before Justinian introduced the subpoena ia these as in criminal causes. This common expression, and general rule, of Koman law both occur in the Bavarian, the Alamannio, and the Eipuarian EranMsh codes (viz. aurem torquere in testimonium). See Lindenbrogius's Glossary, p. '1360, and Pestus, Varro, Isidorus, Pulgentius, PHny, Horace, with his com- mentators Acron and Porphyrion. We an reooUect Horace's (Ub. i. sat. 9) " appono auriculam." I refer to this usage, because nothing can more vividly Uluetrate the eai-ly Teutonic borrowings from the civil law. A bit of purely classical phraseology, a rule of conventional law become naturalized, the one in the rude mouths, the latter in the ruder minds, of barbarians, living beyond the power but sensible to the iniuences of Rome. Because Roman principles are found in early or late German laws, it by no means follows that these principles are Germanic. The LL. Anglorum et Verinorum are full of imitations of this sort. Even to express that peculiarly German institution — vassalage — to which no antitype in existing Roman usages could be found, the barbarians, or those who taught them Latin enough to codify, went back to Roman antiquity in order to findfor it a purely classical phrase, — "se oommendare." Chaerea (Eunuch, act 5, so. i.), says to Thais, " Ego me tuae commendo et oom- mittofide." i Eor Spain see Lex Wisigothorum. Lindenbrogius, vol. i. p. 25, Hb. ii. c. 26, enumerates amongst the judges the oentenarius and decanus. So also hb. ix. c. 1, p. 185. In "Wales the gwlad (shire) is divided into cautrefs (hundreds), the 332 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. In the same times in England our shire, which is identical with the territorium,^ is found divided into hun- oantrefs being subdivided into cymmwds (tithings). See Glossary to Ancient Laws and Institutes of Wales, and the Antiqiiae Linguae Britannicae Thesaurus by the Rev. Thomas Richards, curate of Coy- church, 1753. The*last-named is not merely a dictionary, but a work of high archseological merit, in which original and then unpublished documents are referred to. Cantref preserves centena. It is generally considered to be literally a hundred villages, but is in reality just as literally the village of one hundred, i. e. men. See Lobineau's Histoire de Bretagne (Paris, 1707, tom. ii. p. 57), where centena in the sense mentioned in the text occurs several times, e.g. " Dono illas res meas, quae sunt in pago Redonico in centena Laliaoinse" (a.b. 854). Pagus is here used in the sense of territoritim ; see Raynouard's Histoire du Droit Municipal en France, tom. i. pp. 33, 34. See the same work of Lobineau, tom. i. p. 71, for centurions as officers under the counts ; also ib. tom. ii. p. 67, where the centurion Rivaroie attests a deed, and ih. where a decanus named Riwooon does the same thing (in each case, a.b. 858). See also the "Cartulaire de I'Abbaye de Redon en Bretagne," Revue Archeologique, tom. vii. N. S. p. 399. ' The Anglo-Saxon word .£cyr is an ellipse of an older form, which better explains itself, viz. burh scyr. .Silfric has preserved this form. (Homilies by Thorpe, i., p. 366, and alibi.) E converso, iEthelstan (Thorpe's edition, vol. i. p. 194) uses birig in the sense of shire, " cyS ]iam gerefan to hwilcere birig." The passage in which these words occur, as being a direction fo pay tithes and earthly fruits, cannot apply to a city or borough proper. So civitaa in Latin is used for territorium. See Cod. Theod. xii. 1, 174 (a.d. 412), " extra metas propriae civitatis." This is amplified by Tribonian into "extra metas territorii propriae civitatis" [ib.]. See also Dig. 50, tit. 15, c. 4 : "nomen fundi cujusque, et in qua civitate, et quo pago sit." It is used just in the same sense in Diocletian's edict, appointiiig a fixed tariff for all articles (1 Zell, p. 315), "Maximo cum ejusmodi statute, non civitatibus singulis ac populis adque provinciis, sed universe orbi provisum esse videatur." There is material evidence, also, which demon- strates the identity of the English shire with the territorium. of a Roman city. The trifinium at Lilboum, co. Northampton, is a point where three shires meet, as it was where three territoria met. The subsecival stone at Thames Head, which has never been removed, is still on the border of two counties, as in Roman times it was on the Unea flnitima of two territoria. (See ante, pp. 99, 111.) The same irregularity of outline, which belonged to Roman territoria, is observable in English shires. THE ROMANS OF BllITAIN. 333 dreds ;i and these hundreds are again divided into tithings, names which differ in idiom only from the continental centenae and decaniae. Of the hundred there wasa chief called the hundredman^ or hundredes ealdor/ who was assisted ia his duties by a council of twelve.* Of the tithing there was a chief called the tithirfgman,^ who ia his turn was assisted by a council of ten, beiag himself one of those ten.* (See ante.) Finally there is another evidence of their identity. The relation of the civitas to its territorium and that of the iurh to the scyr is precisely the same. The territory belonged to the civitas, not the civitas to the territory. And in a lite relation stood the borough to the shire. On the death of the great Ealdorman .ffithelred the Lord of Mercia, King Eadward " feng to Lunden byrig and to Oxnaforda and to eallum Sam landum Jie Jiserto hyrdon." (A. S. Chron. (Thorpe's edit.) p. 187, A.D. 912.) In the same Chronicle (a.d. 1097, ii. p. 363), certain shires, for the purposes of burhbot and brycgbot, are declared to belong to London : " Eao manige soiran tJe mid weorce to Lundene belumpon wurdon Kserle gedrehte Surh tJone weall Se hi -worhton onbutan tJone Tur and Surh cJa brycge 6e fomeah call to flotan waes, and tSurh Sees cynges heaU geweorc Se man on Westmynstre worhte, and maenige men ^Jser mid gedrehte." And it is noticeable that the Book of Ely calls a shire a territorium (e.g. p. 117, "in territorio quod dicitur Grrantebrygge"). ' This territorial division is alluded to as early as the time of King Ine, but under the name of "hynden" (Laws of Ine, c. 54); though this word was superseded by "hundred," as regarded the division of the shire, it remained as denoting the centuria of a guild or collegium. (See post.) ' Eadgar's Laws, c. 2. ' lb. c. 8, suppl. * lb. c. 5, suppl. ^ li. 0. 2. " Teotfingman" is the word of the text. ^ The Anglo-Saxon evidences do not give us the number of the tithingmau's assistants. But this is of little moment ; the collection of law's called Leges Regis Henrioi I. and the coiomon law, which was only a transmission of so called Anglo-Saxon institutes, supply this deficiency, and tell us that the tithingman was the chief of ten, being himself one of those ten. The former say, "Presit autem singulis hominum novenis deoimus" (viii. s. 1). Cowell (title Headborough) says, "A headborough, the chief of the frankpledge, was also called borsholder, thirdborrow, tithingman, pledge, &c. according to the diversity of speech 334 THE ROMANS OF BEITAIN. The duties of the hundxedman and tithingman are thus defined and discriminated. If a theft or a murder were committed, and the offender fled, the accuser applied to the hundredman to take measures for the apprehension of the guilty person.' The hundredman gave directions to the tithingman of his hundred to pursue the criminal.' If the latter was tracked into another himdred the chief of that hundred took up the pursuit in company -with those who had commenced it, and so the criminal was run down.^ Besides all this, the authorities of the himdred and tithing exercised a care over the community which bore a very great affinity to modem poHee surveillance. All freemen were bound upon pain of forfeiting their civU rights to belong to a himdred and a tithiug in order that their chief might render them whenever criminal justice required their production.* Again, aU purchases were to be made in the presence of the hundredman and his assistants, or in several parts. The same officer is now called a constable." He then goes on: "The headborough -was the chief of the ten pledges. The other nine -were called handboroughs, or plegii mammies, or inferior pledges." I do not understand why a peace officer was called a third- borough, but it occurs before the Conquest under a Latin translation, triumvir. In the Book of Ely, p. 147, Dr. Giles's edition, we find a nobleman, who has been robbed, going in search of the thief, "cum centuiionibus, et trium-viris, et praeconibus." ' Eadgar's Laws, c. 2. ^ lb. 3 lb. 0. 5. * Ciiut's Domas, c. 20. The passage in this law, "and gehealde se borh bine and gelaede to selcan rihte" has been misunderstood by Mr. Thorpe, who translates it thus, "And let the borh hold and lead him to every plea." This translation makes the law apply to civil suits, not 'to criminal prosecutions, as it really is meaat to do. The true meaning is, "let the borh watch him and render him to justice." That gehealde has the meaning which I have asserted for it may be amply illustrated, e. g. (S. Matt, xxvii. 54) "Witodlice faes hundredes ealdor, and ]ja Je mid him waeron healdende Jone haslend," i.e. the centurion and those that were with him watching the Saviour. THE EOMANS OF BRITAIN. 335 of the tithingman.^ Lastly, the hundi-ed being named in Anglo-Saxon times (as it stiU. is in our own) ftom a vill or a larger -village,^ it follows that the head quarters of the hundredman and his assistants were in that vill. The same thiag is also, for the same reason, presumable of the tithing. This was our old English police. Such as it was, there was none other known ia England until the reign of King "William IV., when a better organization was introduced, and shortly afterwards, the S & 6 Yict. c. 109 enacted " that for the future no j)etty constable, headborough, borsholder, tithingman or peace officer of the Kke description shall be appointed for any parish, township or vill, except for the performance of duties unconnected with the preseryation of the peace." Now in this old English police there is nothing whatever, if we take its known history, its organization, or its pur- poses, that gives any hint why the one district should have been called a hundred and the other a tithing. And yet it is only fair to suspect that if we can get at the rationale of these two names, which must be significant, we shall have no difficulty in arriving at the ultimate origia of the two institutions, which are everywhere called by the same appellations, and everywhere answer the same ends. Of course there has been a theory upon this subject, and that I will proceed to examine. It has been confidently asserted that we owe the two institutions to the barbarians who appropriated the provinces when the Western empire fell. However wUling we may be to acquiesce in any solution which explaias a really interestiag poiat of arch- ^ Eadgar, c. 4, and Supplement, oo. 6, 10. ^ See the Anglo-Saxon text published by Sir Henry EUis referred to post. This refers to King Edward the Confessor's time, and gives the Anglo-Saxon names of the hundreds of Northamptonshire. 336 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. seology, a little reflection teUs us that the form of pro- position so offered in explanation is too complex to he convincing. To make it primd facie acceptable, the expla- nation, such as it is, should be divided into two propositions, ■which must aver either that the institutions in question pre-existed amongst the barbarians, and so were introduced by them on the occasion of their occupation of the "Western empire, or that they were self-originated after and in con- sequence of this occupation. "With two propositions such as these are it is perfectly practicable to deal. In support of the first, the cardinal proof adduced is that the two institutions are found in those, parts of the empire where the barbarian armies settled. This is true ; but the con- clusion sought to be drawn from this fact is neutralized by the other fact, which I have already mentioned, viz., that precisely the same institutions prevailed under the same names in other parts of the empire where the barbarians never penetrated, viz. in Brittany and in "Wales. The argument therefore fails; because, if the hundred and tithing were pre-existing institutions of the barbarians, introduced by them into the empire, they should be pecu- liar to those provinces only which they occupied, and wherein they had necessarily the power of importing their own usages. If the pre-existence of the hundred and tithing rests only upon this evidence, we may, in perfect confidence, decide against it. But this is only one of two arguments ; another remains. There is a weU-known passage in the Germania of Tacitus in which he says, that " one hundred men accompanied the native magistrate in his circuits through the coimtry, assisting him in framing his judgments and in carrying them into execution."' This, again, is an argument that ' Tacitus de Mor. Ger. c. 12. "Eliguntur in eisdem conciliis et prin- cipes, qui jura per pagos vioosque reddunt. Centum singulis ex plete THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 337 misses the mark. The hundred which we seek to explain is a district. Before, therefore, Tacitus's one hundred men could have impressed that numeral upon a district, it must be shown that districts (or divisions of the gau) existed in old Germany. Tacitus does not speak of them. He only says that circuits were made through the whole inhabited country. Again, the passage does not in any way refer to a decania or tithing, and no explanation is good of the hundred which does not account for the other also. So much for the first proposition. The second proposition has had supporters amongst dis- tinguished antiquaries in times past. Muratori thought that the centena iu Italy must have consisted of one hundred families living ia one district, and subjected to a headman, who governed them ; the tithing also being, in his opiaion, analogously constituted and ruled.' Ducange had the comites, consilium simvil et auotoritae, adstmt." This is the only passage in Tacitus that bears in any way upon the question. Sir William Black- stone, however, has fearlessly applied to it a previous passage in the same book (o. 6), where Tacitus says that there was always placed in the front of the battle a vanguard composed of contingents of one hundred men each, "DefJTiitur et numerus: centeni ex singulis pagis sunt; idque ipsura inter sues vooantur. Et quod prime numerus fuit, jam nomen et honor est." Upon this the great jurist observes (Introd. to Comment, p. 130, Stephen): "And, indeed, something like this institution of hundreds may be traced back so far as the ancient Germans, from whom were derived both the Pranks, who became masters of Gaul, and the Saxons, who settled in England. Eor both the thing and the name, as a territorial assemblage of persons, from which afterwards the territory itself might pro- bably receive its denomination, were well known to that warlike people." Lappenberg (Gesohichte von England, Erster Band, Hamburg, 1834, seohste AbtheUung von den innem Zustanden der Angelsachsen, p. 584), who may be taken as the exponent of German views, has adopted a theory which rests upon the first of these passages of Tacitus. He says : ' ' The division of the land into hundreds rests upon the ancient army organiza- tion, like the corresponding northern division in herrads. Both names were given to a district, which selected a hundred men for the protection and counsel of the ealdorman." ' Soriptores Rerum Italicarum, tom. i. p. 519. C. Z 338 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. same fancy as regards France.' Our own Kelham took the like view for tliis country;^ he says, "The division {i.e. of the hundred) was not made by extent, hut by population." Blackstone followed in the wake of these two writers. "As to the tithings," he says,' "they were so called from the Saxon, because ten freeholders with their families composed one. * * * ^ ten families of freeholders made up a town or tithing, so ten tithings composed a superior division, called a hundred, as con- sisting of ten times ten families." The basis of all these assertions is the theory of self-origination, and out of this theory the writers have evolved their facts also, for the latter never existed away from the brain of the theorists themselves, the hundred and tithing, both in Italy and England, being established territorial districts entirely independent of all numerical considerations. Besides these comparatively modem views there is a much older but not better theory ; our remote ancestors imagined that the hundred was so called because it consisted of one himdred hides.* This was ingenious, and would be more plausible if it could be proved that the hundred ever consisted of such a certain measurement of land. This, however, it was as much out of the power of our old native theorists, as it would be of ourselves, to prove. I know of nothing else that has been advanced on this side. On the other side, the objections that suggest them- selves are numerous and, I think, invincible. There is no ' Ducange, sub Toce Centena. " Centenas a CMotario primnm insti- tutas ad latrones arcendos videtur posse colligi. Dicta vero centena a centiim familiis, quibus constabat." ^ Domesday Book illustrated. ' Introd. to Comment, vol. i. pp. 127, 129, Stephen's edit. * See the original Anglo-Saxon text published by Sir Henry Ellis in his " General Introduction to Domesday." THE ROMANS OF BEITAIN. 339 difference whatever in essence or in name between the institutions as they are found in the provinces occupied by the barbarians, and in. those regions which were left intact to the provincials themselves. Taking this fact, and assuming that these institutions were either barbaric or self-origiaated under barbaric influences, we should have two results, vi^., that the semi-polished Visigoth and Ostrogoth, the ruder Frank and Burgundian, and the almost savage Jute, Angle and Saxon,^ iuvented, separately and simultaneously, the hundred and tithing for their new countries; and that the Armoricans and the "Welsh, old provincials, but through their common independence entirely severed from each other, also invented the same institutions at the same time. As such results, however, would, if accepted, entirely repugn all historical experi- ence, I may confidently affirm that this common self- origination amongst such estranged and differing peoples is impossible. But if there were no separate self-originations of institu- tions thus co-existing amongst barbarians and provincials, they must have had a common source — a source that, being neither Grothic, Germanic, nor Celtic, was outside of them all. The source, however, of any institution common to all the provinces of the West, and neither barbaric nor self-originated under barbaric influences, mounts by neces- sity up to E.ome and her laws. Further, the denominations of these two institutions being decimal, some portion of their essence must have been connected with a decimal system. But the only people of antiquity that affected decimals were the Eomans. With that people decimals were a passion from 1 Perhaps quite savage. Salvianus (lib. iv. De Providentia Dei) says : ' ' Gens Saxonum f era est, Prancorum iniidelis, G-epidarum inhumana, et Himnormn impudica; ommum denique gentium barbararum vita vitiosa." z2 340 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. the days of tlie kings to the last moment of the empire. With two exceptions only all was decimal. The gentes of old Eome, the senate, the trihes, the colonial municipali- ties, the army, and all puhKc and private bodies, were decimally divided. Land even ia its acreage, and slaves indoors and out of doors, all underwent the same division.' The exceptions were that men weighed and measured in twelves,^ and prayed and cursed in threes.' ' See Mommsen, Bbmische GresoMchte, vol. i. e. 5. Ten houses made a gens, ten gentes (or a hundred houses) a curia, ten curiae (a hundred gentes, or a thousand houses) formed the community. Further, every house found a man for the army of foot, thence miles, &c. In the senate there were ten decuriae, each of which had. a primus. They together formed the decern primi. (Niebuhr's Lectures, by L. Schmidt, p. 143.) The tribes were divided into centuriae and the eenturiae into decuriae. (Zell, Anleitung, p. 113.) So the municipal senates oonsiBted of oentum- viri, or a hundred decurioues, each the head of ten houses or a decuria. (See Mommsen, ante; Noel des Vergers, VEtrurie et lea Etrusqwa, vol. iii. appendice epigraphique, No. 1 ; Henzen, Annali di Koma, vol. iii. p. 205.) For the army, see ante. As well as private persons, who formed collegia, all public functionaries were constituted into colleges, and all colleges were divided into centuriae and decuriae. (See Massman, Lihellus Aurariua, p. 74 et acq.) In the agrimenaura, lands were divided into tens, a hundred, two hundred, a thousand acres. See the Agrimenaorea. Out-door slaves were worked in decuriae or gangs of ten. (Columella, lib. i. e. 9.) In-door slaves were divided in the same fashion, and were presided over by decurions. See the tituli of the columbarium of the slaves of the Empress Livia. (Zell, pp. 129, 130.) Colonists oast lots for the land about to be distributed, "per decurias," or "per homines denos." (See Hyginus, p. 113, Lachman's Agrimensores.) ^ The Assarian system. ' To prevent a carriage from overturning, Romans pronounced a prayer three times. (Plinii N. H. xxvui. 4.) Martianus Capella, Ub. vii. p. 259, Eyssenhardt's edition, says: "Cujus (i.e. of the triaa) auspioio preces tertio ac libamina repetuntnr." In the "Fratres Arvales" we find pic- turesque Ulustrations of the practice, e.g. "Omnes foris exierunt. Ibi sacerdotes clusi succincti libeUis acoeptis carmen descindentes tripodave- mmt in verba haec: EnosLasesjuvate. Enos Lases juvate. Enos Lases juvate." And so on in the same way with other sentences. (Marini, tab. zli a, p. 160.) This lasted to the latest days of heathenism. The pagan army of Licinius (Lact. De Mortibus Persecutorum, c. 46) repeated three times the THE ROMANS OF BBITAIN. 341 Upon this evidence can we resist the conclusion that the institutions under consideration were Roman ? If this conclusion be accepted, the question is narrowed to one of identification only. In other words, we have to iaquire merely to what Roman institution are we to appropriate the hundred and tithing ? I answer this- by saying that they are, in my opinion, to be identified with stations of the milites stationani, and for these reasons. The milites stationarii were police, were decimal in their organization, and were posted in stations which received their names, through that same system, from the cohortal divisions of the force, viz. centuriariae and decanica. Further, these stations were placed within the territory of each city, and the vicus, more or less large, which formed the quarters, was the centre of each police district. On the other hand, the Anglo-Saxon hundred and tithing were police districts, taking their names from the vills and villages which formed their centre. They were divisions of the shire which itself was conterminous with and no other than the territorkim of a Roman city. Further, the names hundred and tithing were necessarily a reminiscence of a numerical system which, and which only, could have given them such a form of designation. It is true that in the historical Anglo-Saxon period its name was no longer applicable to the hundred;' but of prayer whioli had been dictated to their leader in a dream (iUi oratione ter dicta, &c.) So the franMncense was taken up in three fingers to throw upon the altar. (Laot. Div. Instit. lib. t. c. 18.) "Nam cruoiari, atque interfioi malle, quam thura, tribus digitis comprehensa, in focum jactare tarn ineptum, videtur," &o. ' There was a reminiscence that the hundred had in former times a better connexion ■vsdth its name. For, in translating the gospels, the translator gave to a Boman centurion the same designation as that of his own hundredmau; S. Matt, xxvii. 54, "hundredes ealdor;" S. Marc. xv. 39, "hundredes man." 342 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. the tithing it was even then, as it was for ages later, per- fectly true. An additional circumstance also confirms the ahsolute identity of the tithing with the decania. For as the Eoman decanus presided over ten men, heiug himself one of these ten,i so ia the Anglo-Saxon and old English tithing there prevailed also this strange conventional pecu- liarity of reckoning. In conclusion, I have only to observe that I do not pretend to assert or imply that the present hundreds of this country are now precisely the same local districts in aU our counties that existed during the Eoman period. On the contrary, iu many or most of the counties they must have undergone a great change — imquestionahly they will have been diminished iu extent, for when twelve unprofessional rustics had to do the duties of one hundred Eoman soldiers, the area of their operations would be necessarily reduced in proportion to their smaller numbers and diminished efficiency. Besides leaving to the Eoman of Britaiu his lands, his laws, his courts and his police, the conquerors conceded to him also his cities, with all their municipal reg^ations. And in doiug so they remitted no one of the fiscal obliga- tions attaching either to the citizens or the cities. In the light of these great concessions in respect of his status quo ante the Eoman of Britain pardonably regarded himself, iu despite of the apparent imperial abandonment, as still a citizen of the eternal city — as still cick Romanus — ^however • A similar thing to wliat I have contended for ia the text, though on a larger scale, occurred in the Eastern empire. In that empire the word thema was first applied to the Eoman legion. Next the military districts garrisoned by a legion were called themata. Ultimately the word was used independently of all military references, merely to indicate geo- graphical administratire divisions, which from this beginning had become a part of the empire. (Piolay's History of the Byzantine Empire, vol. i. p. 14, in note.) THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 343 the cold shadow of encroaching barbarism dimmed the splendour of his illiistrious birthright.^ But it is vdth the Roman of Britain not as civis Romanus, but as municeps of a Roman city, and with the peculiarities of this last-mentioned condition, that we have to deal. The Roman was emphatically what we call a citizen. Though as the descendant of a colonist he was a landed proprietor — a, possessor — he did not reside iu the country, however much and habitually he resorted thereto for business or for relaxation.^ His city was Hs fatherland {patria), and the law called it so.' It was also his home, and he never ceased so to designate it.* There was his house of residence; there custom at least required that his protracted abode should be; there all his public functions were performed, and there was the scene of aU his duties. As decurion he was disabled under penalties from leaving his city.' As an ' S. Patrick's words, addressed to tlie subjects of Coroticus ("ad Christianos Corotioi tyrariTii subditos"), wbo were desoeadants of Komans, prove this. The Saint says : " Et manu mea scripsi atque coudidi verba ista danda ac tradenda militibus mittenda Corotioi, non dico ciribus mels, atque oivibus sanctorum BiOmanorum, sed civibus dsemoniormn ob mala opera ipsorum," &c. (ViOaimeTa's edit. Dublin, p. 241.) As Coroticus and the Saint belonged, as a matter of fact, to cities distant from each other, and totally different, the Saint cannot allude to such a restricted form of citizenship as the mere belonging to the same provincial civitas would confer. He alludes, therefore, to Rome, of which all provincials were in law citizens, as much as the de facto inhabitants of Kome. ' Columella (hb. 1, c. 1) : "Nunc et ipsi praedia nostra colere dedig- namur, et nuUius momenti ducimus imperitissimum quemque villloum faoere. . . . Omnes enim patres familiae, falce et aratris relictis, intra murum correpsimus." {lb. 12): " Quoniam et villici suocesserunt in locum dominorum, qui quondam prisca consuetudine non solum coluerunt, sed habitavenint rura." 2 Dig. 48, 22, 7, 19. See also post, in note. * See 1 Zell, passim, e. g. "Domo Verona" {ib. ins. 994, p. llS) ; "Domo Mediolano" [ib. ins. 1002, p. 116). ' Cod. Theod. 12, 18, 2: " Curiales omnes jubemTis intenuinatione 344 THE KOMANS OF BRITAIN. office bearer of lesser dignity he had no leisure to do so. As citizen he could not be long away from it, for living in a close borough, where honours feU thick upon the privileged municipes, and where the deeurionate was the goal of local ambition, he was always iu performance or expectancy of one or more of the various and manifold micnera, the sum of which had to be perfected as a neces- sary preparation for that ultimate honour.^ There also was his collegium, his adopted and other home, where the griefs and anxieties of the real one were temporarily exchanged for the - soothing conmranion of social intercourse.^ All these circumstances, singly or ia combination, com- pelled on the part of the Roman a continued residence in towns, and as a necessary consequence all men of landed estate — all gentlemen — ^Uved within the four walls of a city.' " Validis saepti degebant turribus aevmn." Britain after her colonization was no exception to this general plan. Colonization implied cities as well as colonists, as we have before seen. And of these homes of the colonists there were in Britain, as early as a.d. 260, fifty-nine* — civitates, municipia, cohniae — ^besides innumer- able lesser towns and village communes, the municipaKties of vici and castella merely.^ moneri ne civitates fugiant, aut deserant rus abitandi causa, fundum quem civitati praetulerint scientes fisco esse sociandmn, eoque ruri esse carituros, cujus causa impios se, vitandi patiiam demonstrarint." » Cod. Theod. 12, 1, 57. 2 This is Tirtually an expression of Julian the Aegyptian (Anthologia Graeca, torn. ii. Tauchnitz's edit. p. 177), — ** HSeiX -TravVa xlXsuQtf Xa;^£v C/or, aarii ju,£aaem hagan ^e is to eastan Wulfsiges crofte ;" i. e., "Also we convey to him the plot of ground belonging to the house which is to the east of Wulfsig's croft." THE KOMANS OF BRITAIN. 361 not built on the sea shore, was the market-place (ceapstowe), and there also were the public buildings.^ Outside of the walls was still the unbuilt space, which in Roman times was called the pomoerimn, in later days the lurhicaramearc} And exterior to all in the shire itself lay the meads and forests, the property of the borough, in which the burgesses, as such, enjoyed common of pasture and wood.' Those local divisions of a Eoman city, which I have said were called curiae and regiones, still remained in the boroughs. There they were called sciras. York was divided into seven of these shires.* Five of them, when Domesday was compiled, contained 1418 mamiones hospi- ' In Winchester it was a square in the middle of the city upon which the four principal streets debouched. In a.d. 1012, JEthelred gives "prsedium quoddam {i.e., a haga or house and premises), quod infra oivitatis "Wentanae moenia ad septentrionis dextram, juxtaque politanam nundinationis plateam" to his wif e .ffiilf gif u (3 Kem. C. D. pp. 358, 359). The English description is, ".ffirest of feere cyxiccan norSeast hyman nygan girda. andlang strEete ut on Ja cypinge;" i.e., "Krst from the north-east comer of the chnreh, nine yards along street out on the market-place." ^ 1 Kem. Cod. Dip. p. 3, a.d. 605. Of the actual survival of the Eoman word pomoerimn in London we have more than a presimiption. My esteemed friend, Alfred White, Esq., F.S.A., whose remarkable acumen is so well known to those who have the privilege of his friend- ship and society, is of opinion (and, I think, justly) that the church of S. Martin Pomeroy retains that name. He says, "If the old Koman city was east of Walbrook, the site of this St. Martin's would be on that part of the pomoerivm outside Eoman London. ' ' 3 "TTrbana prata" and "on burgwara msedum " (2 Kem. Cod. Dip. pp. 26 and 66). This is said of Canterbury. Eochester (a.d. 855) had " communionem marisci quae ad illam villam antiquitus cum recto per- tinebat" (ib. p. 57). Grantabryc and Colchester had "communem pasturam" (Ellis's Introduction to Domesday). Common wood belonged to Canterbury (2 Kem. Cod. Dip. "p. 1, a.d. 839), "in commune sUfa quod nos Saxonicse in gemennisse dicimus." See also 1 Kem. C. D. p. 216, A.D. 801 : "in commune saltu, id est on cester setta walda." Eochester had " caestrwarowalS " (1 Kem. C. D. p. 115, a.d. 747). * Ellis's Introduction to Domesday. 362 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. tatae, i.e., hagas;^ 280 houses may thus be assigned to each burghal shire in that city. In London the same scir existed, though we only know it hy the name of ward — a name which it took in reference to police arrangements.^ It was a tradition in London that these shires or wards, or whatsoever they were called, were the regiones into which the original Boman city was divided. FitzStephen in his celebrated description of the mediaeval city, after de- claring that the Londoners in his time (the 12th century) used laws and institutes common to Home, says unhe- sitatingly, "London is, in like manner to Eome, distri- buted into regions."^ Besides these proofs of the identity of the material fabric of the borough with the municipium, we find the old Roman senitutes urbanorum praediorum clinging stUl to the burgage tenement, just as they had done to the domus and insulae. In A.D. 868 or 888, Cialulf conveyed to Eanmund a house with a piece of land (tun), situate in Canterbury, for 120 silver pennies. An indorsement on the deed states, " And Sser ne gebyretf an tSam lande an foloaes folcryht to lefsennse rmnses butan twigen fyt to yfsesdrypse"^ — i. e., " and there belongs to tbe land an easement to leave room for eavesdiip to the extent of two feet only." The easement thus referred to is the " Jus stillicidium ^ Ellis's Introduction to Domesday. ' Wards are mentioned in the charter of Henry I. amongst the ancient institutes of the city (I Thorpe's Laws, p. 603) : "Et terras suas et wardemotum et debita civibus meis habere faciam infra civitatem et extra." 3 Dr. GrUes's edition, p. 177: "Adhuc antiquis eisdem utuntur legibus, communibus institutis. Haec etiam similiter illi regionibus est distincta. ' ' * 2 Kem. Cod. Dip. p. 89. THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 363 avertendi in tectum vel aream vioioi," so well known to civilians.^ Houses and land within a borough were also subject to the trinoda necessitas.^ This, as I have already shown, was a series of imperial obligations.^ M.J foregoing remarks have disposed of the external and material borough. Of the borough, such as men's minds made it, there is a great deal to say, notwithstanding the vast interval of time which exists between it and ourselves. Each borough had its " burhriht,"* that is, a mimicipal constitution and its conjoint administration, both inde- pendent of and unconnected with the shire within which it was situate. Each of these I will discuss separately. But it will be more convenient to describe what was done in a borough before defining the powers through which, and the persons by whom, the work of due administration was effected. Of this work of administration we find the following evidences iu Anglo-Saxon times. Each borough had a civil jurisdiction iu actions or plaints to a more or less limited amount of claim,^ and it possessed a court which adjudicated upon these matters.^ London alone has pre- served its ancient name, caUing it " busting," or more correctly " hussing," i. e., the domestic judicatory.^ All 1 Dig. 8, 2, 2. ' 1 Kem. C. D. p. 243. Two hagas (or houses, generally with land attached) and a-hall (Jridda half haga) are conveyed by King CeolwuU (a.d. 811), subject to these three obligations by name. 3 Ante, p. 244. * 2 Thorpe, p. 312 : " ge burhiiht ge landriht." ^ LL. Hen. 1, c. 20, s. 1, affirms the right of "sac and soo," i.e., civil jurisdiotioa in the boroughs. ^ The husting is referred to in the will of JEtJelgyfu {comitissa) in Kem. Ood. Dip. p. 304. She bequeaths "duos cyphos argenteos de XII. marcis ad pondus hustingiae Londoniensis ad serviendmn fratribus \ 364 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. pleas of the crown aild all actions above the Hmit went to the county and its judges for determiaation. But though there was no crimiaal jurisdiction, properly so called, vested in the horough, there was that initi- atory and preliminary power of investigatiag misdeeds which we now call ^oHce. If a hreach of the peace were committed within a borough, the burhwaru (or citizens) were bound and em- powered to seize the malefactor for future production ia the county court ; and it was only if they failed in this duty that the ealdorman of the shire was entitled to ap- prehend the criminal.^ This implies also the existence of a prison within the borough for the safe custody of the accused, and such we find was the fact. Of this prison the portgerefa had the charge.^ inrefectorio" (j.«., of the monastery of Eamsey). This gives us the name and existence of the Husting before the Great Conquest. The charter of Henry I. to the citizens, while granting to them the right of entertain- ing pleas of the crown and appointing their own justiciary for the purpose, ratifies the pre-existing Court of Husting by making certain reforms in its procedure. " Et amplius non sit miskenninga in hustenge, neque in f olcesmote, neque in aliis placitia infra eivitatem. Et husteng sedeat semel in ebdomada soUioet die lume." (1 Thorpe, p. 803.) The husting could only be an old court long prior in date to the Norman Conquest, because we know that William I. confirmed the burghal constitution -of London as it existed and was in force at the time of the Conquest; and as nothing was done afterwards in the way either of derogation or increment untiLthe time of Henry I., whose charter I have just referred to, the husting is necessarily a part of the municipality, as it existed in the time of the Confessor Edward and previously. 1 .ffithelred's Laws, co. 5 and 6 ; Anglo-Saxon Chron. a.d. 1048. ' .Sllfeed's Laws, c. 1: "Oncarceme on cyninges tune." This is a borough, because a "cyninges gerefa" is spoken of. In the Vita Wilfridi (p. 236) a borough prison is referred to. A portgerefa is ordered by the king, "XJt pontificem nostrum (Wilfridum) locis tetra caligine obscnratis, nuUo amicorum sciente diKgenter cnstodiret eum." At p. 237 metaphor is laid aside, and the archbishop is said to remain "in custodia caroeris." He is afterwards (p. 238) removed to the borongh prison at Dunbar. THE ROMANS OF BBITAIN. 365 The borougli enjoyed the right of holding markets and of receivirig tolls thereat,' and it also levied the king's port dues when such were exigible.^ Upon the subject of sales, whether of land or chattels, which were not made in open market, the borough exer- cised, in addition, a species of administrative authority. No such sale could be made, except m the presence and under the sanction of the portgere/a, or, if his presence could not be procured, of certain of the citizens.' The publicity thus enforced ensured the good faith of ' For markets, see ^thelstan's Laws, o. 13 ; the charter of iEtheh-ed and ^thelflsed to "Worcester, 5 Kem. p. 142 ; also 3 Kem. p. 138. The charter contains an enumeration of a king's rights over a burh. These [inter alia) are, "on oeapstowe," i.e., market tolls, and "on straete," i. e., on sales in shops, stalls and booths. It is in this sense that boroughs are said to belong to the king, e.g., "ia loco praeclaro oppido- que regali Lundaniae vicu" (1 Eem. p. 242). So the last Eadward (4 Kem. p. 223) says, "on senig minre burge." ' .(Ethelbald of Mercia (a.d. 734, in 1 Kem. Cod. Dip. p. 94) says :— "tJnius navis . . . veetigal nuhi et antecessoribus meis jure regie in portu Lundoniae usque hactenus competentem. " The following passage from a deed of the same king (a.d. 743, ib. p. 114) shows that the muncipality of Loudon, through its own appropriate ofBoers, col- lected these duties : "Pa f orgeof ende ic him alyfde alle nedbade twegra sceopa, J)a ];e j)8er absedde beoS from Jsern nedbaderum in Lunden- tunes hySe, and neefre ic ne mine last weardas, ne Ja nedbaderas ge'Sristlsecen, Jat heo hit onwenden, ojije ])0n wiSgaen;" i.e., "Then I granted to him all the duties upon two ships that are there exacted by the oolleotorg of customs in the port of London, and may neither I nor my posterity nor the collectors of customs be so bold as to change it or oontraTeue it." The allusion here is to several sorts of duties. One of them was a duty upon all cargoes coming into port (1 Kem. Cod. Dip. p. 137) : " De navis onustae transveotionis censu, qui a theloneariis exigebatur." ' Laws of Hlothaere and Eadric, c. 16 ; of Eadward, c. 1 ; of .ffithel- stan, 0. 12. See also 6 Kemble, p. 210, where a house is sold at Bath upon the witnessing of Huga, the portgerefa in the time of Eadward the Confessor; also, ib. pp. 210 and 211, where slaves are sold on the wit- nessing of the portgerefa in the one instance, and of the " eald portgerefa ' ' in the other. So, in 2 Kem. p. 3, landed property at Canterbury is transferred ' ' an gewitnesse fes hiredes set Cristes cirioan and ealles buruhweredes . ' ' 366 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. the transaction, and at the same time supplied the evidences of its completion. Concurrent of course with the sale was the exaction of the appropriate tax and toll.^ It must not he forgotten that all these things were the ohjects proposed and effected hy and through the Eoman " intimation" of contracts of sale.^ But in respect of all these municipal revenues the bur- gesses of every borough were not beneficiaries. They were trustees only for the king, amongst whose regal rights such products are enumerated.^ Besides all these revenues there was another, the most important of them all. I mean the landgafol. Though once, as we have seen, collected upon the estates of the Romans in the shire as upon their houses in the cities, it was eventually restricted to the latter only.* It was then a payment made by the citizens to the king in respect of their burgage tenements;* and the reader must be careful ^ This duty was also called toll. See the entries on the fly-leaves of the Exeter Book, quoted in Wright's Celt, Boman and Saxon (p. 452) : " Alfric Hals took the toU on Tovie's house for the king's hand." See tolls levied on the sale of slaves, 4 Kem. p. 313; 6 Kem. pp. 210, 211. See also Ellis as to the duties paid at Lewes upon the sale of horses, oxen and men. 2 Ante, p. 354. ' See the charter of .ffithelred and .^thelflied before cited. Eadgar in his Laws (1 Thorpe, p. 273) calls them " cynesoipes gerihta." * Ante, p. 259 . 5 See the Winchester Domesday (edit. 1816, p. 531). It is enumerated amongst the royal rights over boroughs in the charter of ^thelred and -Slthelfl^d, before referred to, under the name of "landfeoh." In Domesday and the Winchester Book it is called landgabulum, i. e., land- gafol. In 2 Kem. C. D. p. 63, a.d. 857, we find that for a house and garden called Ceohnimgchaga, not far from the west gate, the gafol was twelve pence yearly. But the tax must have been graduated upon the value of the tenements. Each tenement was valued separately. Of Winchester, in the reign of the Confessor, it is said in the Domesday of that city (p. 534), " Et iterum in capite coquinae habebant burgenses cellarios suos, et reddebant landgabulum." This shows a separate assessment of each burgage holding. THE ROMANS OF BEITAIN. 367 to discriminate it from the gafol paid by the tenant in the upland to the landlord of the fee. To such a pay- ment it had no analogy, the common application of the word, to payments whose principles differed, arising out of the poverty of the general language. The hurgess had the full ownership of the house in respect of which he paid this impost.^ It' was therefore not a rent, but a per- manent land tax. The citizens were also subjected to another regal obliga- tion. They were bound to receive at their houses the king and the king's men. The quarrel at Dover between CoTm.t Eustace and the burgesses, recorded ia the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, took place upon this subject.^ But while we find that the burgesses were subjected to pecuniary burdens, we also find that in their collective capacity they possessed land and houses from which they themselves derived rents and profits.' These being received in the common name were applied to the common good, and would go to the discharge or alleviation of their fiscal burthens. The citizens of some cities enjoyed the privilege (of course a lucrative one) of minting the king's money.* ' The houses within a borough were as much private property as land in the country, and were similarly disposed by will or deed. See .^Jlfrio's will (Thorpe's Analecta, p. 127, and 4 Kemble, p. 59). That prelate devises houses in Norwich and in London: "And io geau ^Jon hage binnon NortJwio, for minre eaule, and for ealra Sic hit me geutSon into See Eadmunde, and ic gean San hage into See Psetre binnon Lunden." In 4 Kem. C. D. pp. 72 and 73, we find Leofric and Godgyfu disposing or " senne hagan on porte " (at Worcester). 2 Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 1048. This service remained in force in the city of London until Henry I. remitted it: "Et infra muros civitatis nullus hospitetur neque de mea familia neque de alia, nisi aHcui hospitium liberetur." (Carta civibus Londonise, 1 Thorpe, p. 502.) 2 See Domesday, smS Dover. Theburgeses "habueruntXLVmansuras extra civitatem de quibus habebant gavlrnn et consuetudinem." So also they had twenty-one acres of land. These possessions were pre-existent to the Conquest, as the great muniment observes. ♦ .ffithelstan's Laws, c. 14, and .Slthelred's Latin Laws, c. 9. The 368 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. Lastly, the citizens had the right to regulate weights and measures within their city or borough.' I have spoken of citizens or burgesses. This term -must not he loosely taken to mean all the inhabitants of a city or borough. Its true signification in reality is much more close and restricted. As in the Eoman times, so after the Anglo-Saxon con- quests, we find that the population of a borough has two recognized divisions, which maybe broadly styled the high and the low. Both are composed of settled inhabitants of the borough. But the high class are the burgesses proper {seo burhwaru), and monopolize all municipal power and privilege, to the absolute exclusion of the other class. This burhwaru is described as being the optimates^ the meliores,^ the primates,'^ the potentes^ of a city. Vernacu- larly they are styled " pa yldestan burhwara." ^ latter shows tliat the mintage was under the superrision of the burghal authorities : " Et ipsi qui portus custodiunt (i. e., the portgerefan))" &c. See also Ellis's Introduction to Domesday. 1 The will of ^aESelgyfu (4 Kern. CD. p. 304) speaks of two silver goblets whose weight of twelye marks had been ascertained by reference to the weights kept at the Hosting of London ("Ad pondus Hustingiae Londoniensis ") . 2 ^thelbald of Meroia (a.d. 734, 1 Kem. Cod. Dip. p. 94), after grant- ing to the Bishop of Rochester an immunity from port dues in the port of London, prohibits the "optimates et telonearii" of that city from infringing the grant. By "optimates" he refers to the burhwaru generally. ' EUis's Introduction to Domesday and Book of Ely, pp. 128, 132 (Dr. Giles's edition). * De BeUo Hastingensi, w. 625, 626 — " Guincestram misit, mandat primatibus urbis, Ut faoiuut alii, ferre tributa sibi." ' De BeUo Hastingensi, tv. 645 et aeq. — ■' Una postremum rectores atque potentes Tali consilio consuluere sibi. Scilicet ut puerum, natum de traduce regis. In regem sacrent, ne sine rege forent." » In Athelstan's Laws, c. 20, the "yldestan men" that belong to a THE ROMANS OF BKITAIN. 369 ^Ifric the grammarian and lexicographer also translates " cives," whom we know to have constituted the closest of hodies in the provincial cities, by the English term " hurh- waru." ' The other division, consisting of the unprivileged and the poor, was in the familiar Latin of the day the " val- gus" only.2 In the vernacular it was " heanra burhwerod" ' (the multitude of humblemen). These men, the populace of a Roman municipality,* were, Kke them, in the borough, but not of it. But privileged as the first division of citizens must have been, they are not the actual executive of the borough. The government and administration of each borough are in the hands of duly constituted functionaries — -a jjortgerefa and a council. These we will now consider. The portgerefa is unquestionably the chief magistrate of the borough. He is permanent, and an appointee of the king.* He is always a single official.* He is purely civil byrig are referred to. .ffilfric translates proceres, primores and primarii by ' ' yldest burhwara. ' ' ' .ffilfrio's Glossary, sub voce "burtfwaru." See ante, p. 368. ' De Bello Hastingenal carmen (Petrie's Monumenta Historica Britan- nise), V. 740. ' JElfric's Griossary, sub voce. * Ante, p. 350. * We find a " wic-gerefa on Wintanceastre " called one of tbe most dignified of the king's thegnas. (A. S. Chron. a.d. 897.) * We find the one portgerefa in the very early period, and this unity remains to the end. In a.d. 628 (Beda, p. 141, Hist. Soo. edition) there is a "prsefectus LindocoUnae oivitatis." In the time of Archbishop Wilfrid (Vita Wilfridi, p. 236) mention is made of " Osfrid qiii praeerat in Broninis urbe regia." The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle gives, under a.e. 897 (p. 175), a "wiogerefa on Wintanoeastre," and later (p. 183) a " tungerefa set BaSum." In the same city he is spoken of as one "portgerefa" (6 Kem. C. D. pp. 210, 211). At Canterbury we have "inlustris civitatis praefectus" (1 Kem. p. 231). At the close of the monarchy we have "Alestan prsepositusLundonise" (Ellis's Introduction to Domesday). 0. B B f 370 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. in his functions, and ia the hierarchy of state he is suhor- dinated to the ealdorman of the shire. The finance of the borough is committed to him. It is his special function to assess and collect the landgafol, to levy the amerciaments decreed in the hurhmot of the ealdor- man, the tolls upon transfers of burgage holdiags and sales of chattels, with fliose other imposts which in the adnmiis- tration of a city might reasonably be imposed. For all these receipts it was the office of the portgerefa to accoimt to the king's treasury.' In return for the trouble of collecting and accounting for these revenues, he was allowed to deduct, on behalf of the borough, one-third of the receipts.^ This connection with the finance and accounts tells us clearly who the portgerefa was. He was the principalis under another name, for the two conjoint duties of magis- tracy and finance which distinguish that Roman officer' belong equally to the portgerefa. Besides these indisputable points of identification, he is negatively demonstrable to be that officer, because he can be none other. He cannot be one duovir left standing alone, because that pair of magistrates was appointed for ' In ^Ifric's Glossary, wiegerefa is translated puilicanus. Bwrhgerefa is interpreted qucestor. He was, therefore, in tte eyes of the grammarian, a financial officer. In Domesday we find that the gerefa of Hereford took the third penny upon the transfer of a house in the borough (Ellis's Introduction) ; and we learn from the fly-leaves of the Exeter Book that this toU was taken " for Jiaes Mnges hand." At Lewes we find the same officer levying the toll at markets. We also find that judicial fines were coUeoted by the portgerefa (see Domesday, sub Guildford). It is strictly inferable, therefore, that the landpafol aiao yras odQecteihy the portfferefa. ' This is inferable from analogy. The crown officer of the county deducted the third penny of the revenues of his ahire, and the correspond- ing crown officer of the borough must be presumed to have done the same as regards the borough. It would be in the one case as in the other an allowance for the trouble and expense of the collection. 3 Ante, p. 354. THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 371 one year only' and he was a permanent functionary. Neither can he be defensor civitatis, because he is charged with the peculiar duties of the jjfincijMlis in regard to finance, and a duty of the defensor was to protect burgesses and others against the injustices of the tax gatherer.^ The portgerefa, though the chief of the executive of the borough, is not the sole executive. Associated with him is a civic senate, called vernacularly the " burh gethincs," which is found like himself in all the boroughs.' What was the precise number of this senate does not appear. Perhaps it varied with the boroughs. It was evidently always small. In the city of Chester we find, performing the functions of a senate or curia, twelve judiees civitatis, who in English would be called deman. At Lincoln and Stamford there are the same functionaries, but they go by the name of lagemen. At each of these towns they were twelve in number, as they were at Chester. The same lagemen, though their number is not given, were in office at Cam- bridge.* In all these eases the curia had shrunk into the senatus. Of the third division of men found in provincial muni- cipia — ^the augustales — actually found in Britain as well 1 Ante, p. 355. ' Raynouard, torn. I, liv. 1, ch. 16. ^ De Bello Hastingensi, vr. 740 et seq. — " Animit hoc vulgus, probat esse senatus, Et puenini regem ooetus uterque negat. Vultibus in terra defixis regis ad aulam Cxiin puero pergimt agmine composito, Eeddere per claves urbem, sedare furorem, Oblato quaerit munere ouin manibus." LL. .^tbelred, 1 Thorpe, p. 292 : "And Jset griS )>e man sylletf on burhgejiinocie bete man ];aet mid VI hund." — "And that peace -which is given in the councils of boroughs be compensated with 600 shillings." * Ellis's Introduction to Domesday, under the heading " Cities and Boroughs and their Customs." bb2 372 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. as in the rest of the empire," neither the fact nor the name survived in the English horoughs. But a rememhrance of ancient days, vrhen the acquisition of wealth by a plebeian could give him some sort of social rank, still dwelt in men's minds. This old tradition had for better transmission been consigned to ver^, in all ages the embalmer and preserver of vanished popular truths. The simple poem ran thus — ' ' Hit wses hwilum « « « « and gif ceorl getfeah, Jjset he hsside fuUioe £f hida agenes landes, eyrioan and kyoenan, bellhus and burhgeat, setl and sundor note on cyngea healle, }>onne he waes fonon forS Jiegen rihtes weorife." ' i. e., " In old times if an ignoble man throve so greatly that he had fully one thousand jugera of his own land,' a church,* and a kitchen, a bell house and a mansion gate (»'. e., a mansion with a gate), a seat and distinct office in the king's hall, he was thenceforth in the legal position of a gentleman." The poet who thus, as one bom out of due time, lamented the loss of a champ lihre, which once existed even ia the cramped range of a Roman municipium, was no visionary. There was a time when such men as he indicates could in Britaia acquire not only wealth but also its coveted sup- plement, rank and position, viz., as provincial equites. ' Hiibner'a Inso. Britann. insc. 248. M. VerecundiuB Diogenes, a »evir of Tork, is conunemorated in an extant inscription. He was a stranger to the city — " Bitiuix Cubiis." 2 1 Thorpe, p. 190. 2 Ante, p. 268. « Font. THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 373 SucJi things were only possiWe under the empire, and to the empire therefore the poetaster must be taken to have referred. Under that vast riile there was no immoveable fixity of position. The services of all men capable of being serviceable were invited and accepted. Low birth never an obstacle, sometimes an aid, to the acquirement of riches, was then no bar to provincial or even imperial honours. The thought of a time long past, when social life ran over with prizes, saddened the mind of our versifier, who mentally compared with it the cramped and cribbed con- dition of his country, VTrested out of intercourse with the general world and governed by a race which owed to its own Latin subjects the rudimentary civilization with which it was contented.' It is interesting to find this feeling re-echoed by the Celtic provincial, but the response of the latter was uttered in his own way. While the one sorrowed, as he would now, for lost opportunities of wealth and position, the Celt more sentimentally regretted the past greatness in which his country had participated when Rome herself was great. To the Celt, Artorius, a Roman of West Britain, repre- sented the glories of the empire, and he fondly hoped for the day when the king should return from the mystic Avalon to resume his sceptre and rule over the world — ^in other words, when the dominion of Rome should again be a fact. When the poet thus vaguely referred to a past under ' I cannot forbear quoting the analogous lament of a Greek of imperial times -who felt that subjection to a power, even so great and so glorious as Rome, deprived his race of advantages vrhich Hellenic freedom would have insured him. ** 'EXXtivIj la^EV (XvSfJej Eff'TrpSw/AEvojj Ninpav £;^OVTES IX-ff/Sotff T£9«^^£ytfr, AvEffTfltf^T) 7£Xp travTtt vvv ra mpay/jixra.^^ (Anthologia Graeca, torn. 2, p. 292, Tauchnitz, No. 90.) 374 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. the words " it was whilome," he meant, as I liave said, Roman times and no other. He could not refer to any period of the barbarian government of England, because at no time under the mere Anglo-Saxon raj was such a predicament possible. Even at the very close of the monarchy, when < it might have been thought that the mis- fortunes of the country would have liberalized its wretched government, a ceorl (rusticus), who possessed a property of eight hides (niansae), was still but a ceorl and no better.' For these reasons the conclusion is irresistible that the tradition before cited was a reminiscence of Roman times. If any confirmation were wanted for this ascription it is to be foimd iu a subsequent part of the same document. Closely following upon the portion which I have extracted is another clause obviously connected with the same general thought of the past ; and this also is a reflection of imperial law. The English poem says — " And gif massere geSeah, Jiset he ferde Tprige of er wid sse be his agenimi crsefte, se wees Jjonne sy^San fegen rihtes weotSe." ^ i. e., "If a merchant throve so much that he went thrice over the wide sea iu his own vessel, he became thenceforth a gentleman iu position." This striking sentence is no other than the text of a law made by the Emperor Claudius to encourage shipbuilding in the empire. Ulpian gives us the law itself.' "LatmijusQuMtiiuti . . . consequtmturhismodis , . . nave . . . ' A.D. 1050, i Kern. C. D. p. 122 : "Eadric qiaidam rusticus." This is in the time of the Confessor. 2 1 Thorpe, p. 192. 3 TJlpiani IFragmenta, tit. 3, De Latinis, {§ 1 and 6 ; Suet, iu Claud. ("Latino jus Quiritium "), p. 157, Both's edition. See also Calvin's Lexicon Juridicum. THE ROMANS OF BEITAIN. 375 Nave Latinus oivitatem Komanam accipit, si non minorem quam decern milliuiQ modiorum navem f abricaTerit, at Bomam sex annis framentum portaverit ex edicto Divi Claudi." Like the nmnicipia the Anglo-Saxon boroughs are cor- porations. They manifest themselves to be such, because the citizens act as an aggregate. Instances of this action are known. Some only need be recapitulated. Origiaally ia London and ia Canterbury each burgess paid his latidgafol iadividuaUy. But before the end of the monarchy the hurhicaru, or entire body of burgesses, paid to the long a permanently agreed sum called "firma burgi." The means by which this was brought about was a convention between some one of the Anglo-Saxon kings, and the burghers of these two boroughs, the one to receive and the other to pay a composition in lieu of aU such dues. An arrangement like this shows a power of complete cor- porate action, which as binding the hurhtoaru ia common could be accepted both as a covenant and security by the kings.' Further, it implies in the burgesses a power of raising money by rate levied upon the borough in itself — an evidence of true communal action. The payment of compositions ia money, which we know from history to have been made to the Danes, is only explicable upon the same supposition. The burgesses also ' Ellis's Introduction to Domesday. We find tlie ^fwja Jwj-^i a settled thing before the Norman Conquest at London, "Winchester, Oxford, Cambridge, Stafford, Shrewsbury, Abingdon, &c. I say before the Norman Conquest, because that is the inference from the way in which it is mentioned in Domesday, and the absence of any statement or record that it was the great conqueror who had allowed this to be done. In A.D. 857, when twelve pence were paid for Ceohnund's haga (or house), there was no firma burgi in London (2 Kem. C. D. p. 63). In a.d. 762, when iEthelbert sold a house (villa) in Canterbury, " cum tribute illius possidendum" (1 Kem, C. D. p. 133), there was no firma burgi at Can- terbury. 376 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. evidently considered themselves as the collective hurhwaru to be a corporation. In the dearth of a more precise word for that idea in the now general language of the country, they called it a gild.' The analogy of the private colleges, so called, had taught them to apply the word to a munici- pality also.'' » Lastly, we have an expression of opinion from a native scholar — ^^Ifric— that the hurh and the mimicipium were the same, for he has no other interpretation to give to that Latin word than "burhscipe."' This I think is conclusive. Of all these boroughs — ^these civitates and municipia — the population was stUl the same old stock which had inhabited them before the rough sea and the howUng tempest of barbarism had raged against these material creations of Rome. This stock was twofold — ^the burgesses and the populace — as we have seen, but the first only interest us now. Who were these burgesses ? This question I thus answer. The burgesses of these boroughs must be pro- noimced to be Romans, (1) because the barbarians would not live ia cities, or consent to be burgesses at all ; (2) be- cause the burgesses paid the old Roman tax of the tributum, to which no barbarian had ever submitted. There is, therefore, no other nationality to whom the custody and possession of the Roman cities and the homes therein can be assigned, save to the Romans themselves, and Romans these burgesses truly were. The barbarians so considered them as long as the monarchy endured. In their estima- 1 EUis's General Introduction to Domesday. At Canterbury the burgesses possessed several houses " in gildam suam," i.e., in their cor- porate capacity. At Dover was "gihalla (rectius gildhall) burgensium." ' Sieepost. ' Sub voce "burhscipe." ' THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 377 tion they were sixhynde^ only half as good as themselves, and this appreciation, as we have seen, was that which was always ascrihed to the Romans hy the dominant caste. But the word sixhynde, while it bore direct testimony to birth, implied the possession of property also. A sixhynde was not only a Roman, but a Roman who possessed landed estate. Such were the ewes of every municipiwn, all landed proprietors in the territorium by which their city was sur- rounded. But though landed proprietors in the territory they were residents of the city. So many were their duties, and so exactive were these requirements upon their energies as citizens, that they were constrained to a con- tinuous town residence.^ The same facts are observable of the burgesses of the English boroughs. The citizens of London were pro- prietors of land in the shire of Middlesex, but their per- manent abodes were in London.^ While they resided in the city, their stewards (gerefan) occupied the houses on the estates.^ Precisely the same fact is recorded of the borough of Cambridge and its burgesses.* The municipal duties of these burgesses of London and Cambridge in the Anglo- Saxon times, as under the empire, required their residence in the boroughs, which were the chef-lienx of their shires. ' See ante, p. 371. The law of .ffithelred II. there quoted (in note) proves that even the senators of the boroughs were sixhynde only. Their buTghal rank had nothing to do with their price of blood, which was regulated by race only. The barbarian was their superior. This is well illustrated by a charter of a.d. 958 (2 Kem. Cod. Dip. p. 355), where the burgesses of Canterbury subscribe only after the theguas have attested it. See post, in note. * Ante. ' See the Rules of the Grild of London, post. Notices as therein men- tioned are to be given to the stewards when the proprietors are not at their country houses, unless " se gUda sylf neah si." ^ See, post, the Rules of the Gild of Cambridge. 378 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. A house in town, therefore, was as necessary an adjunct to the estate in the country during the barbarian riginie as under the empire. What has been recorded categorically of London and Cambridge must have been true of all the other boroughs of England. There is a oircumstance connected with this condition of civic residence which is too curious to be passed over, the more so as it casts additional light upon the fact itself. So long as the Roman paid tributum for his estate in the country as well as for his house in the town, that estate was considered by the insular lawyers to belong to the house.' This legal or popular view continued imtil in succeeding times the landgafol, being removed from the burgess's estate in the shire, was left only upon his house in town. Then the position of the two was shifted, and the house in town was conversely regarded as belonging to the estate in the country.^ In this curious difference of theory there lay perhaps concealed a complacent self-assertion on the part of the 1 In A.D. 832 (5 Kem. Cod. Dip. p. 88), King ^tlielwulf gives away a haga (or house and premises) in tte city of Canterbury, to which belong five acres of land and two meadows in the shire. (" In Dorobemia etiam civitate unam Tillam donabo, ad qua-m pertinet {dc) quillque jugera terrae et duo prata, quorum utititti est in loco, qui dicitur Shet- tinge, et alind at Tanningtune et eommunionem sUvae ad operandum sicut alii homines in consimili terra.") 2 In 6 Kem. Cod. Dip. p. 33, a.d. 961, a haga in ■Winchester is men- tioned as belonging to an estate in the shire called Cenclmestuii ("se hag% on porte binnan sujealle (wealle), )ie to Jam lande gebyreS "). So also ib. p. 40, a.d. 961, thirteen hagae (praedia) are spoken of, "qitae Wintoniensi sita sunt urbe ad rus praefatum (i. «., Hyssebum) perti- nentia." In 4 Kem. Cod. Dip. p. 138, a.d. 1046—1060, it is said, " In civitate etiam Wigoma curtem unam ad earn (i. e., a township before mentioned) pertinentem." This gives us the explanation of a grant of the Confessor to the convent of Westminster — " Jiat cotlii Stane mid Jam lande Staeningc haga witSinne Lundne" (4 Kem. Cod. Dip. p. 211). Staines had attached to it a haga in London, which was called from it the "hagaof Staen." THE ROMANS OF BEITAIN. 379 Roman, who had now, by the concession of the barbarian king, approached more nearly to a substantial equality with the Anglo-Saxon through the common tribulation of the island.' It was no longer the Roman who paid an invidious, because a distinctive, tax due from him qua Roman, but it was the burgage tenement belonging to the Roman — the res only and not the person — which was specially charged with that burthen. But aU this ia no way obscures the origiaal fact that the Roman proprietor beiag the only person in England who paid trihiitum, so paid it on no other ground than because he was a Roman. Roman and burgess were convertible terms, and the Roman of England was a burgess of his city, even when he had no house of residence in that city. In spite of that accident he was a citizen (cms), because he was a possessor within the limits of the territorium, and was therefore sub- ject to aU the patrimonial obligations which attached to a citizen. This had been the old law of the empire, and it still obtaiaed, for nothing had occurred that could repeal it. So at Canterbury in a.d. 958 there were three sodali- ties {geferscipas) of in-burgesses and out-burgesses, — of those who lived within the four walls of the city and of those who lived in the shire, and had for the time no resi- dence in Canterbury itself.^ ^ 2 Kem. Cod. Dip. p. 355. The signatures to tlie cwyde (-will) of .ZEthelward (a.d. 958) conclude thus; "And Ja III geferscipas innau burhwara and utan burliwara and miole msettan." Domesday (Ellis's G-eneral Introduction to Domesday, vol. ii. p. 477) speaks of "domus hospitatae in Oxenford tarn intra murum quam extra." The in-burgesses of the first citation are called in Domesday [ih., p. 476) "homines manentes " (in Nottingham). In Hereford it is said that there were, in the time of Edward, " 104 homines oommanentes iatus et extra murum " (ib.). The distinction is ancient — "Munioipes municipii augusti Veientes inti-amurani " (1 Zell, p. 191, insc. 1607). 380 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. Of these two facts of the hurgess being like his Roman ancestor, at the same time a resident of his city, and a landed proprietor in the shire, there is highly illustrative evidence, though of a later date. In the period immediately following the Norman Con- quest, and long after, the English hurgess was one of the landed proprietors of the shire — a squire in fact, who in due season visited his estate in the country, hut who resided in his borough. Those who know modem Italy will have no difficulty in realizing such a state of things as this. Thus PitzStephen says of Becket's father, who had been gerefa of London, that he was one of the middle class of citizens, who neither lent money at interest nor traded pro- fessionally, but lived worshipfully upon the rents of their lands. ^ At the very same time a contemporary of FitzStephen tells us of another citizen of London, an Englishman named Osbem " Octonummi," who was " a distinguished man in the city and of many possessions."^ This burgess is interesting to us as a kinsman of S. Thomas, whom he employed to keep his accounts.^ In FitzStephen's classification of mediaeval burgesses into three categories — the proprietor, the usurer and the trader — ^we see that the Romans of England retained the unamiable, but essentially Roman trait, of lending money at high interest. Never was there a vice which more per- tinaciously stuck to a nation than this form of moral un- cleanness.* From the commencement to the end of Roman ' Dr. Griles's edition, p. 183: "Civibus Londoniae mediastinis, neque foeneratoribus neque of&ciosis negotiatoribiU), eed de reditibus suis hono- rifice viTentibus." 2 Edw. Grim's Vita S. Tbomae (Dr. Griles's edition, p. 8) : "Vir JTiflignis in civitate, et nmltarum possessiomim." 3 lb. * Boissier's CSoeron et ees .Amis, p. 113, p. 422, pp. 167, 168. THE -EOMANS OF BRITAIN. 381 Hstory it is ever in. evidence against them. In the early age of Rome the patrician lent money to the plebeian for a return which made the life of the latter intolerable and drove Tn'm iato all his historic riots and secessions. No Roman seems to have escaped this disease. The amiable patriot Brutus was an usurer of the worst order. Cato was quite as remarkable for his raveniag greed as for his stoic virtues. Pompey, who besides this indulgence, went in for commerce generally, invested an immense fortune in a banking concern, and failed, involving in the ruin his friend Cicero, equally attracted to this speculation by the alluring promise of high profits. If more proof were wanting of this Roman infatuation very few observations will supply it. A great text writer on civil law — one of those whose fragments are embalmed in the Digest — could discipline his mind to speak of usury — ^the excessive usury of his day — as "dulcitudp usurarum." Which is most to be admired in this phrase, — ^the triumph- ant jubilee of the lender or his oahn oblivion of the wretched debtor? Horace, too, has told us vsdthout blame or comment how the children of Rome, in the tenderness of their years, learnt sedulously all the involved calculations of the national interest table, as the commonest element of a good edu- cation ; ^ and Marciamis Capella, when the curtain was descending upon the empire, coidd record as circumstances ' " Romani pneri longia rationibus assem Diflcunt in partes centum didncere." (Lib. ii. epis. 3, w. 325, 326.) Elsewhere Horace candidly speaks of money-lending upon good security as being a oharaoteristio which he thinks laudable of the fine old Koman gentleman. (Lib. ii. epis. 1, v. 103 et seq.) " Romae dulce diu fuit et sollemne, reclusa Mane domo yigilare, oUenti promere jura ; Cautos nominibus reotia expeudere niunmos." 382 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. equally startling to a Eoman mind, that "the Indians were not lenders of money at interest, and delighted to ride on elephants." ^ The neglect of the one was as much hors ligne as was the indulgence in the other. In the leading points which I have sketched, there is a real resemblance between the Roman municipalities and those which are found in existence after the barbarian invasions and before the Norman Conquest, and this resem- blance can only be satisfactorily accounted for by admitting their actual identity with the latter. We have seen that the boroughs of England enjoyed the privileges of minting public money, of holding markets and exacting tolls. In the ninth century libertas Romana was authoritatively defined in a continental charter to mean these two things.^ The specific meaning of the word libertas, as thus applied by a continental city of the ninth century, receives further illustration in the fact of the same word being ascribed in the succeeding century to four Anglo-Saxon boroughs of Roman foundation — Cambridge, Norwich, Thetford and Ipswich — ^by their own burgesses.^ In this instance the burgesses claimed dignity also as well as liberty for their boroughs. ^ Lib. vi. p. 241, EyBsenliardt's edition: " f enerationes neglegxmt, elephajitisque vehi eximiuin putant." ^ See Thierry's Recits des Merovingiens, torn. 1, p. 274 (Brussels edition). ' Book of Ely, p. 140 (edit. 1848). Briitnoth, the abbot of Ely, bought an estate on the witnessing of the whole city of Cambridge, and, having paid the money down, required of the vendor "vades de emp- tione." The Chronicler adds, "cui onmes respondentes dixerunt quod Grrantebrucge et Norwice et Theoforth et Gyppeswic tantse libertatis ac dignitatis essent siquis ibi terram compararet vadibus non indigeret." See also note 2, at p. 353, for examples of dignitaa, as applied to a Koman civitas. We find hivSipla applied to a free Greek city of this kind under the empire. See " Inscriptions iuedites de I'lsle de Rhodes," par M. P. Foucat, in vol. sjii. Kevue Areheologique, p. 158. THE KOMANS OF BRITAIN. 383 All Roman cities were the foster-mothers of those especially Roman institutions — the colleges. The Anglo-Saxons found these institutions in full play when they came over here, and, with the cities in which they flourished, they left them to the Romans to make such use of them as they pleased — ^possibly ignoring them, certainly neither interfering in their practice nor controlling their principles. These colleges were very dear to the Romans. They were native to the great mother city. They were nearly as old as municipality itself, and it was as easy to imagine a Roman without a city as to conceive his existence without a coUege. The two made up that portion of his disengaged life which was not claimed by home and the domestic avocations. By immemorial law or custom of Rome the citizens could combine and band together with the view and intention of efEecting habitually some common lawful purpose. This combination was a collegium, and insepar- able from this common bond was the obligation of the colleagues to secure to a deceased member his due burial and parentalia under the care and at the general cost of the association to whose fund he had contributed in his lifetime. So unfailing are the provisions for efEecting these two things in the rules of all the colleges, and so cherished to all appearance is this twofold object," that I cannot but suspect that it was the original design, to which every other associated interest only subordinated itself. And this explanation becomes irresistibly convincing, if we duly consider the twin beliefs engrained in the Aryan mind, — ^the efficacy of decent burial in procuring repose to the soul, and the power of annual sacrifice, as well in com- forting the manes as in securing to his relatives an immu- nity against his malignant attacks. For the disembodied spirit was an irritable divinity, which might harm though 384 THE ROMANS OF BEITAIN. it never could do good/ "We may therefore easily under- stand that a permanent and adequate provision, which should realize these two advantages to all who joined a college, could never fail to attract men who entertaiaed such beliefs. Through this agency of the college that terror of antiquity, "ne ultimus suorum moriatur," had no place in the miad of a memher, for the colleagues of the deceased were a neverf ailing kindred, at whose hands he would receive those sacred rites the provision for which natiire had otherwise denied him. The common lawful purpose associated with hurial and sacrifice was as diverse and various as the interests of civilized communities must ever be. Every art, trade, profession and busiaess had its college. Some of these colleges were exceptionally numerous and abnormally powerful. The miatmen of Rome were iu one age strong enough to revolt as a nation, and the old clothesmen {centonarii), united with the timber merchants and dealers in wood {dendrophori) , constituted the most populous and influential corporation ever known imder the empire. Sometimes colleges were constituted for burial and paxentation only, — "funerum causa," as it was said. These colleges, having no professional character to sustain, no ' The Koman ghost was emphatically mischievous. He could do no benefit to his surviving relatives, but he could do thran harm to any amount. This tendency on his part to inflict evil was imposed upon hiTn by a superior power, and he was unable to escape from the obligation. On descending " ad inferos" he was sworn never to benefit or assist his kinsmen. Servius (Burman's edition of VergU, 1 Georg. v. 277) says : * ' Apiid orcum defunctae animae jurare dicuntur ne quid sues, quos in vita reliquerunt, contra fata adjuvent." Servius, in another passage, expressly calls the manes "noxiae." He says (Aeueid. 3, v. 62) : "Manes sunt animae illo tempore, quo de aliis recedentes corpoiibus, necdnm in alia transierunt. Sunt autem noxiae." Epigraphy also testifies to the same belief. THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 385 aims in trade to promote, called themselves only worshippers of some god or goddess whom they had selected out of the well-stocked Pantheon of Europe and Asia. In such a case they designated themselves cultores Jovis, cultores Herculis, and the like.^ Though burial and parentation were the paramount objects of these unions of cultores, they were not always their sole aim. Sometimes, though the college was t^to- fessedly /imeriHM causa, there was comprehended within its provisions a scheme of mutual assurance, or the furtherance of some pecuniary interest, such as our benefit clubs now occupy themselves with.^ But for all that the college was ' To M. Boissier's researolies (Etudes sur quelques oollfeges funerairea Eomains, Les " Ciiltores Deomm," Eeyue Arclieologique, vol. xxiii. N. S. p. 81 et seq.), we owe our complete knowledge of tMa. part of our sub- ject. There was no special connection between the god selected and the cultores themselves. The vicinity of a temple determined the choice. The college of Diana and Antinous was founded under Hadrian at Lanu- vium, and owed its name to the two temples which that little city con- tained. Consequently the brethren imposed upon themselves tiie necessity of celebrating the anniversaries of the dedications of these two temples. They also had statues of these divinities in their conunon haU. This was the mode in which the special religious element showed itself. So at Lambesis, in Numidia, the veterans of the third legion formed a college, under the style of " Cultores Jovis optimi maximi." In the list of its members are two flamens. (Renier's Inscriptions del' Algerie, 100.) So the coUege of the Dendrophori were specially attached to the worship of Cybele. Mommsen (De oollegiis et sodalitiis Romanorum, p. 92), with his usual love of paradox, has depreciated ihe religious element of these colleges, confining it only to the name of the god or goddess. M. Boissier (p. 93) observes more truly: "La religion ne conserve chez eux qu'une importance secondaire, bienqu'ils ne se soient jamais entierement s^pares d'eUe." 2 See M. Boissier's Etude (pp. 93, 94): " Auountexte ne prouve qu'Us soient devenus de veritables associations charitables, mais ils f ormaient a la fois des reunions destinees k rendre la vie plus facile et des sooietes d'assurance mutueUe, qui au moyen de contributions payees par tons les mois pouvaient subvenir a certaines depenses extraordinaires des associes." C. CO 386 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. staifunerum causa, and the colleagues were cuUores of some specified deity. Even when Christianity had come in, colleges funerum causa were as cherished by the Christians as they had heen by the Pagans. The Christians utULzed them for the purpose of holding land wherein to bury sodales of their own faith.^ Nothing was changed in the constitution of these colleges save the religious tendencies of the acts per- formed through their agencies. Burial was as dear to the faithful as all the various forms of deposit were to the Pagans, but of sacrifices made to appease an angry or capricious ghost the Church's prayers for the rest and refrigerium of a departed brother had more efficiently taken the place. What Roman colleges were the following pricis will best show. Under the empire, and before it, private colleges {collegia privata) were corporations composed of men voluntarily bound together for a common lawful purpose.^ ' A Tery interesting paper of the Commendatore de Eossi's in the Revue Areheologique, vol. xiii. N. S. p. 295 et seq., and entitled "Ex- istence legale des Cimeti&res Chretiens ^ Rome," contains a resume of his discoveries upon this and cognate points treated from time to time in the ' ' BuHettino di Archeologia Criatiana' ' and ' ' Roma Sotterranea. ' ' I refer the reader to this paper, p. 240 etseq. The Cavaliere thus sums up his dis- coveries {ib. p. 240) : " Aussi les Chretiens, en leur quality de possesseurs de cimetiSres communs, ont-ils forme ipso jure un college de oe genre [i.e. ftmerum causd) ; et pour leur oter le benefice du senatus-consulte on devait prouver qu'Us tombaient sous le coup de cette restriction de la loi: dummodo hoe pmtextu ooUegiwm illieitum non eoeat. A la oonstatation de oe deUt fequivalait chacun de ces edits speciaux de persecution, oti I'on inter- disait aux Chretiens I'usage de leurs cimetiferes ; et ces edits sont en efEet du iii" sifecle, epoque oil I'histoire et les monuments temoignent que les fidfeles possedaient des tombeaux en qualite de corps constitues. Apr6s la revocation de I'edit le privilege rentrait en vigeur ; et alors les em- pereurs restituaient aux ^vSques comme representants du corps de la Chretiente la Hbre possession aveo I'usage des cimetiSres." ^ See J. F. Massmau's Libellus Aurarius, under the heading collegia, p. 76 et seq. See also Dig. 50, 16, 85, and 3, 4 ; 47 Dig. 22, 1. THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 387 They were established by a legal act/ either a senatus consuttum or a decree of the emperor. The number of the sodales or colkgae could not be less than three. It might be any larger number, unless it was restricted by the authority which gave the college existence. ^ In its constitution the college was divided into decuriae and centuriae — ^bodies of ten and a hundred men.^ It was presided over by a master and by decuriones — a president and a senate.* It had a quaestor and arcarius — a treasurer and sub- treasurer.' It was a corporation, and could hold property as such.^ It had a common cult and common sacrifices at stated times. It had its priests and temple.' It had its lares and its genii. It had a curia (or meeting-house) where the ordo collegii (its senators) met to consult and to determine. At the same curia also the whole sodality met at their general meetings and to feast.' ' Massman, p. 75. He says: "Inde frequens ilia formula, quibus ex S.C. ooire licet." (Gruter, 99 i, 391 i; Murator. 472, 3, 520, 3; Orelli, 4075, 4115, 1467, 2797.) See also Sueton. in Augusto, c. 32. ^ Tabretti, x. 443 ; Marim, Fratres Arvales (quoted by Massman, p. 75) ; Dig. de verb, signifio. ; Pliny's Epistles, x. 42. ' " Collegia divlsa erantin decurias e.t oenturias," says J. F. Massman, quoting Muratori, 518, 4; Fabretti, 73, 72; Marini, Fratr. Arv. 174a; OreUi, 4137. * See the antborities (derived from epigraphs) for these and for varying names of the same officers in Massman, p. 80. 5 lb. « Dig. 47, 22, 3. ' lb. p. 81. For aU the ensuing assertions the reader is referred to Massman and the authorities quoted by him. 8 The religious public colleges had their feasts also. The Vestals' dinner, of which Macrobius has preserved a menu, is a famous example. See the article entitled "Upon the ciiisine bourgeoise of the Eomans." (Aiohseologia, vol. xU. p. 283 et seq.) cc2 388 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. There was a common area (or chest) to contain their revenues, their contributions, and their fines. Each college had its archives and its banners. It had &jus sodalitii or full power over its members. To each candidate on his admission was administered an oath peculiar to J;he college. The sodales supported their poor brethren. They imposed trihuta or contributions to meet their current and extraordinary expenses. They buried publicly deceased brethren, aU the survivors attending the rite. A common sepulchre or eolumharium received the brethren. Each college celebrated its natal day, — a day called earae cognationis,^ — and two other days, called severally dies molarum and dies rosce. We may guess the intention for which the natal day and the day earae cognationis were appointed, viz. to carry out the general purposes of the college ; but for the dies molarum and dies rosce there were other purposes. On those two days of charming nomenclature the sodales met at the sepulchres of their departed brethren to commemo- rate their loss, and to deck their tombs with violets and roses, an offering (if not a sacrifice) pleasing to the spirit of the manes^ ' In the Calendarium Famesimim (1 Zell, p. 58), under the month of February, is noted " cara eognatio." It is preceded by " parentalia." ''' Massman, in reference to these days, says only that the dies earae cognationis was in the month of February, that the dies violarum occurred when the Tiolet began to blow, and that the "dies rosa" was on the 10th day before the calends of June. (74. p. 83.) This, however, gives only part of the information. It omits the objects for which such days were appointed. As regards the two floral days the information, how- ever, is at hand. Violets and roses were strewn or hung in garlands upon tombs in commemoration of the dead, and to sooth the ever- wakeful and mischievous spirit of the manes. As to the employment of these THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 389 Each college could hold property. The sodaks called and regarded themselves as fratres} For amongst them existed the dear bond of a relationship which, though artificial, was that close alliance which a common sentiment can make. This it was which, in defiance of blood, they called " cara cognatio." This bond of connection the civil law ratified and extended; for allowiag the assumption of kinship, it imposed on sodaks flowers, see OreHi, 4419, 4107, 4070, 3927, and Marini, Fratres Arvales, 580, 581, 639. Suetonius (Nero, c. 66) says, that after the burial of that emperor ' ' non def uerunt qui per longum tempus vemis sestivisque floribus tumidum. ejus ornarent" — persons strewed his tomb with riolets and roses. Byron's allusion to this fact is amongst the best known passages of his ChUde Harold. Before then Augustus had acted similarly in regard to the remains of Alexander the Great. (Suet. August.) "Corona aurea ao floribus aspersis veneratus est. " M. Antoninus Pius (Capitolinus, 0. ui. vol. i. p. 46, Peter's edition) so honoured his magistri that after their death "sepulchra eorum floribus semper honoraret." A graceful poem (Anthologia Latina, 4, 355), thus alludes to the same custom — " Hoc mihi noster herus sacravit inane sepulchrum, Villffi tecta suse propter ut adspicerem ; TJtque suis manibus flores mihi viuaque saepe Funderet et laorimam quod mihi pluris erit." This scattering of violets and roses upon tombs was commonly known by the quaint names of violatio and rosatio (see OreUi) ; and Henzen has gone very fully into the subject of the mischievous powers of the manes, and of the consequent necessity for propitiatiug them. (See Annali di Roma for 1846.) He quotes the following inscription preserved in the Villa Panfili: " Quamdiu vivo, colo te: post mortem nescio ; parce matrem tuam (sic) et patrem et sororem tuam Marinam, ut possint tibi facere post me solemnia." See also a paper by the same author in the AmiaU for 1849, p. 77.) In the Archaeologia, vol. ii. p. 31, is recorded an inscription found at HispeUnm of the same tenor; "Viridi requiesce viator in herba ; fuge si tecum cceperit umbra loqui." The phrase "de mortuis nil nisi bonnm" (if -it be ancient) refers to this property of the manes. It is not a lesson of generosity, as it is now taken to be ; but a counsel not to rouse the anger of an irritated ghost by speaking too freely of his past actions in the flesh. ' The name of the great college Fratres Arvales, which in all but its superior antiquity and the high standing of its members was the same as any other, shows this. 390 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. another duty in addition to those already undertaken, by compelling any one of them to accept the guardianship of the child of a deceased colleague.' We have no rules extant of any of the trade colleges of the Eomans. We have, however, rules of the colleges " Cultorum Dei." But as these' latter contain all the necessary and essential regulations of such associations, we have no real loss to deplore. Of one of these last-mentioned colleges I wiU now give the rules. It is a college foimded at Lanuvium in the time of Hadrian, and dedicated to AntinouB and Diana. Its lex or rules were inscribed upon the interior of the portico of the temple of Antinous in that town (sub tetrastilo Antinoi parte interiori).^ The chapter of the senatus consultum applicable to colleges funerum causa is first quoted, and then the rules of the college itself follow. It appears from this preliminary statement that in such colleges the meetings were only to be held once a month, and were to be confined to the receipt of monthly contributions and to conferences upon the subject of the burials in their club.^ The rules, however, extend this action considerably. The brethren meet to transact the grave business which is the motif of the institution, and when that is over it is evident that they dine as genially as if good-fellowship only had congregated them. But a habit of dining together on the part of cultivated men meant, as we know iu England, the habit also of a free interchange of thought. Free thought, therefore, found in the colleges a refuge and a home. However the law might ' Mai's Vatioana Juris Romani IVagmenta (de Excusatione). 2 ZeU, Tol. i. p. 43, No. 382. 3 Kaput ex S. C. P. R. Quibus coire convenire collegiumque habere liceat. Qui atipem menstmam conf erre volent in ftmera, ii in coUegium coeant neque sub specie ejus collegi nisi semel in mense coeant oonferendi causa, unde def uiicti sepeliantur, &c. THE KOMANS OF BRITAIN. 391 restrict the number of the meetings and dictate the subject of their formal conferences, it never ailected to interfere with what occurred at the social board. Upon that the cold shadow of absolute power was never projected. There rational freedom prevailed, and asDe Rossi has triumphantly demonstrated, it was the glorious work of the Christian colleges, fimerum causa, formed under the same law and regulated by the same rules, to nourish and preserve, as the creators of the catacombs, our nascent and struggling faith. Under cover of a Roman burial club, the Christian Church received its early increment, and by these human means the Divine scheme of man's redemption was permitted to be carried out. The rules themselves of this coUege of Antinous and Diana are to the following effect : — "1. It is determiued, that whoever shall wish to enter this college shall pay an entrance fee of 100 sestertii, and give an amphora of good wine then and every succeeding month."! ' "Placmt universis, ut quisquis in hoc coUegium iatrare voluerit, dabit Kapitulari nomine HS. C. N., et vioi boni amphoram, item in menses singulos AV." " 2. Also it is determined, that whenever any member shall die without having paid up his subscriptions, the college shall have nothing to do vnth his funeral, although he may have left a will («. e. have in his will referred the carrying out of his funeral to his college)."^ * ' ' Item placmt, quisquis mensibvis continenter uon pariaverit, et ei humanitus acciderit, ejus ratio funeris non habebitur, etiamsi testamentum factum babuerit." " 3. Also it is determined, that when any member shall die in this our college, having paid up his subscriptions, there shall devolve to him out of the chest 400 sestertii, from which shall be deducted a sum of sestertii (not named). 392 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. to he distritiited at tke fimeral pile amongst tliose mem- bers who shall have followed. It shall he a walking funeral." ' ^ " Item placuit, qmsquis in hoc oorpore nostro pariatus deoesserit, eum sequentur ex area HS. CCCC. N., ex qua summa decedent exequiari nomine HS. I. N. qui ad rogos dividentur. Exequiae autem pedibus fungentur." • " 4. Also it is determined, that when any member shall die more than twenty miles from the town, and that fact shall have been announced, three men chosen from our college shall go and take upon themselves the care of the funeral, and shall render to the members an honest account thereof. If there shall be found any fraud on their part, they shall be fined four times the amount. To each of these three shall be allowed for their travelling expenses twenty sestertii."* * " Item placuit, quisquis a mnnicipio ultra miUiaTium XX. decesserit et mmtiatum fuerit, eo exire debebuBt eleoti ex oorpore N. bomines tres, qui funeris ejus curam agant et rationem populo reddere debebunt sine dole male. Et si quit in eis fraudis causa inventum fuerit, eis multa esto quadruplum. Quibus singulis nummus dabitur hoc amplius viatici nomine ultro citro singulis HS. XX. N." "5. But if a member shall die farther off than within twenty miles (of the town), and it has not been possible to send word of the death, then the person who shall have buried him shall apply upon a written account, sealed with the seals of seven Roman citizens, and upon vouchers, for the sum allowed by the club in respect of the funeral, deducting therefrom the sum to be distributed amongst the survivors (as mentioned ia Eule 3), and giving security against anyone else applying for payment." ^ * " Quod si longius quam intra miUiarium XX. deoesserit, et nuntiari non potuerlt, tum is qui eum funeraverit, testato tabulis signatis sigiUis ciTium Bomanorum VH., et probata causa fnneratieium ejus satis dato ab eis neminem petiturum deductis commodis et exequiario e lege coUegi dari sibi petat." THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 393 " 6. No one (whether patron, slave owner or creditor) shall have any claim against the college, save only the testamentary heir.'"" ^ "A collegio dolus mains abesto ; neque patrono, neque patrouae, neque domino, neque dominae, neque creditori ex toe collegio ulla petitio esto, nisi qui testamento lieres nominatus erit." " 7. If any member shall die intestate, he shall be buried under the directions of the quinquennalis (or master of the college) and the general body of members."' ' "Si quia intestatus decesserit, is arbitrio Quinquennalis et popuU funerabitur." "8. Also it is determined, that when any member shall die, being a slave, and his body shall not have been decently buried by his owner, and he or she shall not have sent in an account, an imaginary funeral shall be given to the member." * ^ "Item placuit, quisquis ex hoc collegio servus defunctus fuerit, et corpus ejus a domino domiaave iniquitate sepultnrae datum non fuerit, neque tabellas feoerit, ei funus imaginarium fiet." " 9. Also it is determined, that if any member commit suicide, nothing shall be done in regard to his funeral."^ ^ " Item placuit, quisquis ex quacunque causa mortem sibi adsciverit, ejus ratio funeris non habebitiu:." " 10. Also it is determiaed, that when any member, beiag a slave, shall be made free out of this college, he shall give an amphora of wine."'^*' 1° " Item placuit, ut quisquis servus ex hoc collegio Uber f actus fuerit, is dare debebit vini ampboram." "11. Also it is determined, that when any member, appointed in his year and turn to preside over and provide a banquet, shall not do so, he shaE. pay to the chest thirty sestertii." ^^ " " Item placuit, quisquis magister suo anno erit ex ordine ad cenam faoiendam, et non observaverit, neque feoerit, is aroae ioferet HS. XXX. N." 394 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. " 12. His successor sliall be bound to give the banquet, and tbe other shall reimburse him." ^^ 1* " Insequens ejus daxe debebit, et is ejus loco restituere debebit." 13. Banquets are appointed to take place on five days therein named, of which two are the birthdays of Antiuous and Diana, the Tatter being the birthday of the college also.^' 13 am ]ie se man hit weorSige, fe hit age, buton he gewitneese habbe, Tpeet hit swa god waere swa he secge, and hsebbe fon ofer eaoau Je we Jar abiddan. And oxan to mancuse, and on to xx and s wyn to x and sceop to sell. And we ewsedon be iinmi peowum mannnm Jia menn ])a men hsefdon gif hine man forstsele, Jset bine man forgulde mid heaKan pnnde. Grif we Jionne gUd arserdon, }iat biTn man yhte ufon on Jaet' be his wlites weorjje, and hsefdon us pone of ereacan pe we paer abasdon. Grif he hine ponne f orstalede Jiset hine man Isedde to paere torfunge, swa hit ser geewsedon wses and scute aelc man, pset man hsef de, swa psenig swa heaf ne be Jiaes gef ersoipes msenio, swa man pset weorS up arseran mihte. Grif he Jionne otJseoce pset hine man forg^de be his wlites weorSe. 7. The brethren shall avenge each other's wrongs, and shall be all as lq one friendship so in one enmity. The brother that shall openly kill a thief shall have a reward of twelve pence out of the common fund. The owner of property iusured shall continue the search for it until he be paid, and he shall be recouped the expenses of the search out of the common fund. pEet we cwaedou dyde dseda sepe dyde, pset ure ealra teonan wrseoe, paet we ' This phrase is very suggestiTO. It is altogether Konmn (see Cod. vi. i. 1) : " Servum fugitivum sui fnrtmn facere .... manifestum est." A happier or more philosophical definition of the crime of a fugi- tive slave, who, by his flight, robs his owner, cannot be conceived. The same phrase was applied to the eolonua also who left his farm. (See ante, p. 276.) THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 401 wseron ealle swa on anum freondsoype swa on anum feondsoype, swa hwsefer hit ])onne wsere, and se fe Jeof fylle beforan otJrum mana^un Tpset he weere of ure ealia feo xx pseng ]>e hetera for Tpesie dseda and jjou anginne and se fe ahte Jset yrfe, ^e we foregildatJ, ne forlaete he Ja sesoan be ure oferhymesse, and fa mynegunge Jiarmid, ofjjfet we to Jam gilde omnan, and we fonne eao him his geswinces getJanoedon of -urton gemeenum feo, be Jsem J)e see fare wur?fe weere, ]>y lees seo mynugung forlsege. 8. The hyndenmen and those who preside over the tithings shall meet together once in every month and occupy themselves -with refining the butts {i. e., of ale), and with other husiaess of the gild, and ascertain what business has been done in the gUd. These eleven men shall also have their dinner together d discretion, and shall give away the remains of the dinner, for the love of Grod. pset we ns gegaderian a emban serine monatJ, gif we magon, and semtam heebban, Ja hyndenmenn and Ja fe teolSunge bewitan, swa mid bytt f yDinge, swa elles swa us to anhagie, and witan hwset ure gecwydrsedenne gelsest sy and hsebban jia xn [lege xi) menn heora metscype togsedere, and fedan hig swa swa hig sylfe yrjtSe munon, and dselon ealle fa mete lafe Godes fanoes. Every brother shall help another, as it is ordained and confirmed by oath. And eac feet eelo otSrum fylste, swa hit geoweden is, and mid weddum If a sworn brother of the gild die, each brother shall give a loaf for his soul, and shall sing or procure to be sung fifty psalms within thirty days. And we cwsedon eao be seloum fara msenna fe on urum gegyldscipum his wedd geseald hsef S, gif him forSsiS gebyrige, feet ealc gegilda gesyUe senne gesufelne hlaf for ftere saule and gesinge an fiftig; offe begite gesungen, binnan xxx nihtan. Every brother who has lost stock and intends to claim, the amount of his insurance shall notify his loss to his neighbours within three days. But the search shall be proceeded with notwithstanding, for the gUd will pay only c. D D 402 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. for stolen, not unguarded, property ; and many men make fraudulent claims. ponne beode we fast binnan m. nihtum he his necheburan geoySe, gif he ]ises oeap gildes biddan wille, and beo se tesce feah forJS, swa hit ser gecweden wses, foi^an we nellen nan gymeleas yrf e forgyldan, buton hit forstolen sy. Msenige men specafS gemaWioe sprsece, &o. The regulations and provisions of tliis gild command our unqualified respect. They are irrefutable evidence of a high state of civilization. We have in them a scheme of mutual assurance, with all the appliances for carrying it out, comhined with thorough comprehension of the true principles upon which such schemes are founded, and can alone he supported. For the gild not only satisfies itself that the claim is honest, but repudiates payment of it whenever the claimant has shown himself to have been contributory by his negligence to the loss of which he affects to complain. And, lastly, the gild, in order to secure the society agaiust claims of unlimited and over- whelming amount, establishes a maximum rate of com- pensation. The rules of the Cambridge Gild are as follows : — ' The proem states that the instrument embodying these- rules contains the constitution which the society had determined upon in the gild of the thanes of Cambridge. Her is on J)is gewrite siu geswitelung Jisere gersednisae fe Jiius gefer- rseden gersed hsefS on Tpegna, gilde on granta brycge. 1. Each gave to other upon the holy Gospels an oath of true fidelity as regarded God and as regarded the world, ' These rules were first published by Dr. Hickes in his " Thesaurus Ijinguarum SeptentrionaUum, in his " Dissertatio Epistolaris ad Bartho- lomseum Showere," pp. 20, 21, and to this edition I of course refer. They hare been often republished ; but, as the originals were destroyed in the fire of the Cotton Library, the text, as given by Dr. Hickes (in some respects faulty, as we shall see), now admits of no emendation, save by conjecture. The MSS. were formerly in Tiberius, E. v, and at pre- sent they are " burnt to a crust," says the Catalogue. THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 403 that he would ever give all fellowship to him that had most right. pffit is Jjoime rerest fset selo ojrum atJ on haligdome sealde sojre heldrsedenne for gode and for worulde and eal geferrseden Jsem a sylste jie rihtost haefde. 2. If any brother die, the whole gild shall bring him to the place where he has wished, and he that comes not thereto shall pay a sextarius of honey ; and each shall pay two pence towards the alms (viz., at the offertory), and what is befittiQg shall be delivered to St. J^theldrith. Gif liwilo gegilda forfSfsere, gebringe Hne eal gegildscipe, Jser he to wilnie. And se \& Jiserto ne oume gylde syster himiges. And se gildscipe hyrfe he healfre feorme of ]ime for^feredan.^ And selq sceote twegen penegas to Jjsere selmessan. And man fser to gebrynge Jset arise set see iEtJeldrytJe. 3. If any brother be in need of the aid of his comrades, and it be made known to the land steward of the nearest brother, imless the brother be himself at hand, and if the steward neglect it he shall pay a poimd. If the lord neglect it he shall pay a pound, unless he be compulsorily engaged on his lord's business, or confined to his bed by sickness. And gif fonne hwyloum gyldan Jearf sie Ids gefereua fulttunes, and hit geoyd 'wyrSe Jises gildan nihstan gerefan, butun se gilda sylf neah si, and se gerefa hit forgymeleasi gegyldean pund. Gif se hlaford hit forgymeleasie gyldean pund, buton he on hlafordes neode beo o^tJp Isegerbsera. ^ The words in italics Mr. Kemble has translated : ' ' and let the gUdship inherit of the dead half a farm." (Kemble's History of the Saxons in England, vol. i. App. 513.) This is simply absurd. The original words are so corrupt and ungrammatical that it is impossible to give any mean- ing to them. Mr. Thorpe has left them untranslated (Diplomatarium AngKoum, 611), and following so excellent a leader I have done the like. Dr. Hickes has made a very clever guess, but it is only a guess. His translation is, "Et sodalitas alteram partem sumptuum accommodabit quse ad justa solvenda in silicemio, seu epulatione funebri impendentur." (Thesaurus Ling. Septent. Dissertatio epistolaris ad Bartholomteum Showere, p. 20.) dd2 404 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 4. If anyone slay a brother, let fully eight pounds be exacted for the compensation. If the slayer neglect to pay the compensation, let aU the gild avenge the brother, and bear the feud. If one do it, let all bear alike. And gyf hwa gyldan ofstlea, ne si nan oSer butun eahta pimd to bote. Grif se stlaga Jonne Ja bote oferhogie, wreoe eal gildescipe fone gildan, and ealle beran. Grif hit Jonne an do, beran ealle gelice. 5. If any brother slay any man, and he be an avenger by necessity of repairing his outrage, and the slain man be a thane, let each brother pay half a marc in aid. If the slain man be a ceorl {i. e., a yeoman), let him pay twelve oras. If the slain man be a wealh, let him pay one ora. And gif senig gilda bwylcne man ofstlea, and he neadwraca si, and his bismer bete, and se ofstlagena twelfhende sy, fylste selo gegylda healf mearo to fylste. Gif se ofstlagena ceorl sy twegeu oran. Grif he wylisc si anne oran. 6. If the brother slay any one out of wantonness or malice, let him himself bear the consequence of what he has done. Gif se gilda fonne hwsenne mid dysie and myd dole stlea, bare syU 3>et he worhte. 7. If a brother slay his gild brother through his own foolishness, let him himself bear, as regards the relatives, what he broke {i. e., the consequences of his infraction of the law), and also redeem his fellowship with eight pounds, or lose for ever fraternity and friendship. And gif gegUda his gegyldan Jiiirh his agen dysi ofstlea here syU -wi^S magas )i8et he braec ; and his gegylde eft mid eahta pundmn gebycge, o55e he folie a geferes and freondsoipes. 8. If a brother eat or drink with him that slew his gild brother, except it be before the king, or the ealdorman of the shire, or the bishop of the diocese, let hiTn pay one pound, unless he can disprove by the evidence of the two THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 405 persons who sat on each side of him at table that he knew him not. And gif gegilda myd Jsem ete oSSe drinoe Je his gegildan stlog, butun hit be^oran oyninge aSfSe leodbisceope ot?5e ealdorraen beo, gilde an pimd, butun he setsaoan mtege mid his twam gesetlun fset he hine nyste. 9. If any (brother) revile another, let him pay one sextarius of honey, unless he can clear himself by the BYidence of the two men who sat at each side of him at table. G-yf hwilo gegilda otSeme misgrete, gylde anne syater huniges : — And gif hwa oferue misgrete, gylde anne syster huniges, butun he hine mid his twam gesetlun geladie. 10. If a cniht (i. e., an armed retaiaer of a brother)^ • The meaning of this word " oniht" has been strangely misunderstood, though nothing can be plainer. JElfric, in his Abstract of the Old Testament, translated miks, in. the Apostle's expression miles non portabit gladium, by "cniht." The ballad on the death and last exploits of Byrhtnoth the ealdorman or eorl of East Anglia calls him " cniht." " Be Jjsem man mihte oncnawan, Jiset se cniht nolde wacian set ];aem wige, Ja Tpe he to wsepnum feng." The eorl was the king's cniht, because he was a king's thane, that is, he had taken his oath of homage to the king and was his man. On the other side, and for the same reason, the same appellation is applied by the poet to the eorl's own men. " Him be healfe stod hyse unweaxen, Cniht on gecampe." (There stood by his side an ungrown youth, a knight, in battle.) To a charter of the tenth century we find, after the mention of several attestants, these words, ' ' and msenig god cniht to eacan fysan. ' ' (Hickes' Thesaurus, praef. vol. i. p. xxi.) Oswald (Bishop) in a diploma a.d. 969, gives certain land "sumum onihte, fsem is Osulf nama." (Kemble's Cod. Dip. vol. iii. p. 49.) And in another document of the same period Oswald (Archbishop) makes a similar grant, ' ' sumum cnihte, Jam is Wulgeat noma." (7i. p. 259.) ^Iflasd's wUl, of no date, but re- f errible to the tenth century, has the following : " Ic geann Brihtwolde minnTTi cnihtse," &o. {III. p. 272.) .^thelstan .iEtheling, in a charter -< 406 THE ROMAXS OF BRITAIN. draw Ms weapon, let the lord pay one pound and detain what he can (of the servant's effects), and let all the gild assist Tiim in recovering his money. Gii cidht wsepn'brede, gild se hlaford an pund ; and hsebbe Be hlaford set ])set he msege, and him eal gildscipe gefylste Jset he his f eoh of hsebbe. 11. If a cniht \^ound another (cniht), let the lord avenge it, and aU the gild together, wherever he may seek refuge, (effect) that he have not his life. And gif cniht oSerne gewnndie, -wrece hit hlaford, and eal gyldscype on an, sece Jset \ he sece, fset he feorh nebbe. 12. If a cniht take his seat indoors (i. e., in the han- quetting room of the gild), let him pay (/. e., contribute) one sexiarim of honey. And if any brother have a servant to sit at his foot,^ let him do the same. And git cniht binnan stig ''■ sitte, gyld anue syster hnniges. And gif hwa fotsetlau hsebbe, do )iset yloe. of the eleventh century, says "Batan fan vin hydmn Jie ic .SUmsere TnJTinTn cnihte geunnen hsebbe. . . . ic geann ^thelwine miinim cnihte Jises swyrdes Tpe he ser me sealde." {lb. pp. 362, 363.) ' The mediseval Latin of Enghind calls the servant who performed this function "pedessessor." At the barbarian court this menial office ■was performed by high Anglo-Saxon nobles (1 Kem. C. D. p. 244). The barbarian poems contain frequent aUusions to such an official. In Beowulf, V. 2327 et acq. " Swylce Jiaer HunferS pyle set f otum saet frean Scyldinga." (i. e., " Also there Hunferth the orator sat at the feet of the lord of the Soyldings.") lb., V. 991 et seq. " HnnferS maJ7elode, Ecglafes beam, Se set f otum saet frean Scyldinga." {i.e., " Hunferth the son of Ecglaf spoke, who sat at the feet of the lord of the Scyldings.") ^ Stiff is wholly unintelligible, and can only be an error of the copyist. Mr. Kemble translates it spence (History of the Saxons in England, vol. i. p. 514); but in this the interpreter is at least as hard to understand as the THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 407 13. If any brotlier die out of tlie coiiiitry, or fall sick, let his gild trothers fetch him and hring him, dead or alive, to where he wishes, upon the penalty aforesaid. And gif hwiloe gegilda ut of landse iotSieie, aS'Se beo geaycled, gefeocan hine his gegildan, and hine gebringan deadae oSSe ouoene, Jser he to ■wilnie, be Jjsem ylcau wite Jie hit geoweden is. 14. If he dies at homSj and a brother does not repair to the body, and the latter does not excuse himself at the morning speech ((. e., the general meeting of the gild), let him pay his sextarius of honey. Gif he set ham forSfei^ and gegilda \mt lie ne gesseoS ; and se gegilda Je ne geseoe his morgeu' spsece, gilde his syster huniges. In the Cod. Ex. p. 332 (Edit. Thorpe) — a poem on the various fortunes of men — it is said, " Sum soeal mid hearpan set his hlafordes fotum sittan." Byzantine adulation had never descended to the unmanly prostration introduced by the barbarians into European society. The empress Livia might have her "puer a pede" (1 ZeU, p. 130) and her gang (decuria) of pedissequi, but these were slaves. The carving, which the Eoman com- mitted to his slave (striictor), the duties of the bedchamber and what not, were the vaunted offices of barbarian warriors and their arrogant descendants. original. Mr. Thorpe leaves the whole phrase untranslated. (Diplo- matarium AngUoum, p. 613.) A reference, however, to par. 2 of the rules of the Exeter Gild will throw light upon the meaning of the provision itself. That paragraph contemplates a gild brother's oniht sitting with his lord in the banqueting room of the gild, in which case, as the oniht cannot be expected to be abstemious, he, or his lord, is re- quired to contribute something towards the increased consumption. It must be borne in mind that the cuiht would be of the same social stand- ing or birth as the lord, and therefore without offence to the other gild brethren he could sit at table with them. Dr. Hickes mistakes the sense of the passage by translating it thus: " Si famulus iu via cuiquam insi- dietur," &o. (Dissertatio Epistolaris, p. 20.) ^ "We have a hiatus here ; but the sense of the passage may be arrived at notwithstanding without difficulty. ' ' Morning " or " morrow speech ' ' is an expression which continued to be used veiy late in the middle ages for the general meeting of a gild. (See passim in Mr. T. Smith's Old English Guilds.) 408 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. The rules of the Exeter Gild, as published by Dr. Hickes in his Thesaurus, are as follows : — The proem states that this society is assembled in Exeter for G-od's love and their souls' profit, both in regard to the prosperity of this life and the future, -which we wish for OTirselves in God's judgment. peos geaamming is gesanmod on Exanoeastre for godes luftm and for Tisse saule Jearfe, segtJer ge be usses lifes gesvmdf ulnesse, ge eao be Saem aefteran dagum, Jje we to godea dome for us sulfe beon ■willaW. 1. There shall be three meetings in the year, the first at Michaelmas, the second at the feast of our Lady after midwinter, and the third at the feast of AH Saints after Easter. ponne habbatJ we gecweden, ]>set ure mytttmg ai Jriwa on xn mon?5uin, ' ane to See Michaeles mseaaau, o?Sre sitJe to See Marian mseasan ofer midne winter, friddau sitSe on eal liseligra msease dseg ofer eastron. 2. Each brother shall contribute two sextarii of malt, and each cniht one and a portion of honey. And lisebbe £elc gegilda n seateras mealtea, and selo cniht anne and aoeat huniges. 3. The priest shall celebrate two masses, one for the living friends, the other for the dead, at each meeting; and each brother of lay estate shall recite two psalters, one for the living friends, the other for the dead. This altogether (says the rule) wUl make six masses and six psalters, there being three general meetings. And ae mseaaepreost a ainge twa maeasan, o?fre for Ja lyfigendan frynd, otSre for Ja forSgefarenan set selcere mittinge ; and selo gemaenea hades brotSer twegen aalteras sealma, otSeme for Jia lyfigendan frynd, otJeme for 8a f or^gef arenan ; and eft forif sitfe selo monu vi messan oSSe vi sealteras aealma. 4. At each expedition ordered by the king every brother shall contribute five pence. And set suS fore^ selo mon v peningas. ' Tor " su5 fore," which means nothing, I read "utfarn," the expe- dition ordered by the King's geian. This reading is supported by a THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 409 5. At a house turning each brother shall contribute a penny. And set husbryne sele mon anne pen. 6. If any brother neglect an appointment for a meeting, on the first occasion he shall pay for three masses, on the second occasion for five, and on the third occasion no allowance shall be made for the neglect imless it be through infirmity or his lord's business. And gif hwylo man Jjone andagan forgemeleasige, set forman ayne in msessan, set oSemm oyrre V, set Sriddan cyrre ne scire his nan man, butun bit sie for mettrnnmesse, oSSe for Mafordes ueodde. 7. If any brother neglect the appointment for paying his subscription or contribution, let him compensate for it two-fold. And gif bwylo monn Jione andagan oferbabbe set bis gesceote bete be twifealdum. 8. If any man of this fellowship revile another, let him compensate for it with thirty pence. In conclusion, the document prays " for Grod's love, that every man of this assembly justly observe what we have justly ordained. Grod assist us therein." * And gief h-wylo mon of Tpis geferscipe oSeme misgrete, gebete mid xxx pen in gum, ]!onne biddaS we for godes lufim, Jiset selo mann Jses gemit- tinge mid ribte healde, swa we bit mid ribte gersedod habbaS, god us to )>sem gefultimige. practice of tbe burgesses of Colchester before the Norman Conquest. Ellis says (Introduction to Domesday), " Six pence a year was paid out of every house, which might be applied either for the mainte- nance of the King's soldiers, or for an expedition by sea or land. This payment, it is said, did not belong to the King's ferm." The contribu- tions are analogous. In the one case the burgesses subscribe among themselves for the behoof of their brother burgesses goiug to the war. In the other case the gild brethren subscribe much the same sum for the same purpose. 410 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIX. Though these three secular gilds are the only associa- tions of that kind whose rules we possess, our knowledge of the existence of gilds in Anglo-Saxon England goes back to a much earlier date. They are mentioned generally in the 7th century, viz., in the laws of King Ine.^ In A.D. 860 — 866 there waa a gild of cnihts.^ A similar gild would appear to have existed in London at a date long anterior to the Norman Conquest.^ Domesday also speaks of a gild of clerks possessed of considerable house property at Canterbury.* As that great record could only refer to institutions pos- sessed of real property, and as the city was exempted from its range, its silence is in no way conclusive, either against there having been other gilds in England unendowed, or against there having been gUds in London both with and without estate. After the Norman Conquest we find gilds in abundance in London. These, or many of them, we have eveiy right to consider, preceded that great event. They are called by their old English name ; they are governed by an official of Hke nomenclature, and their word for a great meeting of the associaj;es, viz. " momiug speech," we have already seen in the association of Cambridge. Though a glance over the preceding pages will have shown the identity of the Eoman college with its successor the gUd, it may perhaps assist the reader if I place their resemblances in formal juxtaposition. ' Thorpe's Laws, vol. i. p. 112. - Kemble's Cod. Dipl. vol. ii. p. 293. A signature to a defaced charter of Ealhere is " cniahta gealdan." ' Herbert's History, vol. i. p. 27. * EUis's General Introduction to Domesday. Earlier than this dato similar gilds of clerks are alluded to in the canons enacted under King Eadgar. (Thorpe's Lavs, vol. ii. p. 246.) THE KOMANS OF BRITAIN. 411 The collegium was an association of men, combined for a common lawful purpose, and cemented together by ad- mission into a sodalitiwn and an oath of fellowship. The Anglo-Saxon gild was identical in these respects. The collegium had a complete self-goYemment of master and officers. Though we have no full information upon this in the Anglo-Saxon gild, the old English gild is constituted in a manner similar to the collegium. When the collegium was large it was divided into decuriae and centuriae. "We have seen this identical division in the Anglo-Saxon gild of London. The collegium and the gild had a special cult. In the old English form this is uniform and prominent, and it shows itself in the Anglo-Saxon gild of Cambridge in the reference to S. ^theldryth.'^ There are fixed general annual meetings of the collegium for business. We have seen the same in the Anglo-Saxon gild. The collegium and the gild have also severally their reunions, at which to feast and disport themselves. The collegium and the gild subsist through the contribu- tions of their members. Their business and their pleasures depend upon these exactions. The collegium and the gild correct their disobedient members by mulcts and fines. They both have a common chest, and they both may and do hold landed estate. 1 Mr. Toulmin. Smith is anxious to exculpate tte gilds from the charge of being religious. He says: " These were not in any sense superstitious foundations, that is, they "were not founded, like monasteries and priories, for men devoted to what were deemed religious exercises. ' ' (Old English Guilds, Introduction, p. xxviii.) 412 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. The sodales of the collegium are brethren^ as well as con- tributories. Nothing is better defined than the same feature in the gild also. The sodales supported their poor and comforted their sick brethren. * "We have seen this in the gild. The collegium and the gild could make bye-laws for their respective regulation. Wben a sodalis died the surviving brethren followed him to the grave or to its Roman equivalent. The same kindly spirit is enforced in the Anglo-Saxon as well as in the old English gild. The collegiwm was a corporation. The gild was unequivocally the same. In the dearth of words of precision ("patrii sermonis egestas"), which followed upon the disuse of the Latin language in this coimtry, the word was assumed and continued to late days to express a commune — ^the same thing.^ We have found also in one of the Anglo-Saxon gilds mention made of the brotherhood suing in the aggregate. Lastly, as the pagan sodalities met on the day of violets and the day of the rose to commemorate the death of brethren in the manner which has been mentioned, so the Christian gild at aU times of its history in this country met similarly on stated days for an analogous commemo- ration of those who had preceded them with the sign of faith. These coincidences, which cannot be attributed to imita- tion or mere copying, demonstrate the absolute identity of the gild of England with the collegium of Eome and of 1 Though the formal word is ^«(7«/Ka, "brother" is equally used before the Norman Conquest as after. (See the Rules of the Exeter Gild, par. 3.) = Ante, p. 376. THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 413 Eoman Britain. There is a discrepancy also which con- firms this view. What I allude to is not a difEerence of principle, hut such a variation of practice as should adapt a rule to the changed circumstances of the times. This fact, as excluding altogether mere imitation, is as good evidence of identity as the most perfect agreement could be. It is this. Both pagans and Christians held equally to the obli- gation of burying their deceased relatives and friends. In this iatention the Eoman colleges provided ground and protection for the deposit of their sodaks, or a columbarium with its attendant niches for the reception of their urns. For neither of these provisions did there exist any necessity when the rules of the English gilds were put into writing in Christian times, and in no form do they appear therein. For ia those days there was the common cemetery (leger- stoice), attached to or surrounding every parochial or manerial church.^ This being ready and entailing no cost, there was nothing else for the survivors to provide save soulscot and mass fees, and these, as we have seen, are amply furnished. The pagan, however, had to find out of his own funds the means of both — ^the place of deposit and the anniversary sacra. ' The barbarians also left to the Eomans of Britain, and to their eoloni, the free exercise of their Christianity. At the epoch of the iuvasions both the latter had long been Christians. For Christianity had been introduced into the island at an early period of the empire. Between the date of this introduction and the barbarian conquests there had been ample time for the holy propaganda, and we have a right to suppose that this intervening period had been actively utilized by the Church. 1 The laws mention this. 414 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. In A.D. 324, Constantine had established Christianity as the religion of the state, thus throwing into the scale of inducement the added weight of imperial authority. From this date it is historically certain that the general progress of the faith was rapid and sustained- For in the times following the first Constantine, Julius Firmicus Matemus, ia addressing that emperor's sons, was able to express himself thus forcibly and confidently:^ — "Quis locus in terra est, quern non Christi possederit nomen ? Qua sol oritur, qua erigitur septentrio, qua vergit auster totum venerandi numinis majestas implevit. Et licet adhuc in quisdam regionibus idolatriae morientia palpitent membra, tamen in eo res est, ut e Christianis omnibus terris pesti- ferum hoc malum funditus amputetur." The sole meaning of aU this is that Christianity pre- dominated and prevailed everywhere in the empire. Such an absolute statement could not have been addressed to the emperors, unless common convfction confirmed its truth. By A.D. 360, the Church in Britain was so firmly and widely established that the island was divided into epis- copal dioceses. What their exact number was, does not appear ; but we know positively that it far exceeded three, because in that year a minority of three out of a larger number of British bishops attended the Council of ^si- minum.^ The general evidence that the whole island was Christian is therefore complete. S. Grermanus's visits here in the ' De Errore Profanarum Eeligiontun, c. 16. ^ Sulpioii Severi S. Hist. 2, 55. TMs historian tells us that Constantius ofEered to pay the expenses of the Western bishops out of the fltcua. " Sed id nostris, id est, Aquitanis, Gallis, ao Britannis indecens vifium," and they resolved to bear their own charges. Three, however, "ex Britannia," were too poor to attempt this, and they, very sensibly, ac- cepted the emperor's offer. THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 415 next century to check a tendency to Pelagianism are a further proof of the same fact.' There is other evidence also besides this. That the extreme north-west part of Eoman Britain was Christian in the beginning of the fifth century we know upon the direct evidence of that great evangehst S. Patricius. He was a native of the province of Valentia, of a Eoman municiphim there which stood upon the site of the modern Dumbarton.^ He was a catholic Christian, born before the end of the fourth century. His father was a Christian, a deacon of the church. His grandfather was a Christian also, and a priest.' In a family where it 1 Constantius's Life of S. Germauus, before cited. ^ S. Patrick was a Roman of Britain. He says of himself, that in the Britanniae (i.e. in one of the five provinces) were Ms " patria" and his "parentes," — his native city and his relations. His actual words are " et pergere in Britannias .... quasi ad patriam et parentes." (Conf essio, p. 203, Villanneva's edition.) The province is mmamed, hut it must have been close to the Irish channel, for Irish pirates snatched him up vrhen he -was at his father's country house. (/iS.p.l84.) The scholiast, on Kac's Hymn, asserts that the town where he was bom was (what is now called) Dumbarton. (Dr. Todd's S. Patrick, p. 356.) I shoiild add that patria means a city. Dig. 48, 22, 7, 19 : "Ne intra patriae territorium, vel muros morentur, ne exoedautpatriam vel in vicis quibusdam morentur..' ' And see ante, p. 343. ' ' ' Ego Patricius peccator rustioissimus, et minimius omnium fidelium, et contemptibilissiinus apud plurimos, patrem habui Calpomium, diaconem,filium quondam Potitipresbyteri." (Confessio, p. 184.) I have before called the reader's attention to the name of the Saint's father (p. 121). S. Patrick, as being a Eoman, had of necessity the tria nomina; but, like all Romans of his age, for public purposes he uses only the cognomen Patricius, which alone is to be found in his writings. But with a lingering feeling of secular pride when he speaks of his father he oaUs him by his nomen, Calpumius — the name of the gens to which the two belonged. We have therefore the Saint's nomen and cognomen, Cal- pTimius Patricius. His praenomen is missing. What his nomen spirituah (name of baptism) was we shall never know. Such names took the form of a second cognomen (or sigmim). See " Some Observations on the Anglo- Saxon Christian Name," published in "The Evening Meetings of the London and Middlesex Archaelogical Society." I should add in conclu- sion, that the name Potitus, the cognomen of the Saint's grandfather, was 416 THE ROMANS OF BKITAIN. ■was possible that two generations could thus take holy orders, we must at least add thereto another generation of Christian belief. If we deduct these generations from A.D. 400, though the Saint must have been bom before that year, we shall be able to date back Valentian Chris- tianity to a periqd preceding the peace of the Church (a.d. 313), — ^to the epoch of S. Alban's martyrdom in the south of Britain. Further, ia S. Patrick's own age, in what is now North Wales, we find that the inhabitants, of all classes, are Christians.' If North "Wales and Valentia were Christian, it would be a necessity that the eastern and southern parts of Britain, as being more accessible to continental influences, should be Christian also. And such we otherwise know they were, for it was those portions which S. Germanus visited on his first and second missions, and that Saiat came here only as a reformer to correct an error in the belief of the British Church, not as a missioner to convert the inhabitants from paganism.* This British Church was catholic in its constitution. It possessedihe three orders of the clergy,' and its bishops had sees in the cities and their territories.* It was avowedly a time-honoured appellation in the Gens Valeria. (2 Zell, p. 98.) See Ijivy, lib. 6, c. 5 et alibi. 1 See S. Patricii Epistola ad Christianos Corotici tyramii subditoa (ViUamieva's edition, p. 240 et seq.) * S. Germanus visited the martynwn of S. Alban at Vemlamium ("ad beatnm Albantun martyrem"). He orders the sepulchre to be opened and deposits therein certain relics which he had brought with him. (Constantiufl's Life of S. Germanus in the Acta Sanctorum, torn. vii. p. 213.) ' Calpumius, S. Patrick's father, was a deacon, and his grandfather Potitus was a priest, as I have before shown. There were British bishops at the Council of ArinniTiTiTn (see o«fe). * At the Council of Aries in a.d. 314, Eborius Bishop of Tork, Eestitutus Bishop of London, and Adelfius Bishop of a see called in the THE ROMANS QF BRITAIN. 417 oatliolio also in dootrine ; ^ and wlien we shall compare the evidences of its tenets remaiaing after the Anglo-Saxon conquests and before S. Grregory's mission, we shall see that this assertion admits of no abatement.^ Further, the British Church was in perfect communion with the Churches of Gaul and Eome.^ Its confession, therefore, was complete, and its beliefs required no supplementation at the hands of any other Church. Lastly, the island was abundantly furnished with churches.* The facts which I have Just stated bring the Christianity of our island down to the dates of the barbarian conquests. But even here we are not obliged to stop. We have evidence of its eontiauance and perpetuation down to another date — the arrival of S. Augustine. Upon his arrival in Britain, S. Augustine foimd that the people of Kent worshipped the body of a martyr named acts of the Coimoil " oivitas colonia Londmensium " — a mistake pro- bably for Liadum or Linooln. (Petrie's CaUeotanea.) 1 Of this there can be no doubt. The Catholics of Britaia on. two occasions invite S. Germanus over to convert their erriag brethren. (Constantius's Life of S. Germanus, Acta Sanctorum, torn. vii. pp. 211, 216.) The preaching of this great evangelist confirms even the Catholics of our island, while it converts the others. [lb. p. 212, "ut passim et fide Catholici firmarentur, et depravati viam correctionis agnoscereut.") When Constantius wrote his biography (circa a.d. 480) the orthodoxy of Britain was indisputable, and he says [ih. p. 216), " Quod in tautum salubriter factum est, ut in' illis locis etiam nunc fides intemerata perduiet." Prosper in his book " Contra Oollatorem' ' (John Cassianus) , says of Pope Caelestiuus that "he laboured to keep the Eoman island {i.e., Britain) Catholic by sending over a mission to refute the heretic Pelagius." (Dr. Todd's S. Patrick, p. 272 and in note.) ^ Sieepost. ' The acts of the Synod of Ariminum and the mission of S. Germanus through the agency of Pope Caelestinus illustrate this. (Dr. Todd, p. 269.) ' See the words of Constantius, who says that S. Germanus preached in the churches of Britain: " non solum in ecclesiis." (Acta Sanctorum, torn. vii. p. 212.) C. E E 418 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. Sixtus, there buried or otherwise preserved.^ The Eoman monk, who knew of a S. Sixtus at Eome, assumed that there could not be two saiuts of this name, and, therefore, thought good to doubt the authenticity of the Eomano- British saint, on the assumed ground, apparently, that as the relics of S. Sixtus were at Eome they could not be in Kent also. He accordingly petitioned Pope Gregory, that the real reliques, as he affected to believe them, might be forwarded to hi-m in England. ("Ut reliquiae S. Sixti martyris nobis transmittantur.") The pope's reply was, " Feoimus quae petisti, quatenus populus, qui in loco quo- dam S. Sisti martyris corpus dicitur venerari, quod tuse fratemitati nee verum nee veraciter sanctum videtur, certa sanctissimi et probatissimi martyris beneficia suscipiens, colere incerta non debeat. Mihi tamen videtur, quia si corpus, quod a populo cujusdam martyris esse creditur, nullis mis miraculis coruscat, et neque aliqui de antiquiori- bus existunt, qui se a parentibus passionis ejus ordinem audisse f ateantur, ita reliquiae qaa,s petisti seorsum condendse sunt, ut locus, iu quo prsefatum corpus jacet, modis omnibus obstruatur, nee permittatur populus certum deserere et iucertum venerari." The persons who worshipped at the memoria (or mar- tyrmm) of the Kentish S. Sixtus^ are styled "populus" by ' Beda's Eccl. Hist. p. 65, English Historical Society's edition. ' It was the rule under the empire for the poaseasoree (or land owners) to build churches on their estates for the use of themselves ^d their coloni. (Cod. 1, 3, 11, a.d. 398: "In ecclesiis, quae in possessionibus, ut fieri adsolet, diversorum," &c.) The memoria of S. Sixtus was one of these churches. Precisely the same practice continued to be followed out in England. See Beda's H. E. (lib. 5, c. 5, p. 339, Stevenson's edition), where S. John of Beverley, in A.r. 685, is mentioned as " vocatus ad dedicandam ecolesiam comitis (a gesvS) vocabulo Addi." See also ib. c. i, p. 338, for another instance of the same Mnd. The church was on the villa (or ham) of a gesfS named Puoh. So King Eadgar speaks of a thegn's church on his bocland. (1 Thorpe, p. 262.) The ceorls built THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 419 S. Augustine, as we see. This word will include both Eomans and cohni — townspeople as weU as mere country folk. Uncritical attempts have -been made to throw a doubt upon the authenticity of this passage in Beda. The judicious Euinart, however, had no doubt of its genuiue- ness,^ and there is not the least justification for any such scruple. Though the passage does not appear in all the MSS., it must be as genuine as the rest of the saint's report to the pope, for it precisely resembles it in style and diction. There are no 'iksy/pi voQeIoc! in it, and no motive can be conceived for fabricating such a passage in the early period at which, if it be a forgery, it must have been produced. Independently of these evidences, there is nothing in the fact itself which should excite imbelief. The same his- torian who narrates this fact tells us also that at the same period there were a martyrium within and a memmia just outside the walls of Canterbury. Between a.d. 619 and 624 (the episcopate of MeUitus), there was actually standing within the circuit of the walls of Canterbury a martyrium of "four blessed coronati," i.e. four saints who had persevered unto death.^ In that year a fire ravaged the city, but and repaired these cliurolies out of the lord's timber, finding labour only. (LL. Cnut, ib. 0. 66, p. 410.) These facts are quite enough to giye us parishes and parish churches in England long before the Norman Conquest. 1 Praefatio generalis in Acta Martyrum, o. 71. ^ Of coronati, Euinart says; "Atsiisti {i.e. martyres) in tormentis vel postea ex tormentis, animam exhalarent, tunc martyres eonsummati sive coronati, dioebantur ' ' [Admonitio in mtam et acta S. Cipriani, par. 12). As to martyrium, see the Abbe Martigny's Dictionnaire dea Auti- quites Chr6tienjies. See also "Saint Clement, Pope and Martyr," by Joseph Mullooly,O.P. 2nd edition, pp. 176, 177. ("By canon 14 of the 19th Council of Carthage, no church could be built for martyrs, except there were on the spot either the body or some certain reUos, or where the origin of some habitation or possession, or passion of the maortyr, had been transmitted from a most trustworthy source.") At p. 13 of the in- E E 2 420 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. stopped miraculously when it reached this church, as Beda narrates.^ Now Beda's account of the circumstance demonstrates one of two facts — either the nuirtyrimn contained the bodies of the saints, and these sacred relics arrested the progress of the flames, or* the martyrdoms having taken place upon the spot where the church was afterwards built, the holy influence of that titulus was as miraculously efficacious as the relics themselves. But in either case the martyrium must have been erected about the time when the work of Satan was committed; and the Roman cims of Durovemum thus commemorated the several passions of four eminent saints by setting up a church or chapel under their invoca- tion, as soon as the persecution (most probably the last), in which these sacrilegious deeds had been committed, had subsided. These interesting references of Beda to a niemoria and a martyrium of the pre-existing Church lead us back to its doctrines. The British Church in this her belief of the efficacy of the intercession of saints and martyrs, believed only as the universal Church did. The sainted bishop of Hippo, though he rejected the doctrine of purgatory as philosophical and platonic, has devoted more than one chapter of his most edifying work to a record of facts which demonstrated that efficacy to be true.^ troduction to this invaluable work, Father Mullooly has observed, in a passage of great beauty : " The spot where Christian blood was shed for faith to her (i.e. the Church) was holy ground. She never forgot it, for it was registered by the Church in heaven, and, as far as the vicissitudes of time and the malice of the world allowed, she sought to protect, to cherish, and to make it a monument for ever." 1 Bed. H. E. Kb. 2, o. vii. p. 115, Stevenson's edition: "Erat autem eo loci, ubi flanmiarum impetiis maxime incnmbebat, maxtyrium quatuor coronatorum," &c. 2 De Civitate Dei, lib. 22, cc. 8, 10. THE EOMANS OF BRITAIN. 421 The Romans of Britain were therefore Christians and Catholics at the epochs of the Anglo-Saxon conquests. Their Christianity was left to them because their nationa- lity was fully recognized, and this boon of toleration was the more gratefully received because the religion of a conquered race has ever been the most cherished incident of its nationality. Though some eastern conquerors have, if not imposed, at least proffered their creed to the vanquished, such was never the case with" a Teutonic victor. He kept his fetishes to himself, and his Latin subjects do not seem to have coveted any share in their spiritual benefits. But if the barbarian made no converts, at least amongst the Eomans, he showed his native obstinacy in adhering to his own Teutonic worship. While, therefore, the Roman continued to be a Christian, the barbarian, in his descendants, equally persevered in adoring his old grim or ridiculous idols,' and the reason for this persistence is not far to seek. Christi- anity, as the barbarians knew it, was the creed of their own subjeets^of men whom they despised. They could not, therefore, submit to receive their conversion at such hands. It were better, they thought, to plod on ia their old path of heathenism. They steeled their hearts accordingly against aU. good influences coming from such a quarter. ^ Osric, king of the Hwicoas (a.d. 676), and a convert, calls Ma idols " simulaolirorum figmenta ridioulosa." (1 Kem. Cod. Dip. p. 16.) Thor and hoc genus omne were actually represented in soulptiire. These idols were in stone and wood. (Beda, 3, c. 22.) One of these Grerman deities has left a pleasing and enduring mark upon English menology. I mean -the goddess of spring, called by the Anglo-Saxons Eostre (on the German continent Ostara). (See Beda, Be ratione temporum, Grimm, and Jahrbiioher des Vereius von Alterthumsfreunden im Eheinlaud, vol. 21, p. 880 et seq.) These Teutonic deities must have been carved and moulded on the orthodox theories of the Anglo-Saxons themselves. There were no Boman gods and goddesses left standing in Britain to serve as models to the barbarians. These representations had all long since been destroyed. (See Theod. Cod. 16, 10, 19.) 422 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. But when a foreign missioner, under tlie commission of the universal bishop arrived specially from the Church, enthroned in the seat of the Caesars, to offer to them the same good message, it came under a guise which ap- peased even their unthinMng arrogance. To accept the gospel under sucji conditions was to disown the Church of their subjects, and to take a position becoming the high estate of conquerors, even when they condescended publicly to admit so great a change of mind as was involved in their own submission to any form of conversion. But though the barbarians had thus adopted a religion, which its teachers affected to distinguish from what waa already in the land, the native Christianity, in coalescing with the new, carried into it, if not elements, certainly phrases which even now betray its older date. Though S. Augustine reconstituted the Church of the Romans of England, or, rather, through the power of the converted barbarian kings, forcibly united it with his own Church, there were two words of the former institution which the old Catholics of this country would not abandon or could not forget. They carried them, therefore, with them into the new Church. These words were fuUiM, or perfection, as meaning the sacrament of baptism,^ and cyrce, for eceksia. Each word proved the antiquity and pre-existence of the native Church, for both had been long disused at Rome, though they originated within the pale of its Church. ' Por the proofB that the early Greek and Eoman Churches used the corresponding "words reXEiwcrir and perfectio in the sense of baptism (see Snicer). So Lactantins (De Vita Beata, lib. vii. c. 5) says, that being baptized, ' ' incremento divini vigoris accepto, fit homo perfectus ac plenus. ' ' The YeThfyllan or gefyllan, from which /m//«A< is derived, continued to be nsed in the sense of perfecting : " raSe wses gefylled Heah cyninges hses." (Caedmon.) THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 423 The word cyrce is, perhaps, the more interesting of the two. We still retain it; and it was so endeared to the inhabitant* of England, that when our missioners taught Christianity to Grermany and Holland they introduced to the new converts the same expression, and it has heen retained in all the dialects of Grermany and Scandiaavia. This curious word appears ia the Laws of JEthelberht, composed shortly after his conversion.^ But, though found there, it is not barbarous; nor has it, as some have thought, any claim to such a noble origia as the Greek language. It is circulus, the old Italic word for the modest ^congre- gation which met to worship Christ, not iu temples, but in those tmconsecrated abodes which should best secure them against the subtlety of the pubHc and private detective.^ ' C. 1. It also oooiirs in the translation of the Psalms made, pro- bably, by S. Aldhelm. (Thorpe's edition, p. 310, v. 31.) ' See ante. The Christians up to the beginmng of the fourth century had, as their opponents said, no temples. They held their meetings ia miconseorated places, that is, in the houses of the faithful. (Bingham's Origiues Ecclesiasticae, vol. ii. pp. 362, 363, edit. 1840.) S. Justin has told us what a Christian church was at the date of his passion (circa A.D. 170). The praefectus urU asked him at his trial: " Quem in locum Christiani convenirent." The saint's answer was : " Eo unumquemque conTenire, quo veUet ac posset. An, inquit, existimas onmes nos in eundem locum oonvenire solitos?" (Acta Sanoti Justini, philosophi et sociorum ejus. Ruinart, p. 106, edit. Eatisbon.) In the time of Minu- cius Felix (a.d. 230) the churches were stUl the same. His pagan opponent asks him (c. 10), "Cur nullas aras habent, templa nuUa, nulla nota simidachra, nunquam palam loqui, nxmquam Ubere oongregari." The Christians met each other in private re-unions, because the danger of persecution made them as careful really as freemasons pretend to be. While the churches were such as these, the meetings could only be circuli, i. e., the privileged association of friends, not the congregation of num- bers only superficially or not at all known to each other. S. Augustine (lib. De utOitate credendi, o. 9) says, "Vel in convivio, vel in aliquo oirculo ullove consessu." Pliny the younger (lib. 3, epis. 20) uses "cir- culus " in the same sense, and it is a favourite expression of Ammianus Maroellinua (lib. 28, 4, 29, lib. 30, 4, 17). It was also always used in a 424 THE. ROMANS OF BRITAIN. These are the most important eTidences of the survival and status of the Eoman element in Britain, but the facts to which they refer do not exhaust the sum of SKch Eoman tradition as has come down to us. There are other matters which, though of less weight and of lighter importance, equally with greater things illustrate that survival for which I contend. Some of these I wiU detail, in the assurance that the reader will find them neither irrelevant nor uninteresting. The Anglo-Saxon coinage is the old Eoman money of Britain, and its names show the fact. The sfiilUng is in value the sicilicus, of which word it is merely a corruption. The archaic ^e»«?mg', afterwards penning, is, in truth, the denarius.- It is derived from pendere, and formed a part of the lingua franca of the Belgic eolonus?- The tradition of the agrimensura was complete, as the reader has already seen. Terminal ohjects, purely con- ventional as they were, continued to have all their original significance. Not only were Eoman land-marks preserved good sense, and the ChriBtians did not hesitate therefore to apply it to their own meetings, though their enemies called them convmticula (Amm, Marc, passim), as being unlawful congregations. As long as the num- bers of Christians that dared to meet were scanty only, circulus was a suitable expression, but with the increasing expansion of the faith caiUe larger numbers, and colleeta took the place of the other word. It is found in the Acta Martyrum, even before the peace of the Church, in the sense of the ordinary congregation of the faithful. In the passion of S. Satuminus [ib., Euinart, p. 416) he and others are charged "in coUecta fuisse," i. e., with having assembled for divine service. This was in A.D. 304. After this disappearance of circulus from their own phraseology, the Catholics did not scruple to apply it to the congregational meetings of heretics, who assembled in the same stealthy manner that they themselves ha.d formerly done : ' ' NuUis circulis coeant ' ' (Theod. Cod. 1 6, 5, 11). In Cod. I, 5, 8, 5, "coetus" is contrasted with "circulus;" the former meaning a public, the latter a private meeting: "Publicevel privatim convooandi coetus vel circulos contrahendi" (Valentinian and Mardan, a.d. 452). The emperors refer to certain heretical bodies. 1 Clarke's Connexion of Roman, Saxon and English Coins, 1767. THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 425 and retained, tut they were renewed and replaced when the old ones were destroyed or decayed.' The graceful superstitions of old Italy had accompanied the Eoman colonists into Britain, and had remained mth their descendants; Stone worshipping was one of them. This with the Romans was not a mere fetish ctMus of stones in general. It had a special reference to terminal stones, and these represented to the mind of Italy the god Terminus, the institution of civilization in its most effec- tive form, — ^the dogma of property in severalty.^ The cult of stones is found still existing in England in the days of Eadgar and of Cnut.' ' The Book of Ely mentions a ease wliere men were appointed on both sides in a dispute about land: "Qui primum circumeuntes mensi sunt terram" (p. 129, Dr. Giles). In deeds of the 7th and 8tli centuries, the boundaries of an estate are called "notissimi" (1 Kem. C. D. pp. 21, 50), and are stated to be known by, the neigbbours [ib. p. 55, "ab acoolis undique certi sunt ;" ib. p. 125, "quamadmodum Ipsi inoolae bene nosce dinosoimtur terminos et limites looorum illorum"), and as ancient [ib. p. 208, " cum antiquis terminis"). See also ante, as to trees. 3 Juv. (sat. 16, TV. 38, 39) says— " Et sacrum effiodit medio de limite saxum, Quod mea oiun vetulo coluit puis annua libo." Prudentius (ad Symmachum, 2, t. 1005) says — "Si stetit antiquus, quern stringere sueverat error FascioHs, vel gaDinae pulmone rigare, Erangitur, et nullis violatur terminis extis." Apuleius speaks of "lapis unguine delibutus" (Elor. lib. 1, 1). S. Augustine (De Civit. Dei, 16, 38) says, in. allusion to Jacob pouring oil over the stone upon which he had slept, " Nee more idolatriae lapidem perfudit oleo Jacob, ' velut faoiens iUum Deum, neque enim adoravit eundem lapidem, vel ei saorificavit." ' LL. Cnut, c. 5, vol. i. Thorpe, p. 378 ; Canons made under Eadgar, 0. 16 (2 Thorpe, p. 248) ; Law of the Northumbrian Priests, o. 64 {ib. p. 298). The earlier Poenitentiale of Archbishop Ecgberht (2 Thorpe, c. 22, p. 190) refers to this cult, jointly with those of trees and fountains, in these words ; " G-if hwylo man his selmessan gehate, otJSe bringe to hwyloon wyUe, oKfJe to stane, oS'Se to treowe," &o., i.e., "If any man promise or bring his alms to any fountaia or stone or tree." The reader will note the word "alms" used by the archbishop to express the money offer which the Romans were accustomed to make particularly to foun- tains and rivers. 426 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. The old tree-worsHpping of the Eomans was also handed down.' S. Augustine says of it — " Qtucunque in agro suo aut villa, aut jiixta villain aliquam arbores, aut aras vel quaelibet fana habuerit, ubi miseri homines aliqua vota reddere," &o.' t. Prudentius speaks in the same general way — " Et, quae fumificas arbor vittata lucemas Servabat, cadit ultrici suocisa bipenni." ' The laws of the Christian emperors refer to the super- stition — " Eedimita vittis arbor." * Among them the oak stood out eminently. Statius says of it — " Nota per aroadias feKci robore silvas Querous erat, trivlae quam de sacraverat ipsa." ' Apuleius speaks of a " Querous comibus onerata, Aut faguB pellibus coronata." * Lucan's magnificent description of an oak, aged and honoured, is known to all — " Stat magni nomiuis umbra, Qualis frugifero quercus sublimis in agro, Exuvias veteres popuU, sacrataque gestans Dona ducum." ' 1 See the passage of Ecgberht before cited, LL. Cnut, c. 5 (1 Thorpe, p. 378) ; Law of the Northumbrian Priests, c. 54 (2 Thorpe, p. 298) ; Canons made under Eadgar, o. 16 (ii. p. 248). " Sermo 41, quoted by Godefroye in Cod. Theod. vol. vi. p. 276. See also the Law of Theodosius, Cod. Theod. 16, 10, 12. ' Ad Symmachum, 2, v. 1005. * Cod. Theod. 16, 10, 12 (a law of the Emperor Theodosius). See also Gtodefroye's note. 5 Theb. Kb. 9, v. 585. « Elorid. lib. 1, V. 1. ' Pharsalia, lib. 1, vv. 135—138. THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 427 But of these old-world Eoman superstitions that con- nected with the yew tree is the most interestiag. For, as of old, it was associated with the passage of the soul to its new abode — so ever since the introduction of Christianity into this country it has continued to adorn the last resting- place of the body which the soul has left. Statins says — ' ' Neodmn ilium {i.e. Amphiaraum) aut trunoa lustrayerat obvia taxo Eumenis." ' Amphiaraus had descended into Hades so abruptly that the Eumenis had had no time to purify him. by a touch of the holy yew branch. The Eomans of Britain retained the old Italic belief that dragons guarded hidden treasures, and the barbarians gladly received it from them. Phaedrus alludes to it, and Festus tells us that it was an ancient fiction.^ The worship of stream and fountain by the Eomans is familiar to the reader of the Metamorphoses — an antitype in its variety of the immortal poem of Ariosto. Even in S. Augustine's days the Eoman world stiU clung to this cult.^ The mass of stipes, beginning with aes rude, and running through the republic and the empire, found in the mineral waters of Yicarello, near Eome, illustrates the strength of the feeling.* 1 Theb. 8, w. 9, 10. ^ Phaedrus (lib. 4, fab. 9) : ' ' Pervenit ad draoonis speluncam Tdtimam, Custodiebat qui thesauroa abditos." Festus {sub voce " dracones ") : "Inoubantes eos tbesauris, oustodiae causa, ^ antiqui finxere." In the Anthologia Latina, Eiese's edition, Fasciculus 1, p. 78, it is said of gold, "quodraptum quaeiit coluber." See Beownlf as to the adoption of the myth by the barbarians. ' Sermo, 241, De tempore: "Proquare necad arbores debent Christiani vota reddere, neo ad fontem orare." See Seneca, Epis. 41. * Murray's " Excursions in the Environs of Home." 428 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. This superstition required to be rebuked in this country even as late as in Onut's time.^ The Eomans of Britain taught the barbarians another piece of folk-lore, which, I incline to think, no one wiU I suspect to have belonged to them — ^the belief in the were- * wulf. This is iq reality one of the oldest Latin traditions. " Inque virum eoliti Tiiltus mutare ferinos Ambigui proseota lupi," says Ovid.^ The expression is found during the Anglo-Saxon period, and occurs so late as in the Mort d' Arthur of Sir Thomas Mallory.' So the Eomans handed over to their descendants in Britain the old sorcery of making a waxen image of an enemy and transfixing it with a bodkin — ia the expectation of transferrred suSering to the obnoxious man or woman. This is known to be unquestionably Ghreek as well as Roman, and the art of image-making, which the sorcery involves, would necessarily take it out of the category of really ancient Grerman superstitions.* The Eomans of Britain retained their old usances, and handed them down. Among these, the keeping of birth- days was a most favoured peculiarity of Eome.* Not only ' See Ecgberht's expressions before cited ; LL. Cnut, c. 5 (1 Thorpe, -" p. 378) ; Canons made under Eadgar, c. 16 (2 Thorpe, p. 248) ; Law of the Northiunbrian Priests, c. 54 [ih, p. 298). 2 Met. Hb. 7, TV. 270, 271. ' Book XIX. ch. 1 1 . "Sir Marrok, the good knight that -sras betrayed ■with his wife, for she made him seven year a werwoK." * 2 Thorpe, in Glossary, sub voce " stacvmg." So in the " Poenitentiale Eegberhti " {ih. p. 208, c. 17), " gif hwa drife stacan on aenigne man." The old Latin version {ib. p. 209) says, " Si qnis acns in homine aliqao defixerit." * Festus says: "Privatae feriae vooantur sacrorum propriormn, velut dies nataUs." Hegio (in the Captivi, act 1, so. 2, w. 65, 66) says, " Quia mi est nataJis dies, Propterea te vocari ad caenam volo." See also Martial, passim. The rationale of this observance wss, that THE EOMANS OF BRITAIN. 429 were tlie nativities of parents and children commemo- rated in the family by feasts and festivity, but the birth- day of a city or of a temple was equally kept amongst a wider distribution.' A birth-day was a holiday in every Eoman house. Religious rites {sacra) and kindly gifts of friends combined to make it a great domestic feast.^ So it was in after-days in England, in spite of its con- demnation by the stricter clergy, who considered this celebration an imholy usage, quite unfitted to the morality of Christian times. Its rationale, however, was gone. There is another derivation from imperial Home which even more deserves especial attention, vi^., the planetary week of the Anglo-Saxons, that week which has descended to ourselves. In the true Anglo-Saxon form the seven days are severally dedicated to the sun, the moon, the god Tiwe, the god Woden, the god Thimor or Thor, the goddess Frige and the god Sseter. But under these rough and quaint names lurks the Roman planetary week. This week, with its ascriptions, was borrowed by the Romans from their '.ilEgyptian subjects, and by the second century of our sera it was disseminated through the empire.' on this recurring day the genius, :which attended every man or ■woman bom into this world, was propitiated by sacrifice and gifts. (Censorinus de Die Natali, c. HI.) 1 For colleges and temples, see ante. ' ^Ifrio (Sermons by Thorpe, vol. 1, p. 480) : " nngesseUge msersimge his gebyrdtide;" and (ib. p. 482): "We ne moton ure gebyrdtide to uanum freolsdage msersungum awendan." ' See Dio Cassins, lib. 36. The words of this author show the universal acceptance of the planetary week throughout the empire. He says, " To Se St) If TOyf eirri roiis -TrXaviiTats £tivo/xo((Ty«.£votir ret! ri/Atpas ayaKercrQtf*, xoLTEffr-n iu.lv vir" AlyvtrriaVj irapstrri 5e koi ett* irayraLs avQ/JaJ-jroyr, ov TraXaj irorl, ws Xo«yw iliriTv apJa^Evov." The abstract planetary superstition itself was of older standing in the empire. Tacitus (Hist. Kb. 5, c. 4) speaks of the planets as the seven stars, "quis mortales reguntur." Isidore (De Temporibus, 5, c. 33) says of the week : ' ' Ex his septem steUis nomina diebus gen- tiles dederunt." It may be a circumstance in connection with the subject 430 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. This planetary week is found in use amongst tlie Anglo- Saxons after their conversion to Ghristianity. The ques- tion, therefore, arises by what means and through what channels did they first ohtaia it. They could not have obtained it directly from the Bast, where it received its origin, because, as we know, they had no communication with that part of the world either before pr after their con- quest of Britain ; nor could they have obtained it directly from the Eomanized continent of Europe, for with that also they had no greater iatercourse either before or after that period. It would also seem as unauthorized to ascribe the introduction of this strange institute and its nomen- clature to St. Augustine and his priests. For, if we do so, we must assume that the Italian priests, who had braved what they considered terrific jeopardy and certainly grave discomfort to teach Christianity to the heathen of England, before propounding the week and its nomen- clature to their converts, lectured upon the metaphysical identity of the rude gods of the Anglo-Saxons with those of the extinct paganism of the empire, and th^n assisted them in translatiag, with critical exactitude, the euphonious names of the Italian deities into the equivalent idols of the fantastic northern mythology. This is incredible. of the week, tliat the expediency of the seventh day, as a recTirring in- terval, was appreciated by the pagans, so soon as the divisional period of the week began to be nnderstood. The disciplinarian Avidius Cassius inspected the arms and accoutrements of his soldiers every seventh day : "Arma militnm septima die semper respexit, vestimenta etiam et cal- ciamenta et ocreas." (Life of Avidius Cassius, by Vulcacius Grallicanus, vol. 1, Peter's edition, p. 82.) In like manner also he exercised the army every seventh day: "Exercitium septimi diei fuit omnium militum, ita ut et sagittas mitterent, et armis luderent." {li.) Alexander Severus visited the oapitol and temples every seventh day : " Capitolijnn septimo quoque die cum in urbe esset, ascendit, templa frequentavit." (^lius Lampridius, Peter's edition, vol. 1, p. 259.) THE KOMANS OF BRITAIN. 431 But though, the Anglo-Saxons could not obtain the notion of the planetary week with its nomenclature directly from Eome, either imperial or papal, they could easily obtain it from the Romans of Britain, with whom it continued in vogue, notwithstanding their conversion to Christianity, just as it did on the continent, and for the same obvious reasons of convenience and precision. Having obtained from the Eomans of Britain, through the Wealhstodas, a knowledge of this very useful division of the month, the Anglo-Saxons had nothing further to do than to transmute the names of the days into their own vernacular. And this translation was effected with one exception only. Saturn was too much for them. So they took him as they found him. And the full form Ssetem was in vogue even in iRIfrio's day.* In making the ascriptions of the six other gods, which translation neces- sitated, the Anglo-Saxon, or rather his interpreter, would be led by resemblances, moral or simulachral, sufficiently to his mind, or his eye, identifying the two Pantheons. And there is nothing to prevent us from readily accepting the justice of the interpretation which was thus made, except as regards the interchange of Mercury and Woden. It may be hazarded, however, that the crowning reason which determined the identification of Mercury with Woden, was the function which both possessed in common — that of placing for good or evil departed souls. There was no other god in either Pantheon who possessed or asserted this right. This of itself is sufficient to give a greater weight to the character of the son of Maia than the amusing myths of Ovid would warrant. ~ And it must also be borne in mind that in the later days of the empire. 1 Homilies (Thorpe's edition, vol. 2, p. 260); "On Jam seof oSan dsege, Je ge {i.e. the laity) Ssetemes hataS." 432 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIK. Mercury had risen considerably in popular estimation, having attained generally a far higher position than the older mythologies of Greece and Latium had accorded to him.'- The navigation of England is a gift of the empire. An ipave of its old, Eoman phraseology has come down even to our own days. We are all familiar with the term starboard, in Anglo-Saxon steorhord, — ^the right side of a vessel to a person looking forward. This first syllable "steor" is dexter. Our navigation therefore is not due to the keels of Hengest or the smacks of the Danes, as some have fondly imagined. The national war ensign of England was the dragon.^ But the dragon, until it was borrowed, was never the ensign of any barbarian horde, whether in this country or in any other. It was the flag of each cohort of a Eoman legion, as the eagle was of the entire legion. Vegetius tells ' "Les Mystferes du Syncretisme PhrygieB," by Padre Graxnioci, p. 28. In tlie syncretism of the empire, Anubis and Mercury are identified. A Grreek epigram (Anthologia G-raeoa, Tauchnitz, torn. 3, p. 395) addresses Anubis as "king of heaven," and places him before his parents. *' Oy^(Xv/(UV w/ivTwy GotrtXp.u, yec7f atpOir Avov€j." This extreme honour is given equally to Mercury eo nomine. An in- scription has been found in Gfcrmany wherein he takes the pas of Jupiter, and is denominated, equally with that monarch of heaven, "maximus patronus." The words are "Merourio Jovi e. d. cetr. m. patronis." This is read by Herr Steiner (vol. 1, p. 123), " et AWa coeteris TnaTrimia patronis." There is another inscription which calls Mercury "rex." The words are " Merourio regi sive fortunae." (Jahrbiicher Ehein. vol. 4, p. 42.) Woden limited his care in respect of the placing of the souls of men to those only who had been slain, in battle. These he took charge of and entertained in his own haU. (See Mallet's Northern Antiquities, trans- lated by Bishop Percy, pp. 92, 104, 416, Bohn's edition, edited by Black- well.) The duties of Mercury extended to the souls of all men under all circumstances. 2 Hen. Hunt, lib. 4 (a.d. 752), says, " Regis insigne, draconem sdlioet aureum." , ■a 0- V , ■ ' J ,. , y; V ; l-J -ctv-C,-< THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 433 US so.^ Claudian has some verses on the subject of both, which well bear quotation : — " Hi voluorea tollunt aquilas, hi picta draconum Colla levant, multusque tumet per nubila serpens Iratus, stimulante noto, vivitque receptis Flatlbus, et vario meutitur sibila traotu." ^ This old Roman banner was carried by the English in battle to the latest days of the Anglo-Saxon rule. It floated over the field of blood which determined the domi- nation of their race, and re-introduced this country into the general life of Europe.' It was itself an exponent of the political changes of this country — a connecting link ' Vegetius, lib. 2, o. 13: "Prinmm signum totlus legionis est aquila, quam aquilif er portat. Dracones etiam per singulas cohortes a draoonariis feruntur ad praeliirm." The same ■words are used by Modestus [Libelhts de voeahulis rei militaris ad Taciturn Augustum). Vegetius again (lib. 3, c. 5) says, that the banners of foot and horse are " aquilae, dracones, vexUla flammulae." - Isidorus (Orig. Hb. 18, c. 3) says, "Prinoipalia signa aquilae, dracones et pilae. ' ' ^ De Tertio Cons. Honorii. ' Vide the Bayeux Tapestry, plate 16, Vetusta Monumeuta, and Journal of the B. A. Association, toI. xxiii. p. 153. Mr. Planche says: "The general meUe is followed by the death of Harold. He is seen fighting beside his standard-bearer, who carries the royal ensign of the dragon, long afterwards borne before the kings of England." Mr. Freeman (Norman Conquest, vol. 3, p. 423) says : " The men of the greater part of England flocked eagerly to the standard of their glorious Mng. They gathered round hiTn from all the shires, through which the dragon and the fighting man passed once more on their southern journey." Again (p. 475) Mr. Freeman says : ' ' There [i.e. on the field of Hastings) high above the host flashed the dragon of "Wessex." I should say that Mr. Freeman is incorrect in saying that the greater part of England flocked to the standard of Harold. It was precisely because a small number only sup- ported the perjured usurper that, notwithstanding his great personal courage, he so ingloriously perished. The general country rejoiced ia his death, because it was the end of a condemned system. The glorious oohortal ensign of the dragon, endeared to the Romans of West Britain as the banner of their own countrymen, was also retained by them and with more justice. In reference to this, they called a chief commander pendragon, literally the head of the dracones. C. F r 434 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. between the free Eoman period of the independence of Britain and the suhsequent supremacy "of the barbarian. Origiaally it had waived over the ranks of the mercenary peregrini, who had enlisted into the military service of the Roman cities; and remaining with the same barbarian cohorts after their revolt, it contkiued to be used as the ensign of their kings, who could have nothing else to substitute for it. ' The needle-work of English women was famous for its beauty and art throughout the Anglo-Saxon rigime. Brihtnoth's wife, ^selflsed, worked a tapestry of her husband's exploits ^ — a prototype of that of Bayeux, also the production of English women. This art had not been taught to the predecessors of this woman in the woods of Germany, as some would have us believe, but in the gynaecea of the empire — ^those establishments wherein pro- vincial women made up clothes for the imperial anny, its officers and the emperor himself.^ This delicate talent of the women of Britain never deserted them. An English girl, named Alwid, is commemorated in Domesday as having been presented by Grodric, a scirgerefa in the Confessor's time, with a little estate of half a hide for teaching his daughter to embroider in gold.' We have every right to believe that the cookery of Rome was continued. It is true that the evidences of this fact are few; but, such as they are, they are so absolutely Apician that there is no resisting the conclusion that the Romans of Britain retained the old art in spite of the bad examples of their rulers, whose food, as Tacitus tells us, 1 Book of Ely (Dr. G-Ues), p. 183 : " cortinam gestis viri sui intextam atqne depictam." » Cod. Theod. vol. 3, p. 504. 3 "Ut ilia doceret filiam ejus aurifrigiumoperari." (Domesday, 149 a, col. 2.) THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 435 was more often raw than cooked. On the Latin side of ^Ifric's Grlossary, " garum " is preserved and is translated "fisc hryne," and "carene" for "earaenum" occurs ia the same compilation. These words to those who have studied Apicius are eloquent on the subject of sauces, and prove the integrity of the art even ia those later days. This iaference is confirmed by the word "briw," which has also come down to us, and is the equivalent for the Latia "patina," or stew. The former word is the "brewet" of the middle ages, which held its ground for centuries. The old word coqidna, the scene of aU the ministries of the science, subsisted and still subsists in England under the slightly altered forms of cycene and kitchen.! From cities to civilization there is but one step, at least in etymology. I will, therefore, now pass on to the civili- zation of England. We have the fact of a high civilization in Britain from the circumstance that the wealth of that coimtry — an iaseparable attendant upon civilization — attracted the attention of the Anglo-Saxons. The temp- tation to iQvade and occupy this portion of the empire was the same as that which actuated the iuvasion and occupa- tion of the other portions of the empire, — namely, its wealth. But this wealth, like its creator civilization, could only have been Eoman. And as the Romans contiuued to exist in Britain after the Anglo-Saxon conquests, their civilization would continue also. If it had been absent or defective, S. Augustine could not have failed to remark upon the fact in his letters to S. Grregory. His silence on this point goes far to show that the general civilization ■ See .SJlfric'a Glossary, Cockayne's " Leeokdoms Wortomming and Staroraft of Early England," and " Some Aooonnt of the cuisine bour- geoiseof ancient Rome." (Archaeologia, vol. 41, p. 283 et seq.) F F 2 436 THE ROMANS OF BEITAIN. of the country was still, in its nature and extent, on a par with tliat of the continent of Europe. There remains still another form of Roman tradition — one which I venture to call the most interesting of all^ It is Eoman literature. It has been thought by many, or rather by most, that after the barbarian conquests an intel- lectual blight settled upon this fair land ; ihai men could neither read nor write, that public events passed away imrecorded, and that Britain had no more history than the muddled brains of Teutonic minstrels could contain and transmit. There is, of course, in this so much im- probability that on that groimd alone the supposition of such a state of things might without much pretence to scepticism be discredited on its own merits. But there is independent evidence enough to establish an afiSrmative. Annals of the period of the Anglo-Saxon conquests are referred to in a poem of the tenth century as still existing. The poet, when speaking of the original Anglo-Saxon conquests, vouches " old authors." " JJaes ye us secgaS bee, ealde uSwitan.'" Mr. Stephenson, who has collected some important data upon the same point, says : — " In the history of Northum- bria, Beda, as a native, was particularly interested, and would probably exert himself to procure the most copious and authentic information regarding it. Although he gives no intimation of having had access to previous historical documents, when speaking of his sources of information (5, 1), yet there seems reason to believe that he has made use of such materials. We may infer from what he says of the mode in which Oswald's reign was generally calculated (§§ 151, 175), that in this king's ' A. S. Chron. a.d. 938. THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 437 time there existed annals, or ehronologieal tables, in whicli events were inserted as they occurred, the regnal year of the monarch who then fiUed the throne being at the same time specified. The annals appear to have extended beyond the period of the conversion of Northumbria to Christianity (§§ 80, 94), although it is difficult to imagine how any chronological calculation or record of events coidd be preserved before the use of letters had become known.'" Mr. Stephenson does not see that these annals — ^these chronological records of events — ^themselves demonstrate the use and practice of letters, and the utter futility of any assumption to the contrary in Northumbria amongst the Eoman burgesses of that country. His observations therefore show plainly that there was history before Beda — some of it even extending back to a period precedent to the conversion of the Northumbrian Angles. Beda's references to events which happened before the christianization of the eonquerers, however surprising, do not stand alone. There is told in the Anglo-Saxon Chro- nicle a plain, prosaic story of the heathen age of the Anglo-Saxons, which could not have been taken down in later days from the traditional effusions of sceopas and wandering minstrels ; and yet, though unnoticed by Beda, it is historic, and is confirmed by unexceptionable Kymric authority. This historical notice teUs us, under the year of our Lord 577, that Cuthwiu and Ceawlin fought with Britons and slew three kings — Conmsegl (Commagil, Corn- mail or Coinmagil), Condidan (or Candidan), and Faiin- msegl (Farinmail or FariomagU), at the place that is named Derham, and took three cities from them — Gloucester, Cirencester and Bath. This is a concise account of the West Saxon campaign ^ Introduction to vol. 1, Beda's History, p. xxviii, § 36. 438 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. for A.D. 577; and if we turn to Llywarch Hen, we find the same series of events referred to, and two of those heroes, there called Kendelann (or Kynddylan) and Keran- mail, father and son, eulogized and lamented by that poet in a contemporary effusion." Two of the three names given in the Chronicle I will not attempt to identify, hut the third, Candidan, is unquestion- ably Candidianus, a well-known cognomen under the empire.^ These annals, these histories from which Beda drew his information, to which the poet refers, and which the na- tional chronicler must have seen, could only at first have been composed in Latin, because that was the language familiar to those who would care to record historical events. But when that language passed away, whatever that date was, there was another tongue which had become com- . petent to take up the task — ^the dialect originally spoken by the Belgic natives, and afterwards adopted by the invaders as a common language. This Bdgic dialect may have been a written language for some purposes even in Eoman times. The Gallic of the continent certainly was such.' There is, therefore, a presumption that the same fact is equally true of our own Belgic tongue. There was as much general civi- lization in Britain as in any part of Graul, with the excep- ' Villemarque's Bardea Bretons, pp. 66 — 115 ; Komuael is not men- tioned by this or any other bard (p. 66). ' See oMte, p. 95, among the names of the Viffiles. 3 Lamp. Vita Alex. Sev. 59; see Dig. 32, tit. 1, § 11. Here Ulpian lays down that Jideicommissa may be "written in any language, e. g., the Gallicana. In addition to this we hare Lucian's testimony that the Keltic was a written language. Alexander, the ^evSo^yns (Tauohnitz's edition, vol. 2, c. 51, p. 256) received letters in this language — "axxi xaj 0itp^tipois ■jroXXaxis E^pnaeVy £i tis r^ iretrpiw tpoiTO ^icv-^ 'Lvpiarirt KsXTiffri." We have also GraUic inscriptions ipide Eoget de Belloguet, Ethnogenie Gauloise, premifere partle, Glossaire Gaulois ; Adolphe Pictet's Essai sur quelques Inscriptions en langue Gauloise, 1859). THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 439 tion only of the pronncia. And no reasonable man can doubt that the Eoman alphabet used in England in Anglo- Saxon times was no introduction of S. Augustine, but was the alphabet of those unnamed and forgotten annalists and historians whom we have just had under our con- sideration. There is one more matter, and with that I will conclude this section of my labours. An oral tradition of the Julian invasion remained in Britain until the time of King .ZELfred, when that great litterateur consigned it to writing. Orosius says of Caesar that " he went to the river Thames, which they say is fordable only in one place." ' JElfred in translating this passage goes farther than his text warrants, and says, " The third battle of the Eomans was near the ford that is called WeHnga ford"^ — the ford of Welings. The royal trans- lator then proceeds as foUows: — "After the battle, the king and the citizens that were in Dymeceaster («. e., Canter- bury) submitted to him, and afterwards all they that were in the island {i.e., Thanet)."^ The results ascertained in the preceding pages I will now pass in review. The Romans of Britain have survived aU the barbarian conquests, and live thereafter separate and apart from their conquerors, being distingished from them by a name of argot, which the victors have imposed as an equivalent ' Lib. 3, 00. 9 and 10: "Inde ad flumen Thamesin profeotus est, quem uno tantum loco vadis transmeatilem ferunt." ' "Heora fridde gefeoht ■wses neah Tpone forde Jie man lieet Welinga ford." Dr. PauH incorreotly takes tMs to mean ValliTigford. (Weal- liaga ford, A. S. Chron.) ' ' ' .^iter Jiam feohte him eode on hand se oyning, and fa burhwaru Je waeron on Cymeceaster {read Dymeoeastre for Dorwitoeaster, as in A. S. Chron. a.d. 604), and sySSan ealle Je on yiem. igland wseron." 440 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. for the honourable appellation belonging to the vanquished in tmth and of right. But it is not merely existence and a mock name which have been assured to these Romans. They retain also their own law, with its procedure and police ; their own lands, with the tenures and obligations appertaiaiug to them ; their own cities and municipal government; their Christianity and their private colleges. In a word, there remarus in Britaiu after the conquests the same old Roman life which existed before that lamentable consummation. And it must not be forgotten that this Roman life, thus surviving as I have said, was no growth of yesterday. The customs, the laws, the iustitutions which it embodied and expressed, had taken the ancestors of those Romans, in their original seat of Italy, ages to form, to cultivate, and to develope into what they were at the close of empire. Greece even had contributed some thoughts from the storehouse of her genius to complete this imrivalled collection of precepts for the guidance and control of humanity. Such rights as these, secured or abandoned to the vanquished, made a complete modus mvendi for them in the face of the dominant barbarian nationality. But though retainiag so much that was priceless, the Romans lost the right of bearing arms ; and this disarmament, a measure of obvious necessity to the victors, continued until the close of the reign of Alfred, who, imder the pressing political circumstances, of the times, restored it, as I have before demonstrated, to the Romans for the better defence of the common country. Through the modus vivendi thus established from the very beginning no anarchy followed the conquests. But little government was required for a country dissociated from the world ; and that requisite modicum could be ob- THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 441 tained under a barbarian king, with an army of comites at his back, to keep the peace, to maintaia the barbarians in some kind of order, and to prevent the Romans from re- belling. What I have thus shown to have occurred in our own country has been always admitted to have . happened in the ease of Italy, Spain, and France. No denial of these facts has ever been attempted in regard to these portions of the empire. But in the case of our own country a totally different theory has long obtained, with what degree of truth or probability the reader is now in a position to judge. When on a former occasion I expressed, though not with so much particularity as now, the views and their evidences which I have propounded in this work, I was met with the objection that what I contended to be identity of the laws, customs and institutions of this country before the Norman Conquest with those of Rome was similarity only — that aU those laws, customs and institutions, whose existence was thus demonstrated, Roman as they would have been unhesitatingly admitted to be in the case of those other countries, were in Britain resemblances merely; and howevermuch they had cost the Roman mind in along and painful exercise, they were in this instance, and so far as England is concerned, the philosophical outcome, the unaided development, the self-originated parthenogenesis of a few generations of outer barbarians — themselves, on the faith of contemporaries, who knew them well, the lowest tribes' of all the irruptive swarms of the fifth century. But if, in the opinion of some, my theory, how- ever supported by evidence, must not be believed, although that evidence cannot be discredited, it will be only fair towards the reader to let him know without disguise or reserve what that counter- theory is, to which it is conceived no answer can be given. 442 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. This counter-tlieory, which is to uphold the gloiy of England as well as to support the cause of historic truth, is to the following effect: — The barbarians having annihilated the Romans and their coloni — yiz. all the inhabitants of Britain — ^re-people the whole island (with the exception of its western and northern ends) with their own substituted races, and then refurnish it out of their own crude brains with all the laws and institutions which have since been and are called English. This formulation wiU startle the reader, but it is, in every point, either said or meant and implied by all English historians, even by those who have in our own day gained more than others the general assent. Of the two divisions of the proposition which contains this accepted belief, — as each is necessary to the other, and the one faOing the other fails also, — each shall be separately examined by me. The annihilation of the original inhabitants of Britain (the Romans and their coloni), before the re-peopling was either necessary or could take place at all, is totally incon- sistent with the state of society which existed in England during the historic period. During the whole of that period there are, independently of the sixhynde, two sharply disting^shed orders of society — the noble and unnoble. These are called, as we have already seen, thegnas and ceorlas. The first named possess amongst themselves all the political power which has not merged in the king, and they are socially pre-eminent. The others have no political rights at aU, and as being the lowest order of freemen (their freedom even being far from perfect) there is not much to say for their social position. But these are totally un-German facts. In ancient Grermany every man not a slave was as good as another. Social pre-eminence and political power were not the exclusive right or possession of any one order of men. THE ROMANS OF BKITAIN. 443 Artificial society there was none, and all men were equally judges and politicians.^ It is true, as we are told by Tacitus, that among the freemen of Grermany there were nohiles;^ hut he shows at the same time that this noUKtas gave no exclusive rights in the government of a tribe or in. the adminis- tration of justice, for the nobiles take their part ia both by their title of freemen only.* The word itself which Tacitus uses should convince us that there was no nobUity in the sense of a select and exclusive class amongst the ancient Grermans ; for nobilis, in the miad of Tacitus and his countrymen, meant nothing of the kind. By this word the Romans made no reference to birth ia the sense of a man being patrician or plebeian. They meant merely that he, who was so called, had a father, a grandfather, or a remote ancestor, who had borne curule magistracy in Eome, or the equivalent for any one of these honours to be found in a provincial city* — that is, in other words, had received the honours and executed the duties of the highest offices in the state. If we transfer this word to the affairs of Grermany we shall see how those whose forefathers had been grafiones of the tribe, and had led successful expe- ditions into their neighbours' territories, could be nobiles in the true Roman sense of the word.^ The Anglo-Saxon in Britain is no longer a mere free- man as he was in old Grermany. He is an aristocrat, a 1 See Tacitus de M. a. c. 11. 2 De M. a. CO. 7, 11, 24, 25. ' Savigny, Geschichte des Kbniischen Eechts, vol. i. o. 4, § 53. * Sallust (in Catiliiia) says, "Miilti ex coloniis et municipiis domi nobiles." * Tacitus applies this word to whole German tribes even. (De M. G. CO. 39, 40.) Porphyrion (Comment in Horat. epis. 1, 1) speaks of " Veianius nobilis gladiator." 444 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. noble in the later European sense, while the ceorl, though living in the same country, is his inferior, — is ignoble. But this division into noble and ignoble, into privileged and unprivileged, into superior and inferior, thus found in Britain as a distinction drawn between and amongst free- men, did not exist in Germany in the fifth and sixth centuries. It could not, therefore, have been introduced into Britain by the invaders. The ceorls accordingly are no part of the invading forces, but are natives of the conquered country, — a lower section of its population. The division itself is consequently non-Grerman, and has arisen solely and inevitably out of the circumstances of the conquest. In point of fact these ceorlas, as we have seen, were the coloni of Britain, and, therefore, so far as regards this very numerous class, the annihilation theory is distinctly negatived. But if the fact of the existence of the ceorl side by side with the thegn is in itself a complete negation of the theory of destruction, that other fact of the simultaneous existence of the sixhynde equally, perhaps more forcibly, proves my assertion that there was no annihilation of the original population of Britain at the hands of the barba- rians. For here again is another class of freemen — another caste — ^higher than the ceorl but lower than the thegn. Such an intermediate order of freemen, however, can no more enter into the true polity of old Grermany, which admitted of no gradations of freemen, than the other and lowest form — the ceorl. These facts, vrithout more evidence, — and, as the reader win have seen, there is a great deal more, — demonstrate the absurdity of supposing, as the restdt of the barbarian eon- quests, that there was an exclusive settlement in Britain of Teutonic tribes, who, having entirely ousted the old pro- THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 445 vincials, substituted themselves for them. It is plain, from these facts alone, that the old provincials remained under the names of sixhyndes and ceorlas. So much for the men who under one name or another must he considered to form the ancestry of the English nation, as we have so long and so complacently called ourselves. It is not, however, these men only who present aspects which the theory of annihilation cannot deal with or explain ; hut the laws, customs and institutions also imder which they lived, which they practised and pre- served, — which, in a word, they have handed down to us, exhihit the same anomalies, the same difficulties, in short, the same impossibilities of reconciliation with that theory which I have denied. I have shown it to be certain that the priceless organi- zation of the Roman city survived the invasions in Britain equally as in Gaul. Yet, to insure this continuation, it is a condition of strict necessity that the natives also should have survived, and have remained inhabitants of the cities of which they had been masters, for in the natives alone was the tradition of the lex municipalis — of Roman laws and usages. If ia Britain the cities had been cleared of their inhabitants by their expulsion or their destruction, the Roman organi^iation of the city must have fled or fallen with them. But this is disproved as a fact by the evidences of that organisation which I have adduced, and by the continuous existence of cities so organized. That an institution, however, should have subsisted without interruption involves, as a condition, that the nation which imderstood and exercised it should exist also. The out- ward forms and external tokens of a Roman city would have suggested nothing to the invader, even if it could be shown that he took up his new abode in it. The Bedawee who dwells amongst the pyramids is as capable of repro- 446 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. ducing the institutions of the Pharaohs as the rude Jute would have been able to weave from his brain the theory of the Eoman municipality. But the Anglo-Saxon thegn, like his Grerman brethren, would not live ia cities.' He surrendered them, in his brutal disdain, to the grateful provincials. I have demonstrated that the Roman law and its pro- cedure in all its ramifications remaiaed in operation in this country; that the Eoman land tax — the onerapatrimonialia — the colleges — ^the old Christianity — ^the ager vectigalis of the empire — ^the anterior divisions of territoria and pagi — the imperial poKce — all existed, notwithstanding the uncongenial presence of the barbarians upon the soil of Britain. These laws, customs and institutions, peculiarly and ineontrover- tibly Eoman, however they might in time come to be un- derstood and practised by the barbarians (and we shall find that they were eventually so understood and practised) could never emanate from them. Neither would it be possible that any barbarians could dream out of their own minds a formula of thought which should exactly fit the famous conventional enactment of the Lex Sempronia. All these things must be considered to be quite distinct from merely accidental resemblances of colour and surface. Far from being such, they are, on the contrary, deeply rooted realities. They could neither have been evolved by the Anglo-Saxon in his new home from mere contact of soil and skyey influences, nor could they have been im- ported by him from his old country, for they are Eoman and not Grermanio, and he had no means of acquiring Eoman wstja and customs before he settled in the Eomanized land of Britain. 1 AnmBan. Marcellums, lib. 16, c. 2, § 12, ante. THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 447 Before that epoch, the Anglo-Saxons had no intercourse or communication with the empire except by sea, and in partial and transitory descents upon weak or undefended lines of coast. They enlisted not ia the Imperial armies. There was no mental contact and commimication between the Imperial subjects and the Saxons. For the Franks, their bitter and implacable enemies, made a wall between the Empire and the Saxons, which the latter never over- stepped. This fact is most grave and important in enabUng us to come to a conclusion upon the question of what the Saxons and their allied and other tribes similarly placed and situated could have imported iato Roman Britain. But in presence of the absolute non-iatercourse between themselves and the Empire, they could only have imported into Britain Germanic usages, for they had nothing else to bring with them. This fact of logic is confirmed by the facts of history. At the period of the empire of Charlemagne, the Saxons were still unaltered, unmodified and barbarous Germans, such as Csesar and Tacitus had seen and described — per- haps they were worse. They possessed no several estate, and were steeped ia the squalor of unintelligent poverty. They were warlike in the extreme. They lived under no central government. They were all this and worse when they first put their foot upon Britain.' What they were a few generations afterwards we shall shortly see. But while it is thus undeniable that the An.glo-SaxonB did not bring anything Roman with them when they in- vaded Britain ia the fifth and sixth centuries, it can be 1 Fortunatus, Bishop of Poitiers, in the middle of the sixth century, says : — " Aspera gens Saxo, vivens quasi more feriuo." (Quoted by Stapleton, in his Magni Eotuli Soaooarii Normannise, Obser- vations, p. 47.) 448 THE KOMANS OF BRITAIN. just as satisfactorily proved tliat none of tMs roha di Roma tliat I have traced and described came into England by- way of any later importation. These institutes could not haye been imported from the Contiuent during the early period of the Anglo-Saxon regime, because there is every reason to believe that if the Continent was not closed to the country at large, yet intercourse with Europe was not coveted by its rulers. This disposes of one course. It re- mains to see what other course could be open. Only one other, I think, viz. through the Roman clergy after the iatroduction of Christianity. But could this clergy have done it ? Could they, or would they, suggest or introduce a municipal system, a police division of territory, and a system of taxation, formed to carry out a secular adminis- tration only? Could they have introduced those other Roman principles of which I have made detailed mention ? The only rational answer to these questions is an absolute denial. This continuity of thought, therefore, identical in principle and iu form, between the Romano-Britannic and Anglo-Saxon eras, is irrefragable proof of there being also a continuity of persons and race, of the survival of the Romans, and of the necessary ascription to them of aU the Roman facts and principles which I have thus identified. After this, there is no alternative but to refuse entirely our belief to this insupportable theory that there was only one race iu Britaia upon the completion of the barbarian conquests, — viz. the barbarians themselves. The truth is what I have shown — that there were after these events two populations iu what is now called Eng- land, — ^the Roman and the barbarian. For some time these two peoples stood upon parallel lines, neither meeting nor merging into each other, their relative positions beiag broadly represented by those of the rayah and the Turk, in the palmy days of Ottoman rule. THE ROMANS OF BEITAIN. 449 In this state of non-merger of the two peoples, the bar- barian lived imder his own law, such as it was, and we know precisely its nature and extent from the pregnant pages of Tacitus. The barbarian had no other law, and it was sufficient for his purposes and his desiderations. Compensation at first in chattels, and afterwards in money, was justice enough for him, whether his son had been murdered, his wife had been ravished, or his own head had been broken. This sort of justice he could always obtain by invoking his right of private war, should the weakness of his opponent or his, own superior strength make that course prudent and desir- able. When he settled down in Britain these were his law and his ordo judiciorum ; and, during the early stage of his changed domicile, we cannot doubt that both seemed as well adapted to the future as they were to the present of his race. And so they would have been if his own meta- physical condition could have been stereotyped in his de- scendants. But this was impossible. In the case of the Romans their civil and criminal laws were in like manner separately administered. The comes cicitatis was president of their court, as he was of that of the Anglo-Saxons. But different assessors instructed him on this side — burgesses and Romans. These were the deman or judges, who assisted the comes for all suits between Romans. Of this court there was a vice-president of the ealdorman, called the Wealh-gerefa, or reeve of the Romans, a functionary who is traceable to the end of Alfred's reign.' This I have before stated, but as it is necessary to refer to these facts for other purposes, I again recapitulate them. Of the fact that a different law was administered in this Roman court from that which was in vogue ia the other, ' Ante, p. 293. 450 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN . a very interesting proof is still in existence. It is con- tained in an undated document, but whicli is doubtless of the tenth century. A paragraph in it refers to what was a rule of law in the case of a Roman thief — a direction as to what was to be done to an offender of that nationaKty.' Such a direction has only one meaning — ^that the treat- ment of a Roman offender was different from that of an offender of barbarian race. Consequently the laws of the two nationalities were different from each other, and the administration of them was correspondingly separate and distinct. In the function of the Wealh-gerefa, and the reference made to the Roman thief, we thus have direct evidence of a separate judge and of a separate law for the Romans. Of the Roman judges, who sat as assessors to the Wealh- gerefa, we have evidence not so direct (not being contem- porary), but just as conclusive in respect of the fact itself. Our actual evidence upon this point only goes to those times when the county court was one-sided, the ealdorman or his general deputy, the scir-gerefa, presiding. In the times which followed upon the abrogation of the Wealh- gerefa, the Roman burgesses were still summoned as assessors whenever the ealdorman or the- scir-gerefa came to try cases in their boroughs. But now they sat jointly with the scir-thegnm,^ as previously they had sat alone and immixed. ' The instance given is that of a thief (1 Thoipe, p. 234): "paet ylce ])e man Jiam Wylisoean Jeofe dyde" (i. «. the same thing that was done to the Eoman thief). In point of fact, the reference is to a Boman of Middlesex. ^ In 4 Kemble, pp. 266, 267, a case is tried before the county court at Canterbury. The burhwaru are part of the gewitnesse, besides the county gentlemen. Book of Ely, p. 137, sub anno 975 : " Post mortem vero ejtis 5eg- mundus de Holande et cognati prsefatse viduae qui preedictam paludem' sive pisoationem tenuemnt ad locationem, terram de Stancie Sanctae THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 451 Such a state of tMngs as this between two populations living in the same land and under the same political government could not last for ever. It was the condition of two different nationalities, between which a modus mvendi only had been established. But time, and, above all, altered political circumstances, broke down the barriers between the two races. We can approximate to the date when this actually occurred. Up to the reign of jJElfred the Wealh-gerefa, as we have' seen, continued to adjudicate on the Roman side of the county court. As long as this office continued, the judicature and judicatory of the Romans were distinct. When that officer disappeared, as he did some time in that king's reign, the county court became a tribunal open and competent to the two races, and we find henceforth that it is so in all time to come. Circumstances had favoured this consummation, by en- abling each caste to attain some knowledge of each other's laws.' For though these were separate entities, and the administration of each was as distinct as itself, yet each law, being as a matter of fact admiuistered under the same presidency (that of the comes civitatis), and in the same place, there were opportunities quite sufficient to enable the two nationalities to become finally acquainted with each other's system. This acquaintance led each in turn .ffitheldrydse injuste deripuerunt, siuejudicio et sine lege civium et hundre- tanorum. Deinde venit ^gelwinus alderman ad Ely, fneruntque Beg- nmndus et alii pro hac causa vocati et summouiti ad placitum civium et hundretanorum .... Tandem veniens .^gelwinus alderman ad Grantebruoge habuit ibi grande placitum civium et huudretanorum coram xxiui judicibiLS." See also Ellis's Domesday. The word gewitnesse occurring in the first reference requires explanation. It is used in the sense of adjudication (.5!thelred's Laws, c. I ; 1 Thorpfe, p. 282) : "And ne bete nan man for nanre tyhtlan buton hit sy Jjses cynges gerefan gewitnesse." Book of Ely (p. 116, Dr. GUes's edition) : "V. hydas quas Wlwiuus cocus et uxor ejus .iElfsueth multis media et teste popvdo per transgressionem amiserunt." For the expression " scir- thegnas," see 6 Kem. p. 198 : " Scirfegnas on Hamtunscirse." gg2 452 THE ROMANS OF BKITAIN. to covet the possession of such advantages as the other enjoyed, hut which mutual isolation withheld from them. So long as the barharian kept to himself the peculiarities of his own law, the Eoman felt himself placed at a grave social disadvantage, ia an age when the Teutonic privilege of violence had made of ordinaiy life a scene of unceasing personal jeopardy. He therefore in self-preservation co- veted to he invested with the red-handed right of private war; and having coveted that right, we know as a fact that he ultimately obtained it, together with the other privileges of the barharian. In thus desiring to return to open violence, the civiliised Eoman reversed the course which his own great philo- sophical poet had assigned to humanity.^ But the neces- sity of the times was too strong for philosophy. Though he was thus empowered to carry on private war, the reader has already learnt that it was not until much later that the Eoman was admitted by the barbarian to the glory and the burthen of public warfare — to the right of defending the common country. That glory and that burthen in England, as in Turkey, attached to those only to whom the country belonged.^ To this right of private war, blood-money was an in- separable adjunct and went naturally with it. But the third element of barbaric jurisprudence — ^the law of mayhem — ^the Eomans could have accepted only with a sigh or a snule. It could solely have been the strong ■ necessity of placing themselves upon a practical equality with the barbarians which iufluenced the Eomans in accepting this boon. Their own law breathing the scorn of proud and sensitive men, free in all things save political 1 Luoret. Ub. v. 1143. " Sponte sua cecidit sub leges arta/que jura." ' Ante, p. 254, THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 453 life, had spoken out on this point. It had said in its great days, " Cicatricum autem, ant deformitatis • nuHa fit aesti- matio, quia liberum corpus nullam accipit aestimationem." ' The Roman law allo-wed a free citizen his damages under circumstances of personal injury, but the damages were his doctor's biU, and his loss of gain through the enforced idleness of his cure. What would their immortal jurists have said to an appraisement of a nail, a nostril, or less nameable particles of our general anatomy?^ King ^thelbert enumerates all these and more in his code, which a grave native his- torian compares to the imperial compilations, affecting to think that the Kentish king had rivalled the examples of Constantiae, of Theodosius, and of Justinian.' It was, however, to the manifest prospective advantage of both castes that their two .systems, though essentially opposed to each other, should be mutually imparted — ia other words, should be amalgamated. This was done. There was an interchange of laws, and the two originally dis- cordant schemes were pressed iato one code, to the greater benefit of the barbarian, who, like Diomede, exchanged his brass for gold. The period during which the two systems existed, separate and uncommingled, and the exact date at which they coalesced, can neither be gauged nor fixed. Both facts, however, are too clear to be doubted, and the Anglo-Saxon codes, as they have come down to us, unequivocally display this truth ; for they all declare, as the jurisprudence of the whole country affecting everybody aUke, laws which we know ia themselves to be distinctively either Roman or barbarian. These codes, each a sort of corpus juris, are 1 Dig. 9, 3, 7. 2 LL. iEthelbert. ' Beda'B H. E. lib. 2, o. 5 : " Juxta exempla Komanorum." 454 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. applicable to all classes,— twelfhynde, sixhynde, and twy- hind. There is no longer a separate jurisprudence and judicature. There is one law, and aU men are brought under it. Thenceforward the Anglo-Saxon sues and is sued, prosecutes and is prosecuted, after the manner of the "Wealh. The Apglo-Saxon adopts the rules of the land law of his subjects, and he could not help doing so if he wanted a law at aU. He even parades the rule of the Lex Sempronia, as if it were a provision of his own German wilds ; and in his new-bom pride, as an owner in severalty, he affects to consider that a thegn (or gentleman) should qualify as such by holding a thousand acres. He coerces his Anglo-Saxon wife into the Roman twelvemonth's enforced chastity after his death, and secures her obedience to a law older than Romulus by a sanction of the same antiquity — ^her forfeiture of dower.' In addition to all this, and a great deal more, he bows his own stubborn neck to the three territorial obligations of road-making, repairing city walls, and finding recruits, — all which the imperial law imposed on lands and houses. It makes no difference ia the quality of the Anglo-Saxon's submission, that all these three obligations — "needs" he called them — sat lightly upon him. Of course he never contributed to the fortification of a city which he did not inhabit, or to the new-metalling of the high roads, the use of which he could never adequately comprehend, either in peace or in war. Nor again could the third need be appKed to him with any degree of generality. He could form no part of the ealdorman's army, unless his services were dispensed with by the king, who had the prior right, as heretoga, to the services of all Anglo-Saxons, if he chose to call them out as king's men. But notwithstanding this Ante. THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 455 non-performance of obligations, which the Anglo-Saxons voluntarily took upon themselves, though probably without any intention of executing them, the fact stiU remains that they, nominally at least, in every document that was required in reference to land, professed their unqualified submission to those three purely Roman territorial onera. They could neither acquire new estates of the king out of the ager vectigalis, nor sell, transmit, or devise thfeir own old ones, without the whole of these burthens attaching to the land and every particle of it.^ But why had the Anglo-Saxon, whom the conquest had placed above all the laws of his subjects, thus done his best so fax to undo the work of the conquest and to Eiomanize himself ? The answer to this question is obvious, — ^he had done so because he could not prevent himself, if he had wished, from taking such a course. Being in a minority, living in the midst of a majority and encom- passed, about by the customs of that majority, he insensibly accepted the social and moral impressions which that majority was well calculated to make — the more so that in. most cases such impressions only filled up a previous vacuum. When the two systems were thus amalgamated, it may be thought probable that, in some instances at least, their principles would modify each other — that the '•better one would improve the worse, and the worse would deteriorate the better. This twofold effect did occur, and it is easily demonstrable. After the barbarian rule of private war was admitted into the joint code, its original savage crudeness became considerably qualified. Under the influence of Roman equity it resolved itself into an ultima ratio only. It was no longer a primary and sole means of obtaining ' See Kemble's Ood. Dip., paseim. / 456 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. justice,! ]3ut .^as made a means only when all other methods had failed. For the amalgamated code required that a plaintiff should first demand redress of the wrongdoer, and on receiving a refusal, but not otherwise, he was allowed to wage war to enforce the required reparation. In this interesting compromise the action of the Eoman mind upon the harharian idea is plainly visible. There is another iastance where the converse action is equally perceptible. The barbarian turn of thought has made its own impression in its turn upon a Eoman prin- ciple — corrupting it, of course, to its own irregular purposes. "We have seen what the " cara cognatio" of a college was — ^the fictitious kinship that formed the sentimental bond of union of its members. After the amalgamation of the laws the gild brethren became liable to pay a third of the blood fine incurred by a homicidal brother who was unable to discharge his own liability, and had no paternal relations to help him. "When the homicide had no kinsmen at all, the brethren paid one-half of the mulct.'' S comerso, where a gildman who had no relatives was killed, his gild became entitled to half of his were.' In these accretions upon the rules of the collegium we see, of course, the practical iafluence of the barbarian. But though the barbarian had granted to the Romans the right to participate in his own cherished privilege of exacting blood-money, and had consented to an assessment • being put upon their lives, their maims and their moral 1 LL. .ZElfred, c. 42. This proTision of law is worth careful perusal. It shows the engrained savagery of the Anglo-Saxon, and enables ns to see clearly how specially adapted were the barbarian customB to effect that corruption and dislocation of society which history teHs us did ensue throngllout what had been ciTilized Europe. For the same rule, at an earlier date, see LL. Ine, o. 9. 2 LL. .Alfred, c. 27. 3 lb. 0. 28. THE ROMANS OF BEITAIN. 457 outrages, the relative appreciation of the two castes re- mained as before. The barbarian had no intention, in so doing, to admit the Roman into his own superior rank. The lives of the Romans still were less important, their maims were less grave, and the wrongs suffered by them through their wives and their daughters were more venial. The Roman was still only half as good as the Teuton; and yet this system, at once absurd, degrading and unjust, could recommend itself to the approval of the great and good jiElfred — even now, to some minds, the traditional embodiment of Teutonic equity. But, while the two castes thus drawn towards each other by circumstances and their mutual necessities, had become, to some extent, communis populus, they severally never forgot each other's origin, even after they spoke the same language, and each con- tinued, as before, to contemn or to hate the other. Each caste regarded the other with hostile eyes, and preserved its chronic illwill to the end of the monarchy. If men met at the home of a common friend, or the public alehouse — for of so old a date is this devouring canker of England — the peace of Grod and of the lord of the house was firstly proclaimed. And if any one of the assembled guests had before given cause of offence to another there present, the company examined into the grievance, and if they found the accused to be culpable, he was constrained to give his promise or his pledge to make amends by a term ap- pointed, or to leave the room.' The same observance was carried out at the meeting of a gild, when invited guests *" LL. Hen. I. c. 81, § 1 : "In omni potaoione, daoione, vel empoione, vel gUdo vel ad quidlibet in huiic modnm preparata, primo pax Dei et domini inter eos, qui convenerint, publica proniinciatione ponenda est ; et rogandvun, ut si quis alium ibi qnaounque devitet ocoasioue, si placet, palam faoiat, et rectum ei vadietur competenti termino perogeudum, siout et aHbi justmn erit. Si presentem conoordiam non admittvmt, vel exeat, vel reoedat, cujus culpa claruerit ad odium." 458 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. were present.' Nor was it omitted even when men met to negotiate a sale, or to complete a conveyance.^ It is easy to see, therefore, that England was fuU of the smouldering fires of caste hatred. But though the Romans of Britain retained so much of their own, one property of their nation, priceless in value, was, after a lapse of time, lost to them for ever — the practice of their own Latin language. This loss to our country is one that we, their successors, must for ever deplore. The retention of the language, even in the deteriorated forms of France and Italy, of Spain and Eoumania, would have justified England in asserting for herself her true position — ^that of heing a memher of the great Latin race. Her discontinuance of the language has given colour to that misapprehension of her true ascription, which has unmeritedly placed her amongst the Teutonic peoples. The Latin language had been a denizen of Britain for many centuries before the first barbarian conquest. With the colonization of Britain it had come as the language of the Roman conquerors.' Latin was the speech of 1 See also Ine, c. 6. 2 ^thelred III. c. I. ' There are instances on record where provincials of Roman or Italic origin could not speak Latin, but the way in which such isolated cases are mentioned, or, rather, the fact of mentioning them at all, proves their extreme rarity. Aelius Spartianiis (o. 15, Peter's edition, vol. i. p. 136) says that the sister of the Emperor Severus (who was a citizen of Leptis) discredited him at his own court by her inability to speak Latin, (" Cum aoror sua Leptitana ad eum venisset vix Latine loquens, ac de illfl. multum imperator erubesceret, dato filio ejus lato clavo atque ipsi multis muneribus redire mulierem in patiiam praecepit.") In a preceding chapter {ib. p. 125) Spartianus had said that the ancestors of Severus were "equites Romani ante civltatem omnibus datum:" of genuine Roman blood. So Apnleius (de Magia, c. 98) says of his stepson, a young man of good Roman family at Carthage, ' ' loquitur nunquam nisi Punice, et si quid adhuc a matre graecissat, enim Latine neque vult neque potest." But this youth was a mamiais sujet. THE ROMANS OF BUITAIN. 459 the army, the civil service, the courts of justice, and of society. This had occurred in every other barbarous couatry conquered and colonized by Eome. The Roman could justly boast that Latin vs^as almost the common tongue of the universe.^ The Romans, who had thus colonized Britain, transmitted their language uncorrupted to their descendants, and these were still speaking it as their ver- nacular in the fifth century, when SS. Grermanus and Lupus preached to them in that language, both in the east and the west of oiir island.^ Fifty years later, S. Patrick, a Roman of North Britain, addressed a Latin letter to the Christian subjects of Coroticus,' a provincial who had established an ' Pliny (H. N. 3, 5) : " Niumne deum electa [i.e., Hesperia) quae . . . tot popiilorum disoordes feraaque linguas sermonis conmieroio con- traheret." ^ These holy missionaries preached in town and country in Britain, and were everywhere understood and appreciated, winning back to the Catholic faith those who had strayed from it at the instigation of Pelagius and his followers. Constautius (Acta Sanctorum), torn. vii. p. 212) says of S. G-ermanus, "Divinus sermo non solum in ecclesiis, rerum etiam per trivia, per rura, per devia difEundebatur, ut passim et fide catholici firmarentur et depravati viam|Correctionis agnoscerent. ' ' The biographer of S. Lupus {ib. p. 74) says of both saints, " neo tantum sub ecclesiarum parietibus per eos verbi divina semina, verum etiam per rui'a, per trivia spargebantur et compita." At the second visit of S. Germanus, Con- stantius speaks of his " praedicatio ad plebem." {Ib. p. 216.) The ■woT^plebs means Roman inhabitants generally. See post^ in note. ^ The title of Saint Patrick's letter is "Epistola ad Christianos Corotici tyranni subditos." (Villanueva, p. 240.) In the course of it he says, " Et manu mea scrips! atque condidi verba ista danda ac tradenda militibus mittenda Corotici," &o. {Ib. p. 241.) Further on, " Quaeso plurimum ut quicunque famulus Dei promptus fueiit ut sit gerulus litterarum harum, ut nequaque subtrahantur a nemine, sed magis potius legantur coram cunctis plebibus, et praeaente ipso Corotico " (p. 247). What helps to fix the date of the epistle is the following passage (p. 244) : " Con- suetude Eomanorum Gallorumque Christianorum est, mittunt presbyteros sanctos et idoneos ad Francos et exteras gentes cum tot millibus solidorum ad redimendum captives baptizatos. -Tu omnes interficis et vendis Olos genti exterae ignoranti Deum, quasi in lupanar tradis membra Christi." Dr. Todd (S. Patrick, Apostle of Ireland, p. 391) observes upon this 460 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. autkority of some kind over certain cities of what we now call North "Wales. And these Christian subjects, who thus understood Latin, the Saint declares to be the general inhabitants of those cities.^ This is direct evidence that at the end of the fifth cen- tury Latin was tl^p language of not only the descendants of the Roman colonists — the municipes, the incolae, the ingenui, the cives — ^but of the indiscriminate and general body of the dwellers in cities. And S. Patrick, who proves this fact of others in a different part of Britain from his own, is himself, as a Latin-speaking civis of a munici- pium of Valentia, a witness for the generality of the same fact. Yet, notwithstanding this transmission of Latin thus clearly evidenced, and the consequent inference which we are entitled to draw, that it continued much later as a living language, — for speech no more than the body decays all at once, — it is certain that at some time it ceased to be spoken. And this occurred just as much in the Keltic parts of Britain as in the Lloegrian, though the circimistances of the two divisions were very far from being either the same or similar. How was it, then, that Latin thus fell out of use ? The explanation is this. During the continuance of the empire the Roman possessor in Britain disdained to acquire a know- ledge of the speech of his coloni, or of the proletariate of his town. Perhaps there was no real necessity for this acquire- ment. His steward collected his rents, and accounted for them without any need of a personal confrontation of the landlord with his tenants. But when Britain was thrown passage, "The epistle about Coroticns mnst have been written whilst the Franks were still pagans, and therefore before the adoption of a nominal Christianity by Clovis and his subjects in 496." ' He calls them " plebes," as we have just seen. For the meaning of " plebs," in the days of the empire, see 2 Zell, p. 249, and Dig. 50, 17, 238 (" plebs est caeteri eives sine senatoiibns"), and also ib. 2, 2. THE ROMANS OF BKITAIN. 461 upon her own resources by the words of the^Honorian rescript, — when the native Roman landlords became the leaders of the people and their judges also, — it was impera- tive that they should understand and discourse the language of the cofoni. And from that time the Belgic became the vernacular of th.e possessor, jointly with his own Latin, in the Belgic parts of Britain. Precisely the same necessity of communieatiag with his own coloni, who were Kelts, drove the Roman possessor ia the west of Britain to acquire this idiom of his subjects. "While the possessores spoke Latin m the time of Coroticus and S. Patrick, their descendants — ^the gentry and kings of later days — spoke only, as everybody knows, the dialect of their inferiors — the Kymry. If this could happen (and we know that it did happen) in the case of the Roman gentry and burgesses who lived in the western parts of the island, it is just as natural that it should happen ia the Lloegrian parts also ; and there the change was the more easy through the further disturbing influence of the Teutonic dialects of the conquerors, who could not fail to exert an influence in this direction from the mere force of their supremacy of position. No one, therefore, can say that this explanation of the disappearance of Latin from the Belgic parts of Britain is forced, unnatural or incredible. When Latin-speaking came to an end in the towns of Lloegria is as uncertain as the date of the corresponding fact in the towns of Wales. What we do know for certain is this only — that in a.d. 730 there was stUl a nation in Britain that spoke Latin as its vernacular and not as a learned language merely. Beda teUs us this fact. He says, " Haec («. e. Britain) in praesenti, juxta numerum librorum quibus lex divina scripta est, quinque gentium Unguis, unam eamdemque summae veritatis et verae sub- u-f '"j_ ;i£.^ 462 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. limitatis scientiam scrutatur et confitetur, Anglonim videli- cet, Brittomun, Scotorum, Pictonim et Latinorum." ^ Thus Latin-speaking ceased in England subsequently to A.D. 730, and there remained only as the common language the Belgic dialect of the country, which the conquerors had also adopted as their own. For when we come into times of history later than Beda's epoch, we find this common dialect to he the written language of the land, and we must therefore infer that it was the spoken language also. Before the cessation of Latia-speaking, however, there had crept iato this Belgic dialect Latia words of art, law, cuisiae, war, weights, measures, science, society and common observances. I have catalogued these words before. A reference back to them will show that some of these Latin words are still on our own lips in. daily and constant use.^ Above aU, the grand sound of w, never known to Teuton or Scandinavian, but borrowed by the Beige directly from the Roman,' still puts forward its evidence of the relations which once sub- sisted between the empire and this island. These borrowings were not confi.ned to words merely transplanted as they stood from the one language into the other. Phrases and expressions peculiar to Latin were imported into the Belgic by way of translation. ThuB a deed is called, ia the Belgic, hoc (book), because, under the empire, the Romans had called it liber and Ubellus.'^ Via militaris (high road) was Kterally translated herestrcet and 1 H. E. Wo. 1, 0. 1. ^ Ante, p. 36. ^ See ante, p. 33. The Anglo-Saxon could not resist tlie influence of this sound, and extended it to the names of his gods and his heroes, e.g., Woden, Weland, Wada, Wyrhtgeom, &c. * This word is found in the " rormuUe veteres," appended to the laws of Aistulfus (Muratori, p. 91), andpaesim : " Ipsa terra milii concessa est per libellum." THE ROMANS OF BKITAIN. 463 herpath. A pitched battle being called by the Romans puhlica pugna and puhlicus confiictus, we find of these words a literal translation infokgefeoht} The common LatiQ expression for putting a man in the catasta was "ponere in ligno." It occurs in the Acta Martyrum, and its authenticity cannot, therefore, be im- pugned.^ But this is literally the time-honoured English expression, " to put into the stocks," — ^more accurately in the stock, " in stocce," or " in ligno." Villa was translated ham (home), and the translation had the same twofold meaning as the original, standing equally for the proprietor's house on his estate, and for the estate itself.' For upon each Roman colonist's allotted land — to be the residence of himself and of his posterity — was built what the agrimensores called the " domus pro- prietatis,"* but which the law and common parlance called the mlla, or villa fundi. The law defined fundus to be the estate combined with the house — ia other words, the personal settlement of the colonist upon the allotment which the State had made to him.^ The house being thus as iaseparable from the estate as the estate was from the house, the word mlla got to be used as an equiTalent substitute for centuria, or the allotment itself.'' 1 Vegetiiis, passim. For the Anglo-Saxon expression, see King .Alfred's Orosins, passim. * Acta prooonsularia Martyrum Soillitanorum (Euinart, p. 131) : " Satuminus proconsul dixit : Detrudautur in carcerem, ponantur in ligno in diem orastinum." ' As to "ham," see Dr. Bosworth's Dictionary and the Anglo-Saxon Diplomata, passim. * Boethius, Laohman, p. 398. ' Dig. 50, 16, 211: "Ager cum aedificio fundus dioitur." Festus sub voce " saltus," says, "Fiindi, qui est in agro culto, et ejus causa habet aedificium." * See ante, p. 20, note ^ (the quotation from the Oodex Justiniaueus). Paulus Diaconus uses villa in the sense of possessio : ' ' Faotae sunt lavinae possessionum seu vUlarum" (lib. 3, c. 23). So, also, in his continuation 464 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. Besides mere translation there was another change of name which came up in Britain after the barbarian con- quests and the predominance of the Belgic language. This form, though by no means translation, has at first sight very; much the appearance of it. I aUude to the distortion of the old British names of cities, which had * been consecrated by Boman adoption, into Belgic words of trivial significance. This vulgar kind of alteration, which is well illustrated by the English example of "sparrowgrass" for the classic asparagus, may be safely attributed to the predominant Anglo-Saxon. Under this influence, Eburacum , became Eaforwio — ^the town of a wild boar. Derventio was transformed into Deorgby — the abode of wild beasts, and Antona became the tauto- logical composite Hamtun.^ Whatever was the date of the cessation of Latin- speaking ia Britain, no doubt can be entertained that even after that event was consummated the language would remain consecrated to the composition of deeds and settlements. "We know perfectly well that for this pur- pose the use of Latin was continued and handed down in Italy and Graid into times almost modem. But the question of this retention of Latin in England is not left to probabilities only. We have an example of its use as regards one division, the earliest to be conquered — Kent— in a deed when the Belgic is unquestionably a written language. The deed which I refer to is a charter of Eutropius (c. 18). So Maroulfus uses the common form: " villam aliqiiam nimcupatain illam, sitam Id pago iUo" (lib. 1, Form. 17). So S. Patrick calls his father's small estate in Valeutia, "Tabemiae Tillam .... ubi ego in capturam deddi." (Confessio, p. 184, Villauueva's edition.) The interpreter at Cod. Theod. 3, 1, 2, uses villa as synonymous with ager. ' See also the remarks at p. 173 respecting Rochester and Portsmouth. THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 465 of land of King JEthelbyrht.^ It is without date, and there is nothing to show whether it was prepared before or after the arrival of S. Augustine. "With the exception of the "parcels," it is whoUy in Latin, the "parcels" being in Belgic. If this deed was prepared after the settlement of S. Augustine in Kent, it might be pretended that one of his chaplains drew it. If so, however, he could only have drawn the Latin part of it ; for, being a Graul, or an Italian, it would be out of his power to furnish forth the equally essenftal Belgic in which are described the abuttals of the property. Only a native conveyancer could do that. But this idea of a copartnership in a small con- veyance is too ridiculous to be entertained. Whoever drew the deed provided the two languages employed in its composition, — the one as well as the other; and as no foreign scrivener can be imagined for a moment to have written the Belgic part of it, it follows that the whole was composed by a native conveyancer — a burgess of the city to which the deed itself refers — Canterbury. This burgess, a descendant of a Roman colonist, had, like his brethren, received from his ancestors the old language of his race, and had preserved it for application to grave and serious purposes.^ This conveyancing Latin betrays its pre-Augustinian origin, in one of its phrases at least. To express the three joint patrimonial onera, the Eomans of Britaiu had invented the expression " trinoda necessitas." This form of words is not found in Graul or Spaia, though the > 1 Kem. Cod. Dip. p. 1. 2 Sucli men were the Wealhstodas — ^those who interpreted their own language, that of the "Wealas, to the Anglo-Saxons. This word was afterwards perpetuated in the language as meaning an interpreter in general. It remains as a tolerably common EngUsh surname — Welstood. cT H H 466 THE ROMANS OF BRITAm. burthens to which it refers existed equally! in those countries as in 3ritaiii.i It is, of course, purely pre- posterous to suppose that S. Augustine and his clejis originated this happy turn ; and yet, if they alone in this land were cunning in the language of Rome, they must have done so. II they did not invent it, it is a phrase of the Latin of Eoman Britain, and is neither of late nor bad character.^ Such was the actual condition of the country, both as regarded the victors and the vanquished, under the Anglo- Saxon rigime. The Eomans remained Romans, and the barbarians, succumbing to their superior cultivation,. had adopted the civilization of their own subjects. But that a vanquished nationality, however refined, should have exerted an influence able to produce such a result, it is an absolutely necessary condition that it exceeded in numbers equally as in refinement the class upon which that influence had been directed. Under other conditions the refined class, instead of influencing, would itself have been in-; fluenced by its rude superiors, and have finally coalesced in their barbarism. As we know this was not the case in England, it is a fair presumption that the Eomans were the many and the Anglo-Saxons the few in England. But we are not left to presimiption, and it will not be difficult to prove that the relative numerical position of the conquered and the conquerors was what I have asserted. ' See Heineocii Corpus Juris Grermanici veteris. 2 Doubtless of barbarous words there was plenty introduced into the speech of the empire. Isidorus says, ' ' Unaquaque gens facta Bomanorum cum suis operibus vitia quoque et verborum et momm Homam trans- misit" (Orig. 1, 18, 31). But "trinodus" is as good in its way as "trimodus," and that is found in correct writers — "de trimodo genere dicendi" (iS. c. 17), and "trimodium" (Acron in Hor. Serm. 1, v. 53). THE EOMANS OP BRITAIN. 467 The reader lias abeady seen that the Anglo-Saxons, as being an army or armies, of course never great in numjbers, were necessarily as regards the Bomans and their colon i, who formed a nation of themselves, a minority only. And it requires no evidence to prove that, beginning as a minority, they would continue relatively to be such, what- ever numbers on their part a census might show. But when in fact, as I will demonstrate, this minority was an enormously rich aristocracy, we have no alternative but to conclude that its actual numbers were always very small indeed. By the result of the conquests the barbarian became a landowner — ^the proprietor of estates cultivated by coloni and slaves. For whatever had been left to the Romans of Britain, there was land enough and to spare in the res privata of the emperor and the ager vectigalis of the state to enrich the barbarian minority beyond its utmost aspirations. Of this landed wealth of the miaority there is clear and abundant evidence. And this fact of its wealth runs through the whole historic period down to the Norman Conquest. In A.D. 1002, a king's thegn, named Wulfred, devises by his last will eighty estates ^ — whole townships lying in the counties of Gloucester, Lancaster, Stafford, South- ampton, Lincoln, Worcester, York, Warwick, Kent, Surrey, Derby. Twice only in this list he speaks of a "little land." The rest must therefore have been in his own estimation large properties; and when we come to know, as we shortly shall, what was reckoned small by the insatiable mind of the dominant Anglo-Saxon, the only conclusion that we can arrive at is that this man was enormously rich. Yet he was not an ealdorman — ^the petty pasha who could 1 6 Kem. Cod. Dip. p. 147 et seq. hh2 468 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. enrioli himself out of the revenues of a shire — ^but a king's thegn only. This is not the sum of aU. There is more yet. The same testator in the same vnR gives away his "lands between the Eihhle and the Mersey, and in Chester" (Betwux Eibbel and. Mserse and on Wirhalum) — the latter probably meaning the county and not the city. Before this we find a simple priest, named Werhard, the proprietor of Hergas, an estate of 104 hides, Otteford, of 100 hides, Gravenea of 32 hides, Bume of 44 hides, Oeswalun of 10 hides, &c., &o.; this man being altogether a landlord to the extent of 290 hides.^ These particular cases are so numerous that they become one and aU illustrations of a general fact, which can other- wise also be fully evidenced. For there is a consensus of the Anglo-Saxon race, the descendants of the barbarians, to call what we should think a large property a very, small one, — "a little possession," "a particle of land." Such and the like compassionate and extenuating terms flow from the pens of the conveyancers who deal with these estates, and take their instructions from the puffed-iip barbarian. King Eadgar calls 20 hides, 30 hides, 40 hides, 50 hides, 70 hides, "ruris particula," "modica pars terrae."^ At the same period, Hean, an abbot, speaks of three estates, which in the whole consisted of 186 hides, as "aUquam terrae possessiunculam, quae mibi ex munifi- centia parentum meorum qui regni gubemacula. potiri noscuntur," &c.^ An often quoted, but always misunderstood, anecdote told in the Book of Ely, is so pertinent to this question that I cannot forbear to re-quote it. The abbot Wulfrio had a brother named Grodmund, whom he wished to marry • 1 Kem. Cod. Dip. p. 298. See ante, p. 263, as to hides. 2 6 Kem. Cod. Dip. pp. 3, 27, 40, 42, 75, 83, 85 ; 5 Kem. Cod. Dip. p. 357 ; 3 Kem. Cod. Dip. p. 147. 3 5 Kem. Cod. Dip. p. 41. THE ROMANS OF n BRITAIN. 469 to the daughter of a very powerful man. But though this brother was a thegn the young lady rejected him, hecause not having even 40 hides of hocland he could not be reckoned among the aristocracy.^ The point of all this is that 40 hides were a small estate in the eyes of the East Anglian aristocracy, just as they were ia those of King Eadgar. They were but a mere " particle of land," though taking iato account that the hide was in this case that of East Anglia, and came up to 240 acres— Q-odmund had as a matter of fact an estate of 9,600 acres, exclusive of wood and common. The young' lady and her friends, however, thought the position of this suitor one of comparative poverty, and they must be considered to have formed a judgment such as aU Anglo-Saxons of their class would have arrived at under the same circumstances. For nothing is said by the historian' to lead us to believe that the parties interested had peculiar views upon the subject, either of the young lady's advancement or the insufficiency of Grodmimd's property, considered as a matter of social statistics. We should, however, feel no surprise at this fact of vast wealth being found amongst the Anglo-Saxons proper. The reason for it is simple and easily assigned. The fund which kept up the supply of this wealth was the f olcland — the old ager vectigalis. That land, as we have seen, was at the disposal of the king and the tvitan — all Anglo-Saxons, and representatives of the feelings and iaterests of the dominant minority. The scope of its distribution was confined to this miaority, and while, like men of the Teu- ^ Lib. Elien. lib. 2, c. 97, p. 218, Dr. Giles's edition. " Habtiit enim fratrem G-odmxmdum vooabulo, oui £liam praepotentia viri in matri- mouium conjungi paraverat. Sed quoniam iUe quadraginta hidarum terrae dominium minime obtineret, licet nobilis esset, inter proceres tunc numerari non potuit, enmpuella repudiavit." 470 THE KOMANS OF BRITAIN. tonic race generally, they revelled in gifts,^ such generosity was always confined to themselves. A large fund, therefore, as this was, continually recruited by escheats and unresisted injustices, combined with a free application of its benefits amongst themselves, made the Anglo-Saxon aristocracy for the time the richest minority that the world has ever known since the fall of the Roman republic. This extreme wealth of the Anglo-Saxons, itself the outcome of small numbers, was ia its effect unfavourable to the growth of the population which enjoyed it, as it miuistered lavishly to the degrading vice of the Teutonic race — that crapula which distinguished the Anglo-Saxons down to the Norman Conquest. The incessant wars of the so-called Heptarchy must, of course, have assisted in the diminution of the Anglo-Saxons. But the crowniag de- struction of the race was due to the Danes. And here I must observe on the half-heartedness which distinguished the Anglo-Saxon in his contest with those later barbarians. The courage of the descendants of the conquerors of Britain had lost the tension under which their forefathers had over- whelmed the provinces.^ But the same thing happened in the case of other barbarians who settled ia the empire. > Tao. de M. G. o. 21 : " G-audent mvmeribus, aed neo data imputant, neo aooeptis obligantur." Here were shown the greedinesa and in- gratitude of the savage. ^ But though the courage of the Anglo-Saxons failed them, their arrogance as conquerors received neither abatement nor, diminution. The old expressions of their status -were to their minds metaphorical also, and tliegn and eorl were incarnations of the highest human qualities. Of ' Eanwenc (a.d. 1038, or before, 4 Kem. 0. D. p. 64), a noble Anglo- Saxon lady, it is said, ' ' And gebealh heo swifJe eorlice wiS hire sunu ... . and heo siSSan to Jam Jegnon owaetf : 'DoS begnlioe and well.' " ' ("And she was angry vrith her son in a very (feftrlik^ maimer .... and . / .^7 ' she then said to the thegn, 'Do thanely and well.' ") In these words ' ' they attributed to themselves a nobility of mind which would be un- hesitatingly denied to them, even if we did not happen to Imow precisely in what sense they understood it. THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 471 The Franks, no more than the Anglo-Saxons, could face the wild-beast vigour of the Danes. But the condition of all the invaders of the empire, when the final aggressions were made, was exceptional. Formerly they had contented themselves with incursions into the empire, which, inasmuch as they were unforeseen, were generally successful to the extent desired by the barbarians themselves. But after a time this active courage became intensified into an unnatural exaltation never exhibited before. For this there was a reason. The more western Germans were pressed on by their own eastern tribes and by the Sarmatae, and no refuge presented itself, save a settlement in the empire. Desperation rather than courage nerved them to such conquests and made them irresistible. In like manner the Groths became equally irresistible when they attacked the empire, because they were fleeing before the more terrible Huns, at whose hands an assured destruc- tion awaited them, if they dared to turn.^ Until the barbarians were thus involuntarily propelled against the empire, the imperial generals and their armies never had any permanent difficulty in disposing of them. That the courage of the Anglo-Saxon was at the outset of their British conquests the same as that which actuated the other barbarians — a mere temporary ferocity which, however produced, was for the time intensified by acci- dental causes — is easily shown. Their own proper names^ ' Massman's Preface to Ulphilas. ' The Anglo-Saxons themselTes called these names proper names. ^^Ifric, the grammarian, says in his grammar (Somner's edition, p. 4), " Snme synd agene naman, swa is Eadgar, Dunstan." Beda uses the same term (Hist. Eccl. lib. iv. c. 8), "Proprio eam nomine quasi pree- sentem alloquens Eadgid, Eadgid, Eadgid." It was imposed by the English family upon the infant as it lay in the cradle. It was also the choice and selection of the kinsmen of the child, and was not inherited from the father. King Eadred (Kemble's Cod. Dip. vol. t. p. 621) says 472 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. disclose witliout disguise what was their native ideal of courage. And this latter we shall find was so merely- savage and irrational that without the explanation which I have given it would he impossible to understand how conquests so extensive and complete could have heen either made or retained through an agency apparently so iasuffi- cient. Tor, besides honest warlike names, openly expressing martial strife and its attendant glory, there is a disgusting catalogue of appellations which can only be understood as referring to war in its most loathsome form — ^the mur- dering raids which the stronger and the more numerous make upon the few, the unwarned and the defenceless. I mean the names compounded of wulf (wolf), the obscene beast of the uplands and hills of the Anglo-Saxons. Wulfliere, wax--wolf. Wulflaf , relic of wolves. of a thegn, "qui ah inotmabiilis suae infantilitatis, non fortuitu sed Toluntate parentum nomen aooepit Wulfrio." Again, ii. p. 335, the ve:y same words are used. Kong Eadwig {ib. p. 399, a.d. 958) refers to one of his own thegns in these words, " fidelissimus minister, qui ab incuna- bulis suae infantilitatis nomen accepit Wulfric." So again, in Kemble's Cod. Dip. vol. \i. p. 170, a.d. 1015, a bishop is mentioned " qui ab ipsis suae cunabuiis infantiae Beorhtweald nuncnpatnr vocitamine." That the relatives (magas) were the persons who gave the Anglo-Saxon name is quite clear. A deed of the year 995 (Kemble's Cod. Dip. vol. iii. p. 290) says, ' ' Cuidam dilectissimo mihi ministro, cui parentelffl nobilitas Wlfric indidit nomen." The name thus imposed is afterwards published to and received by the world at large. This public reception is referred to in deeds, viz., in Kemble's Cod. Dip. vol. v. p. 301, "Quern vulgares Bolito usu .^thelgeard appellant." .ffiUric (Homilies, vol. i. p. 478, Thorpe's edition) observes upon the strange custom which had existed ainongst the Komans that a son should inherit his father's name: "Ac hit wses swa gewunelio on Jam timan Jset rice menn sceopon heonim beamum naman be him sylfum, Jiset hit wsere ge]juht jjses Je mare gemynd Jses feeder, Jitet fa se sunu his yrfenuma wses geoiged fees feeder naman ;" i. c, "But it was customary in those times that powerful men formed for their children names (taken) from themselves, that the com- memoration of the father might appear greater, Inasmuch as the sou his heir was called by the father's name." THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 473 Wvilfrio, powerful wolf. Cenewulf, keen wolf. Wulfrsed, wolf-judgment. iEthelwnlf, noWe wolf. Eogwulf, edge-wolf. WuUwig, wolf of war. Heathowulf, battle-wolf. ■WuH5ri», (a female name) wolf -violence. Eadwulf, prosperous wolf. Ordwulf, edge-wolf. Garwulf, weapou-wolf. Ealdwulf, old wolf. Eardwulf, eartli (or cave) wolf. Dene-wulf TaUey-wolf. Werewiilf, were-wolf. ■Wiilfhelm, crown-wolf. WuUsige, victory-wolf. Sigwvilf, do. BrihtwuH, bright wolf. Osulf,- divine wolf. Emgiilf, circle- wolf. Wulfrmg, do. ■Wvdfgeat, woU ia_£ait. WuU, woH. WuHweard, wolf protector. ■Wnlfheah, high wolf. ■Wulfran, wolf eeoreoy. ■WuUgyfu, (a female name) woU-gift. SeewuH, sea-woH. Tirwnlf, glory-wolf.i Such names apply to Hshops, priests and monts as well as laymen. Wigsegn, Denewi]lf,Werewulf, Ecglaf, Alwig, Aldwulf , Herewald, are all Mshops whose names appear in KemUe's Codex. Other such names of archbishops and bishops figure in the An'gb-Saxon Chronicle. We have even a bishop who glorified himself in the name of Attila. cG ' The An^lo-Saxons seemed to have stopped short of "wulfheort," woU-heart. They appreciated all that animal's qualities but his feelings. They admired and commemorated his walk, his judgment, his circum- spection, his secrecy, his warlike disposition, and his courage, but not his heart. Csedmon uses the compound, but always in a bad sense, T. 3634, "fa ouwoo wulfheort;" ib. v, 3653, " wulfheort cyning." 474 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. JM\a he called himself, after the maimer of his own idiom.^ I intentionally use the word glorify, for the Anglo-Saxons to the last days of their dynasty evinced an unmeasured admiration for these and the like pagan names.^ But notwithstanding this outside lacquer of ferocity, the real warlike spirit of the Anglo-Saxons waned fast after, they had comfbrtahly settled down in Britain, and on the arrival of the Danes their doom was virtually pronounced. After fruitless attempts at resistance, sometimes almost brilliant but never well-sustained, the decisive battle of Assandun was fought between Cnut and JEthelred in A.D. 1016. What this battle did for the Anglo-Saxons, the few fearfully plain words of the contemporaneous historian will tell. That chronicler says: "There Cnut obtained the victory, and all the peoples of the English fought there. The whole cluguth of the English race was there destroyed."' 1 Beda, Hist. Eocl. lib. iv. c. 23. ' Kemble's Cod. Dip. ii. p. 308, a.b. 956 : King Ea4'wig says, "olaro insignitns nomine Mifhere-" ii. p. 376, a.d. 962, Eadgar says of Ms chamberlain (burSegn) Titstan, " qui ab hujusce patriae gnosticis nobUi Titstan nuncupatiir vocabulo;" ii. p. 393, " nobili Winstau appellatur vocabulo;" »i. p. 424, a.d. 966, "ouidam matrone ingenue que iriiTii {i.e., KiQg Eadgar) afflnitate mimdialia oruoris cxjnjimcta est, que ab istius patrie gnosticis eleganti .SJlfgifu appellatur Tocamine ;" ib. p. 394, A.D. 963, " cuidam duci mibi (King Eadgar) valde fideli, qui ab hujusce patriae gnosticis nobili Gunnere appellatur vocabulo." ' A. S. ehron. a.d. 1016 : " pser ahte Cnut sige, and gef eht Mm teiUe Jkigla feode . » . Eal angel cynnes duguS jiser weortf fordon.'-'' The notice of this battle in the Book of Ely is almost literally the same as this passage of the Chronicle: "Totnsqne fere globus nobilitatis anglormn UUc eaestis est." (Lib. 2, c. 79, p. 196, Dr. Giles's edition.) It will be seen that the monk of Ely softens down the chronicler's utter destruction.of the Anglo-Saxon thegnaS by the word ' ' fere, ' ' but it makes Ho real difference in the historic result, whether a few only or none of the pure barbarian breed survived. For dugvS, as meaning thegnas, see 6 Kem. Cod. Dip. p. 81, a.d. 966, " seo dugutf foloes on Westan C«nt;" also King .ffiUred's Orosius (book 4, c. 9), where speaking of the battle of Cannae, he says, " Be Jiam hiingnm mon mihte witan hwset SomanH THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 475 To understand the full force and extent of these homely words, we must apprehend exactly the meaning of the word diiguth, the word which I have left -untranslated. It means the thegnas of all the dominant races of England, the de- scendants and representatives of all the old invaders — Jutes, Angles and Saxons. The Anglo-Saxon aristocracy thus passed away in this terrible conflict between the old and the new pretenders to Britain. This aristocracy was thus not fated to take a part in that other decisive battle of Hastings which rescued England from anarchy and dissolution. That was fought by the Danes of England and their followings, whom only the ilL-fated usurper could influence. But even before Cnut's great victory, Anglo-Saxon blood was ebbing rapidly. The necessary deman for the county courts were failing. The " grandia placita hundretanorum," which the monk of Ely so complacently speaks of, could no longer be got together. A dead-lock in judicial business was threatened or existed. To meet this evil the king and the mtan made grants to landowners of private justice over certain estates or parts of estates, and thus relieved thei county courts from the most pressing portion of their busi- ness — the crimes and contentions of small men.^ dugu'Se gefeallen ■wees, fortfon Je hit wees feaw mid tn'm on Jam dagum Jset nail ofSer ne moate gyldenne hring -werian, butou he sefSeles oynnes ■wBBre." ' This priTilege of private justice was called "socn," and also "sac and soo." Before these grants came to be made the lord of a ham was held to have under his torh or pledge aU the men of that ham. (1 LL. .ffithelred, o. 1 ; Cnut's Secular La-ws, o. 31 ; and 3 LL. .ffithelred, e. 11.) In other -words, he was bound to produce at the county court his men, i.e., his oeorlas, his theowas and his hired men (household retainers), to answer any criminal charge laid against them. Fro ea vice, he was a poKoe inspector, but a grant of _ " sac and see' ' made him a judge over these men, and the county ootirt was left free to the crimes and contentions of thegnaS. Por forms of these grants see 4 Kemble's Cod. Dip. p. 190, Nos. 826, 827, 828, 829, and i6. p. 193, Nos. 830, 831 ; 476 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. As the result of the battle of Assandun, the Danes stepped into the places of the Anglo-Saxons. They never, howsTer, attained the numbers of the pure Anglo- Saxons, as the latter had existed during the palmy days of their rigime. The Danes were never numerous in England, and such as they were they settled in the open country, where they became agrieultors, with some few exceptions; and as no considerable portion of them ever took up their abode in the cities, the influence of the Thorpe's Diplomataiium Anglioiuu, p. 384. It is quite clear that these grants of socn -were made before .^thelred's time, because that Idiig speaks of them as an. existing fact, showing who do not come under them ("And nane man nage nane socne ofer oynges Jegn buton oyng sylf " {i.e., " Let no man have soon over a king's thegn except the king himself"). 3 iEthebed, c. 11.) Cnut (c. 12, 1 Thorpe, p. 382) declares the king's right to make such grants. After enumerating the various pleas of the crown as adjudicated under royal authority, he adds " buton he hwsene fuller gemsetSrian wille, and he bim Jaes weorSscipes geunne" {i.e, "unless he will further advance any one and grant bim this honour"), All this would have been absurd and mischievous enough, if it only meant a power of trying criminals found, as well as the corpus delicti, within the jurisdiotion, or suits arising between inhabitants of the manor ; but some grants must have gone farther than this. In these a power must have been given to the grantee to pursue the oiiminal inta other places. The Confessor (B ook of Ely, p. 215, Dr. GUes's edition) con- ceded to the Abbot of Ely anfliis "successors " inf angenSeof, fihtwite, fyrdwite, hamsocne and griSbryce, sitte his mannjer Jar he sltte, wyrce feet he wyrce." This prepares us for the extensive entries which we find in Dqmesday upon this subject. At the date of the inquisitions which found the materials for this book, there were 13 houses in Loudon belonging to the manor of Bermondsey (see mi voce "Bermundseye"), and 17 other hoiises in the same city belonging' to the Manor of Mortlake (see subvoee "Mortlage"). Other similar entries, relating to London, are abun- dant. In Lincoln a maneriolum occurs. Such references as these illustrate the disintegrating influence of the barbarians upon Europe, after they had settled down in the empire. The worst mischief done by inferior races has ever been done in this way. This, as much as actual destruc- tion, taxed the energies of the Latiu race to repair. The few entries which I have referred to out of Domesday show a faint adumbration of what grew strong and flourished in Italy — a curse to, all the fair cities of that glorious pe ninsula . What was simply a hall in an English city was a castle at Florence, Milan, Verona and Home. THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. 477 Danes over the destinies of this country was limited and ephemeral. There were memhers of great Danish families who of necessity came over with their king, and there were others who were made great by the fortunes of war, but these together did not suffice to proyide ealdormen for the shires, and the Danish kings were compelled to mass the latter into aggregates severally larger than a Roman province, under a functionary hitherto unknown to England — a Danish jarl, whom the EngHsh called em"l.^ This was not the only wa^y in which the deficit of noble barbarian blood was made manifest. Cnut was hardly firm upon his throne before, for want of men of better birth— a dearth which his own victory had occasioned — he found himself compelled to supplement the measure of his ministri by making king^s thegnas out of mere tuihyndes? But, while the descendants of the barbarians thus dwindled and decreased, the descendants of the Roman colonists iacreased and spread from generation to genera- tion, as a radically civilized community never fails to do. Originally this Eoman stock, as forming the high and middle classes of the multitudinous cities and mimicipia of the island, could not be otherwise than very numerous, and the statistics of the age immediately foUowiug the Norman Conquest, in proving the existence of a powerful and populous bourgeoisie in England, confirm this assertion. - The Belgio stock, that other portion of what had been ' E.g., the celebrated Godwin, was eorl of Kent, Sussex and Wessex. Under tlie Confessor, Swegen, his son, was eorl of Oxford, Gloucester, Hereford, Somerset and Berks, wMle the other son, Harold, possessed the counties of Essex, East Anglia, Huntingdon and Cambridge. At the same time all Mercia was in the hands of Leofric, and Northumber- land was the eorldom of Siward. " 4 Kem. Cod. Dip. p. 9. Cnut says, "Ealle mine Jegnas, twelf hynde and twi hynde." 478 THE ROMANS OF BRITAIN. the Boman. population — ^the coloni and worMng men of the country, to whose physical powers must he ascrihed the enormous production of the island during the imperial age, also could not but increase very materially when it was reHeved from the exhausting draught of the tiro- einium and foreign, service. This comparative state of the population of England was more than encouraging to the Eoman of Britain. He took heart of grace, and, with his rising courage, compelled the Anglo-Saxon king to accept a composition for his full trihutiim, in respect of burgage temements.^ He refused, even to the king, what was his right, — ^the offensive hospitalitas. On one recorded occasion, perhaps on others not mentioned, the hurhwaru of London forced their presence upon a mtena gemot and joined the Anglo- Saxons in electing a king.^ Lastly, the same burhtvaru of London obtained from the Confessor letters of nobility as burghal thegnas.^ And when the mock sun of the Anglo-Saxon had set, leaving history little to commemorate save the dishonour of the country, the Eioman burgess, in the face of the strongest kings that ever sat on any throne, obtained concessions amounting almost to a legal independence of the crown — ^the fullest civil and criminal jurisdiction, and - ' I mean thejirma hurgi. * Sub A.D. 1016, A. S. Chron. : " Ealle Ja -witam Je on Lnndene ■wserou and seo burhwaru gecuron Eadmtmd to cyninge." ^ 4 Kem. Cod. Dip. p. 213: "Eadvard King gret Willem bisceop and Leofstan and .ffilfsi portgerefan, and alle mine bnrhtJegnes in Lnndene frendlioe." So again, ib. pp. 214 and 221 : "And alle mine burhtfegnas on Lnndene." That by "burhSegnas" the king means burgesses is shown by No. 856, ib. p. 212, -where he says, " Eadward King gret WiUeme bissope and Suetmau mine porterefe and alle ).e bnrhware on Lnndene freondliohe." There is nothing to show that the bnrgesses of all other towns were not still sixhynde, as in the time of .Slthelred. (LL. 1 Thorpe, p. 292, a passage before quoted by me.) THE ROMANS OF BKITAIN. 479 the privilege of a burghal milice, which should enable him to keep what he had got. . Finally, he outflanked the feudal polity, founded on the harhario comitatus, by wringiag from the Norman sove- reign the crowning increment of a seat in parliament, this last concession being but the revival of a right which his traditions told bi'm had been his own under the empire.' " Quondam etiam viotis redit in praeoordia virtus." ^ 1 Cod. Theod. 12, 12 (De legatis et deoretis). 2 Aeueid, xi. v. 367. INDEX. AGER VECTIGAIilS, 149, 226. Amalgamation of the Barbarian and Eoman Laws, 452 — 457. Angles, small numbers of the invading, 198. Anglo-Saxoh-, conquests, dates of, 161, 172, 173. leaders' names fictitious, 167, 173, 174. names generally, the indoles of, 471 — 474. Anglo-Saxon Expeditions, bow organized and conducted, 207 — 209. Anglo-Saxons, original cbaracter and condition of, 228 — 230. cbaracter of, after tbeir conquests, 230 — 235, 470. enter iuto the military service of independent Britain, 153 — 157. rebel against the Britons, 157. overcome tbem, 158 — ^175. were few in numbers, 199, 467, 475. became enormously wealthy, 467 — 475. annihilated by the battle of Assandun, 474, 475. Abmt-, Anglo-Saxon original constitution of, 207. after the conquest becomes permanent, 212 — 217. becomes the witan, 213, 218. AuGxrsTUs's invasion of Britain, 18, in note. Belgae, or Britons of the eastern and midland parts of Britain,, Teutonic in race, 21 — 28. in language, 28 — 41. c. II 482 INDEX. Britain, conquest of, by the Romans, 17—20. invasion of, by Augustus, 18, in note, colonization of, by the Eomans, 82, 83. administration of, imder the empire, 132, 133. independence of, 134 — 157. attacked by Picts, Scots and Germans, 152. takes Anglo-^gxons into her military service, 154. is conquered by the Anglo-Saxons, 175. inhabitants of, not destroyed, 196, 197, 201—204. Bbitons, unaffected statistically by the Eoman conquest, 17, 18. number of, infinite, 17. preserved by the Eomans for their own purposes, 19, 20, 21, 41. become coUmi to the Eoman colonists and freeholders, 130, 131. are preserved by the Anglo-Saxons for their purposes, 444. Btjbgesses, in the Anglo-Saxon period, 376 — 380. in later times, 380—382. Btjbgi Fiema, 375, 478. Centtjeiation of Laud, nature of, 53 — 82. introduced into Britain, 82 — 119. remains in full force in England, 262 — 270. Ceoels, same as coloni, 277 — 280. a nimierous population, 477, 478. CHEISTIAJSTErr, of Eoman Britain, 413 — 417, 420. stm exists after the barbarian conquests, 417 — 423. CLAironjs's conquest of Britain, 17, and note. Colleges, Eoman, 383 — 396. found in Britain, 396. continue in England, 396 — 413. INDEX. 483 OOLONI, defined, 124, 273—277. are found tkroughout Britain after the Eoman conquest, 130 — 132. the same population as the ceorlas of the Anglo-Saxon period, 273, 277. are not destroyed by the barbarians, 444. Colonists, of Britain, Boman, 119 — 124. names of, 121. Colonization, how conducted by the Eomans generally, 42. of Britain by the Eomans, 119, 120. Comixes Civitattjm, appointed in Britain during the independence, 141 — 145. CoNatTEST OP Bbitain, by the Eomans, 17 — 20. by the Anglo-Saxons, 161. DiSTKIBUTION, of real and personal estate under Eoman law^s 283, 284, continues in England, 284, 285. English, the word applied by the barbarians indiscriminately among themselves, 41. Expeditions of the barbarians into Britain, how organized and conducted, 207—209. FoLCLAND, 225 — 227. See Ager Vegtigalis. Fbeedmen, condition of, in Eoman times, 282, 283. in England, ib. Independence of Britain. See Eomans. Jutes, small numbers of, 199. King, powers of the barbarian, 223, 224, 228. Laeti, survive in England, 193, 194. Landgapol. See Teibtttitm. 1x2 484 INBEX. Latin LANGrAGE, introduced into Britain, 458 — 466. dies out, 462. Legitim, under Eoman law, 286, 287. continues in England, 287, 288. Lloegbians. See Belgae. LTjorrs, of Soman -widows, 288—290. continues in England, 290, 291. Oneea Pateimowiaxia, 148, 244 — 248. continue in England, 248 — 261. EOMAtf, civilization in England, 436, 436. cities, organization of, generally, 343 — 359. founded in Britain, 123, 359. continue unaltered in organization in England, 359 — 382. judicature in civil cases, 294 — 296. survives in England, 296 — 303. in criminal cases, 303 — 308. survives in England, 308 — 313. law secured to the Eomans of Britain, 292 — 294. literature survives, 436 — 439. names continue iu use in England, 185 — 193. tenure of land, 237—244. continues in England, 248 — 253. traditions in England, 268, 269, 372—375. superstitions, 425 — 429. observances, 429 — 435. Roman Money, 424. continues in use, ib. Eomans, conquer Britain, 17 — 20. colonize Britain, 82 — 124. become lords of tbe soil, 82 — 124. constitute the Britons into cohni or farmers on their estates, 124—132. govern Britain during its independence, 139 — 157. take the Anglo-Saxons into their military service, 155 — 157. are conquered by them, 157 — 177. INDEX. 485 Romans — continued. are degraded in the Teutonic tariff to half the value of the barbarians, 236. are left in possession of their lands, 236, 467. continue to pay the land tax and discharge all imperial onera, 248—253. are released from miKtary service, 253. are restored to this right, 254. obtain a remission of the land tax, 256. are left in possession of their cities and the government thereof, 342. of their colleges or gilds, 396. of their Christianity, 413. are always more numerous than the barbarians, 477. extort concessions from the kings, 478. are rehabilitated by the Norman kings, 479. are called Wealas by the Anglo-Saxons, 176 — 184. persistence of, 439 — 448. Saxons, small num.bers of the invading, 199. Slaves, in Eoman times, condition oi, 281, 282. in England, 282. Stationabii, or Eoman poKce, under the empire, 314 — 330. in England, 331—342. Teibe, definition of, 129. Teibtjtaeii, 244. See Ooloni. Tbibtjtum, or Eoman land tax, 149. continues in England as landgafol, 244, 255. WEAiiH, means Eoman, 176 — 184. Wealhgeeefa, or judge of the Eomans, 293, 294, 449 — 452. LONDON : 0. F. EOWOETH, PEINTEB, EEBAM's ETJILDINGS, OHANCEET LAUB. By HENET CHAELE8 COOTE, F.S.A. ®3pra0tts jjf % '§xm. "This is a little volume of merit, although we are not prepared to concur in aU the conclusions to which its author tries to lead us. The neglected fact is the history of that period which has always presented so much obscurity, and certainly has not yet been understood — the transition in Britain from SiOman to Anglo-Saxon. Everyone who studies critically and impartially what is called the history of the period extending from the close of the Boman rule to the establishment of the Anglo-Saxons, must feel convinced that it is, on the whole, a mass of fable, composed at a later period upon slight and vague traditions, and that it leaves wide room for historical speculation. Mr. Coote's theory on the subject is new and ingenious. He supposes that, during the Koman period, the greater part of what is now caUed England was occupied by a Belgic population, which had begun to settle in Britain before the arrival of Julius Csesar ; that these Belgians were Teutonic ; and that it is to them we owe the Anglo-Saxon institutions, so far as they are identical with the Boman, and the Anglo-Saxon language. . . ..In support of this rather startling theory Mr. Ooote brings forward arguments which are certainly not without their weight, and some of them well deserve consideration. He points out with considerable minuteness, and we think very satisfactorily, the Roman character of the great mass of the legal and social institutions of the Anglo-Saxons ; their municipal institutions, much of their legal forms, even the laws and customs relating to the possession of landed property, and to the relative positions of the different classes, were Boman, Tliis part of the subject Mr. Coote has discussed with a fulness, and at the same time within a moderate compass, which deserves great praise, and we can recommend it to the attention of students in Anglo-Saxon antiquities. . . . But although we are not inclined to accept Mi, Coote's theory, we have no hesitation in saying that he has produced a very curious and able book. All the facts contained in it, which are not few or unim- portant, and many of the opinions enunciated, are well worthy of attention, and the author has pointed out the Boman element inAnglo-SaxonEngland more fuUy and more satisfactorily than any previous writer." — Athenaum. ' ' This book is welcome to us from its good scholarship and fair handling, and the main, if not the whole, of its conclusions ; and we should think it would be interesting to most Englishmen who might wish to obtain a knowledge of the birth and early training of their race. " There was a time, and not a long gone one, when one of our scholars chose to deem the long struggles of the English with the Britons as unworthy of a historian's thought as are the fights of kites and crows. . . . Since those days, however, Saxon-EngUsh and British scholars . . . have worked with so much care, and each with his own especial skill, on the disjecta membra of Saxon-English and British history — Mr. Coote now bringing to them the new aid of a law- skilled mind — that the dry bones OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. of chronicle and bard-song begin to gather into a shape, if not to rise up in the fiilnesB of a living body. . . . Mr. Coote's book shows a -wide and weU-guided reading, and he has put forth his many facts in a clear line of arrangement, and treated them with good logical skill. . . . " We think it (Mr. Coote's work) worthy of a permanent place in every library of English history and of an appearance in a new edition, in the pre- paration of which let our notes be taken for what they are worth. ' ' — Header. " The neglected fact, to which Mr. Coote calls attention in his learned book, is that the civilization of the Anglo-Saxons embodied the essential elements of that of Roman-Britain. He is right : we recently had to make an investigation in our early history, and we were conducted to a similar conclusion. The Eoman-Britons were not exterminated, but, to a great extent, incorporated in the new nation which arose out of the Saxon settlements and conquests. Our author proves his point by a large induction of curious f aiots, from which he makes it appear that the Anglo-Saxons were greatly indebted to the institutions which they found already existing in the country. The illustrations are partly legal and partly relating to social life, and even to some extent to religion Such of our readers as have an antiquarian taste will be gratified and instructed by this book, which, although not such as we are wont to review at length in our pages, is one we are happy to meet vpith. The diligence of the author is most praiseworthy, and we may safely say that if he has produced what we have called a learned book, he has produced one which will show that, while we ma,y justly be proud of the Anglo- Saxon name, we are none the less entitled to call ourselves Britons." — Jownal of Sacred Xiteratiire and Biblical Secord, edited hy B. Harris Cowper, Esq. ' ' This book is a very creditable performance, and may help to diTninish the obscurity resting on the most obscure interval in our annals, viz., the century and a half between the departure of the Eomans and the settle- ment of the Heptarchy. ".^-^HiJsA Quarterly. " It (the point) is cleverly argued, ajid his work deserves attentive consideration." — Gentleman's Magazine. "His (Mr. Coote's) way of expressing himself is vigorous and per- spicuous ; his knowledge extensive and varied ; and his style extremely pleasing." — London Meview. ,'•■'• *! 5"/