Chapter XII: Anglo-Saxon Custom From the Viking or Northmen’s Point of View

I. THE COMPACT BETWEEN KING ALFRED AND GUTHRUM, A.D. 886.

[Sidenote: The earlier Danish or Viking invasions.]

At the date of the compact between Ethelred II. and Olaf Tryggvason more than a century had passed since the earlier compact between Alfred and Guthrum. And during that century the successors of Alfred had gradually succeeded in recovering their hold upon the English nation. During the whole of this time, following Continental tribal usage, both English and Danes had presumably lived under their own laws and customs.

But whether it be right to speak of the Northmen of the time of King Alfred as Danes or not, it is necessary to distinguish the difference between the two invasions.

Cnut’s invasion was avowedly intended to establish a kingdom, or rather to bring England within the area of his great Danish kingdom. Olaf was on the point of making himself King of Norway; and the founding of kingdoms was, so to speak, in the air. It was an era of conquest and Cnut’s invasion of England was in fact the first step towards the Norman Conquest.

The Vikings who invaded England in the days of Alfred, on the other hand, were independent chieftains--the last of the class of the early Frankish and Anglo-Saxon type. Their invasion was not a Danish invasion in the sense that it came from a Danish kingdom. The Vikings of this earlier period were chieftains of moving armies living upon the country they invaded. Their armies were composed of Northmen, and, again to quote the words of Mr. Keary, ‘in the history of the Scandinavian nations they were the representatives in the countries of their origin of a bygone or passing order of things’--‘the opponents of the extended sort of kingship which was the new order of the day in Denmark, Sweden, and Norway.’[234]

Let us for a moment follow the course of the movements of these Viking armies which preceded the compact between Alfred and Guthrum.

In 867 the ‘army’ was in the North, took possession of York, and subdued Northumbria. In 868 Mercia was invaded, and till 871 the incursions were practically confined to Northumbria and Mercia, and parts of East Anglia. In 871 the invasion of Wessex commenced, and in the same year Alfred, on the death of his brother Ethelred, became King of Wessex. In 874 the ‘army’ was again chiefly in Mercia and Northumbria and began definitely to settle in the latter. The southern half of Northumbria became the Kingdom of York under Halfdan, A.D. 876.

The other part of the army under Guthrum proceeded to attack Wessex, and the winter of 877-8 was marked by the retirement of Alfred into the island of Æthelney.

[Sidenote: Compact between Alfred and Guthrum.]

In 878 came the victory of Æthandune, which was followed by the baptism of Guthrum and the partition of England. In 880 Guthrum and his army settled in what became the Danelaga. And in 886 the final compact was entered into between Alfred and Guthrum the text of which has been preserved.

It will be convenient first to consider this compact and then the various fragments of Northumbrian and Mercian law the production or preservation of which may be traced to this period.

[Sidenote: English and Danes equally dear.]

The text of the compact is preserved in the tenth-century Manuscript B. Its first clause defines the boundaries between that part of England which was to remain English and the Danelaga. With this matter at the moment we are not specially concerned. Then follows the most material clause (2):--

And hi cwædon, gyf mon ofslægen wurðe, eal we letað efen dyrne,
Engliscne ⁊ Denisce. ꝥ is to .viii. healf-marcum asodenes goldes.
buton þam ceorle þe on gafol-lande sit ⁊ heora lysingon: þa
syndon eac efen dyre. ægðer twa hund scyll::

And they ordained, if a man should be slain we estimate all
equally dear, English and Danish, _i.e._ at viii half-marks of
pure gold except the ceorl who sits on gafol land and their
[the Danish] lysings, they also are equally dear, either at 200
scillings.

And gyf man cynges þegen beteo man-slihtas. ⁊ he hine ladian
durre. do he ꝥ mid xii cynges þegnas ⁊ gyf mon þone man betyhð þe
bið læssa maga. ladie hine xi his gelicena ⁊ anum cyninges þegene.

And if a man accuse a king’s thane of manslaying and he dare to
clear himself, let him do that with 12 king’s thanes, and if any
one accuse that man who is of less degree let him clear himself
with 11 of his equals and with one king’s thane.

Now, in the first place, it is evident that this text describes the wergeld of two classes or ranks of persons.

Dane and Englishman of the first class are to be held equally dear at eight half-marks of pure gold.

The other class embraces the Saxon ‘ceorl who sits on gafol land’ and the Danish lysing. These also are equally dear at 200 scillings.

[Sidenote: Englishman put on a level with the Norse hauld, at the normal wergeld of 200 gold solidi or 1200 scillings.]

Let us look at these two classes separately. The first class of Dane and English _men_ without other definition are to be paid for by eight half-marks of gold. The money is Danish. Eight half-marks contained thirty-two ores. And this, as we have seen, at the Norse ratio of 1:8 was the same thing as 32 marks of silver. The wergeld of the hauld of the Gulathing law we found to be most probably 30 marks of silver. The Danish _man_ of this clause thus seems to be represented in Norse law by the hauld. In other words, Guthrum from his point of view took the hauld as the typical freeman, just as we found him so taken in the Gulathing law.

It will be remembered that this wergeld of the hauld was equated with 96 cows and that in its gold value reckoned in wheat-grains it amounted to 200 Merovingian gold solidi.

From the English point of view it was not far otherwise. The twelve-hyndeman with a wergeld of 1200 scillings was evidently the typical freeman Alfred had in view. 1200 Mercian scillings of four pence, _i.e._ 4800 pence, at the Norse ratio of 1:8 equalled 600 gold tremisses or 200 gold solidi. 1200 Wessex scillings of five pence at a ratio of 1:10 would also equal 200 gold solidi.

The equation was therefore well within the range of reasonable compromise. And behind both these wergelds--that of the hauld and of the twelve-hyndeman--there seems to be the curious traditional (conscious or unconscious) reference so often repeated to the ancient normal wergeld of 200 gold solidi and the heavy gold mina. At this normal wergeld Dane and Englishman were to be held equally dear.

[Sidenote: English ceorl on gafol land put on a level with the Norse leysing.]

Turning now to the other class, the wergeld is described in English scillings and the wergeld is that of the twy-hyndeman--two hundred scillings--_i.e._ one sixth of the wergeld of the other class. On the Danish side the equivalent of the twy-hyndeman was the lysing, _i.e._ the ‘leysing’ or newly made freedman of the Gulathing law, who had not yet made his freedom-ale and whose wergeld was one sixth of that of the hauld ‘according to his rett.’

Here again the correspondence is complete. The English twy-hyndeman is put by this compact on the same standing as to wergeld as the Norse leysing or newly made freedman who had not yet made his freedom-ale.

But we gain another point from this remarkable clause. We are warned by it not to be drawn too easily into a rash generalisation from the use of the Saxon word _ceorl_.

It is not the ‘ceorl’ _as such_ who is the twy-hyndeman and put upon the same social level as the Danish lysing. It is clearly only the ‘ceorl _who sits on gafol land_.’ It is on the last words that the distinctive emphasis must be put. If we had nothing but this clause to guide us we might conclude that all above the ‘ceorl who sits on gafol land’ were twelve-hynde.

II. THE COURSE OF PROCEDURE IN PAYMENT OF WERGELD.

There are two statements of the course of procedure in the payment of wergelds which may conveniently be mentioned at this point. The first occurs in the ‘Laws of King Edmund,’ who reigned A.D. 940-946. And the other is contained in a fragment belonging probably to the time following soon after the Compact between Alfred and Guthrum.

[Sidenote: King Edmund makes payment of wergeld voluntary.]

King Edmund, in order to abate the ‘manifold fightings’ resulting from the system of feud and wergeld, made stringent regulations under which wergelds were to be claimed, making it voluntary on the part of the kindred to join in payment of the wergeld.

Gif hwa heonan-forð ænigne man ofslea ꝥ he wege sylf þa fæhðe
butan he hy mid freonda fylste binnan twelf monðum forgylde be
fullan were sy swa boren swa he sy. Gif hine þonne seo mægð
forlæte & him foregyldan nellen þonne wille ic ꝥ eall seo mægð
sy unfah. butan þam hand-dædan, gif hy him syþþan ne doð mete ne
munde. Gif þonne syþþan hwilc his maga hine feormige þonne beo he
scyldig ealles þæs þe he age wið þone cyning ⁊ wege þa fæhðe wið
þa mægðe forþam hi hine forsocan ær. Gif þonne of þære oðre mægðe
hwa wrace do on ænigum oðrum men butan on þam riht hand-dædan sy
he gefah wið þone cyning ⁊ wið ealle his frynd & þolige ealles
þæs þe he age.

(Edmund Secular Laws, s. 1.) If any one henceforth slay any man
that he himself bear the feud unless with the aid of his friends
and within 12 months he compensate it with the full wer; be he
born as he may be. But if his mægd forsake him and will not pay
for him, then I will that all the kindred be _unfah_ [free from
the feud] except the perpetrator, if afterwards they do not give
him either food or mund [protection]. But if any one of his
kindred feed him, then be he liable in all that he possesses to
the king and bear the feud with the kindred because they had
previously forsaken him. But if anyone of the other kindred take
vengeance upon any other man than the real perpetrator, let him
be foe to the king and to all his friends and forfeit all that
he owns.

Gif hwa cyrican gesece oþþe mine burh ⁊ hine man þær sece oþþe
yflige þa þe ꝥ deð syn þær ylcan scyldige þe hit her beforan cwæð.

(2) If any one take refuge in a church or in my burh, and one
there seek him or do him evil, be those who do that liable in the
same that is heretofore ordained.

And ic nelle ꝥ ænig fyhtewite oþþe man-bote forgifen sy.

(3) And I will not that any _fightwite_ or _manbot_ be forgiven.

This relaxation of the rules as to payment of wergeld seems to leave matters very much as they were, with the one exception that for the sake of peace and to lessen the risk of ‘manifold fightings,’ a year was given to the slayer’s kindred to save his life by helping him to pay the wergeld if they chose, while if they chose to forsake him and did not harbour or help him in any way _they_ were free. The kindred of the slain in the meantime were left to pursue their feud but only upon the slayer. This of course was another instance of the partial breaking down of the ancient tribal solidarity of the kindred in favour of the principle, long before adopted in some of the Continental codes, limiting the punishment of crime to the criminal himself.

Whether this innovation of King Edmund’s was adhered to the evidence of the Laws of Henry I. may lead us to doubt, but for our purpose the law making the innovation is evidence of the ancient solidarity of the kindred, the attempt to loosen which had become necessary in the tenth century.

[Sidenote: How wergelds were to be paid.]

A clause which follows shows that it was expected that wergelds would still be paid:--

Witan scylon fæhðe settan ærest æfter folc-rihte slaga sceal
his for-specan on hand syllan ⁊ se for-speca magum ꝥ se slaga
wille betan wið mægðe. þonne syþþan gebyred ꝥ man sylle þæs
slagan for-specan on hand ꝥ se slaga mote mid griðe nyr ⁊ sylf
wæres weddian. Ðonne he þæs beweddod hæbbe þonne finde he þærto
wær-borh, þonne ꝥ gedon sy þonne rære man cyninges munde of þam
dæge on xxi niht gylde man heals-fang. þæs on xxi niht manbote.
þæs on xxi niht þæs weres ꝥ frum-gyld.

(7) The Witan shall appease feuds. First according to folkright
the slayer shall give pledge to his _forespeca_ and the forespeca
to the kindred that the slayer will make bot to the kindred. Then
after that it is requisite that security be given to the slayer’s
forespeca that the slayer may in peace come near and himself
give wed for the wer. When he has given wed for this let him find
thereto a werborh. When that is done let the King’s mund be levied.
Within 21 days from that day let the _halsfang_ be paid. 21 days
from that the manbot. 21 days from that the frumgeld of the wer.

[Sidenote: Earlier statement of how wergelds were to be paid.]

The further course of procedure is best given in the earlier fragment alluded to.

[Sidenote: The werborh.]

The fragment[235] is headed ‘How a twelve-hyndeman shall be paid for.’ It opens with the statement, ‘A twelve-hyndeman’s wer is twelve hundred scillings. A twy-hyndeman’s wer is two hundred scillings.’ And then it proceeds:--

Gif man ofslægen weorðe gylde hine man swa he geboren sy. And
riht is ꝥ se slaga siþþan he weres beweddod hæbbe finde þærto
wær-borh be þam þe þærto gebyrige ꝥ is æt twelf-hyndum were
gebyriað twelf men to werborge, viii fæderen-mægðe ⁊ iiii
medren-mægðe.

If any one be slain let him be paid for according to his birth.
And it is right that the slayer after he has given wed for the
wer find in addition a _werborh_ according as shall thereto
belong, that is to a twelve-hynde’s wer twelve men are necessary
as _werborh_, viii of the paternal kin and iv of the maternal kin.

This is in accordance with the clause in Alfred and Guthrum’s compact, which, however, makes the additional provision by way of precaution that one of the twelve co-swearers must be a king’s-thane. The clause continues:--

[Sidenote: The king’s mund.]

Ðonne ꝥ gedon sy þonne rære man cyninges munde, ꝥ is ꝥ hy ealle
gemænum handum of ægðere mægðe on anum wæpne þam semende syllan ꝥ
cyninges mund stande.

When this is done, then let the king’s mund be established, that
is, that they all of either kindred, with their hands in common
upon one weapon, engage to the mediator that the king’s mund
shall stand.

The king’s mund-byrd, as we have seen, was equal to five pounds according to both English and Kentish custom.

[Sidenote: The heals-fang.]

Of þam dæge on xxi nihtan gylde man cxx scill. to heals-fange æt
twelf-hyndum were. Heals-fang gebyreð bearnum broðrum ⁊ fæderan
ne gebyreð nanum mæge ꝥ [feoh] bute þam þe sy binnan cneowe.

In xxi days from that day let cxx shillings be paid as heals-fang
at a twelve-hynde’s wer. Heals-fang belongs to the children,
brothers and paternal uncles: that money belongs to no kinsman
except to those that be within the knee.

[Sidenote: The manbot and fightwite and then the wergeld.]

Of þam dæge þe ꝥ heals-fang agolden sy on xxi nihtan gylde man
þa man-bote þæs on xxi nihtan ꝥ fyht-wite þæs on xxi nihtan þæs
weres ꝥ frumgyld ⁊ swa forð ꝥ fulgolden sy on þam fyrste þe witan
geræden. Siþþan man mot mid lufe ofgan gif man [wille] fulle
freondrædene habban.

In xxi days from the day that the heals-fang is paid let the
manbot be paid. In xxi days from this the fightwite. In xxi
days from this the ‘frumgyld’ of the wer; and so forth till it
be fully paid within the time that the witan have appointed.
After this they may depart with love if they desire to have full
friendship.

Eal man sceal æt cyrliscum were be þære mæðe don þe him
to-gebyreð swa we be twelf-hyndum tealdan.

All men shall do with regard to the wer of a ceorl that
which belongs to his condition like as we have said about a
twelve-hyndeman.

These steps in the procedure are very nearly the same as those quoted in the so-called ‘Laws of Henry I.’ and these clauses may probably be looked upon as more or less repeating for the benefit of both peoples what Anglo-Saxon custom may have been before the Viking invasions of England. But of this we cannot be certain.

III. FRAGMENTS OF MERCIAN AND THE NORTH PEOPLE’S LAW.

[Sidenote: Fragments preserved of ancient custom.]

We now have to consider a group of fragments of uncertain date which seem to belong to the period of the Northmen’s settlement in Northumbria and invasions in Mercia.

The settlement of the Viking invaders made it necessary to fix the relation of their wergelds to those of the conquered English, and also to gather up fragments of Mercian custom. As the Dooms of Mercian kings have not come down to us, these fragments have a special value.

The importance of Mercia in King Offa’s time gives a special interest to any information on Mercian custom. And in other respects, scanty though it be, the retrospect of early Anglo-Saxon custom from the invaders’ point of view could ill be spared.

[Sidenote: Under Mercian law the oath of twelve-hyndeman = that of six ceorls.]

There are two valuable fragments on Mercian law.

The first is as follows:--

_Be Merciscan Aðe_

_Of the Mercian Oath_

Twelf-hyndes mannes að forstent vi ceorla að forþam gif man þone
twelf-hyndan man wrecan sceolde he bið full-wrecan on syx ceorlan
⁊ his wer-gyld bið six ceorla wer-gyld.

A twelve-hyndeman’s oath stands for six ceorls’ oaths; because if
a man should avenge a twelve-hyndeman he will be fully avenged on
six ceorls and his wergild will be six ceorls’ wergilds.

This fragment of Mercian law is preceded in the group of fragments ‘on oaths’ in Thorpe’s edition of the Laws by the following, which may or may not be of Mercian origin:--

[Sidenote: Mass-priest’s oath = that of the thane.]

Mæsse-preostes að ⁊ woruld-þegenes is on Engla-laga geteald
efen-dyre ⁊ for þam seofon ciric-hadan þe se mæsse-preost þurh
Godes gif geþeah ꝥ he hæfde he bið þegen-rihtes wyrðe.

A mass-priest’s oath and a secular thane’s are in English-law
reckoned of equal value; and by reason of the seven
church-degrees that the mass-priest through the grace of God has
acquired he is worthy of thane-right.

The other fragment of Mercian law is as follows:--

[Sidenote: Mercian wergelds.]

Ceorles wer-gild is on Myrcna lage cc scill. Ðegnes wer-gild is
syx swa micel ꝥ bið xii hund scill. Ðonne bið cynges anfeald
wer-gild vi þegna wer be Myrcna lage ꝥ is xxx þusend sceatta ⁊
ꝥ bið ealles cxx punda. Swa micel is þæs wer-gildes on folces
folc-rihtes be Myrcna lage. And for þam cyne-dome geborað oðer
swilc to bote on cyne-gilde. Se wer gebirað magum ⁊ seo cyne-bot
þam leodum.

A ceorl’s wergeld is by Mercian law cc scillings. A thane’s
wergeld is six times as much, _i.e._ xii hundred scillings.
Then is a king’s simple wergeld vi thanes’ wer by Mercian law,
_i.e._ xxx thousand sceatts, and that is altogether cxx pounds.
So much is the wergeld in the people’s folkright by Mercian law.
And for the ‘Cynedom’ there is due another such sum as _bot_ for
_cyne-gild_. The wer belongs to the kindred and the cynebot to
the people.

The Mercian wergeld of both twy-hynde and twelve-hynde men is thus stated in scillings, as usual, and the king’s wergeld--six times the thane’s--would equal 7200 scillings. The Mercian scilling was 4_d._, and thus, as stated in the text, the king’s wergeld would equal exactly 120_l._ or 28,800 pence or sceatts (in round numbers 30,000 sceatts).

This is useful as evidence that the sceatt of this Mercian wergeld was the silver penny of the Anglo-Saxon currency of 28·8 wheat-grains--_i.e._ of the _Sceatt series_--before Offa and Alfred, following the example of Charlemagne, superseded the ‘sceatt’ by the ‘penny’ of 32 wheat-grains.

[Sidenote: Fragment of North People’s Law.]

The fragments printed by Thorpe under the heading ‘North People’s Law’ and by Schmid in his ‘Anhang VII.’ seem to belong to Northumbria or more generally to the Danelaga. Schmid suggests that the ‘North people’ were the North folk of East Anglia. This, however, is perhaps more than doubtful, especially when it is considered that the Viking ‘armies’ had established themselves, not only in East Anglia and Mercia, but still more completely in Northumbria, many years before the struggle with Wessex had ended in the compact between Alfred and Guthrum.

The fragment of ‘North People’s Law’[236] opens with the statement that the king’s gild is 30,000 _thrymsas_--15,000 for the wergeld and 15,000 for the people (_leodum_).

In another MS. the wording follows the statement of Mercian law very closely, and agrees with the above in describing the amount in thrymsas.

[Sidenote: Wergelds paid in thrymsas of threepence.]

Ðæs cyninges wer-gyld sie mid Engla cynne on folc-riht þryttig
þusend þrimsa ⁊ þæra xv .M. sien þæs wæres ⁊ oðra xv .M. þæs
cynedomes. Se wære belympað to þam mægðe þæs cyne-cynnes ⁊ ꝥ
cynebot to þam land-leod.

Let the king’s wergeld be with the English race by folkright,
30,000 thrymsas, and of these let 15,000 be for the wer and the
other 15,000 for the _cynedom_. The wer belongs to the kindred of
the king and the cynebot to the people.

Now, in the first place, what was the _thrymsa_, which occurs in these clauses for the first time?

A statement a little further on in one of the two texts of the same fragment fixes the value of the thrymsa at three pence.[237]

The statement of ‘North People’s Law’ proceeds as follows:[238]--

Arces ⁊ æðelinges wer-gyld is xv þusend þrymsa.

(2) An archbishop’s and an ætheling’s wergeld is xv thousand
thrymsas.

Biscopes ⁊ ealdormannes viii þusend þrymsa.

(3) A bishop’s and an ealdorman’s viii thousand thrymsas.

Holdes ⁊ cyninges heah-gerefan iiii þusend þrymsa.

(4) A hold’s and a king’s high-reeve’s iv thousand thrymsas.

Mæsse-þegnes ⁊ woruld-þegnes ii þusend þrymsa.

(5) A mass thane’s and a secular thane’s ii thousand thrymsas.

Ceorles wer-gild is cc. ⁊ lxvi þrim. ꝥ bið ii hund scill be
Myrcna lage.

(6) A ceorl’s wergeld is cc and lxvi thrymsas, that is cc
scillings by Mercian law.

Put into tabular form these wergelds would be as follows in thrymsas and Wessex and Mercian scillings:--

Wessex Mercian
Thrymsas shillings shillings
of 5_d._ of 4_d._
King’s wergeld 15,000, cynebot 15,000 30000 = 18000 22500
Archbishop’s and Ætheling’s 15000 = 9000 11250
Bishop’s and Ealdorman’s 8000 = 4800 6000
Holdr’s and King’s high-reeve’s 4000 = 2400 3000
Mass thane’s and secular thane’s 2000 = 1200 1500
Ceorl’s 266⅔ = 160 200

The ceorl has a twyhynde wergeld in Mercian shillings and the thane a twelve-hynde wergeld in Wessex shillings. There seems to be so far some confusion. But on the whole this reckoning seems to justify the opinion generally held that the Northmen coming as conquerors into Northumbria or the Danelaga had, at the date of these fragments, doubled the wergeld of the hold or hauld as compared with that of the English thane.

[Sidenote: Wergeld of hauld double that of the thane, but after Alfred’s victory both equally dear.]

If, as seems reasonable, these fragments may be referred to the period following upon the Viking conquest and settlement in Northumbria and the foundation of Halfdan’s kingdom of York (A.D. 876), then the doubled wergeld of the hauld may be perhaps the high-water mark as it were of the invasion--the point of vantage at which it was natural for the conquerors to treat the conquered as a tributary race. And if it may rightly be so regarded, then it gives an added interest to the compact between King Alfred and Guthrum in 886. For then, the tide of battle having turned, the two kings at length met on equal terms and, undoing the earlier unequal settlement, now agreed to make Dane and Englishman equally dear.

A still more interesting point than the doubling of the conquering Hold’s wergeld as compared with the conquered thane’s is found in the subsequent clauses of this fragment, which seem to refer back to ancient tradition as regards the position of the non-Saxon subjects of Anglo-Saxon kings.[239]

[Sidenote: Chance given to the Wiliscman to rise as in the laws of Ine.]

And gif Wilisc man geþeo ꝥ he hæbbe hiwisc landes ⁊ mæge cyninges
gafol forð-bringan, þonne bið his wergild cxx scill. And gif he
ne geþeo buton to healfne hide þonne si his wer lxx scill.

(7) And if a Wiliscman thrive so that he have _hiwisc landes_ and
can bring forth the king’s gafol, then his wergeld shall be cxx
scillings. And if he only comes up to a half hide then shall his
wer be lxxx scillings.

And gif he ænig land næbbe ⁊ þeah freoh sy forgilde hine man mid
lxx scill.

(8) And if he have not any land and yet be free, let him be paid
for with lxx scillings.

The other version is practically the same:--

And Wealisc-monnes weregild gif he beo to tham gewelegod ꝥ he
hyred ⁊ eht age ⁊ þam cyng gafol gyldan mæg hit bið þon ccxx
scill. Ac he ne bið butan to healf hyda gerysen þonne sie his
were lxxx scill.

(7) And a Wealisc-man’s wergeld if he be so enriched that he has
family and goods (_hyred and eht_) and can pay the King’s gafol
shall be ccxx scillings [? cxx]. And if he be risen but to half
a hide, then shall his own wer be lxxx scillings.

Gif he land næbbe ac bið freoh gyld mon lxx scill.

(8) If he have no land but is free let him be paid for with lxx
scillings.

Now ‘hiwisc’ and ‘hyred’ both seem to mean _family_. In a roundabout indirect way ‘familia’ and _hide_ meant apparently very much the same thing, but as the word _hide_ is used in the same clause the more direct meaning may surely in this case be the important one.

It is probable that these clauses are variations or fuller expressions of the tradition described in c. 32 of King Ine’s Laws, which is as follows:--

Gif Wylisc mon hæbbe hide londes his wer bið c. xx scill., gif he
þonne hæbbe healfe lxxx scill., gif he nænig hæbbe lx scillinga.

If a Wylisc man have a hide of land his ‘wer’ shall be cxx _s._,
but if he have half a hide lxxx _s._, if he have none lx _s._

And the additional information amounts practically to this--that the possession of a hide seems to have been held generally equivalent to the possession of a family homestead--family and goods--enabling a man to pay the king’s gafol.

It is when we pass on from these clauses to the next that fresh and welcome light seems to be gained upon the connection of the growth of a family and kindred with rise in status and social rank from a ceorlisc or twy-hynde position to that of the Gesithcund or twelve-hynde position. We are now no longer dealing with the Wylisc man but with the ordinary twy-hynde ceorl. And the mention of the payments in thrymsas reminds us that we are still looking at things from the North people’s point of view.

The clauses in the two versions are as follows:--

[Sidenote: How under early custom a ceorl could rise into the twelve-hynde class.]

ix. And gif ceorlisc man geþeo ꝥ he hæbbe v hida landes to cynges
ut-ware ⁊ hine man ofslea forgilde man hine mid twam þusend
þrimsa.

ix. Gif ceorl sie gewelegod to þam þ [he] age v hyda landes ⁊ mon
hine ofslea gyld hine mon mid ii .M. þrimsa.

x. And þeah he geþeo ꝥ he hæbbe helm ⁊ byrnan ⁊ golde fæted
sweord, gif he ꝥ land nafað he bið ceorl swa þeah.

x. And gif he begytað ꝥ he hæbbe byrne ⁊ helm ⁊ ofergyldenene
sweord, þeah þe he land næbbe he bið siðcund.

xi. And gif his sunu ⁊ his sunu-sunu ꝥ geþeoð ꝥ hi swa micel
landes habban siþþan bið se ofsprinc gesiðcundes cynnes be twam
þusendum.

xi. And gif his sunu ⁊ þæs sun-sunu ꝥ begyten ꝥ he swa micel
landes habbað sien hiora after-gengas þæs siðcunda[n] cynnes ⁊
gyld þam mon mid ii .M. þrimsa.

xii. And gif hi ꝥ nabbað ne to þam geþeon ne magan gilde man
cirlisce.

And they may be translated thus:--

9. And if a ceorlish man thrive so that he have v hides of land
to the king’s _utware_ and any one slay him, let him be paid for
with 2000 thrymsas.[240]

9. If a ceorl be enriched to that degree that he have 5 hides of
land to the king’s utware and any one slay him, let him be paid
for with 2000 thrymsas.

10. And though he thrive so that he have a helm and coat of mail,
and a sword ornamented with gold, if he have not that land he is
nevertheless a ceorl.

10. And if he acquire so that he have a coat of mail and a helmet
and an overgilded sword, if he have not that land he is [? not]
sithcund.

11. And if his son and his son’s son so thrive that they have so
much land, afterwards the offspring shall be of gesithcund race
at 2000 (thrymsas).

11. And if his son and the son’s son acquire that they have so
much land, let their successors be of the sithcund kin and let
them be paid for with 2000 thrymsas.

12. And if they have not that nor to that can thrive, let them be
paid for as ceorlish.

These passages are very important, as the most direct evidence we possess of the way in which under early Anglo-Saxon custom families became _gesithcund_ by the gradual growth of a kindred whose kinsmen, like the odal-men of the Norse laws, could reckon four generations in succession of sufficient landholding.

The evidence is all the more interesting because it seems to come from the point of view of the Norse or Danish invaders making inquiry respecting English tradition and recording what had once been the custom of the conquered districts.

[Sidenote: Another precious fragment, with further information.]

The same remark applies equally to another of these valuable fragments--‘Of people’s ranks and law.’ It, too, seems to look back and to record what once had been the custom of the conquered people.

Hit wæs hwilum on Engla lagum ꝥ leod ⁊ lagu for be geþincðum ⁊
þa wæron [þeod-] witan weorðscipes wyrðe ælc be his mæðe, eorl ⁊
ceorl, þegen ⁊ þeoden.

1. It was whilom, in the laws of the English, that people and law
went by ranks, and then were the Witan of worship worthy each
according to his condition, eorl and ceorl, thegen and theoden.

These are the phrases of a writer looking back with regret upon ancient custom which to him is past or passing away.

After this follow clauses in one of which the word _hyrede_ and the phrase ‘having so many hides to the king’s _utware_’ again occur, words that seem to suggest that this fragment, while describing ancient English custom, hails from a somewhat similar source as the ‘North People’s Law.’

And gif ceorl geþeah ꝥ he hæfde fullice fif hida agenes landes,
cirican ⁊ kycenan, bell-hus ⁊ burh-geat, setl ⁊ sunder-note, on
cynges healle þonne wæs he þonon-forð, þegen-rihtes weorðe.

2. And if a ceorl thrived so that he had fully five hides of his
own land, church and kitchen, bell-house and burh-geat, seat
and special duty in the King’s hall, then was he thenceforth of
thane-right worthy.

This seems to be practically identical with clause 9 of the previous fragment. Then follows:--

And gif þegen geþeah ꝥ he þenode cynge ⁊ his rad-stefne rad on
his hirede, gif he þonne hæfde þegen þe him filigde þe to cinges
ut-ware fif hida hæfde ⁊ on cynges sele his hlaforde þenode &
þriwa mid his ærende gefore to cinge se moste syþþan mid his
foraðe his hlaford aspelian æt mistlican neodan ⁊ his onspæce
geræcan mid rihte swa hwær swa he sceolde.

And if a thane thrived so that he served the King and on his
summons (_rád-stefne_) rode with his household (_hirede_), if he
then had a thane who him followed, who to the King’s _utware_
five hides had, and in the King’s hall served his lord [the
thane] and thrice with his errand went to the King, he might
thenceforth with his foreoath his lord represent at various needs
and his plaint lawfully conduct wherever he ought.

And seþe swa geþogenne forwyrht an næfde swore for sylfne æfter
his rihte oþþe his þolode.

4. And he who so prosperous a vicegerent had not, swore for
himself according to his right, or it forfeited.

And gif þegen geþeah ꝥ he wearð to eorle þonne wæs he syþþan
eorl-rihtes weorðe.

5. And if a thane thrived, so that he became an eorl, then was he
thenceforth of eorl-right worthy.

These passages we shall have to consider further when we sum up the evidence upon the Anglo-Saxon division of classes.

[Sidenote: The ceorl must rise into direct service to the king and to having a kindred around him.]

But there are two peculiarities which may be marked here as pointing to the archaic character of these precious fragments. First, the alliteration and rhythmical character of some of them, which points to an early and traditional origin, and, secondly, the direct relations of the classes mentioned to the king. The Wilisc man has to bring forth the king’s gafol. The ceorl who has five hides has them to the king’s utware and he becomes gesithcund and thane-right worthy with special duty in the king’s hall, while the thane is all the greater when he has a thane under him who has himself five hides to the king’s utware and goes with his errands to the king.

These are marks of direct relationship and service of the gesithcund classes to the king, to which we shall have to recur. They seem to point to the gesithcund class with its completeness of kindred as a privileged class in a semi-official position and from which the king’s officials were chosen. It is not until this relationship by service to the king has become established that a ceorl finds an entrance into the gesithcund class, and he does not become eligible for such service till he is surrounded by an adequate kindred.

In the meantime we may be thankful to the exigences of the Viking invasions for the preservation of these valuable fragments of ancient custom which might otherwise have been lost.