74

CHAPTER VI.

THE ANGLO-SAXON CONSTITUTION*.

Division of the people.-Magistrates.-Division of the land.-Courts of justice.-Witena-gemot.-Punishment of crimes.-Ordeals.-Freeborh or Frankpledge.—Feudal usages.—The church.-The revenue.

In our attempt to sketch the political condition of our Anglo-Saxon forefathers we will consider the people, the land and the institutions.

We have above observed the resemblance which England under the Saxons presented to the heroic age of Greece. In both the royal families were a peculiar caste, claiming its descent from the supreme deity adored by the people; both likewise had a class of landed nobility, and an inferior class of ignoble cultivators and artisans, and in both there was a class without personal freedom. This division of society was by no means, however, peculiar to them; it is to be found throughout a great part of the world, and seems to be a necessary result of human nature.

The name of the Anglo-Saxon nobility as a class was Eorls or Eorlcundment. They seem to have consisted of two parts, the Hlafords or Lords, those who were actually in the possession of land and its rights and privileges, and the Sithcundmen, or those who were noble by blood, but who had not landed property to entitle them to the rank of Hlaford‡. They were a kind of inferior nobility or gentry.

*For the subjects treated in this chapter see Palgrave's work already quoted, Hallam's Middle Ages, and Lingard's History of England. See also Allen's Enquiry into the Rise and Growth of the Royal Prerogative in England. In the Appendix (I) we will explain all the Anglo-Saxon terms which occur in the following pages.

This is the hypothesis of sir F. Palgrave.

The inferior order of cultivators, answering to the demos of the Greeks, were named Ceorles. Like the nobility they seem to have consisted of two classes, those who had and those who had not property, the Heorth-fastmen or householders, and the Folghers or followers or labourers, answering to the farmers and farm-servants of the present day. The Ceorl was free, but he owed service to a lord; and though attached to the soil he had a property in it, and he could not be removed so long as he paid the customary dues, and rendered the usual services to his lord. He could also by acquiring a sufficient quantity of land rise into the class of the gentry.

Beneath these orders of freemen were the Theowes or slaves, who were the absolute property of their masters, like their cattle, and might be sold in the same manner. In fact there was a very active slave-trade carried on in England throughout the whole of this period *.

It is probable that the Anglo-Saxons brought this political division with them from their original country. The chiefs who served under Hengist, Ella, Cerdic and the other descendents of Wodin led the Ceorles who lived on their lands, and when the conquered lands were divided the same relation was continued. Numbers of the Britons, like the provincials of the continent, must have sunk into the same state of villenage; for it is utterly incredible that they could have been wholly driven out of the country. As the Germans, like most ancient nations, frequently reduced the vanquished to slavery, the first Anglo-Saxon Theowes may have been British captives; but crime and debt and captivity in war gradually reduced many of the dominant race to the same wretched state; and as the child followed the condition of the parent, the class of Theowes must have multiplied rapidly. We read of a further division of the free population into *See above p. 16.

three classes, according to the amount of their weregild, (a term we shall presently explain,) namely, Twelfhænd,- Sixhand- and Twihand-men. As the first were the Eorls, and the last the Ceorles, it is probable that the intermediate class were the Sithcundmen of the older times.

The kings and the great Hlafords being possessed of large quantities of land used to grant them to men who were strong and valiant, receiving in return their military services. These men, who were probably originally Sithcundmen, were denominated Thanes or Knights, i. e. servants. Their numbers gradually increased; they became the nobility and gentry of the counties, and their name took the place of that of Eorl. We find them divided into king's Thanes and lesser Thanes.

The chief magistrate of the nation was the Cyning, or king of the race of Wodin, but elected to the throne by the voices of the Witan. He held the chief command in war, was supreme judge, and appointed all the inferior magistrates. He exercised the same authority in the church. The Ealdorman was set over a shire as the king's vicegerent; sometimes his jurisdiction extended over the whole of one of the former kingdoms. After the Danish conquest the title of Ealdorman was changed for that of Earl, answering to the Jarl of the North, and as we have seen, the title and power became hereditary in families. The Gerefas or reeves, formed a numerous class of functionaries, of which the principal were the Shire- Borough- and Portreeves. They collected tolls, arrested malefactors, held courts, etc. The lords in their demesnes had also their reeves who performed similar offices.

The lands were divided into Folcland and Bocland, but it is very difficult to learn their exact nature. The Bocland is evidently that which was held by charter or grant, (boc, book,); the land of the thanes was of this kind, and it may be regarded as nearly the same as the fief or feud of the continent. The most probable opinion respecting the

Folcland seems to be that which regards it as being the same with the Odal-land of Scandinavia, the Allodium of the continent, that is, land held in full propriety, the use of which might be transferred to another on condition of service*. The Folcland would therefore appear to be the land originally seized by the chiefs and nobles of the invading armies, and parcelled out to their followers.

The first and lowest political division of the land was the Town or township. This was equivalent to the Manor of the Normans. It contained the land which the lord held in his own hands, that which he had granted by charter, those held by the Ceorles, and a quantity of common pasture for the use of the lord, his vassals and tenants. A second territorial division was into Hundreds: a still larger was into Shires, afterwards called Counties. Of these, some had been original kingdoms, others portions of such large divisions.

A regular succession of jurisdictions prevailed in these divisions. The Town had its Mote or court, commonly named the Hall-mote, as being held in the lord's hall; his reeve or steward usually presided. This officer was the lord's representative on most occasions; he received all his tolls and dues, and he superintended the Ceorles, who, however, had, it is said, the right of clecting him to his office. The rights of the lord of a town extended to the levying of tolls and customs; he had the power of imposing fines for bloodshed and other breaches of the peace, and he might execute summarily the thief taken with the goods in his possession. In the Hall-mote we may discern the court-baron with civil, and the court-leet with criminal, jurisdiction of the present times, and in the reeve the modern steward of the manor.

The Hundred also had its court, named the Hundredor Folc-mote. It was held once a month, and was pre

*This is sir F. Palgrave's and Dr. Lingard's view. Mr. Allen regards it in a different light.

sided over by the Ealdorman, with whom sat the bishop of the diocese and all the lords and thanes whose lands lay within the bounds of the Hundred. Each town sent to it the reeve and four good men; the parish priests would also appear to have given their attendance. This court took cognizance of the crimes and misdemeanours committed within the Hundred; it tried civil actions; the contracts for the sale of lands were made and the money paid in it in the presence of the Hundredors, in order that they might afterwards bear witness if required; land-bocs or grants and charters were there read out and published.

The Shire-mote or county-court met twice a year. The bishop of the diocese and the ealdorman of the shire presided; all the landlords of the shire attended personally, or by their reeves, and each town sent its reeve and four good and lawful men. The rights of the crown, of the church, and of private persons, were here discussed and determined; land-bocs were read out, as in the Hundredmote, with which it had much in common; the laws which had been enacted by the king in council were published.

The Witena-gemot was the senate or great council of the realm. While the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms were independent states each had of course its own Witena-gemot; that of Kent or Sussex could have differed but little from the Shire-mote of a later period, while those of Wessex and Mercia must have been of a higher order. When the whole island obeyed one monarch, the Witena-gemot rose into proportionate dignity. It sat thrice in each year,-at the festivals of Easter, Whitsuntide, and Christmas. The king appeared seated on his throne, with the crown on his head and a sceptre in each hand, and surrounded by his officers of state. The bishops and abbots, accompanied by a certain number of their inferior clergy, sat nearest the king; beneath them were the vassal Celtic and Cymric princes*, the ealdormen of shires, and the land-holders of * The Welsh are called Cymry, the Scots and Manx were Celts.