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Its lands, too, were by Wihtred freed from all imposts, but by this it appears that exemption from the customary payments for castles, bridges, and the military force (Trinodia necessitas), was not intended. The right of sanctuary was strictly guarded, and any breach of the Church's peace met with as severe punishment as that of the king.

The clergy, as a class, ranked highly; the archbishop's value in the eye of the law is never less than that of the atheling, and in some cases, as in extending protection to "death-guilty men," he appears, from the laws of Ethelred, to have been the equal of the king. The bishops are esteemed as highly as the ealdormen, and the simple priests as thanes; but when the monastic rule prevailed, the married clergy were considered unworthy of thane-right.

As regarded the head of the State, the principle of hereditary succession was little valued, and on the death of a king the one of his kindred considered most eligible was frequently chosen to the exclusion of his son, as we see in the cases of Alfred and Edred 9.

The Anglo-Saxon king and his family however possessed most of the rights and immunities which have belonged to royalty in later times, and some to which it now lays no claim. Plotting against his life was

death-worthy," as also was any brawl in his house or presence; his word sufficed, without an oath; treasuretrove was his, a valuable matter in those times"; the

See pp. 88, 109.

Not only did war cause many to bury their treasures in the earth, but while the country was yet heathen it was customary to

possessions of outlaws were forfeited to him; he alone might have a mint; all markets and all ordeals were to be held within his towns; a wite, or fine, to him was incurred by every breach of the law, beside the amends to the party injured; the breach of his grith, or peace, contempt of his commands, and violation of his mund, or security granted to any one, were severely punished. He alone had soc, or jurisdiction, over persons of high rank; he had right to all wrecks, to tolls, to the profits of markets and of mines; the forests were his (perhaps as the trustee of the people), and no hunting in them could be practised without his permission; it also seems probable that neither bridge nor castle could be built without his leave.

The king was the last resort of justice, and the fountain of honour and mercy; he was to be "prayed for and revered of all men of their own will, without command;" he was the especial protector of all churches, of widows, and of foreignerst; he was bound to visit each district

place many valuable articles in the tombs of chiefs, and it appears that this heathen gold" was not always respected in later times.

So says the law of Ethelred; but that there were exceptions to the rule is proved by the very numerous coins of archbishops and others that have been preserved.

It does not appear that foreigners were considered under obliga tion to conform to the ordinary laws of the country. Thus, if they refuse to lead an orderly life, Canute, copying Wihtred, does not attempt to restrain them, but says, "let them depart with their property and their sins;" at the same time they are declared under the especial protection of the king, and heavy penalties are denounced against judges who give unrighteous decisions against "men from afar."

The Jews seem to have been well known in this country in very early times, as the canons contain many denunciations against those who hold any intercourse with them; but in the laws called Edward the Confessor's they are stated to be under the king's protection.

The resort of trading foreigners was encouraged by protection

of his kingdom to dispense justice, but the inhabitants in return were to provide for his safety, and thus every freeman was obliged to assist in building or fortifying the royal residences; he could grant land to his servants, and thus ennoble them; he commanded, ordinarily in person, the national forces (fyrd), and was empowered to allow of money compositions instead of actual service; he could remit punishments incurred, and in many cases had arbitrary jurisdiction, certain classes of offences leaving their perpetrators at his mercy (“ ad misericordiam”), either to slay, or fine, or imprison, or banish.

Very little appears in these laws regarding the queen; she would seem to have been regarded merely as the king's wife, as far as any mention in them goes; but we know from the Saxon Chronicle that Ethelwulf caused his queen to be crowned, and it appears that Emma, the wife of Ethelred II., had the city of Exeter for her pos session, and governed by her own officers; whence it may be concluded that her rights and possessions were considerable, although the lawgivers may not have considered it necessary to specify them. The same remark applies to the younger branches of the royal family; they are all styled athelings, and where their rights are mentioned, the penalties for their violation are generally one-half of those for similar offences against the king.

Among secular men, the ealdorman was next to the

and immunities, but with regard to the "Wealh," or Britons, intercourse with them was limited by the rule found in the Ordinance of the Dun-Seatas, (probably the people on the Wye,) that neither English nor Welsh should pass into the other's country "without the appointed man of the country," and if either was killed, only one half of the were was to be paid: "be he thane-born, be he churl-born, one half of the were falls away."

king in dignity; indeed, not unfrequently a viceroy; but with the settlement of the Northmen the title gradually was displaced by that of earl, which has a more strictly military meaning, and as early at least as the time of Edward the Confessor (according to a somewhat doubtful passage of the laws ascribed to him), it was used in its present sense of a municipal officer.

The military retainers of the king were of course of very various degrees of dignity, but, as is the case in Russia at the present day, military rank appears to have been the standard by which other orders were judged. At first they seem to have been styled gesithmen, afterwards thanes, and to have been supported by assignments of the folkland, or public property"; but thaneright was also possessed by priests and judges, in virtue of their office, and it could be acquired by merchants and even churls, in certain specified cases, as by the performing three distant voyages by the former, and the acquisition of a given quantity of land by the latter*.

y

The laws assign pecuniary compensations and penal

In the later times of the Saxon rule we meet with House-carles, a kind of royal body guard; they seem to have been introduced, under the name of Thingamen, by Canute, and the custom of employing them extended to the great nobles, as we read of the housecarles of Siward and Tostig, the earls of Northumberland.

In the treaty between Ethelred and Anlaf (A D. 994) are several provisions relating to merchants, which prove that, instead of being mere ravagers, as they are often represented, the Northmen were in the habit of trading with many foreign countries, though doubtless well armed, and not unwilling to mix piracy with their traffic if the occasion arose; but if this be considered a proof of barbarism, even our own nation must be condemned in much more modern times.

y The pound, shilling, penny, and sceat, the mancus, mare, and ora, are mentioned in these laws, but their values are not accurately

ties for every injury done to the freeman, either in person or property. His life is atoned for by a were; for bodily injury a bote is payable, being, as amends to dignity, highest when any disfigurement is occasioned2; the breach of the peace of his household is heavily visited, and his stolen cattle or slaves are to be paid for, either by the offender or his kindred; a wite, or fine, in every case accruing to the king for the breach of his peace. Thus far the Anglo-Saxon laws avoid bloodshed; but offences against the state, or its representative the king, are far otherwise dealt with.

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Treason

against a lord, Alfred declares he dare not pardon; fighting in the king's hall, coining, and many other state offences, are death-worthy ;" and among the customary punishments are mentioned beheading, hanging, burning, drowning, casting from a height, stoning, and breaking the neck; scourging, branding, and many kinds

known. It seems probable, however, that the penny consisted of 4 sceats, the shilling of 5 pennies, the pound of 48 shillings; except in Mercia, where the pound was divided

into 60 shillings; the mancus and the marc were about one-eighth, and the ora one-sixteenth, of the pound. The ordinary estimate is, that money was then about twenty times its present worth.

Saxon Sceatta.

The coin in the margin is interesting as shewing how the early Saxon moneyers attempted to copy the devices found on Roman coins, then probably the chief currency of the country. The monarch intended is altogether unknown, but the figures on the reverse are considered as meant for imitations of the seated figures with a winged Victory behind so common on the imperial coinage.

Ethelbert ordains a penalty of three shillings "for the smallest disfigurement of the face." Also, "If the bruise be black in a part not covered by the clothes, thirty sceats." And Alfred says, "For every wound before the hair, and before the sleeve, and beneath the knee, the bote is two parts more."

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