Chapter XL: Section II

_Of the WITTENAGEMOTE and other courts_, _maxims of jurisprudence_, _institution of tythings_, _nuptial and funeral rites_, _sacerdotal_, _domestic_, _and other customs_, _among the Anglo-Saxons_.

The _Wittenagemote_, or assembly of wise men, was the highest court among the Anglo-Saxons, and from which our parliament seems to have originated. Bishops, judges, and thanes composed it, and it does not appear that the lower orders, or bulk of the people were there any how represented. The business of this assembly was prepared and opened by the king.—Another high court, but inferior to the former, was the _Shiregemote_, in which much business was transacted in the way of a modern assize. The Eolderman, or the Eorle was the president, and the domesmen, or judges, with certain _lawmen_, as they were called, formed the bench. It was held only twice in the year.—The _Hundred Court_ came next, over which the Hundredary presided. Sales of estates, registering of Wills, manumission of slaves, &c. were here transacted. It was also called _Wapontake_, from the custom of always attending well armed. It was the repository of deeds and records, was held monthly, and had the jurisdiction of ten tythings.

Compensation to the injured party or his family, rather than the annoyance of the criminal, being the principle of the Anglo-Saxon jurisprudence, capital punishments were unfrequent. The chastity of maidens was protected by very severe laws; the ravisher of a nun was fined as an assassin, and the violator of a child incurred the penalty of a severe mutilation. Murder, as well as manslaughter, might be atoned for, at a stated price: every wound had its exact value; robbery was venial, and when committed on a bordering country, (although in peace) was almost deemed laudable. {259}

It was in the institution of _Tythings_, or neighbourships, that the wisdom of the Anglo-Saxons appeared most conspicuous and admirable. Every ten families were connected together, as fellows in arms and in civil society. Each answered for the others’ good behaviour to the magistrate, and each joined in paying the penalty which any one member might casually incur. A man who was not inrolled in these tythings was avoided by all, as a vagabond and person of bad character; nor could he hope to be admitted to a tything unless his probity was generally acknowledged. To Alfred this excellent institution is said to owe its perfection; and its effects on society must have been very great and salutary. {260}

Of the customs of the ancient inhabitants of Lynn, and of the Anglo-Saxons in general, relating to _matrimony_, the following appear to have been some of the most remarkable and striking.—Every unmarried woman was supposed to have a guardian, or owner: the virgin belonged to her father, brother, uncle, or nearest male relation; the widow claimed the same protection from her husband’s male relatives; the lover was obliged to buy his mistress, of her guardian, by a gift, the amount of which was settled by a law, that set a higher price on the maid, by one half, than on the relict. If unadvisedly the wooer wedded the lady without the guardian’s consent, her property and goods were still the property of that guardian, and an injury offered to her was to be atoned for to him, and not to the spouse. At the wedding, the guardian delivered up his ward to the husband, a friend of whom had previously avowed himself the guarantee of a proper provision for the bride in case of his death. At the feast which followed, the usual and large presents of gold, silver, arms, cloths, household stuff, &c. made by the invited friends and relations, formed the portion of the bride, who had beside, from custom immemorial, a right to ask of her mate, on the next sun-rising after her nuptials, a gift, to serve her as pin-money. As to what related to _divorces_, among these people, we meet with no particular account. In the _education_ of their children, they only sought to render them dauntless, and apt for the two most important occupations of their future lives, war and the chase. It was a usual trial of a child’s courage to place him on the sloping roof of a building, and if, without screaming or apparent terror, he held fast, it was deemed a favourable omen, and he was pronounced a _brave boy_.

The _burial_ ceremony is said to have been much more joyous among them than that of marriage; which seems to imply something very unnatural, as well as barbarous. The house in which the body lay till its burial, was a perpetual scene of feasting, singing, dancing, and every species of riot. This, of course, was very expensive to the family of the deceased; and it was in some places carried so far, that the corpse was forcibly kept unburied by the visiting friends, till they were certain that they had consumed, in games and frantic festivity, all the wealth the deceased had left behind him.—Nothing can well exceed the barbarism and brutishness of such a custom: and yet it seems to have long continued in some parts of this island after the introduction of christianity, and even of protestantism. Nay, some remains of it are known to have existed in some places within the memory of some of the present inhabitants. It is surprising how tenacious mankind often are of their ancient customs, be they ever so vile, unseemly, or heathenish. Heathenish, certainly, or of pagan origin, must this most odious practice have been: but it is not the only English custom that comes under that description. The _Waites_, that usually go about before christmas, may be considered as of the self-same origin, and belonged, in all likelihood, to a certain pagan, riotous, and lawless feast, celebrated at that time of the year: the precursor and prototype of our principal christian festival. The ushering in of May with the _blowing of horns_, a custom now almost, if not _altogether peculiar to Lynn_, seems evidently to be of the same class. It is still most tenaciously kept up in this town, by the boys and children, though nobody pretends to know either its meaning or its origin. But as May-Day is known to have been one of the highest and most notable days of the year among our heathen ancestors, the said custom may very safely be concluded to have originated with them; especially as that day does not appear to have ever been very much thought of by the papists.

A notable custom among the Anglo-Saxon christians of the eighth century, and from which Lynn cannot be supposed exempted, was that of the _Clergy_ usually celebrating Mass, or administering the Sacrament _without Shoes and Stockings_, and with chalices made of horn: which seems to shew, that they had not then arrived at that sacerdotal pride and pomp, at least in regard to their dress, which became so prevalent among those of their order in latter times, when they thought proper to assume a consequence so far above the other orders of the community.

In private life the Anglo-Saxons are said to have been devout to the extreme of credulity, and hospitable to drunken extravagance. Their manners were rough, but social; their tables were plainly, but plentifully served. Large joints of roasted meat seem to have had the preference; salted victuals also were much in use. At table, the rank of the guests was strictly observed; and, by the laws of Canute, a person sitting above his proper station was to be pelted out of his place with bones, at the discretion of the company, without the privilege of taking offence. The lady, (or, as the Saxons named her, _leaf-dien_, the bread giver) sat, as now, at the upper end of the table, and distributed the provisions to her guests. The liquors used at genteel tables were wine, ale, and spiced ale, pigment (a composition of wine, spice, and honey,) morat, (honey diluted with mulberry juice) and mead. {263} Such, as may reasonably be concluded, was the state of things with regard to these matters, in the best of the families of Lynn at those times.